It's strange how life turns around. On the up side in Sighthill Gorgie we defied the trend and returned two Councillors for Labour. Andrew Burns was elected for Fountainbridge Craiglockhart and Sarah Boyack won Edinburgh Central for the Parliament.





On the down side Labour had been conspired against and lost power in spite of being the second largest party in the Council. Oh well, that's STV for you. Fairer in one way (more votes counting) and grossly unfair in another (parties with fewer Councillors having more decision making power).



To my surprise however I was honoured to be made a Bailie (no- it's not a spelling mistake - it's two 'l's for Glasgow and one 'l' for Edinburgh) in the new Council.

This is a civic post which supports the Lord Provost. It comes with a Chain of Office - see photo. I have always seen it as part of my duty to attend civic ceremonies and this has apparently been noted.
So far I have attended several major events including the Adult Learners' Week Awards and Scotland's Gardens. The Adult Learners' Week Awards was a particularly appropriate one for me to do as in addition to the civic welcome I was asked to present the 'John Smith Award' at the end of the evening. The excitement was added to by the fact that the winners who were sitting at my table were completely unaware that they had won! i showed masterful restraint and didn't so much as drop a clue until I went up onto the stage to announce it. The winners were 3TFM, a community radio station broadcasting to the three towns of Ardrossan, Saltcoats and Stevenson with an emphasis on health. Following an intensive learning program they successfully broadcast live for 28 days providing 672 hours of music and content having trained 150 volunteers and 30 live presenters and studio crew. Over the past year they have organised national conferences , delivered keynote addresses and helped new community radio stations. Worthy winners.
I also got the opportunity to say a few words about John Smith in whose memory the award was being presented. I knew John only slightly but counted myself privileged to have done so.
At any rate I am very pleased and would thank the Council for the appointment as Bailie.

Well the elections are over and I was re-elected. The whole thing was a very strange experience under the new system. I would like to thank all the people who voted for me first, second, third or fourth (there were four places)! I will however work hard for all the people of Sighthill Gorgie over the next four years. I will work together with the other three Councillors elected (Eric Milligan - Lab; Nick Elliot-Cannon - SNP;Joanna Toomey - SLD) for the good of the area. I have not forgotten all the issues and problems which were communicated to me over the phone or in person on the campaign trail and I will be pursuing these right away. Thanks again - I consider it an honour and will work hard.

Well what a morning! Excellent weather and excellent response on Gorgie Rd.. Makes you wonder who they ask for these opinion polls? Not everyone supporting us of course but a good spread of supporters, 'not interested's and very few against. Not a single person stated they were voting SNP which seems strange given that you would think that their confidence levels would be high and therefore they would be pleased to tell you. They were there of course, further up the road and I must admit to some satisfaction that as we were walking past them a young woman had engaged them loudly and aggressively on something to do with money. I couldn't quite make it out but she was clearly not a supporter.

It was all very polite though - which is as it should be among everyone engaged in the process of democracy. None of us are bad people we just don't agree on many things. Pretty fundamental things though, such as the breaking up of the UK which surely everyone must know is the central policy of the SNP however hard they try to distract us with other things. A referendum - this is just a ploy to let people flirt with the idea but then change their minds later! Voting SNP is voting for independence and it would be a lot more honest if they would admit to it instead of trying to separate themselves from it. Without independence the SNP is nothing and hopefully more and more people will realise this between now and the election.

Another weekend closer to the elections (3rd May). The stall was on Dalry Rd. on Saturday. The Sun was out and the temperature is begining to rise - in more ways than one! Outside Somerfield (left) was a good few degrees below Gorgie Rd. (right). The reception is always friendly. I never fail to be warmed at the busy vibrant feeling of genuine community that you get on Gorgie Dalry Rd. especially on a Saturday morning. I love it and have always been proud to be a part of it.

Still need to attend to other things though like on Tuesday we had the last Executive. It was six hours long with over seventy reports! Rumour has it that this was nothing compared to the Licensing Board on Friday which ran from 10am to 6.30. People trying to get things through before the uncertainty of May.

A major event for me next week however will be the Edinburgh Medal and address by Dr Richard Horton tomorrow evening (Monday). As the Chair of the Edinburgh International Science Festival I am saying a few words at the reception afterwards. I presented the Medal last year in the Hub to Professor James Lovelock who gave a very emotive and topical address on global warming. He concluded somewhat depressingly at the end that it was too late for renewable energy such as wind power and the only thing which would have a noticeable impact would be nuclear power. I think this is substituting one problem for another. I am a passionate believer in renewable energy and recycling (I drive a Toyota Prius hybrid electric car and was responsible for bringing forward a report to the Council enabling us to put micro generating turbines and waterwheels at a variety of Council owned locations). I am certainly looking forward to this years address!

The election starts here

Well, that's the campaign started in earnest - we are into our campaign shop (294 Gorgie Road) and the manifesto was launched yesterday.

Our ten key pledges are -

• help save on everyone’s energy and household bills by offering a free “eco-check” and low-interest loan to every home
• create a new £200m “homestake” fund to help low income residents buy their first home
• keep the Council tax down to the rate of inflation for the next four years
• make sure every young person leaving school is qualified to go straight into work, or into training, or into more education. We don’t want anyone left aside
• improve the quality of the city centre through investment in and around Princes Street,
• boost the employment rate in the poorest areas of the city to within 3% of the city average.
• set up a 24-hour fast-response Community Safety Team, with police officers, in every neighbourhood
• offer affordable childcare for children between 3 and 14 to all families in the city who need it
• create green energy projects inside the city funded by donations to a new gold standard “Edinburgh Carbon Offset Trust”
• give every Edinburgh voter a “shareholder’s discount” of a free fortnight’s travel on their bus pass

Read the full text at www.edinburgh.labour.co.uk .

Of course that doesn't mean we haven't been out pounding the pavements for weeks now. The reception has been generally good but my concern remains that if too many people vote the same way where Labour is fielding two candidates (like in my ward) in terms of first and second choice then the second choice will not get in. Interestingly I spoke to a Lib Dem on Friday who was just as concerned as me about this. The other aspect that takes a bit of getting used to is the sheer size of the ward - 12000 households taking in everything between Dalry and the Calders. It is well worth a visit to the Boundary Commission's ward maps to check what area you are now in. I have to say though - I love every minute of election campaigns.

Good news for Gorgie Dalry!
Last week the Council Executive passed a report putting Gorgie Rd. and Dalry Rd. at the top of the list for CCTV. Local people have been voicing their desire for this in recent months including a petition from local businesses. I have been putting the case to the Council for these streets and am therefore delighted to have been so successful that we have ended up at the very top. Between this and the new 'Pub Watch', which was started up a couple of weeks ago by the Council, the Police and local pubs, I am sure this is a welcome and significant step forward for security and quality of life in the area. I have lived most of my adult life in this area and have always been struck by the strong sense of community. The local shops are part of this and this should be a welcome boost for them as it will help to prevent vandalism and malicious damage to shop fronts.

I am delighted to have been selected as one of Labour's candidates to stand in the new multi member ward of 'Sighthill/Gorgie' in the May 2007 local government elections. The ward for which I am presently the Councillor is Shandon but this will cease to exist at the elections in May this year. Shandon will be cut in half with Gorgie (which is part of Shandon at the moment) going into 'Sighthill/Gorgie' and the bit which is actually called Shandon on the map going into Fountainbridge/Craiglockhart (click here for boundary maps). I have been a Councillor for eight years and take great pride in a large number of achievements in my ward such as the renovation of Harrison Park and Council agreement to the brand new secondary school to replace Tynecastle. I bring a proven track record to the new ward but I am very interested in what citizens in this new area (click link above to see boundary map) think about local issues or just in general. For my own part I believe in open green spaces, affordable housing, good, well equipped local schools which offer real opportunities for children and young people and a good local economy (local shops etc.).