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Date: March 2008
A View from Holyrood
- West Edinburgh Times
From December of this year house sellers will be compelled to commission a survey and valuation of their homes before putting them on the market and make these reports available...
Date: February 2008
A View from Holyrood
- West Edinburgh Times
On 6th February, the Parliament finally approved the first budget of the new SNP minority government and the next day approved the allocation of...
Date: January 2008
A View from Holyrood
- West Edinburgh Times
Readers may recall my campaign to secure refunds for pensioners who had wrongly been charged by the Council for assistance with meal preparation when this service should have been ...
Date: December 2007
A View from Holyrood - Class Sizes
- West Edinburgh Times
On the face of it, a reduction in class sizes in our schools would seem to be a "good thing" which politicians of all parties should support almost without question. S...
Date: 02 November 2007
No Big Blether needed
- Evening News
A SNP minority Government at Holyrood. Alex Salmond strutting around as First Minister. The Scottish Labour Party in disarray. Claims that Scotland is being shortchanged by London ...
Date: November 2007
A View from Holyrood - More police on our streets
- West Edinburgh Times
The need to increase the number of police officers dedicated to community policing has become one of the key issues in the Scottish Parliament. In its election manifesto, the SN...
Date: October 2007
A View from Holyrood - Central Heating Programme
- West Edinburgh Times
The Central Heating Programme and related Warm Deal scheme are currently under review by our new self styled Scottish Government and are also being looked at by the Parliament'...
Date: September 2007
A View from Holyrood - School Closure Plan
- West Edinburgh Times
The decision of the City Council not to proceed with a consultation exercise on the proposed closure of 22 nursery, primary and secondary schools across the city in the face of a w...
Date: August 2007
A View from Holyrood - More on Tolls
- West Edinburgh Times
The announcement by the new Scottish Executive that it wants to abolish tolls on both the Forth and Tay Road Bridges...
Date: August 2007
Why is the Jury out for Pensioners?
- Evening News
For many people being called for jury service is viewed with dread. Hanging around in a waiting room for hours before you know whether you have been selected or the case is going a...
Date: July 2007
A View from Holyrood - The Edinburgh Trams Project
- West Edinburgh Times
The Scottish Parliament is now in recess for July and August. The last week of term ended with a ...
Date: June 2007
A View from Holyrood - Starting Up
- West Edinburgh Times
Since my last article, Alex Salmond has been appointed as First Minister and a minority SNP Government has now been ...
Date: May 2007
A View from Holyrood - Election Result
- West Edinburgh Times
I am delighted to have been re-elected as the MSP for the Edinburgh Pentlands constituency. Wheth...
Date: March 2007
A View from Holyrood - Tolls back on the Agenda
- West Edinburgh Times
Two years ago people in Edinburgh we...
Date: February 2007
A View from Holyrood - Refunds for Pensioners
- West Edinburgh Times
I am delighted that the City of Edinburgh Council...
Date: January 2007
A View from Holyrood - New Voting System for Council Elections
- West Edinburgh Times
On 3rd May this year, we will be electing a new City...
Date: December 2006
A View from Holyrood - Local Taxes
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A Scottish Executive commissioned Report into local government finance which was published last month has recommende...
Date: November 2006
A View from Holyrood - Child Care Vouchers
- West Edinburgh Times
Earlier this year a constituent wrote to me about child care vouchers. These were introduced in A...
Date: 03 October 2006
Don't set limits on pupils' education
- Evening News
SCHOOL catchment areas are a political hot potato. They define the primary and secondary schools our children and yo...
Date: October 2006
A View from Holyrood - High Hedges
- Currie & Balerno News
High hedges arouse strong passions and can lead to bitter disputes between neighbours. Hedges not...
Date: October 2006
A View from Holyrood - Edinburgh Airport Rail Link Bill
- West Edinburgh Times
Last month the Scottish Parliament debated the Edinburgh Airport Rail Link Bill which will connect our airport to th...
Date: 26 September 2006
Elderly set to be served up £2m meals bill refund
- Evening News
ELDERLY people in the Capital could be in line for refunds totalling about £2 million after being made to pay for help with preparing meals. ...
Date: September 2006
A View from Holyrood - Hearing Difficulties
- Currie & Balerno News
One of the issues I have been pursuing on behalf of several co...
Date: August 2006
A View from Holyrood - Supermarket Blacklisting
- West Edinburgh Times
I was appalled to learn last month that two major supermarket ...
Date: 13 July 2006
McLetchie pushes for store van ban solution
- Evening News
FORMER Scottish Tory leader David McLetchie wants to persuade supermarket bosses to scrap their ban on deliveries to 4500 homes in Ed...
Date: 12 July 2006
Stores blacklist 'no-go zone' after attacks
- Evening News
By IAN SWANSON AND LINDA SUMMERHAYES THOUS...
Date: July 2006
A View from Holyrood - Free Personal Care Revisited
- West Edinburgh Times
Back in March I wrote about an elderly 92 year old lady who li...
Date: June 2006
A View from Holyrood – Special Needs Education
- West Edinburgh Times
I was pleased to able to highlight the issue of special needs education in a debate in the Parliament earlier this month. In particular, I was questioning whether we ...
Date: May 2006
A View from Holyrood - Tackling Anti-Social Behaviour
- West Edinburgh Times
Earlier this month the Scottish Executive announced that it would not support attempts by the City Council to introduce by-laws which would ban aggressive begging on our streets. ...
Date: April 2006
A View from Holyrood - No choice for parents
- West Edinburgh Times
Last month Edinburgh City Council voted to limit Primary 1 intakes at another batch of schools despite protests from parents. In the case of schools such as Craiglockhart and Balg...
Date: 27 March 2006
Learn the lesson of choice for schools
- Evening News
LAST week, Edinburgh City Council voted to limit Primary One intakes at another batch of schools despite protests from parents. In the case of schools such as Craiglockhart and Bal...
Date: 14 March 2006
'Free' care is pushed aside
- Evening News
LAST November, I was contacted by a relative of a 92-year-old lady - let's call her Mrs M - who lives in my Edinburgh Pentlands constituency and who was being charged £144 per mont...
Date: March 2006
A View from Holyrood - Charging for personal care
- West Edinburgh Times
One of the satisfactions of my job is achieving a successful result for a constituent who has a legitimate complaint. It is doubly satisfying when it brings about a positive resul...
Date: February 2006
A View from Holyrood - Warning letters
- West Edinburgh Times
One of the ways of holding Ministers in the Scottish Executive to account in respect of their areas of responsibility is to ask questions. These can be oral as is the case at Firs...
Date: January 2006
A View from Holyrood - Housing stock transfer
- West Edinburgh Times
I was very disappointed that council tenants in the City voted narrowly against the transfer of their homes to a new City of Edinburgh Housing Association in last month’s ballot. ...
Date: December 2005
A View from Holyrood - Single seller house surveys
- West Edinburgh Times
Good intentions do not always make for good laws and last month we saw a classic example of this when the Scottish Parliament passed the Housing Bill. This introduced the single s...
Date: November 2005
A View from Holyrood - Dealing with offenders
- West Edinburgh Times
One piece of legislation that the Scottish Parliament has just passed is the Management of Offenders Bill. It outlines the Scottish Executive’s strategy for dealing with offenders...
Date: October 2005
A View from Holyrood - Funding trams
- West Edinburgh Times
The Bills which provide the legal framework for the construction of the two Edinburgh tramlines are now going through the Scottish Parliament and in principle these projects have m...
Date: September 2005
A View from Holyrood - The new legislative programme
- West Edinburgh Times
It’s back to business for the Scottish Parliament after the summer recess and our first debate was on the Scottish Executive’s programme of legislation for the period through to th...
Date: August 2005
A View from Holyrood - School mergers
- West Edinburgh Times
The last two issues of the West Edinburgh Times have featured Hailesland and Dumbryden Primary Schools which will cease to exist as separate entities and be amalgamated into a new ...
Date: July 2005
A View from Holyrood - Make poverty history - Part 2
- West Edinburgh Times
I am all in favour of giving credit where credit is due and so I want to start this month’s article by congratulating the City Council and the Police on their handling of the Make ...
Date: June 2005
A View from Holyrood - Make poverty history - Part 1
- West Edinburgh Times
Make Poverty History is a laudable objective and there will be a major march and rally in Edinburgh on Saturday 2nd July to highlight the call for a better deal for some of the wor...
Date: May 2005
A View from Holyrood - Who does what
- West Edinburgh Times
I begin this month’s column by offering my congratulations to Alistair Darling on his election as the Member of Parliament for the new Edinburgh South West constituency which cover...
Date: April 2005
A View from Holyrood - Boundary changes
- West Edinburgh Times
We are now in a curious period when its business as usual in the Scottish Parliament but a General Election campaign for Westminster is raging all around us. It is one of the feat...
Date: March 2005
A View from Holyrood - Trams not tolls
- West Edinburgh Times
The City Council’s referendum on Road Tolls (otherwise known as congestion charging) produced a decisive 3 to 1 rejection of the plan in a postal ballot in which over 60% of eligib...
Date: February 2005
A View from Holyrood - Funding of council services
- West Edinburgh Times
Earlier this month, the Scottish Parliament debated the Local Government Settlement 2005-08 which was all about how much money the Scottish Executive intends to give Scottish counc...
Date: January 2005
A View from Holyrood - Road toll referendum
- West Edinburgh Times
The Council’s introduction of road tolls takes place next month. This is a postal ballot and constituents should receive their voting papers on 7th February. I say should receive...
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