Hello, hello I'm back again ...

... as that great old trouper used to sing; I wonder what happened to him?
Sorry it's been a while; so much to do, so little time. A precious afternoon off today (the whole 'reduced hours' thing isn't really working for me) and got some household chores out of the way before setling down to post an update. I say 'out of the way' - so far I've broken the washing machine and the hoover, only the iron remains in the same state as when I picked it up earlier today. Ach well ...

Did you watch it? Griffin? Seems almost everyone did - eight mllion viewers tuned in to Question Time last week, apparently. I must say the whole programme left me feeling very angry and frustrated - so much so that I found myself shouting and arguing with the TV! I do think the BBC was right to give Griffin a place on the programme - he's a democratically elected MEP, his party polled more than a million votes in the recent elections, etc, etc. But I thought the way the programme was staged was a disgrace.
The audience appeared hand-picked, with a far higher number of black people than is the norm (and I do watch Question Time regularly). Then there's the Panel - not one but two black people, one of them that rare species - a black Tory member of parliament. And Jack Straw, proud of his Jewish roots.
Then the questions - all seemingly targetted at Griffin, and when he attempted to answer he was drowned out in a torrent of abusive comments from both the audience and panel members. It certainly wasn't David Dimbleby's finest hour - I used to respect the man's ability to chair the show but not last week. He was disgraceful and I'm sure he'll be very disappointed about the way he handled the whole evening.
As for Griffin - mission accomplished, I fear. He got all the publicity he craved, he didn't have to answer the really difficult questions because of all the shouting over him and he could later (rightly) claim that he didn't get fair treatment on the programme. Britain believes in 'fair play' and loves an underdog, and fascist Griffin certainly came across as the victim of bullying that night. It's a real pity, because whe he was allowed to speak at any length he condemned himself and his party repeatedly. He looked nervous and shifty - quite understandably, perhaps - and he could and should have been allowed to hang himself. Not physically, of course, although that may have appeased some of those howling for his blood. Will his appearance on QT increase support for the BNP? I doubt it; you wouldn't go rushing out to vote BNP on this performance, although the 'establishment' parties didn't exactly cover themselves in glory either. Jack Straw was hopeless when dealing with the question on immigration - surely he should have expected that one, or did he think the whole show was simply a public execution?
The whole episode left me feeling very unsatisfied. It was a real chance to put the BNP under the microscope and expose their extreme policies, but it turned out to be very much a missed opportunity and Griffin and his supporters are likely to be the only winners out of this.
Last night former Home Secretary Jacqui Smith was the sacrificial lamb - perhaps next week we'll have live badger-baiting instead!

On to more edifying subjects, however. What about the mighty Hibs? Third in the league and flying high, getting their just rewards (and no little praise) for some attacking football. Playing FOUR forwards, for goodness sake - Mixu would be spinning in his grave (if he was deid, you know what I mean ...) Both Celtic and Rangers are faltering and things are not going at all well through in the Wild West. Playing in Europe, moving to the English Premiership ... dream on, Ugly Sisters! Is it too much to hope for a shock on the cards in this season's SPL? Sadly, yes it is. The 'Big Two' will still be 1 and 2 come the end of the season, even if they had to buy every other team in Scotland to achieve it!
Anyway we can still dream, and Aberdeen tomorrow will provide a pretty fair test of how far we have improved this season.
A trip to the Jinglin Geordie last week found Caroline's Fantasy Football team around 40 points clear of the field - quite disturbing. Even more odd was the fact that my own 'Capless Hunts' are sitting pretty in sixth spot! I can only assume that the League statistician Mr Mark Turner was rat-arsed when he updated the latest results. Normality will be restored soon, I'm sure.

Work aside, what else have I been up to? It's been quite a week: a Quiz Night at the Unionist Club on Monday with Edinburgh's Blind Social Club. We won - hurrah! I think we had a distinct advantage in the picture round - only joking, chaps!
Forth Neighbourhood Partnership on Tuesday where racism was the main theme - surprisingly enough received front page coverage in Thursday's Evening News, too. Very sad to hear that the Scotsman's presses will roll for the last time at Newhaven this weekend. I was with The Scotsman when those presses were built - state of the art at tat time. Things are looking pretty bleak for my ex-colleagues with advertising and circulation dropping, and shares through the floor. The shift to printing in Glasgow could be the beginning of the end - a tragedy for the staff, and also for anyone who cares about the future of the media in Scotland.
Wednesday night saw the first meeting of our new community council in Drylaw - I say new, most of the faces are the same but we're almost at full strength. Office bearers remain the same, except for me - I've decided that I will definitely stand down as secretary this year, something I've threatened/promised to do for a while now. It really is time to let someone else take it on so that I can concentrate on some other things: 'Shipman - The Musical' is way behind schedule and my 'Pat the Drunken Plumber' screenplay is also slow to take shape! There's a wee role in a new Pilton Video film that will take some time towards the end of the year too, so it's definitely time to step aside. I'm choking back the tears ...
Talking about 'greetin'', we went to the King's last night to see the stage production of 'Kes'. Beautifully done, but for me no-one could ever replace the late Brian Glover as the Man Utd-loving sadist gym teacher.
Tonight it's a race night in aid of Spartans Community Football Academy, where I guess I will lose my shirt. Speaking of which, I must iron one - here's hoping the iron survives my latest assault.
Speak to you soon; doubtless older, wiser, poorer and more crumpled ...

This week's pic was taken up near Callendar. We've been up there the last couple of weekends - there and Glencoe - and the scenery's stunning in the autumn. Chin chin.

It's time to Thinktastic!

Apologies once again for the lengthy delay since the last post; so much to do, so little time!
What's been happening down North Edinburgh way? Well, another NEN's out on the streets ('multi-tasking' last week; I was even on deliveries!). Our main story this month is the uncertain future of Royston School. The local primary is earmarked for closure next summer and over recent weeks there have been a number of deputations and consultation meetings; all well attended, all highly-charged but well behaved. The parents have acquitted themselves well and have put forward strong arguments for keeping the school open. No-one could doubt their passion for their school. There is a mighty problem, however. The city council's budget problems have been well documented and Education leader Marilyne MacLaren has had the unenviable job of explaining the rationale behind the closure proposals: in a nutshell, cuts to the Children and Families departmental budget of £14 million for each of the next three years. Ouch ...
Royston's real problem is it's geography: location, location, location. Both of Royston's near neighbours - Forthview and Granton - have spare capacity. It could have been Granton on the hit list, but Granton's nearest neighbour further to the east, Wardie, is a very popular school does not have any spare places. And that - alongside the fact that Forthview is a PPP school with binding contracts for 20 odd years - is the real problem for Royston. Nothing to do with attainment or teaching standards, it's simply a school in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Politicians don't do things that make them unpopular. There isn't a politician of any persuasion who would willingly choose to close a school. It's deeply unpopular, it's long remembered and it costs you votes. It's one of the more unwelcome choices politicians sometimes have to make. Opening new buildings, attending receptions, making speeches at celebratory events - yes, absolutely; voting to close schools ... different ball game entirely.
Tough choices. For administration councillors it's a cold hard welcome to power and to holding the city's purse strings. It's much easier for Opposition parties, of course - oppositions oppose, that's their job. So it seems we're all set for a December showdown, and the very real likelihood of a casting vote by the Lord Provost. Merry Christmas, Royston? We'll see ...

There were some cheerier stories in this month's NEN, though. Oaklands School staged their very own performance of 'Strictly Come Dancing', complete with judges and the voice of the BBC's Alan Dedicot, and it was absolutely brilliant. So much so that a STV film crew stayed for the whole performance - these guys are always chasing tight deadlines so the fact that they stayed to support the whole show speaks volumes.
And members of PROP Stress Centre launched a new tool in the fight to tackle smoking. 'Smoke Signals' is a new resource pack that will be used by smoking cessation workers to encourage discussion around the things that make people smoke. It was a very successful launch - although it deserved wider coverage - and I hope it's a success.
Further afield in Stockbridge (new part of our 'patch') a great-granny had her head shaved by celeb hairdresser Charlie Miller to support a cancer charity. The evening - which included a charity fashion show - was a great success and raised over £4000. Brilliant. Finished up in Hector's, a popular Stockbridge pub. Haven't been there for many years (we spent ages trying to remember all of it's previous names!) but we'll go back there soon.
Back in Stockbridge last weekend for a meal with Granton Information Centre staff. Venue this time was a wee Tex-Mex restaurant tucked away under a Chinese - great food, reasonably priced and a very good night. We'll go back there too.

Oddest event of the month was a 'Thinktastic' event at Easter Road, organised to think up ways of making Neighbourhood Partnerships more exciting - tough challenge! I attended the recent Inverleith Neighbourhood Partnership meeting at the Botanics and 'exciting' was not the first word to come to mind ... anyway, the first part of the day was to get all the 'negative vibes' out of the way. Seminar participants were asked to list all the negative things that stop you being creative - you know 'Haven't Got time', 'It's The Council's Fault','Nobody Listens', 'It's No' My Job', etc, etc.
Strangely enough my group really warmed to this task and quickly filled two sheets of flipchart paper. Sadly this exercise was brought to an end too soon - pity, as we were just warming up and really getting into the swing of it!
We moved on to a session where we were asked to think like nine year olds - that age of idealism where everything is possible. We were asked to come up with headlines that we would like to see in the 'Evening News' as written by children. I came up with 'Scott Monument turned into giant Helter Skelter for holidays' and I will wait in anticipation of my dream being realised. Sadly, I think it is even less - but only slightly less - likely to happen than Neighbourhood Partnerships becoming exciting in the near future!

The 'Thinktastic' event was held at Easter Road, and on the park there things have been almost 'thinktastic', too over the last few weeks - there has been some really nice football and it's refreshing to see a Hibs team set out to attack and go for goals. Hibs being Hibs, though, you can't expect two performances of the same quality back to back. Frustrating, exciting, mesmerising and infuriating - all in the space of 90 minutes sometimes! Knocked oot of the CIS Cup by a team they comfortably beat only three days before - that's the Hibs for you. And yet we're still sitting hird in the SPL - imagine if we could introduce some consistency! That would indeed be 'thinktastic' - but again unlikely ...
Meanwhile Brian and I are locked together in our BBC Scotland Predictor mini-league; joint top although admittedly there are only two of us in the League ... in the 'big' league we are jointly sitting around 4000th. In Jingln' Geordies Fantasy Football Caroline is still well up there - her players are picking up lots of points with very irritating regularity. Mine, as you've probably guessed, are not.

Entertainment highlight of the last few week's was 'The Steamie', which we saw at The King's. It's been a long time since I saw the play on television and the stage production was as fresh and as funny as I remembered. Great to be back in the theatre again and I have got tickets for 'Kes' at the same venue later this month. Should be good.

The community council nomination period has come and gone, and for Drylaw Telford it's been the election that never was. Only eight people put themselves forward in our patch, similar numbers to most of our neighbours. I must admit I'm disappointed with the response and I'd expected more interest, but there you are. I think we'll need to organise a 'Thinktastic!' session to get the members suitably motivated ... our annual general meeting will be held on 28 October.

And finally, our Westminster politicians are back at work after a well-earned break. Among their correspondence is a letter from the Standards Commissioner - the expenses saga has resurfaced. Thinktastic, Honourable Members!

The latest snap is autumn sun through the trees at Inverleith. The Botanics' West Gate finally reopened last week and the gardens were very busy on Sunday. It's still a magic place to be in autumn, though, despite the crowds ...