Please follow the below link for a look ahead to events in the Scottish Parliament this week.
As I write, the internet in our office and the surrounding area is currently down. It contributed to a few searching questions, the most pertinent of which is: how did we, or anyone else, manage to do our job without the internet?
Earlier this week the Scottish Policing Board met to discuss the viability of merging Scottish police forces into three or potentially one force. At the present moment there are eight forces in Scotland and a total of 17,294 police officers, add into this administrative staff (i.e. human resources etc) and I’d estimate that we’re looking at a provider of around 20,000 jobs in Scotland. But, the question being posed is do we need eight separate forces?
Apparently it will take the ‘Toxic Tories’ a massive 25 years to rebuild their flailing reputation in Scotland according to one senior source reported in The Herald. According to another they do not have anyone to match the character of Alex Salmond and according to a third source they need to drop David Cameron as leader of the Conservatives in Scotland.
Rebecca Harris, Tory backbench MP for Castle Point (South East Essex if you were wondering), has tabled a Bill asking the UK government to “conduct a cross-departmental analysis of the potential costs and benefits of advancing time by one hour for all, or part of, the year”.
So urgent is the need to find a solution to the matter the Scottish Government has called an Alcohol Summit in the middle of recess. The Government invited opposition parties to the Parliament on Wednesday in order to discuss the Alcohol (Scotland) Bill and specifically the issue of minimum pricing.
So the Prime Minister’s first official trip to the US is going off fairly uneventfully. Not a great deal worth commenting on, a few titbits on the economy, a little on a 10 year old war, a few words on a global corporation engulfed in controversy and a wee chat on one of the biggest acts of terrorism ever. Quite an easy first trip for Mr Cameron to embark on don’t you think?
Today Deputy PM Nick Clegg announced that a referendum on voting reform is to be held on the 5th May, 2011. As I’m sure you’ll all know the 5th May is the day of the Scottish elections. And the Welsh Assembly’s and the Northern Irish Assembly’s too. Either the Deputy PM missed the ‘Respect Agenda’ memo or we all didn’t read the small print and the Respect period is now over; who had two months in the sweepstake?
The SNP have today refuted opponent’s claims that they have left it too late to hold a referendum on independence prior to next years Holyrood elections in May. This follows on from an admission by the First Minister that independence is not the “centre of Scottish politics” at the current time.