THE Victorian Market is one of the best known parts of the Old Town and I am a regular visitor to many of the shops there. It is the home of several very successful local businesses and I hope that all of us will support them with our custom. They are usually family affairs — all local people — not multiples or plcs.

ONE of the most pleasant parts of working as the local constituency MSP in the Scottish Parliament is speaking to children from schools in the area who are visiting the building. Last week, the whole of Farr Primary School came to look around.

THIS week the Scottish Government has changed the law to end the payment of the graduate endowment by students.

LAST week I attended the meeting of the British Irish Council in Dublin, as part of the Scottish Government deputation. As minister for community safety, I have responsibility for policy in tackling the misuse of drugs.

TWO weeks ago in Parliament the SNP Government achieved a milestone — approval, albeit by 64 votes to 62, of our budget.

This week in the Scottish Parliament we debated the misuse of firearms, particularly air weapons.

WITH many readers having spent much of their hard earned wages on Christmas presents the last thing everyone is looking forward to is paying their taxes.

LAST week the Scottish Government announced we will not take any central action to reduce the number of control rooms. As minister for community safety this important matter fell within my area of responsibility.

THIS week in the Scottish Parliament, health secretary Nicola Sturgeon announced a boost for the programme which provides financial help in installing central heating for our senior citizens.

THIS week in Holyrood, directors of Highlands and Islands Airports briefed local MSPs about the future of air services.

THE government wish to see more police patrolling Scotland's streets and communities. That may be by "bobbies on the beat." It may, more often nowadays, be by police on patrol.

THE First Minister receives hundreds of invitations to attend functions and events throughout Scotland. Those he cannot attend are often passed on to other ministers. So it was that I deputised for him at the Royal Yacht Britannia.

THIS week, the Scottish Government seeks finally to scrap the complex and exorbitantly expensive Edinburgh Airport Rail Link plan (EARL), to which the previous Labour/Lib Dem Executive committed over £600 million of your money.

THIS week in the Scottish Parliament my colleague Shona Robison MSP, minister for public health, moved to raise the legal minimum age for buying cigarettes from 16 to 18.

TODAY the Scottish Parliament resumes after the summer recess. The hard work begins — not least tough choices in setting a budget. Last week, minister for public health Shona Robison announced one such early decision.

THE First Minister has launched a "National Conversation" about how Scotland should be governed. The Highlands and Islands will, I hope, take an active part in that conversation.

THIS week I attended a 10th birthday party. It was of the Badenoch and Strathspey Community Transport Company.

IN the summer time, the living is easy, or so it goes in the Gershwin Song.

AFTER six weeks as Minister for Community Safety, I wanted to share with Courier readers my vision for how we can aim to improve our society in Scotland over the next four years and reduce crime.

THE main issue of controversy in these first four weeks of the new Government has been the SNP plans to drop the two largest transport projects.

SCOTLAND now, arguably has two capital cities. One is Edinburgh. The other is Inverness. For Inverness is in effect the capital of the Highlands. It is the hub for the Highlands, and is increasingly seen as a city both here and in the outside world.

TO old hands, such as myself, the mood and atmosphere in the chamber in this Session of Parliament is wholly different from the previous two, in 1999 and 2003.

THE first occasion at Holyrood following the elections was the "Kirking" of the Parliament. This was a church service which took place at St Giles.

THIS week in the Scottish Parliament I argued that it was the wrong decision to go ahead with the project to construct a rail link to Edinburgh Airport, building a tunnel under the runway and two rivers.

LAST week I sang for my supper as the key speaker to the annual dinner of Civil Engineers Contractors in Scotland. The audience of 480 were of course looking forward to informal conversation, so I was brief.

GEORGE Macdonald hit the headlines last week when news emerged that the 98-year-old’s home help had been withdrawn by council social work chiefs. George is blind and now a wee bit frailer than he would like.

LAST week at question time I asked the first minister what additional measures he believes we should take to improve road safety. This question was tabled on the Monday after a weekend which saw 14 people lose their lives throughout Scotland, some in this area.

THE Petitions Committee is the Scottish Parliament's open door. Anyone can present a petition which calls for the law to be changed. Anyone can have their say.

IN November last year, as transport spokesman for my party, I called for a national debate to tackle the growing number of victims dying at the hands of young drivers.

THIS week in parliament John Swinney MSP led a debate on the future of our post offices.

THIS week I was contacted by a mother whose adult daughter had agonising toothache for two days, but could not obtain emergency NHS dental treatment.

IT is said that information is the currency of politics. Without the correct facts, governments — and oppositions — cannot make the right decisions.

LAST Saturday I visited some victims of the flooding of the Lochardil Burn. What struck me is how savage are the effects of flooding. Homes have to be evacuated, floor coverings destroyed, and personal possessions ruined.

IT is just not possible to spend on everything nor to deliver new projects at the one time. Priorities must be identified. That is why, over the summer, I was pleased to persuade my party to agree to my proposals about transport projects.

LAST week, NHS Highland chairman Garry Coutts met Highland MSPs and presented a paper on the acute shortage of NHS dentist services. This is more serious than anywhere else in Scotland.

THIS week I attended an event arranged by Moray Estates to describe the possible design of Tornagrain, the site of the proposed new town. Known as a "charette", design ideas have been worked up with input from local residents.

THE traditional Scottish apprenticeship has served our country well.

A POLITICIAN should function like a barometer: As an instrument for measuring the pressure of public opinion at any given time. There is no doubt that the political mercury level is rising in measuring public concern about the cost of fuel.

IT was a real honour to be first person to open the Morar and Mallaig Highland Games who has not been a laird. On Sunday, it was a pleasure to present the former Games organiser for the last three decades Jackie McKellaig with a bottle of Scottish Parliament whisky. The whisky, was, I suggested, one product of the Scottish Parliament that meets with near unanimous approval!

AS temperatures have been rising over the summer so the price of oil has been rising - towards $100 a barrel. Unlike our weather temperatures, oil prices are not expected to come down. Here in the North of Scotland, we pay a very high price at the fuel pumps about the highest in all of Europe.

A NAIRN constituent phoned me last Monday morning, to say that she had just found out that convicted rapist David Penman was her new neighbour. He had been put in the council house next door about two weeks previously after having been released from Peterhead prison.

LAST week in Parliament we approved the scheme to rebuild the Waverley Line, the Borders railway.

MEMBERS' business debates take place at 5pm every Wednesday and Thursday.

ONE of the most serious problems facing Scotland today is the lack of housing, and the high price of homes. Young people just cannot afford to rent or buy and homelessness levels are rising.