Are Our MSPs Work-shy?

According to today's Express, Scotland's MSPs are work-shy- a generalisation possibly quite unfair to the majority.

Tricia Marwick, the parliament's Presiding Officer, wants to expand the hours parliamentarians are present in Holyrood.  Currently they are only required to be there one and a half days a week.  Debates are held on Wednesday afternoons and Thursdays, with committee members also required at Holyrood every second Tuesday. Sessions are always completed by 5pm and there are no late night debates.

Mrs Marwick proposes a change to debates on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday afternoons with committees held in the mornings.

Neil Findlay, a Lothians Labour MSP, wants the status quo to be retained because his work hours are already excessive.  He's been forced to pay for a hotel room in Edinburgh four times in the past seven months after attending late-night functions. He sounds a bit of a whinger and could do with being seconded to an army colonel - who receives roughly the same salary - for a week or two.

In large organisations there are always individuals who are more skilled at 'being busy doing nothing' than their colleagues. Going back some years, I can recall a senior of mine who contributed nothing to the business, but he was beyond reproach because, as I later discovered, he was related to the managing director.  Give the man his due his attendance was perfect, his appearance referred to as 'dapper' and he had a genuinely happy persona. He perfected the art of wandering round the building always carrying bundles of documents and conversing with anyone he happened to meet. His job title was 'project manager' but no projects were ever produced.

Therefore, being 'at the office' will not ensure MSPs are any more productive than they are now, although I'm sure that few spend three and a half days in their constituencies meeting their electorate.

Where improvement could be made, even though it's superficial, is in the number of MSPs who attend debates in the Chamber. For the majority of debates there are often less than 10 politicians present and as these events are broadcast, the emptiness conveys an apathy to the viewer. Perhaps a ruling insisting 50% of MSPs attend each debate may inject some vitality into these proceedings.

The proposals will be discussed by the Standards Committee on Tuesday while on Thursday, Mark Griffin's question (number 12), 'to ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has to consult on introducing a ban on smoking in cars carrying children' will be answered. Two broadcasts I'll be closely observing.

Note: I wonder if Alex Salmond's relative will send him a copy of her latest book for in time for Christmas.

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More Hypocrites

A couple of years ago did you had a leaflet through your door telling you how to reduce your carbon footprint?  I have. Whether it was published and distributed by the Scottish Government I can't remember because it was binned within a minute.  The usual propaganda of wearing multiple layers of clothing to keep warm instead of turning up my thermostat in temperatures such as it as right now (-7), made me realise I'm very detached from these people who write and/or believe that by carrying out their orders I would be saving the world.  If I remember, there was nothing in it to warn those older people who tend to suffer from the cold or the frail who need heat, that they shouldn't take the advice so strongly given.  No, lives of those people don't matter in the great scheme of things where the supporters of humans being responsible for the changes in our climate is concerned.

The Scottish Government continue to insist that climate change is one of the most serious threats facing the world.  Nothing to do with nuclear weapons or terrorists for them, it's climate change.  They say on their website 'its people and its environment is determined to play its part in rising to the challenge'.  I'm not.  In fact I'm firmly against paying hidden taxes to fund the scam.  Yet I get no choice.

Scottish MSPs have choice though.  They're not restrained from using airplanes, taxis and cars to go about their business.

What could you do with £36,000?  That would pay the winter heating bills of perhaps 3600 of Scotland's more vulnerable residents.

It is the amount of money the Scottish Government's Climate Change Division spent on flying round the world preaching their message.  In fact most of the money was spent on regular flights to and from Edinburgh to London, with a few to Copenhagen and Brussels and even Bali was included.  Those concerned squandered even more public money paying 'carbon levy' charges in a bid to offset the emissions generated as they took to the skies.

I've spent some time today trying to identify those who belong to the SG's Climate Change Division but with no success.  They seem to be invisible yet produce much information to the media about the need for everyone to reduce their use of energy.  Patrick Harvie, the Green MSP, wasn't too pleased.  Surely as he is chair of the SG's Climate Change Committee, he should be in constant contact with this other setup the Climate Change Division?

Now there is a suggestion that the UK government purposely kept the Met Office's warning of a cold winter secret because it could affect the UN Climate conference.  I don't often believe in conspiracies, but this one has some substance.

The Scottish Government needs to reduce the amount of money promised to climate change and put in into creating jobs.  There are thousands of people who would like to work for themselves, and perhaps employ others at a later date, yet there is no help out there for them.  Scottish Enterprise isn't interested in the one person business, they want the big boys who require large loans and yet it doesn't matter to then if they are ships in the night.

Windfarms have now proved to be incompetent and excessively expensive. I've no objection to the SG continuing with their quest to find efficient wave power and I think the Scottish topography is sympathetic to hydro in many areas.  Let's pursue these ends and do away with the Climate Change Division for starters. They're a joke but one I don't find in the least amusing.

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Brewer Thanks MSPs

The giant brewer SAB Miller, paid for a report from the Centre for Economics and Business Research which rejected the case for the SNP's move to have minimum pricing on alcohol introduced to Scotland.  It was this report which was used by the Labour party as the main objection to the SNP's proposal.

The brewer has sent crates of its Peroni Lager to Labour shadow health secretary Jackie Baillie, Labour's justice spokesman Richard Baker and Tories Mary Scanlon and Murdo Fraser, who shared the health brief.

The Labour MSPs moved quickly to give the booze away by donating it to Whitefoord House, a home for ex-servicemen across the street from the Scottish Parliament.

"At Christmas it is particularly important that we remember our veterans and serving men and women wherever they are," said Jackie Ballie.

North-East Scotland MSP Richard Baker said, "Much as I enjoy the occasional tipple these guys deserve it much more than me. I hope that they have a happy Christmas and a good New Year."

The Tories have yet to get rid of their 'reward' cases although Murdo Fraser said he'd been in touch with a soldiers' charity and asked if they would accept it.

They should never have accepted the beer in the first place.  It should have been returned and the brewer asked to contribute to a charity of the MSPs' choice.  If these MSPs really feel so charitable towards our veterans why didn't they quietly make a financial contribution towards one of the associations?  There are plenty around these days.

There's nothing honourable about donating ill-gotten gains to charity in an effort to clear consciences.

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