Newly elected MSP for the Highlands and Islands Mike MacKenzie may have only been elected on 5th May 2011, but the former builder had already played a small hand in sculpting the home of Scottish democracy.
Mr MacKenzie lives on the small island of Easdale, 16 miles south of Oban and approximately 500m offshore.
Easdale was once the centre of the British slate industry and during construction of the Parliament Building in Edinburgh, stone mason Gillian Forbes approached Mike, looking for a piece of Easdale slate to contribute to the Canongate Wall.
Delighted to help Gillian, Mike was instrumental in finding a suitable stone and then arranged for its transportation from the island to Edinburgh. This was less than straightforward as the island’s sole ferry – a small passenger ferry that crosses in minutes – was unable to carry the stone.
However, the Easdale slate is now inscribed with words of Sir Walter Scott’s: ‘When we had a King and a Chancellor and Parliament men o’ our ain , we could aye peeble them wi’ stanes when they werena gude bairns
But naebody’s nails can reach the length o’ Lunnon’
This now forms part of the Canongate Wall, an original piece of art that runs along the north side of Parliament.
Mr MacKenzie says: ‘As a builder I was very proud to help in a very small way with the construction of our Parliament.
‘Although not everyone’s favourite building, the immortal words displayed on the Canongate Wall form a piece of art which serves to remind all elected representatives why they are here – to make our country a better place to live and to work’.
Now that he has digested his first few weeks of a different life in a different place, Mr Mackenzie has agreed to share his sense of what he has learned in that period.
First thoughts from Parliament
‘No one could have predicted the scale of the SNP election victory, least of all in Highlands & Islands Region where 6 SNP members were elected in the Constituencies and a further 3 on the Regional list. I was the last to be elected. To say I was surprised is the understatement of a lifetime.
‘I heard the result as I was driving home from the count in Lochgilphead. Those who know that road will appreciate that I was lucky to find and pull into a layby rather than try and negotiate its hairpin bends while assimilating the news. My emotions followed the same circuitous and bumpy path as the road; ranging from elation to panic, before finally crystallising into a sense of what a privilege it is to represent this region and a determination to give this new job all I have.
‘Since then, time has speeded up. There were immediate marching orders for Edinburgh, a tsunami of emails and phone calls to deal with and a host of business arrangements required to clear the decks for action of a different sort.
‘On presenting myself at the Parliament I was unsure of what entrance to use when a lady security officer appeared with my name and the friendliest of smiles on her lips. I was propelled into the depths of the Parliament building and the processing began. There were numerous formalities to be dealt with but the time passed pleasantly in the hands of the most helpful and efficient people I have ever encountered.
‘This is my abiding first impression. The Parliament is served by around five hundred staff. Within days most of them seemed to know my name. Every one of them greets me with a smile. Every one of them is helpful. The whole building hums with the quiet and industrious whisper of people happy in their work. Nothing is too much trouble and the computer is set at the default position of ‘yes’.
‘The effect is that of the positive reinforcing loop. Members reciprocate by treating the staff with the friendly respect and dignity that they too deserve. The bar is raised exponentially in the most favourable direction.
‘Too often in our public services this is not the case. Too often the computer persistently says ‘no’ and normal aspirations cannot be facilitated. Too often basic standards of dignity and decency seem unattainable.
‘I have learned a lot in the last three weeks, but the Parliamentary staff have already taught me what may be my most profound and lasting lesson.
‘They embody a spirit of public service excellence that we must endeavour to roll out across Scotland. Each and every one of us deserves no less.’
Mike Mackenzie
Meanwhile back in the real world of Argyll & Bute , tourist information offices are closing and important ferry services are being decimated ……………
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Well done Mike on being elected. Thank you for details of your first days in Holyrood: it’s good to know there are smiles around and that courtesy is still here in our society. Glad that you have contributed to ForArgyll: hope to read more in coming months
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Nice to see a piece of Easdale slate in the Canongate wall – but it’s somewhat ironic that local builders on that famous slate island are now flooring cottages with slate imported from Brazil.
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This “article” is just a load of egocentric blether, and I don’t know why you thought it was worth publishing. Nobody voted for him, he got in by accident on the back of other people’s successes. He’s been putting up for elections for years now (wasn’t he supposedly an Independent not all that long ago?) and has never succeeded. Why? Because he’s too weel kent in these parts.
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Mike may well be the best man for the job, ‘Duncan macNicol’ but would be so much more the best man if his local folk, who know the ins and outs better than you or I, had confidence, which they patently do not.
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Ahhh, I seeeee! I hadn’t realised you were only allowed to post on here if you’re a member of the Mike Mackenzie fan club!
I think it’s both constructive and instructive to consider the probity of those who represent us; especially so, perhaps, if they represent us without having the benefit of our votes behind them. They are getting £56,000 a year, after all.
Anyway, pardon me for butting in.
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There’s room for everyone’s views on here, even Simon’s and conflict makes for a much better debate so keep posting Clootie.
I have absolutely no opinion on this article though as I do not know enough about the background as there are only hints given to something untoward and not substantiated. You could be a jilted girlfriend for all we know.
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constructive exploration of all topics is the name of the game around here – all sides of the circle are welcomed.
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This is and always (in my short experience) has been a welcome place for open debate and long may it continue and by listening to other points of view we gain in knowledge and can occasionally change our perspective of a subject. If it remains constructive and not personal then it is educational and good fun.
Mike MacKenzie is no different to any public figure and will be under scrutiny as are Labour, Tory, and Liberal Democrats, and rightly so surely.
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For Webcraft: To date, the only Highlands and Islands MSP who has fully done the job for the region has been Argyll’s Jamie McGrigor of the Scottish Conservatives.
In saying this, we are not denigrating others who have hjandled this wide and shallower responsibility differently.
We found several Highlands and Islands List MSPs to be genuinely helpful – like Labour’s Peter Peacock (now retired), who worked hard for us in the problems we campaigned to highlight for the residents of Loch Striven when Clydeport ignored them totally (except the influential local landlord) in sending ships into the loch on long term layup.
The SNPs Dave Thompson is an energetic and engaged MSP with a specific commitment to supporting Scottish food and drink – and we are working to attract his attention to the very significant developments in Argyll.
But Jamie McGrigor has travelled this massive region meticulously, attending meetings all over it, mainland and island, getting to understand the various parts of the region and the issues that impact on their way of life, culture and survivability.
By doing this he has overcome one of the serious weaknesses of List MSPs – they ‘own’ and ‘belong’ to nowhere specific.
McGrigor has several notable achievements to his credit in working as he has done, almost as a constituency MSP – like persisting until he had managed to save the bull hire scheme that matters a great deal to the finances of crofting and to the the genetic strength of their livestock.
We came to know a lot about Mike Mackenzie as we followed himself and Gary Mulvaney in their challenge to Alan Reid for the Argyll and Bute Westminster seat in 2010. They wrote a series of challenge articles for us and we profiled each of them (along with David Graham and Alan Reid) – over a period of 8 months.
That’s quite an intensive period and you start to build a sense of the reality of a person, not just their superficial persona.
The result of this prolonged focus was that we came came to respect both of these candidates a great deal.
We saw Mike Mackenzie as sometimes close to hyperactive, genuinely interested in people, places, issues problems – and a great reader, loving the privacy of the experience of discovery.
He won’t necessarily thank us for this but we began to see an essentially shy and thoughtful man who, to bring his ability into play, had trained himself to deal more with the outward life and with people than he might otherwise have chosen.
There is inevitably a degree of internal tension in someone in such circumstances and it may well be this that has led people local to him to devalue him. Some of this is the old saw about prophets in their own place. Some of it may be parochial resentment of ambition.
Argyll needs ambition and ambitious folk more than almost anything. And we feel that Mr Mackenzie is ambitious for Argyll rather than himself. We found him to be an idealist but his life as a builder had introduced a practical and sometimes pragmatic focus which kept his feet on the ground.
We will be surprised – and disappointed – if he does not devour the region hungrily.
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I BELIEVE MIKE READS A LOT BECAUSE HE IS BEREFT OF IDEAS OF HIS OWN AND WAS ABLE TO CREATE A REALITY ON EASDALE ISLAND THAT WAS AKIN TO LIVING IN A REGEIM CONTROLLED BY PATRICK SELLAR AND BASICALY IS A FACTOR ANY CONTACT WITH ISLANDS OWNER WOULD BE THROUGH HIM WHICH LED A LOT OF UNHAPPY ISLANDERS AND A LOT OF FLITTING OFF THE ISLAND OVR THE YEARS
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