by Theresa Forsyth
Glasgow
If anyone were to mention The Sunday Post to me, it would conjure up pictures of me as a child eagerly awaiting Sunday to read the Broons and Oor Wullie; of Christmases spent reading the Oor Wullie or Broons Annual.
by Theresa Forsyth
Glasgow
If anyone were to mention The Sunday Post to me, it would conjure up pictures of me as a child eagerly awaiting Sunday to read the Broons and Oor Wullie; of Christmases spent reading the Oor Wullie or Broons Annual.
Recently I’ve had a look again at the Sunday Post and, yes, The Broons and Oor Wullie are still there and by the looks of them, they’ve weathered the many, many years since my childhood much better than I. However, there’s much more to this paper than I ever thought.
Campbell Gunn, a Political Journalist does a summing up of FMQ as well as snippets about other goings on in the Holyrood Diary. In his report of last, he credits all the Deputies with doing well but feels none got the better of Nicola Sturgeon, with Nicola providing far more detailed answers than Alex Salmond who tends to broader responses.
However it was some of the snippets that I found very interesting.
It appears that Labour MSPS may have problems with Numeracy. According to Campbell ‘Labour Officials handed out sheets to journalists before Nick Clegg’s visit to the Scottish Parliament on Thursday. The heading was ‘10 Questions Nick Clegg should answer’. Unfortunately the list contained 12 questions.’
Another interesting snippet tells that two weeks ago Labour’s Alcohol Commission came forward with a range of measures to tackle Scotland’s problems with drink. One of them was that no drink should be served at government sponsored events or events held in the Scottish Parliament. Since then, Labour MSPs have obeyed a ‘suggestion’ they abstain from being spotted drinking at events held in the Garden lobby.
However Campbell Gunn reports of ‘at least one Labour MSP who partook of a drink or two on Wednesday evening at just such an event. I won’t disclose her name.’
I wonder who that might have been?
It’s obvious, too, with their Alcohol Policy; it is ‘Do as I Say not Do as I do.’
Next I learned that the quarterly details of Parliamentary Questions asked by MSPs was published last week. Each of these Parliamentary Questions costs £100.
From April to June this year the prize for asking the most questions and wasting the most money goes to Jackie Baillie who asked 99 questions and cost the taxpayer £9900. In second place was Conservative MSP Mary Scanlon who asked 80 questions at a cost of £8000. Third place was awarded to Richard Baker, Labour, whose tally came to 78, costing £7800 and in finally, in fourth place, having fallen off his perch and losing his crown as the one who normally asks the most questions, is Lord Foulkes. In this session he only asked 73 questions at a cost of £7300.
I wonder how many of these questions were actually necessary. Could the information be found elsewhere?
It’s time they stopped to think about the cost before penning the questions. You and I are the ones who pay for this. Next time we hear the Unionists bemoan the SNP for wasting money, I think we need to remind them of this.
These are little gems that we wouldn’t find in any other paper so I’ll stick with Campbell Gunn, The Broons and Oor Wullie for a week or two and let you know if any others arise.
To finish, I’ll give you one of the gems from the previous Sunday.
A reception was held in the Garden Lobby for representatives of the Scottish Fishing Industry. It was attended by MSPs from the SNP, Conservative and LibDem parties. Not one Labour MSP turned up. Was that because they are only interested in Scottish people in the Labour Heartlands?
I don’t suppose much fishing takes place in West Central Scotland.