Comment posted SNP’s Coalition for Progress now has a majority – 19 councillors by Integrity? Not in the Condemall.
18 months of effort and personal loss just became worthwhile. My kids have a better future and I look forward to them enjoying it.
Recent comments by Integrity? Not in the Condemall
- Conundrums on ‘Challenge: see what you make of these VisitScotland statistics’
Do you have a link to it? - Russell to make parliamentary statement on rural schools today
To my knowledge nobody is judging parents for their choices but isn’t it wonderful that they still have that choice?ARSN has gone on record many times to say that they are not blanket opposed to school closures, just opposed to closures which do not provide an educational benefit and which are progressed without the interests of the children at their root.
Parents and grand parents will always put what they believe their children’s best interests are first (and rightly so) and it was one of many insulting slurs made by ABC during the closures issue that this was not the case.
Luss is a prime example of a school with a small number of pupils in a small number of classes which thrives educationally, and there are no signs that its pupils are suffering form the issues you mention Islay (however that doesn’t mean it might not be an issue elsewhere). Didn’t stop ABC insinuating that rural schools can produce ‘socially dysfunctional’ children.
- Russell to make parliamentary statement on rural schools today
My reference to Helensburgh appears to have sparked something it was never meant to spark.It was a source of frustration for ARSN that the argument was constantly put forward that rural schools, and rural children, were somehow overly privileged, yet the lack of other council services in rural areas conveniently ignored.
However none of us would have ever entertained the idea of turning the table and, for example, advocating closing or amalgamating urban schools, even if the proposal could have been put forward using the same flawed arguments as ABC used to close the rural ones.
Tim is right to say that ARSN wasn’t political. There were a few blinkered individuals on here who, as soon as an ARSN member supported local schools, instantly assumed we were Mike Russell’s sheep however it was normally by people with a limited understanding of the issue at hand.
Anne is right to say that Helensburgh need to join in, and she knows full well that so do Dunoon, Oban, Luss, Barcaldine etc etc – all she was doing was responding to my reference to Helensburgh (which I made purely because it was the urban area I am most associated with). It was not the demonisation of an area but a call for us to cast off these stupid idea that rural and urban areas can’t work in co-operation with each other.
- Russell to make parliamentary statement on rural schools today
JohnI certainly hope you are right about urban and rural communities not turning on each other. During the previous schools campaign it was staggering how many Helensburgh people were adamant the schools should close (often without ever having bothered to even read the reports or make any effort to ascertain any facts).
The tired, somewhat idiotic, and entirely incorrect argument about rural children getting a private school education and the even more ridiculous one about rural communities bleeding the urban ones of funds was trotted out time and time again.
- UK National Lottery Good Causes in Scotland
AngusApologies for slight rounding as I don’t have exact figures to hand but doesn’t that mean funding has been awarded at about the same % as the population spread?
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There is a God after all, hallelujah! ….Sweet
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WOOOOOOHOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WELL DONE EVERYONE!
Now lets all go to Dunoon on Thursday for a party! hehehe
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A new dawn – I just hope that the SNP group don’t ever forget that once upon a time they were in bed with Walsh & co, and resist any future temptations to make inappropriate pacts with unsuitable partners – or their past will come back to haunt them.
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The example of the Alliance should never be forgotten in terms of a descent into ‘anything goes’ that should never be replicated.
The best guarantee is Roddy McCuish’s nature which has been steadfastly honest. The challenge for him will be to hang on to that in the face of anything – and that is bound at some point to bring its difficulties.
We have all seen politicians who have become little more than holograms after selling off any semblance of integrity. It is hard – now – to imagine the straightforward Roddy McCuish committing or permitting any departure in that direction.
We will be as much on watch with this administration as with any other. And, as we have said, the presence of the Argyll First group is both reassurance and canary.
It is not the number of bodies in the coalition that matters, it is the substance of those bodies.
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Crazy; Hope you’ve got your tin hat on for when the surfers and trolls start throwing their toys out of their cots!!
Voters in Dunoon have a clear choice now, conflict or Coalition for Progress.
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No fair!!
There goes my hope of a SUPER School based in H’burgh which can accomodate 199000 children from sunday evening to friday afternoon.
Mortons? are you reading this??
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Hooray for the coalition and the honest-as-the-day-is-long postie McCuish. Looking round the virtual room containing them all I see so many people I trust. I can’t remember when we last had a council ruling group I could say that about! Now I am going to burn their ears off about protecting our amazing heritage and celebrating our astounding culture. Who will they get to lead that particular charge?
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Go for it, Catherine. Burn all the ears. This issue needs a lightening strike – to be the best.
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you will not be alone Catherine… there was plenty of support for what we have in the landscape around us this weekend by the Scottish Place Names Society conference.
Some of us may only be small voices but together we have the most vital message to shout about.
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18 months of effort and personal loss just became worthwhile. My kids have a better future and I look forward to them enjoying it.
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I am thrilled and delighted for Argyll and Bute. Roddy will prove an excellent leader and has an excellent team around him.
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To quote Private Fraser,”We’re doomed”.
I predict that turnout in Cowal will be very low. The exercise will be largely pointless.
It certainly raises the question of whether in the case of the death of a candidate the whole council election should be postponed and not just the ward.
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Councillor Donald Kelly , the Von Papen of Argyll and Bute Council ?
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Historically inacurate. Surely you mean a reverse von papan. ie.Facilitating the removal of a dictator to be replaced by democracy.
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Try doing a Von Papen Wikipedia search and read the first paragraph .
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Okay, I read that just in case memory had abandoned me and I deem you to be either offensive or plain uninformed.
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Me too, before reply
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The election on Thursday is far from meaningless. The composition of the Cowal and Bute Area committee will be determined by it.
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Will Councillor Isobel Strong be in charge of education ?
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Do I detect some soor grapes there Islay?
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LOL! I’ve no idea who’ll be in charge of education but I’ll warrant if it’s Isobel Strong some council officials could be feeling very sorry for themselves!
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I spy kintyre1 in a new guise.
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OK, wishlist time! Who do we want in the leadership roles?
I think George Freeman should definitely get some kind of leaders post back for all that he lost and gave up.
We need able people to deal with the Officers who unexplicably think they are in charge – hahaha – to be a fly on the Kilmory walls this morning!
Answers on a postcard
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Friday evening I was feeling a bit deflated with the results. Come Monday and I am euphoric. Same results but a different outcome. I am so glad that Cllr Elaine Robertson has joined the Coalition (the good one that is!). She is held in great respect in North Argyll but her membership of the Alliance was straining relationships. Early signs that Roddy is going to make an excellent leader of the Council.
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What a breath of fresh air we now have to get the good guys back in Cowal on Thursday and really give Dick Welsh the message closed door nepotism in our council is finished
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Great news. Hope they put James Robb in charge of the Helensburgh and Lomond Area Committee.
Small point: Rosneath’s Robert McIntyre is not new to local politics. He represented Rosneath and Clynder on a previous local authority.
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Helensburgh District in 1968
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Good morning folks how about some predictions.
Dick Walsh will pull out of the election on Thursday as he would rather do the garden now.
Duncan MacIntyre will retire and buy a boat to tour the west coast looking for potential pontoon sites.
By election in the North and with the backing of Lowry and JayC, Donald Melville will sail in with the help of his new kayak.
Or will Easdale go for Independence and elect Duncan as El Presidentee? Who said life in Argyll was quiet, all we need now is Trump moving to Tiree to build a new golf course and Murdock to buy the Oban Times and we have the lot.
Power to the People.
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Awww thanks for thinking of me but alas I’m in the wrong ward for my vote to count. Power to the people, well 93% of them anyway! Have a nice day.
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I would not be so hasty. Mr Walsh has, in the past, shown himself to be a very shrewd operator. And it is not unheard of for people who did think they would go with one grouping to then change their minds.
So while this McCuish coalition looks *probable*, I would wait until after the Dunoon count before cracking open the bubbly.
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For Mairi.
Do you think that Dick Walsh will go in with Roddy’s coalition if he’s elected surely not?
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would like to think that my drunken lecture on Friday swung oor Bobbie round but I don’t care as long as the Dick Walsh ring of power is broken!!
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For Neil MacIntyre and Mairi, there are some members of the Alliance who are “person non grata” and who would not be welcomed into the new coalition. Prior to Friday there were six. That has now reduced to four. It does not take a genious to work out who they are.
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Hi DB, your “drunken lecture” and the advice from other community contacts on Friday and Saturday would have helped. I did spend some time on the phone late on Saturday night and standing on Peaton Hill on Sunday morning explaining the various options to Robert. I have no doubt that along with me, he has taken the best decision as far as his constituents are concerned. After all, it is our communities and our constituents who are the most important people.
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Well, well – it looks like a new administration in Kilmory. The best of luck to them – given the challenges the area faces – they’ll certainly need it.
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I hope the new coalition brings the new approach that Kilmory needs and the correct persons are given the jobs that will turn round Argyll and Bute and help people who elected this new grouping
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Real progress at last for honest decent people.
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O/T – slightly
Have a look at Gerry Hassan’s (intelligent) comment on the Glasgow result at http://www.gerryhassan.com/blog/the-story-the-media-should-have-told-you-about-glasgow/
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