Votepod'07

Sunshine in Leith

I went along to check out one of Lesley Riddoch's Votepod'07 events, highlighted in her YouScotland Guest Blog, this one in Leith last Thursday, the fourth last in a series of innovative nationwide hustings. This one was certainly innovative - it was in a half completed boxing arena in the Ocean Terminal shopping centre, with the political gladiators actually in the ring - no gloves though! But so too was the event, The Big Neigbouhood Debate, focussing on housing and planning issues, a great venue for such a debate as you could literally see out of the window the "yuppie flats" being built on the former docklands that will transform the Leith area - but to the benefit of the Leithers?

All five main parties were there, and for once ( so I am told), the Labour representative was not on the end of a duffing. Maybe this was because he was Malcolm Chisholm, local labour Holyrood candidate for the Edinburgh North and Leith seat, and much respected former Communities Minister who resigned - nae, was all but sacked by Jacko - for speaking out over Trident2. He also though had an obvious grasp of housing issues and an understanding of the very real dilemmas surrounding housing, planning, environmental and affordability issues. The other candidates - including Malcolm Chisholm's main challenger in Edinburgh North anf Leith, Davie Hutchison of the SNP were also good, and the overall quality of debate and contribution from the floor first class, informed but rarely angry, just as good hustings should be.

And all genuinely good. Nice venue, nice people, good music , some half time poetic satire, and great sandwiches! More please Votepod'07 . But why wait until Votepod'11? We surely don't need election for this sort of thing to be a good idea?

Link to Votepod'07

Reporter:Alan Smart

Hugh Hill

One Man's Election: A View From South Ayrshire

by Hugh Hill

A couple of people here have mentioned that they know my face.  It isn’t surprising since up until recently I used to conduct non religious ceremonies for the Humanist Society of Scotland.  Sadly, nearly all of those ceremonies were funerals.  There was one particular funeral that had a profound effect on me and that was the funeral of a beautiful five year old boy who had died of cancer.  I tell you this because it is a subject I will come back to later.

I decided to enter this election after listening to David Cameron, the leader of the Tory party, expressing his deep concern about the amount of privatisation going on in the NHS.  That combined with the New Labour vote to spend an unimaginable fortune on weapons of mass destruction, was the last straw. New Labour is unquestionably filtering Thatcherite policies into our country. For example;-

NHS privatisation; We have recently witnessed the spectacle of a private company attempting to take over a local doctor’s surgery in Harthill. The PFI scheme; This will ensure that our children and possibly our grandchildren will be paying for these schemes straight into the pockets of private shareholders.

The lack of local authority houses; How on earth could anyone justify the failure to provide descent, basic, affordable housing in this country?

Privatisation and commercialisation programmes in schools and colleges;  The PFI is bad enough but encouraging our children to live on a diet of junk food and irregular food habits is bordering on the criminal.

Tuition fees;  Whatever happened to free education for all?

Low pensions; We are looked upon as the poor man of Europe when it comes to pensions.  Ours are disgustingly low.  We need an immediate and substantial rise in pensions,  and an end to water and sewage bills for pensioners.  I have taken on board the policies of the Scottish Senior Citizen’s Unity Party which includes a national index linked basic pension of £160 a week.  Abolition of the council tax and more residential homes for seniors.  My own policy goes further than that and if you want a large type copy of my manifesto please see me later.

The relentless increase in the gap between rich and poor; Year on year we have seen the rich get richer and the poor get poorer under New Labour.

Law and order; I come from a rural coal mining community where standards of common decency and respect for others were instilled in me from a very young age by my parents and grandparents who founded the local Labour Party.  We need to find ways of getting back to those basic ideals of Labour in Scotland.

Trident and the Iraq war; These are modern day obscenities that fly in the face of not only traditional Labour values but common sense. What better use could this money have been put to in helping find ways of combating the ravages of age and disease throughout the world?  And this is where I come back to the story I mentioned at the beginning of my presentation where I told you about the five year old wee laddie who died of cancer.  Scotland has unquestionably some of the best scientific minds in the world.

Scotland is looked upon as a centre of scientific excellence.  We should be tripling, or more, our investment in medical research. Cancer is curable, but we need the resources both in money and facilities to combat these diseases.  Already, stem cell research, has found a cure for diabetes.    That alone will improve the quality of life for untold millions.  Scotland could be in the forefront of medical research and instead of threatening to destroy millions of lives we could be saving countless millions throughout the world.  The potential through stem cell research for cures for age related diseases is boundless.

That, ladies and gentlemen, is one of the values New Labour threw out.What, I wonder, would that South Ayrshire champion of the common man, James Keir Hardie, who opposed our entry into World War One, have made of the antics of New Labour?  The traditional Labour supporters have been disenfranchised by New Labour.  New Labour not only threw out the old labour policies but the old labour values as well. We need to restore those values in today’s world.  Make no bones about it, Scottish Labour is unquestionably, Scottish New Labour.

Had New Labour sought to retain the traditional good and decent values of Keir Hardy and the countless numbers who fought for those values, then the things I stand for would already have been delivered.
I unashamedly ask for your vote in this election.  Vote Hill – Vote Independent.

Hugh Hill is an independent candidate for Carrick Cumnock and Doon Valley : Born in 1939 into a coal mining family.  He left school at 15 and went into the pits. After a few years in mining he joined the Royal Air Force and ended up in Air Traffic where he remained in ‘Civvy Street’ until his retirement.  He now holds a BSc with honours in psychology, and a Diploma in Secular Ceremony.Hugh is a member of the Humanist Society of Scotland, the British Humanist Society, the Rationalist Association, the Secular Society, Kyle and Carrick Civic Society, Greenpeace, various other secular organisations in USA and Canada, and is executive director of the Secular Fellowship. Hugh strongly believes that every individual has an absolute right to food, clothing, shelter, health and education. Pet loves are Schubert’s 5th symphony, Pink Floyd and science. Pet hates are drivers who don’t indicate their intentions,superstition  and xenophobia.  Not necessarily in that order.

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