Kilchoan wrote:Two tories is a mad idea. A lot of Argyll & Bute's problems are down to the funding they get from the Scottish Executive. We need people who have contacts with that Executive. Looks like it's going to be an SNP government so it's daft not to vote for the SNP candidate. He'll be the man with his hooks in the decision makers when it comes to funding, roads, ferries and so on.
Apart from that, I'm voting for John Semple because I think he's the one who best understands how the Council and the Parliament actually work. Sweet idea to vote for the biggest, shiniest or most local but we've been doing that for years and it doesn't work. You could teach a parrot to say it prioritised Campbeltown but that wouldn't make it fit to challenge planning decisions. Now that I think about it, that just about sums up half of the existing councillors in Argyll.
BTW you don't have to fill in all the boxes. You can stop at 1,2,3 or whatever. Some people are just impossible to quantify :wink:
And poor George most certainly deserves to be on the poll. The sheer loyalty he shows in sticking his name in the frame yet again, at his time of life, deserves at least our respect.
I would be very wary of predicting an SNP government (Sorry, an Alex Samond for First Minister Party) landslide at this point. I know that when my father was elecetd MP twice for the SNP in 1974, the SNP thought they'd made it and that a domino effect independence was a cert. By 1979 that was out the window.
Having worked for the Council and submitted a public petition (on bringing back funded higher education grants and funding for universities so as not to penalise students with children, and poorer, non traditional students) to the Scottish Parliament I think you might give me some credit for understanding how the Council and the Scottish Parliament works.
You might also give me some credit for being trained as a Community Education Worker which is all about ensuring that communities have a say, including those that can't shout the loudest, and developing communities.
Possibly you never read the Courier letters page or national newspapers where I have advocated for Kintyre's needs and highlighted the inequality that rural areas suffer over the years. You may remember me out on the streets getting people to sign a petition for the NHS not to make £152,000 cuts to the South Kintyre area health services months before any politician even talked about the cuts. Where were the elected members then? It took six months for the elected members to act of any party, and only after the hospital ward was closed!
Maybe you do not remember my battle with the Council to hold a peace picnic on Quarry Green after the Iraq war had started when the Council were trying to stop it. Not to mention moving forward the agenda for Fairtrade in Argyll in conjuction with groups in other parts of Argyll.
Whilst Solidarity has never been elected to advocate for the population's needs the SNP and other parties have. Where is the constructive change in the life chances of people in Kintyre? Just as a dog is not just for Christmas, so passionate socialists are not just for elections. We fight the fights that need to be waged not just at election time but all the time. Regardless of whether I am elected or not I will always be an activist.
As Maya Angelou says "Activism is my rent for life on this planet" . Don't know how much longer the earth has though what with big business interests backing the four main parties.