Inverness and Nairn SNP MSP Fergus Ewing believes cross-party work could be an antidote to the tribalism within Holyrood
Liz Smith MSP is working to change the law with a members bill that would provide every secondary school child with the opportunity to take part in residential outdoor education for a week a year.
Many readers will recall that this used to be commonplace in the 1970s. It provides many youngsters with the chance to learn new skills, make friends build self-esteem and confidence, and become more resilient. For some, it may be the first time that they have seen Scotland outwith urban housing schemes.
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There are of course obstacles including costs, availability of teachers and supervisors, and transport. But obstacles are surely there to be overcome? She proposes a public trust so that the costs do not fall entirely on the taxpayer. The Highlands have a great many outdoor education establishments, which have had a tough time to survive. This new law would be a tremendous boost for them too.
Liz is well respected across the party divide. As a former school teacher, member of the Scottish women’s cricket team, and chair of the cross-party group on sport, she knows what she is talking about. I hope that the whole parliament will support this and that it becomes law. It can be a great example of MSPs working across party lines - an antidote to the tribalism that is all too evident in Holyrood of late.
PM’s new clothes
Let me assure Courier readers that I purchase my own clothes and have never had a free ticket to a Taylor Swift concert. A Swiftie, I am not! My 16-year-old daughter is tired of my opining that popular music ceased to be of much interest after the passing of Frank Sinatra…The shenanigans involving gifts on a fairly massive scale to the PM and members of the UK government cabinet has certainly altered my own view of them.
Though in a different party, I had been of the view that the new PM was a fairly moderate and sensible chap, with a successful career as head of the prosecution service in England and Wales. To his great credit, he had seen off the extreme left element in his party, led by Jeremy Corbyn, a man who should never have been leader.
Now, I simply cannot understand how those on modest incomes, struggling to make ends meet, can possibly be expected to respect a PM and cabinet who seem to have accepted gifts of all sorts of things on a massive scale. Hundreds of thousands of people in Scotland are to lose the £300 winter fuel allowance, at the same time as their leaders accepted lavish gifts - and over a long period of time. It certainly jars with me, and I suspect most of the people in the UK.
