The end of an era?

Not so Fair(er) Scotland
There have been more newsworthy events over the last week, both locally and internationally, but one news item that will have a devastating effect on North Edinburgh didn't feature in the press last week, and I'll start with that.
The Fairer Scotland Fund allocation for North Edinburgh was finally passed down from on high - i.e. The Edinburgh Partnership - this week, and the figures make grim reading.
To those people who are not intimately concerned with funding for voluntary organisations and community groups - and there are many - I apologise in advance for this posting, but for those who will be directly affected, here are the facts and figures.
Because of the delays in implementing Fairer Scotland, all projects who received Community Regeneration Funding were awarded six months funding in April.
In North Edinburgh, those 19 projects received a total of £882, 590 - from North Edinburgh Childcare's £210,000 down to North Edinburgh Trust's European Fund £2500.
The total allocation for the final six months of this financial year is under £600,000 (Forth £530,629 and Inverleith £68,008), so you don't have to be a financial wizard to see that there are serious problems ahead.
That's a shortfall of almost £300,000 and a cut of that scale is bound to mean that - however this cut is implemented - we will see long-established projects forced to cut back on a massive scale and some will undoubtedly have to close altogether.
In listing the projects in the firing line it strikes me that so many of them have been at the forefront of tackling poverty and social exclusion in this area for so many years - and each contributing in it's own way to improving the quality of life of some of Edinburgh's most disadvantaged citizens.
Those projects are: North Edinburgh Childcare, North Edinburgh Trust (formerly The Pilton Partnership), Pilton Youth & Children's Project, Granton Information Centre, Muirhouse Youth Development Group, Black Community Development Project, Muirhouse Millennium Centre, Granton Youth Centre, North Edinburgh News, Women Supporting Women, Drylaw Neighbourhood Centre, North West Carers Centre, Pilton Equalities Project, North Edinburgh Activist Training, North Edinburgh Business Incubator, North Edinburgh Arts Centre, Community Voices, Stepping Stones and NET's European Fund.
Over the next few weeks Forth and Inverleith Neighbourhood Partnership's will have to take some almost impossible decisions - using unnecessarily tight criteria (also imposed from 'above', and I'll be one of the community representatives who will be addressing this as the Inverleith rep working with Forth's community council nominees. I've also got meetings lined up early next week to see how we can best organise a community response to an awful situation, and a further one with local projects through EVOC on Thursday. Lots of people to talk to, and not an awful lot of time to try to salvage something from what is an impending catastrophe.
I'll keep you posted.

Zimbabwe
However real and urgent our own local difficulties are, they pale into insignificance when you witness the dreadful events in Africa. Mugabe and his henchmen have literally got away with murder while the world looks on , seemingly impotent. The hope was clearly that Zimbabwe's neighbour's - particularly South Africa - would bring pressure to bear on Mugabe, but Mbeke seems unable or unwilling to take action so the onus falls on the rest of the world to take firm action to resolve the worsening situation for the Zimbabwean people.
Stricter sanctions would be a start - withdrawal of embassies and the cutting of all diplomatic ties, and a total ban on trading with the corrupt regime. Yes, that would also have an effect on Zimbabwe's poor, but really, how much worse can it get for these poor people anyway? I don't think that even this would be enough, however - the world is not dealing with a reasonable man here. It's awful to contemplate but military action may be necessary to rid the world of this most odious of dictators, a man who's crimes of humanity against his own people must surely rival those of Saddam Hussein? That action would, of course, have to be sanctioned and led by the United Nations and must include African troops so as to ensure that Mugabe could not claim that this was a 'colonialist invasion'.
The longer the world's leaders prevaricate, the worse the situation becomes for the starving people of Zimbabwe. There is a moral obligation to act - and a refusal to shake the dictator's hand at an international conference really does not strike me as firm enough action. Jaw jaw is always better than war-war, but there's no point in trying to talk when the other party refuses to listen.

Wendy's Woes
Wendy goes, but not far enough. After ten torrid months Wendy Alexander finally 'stepped down' yesterday, still refusing to accept her wrongdoing, unrepentant right to the end. I have spent far too many words on Wendy on these blogs already, and I don't plan to rehash all the reasons I believe she should have departed the political scene a long time ago.
All I will add is that, while she has 'stepped down' she has only resigned sa leader of the Labour group of MSPs - she remains a member of the Scottish Parliament, as do her 'campaign team' partners in crime (yes, they did break the law although no action was subsequently taken by the authorities). Whitton, Baillie and, in particular, Charlie Gordon still have questions to answer about how they managed to drag the Labour Party into such turmoil. If the Electoral Commission is seen as gutless, perhaps it falls upon Labour's own internal structures - the NEC for example - to hold a full, open and honest investigation into what transpired. Only then can Labour really move forward and begin to resemble an effective Opposition.
It looks like there will at least be an election this time, as opposed to a coronation. That's got to be good - bring it on, as someone once said.
Sixty years ago this week Labour's greatest achievement - our National Health Service - came into being. It's architect Nye Bevan proudly proclaimed that Britain had now become 'the moral authority in the world'. You can only wonder what the great man would make of his current successors.
On a lighter note, I received an email from the local Labour Party saying that tonight's fundraising Film Night has been cancelled 'following recent events'.
My own guess is that a poor take-up of a chance to see 'The Edukators' in Drylaw Neighbourhood Centre (only £50 a table for six) has rather more to do with the Final of Euro 2008 than Wendy's inevitable demise! Finger on the pulse, or what?

Sporting Chance
And on Euro 2008, Spain and Germany contest the final tonight and it could be a classic. However it's more likely to be a very cagey affair with the undoubted talents of both teams being stifled and cancelled out by their opponents. I hope I'm wrong, but I see this going all the way to penalties. I hope not for Knutt's sake (that sounds like swearing, but it's not.) She backed Spain before the start on the tournament - I need them to win if I am to have even the remotest chance of getting any money back!
I won't mention the Czech Republic again - the pain is still too raw and will take some time to heal - but at least my Fantasy Football team has climbed to mid-table respectability. I may even be able to celebrate a top-six finish (fair enough there are only twelve teams in the competition) so a small celebration may ensue.
When the tennis courts in the Meadows are packed you always know it's Wimbledon, and it's our very own Andy Murray who carries the (usually totally unrealistic) hopes of the nation on his fairly narrow shoulders. No more Henman Hill, now it's Murray Mound apparently.
Now I was never a bit fan of Tiger Tim, and I can't say I've taken young Andy to my heart either. Both come across as slightly petulant, taciturn - spoilt brats, basically. Both have the irritating habit of gritting their teeth and aggressively punching the air when they win a point. Shouldn't bother me, but it does.
Watching Andy's mother Judy in the stands I can see where he gets it from, so the chances are he won't grow out of it.
The big difference between Come on Tim! and Andy, though, is that Murray does have a realistic chance of actually winning the tournament one day. He is still young, maturing and growing physically and mentally stronger. He's certainly single-minded and determined enough to finally succeed, if he can avoid all of those injuries he seems to be prone to. Broken fingernails, split ends, acne - perhaps it's all just part of growing up! He won't win it this year, although on current rankings he should reach the quarter-finals and perhaps even the Semi's. There are better and stronger players at the head of the rankings, though, and I don't think he's good enough yet. I do think, though, that his time will come.

The Week Ahead
I'm looking forward to old comrade Ken Harrold's belated 65th birthday bash this evening and I'll get the chance to see the Euro final too.
Other than that, I'm off on Monday and Tuesday (I build up quite a lot of lieu time through working in the evenings) to prepare for the important meetings that lie ahead. I've got to be clear about what we should be aiming for, and I'm very conscious of the number of different hats I wear at different meetings. Having said that, the one consistent theme throughout will be how best to preserve the essential services provided by the voluntary and community sector in North Edinburgh. Just how we can achieve that is another matter, but I do have some ideas and I hope to have put forward some solutions by my next post.

This week's picture is the sun going down over Edinburgh. Not prophetic, I hope