Tam Dalyell 1932 - 2017

In the dedication of his autobiography The Importance of Being Awkward Tam Dalyell wrote:

"To the men and women of West Lothian – Labour, SNP, Conservative, Liberal, Communist – who, whatever their political opinions, were kind to me in all sorts of ways over 43 years as their representative in the House of Commons."

As one of those Liberals in West Lothian who in the latter years would have been included in that tribute I can know why the people of all political persuasions were kind to him. It was because he was always kind to them. In today's politics where pro-Independence and RemaIN Scots are at loggerheads and Brexiteers and Remainers similarly it says something that the MP for one area for 43 years was so universally respected.

That respect went well beyond just Tam and indeed before the recent rise of the SNP in the last decade and the call for independence it was still thus in West Lothian politics. Sometimes you would see three poster teams all at the same location and the ladders would stay put when the climbers moved between them. At counts and hustings there would be a camaraderie between all of those who were involved in politics of whatever hue.

Tam and I would have disagreed on a number of policy issues. But we both agreed on the importance of scientific evidence and factual evidence to base our policy on, even if the end results were different. It was something that I did write in a letter that I had in my pocket at my first Westminster count in 2005, the election that would for the first time in over 4 decades not see Tam Dalyell on the ballot. I wrote that while we disagreed on policy in a number of way I respected the way he had represented the people of West Lothian for all those years. I added that whoever filled his shoes would have a hard task, but if they put the people first as he had done they would earn the same respect that he himself had done.

His handwritten response (once I deciphered his scrawl) is still one of my greatest possessions. He wrote that he thought I had a bright future in politics, something that has been echoed by other Labour representatives in that area. But there are other comments in that that show why the people of West Lothian of all political hues respected him. He respected them, put them first and stood up for them whoever they may be, whoever they had voted for.

By all accounts he enjoyed his decade away from the daily hustle and bustle of Westminster of politics. The former Guardsman, hereditary Baronet with a famous ancestor of the same name, was first and foremost always just Tam to everyone whose life he impacted on.

Rest in Peace Tam.

The wider impact of the loss of Grangemouth peterochemical jobs

Around 800 people across West Lothian and Falkirk are to lose their jobs with the announcement today that Ineos are to shut down the Grangemouth petrochemical plant with immediate effect. The fate of the remaining 570 jobs linked to the refinery on the same site are yet to be determined.

It is one of the biggest loss of jobs in the area following on the the 3,100 lost with the shutting of the Motorola plant at Bathgate in 2001, the same number lost their jobs at NEC, Livingston the same year. More recently 500 lost their jobs with the shutting down of the Bausch and Lomb plant at Livingston.

But the danger of losing jobs in the petrochemical plant is nothing new. Indeed back in May 1992 my some time sparring partner the MP for Linlithgow and East Falkirk mentioned then recent job losses at the plant in his maiden speech:

"The town of Grangemouth is at the centre of Falkirk, East and has been noted for some time as a petrochemical town, boasting substantial production facilities for BP Oil, BP Chemicals, ICI, General-Electric Plastics, and Rhom and Haas (Scotland). My constituents are pleased at the commitment to investment by those companies, notably the £600 million investment by BP Chemicals in an ethylene cracker plant, the process technology labs of ICI and the Rhom and Haas plant upgrade. However, all is not what it once was. Harry Ewing noted the vast expansion of Grangemouth in 1971, but in 1971, when speaking about new employment, he said that the position was rapidly changing. I say without criticism of local management in Grangemouth that, in 1991–92, more than 1,000 job losses were announced in the town. Some 300 jobs have gone at the BP refinery, 250 have gone at ICI and 200 more redundancies are being sought. In addition, there were major job losses in the timber yards, which were made much of in 1971 by my predecessor."

It is sad day for the 800 who have lost their jobs today. However, both sides have been acting like stubborn mules in recent days, if not years. The owners seem to be doing all they can to get what they view as a white elephant off their books, while at the same time the workers are not prepared to take any chance in pay and conditions, fearing their own job without considering that all the jobs in the sector could be gone.

When Ineos came with what they called a survival plan, you would have thought that alarm bells would have been ringing with the workers. The fact that the plant has survived so long without a major change in conditions when others the area have had to accept such adjustments, knowing that if they didn't their job could disappear.

But the Grangemouth plants is almost a fifedom of Unite. The same union that has been at the centre of the Fallkirk Labour Party's election shenanigans. The Union appears to have been promising the workers take a stand and we'll see that everything will be alright, only to have found that Ineos were also not going to budge. it appears that the 570 jobs in the refinery are now also in danger. But with that there is also other jobs in the oil industry and possibly the ability of Scotland to actually process the oil that lies off its shore.

The last element is going to be of extremely great concern to Alex Salmond because part of the way he was going to fund an independent Scotland was through the production and processing off 'Scottish' oil within Scotland. If the Grangemouth plant were to totally close and be mothballed or decommissioned it could take years if at all to be able to get the processing of oil within Scotland up to the speed that would make it capable of supporting Scotland's economy to the extent that Salmond wants it to. If the oil is going to have to be processes and refined elsewhere that would be extra costs and less value added within Scotland causing a rather big hole in his economic plan.

Why are West Lothian MSPs silent on Equal Marriage?

There are a lot of things you could say about West Lothian's constituency MSPs Fiona Hyslop (Linlithgow) and Angela Constance (Almond Valley), but one of them is not that either of them are shy.

Over the years I have known them they have both been forthright about their views and expressed their opinions in an open and public way. Therefore when the Equality Network published their list on which MSPs were supporting equal marriage I was somewhat shocked to see that neither of the them had expressed an opinion.

I know it was a question that came up in the hustings in the lead up to the 2010 Westminster elections, because I seem to recall being the only one in a church based hustings to come out in support of equal marriage rather than playing to the crowd. Of course I wasn't there to hear the questions in the 2011 hustings for Holyrood but I cannot think that it wasn't posed again there to a different set of candidates.

Of course the fact that neither have answered the Equality Network's letter or signed their pledge does not necessarily mean they are against. But you would have thought when the leadership of their party SNP is so strongly behind the notion of equalising marriage rights that they may have added their voice to the majority of others.

Other MSPs representing West Lothian on the list have been more forthcoming. Labour's Sarah Boyack, Kezia Dugdale and Neil Findlay have all signed the pledge in support as has the Green's Alison Johnstone. It is only the Conservatives David McLetchie who has written to the Equality Network to record his opposition while his party colleague Gavin Brown is also in the unknown category.

If anyone from West Lothian has asked their directly and received a response I'd be interested to hear the outcome, please add it in a comment below or email me using my contact details.

Initial thoughts on 'The Importance of being awkward'

Sometimes looking forward to reading a book for so long can sometimes disappoint. Thankfully that is not the case with Tam Dalyell's autobiography The Importance of Being Awkward.

Now you may ask how I as a Liberal Democrat could have been looking forward to a book by such a Labour stalwart. Well of course in 2005 I stood for the seat of Linlithgow and Falkirk East which took the majority of the retiring Father of the House's seat within its boundaries. As I wrote in a letter to Tam, which I intended to give to him on election night* if he were there, I hoped his beekeeping wouldn't keep him from telling his own tale. Finally over 6 years later here it is.

I'm still in the chapters of his early life but already I know this book will be inimitable Tam. Here are just a couple of extracts.

During the Second World War along with other six-to-eight year old at Edinburgh Academy Preparatory School Tam was evacuated to Grantown-on-Spey.

Alas my time at school came to an end when I suddenly got searing pains in my tummy. It was my appendix and the situation was urgent, the local surgeons having gone off to the British Expeditionary Force in France. What to do? my mother was out of contact. Mercifully, the local vet was available and willing to deal with my perforated organ. Had the vet not taken rapid and decisive action, and the teachers accepted responsibility, there would surely have been no me to tell this tale.

The second is the tale of the guides for the House of the Binns, the first country house in the Scottish National Trust gift and the ancestral home of the Dalyells. After a sucession of military guides things changed in 1953.

When my father died in 1953, my mother, alone in the house as I was at university, decided that she would rather have seasonal students. The first of these students was the sun, then at Edinburgh University, of the minister of St. Michael's in Linlithgow and a distinguished future moderator. The guide was therefor the future leader of the Liberal party, the first Presiding Officer of the Scottish Parliament and much else, Lord Steel of Aikwood.

David became a great favourite of my mother's and was extremely kind to her. He accepted the wearing of the specially measured black uniform with its silver buttons  with aplomb but understandably forgot to tske the baton with him when showing parties of visitors round the house. The baton was 'de trop' to a younger generation and remains on show beneath my father's portrait.

This is just a taster as I only started to read the book yesterday as a birthday gift from my brother but I shall share more later on, I trust.


*As it was it got posted to the House of the Binns and I still have the kind response from the man in pride of place.

Applying for a Postal Vote: Deadline Tuesday 20 April

If you are wanting a postal vote for the election on May 6th you have until Tuesday 20th to apply. Although as I have said before don't leave it to the last minute apply early to give the registration time to query any issues there may be with your form.

20th April is also the last day to ensure that you are actually on the register to vote.

If you live in West Lothian council area you can visit their website here for more information. If you live in Falkirk council area you will want to visit here

Forms for postal/proxy votes can be downloaded:

Falkirk
West Lothian

But remember time is running out to get your vote secured in the way you want to.

Former West Lothian Candidate Dies

When I first moved to West Lothian there were two names outwith my own party that the political activists held in awe. One result may have determined the paths of their political careers, but both were held high.

For Labour there was Tam Dalyell for the SNP there was Billy Wolfe. The two went head to head when this was just one West Lothian seat, before there was 'The Question', in the 1962 by election that was the start of the former Father of the House's career. The latter a former leader of the SNP has passed away aged 86 in the final weeks before the next General Election. They were to face each other another 6 times in the contest the closest being in 1974.

The Watsonian* (who had earlier also attended Bathgate Academy on Marjoribanks Street) was still held in high esteem with local SNP activists, even appearing on a recent leaflet from my opponent Tam Smith. That other West Lothian Nat Alex Salmond has paid tribute saying:

"Billy Wolfe blazed the trail in the professionalisation and organisation of the SNP, and he more than anyone transformed it into a modern political party."

It was in the year of my birth that Billy became leader of the SNP after 3 years from 1966 as Deputy leader and he stood down in 1980. He'd led the party to their largest Westminster tally in February 1974 and the first devolution referendum (which sparked 'The Question') in 1979.

Away from politics he ran an Chieftain Forge, a spade and shovel forge manufacturing agricultural machinery, which may well have been used on my family farm in Donegal. But when politics took over he closed the business.

He may have moved just over the boundary in South Lanarkshire but my thoughts go out to his widow Mary, his children David, Sheila, Ilene and Patrick, Tam Smith and all the SNP team in West Lothian.

Read Also: The First SNP blog to pass tribute is Calum Cashley's personal tribute.

*Former pupil of George Watson College, Edinburgh.

SNP Control in West Lothian Reduced to Knife Edge

After the 2007 election the SNP formed an council administration in West Lothian with the support of the sole Tory and the three Save St. John's Hospital members. However, one of the St. John's councillors Gordon Beurskens (pictured) has withdrawn his support for the SNP leaving a 13-13 split in the council chamber. The Conservative Provost Tom Kerr would hold the deciding vote on any split decision.

The Whitburn and Blackburn is currently under a Standards Commission investigation into allegations of planning corruption from 2008. But is claiming that the SNP are taking up a "hypocritical" stance with regards to council Chief Executive Alex Linkston.

In today's Courier he announces:

"I have formally withdrawn my support for the SNP administration. I'm not stepping down from the Action to Save St. John's Hospital Party but I can no longer support their formal arrangement with the SNP group.

"My reasons for that I will happily spell out at some stage in the future but they involve my disillusionment with the council chief executive Alex Linkston.

"I believe his position is now untenable and I cannot support an administration group that in private doesn't back him but publicly back him and take a hypocritical stance.

"Obviously I didn't take the decision lightly but it is a personal decision. I will vote with my conscience from now on.

"I have certainly had some approaches from other councillors but this is not about destabilising the administration.

"I have a responsibility to the council and their employees and the wider West Lothian population but I have got to the stage now that I think I have a responsibility to my family and friends who have come second too often recently."

The fact that Mr Linkston of course was the officer that had to take the complaint against Mr Beurskens may well have something to do about the councillor feeling there is a personal vendetta against him. The fact that his two colleagues, Ellen Glass and John Cochrane, do not feel the same way about the SNP administration may suggest it does.

From my dealings with SNP councillors over the last 9 years I have personally heard nothing but praise for the work that Alex does, even when they were in opposition they said he dealt a fair hand. If any of the SNP councillors wish to add a comment (even anonymously) please feel free to do so though the email address in the side bar.

A Word from Our Returning Officer

No doubt on election night somewhere between 1 and 2 A.M. if all goes smoothly Alex Linkston and his staff will be getting well deserved thanks for another well run count. polling day operation etc. Indeed in all the years I have known Alex and his organisational skills not once has the team let him down (machinery is a totally different issue from 2007).

Therefore he has a message for the people who can vote in either Livingston or Linlithgow and East Falkirk, in today's Queensbury Gazette and Linlithgow Gazette which I'm sure will be in the West Lothian Courier on Thursday, here it is in full.

"If you are going to be away from home before June 3 you could also consider voting by post. Now is also the time to register for a postal vote. A snap election is a possibility , so it's worth remembering that all applications to vote by post and to register to vote must be received by 11 working days before polling day.

"It is therefore important that all eligible electors check that they are registered to vote now. And if you know you will want to use a postal vote to apply now, rather that wait for the deadline to arrive."

To learn more you can check out the council's website: www.westlothian.gov.uk/aboutmyvote You can also check whether you are registered on the electoral roll at Council Information Services (CIS) centres.

Grit Levels Critical in West Lothian

West Lothian Council issued the following statement today via their website.

"We are currently at critical levels in terms of our salt supplies and must conserve these for our main routes. For example, during the recent snow conditions we have regularly treated our major routes five or six times in a single 24-hour period.

"We are actively pursuing additional salt supplies. However we are aware that every other council in the UK is in a similar position. We are also sourcing whindust and ash, which will be used in residential areas. We recognise that this is not as effective than salt nevertheless this will give assistance. The amount of salt used is directly affected by the weather.

"The severe freezing conditions hitting Scotland means that we are continuing to grit our primary routes several times a day. West Lothian Council has already used more salt/grit in the last three weeks than we use in an average winter. We have already used almost 12,000 tonnes this winter. Our next delivery is due on Monday 11 January - however we expect this to be restricted to 1,000 tonnes. Further severe weather is expected and future salt supplies will be under extreme pressure.

"We have been updating the council's website daily www.westlothian.gov.uk (new window) and we would urge people to check it for the latest position."

UPDATE: Sadly I just noticed that a Facebook Group has been set up called. "West Lothian Tax Payers for Gritter Street and filled grit bins.

They ask "are you sick of the council failing to grit your street and fill your grit bins? Then join this group to show your disgust at the lack of service we have had."

Thing is they have been doing a sterling job around the clock in adverse conditions. The main roads and paths have always been clear, I always meet the mini plough out clearing the centre of Bathgate each morning at 6:20 as I head for my bus. It has clearly been down Marjoribanks Street as I noticed on my walk to an from Tesco and along many other footpaths even the one outside my flat the other day the tracks are there.

They can not be everywhere all the time. And now that the snow hasn't fallen afresh heavily for a number of days they are able to do more ploughing. But this is an exception cold and snowy three week period. Very few of us can remember it being this bad. Yet at time of writing nearly 2,000 people have signed up instead of praising the hard work at all times of day and night that these workers have been doing for 22 days now.

Not to mention the work before the freeze took this severe hit. Needless to say I'm not joining nor linking to it.

West Lothian Council Advice for the Conditions

Yesterday I noticed that the bins were not uplifted. I didn't have anything to put into last weeks having just returned from Northern Ireland. This is due to continued disruption due to snow and icy conditions. The council have full details of what to do here. Basically it sums up as:

• Leave your bin out until it is emptied,
• Please do not contaminate recycling bins with non recyclable materials,
• Ensure all waste is contained within the bin and the bin lid is fully closed or it may not be emptied.

Also be careful about where you park you car to allow access. I know that some residents have not moved their cars here for three weeks, but for those that do take it out and then try and park as best they can, do show care and consideration for others. Also if you can consider what you may be able to take to the coucil refuge sites yourself, but don't do so if that isn't a safe option for you.

The gritting teams have continued to do a sterling job working around the clock always it seems in sub zero temperatures. So while we are all able to get or keep snuggly wrapped up in the warm they are out doing their stuff. Of course there are occasions, especially during fresh falls of snow that they cannot be everywhere at once, so keep on being patient. Tomorrow morning could be one such time as the BBC website is forecasting a heavy snow shower, the highest warning of snow they have given in the last 12 days.

As well as the BBC local forecast keep a check on the West Lothian Council updates on conditions and access.

A Short Time Ago, In a Company Not Far from Here

Episode IV

A New Hand

The Federation will in centuries know, or should that be already know, darn it is so hard to decide when Linlithgow's most famous future son managed to help invent transparent 'aluminum' [sic]*. All of course in order to transfer a humpback whale from 1986 to the 23rd Century to save mankind.

Heck even in Bathgate we had a company that made more slimline and similar in manufacture communications devices to those used on the Enterprise NCC1701. Indeed the phones that came out of the Motorola factory in the 1990s and early 21st century were probably more reliable than some of the communicators that Kirk and his crew ended up using.

Little did we know that the Rebel Alliance would also benefit from the know how of West Lothians elite scientific minds. Yes indeed! None other than Jedi Master Luke Skywalker himself may well have benefited from the inventiveness of the people around here. To be precise Touch Bionics who have just released unto the market the first bionic fingers. The myoelectic bespoke prosthesis can pick up electrical signals from the nerve endings of severed fingers or hands to enable the user to handle a fork, glass or light saber.



Of course the pedants amongst you will no doubt want to point out that the Rebel Alliance took on the Empire a long time ago, in a Galaxy far, far away. So maybe that just means that some descendant of Tatooine's most famous son is now living and working in Livingston.

* Why Montgomery Scott has the American way of pronouncing aluminium I dinnae ken.

Politicians Letting Down West Lothian Workers

The CEO of West Lothian Chamber of Commerce has slated local and national politicians in light of the recent announcement that Bausch & Lomb's plant shutting down in Livingston. He said:

"It is disappointing that during recent years Alistair Darling, Iain Gray, Jim Devine, Margaret Hodge and Michael Connarty all had opportunities to influence changes that might have helped businesses like Bausch & Lomb to stay in West Lothian.

"The consequence of their inaction is that Ireland is now perceived internationally as a more attractive business location."

He is furious that the politicians haven't done enough to protect the regions eligibility under the Regional Selective Assistance programme (RSA). The area had maintained RSA status until last year, i.e. just before the world was thrown into recession, when European officals decided to reduce the number of Scottish areas eligible. Firms in such areas can claim up to 35% grants towards investment. It should be noted that Bausch & Lomb's other European plant in Waterford does now benefit from RSA status that the Livingston plant no longer does. Chamber President Duncan M Walker said:

"The factory is closing not because they're failing to produce innovative products, it's because the location in Ireland has RSA – Bausch & Lomb can get more activity while reducing costs. If we'd had more support from the people David McDougall mentioned, we might have retained the status which would mean Bausch & Lomb might have stayed."

Five years ago the company had won the Scottish Engineering Award for its work with "world-class technologies". As company Chairman Gerald M Ostrov said the closure was "by no means a reflection on our employees' professionalism, dedication, or efforts", but rather a purely financial decision.

Is it possible that Westminster and Holyrood could have done more to help maintain these highly trained, technical and skill jobs stay in the region? The writing was already on the wall even when the RSA was in place with firms like Motorola and NEC and others that formed the once renowned Silicon Glen pulling out to focus on other production plants. The area had been suffering even before the latest economic difficulties. The various industrial campuses around Livingston could become somewhat more of a ghost town if companies cannot be persuaded to stay in the area.

No Longer Through the Looking Lens

Five hundred jobs are set to be lost by the closure of the Bausch & Lomb contact lens plant closes in Livingston. The phased closure of the factory over next year and into 2011 comes from strategic decision to focus production in just two of its three plants globally.

The two other sites are the company's base in Rochester in up state New York and Waterford in Ireland which hosts the companies research facility. This is the same number of jobs that Diageo is planning to axe in Kilmarnock, and the same fate that affect the Motorola, NEC and other production plants locally. The reason. The net effect of previous closures in that the once proud Silicon Glen is suffering its highest unemployment in a decade and 500 more people will slowly over time be added to that number.

Gerald Ostrov, chairman and chief executive officer of Bausch & Lomb said it was "not a reflection of how our people in Livingston have performed, their professionalism, or their dedication". However, the lose of another major employer from the West Lothian area is another body blow to people in the area.

Thane of Buchan's Feudal Ransom

In the past I have called the First Minister the Thane of Banff and Buchan but this isn't about him but the actual 17th Earl of Buchan. The ransom in question is £67,250 of West Lothian Council money for signing over the feudal deed for the former Broxburn Primary School.

In today's West Lothian Courier the story of how the majestic, though now boarded up and vandalised, building on Broxburn Main Street has unfolded since it was last used as a school 10 years ago. The Council who owns the building tried to sell it on to a developer for £140,000 to turn in to a private nursery and leisure facility. However, during the sale negotiations it was unearthed that the original title deed prevented any other land use other than for educational purposes. The feudal deed goes back 150 years and the current Earl of Buchan, Malcolm Erskine lives in Hampshire with no interests in West Lothian at all.

There are a number of feudal deeds still around, as I found out when I first had an offer accepted prior to mortgage arrangement when I first moved here, but generally these are easily dealt with. The spirit of this original deed was obviously that the then Earl wanted to ensure that the children of his tenants were receiving an education. So with the children of Broxburn well served with local primary schools the spirit of that title deed is no longer required. The council faced a similar issue with the deeds of the old Bathgate Academy a few years ago, but that was settled a the site was developed for residential use, whilst maintaining the listed old school building.

The issue that the land has not been of direct use to the Earls of Buchan for 150 years but now the present title holder is demanding £67,250 to basically finally sign away his forefathers clause is maybe a sign that for some the feudal system still exists. In the meantime the building itself remains empty and a growing eyesore on the Main Street.

Time Ticks By, But the Council's Not for Turning

The official line may be 'no comment' but the current actions of West Lothian council speak louder than any words and especially those two. Anybody who was present at the recent meeting to look at how to save Livingston FC (that excludes council officials and councillors who did not attend for legal reasons) know just what a grim state the books are in.

The Council may publicly state their intention to do all they can to retain senior football at Almondvale but to turn down any hope of an alternative deal doesn't seem like the way to go about it. If they are turning down a genuine offer from Neil Rankine and Gordon MacDougall that would change the way things are done at Livingston how can WLC expect to find any business willing to deal with them as landlords should the club enter administration or receivership.

The letter I sent off to my three councillors after that meeting has been met with stony silence, the exception is Jim Swann who at least had an out of office message to indicate that he is still away. Which is a pity as Jim is a football fan who follows Bathgate Thistle and I've seen him there on the occasions that I can get to Creamery Park.

The longer this drags on, and time may be running out, and the more it gets taken through legal channels the greater the cost, the greater the liability and the less likely is it that creditors will get any of their money, let alone the offer that was on the table with the Rankine deal.

Currently it looks like the council that brought football to Almondvale is quietly killing the club off, hoping that the few thousand who still count themselves as fans don't remember.

Open Letter: To My Councillors

Dear Councillors Walker, Boyle and McGinty,

CC: Livingston FC, Angela Constance MSP

As a local council tax payer who has also been since 2000 a regular follower of Livingston I am concerned about the mixed messages that the council is giving over the future of senior football in West Lothian.

Yesterday along with many others including Angela Constance I attended a meeting called by Angelo Massone in the Almondvale Suite. He has assured us that he has written to the council with a three month scheme to satisfy the back rent of the stadium that is due. He also outlined that the council thankfully are aware that the rates being paid are not conducive to a club in the lower division and have lowered that rental agreement accordingly.

He and Neil Rankin both told those present yesterday that they were under the impression on Tuesday evening that some of the executive officers of the council were of the mind to recommend this repayment plan to enable the team that has been part of the local community for the past 14 years to carry on trading.

On Wednesday of course the council proceeded with legal proceedings which are not only leading to a greater debt issue with the club as advise is needed to be sought and fees paid to deal with this, but may well end in liquidation of the club in a little of 11 days from now. The result of such action would of course lead to the council not getting any or much of the money it is owed, leave the loyal fans of Livingston FC without their team and the SFL with a major headache that cannot be rectified before the start of the new season.

The council tax payer in me would rather that the council gets the money it is due and looks at the plan for repayment that has been laid out.

The football fan in me knows that while there appear to be payment plans agreed with HRC and Scottish Power the biggest threat to the survival of Senior Football is West Lothian appear to be the Council who are telling the public and fans through the Courier that 'a secure future for senior football at Livingston remains [the councils] priority and [the council] hope this [legal] action will ensure the good name of Livingston FC remains intact for generations to come'. At the current state of non-negotiation with the current owner of the club and Mr Rankin who is prepared to advise and is trying to engage the fans and community in the club is that there may not be a club by the end of this month let alone for generations to come if that is the case.

There is a sense of urgency to save the club that is worse now than at any time in the last 5 years and the council are the creditors who are currently the ones posing the biggest threat. Therefore I would urge you and your council colleagues to look at the proposals put forward by Mr Massone. Balance the fact of what termination of the club would mean to the council coffers as opposed to accepting the repayment proposals.

Time is of the essence may I urge you to save West Lothian's club.

Regards

Stephen Glenn

'Allo 'Allo 'Allo Mr Devine What do we 'Ave 'Ere Then?

Guido has drawn my attention away from watching The Big Bang Theory on DVD and over to the news. Apparently Jim Devine the MP for Livingston is going to be one of the MPs that will be investigated to the police.

There has been concern about shelving, Devine himself thinks that someone is committing fraud over the rewiring of his London flat. Good to know that the Met are going to be looking into it if that is the case. I'm sure Jim would want us all to get to bottom of 'any' fraud involved.

More to follow when it becomes clear how and if this breaking news develops.

Livingston No More

Before you ask why I'm invoking the line from the Proclaimers song Letter From America about the town I live in. It is not to do with the football team but the new Boundary Commission for Scotland and how they affect West Lothian.

First off there will as be only two unlike mentioned earlier at the time of the initial review three constituencies representing the council area a reshaped Linlithgow, and Livingston largely reshaped and renamed as Almond Valley. Slightly more confusing is that after 12 years of being totally in the Lothian Region the Linlithgow seat will now be in the newly renamed East Central Scotland Region. This may sort out the anomoly of the Westminster seat Linlithgow and Falkirk East straddling two Holyrood regions but leaves this small corner of the Region in a different health, police and education authority.

This has all short of ramifications. Fiona Hyslop has been the SNP candidate for Linlithgow for the last two elections but sits as a Lothian List MSP. The West Lothian Lib Dems now straddle two regions so there may be some internal realignment to reflect the new regions.

Personally it is highly possible that I could yet end up serving on two regional Lib Dem execs without moving constituency. However, as my international status for playing bowls moves with which country I live in I'm not too put out my that having been eligible for England, Ireland and Scotland thus far.

The West Lothian Swindle

Michael Connarty, MP for Linlithgow and Falkirk East, may only have been neighbourly when he sold his London flat and some of it's contents to neighbouring MP Livingston's Jim Divine. But he then went on the claim for replacing furniture at tax-payers expense in his new tax payers funded flat.

Surely if the furntiture was in perfectly good nick to be sold on to another along with the property it would have got a reasonable price that should have been offset against it's replacement? Isn't that what ordinary folk do?

Ironically just around the corner from Michael's Bathgate offices in HomeAid West Lothian which takes donations of furniture to help needy families and individuals in his constituency, people he is supposed to represent.

Piers Morgan is a Snob

My cousin has drawn my attention to this story regarding the recording of Susan Boyle for her bit on Britain's Got Talent. What struck me most was the insult to Blackburn in West Lothian from Piers Morgan one of the judges.

JUDGE Piers Morgan has branded Susan Boyle's hometown of Blackburn, West
Lothian, "a dump".

A camera crew filming the Britain's Got Talent singer were ordered to shoot in nearby Bathgate instead after the area "appalled" Morgan.

Camera crews were supposed to visit the village and film in locations including the community centre and the run-down council estate.

Whilst crew members diplomatically described the views as being "too bland", Morgan announced "it's a dump".

One thing that the sudden shock that swept across the judges and the audience when Susan opened her voice on Saturday was that you can't judge a book by it's cover. Now Bathgate may have some more picturesque buildings from being the major town in the area. Blackburn largely grew up to accommodate workers for the nearby Leyland plant*. But to refuse to film there to show Susan Boyles story is a disgrace.

Camera's did something slightly similar with Leon Jackson when he won the X-Factor in 2007. They didn't film his particular estate in much detail but picked out some of the more affluent areas of Whitburn and took him to the multi-million pound MacArthur Glen Retail Centre in Livingston where he once worked for his pre-final performance.

Personally I'm proud of Susan, Leon and Kerry McGregor another West Lothian X-Factor Finalist from the year before Leon. They are fine examples of the talent within the county and irrespective of what sort of house they call home we are all proud that they have gone up in front of the cameras and shown the UK (even the world) just how much talent they have.

As for Piers Stefan Pughe-Morgan who is allegedly named after the brewery heir Piers Courage I say come up to Blackburn and spent some time with the people. Maybe go to the community centre and Susan's estate (if they'll let you) and find out just what sort of friendly people they really are. Just don't judge the book by its cover.

*One of the interesting facts I picked up while out postering at election times from the other local activists.