Sic a Parcel of Rogues ...

Yes, I know, I didn't post anything last week. Full of good intentions as always, but just couldn't find the time. Goodness knows there's been plenty to talk about, but always round about Burns Night things are pretty busy and so it's proved again this year (hence the catchy title for this contribution; topical, eh?) Incidentally, the two fine gentlemen pictured above have nothing to do with the parcel of rogues theme - I was pictured with community beat officer Tony Lawrence at The Strada recently when I was interviewing him about an Award he had just received!
Anyway, here we go:

Politics
A new month, but same old, same old ... Wendy is embroiled in another donations problem - although in the latest case she seems to have received inaccurate advice from Parliament's officials. Be that as it may, Wendy's been referred to the Procurator Fiscal's office.
That's potentially two Court appearances, which is some achievement for someone who has only been in office for four months!
Since my last post Peter Hain has gone - found out this morning he's been employing his 80 year old mother as a secretary too - and an odious Tory called Conway has been caught bang to rights, dishing out jobs to family members and their chums with gay abandon, with little evidence of any of them having done any work at all.
Conway's punishment? Ten days suspension from the House of Commons and he's had the Tory whip withdrawn. How painful ... the great news is that he can return to Parliament in ten days time and then do absolutely sod all until the next election, when he will retire (with full pension of course). Yes, it's a hard life ...
And the even better news is that it's us - good old Joe Public - who will foot the bill!
Closer to home my old comrade Councillor Ian Perry has also come in for a bit of a battering - he's been getting paid £40,000 a year as a lecturer although he's not done any lecturing for quite some time. Doesn't look good, and the public perception is now that every politician - of every persuasion - is only in the job for what they can make.
On a slightly brighter note John Loughton won Big Brother Celebrity Hijack and he gave a polished performance on today's Politics Show. I don't know if John will ultimately decide to enter the world of party politics, but if he does I hope he sticks to his principles - it seems that too many politicians have forgotten the reason they got involved in the first place.

Sport
The Hibs put in a very creditable performance against Rangers in the Scottish Cup at Easter Road today - such an improvement on their abject display the last time the sides met just a few weeks ago. Rangers are the best team in Scotland by quite a margin just now, so things are looking a bit brighter down Leith way. Can't say I fancy them in the replay at Ibrox much, but at least Mixu Paatelainen seems to have restored some of the pride and battling qualities that evaporated under John Collins and then Craig. Maybe a top six spot is just possible?
Meanwhile, the oval ball - the Six Nations Championship looks on paper to be the most open in years and I had a sneaking fancy that Scotland could just do it this year. We have France and England - both rebuilding their teams - at home, so it's looking good ...
Well, until we actually played that is. We were woeful against the French, and for an experienced side we made some of the most basic errors imaginable. Passes going astray, spills, elementary mistakes - it was awful. Things, as they say, can only get better ... now where did I hear that again?
At least the Welsh managed to overcome a twenty year hoodoo against England at the new Fortress Twickers - and silenced Brian Moore in the process. Some achievement indeed.

Work
Work has started to pick up after a dreadfully slow start to the year. Went to print last Thursday and there's far more of interest in this month's paper than seemed possible just a week or two ago. It was a 'hold the front page' job on Wednesday when Health Secretary Nicola Sturgeon visited Pilton Community Health Project on Wednesday - also on Wednesday the famous Gruffalo visited Forthview School to launch a nationwide reading initiative. Great photos - and I suppose that day is a perfect example of the variety of things I get to cover in North Edinburgh. There are no two days the same.

Community
The local community is holding it's collective breath, waiting to hear how generous (or otherwise) the budget settlement is likely to be. From what I understand it appears to be better than has been forecast, which will be a huge relief to many. The council sets it's budget on 21 February, though, and no one's counting any chickens just yet ...