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Spokes public meeting: ‘A City where you Don’t Need a Car’
First Minister Yousaf has his work cut out at Holyrood
A fresh start indeed
By STEPHEN RAFFERTYVETERANS LIVING at Whitefoord House
in the Canongate are recruiting volunteers
to help staff their pop-up shop.
The shop was first introduced during the
Covid-19 pandemic to ensure residents
could access supplies and now runs as a
tuck-shop offering free tea, coffee and has
sweets, crisps and juice for sale.
This shop is designed to break down
social isolation by encouraging the 80
residents to gather in the communal area
and enjoy a coffee and chat, opening
nightly from 7pm for two hours.
Whitefoord House is one of a number of
properties run by Scottish Veterans
Residences and offers accommodation,
support and activities for ex Armed Forces
service men and women and merchant
marine and reservists.
Scottish Veterans Residences
spokesman, Colin Leslie, said: “We are
looking for volunteers - from the civilian or
veterans community - to assist with a
relaunch of the shop and no experience is
necessary. The veterans who run our shop
give their time entirely voluntarily and
they would benefit from extra support to
allow this initiative to grow.”
The charity is also looking to partner
with any local supermarkets in the area
who might be able to help the veterans
buy and collect stock for the shop (on a
small scale).If you are interested in volunteering to help
staff the shop, leave details for Residence
Manager Kirsty Smeaton-Brown here:
http://www.svronline.org/contactWhitefoord House:
volunteers please
step forward...
HOLYROOD DIARY
By UNA PURDIEBURNER PHONES, police searches, missing
cash and a mysterious camper van sitting in a
92 year old’s driveway. The bizarre scenes from
the police investigation into SNP finances seems
more like Breaking Bad than real-life Scottish
political drama. The enduring image of last
month has to be the forensic tent outside the
former First Minister, Nicola Sturgeon’s home,
which she will be desperately hoping does not
become the enduring memory of her time as
leader. Quite what they were seeking as they
poked around her barbecue is yet to be revealed.
This is a undeniably a nightmare start to the
new First Minister, Humza Yousaf ’s dream job.
The so-called ‘continuity candidate’ was
extremely keen to hit the reset button as he set
out a “fresh vision” at Holyrood last month, based
around the three themes of “equality, opportunity
and community”. The fresh vision included
delaying policies causing him headaches, such as
the deposit return scheme and the proposed ban
on alcohol advertising, and bringing back the
previously ditched, revolutionary policy of
measuring Scottish education against
international standards. Unfortunately for him,
the SNP Treasurer Colin Beattie was arrested the
very same day he laid out this bold plan, ensuring
his efforts were “utterly torpedoed” as Lib Dem
Leader Alex Cole-Hamilton put it.MAKING HEADLINES
To his credit, Mr Yousaf has not shirked from
the media during the SNP’s ongoing woes.
Instead he has proven himself to be an excellent
feed for headline writers, with journalists
delighted to learn from the new FM that he did
not believe the SNP was operating in a criminal
way, and that he was surprised when one of his
colleagues was arrested.
There has certainly been plenty lively debate
in the Holyrood chamber, not all of it from the
politicians. Rowdy climate protestors regularly
make more incomprehensible mutterings than
the MSPs, which takes some doing. There was a
particularly robust protest during Humza
Yousaf ’s inaugural First Minister’s Questions,
leading to the gallery being cleared of all but a
few unlucky schoolchildren. Conservative
Leader Douglas Ross was caught uttering some
rude curse word into his microphone, frustrated
that his own attempts to show how grumpy he
could be were overshadowed.Mr Ross was not the only one caught being
unparliamentary this month, with Deputy
Presiding Officer Annabelle Ewing having to
tell off her brother Fergus for his passionately
expressed views of the Greens, or “wine bar
revolutionaries” as he put it. Mr Ewing wants to
continue things like fishing in all parts of
Scottish waters, and exploring for North Sea oil
and gas, which is not really so popular with the
junior partners in the Scottish Government. As
for the rest of the SNP’s views on this, they
shuffle uncomfortably and make some
non-committal mutterings about a “justtransition” so it’s anybody’s guess, really.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the chamber,
you can almost feel the glee in the Labour
camps as they sense the political winds
changing. Their Leader Anas Sarwar announced
an “election ready reshuffle” with Jackie Bailie
and Edinburgh South MP Ian Murray given the
role of general election campaign co-ordinators.
The rest of the new shadow cabinet team may
well be advised to say as little as possible for
now and just watch the show. As the famous
Napoleon quote goes, “never interrupt your
enemy when he is making a mistake”.By STAFF REPORTERSpokes are holding a public
meeting on 24 May.THE SPEAKERS:- Adrian Davis, Professor of
Transport & Health at Napier
Transport Research Unit – he will
critique the various policies – are
they sufficiently ambitious? will
they work?- Phil Noble, Strategy Manager for
Active Travel and Street space- more detail on the policy delivery
documents, including the Active
Travel Action Plan- Cllr Scott Arthur, Edinburgh City
Transport Convener who will talk
about the Council’s plans on active
travel and recent council errors in
advertising traffic orders
- Cllr Scott Arthur, Edinburgh City
- more detail on the policy delivery
The speakers will be followed by a
one-hour panel Q&A, chaired by Dr
Caroline Brown who is a Spokesmember, Transform Scotland policy
adviser, and a transport academic- This is your chance to interrogate
and challenge the speakers.
7.30 to 9.30pm. Doors at 6.45 for
coffee, stalls and chat.
Augustine United Church 41 George
IV Bridge, EH1 1EL