SNP HIGHER EDUCATION POLICY

SNP AND NO STUDENT DEBT PROMISE EXPOSED!

I am delighted to report that my local MSP Wendy Alexander has been exposing the SNP's policies for what they are, rubbish.

In a recent debate on student finance in the Scottish Parliament the SNP exposed themselves for the frauds that they are, their pledge that under an SNP administration there would be no student debt (eg their suggestion is that each student is in debt of between £11,000 and £18,500 depending on what mood they are in).

Ms Alexander entered the debate (as always having done her homework) and pointed out that to do this the SNP would have to find £3.5 BILLION and likened this to diverting half of the budget of the NHS in Scotland. The SNP have pledged £100 Million, this as Ms Alexander suggests would mean that only one in every twenty five students would be able to have their debt erased and this is only HIGHER education it does not include further education if it did the figure would be one in fifty!

See Ms Alexander's website for more information (Wendy Alexander MSP). Well Done Wendy!

Leukemia Research Fund

MY 30TH BIRTHDAY

Well it is my 30th birthday in October and I am really looking forward to it. I know reaching one of those milestones is usually seen as a BAD thing but I am seriously looking forward to it!

The reason? Because I feel this year I am making a difference, instead of asking for expensive presents and trinkets I am asking for money! All the money will then be donated to Leukemia Research Fund in the name of Terence 'Tebo' Kelly my youngest brother who we unfortunately lost 10 years ago this year to Leukemia.

I have included opposite a link to my donations page which I created today and I would ask that everyone makes a donation, believe me it is a worthwhile cause.

Click here to go straight to the donations page.

Thank you!

QUESTION TIME

OK ten points to the person who can correctly identify BOTH of the figures in the photograph above! My dad found the photo and I have to be honest I could only identify one of the men. Oh yeah and ideas for captions are also welcome!

HAVE FUN!!!

Cultured?

BOOKS AND STUFF!

I know my dad has a few years on me in terms of books he has read and films he has seen but it is something when your elder sister of one and a HALF years has quite a gap on you as well. The thing I always like to remember is that my sister did do English Literature at University as well as English Language and Theatre Studies, this needs A LOT of reading. My course originally computing then Politics was a different type of reading, I am sitting in my dad's house just now looking at ONE of his book shelves as there are quite a few cupboards and shelves filled throughout the house.

The scary thing is that apart from the 'girly' books (eg my mum's book called 'Guide to Gems') he has read ALL of them! Good thing is you always know what to get him for his birthday! Just at a glance I have the complete works of both Oscar Wilde and William Shakespear, Dare or Be a Daniel by Tony Benn, the Ragged Trousered Philanthropist by Robert Tressell (foreword by Alan Sillitoe) and Ernesto 'Che' Guevara the American Dream (the diaries of the revolutionary war in the congo). In fact apart from the Dan Brown Da Vinci Code (which is my sisters) I can't really find ANY 'easy reading'.

My father always advised us as children that reading was exciting and one of the most important things we could learn. So I am tonight going to start to read the Ragged Trousered Philanthropist, I am aiming to have it read by my birthday on the 10th of October and I will keep you all updated with how I am doing.

What are your favourite books? What ones would you suggest I read next?

Councillor Rayleen Kelly

TECHNICAL DIFFICULTIES

You may see more posts on my duties and issues as a Local Councillor on this blog for a while because my webpage for my Council duties (which I personally pay for) is experiencing technical difficulties, so just for those who don't want to read these posts I will put all of them under the title Councillor Rayleen Kelly.



This will allow the reading public to distinguish between my Council posts and my personal posts, this will also help readers know which posts I am suggesting relate to me as a Councillor and which relate to me as a person. The reason for this is that certain Councillor's have been reported to the Standards Commission for Scotland with regards to comments they have made on personal webpages that they have titled Councillor.



Therefore to avoid confusion, regardless if I am blogging re politics local, national or international, unless it has the title Councillor Rayleen Kelly I am speaking as a private individual and NOT as a Renfrewshire Councillor.

Thanks for your time!

LIBERAL DEMOCRATS

NEXT YEARS ELECTIONS

The Liberals can't even do optimism properly, instead of the positive WE WILL be the largest party in Scotland next year and Nicol Stephen WILL BE the first minister, Campbell says today 'he could be', he has been likened in the circles I move in to the Harry Enfield character who constantly says 'you don't want to do it like that!'

There is no substance to their claims, there is no substance to their policies and the Scottish people can see right through it! The Liberals here on Renfrewshire Council would serve as a warning to EVERYONE nation wide to steer clear. Campbell and his party should be consigned to the past, lets see what they have achieved, the flagship policy of the Liberals was Free Personal care, yet most if not all of the commentators admit that Free Personal care does not benefit the worst off in society but the better off. The introduction of PR in the local elections if it does cause coalitions will result in weak decisions made in the interests of the few not the many. The green policies which they have passed this week (if enacted) would make it more expensive for people to fly and how does this benefit the poor? I understand the need for environmental policies but this is an easy one to pick which again appeals to those who have, not those who have not. Maybe Sir Campbell has spent to much time looking at the photo of himself in the army jet shown at conference.

As opposed to Nick Robinson who on his blog today seems to be saying that the Liberals have had substance I see none!

What do you think?

Councillor Rayleen Kelly

PARKING SCHEME FOR SEEDHILL

There has been much discussion over the parking scheme for Seedhill and the East End and I have been in the middle of it a few times! At the Full Council meeting where this was discussed (22nd of June 2006) I asked the council to consider the issue of Second permits with regard to the scheme, the Labour Administration (of which I am a member) advised that this issue had been considered and would be revisited once the scheme has 'bedded in'.

I have made a promise to my constituents that I will continue to keep this item top of the agenda and I have kept and continue to keep this promise.

If you wish to see the plans they are on display at Gilmour House, Abbey House, Paisley Town Hall and the Lagoon. If you wish further information on this please do not hesitate to contact me or the Director of Planning and Transports office.

NEW STATESMAN

BLOGGING

I was staying at my mum's last night to watch the dogs and I picked up a back issue of the New Statesman and it was talking about the outrage at having people blog about products and being paid to do so, I suddenly thought I wonder if people thought that this is what I was doing with the last post, so just to reassure you all I was not.

I was simply giving praise where praise was due.

Although I must admit that if people are willing to do it then fair enough, your friends would no doubt be aware of it and there are advertising rules you would have to follow surely. Maybe someone can clear this up for me, would you have to put a disclaimer on the blog or the post to say that it was an advertisement? Or that you were being paid by a certain company? If not it is dishonest but as long as you believe in the product why not, the problem comes when you are simply writing about it because you are getting paid.

FRAUD EMAILS

ALL CREDIT TO BARCLAYS BANK

I have recently been getting emails from Barclays bank suggesting that they had some important information about my account and asking me to log in. The alarm bells started to ring because I am not a customer of Barclays bank and I have contacted them by email and by phone to advise them of this today. Within about twenty minutes I tried to access the page contained in the email and the Internet service is advising that it has been removed or cannot be found. They should be congratulated for taking the security of their customers so seriously. Anyone receiving similar emails should report them to the relevant bank.

DEPRESSION

MANIC DEPRESSION

I am sitting watching the two part documentary on Manic Depression presented by Steven Fry, and I must admit that I am finding it very interesting. The fact that people such as Steven Fry and Tony Slattery are coming forward and trying to explain the hell that is manic depression gives it a more human face for people.

They are talking about whether or not people that suffer from it would rather have it or not! And the interesting point for people like Steven Fry would rather have it than not makes you want to more about the condition. Obviously as the documentary shows there are some sufferers who would rather not be bipolar and the woman that Mr Fry is speaking to at present is one of them. I think that I have to learn more about this condition to try and understand it more.

LIBERAL DEMOCRATS

WOOLY LIBERALS

OK I can't be long on this post as I am being picked up to go dog sitting in about twenty minutes, but I am sitting listening to the drivel of Charles Kennedy, telling the conference that the Liberals are about social justice and equality, tell that to the single mother who can no longer afford to go to Belfast to see her sister because you have put extra tax onto the flights making it financially exclusive. The Liberals should try looking at their proposals for tax plans for cars, try telling the same single mother who can't afford to get to work because she cannot afford to get the bus (due to spiralling prices because of tax increases) and can't afford to run a car for the same reason!

Mr Kennedy is now going on about the house of lords and proportional representation, he seems to be suggesting that the Proportional Representation system is easy to understand. OK then Charles what happens if I get 30 votes out of 100 possible and the quota is 25 as it is a three member ward, I am elected what happens to the rest of the votes? I have five spare! You would have thought that the five votes spare then go to the second choice but NO all of my votes are counted again on their second choice but they only count as a fraction of the vote for first choice. The fraction is worked out by an equation which I must admit alludes me at present. Plus if there is a draw then the number of transfer votes then get taken into account.

His suggestion that those against PR are saying that the UK electorate is thick is just stupid really. I am not saying that people CAN not understand it I am saying people WILL not understand it. They will not understand how their vote turns into a person, they don't with the Scottish Parliamentary elections as shown through the Arbuthnott Commission. This will put people off voting! Like it or not it will. The system will also allow the opposition to cherry pick issues that they can get into the paper with and fob off the real ones so that they don't have to do any work! It happens now with quite a lot of the list MSP's in Scotland, I will not name names but there is at least one in my area! My concern is for my constituents and their well being, PR creates weak government and weak decisions, and will not best serve my constituents.

Oh yeah and it is still against Labour Party policy.

LIBERAL DEMOCRATS

CONFERENCE SEASON

The Liberals were speaking this morning on the BBC and they were interviewing a woman regarding blogging! From the way the woman was speaking you would have thought that the Liberals invented political blogging it was sycophantic to say the least.

My main problem was that the Liberals are suggesting that the Labour Party would censure a member for the content of their blog! I have not heard this before, if you want to know why this is rubbish look at my dads page Cllr Terry Kelly, his is probably the most contentious I have read and yet never been censured. What the Liberals fail to grasp is that the Labour Party have grasped that political blogs stimulate informed and intelligent (some times!) discussion and in my experience would never get involved with your opinion.

Absent Friends

Missing Pauline

My friend Pauline is in Lanzarotte at the moment on holiday with her parents for a well deserved break and I thought just in case she reads this (I doubt it but I remember there being an Internet cafe in the complex) I should point out that I am missing her, hope she is having a great time and let her know that I have managed to remember to tape both episodes of the West Wing that she has been away for!

Hope you are having fun sweety and I will see you soon!

MEXICAN!!

CHIQUITO'S BRAEHEAD

OK as you will see from below last night my sister and I went to Chiquito's in Braehead XScape for dinner, I must admit to being very impressed with the whole complex it is quite a place. I had earlier this year been to the XScape in Milton Keynes on the road to a hen weekend in Budapest and although I never really got to go round the complex it looked good as well.

Unfortunately although the service was excellent and the complex is fab! The food is not as good! Don't get me wrong it is passable but a bit bland for Mexican, the whole point of a Mexican meal is that it is spicy and this just wasn't. I had a Burrito (spicy chicken) and it was nice but not THAT spicy! My sister had the Fajitas and they did not seem to have ANY spices on them at all, although the presentation was good.

SO my advice would be if you have never been for a GOOD Mexican go to this place if you are looking for REAL Mexican food it is not the place for you.

On a separate point the Margarita's are not on the menu but they do serve both on the rocks and frozen, and that is a big plus! Although the frozen ones are a little too sweet or my taste and they do not taste as thought they have been made fresh, I would guess that they are pre-mixed drinks.

SNP CANDIDATE QUITS THE SNP

MARTIN QUITS

It comes as no real surprise to anyone in Renfrewshire to hear that Cllr Bill Martin has left the SNP, despite last week being announced as the candidate for the Paisley South Scottish Parliament seat (and being number nine on their regional list for the West of Scotland). His wife and failed Council candidate left the SNP about six months after Cllr Richard Vassie (ex SNP) was expelled from the group. He was expelled when he was suspended by the Standards Commission for a year after verbally abusing members of Council staff while allegedly inebriated at a council function. The reason many people thought that Mrs Martin left was that she was Cllr Vassie's guest at the particular function, and was similarly questioned by the Standards Commission who came to the conclusion that her testimony was 'evasive and unconvincing' (quote from the standards commissions decision which can be found here).


After this suspension was given to Cllr Vassie, Mrs Martin and a n other left the party tearing up their cards, so it would seem something of an anti climax that Cllr Martin jumped before he was pushed by his colleagues in the SNP, the details are still somewhat hazy but he was to ungo a disciplinary hearing next week, I doubt this is the last we will hear of this so watch this space.

BLOGGERS 4 LABOUR

TOP 100 BLOGGERS

I am not a great fan of Ian Dale and his blog, however coming round to liking him after his top 100 blogs were published in his newest guide to political blogging! Imagine my absolute surprise when I read the top 100 Labour bloggers and noticed my own name at 78! I have only been blogging for about a month now so it was quite a surprise and I think I probably owe a lot of it to Bloggers 4 Labour as I don't think an awful lot of people would be aware of this blog if it wasn't linked so THANK YOU!

I will keep trying to update this as much as possible (as you can tell today has been one where I have had LOADS of time to myself!) and hope that it stimulates some conversation.

Not sure on reflection if it is a good thing that a Conservative thinks that my blog is good? Comments please!

INTERNATIONALISM

VISITORS FROM FAR A FIELD

I have noticed thanks to the tracker at the side that there have been people as far away as Australia reading my blog, to say I was impressed is an understatement, although I am still not sure if it is my relatives or not!

I have relatives all over the globe from California, Chicago, Ontario to Melbourne in Australia. In fact I think the only place there are not any Kelly's related to me is on main land Europe! So I just wanted to say Hi and thank you for visiting me, and come back soon!

MEXICAN!!!

OUT FOR DINNER

I am really looking forward to tonight, my sister and I are going out for a Mexican dinner this evening. Mexican food is by far my favourite, there used to be a Mexican restaurant in Paisley but unfortunately it shut down a LONG time ago and because of this I have to go to Glasgow or even Edinburgh for a real Mexican meal. Braehead has now got a Mexican restaurant and we are going to try it out tonight, I will let you all know what it is like.

Margaritas here we come!