Monday 2 February 2009

Sorting out journalists.

Dave Maddox in the Scotsman:
The MSPs' tower has five floors
No, it has six. 5 is the highest number in the lifts, sure, but don't forget the ground floor...
other parties cannot sneak up to bargain with them
Erm, telephone, email, meet somewhere else?
The Climate Change Bill will only get Green backing with real carbon emission reduction targets and a commitment to tackling air travel.
That'll be the SNP Bill that will carry the support of the four main parties because of the subject matter.

Then there's Kenny Farquharson on the SoS saying the Scottish Government should now get involved with the Commission to Repaint Devolution when the Scottish Government has been involved with the Calman Commission since May last year.

Kenny also wrote;

The SNP has been consistently scathing about Calman, branding it a Unionist conspiracy.

Where? When? I've only ever seen the Commission to Repaint Devolution described as a unionist conspiracy twice - once by Kenny as above - and once by Eddie Barnes writing in The Steamie on the 10th of January. It would seem that it's the fine upstanding employees of Scotsman Publications who are referring to Calman's tea party as a unionist conspiracy - nationalists don't pay it that much attention.

A couple more points from Kenny's piece;
Using the considerable resources at his disposal, the First Minister should present the intellectual arguments in favour of transferring individual powers from London to Edinburgh.
Do try to keep up, Kenny!
The past week – a bad one for the Nationalists by any and every measure
No, really, it wasn't. Apart from anything else it showed that we're the only party that's election ready; it showed that we one of the two parties in Parliament taking the budget seriously rather than posturing and making party political points; it showed that the SNP Government got on with governing during a time of high political drama (there was a lot of other stuff going on); it showed that the SNP was the party that was prepared for all possible outcomes - as the Labour and Lib Dem groups sat staring in disbelief, SNP Ministers were on their feet making announcements about the way forward; and it was the SNP that led Parliament though a rapid maturing process. All in all a fine week for us.
If Labour's idea on apprenticeships is timely and affordable – the answer is yes on both counts
See, the thing is, apprenticeships are demand-led and you need the employers before you can have apprenticeships - journeymen to help train the apprentices. Unless, of course, Labour wants to boost the numbers studying apprenticeships in non-traditional areas - like working in a call centre.
Instead of reaching out to other parties to see what common ground can be built on, his approach is simply to try – usually in vain – to bulldoze the SNP manifesto through Parliament.
What havers! There's quite a lot of the SNP manifesto being delivered, and it's being delivered because others have been persuaded of its value. Trying to force legislation through with only 47 MSPs would just not work - and it wouldn't even look like bulldozing.

Take 100 lines and share your sweets with the class.

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