Comment posted SNP’s Coalition for Progress now has a majority – 19 councillors by Anne Baird.
Okay, I read that just in case memory had abandoned me and I deem you to be either offensive or plain uninformed.
Anne Baird also commented
- 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!
Recent comments by Anne Baird
- Russell to make parliamentary statement on rural schools today
Well Lynda, all I can do under the circumstances is wish you well and give up on you. The people I work with, whether in the SNP or not, know where my heart is and that’s good enough for me. - Russell to make parliamentary statement on rural schools today
Islay, it’s not the buzz in Southend. The school remains a vibrant part of the community and the kids I helped out with at St Columba’s footprint last week were having a whale of a time with a teacher they clearly love. The one parent I know of who moved her child did so in the wake of the consultation having swallowed the line peddled by so called experts that large peer groups were essential for delivery of the Curriculum for Excellence.Having taken part in the Commission I can vouch for the fact that small schools deliver CfE very well and are often leaders in this sector. Argyll & Bute contains some of these leaders and award winners, two of which were up for closure.
- Russell to make parliamentary statement on rural schools today
I don’t live in Dunoon and was following from Integrity’s comment about things that were said during the school closure fiasco. There was a definite divide in perception between Helensburgh and the rest of A&B which is why I said it needed to join in. The one Helensburgh SNP councillor at the time was one of the few to understand GAE and I have never heard him suggest the rest of A&B was less entitled to services.Nonetheless, I have heard other Helensburgh councillors repeat this myth that they pay for rural Argyll and it is time we dealt with that and built a more unified region where divides between urban and rural are no longer used as tools by council officers wishing to close things.
What is shameless is that even where we try to discuss schools and the need for collective action you can skew it to your peculiar obsession. How this will help rural schools or Oban High I know not. Nor will it help to point out the SNP among schools activists who came from other parties or had no politics at all. In that context we put our badges to one side.
As for my party, its councillors, its members, its structure, you clearly know nothing about it.
- Russell to make parliamentary statement on rural schools today
John, Integrity, the redundancy of the urban/rural argument was recognised by the Commission. It’s an excuse used in various scenarios without any recognition that the funds “saved” are not being redistributed. ARSN worked out that if all the projected savings were realised and reinvested it would mean 2p per pupil annually to all the other schools. Hardly a bonanza.The only way forward is for all the schools to work together to challenge the many myths that surround the financing of education in rural areas. Helensburgh need to join in. The nonsense idea that they contribute more is based on a very simplistic view of finance that bears no relation tp reality. If they understood how much of the block grant was attracted by our remote communities they might think better about closing the rest of us down.
- Russell to make parliamentary statement on rural schools today
The statement and the Government response to the Commission report make pleasant reading for any schools campaigner. Given the effort that Cosla, Ades, Solace et al put into scuppering the intention of the original act I put this down as a resounding win for SRSN and ARSN.The cost of small schools was a matter of considerable debate but there was eventually agreement that rural authorities are compensated for the challenges of rurality. The value of those schools is less easily calculated but there is no dispute that it exists.
The Commission also looked at the challenges of rural secondaries and it is now apparent that these are being noted and addressed in several ways. Judging by what appears to be happening in Oban it’s not before time!
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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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