Dusting off the Cobwebs

I was out and about in Cumbernauld and Kilsyth earlier today distributing some community surveys and finding out some views of local people about their area and on Scottish politics in general.

This will doubtless be the first of many "workdays" for me as we build towards the expected Westminster general election - possibly this Autumn, but more likely a bit further down the line I suspect. It was good to get out and about after what has been a busy Summer in the office and to hear a few views being expressed from more than a few local people.

Anyway, as I say, there will be more of this type of activity in the not too distant future, so if you are interested in coming and giving us a helping hand then just drop me an e-mail and let me know.

The Second and Last Hustings

Tonight saw the second and last hustings for the Cumbernauld and Kilsyth constituency after the first set yesterday. Unlike last night the hustings tonight (held in Cumbernauld College) was exclusively for the Scottish Parliament candidates, with the four of us contesting the constituency joined by a representative from the SSP, Solidarity and the Scottish Christian Party.

The event tonight was well attended and many issues of local importance were brought up.

One issue that was raised was the ongoing problems at Cumbernauld Town Centre. Since the Tories allowed this facility to be privatised there have been problems there. Essentially the people of Cumbernauld don't really have a proper town centre, but a decrepit 1960s shopping centre. Have you ever heard of a town centre that is locked at night so that people can't access it? That is the reality that people in Cumbernauld have to face. The town centre does not do justice for a town the size of Cumbernauld. It should be the very civic heart of the town, but at the moment it is far from achieving that purpose.

One lady at the hustings who is involved with a local credit union highlighted the huge problem that local bodies such as that have in getting premises at the town centre, reinforcing the fact that the town doesn't really have a town centre to speak of. My Labour opponent and incumbent MSP Cathie Craigie has recently announced that she intends to establish a trust for the town centre.

How convenient that she makes this announcement on the eve of an election in which she feels under pressure. She has been an MSP for eight years and it has taken her this length of time to act on the issue. We have been surveying local people - as I have mentioned previously on this blog - and fully 96% of people who responded told us that they are concerned by the state of the town centre. If successful on 3rd May I give an assurance to them that I won't wait eight years to act on the town centre, but will get working on the matter within the first eight DAYS of being elected.

Other matters of importance raised were the loss of 400 jobs at the Inland Revenue in Cumbernauld, something to which I am totally opposed. Gordon Brown has made big play of cutting "civil service" jobs. He clearly is lulling people into the idea that Sir Humphrey down in Whitehall is for his jotters when in actual fact it is front line workers, many of whom are on short term contracts with little job security and low pay that face the chop.

We also had the chance to discuss Cumbernauld House's future. This important building has a long history and was most recently used by the D.H. Morris Group which has recently gone under. Many local people now believe that this should be used as a community facility and I agree with them. It was suggested that this could be brought into community ownership with a purchase organised by the Cumbernauld community. That is one solution and if it emerges as the most obvious way to create a community facility out of Cumbernauld House then I will support it, but we can look at other methods too.

The future of the A&E at Monklands was also brought up. I was delighted to be able to point to the fact that the SNP has given a cast iron guarantee - and it is in our manifesto if you want to look - that if we form the administration after the election then we will reverse the dangerous decision to close the A&E at Monklands.

All in all, I have to confess I enjoyed tonight's event. My only disappointment is that we have only had two hustings during the entire campaign.

Alex Salmond Visits Cumbernauld

Attendance at a reception for a friend's wedding meant that I was unable to get posting on the blog until today, but yesterday was hugely busy.

In the morning my wife Julie and I joined Councillor Neil MacCallum to visit the Beild Sheltered Housing complex in the Seafar area of Cumbernauld. This is a wonderful facility and my second time there. I managed to visit it along with Nicola Sturgeon when I was candidate for the area in the 2005 general election and was impressed then. I was impressed by the place again.

The staff there seem utterly dedicated to the residents who were amongst the friendliest people I have met in while. They were interested to hear about the campaign and I was interested to hear from them. One couple recalled that I had visited before and even remembered what school I had attended! So I was amongst old friends.

Sadly not all of Scotland's pensioners live in such circumstances as those at the Beild complex. It is a national disgrace that one in five of pensioners lives in poverty at this time. You can tell a lot about a society by the way in which it treats its older citizens, so this statistic makes for sad reading. That is why it's time for the SNP policy of a non means-tested Citizens Pension of £120 per week linked to earnings and to cast the means-tested pension credit, which far too many poorer pensioners fail to claim, to the dustbin of history along with pittance pensions under the Tories and then Labour.

After the visit to the Beild complex the three of us set off to Cumbernauld Village to meet up with Councillor Liz Irvine at the Senior Citizens Lunch Club at the Roadside Hall. We were fed and watered by this fantastic organisation which is run by the members for the members themselves. The food was top quality but I was left disappointed by failing to win a prize in their raffle, although Neil won some Jaffa Cakes and Julie managed to win a can of mushroom soup.

We then dashed off to Cumbernauld Town Centre where over twenty SNP activists were able to engage with the public and distribute literature with balloons and flags for the kids. A really good atmosphere was topped off by the visit of Alex Salmond who was able to meet with many members of the Cumbernauld public. I was struck by just how many wanted to shake his hand and pledge support to the SNP.

We then visited a local small business, Hopscotch, a children's clothes store. There Alex was able to meet with the owner, Frances, and explain the benefits of the SNP "Small Business Bonus" scheme which will see the ending of rates in their entirety for the 120,000 smallest businesses in Scotland, with reduced rates for many thousands more. This policy will ensure that small businesses are better able to keep afloat, something which is absolutely vital given that small to medium enterprises are by far and away the major employer of private sector workers in Scotland. It will also mean a better range of shops and services for people in their local communities.

This is particularly pertinent in the case of Cumbernauld Town Centre which has suffered particularly poorly with many empty lets there at present.

Then to round off the day Alex was interviewed by the local newspaper. So if you live in the area look out for the report of this interview in next week's editions of the Cumbernauld News and Kilsyth Chronicle.

I have a reader!

Whilst out campaigning in the Craigmarloch area of Cumbernauld tonight I received confirmation of the fact that I have at least one reader of my blog. One resident informed me - without prompting - that he had been reading my musings on the world.

This highlights the benefits of this site. It allows me to communicate in another way with people in Cumbernauld and Kilsyth. It is heartening to know at least one person out there is reading.

The Campaign Goes On

It has been a busy few days since my last post here. On Saturday I started the morning by meeting up with one of the local council candidates and the SNP team to continue our survey work in the Blackwood area of Cumbernauld. An hour or so later after having chapped several hundred doors between us all, my wife Julie and I took our scuffed knuckles onto the train to Glasgow heading for the Science Centre where the SNP was having its campaign conference.

We arrived in time to squeeze in the back of a very packed auditorium to hear Nicola Sturgeon give an excellent speech that set out much of the party's plans and priorities for if and when we form the next administration. It was particularly heartening to listen to her underline the fact that the independence referendum is a line in the sand issue for us in any potential coalition deal should such be necessary.

Then after having joined my family for my uncle's 60th birthday bash in Troon on Saturday night it was back to the Science Centre on Sunday. After catching up with a number of old friends who are dotted across the country it was back into the packed auditorium (although this time I thankfully managed to grab a seat) to listen to Alex Salmond's keynote speech.

This was a performance par excellence from my party leader. From the moment he started with the words, "I'm Alex Salmond, and I'm running for First Minister", to the very last word it was an assured, measured, commanding and statesman like address. It is clear why he remains by far the most popular candidate to become First Minister of Scotland this May.

All in all, the conference left me, and seemingly all those who were there, in very buoyant mood indeed. This was just the inspiration needed to start off my Monday where I and a large number of SNP activists were waiting to meet Ian Hudghton MEP, the SNP President, at Croy Train Station, to set off and undertake more survey work in the Blackwood and Smithstone areas, delivering hundreds of them to local people to find out their views on the matters of the day. Ian then went off to pay a visit to Eastfield Primary School whilst the rest of us carried on a bit more survey work then resting up in preparation of tonight's Annual General Meeting of Cumbernauld and Kilsyth SNP.

Tonight's meeting saw everyone in great heart and a growing realisation that as every day passes the SNP campaign gathers momentum and more and more people are being convinced by our arguments.

Blog Making the News

A wee bit of publicity for my blog this week as the Cumbernauld News and Kilsyth Chronicle reported its existence. Hopefully this will let even more people in Cumbernauld and Kilsyth know about the site and they might pop by and pay it a visit.

This is actually the second time we have made the paper with the blog. There was recently an interview with Tony Blair published and it got a mention then, as the editor of the paper had intended asking him a question based on the piece I did about his 1983 election leaflet. Sadly the strictly managed interview was limited to ten minutes and they ran out of time before he could get to that one. A note to the editor - if my blog similarly inspires you in the future then make sure it is the first question you ask!

Anyway, it is good to know that the blog is being read and making some impression on folk.

I am finding it more difficult to get time to contribute to it, but will endeavour to keep updating as regularly as I can between now and the election.

85 days and 520 votes to go

Hello and welcome to my blog site. I will try and keep this site as up to date as possible between now and election time. Although I can't promise to post every day, particularly once it gets closer to election day itself on 3rd May. And that day is going to come around remarkably soon.

There are only 85 days to the Scottish Parliament election, less than three months to go! The team of SNP activists in Cumbernauld and Kilsyth have been working hard to try and get the SNP message across to people in the area. We are presently engaged in a big survey of people's opinions about matters of national and local importance. The response we have been getting has been great, with many people telling us that they are fed up after seven and a half years of New Labour-Liberal rule and that it's time for a change, and that it's time for independence. There are only 520 votes between the SNP and Labour in Cumbernauld and Kilsyth, so every vote counts!

Please look out for our survey in your area. We should be calling soon if we haven't been already.