30 Days to Go: The Own Goal

Hullo.

The campaign has already begun for the Holyrood & local elections. So far I have received 3 pieces of election literature, 2 of which I am currently trying to pen open responses to (these letters were from the Scottish National Party leader Alex Salmond & the New Labour education minister, & local MSP, Hugh Henry).

In the meantime, it appears that the Lib Dems have scored something of an own goal amongst St Mirren fans. Several weeks ago the local (Labour) council announced a deal to renovate Penilee playing fields, in Paisleys east end, and turn it into a football & training academy. It had become dilapidated after Pailsey Grammar stopped using the area for PE and Sports days.

However, this idea (for the plans are not yet set in stone just yet ) has been hijacked by a bitter and cynical burst of NIMBY-ism, allegedly orchestrated by the local Lib Dem councillor. Now I don’t know anything about that, but there is an interesting sideline to this story. When the story of opposition to Renfrewshire Councils plans first appeared in the local press, the councillor was flanked by a jogger who claimed that she would have nowhere to go if this plan went ahead. Now wouldn’t you know, it has bee discovered that the mystery jogger is a prospective candidate in another council ward… for the Lib Dems.

This controversy has died down a bit in the past couple of days, but there have been rumblings about leaflets being handed out at tomorrows (St Mirren V) Hibernian game. I shall keep you informed. You can click here to read the fan zone yourselves.

One last thing. Apparently, Defence Correspondent of the Herald Newspaper described the conditions for War Correspondents during the Falklands War as like going out to your back garden and digging a series of holes in the worst winter imaginable with your next door neighbours trying to kill you “or it was like going out on Paisley on a Saturday”.

Now I know what Paisley is like on a Saturday, it can be rough, but not as bad as that. I was interested to see the outrage from paisleys local politicians. Local Politician Hugh Henry said that “I was raging when I heard it. It was very insulting and just Doesn’t reflect Paisley”. Former provost of Renfrewshire Ronnie Burns said the remarks had “no value at all”. Me, I’m perplexed that all these (Labour) politicians can get upset at remarks like these and yet do nothing to deal with the real problems in Paisley. Of course, some of our local politicians are the same politicians who thought that it would be a great idea to bring a Casino and licence a Lap-Dancing club in Paisley. Those would be great for the image of Paisley….