JUDGES REVOLTING

AND I MEAN DISGUSTING

At a Labour Party meeting tonight this story came up, you know where the Judges are letting 'dangerous' criminals go because of the 'advice' from John Reid MP the Home Secretary. I should point out here that I am NO fan of John Reid's, however, this is absolute rubbish!

Does anyone seriously buy that a Judge (separate from the influence of Government) would be influenced by a letter from the Home Secretary saying that the Judicial system should only send someone to jail if it is necessary, if they are a danger to their community? Obviously not if the news reports of a known Paedophile being released with a high incident of re offending are correct. I think the point that many of the news papers are printing tomorrow is correct it is an establishment revolt, maybe not in the way they will print it though!

The very reason the jails are overcrowded is the Judiciary unwillingness to use community disposals, where they are appropriate. Maybe the problem is that many judges don't know where they are appropriate, maybe it is that as they have never seen these disposals or researched them they are not aware of their success rate? For what ever reason they have decided to let what they determine 'dangerous' criminals back into society, this is a dereliction of their duty and they should be taken to task, even charged under some archaic law if necessary. The Home Secretary's guidance is a reminder that other disposals exist and that at present they are under utilised.

WILLIAMSBURGH HOUSING ASSOCIATION

MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE MEETING

OK yesterday was a LONG one again, the day started with the constituency business and checking the update on the fire in Dunn Street, I must say at this point that Williamsburgh Housing Association have been excellent, their response times were excellent and the work product was still on the walls last night at the meeting. I can assure the residents that Williamsburgh Housing Association are working hard to make sure that the property is back to it's original standard as soon as possible.

Also on the agenda yesterday was reading the papers for last nights meeting, today's meetings and doing preparation for Friday's meetings. I finally left the office at about 6pm to go to the Management Committee meeting. The meeting was constructive and interesting, a light agenda we were told, the meeting eventually closed at about 10pm. On the agenda were a number of reports including one on the wider action strategy of the Association and I was delighted that the management committee unanimously accepted this report as it mentioned the £4 M upgrade to the Lagoon Leisure centre which is now underway!

A long day, but it was interesting, present at the meeting were some new members of the management committee, great to see new people getting involved and using their voice, all ages welcome!

THE LABOUR EFFECT

NEAR FULL EMPLOYMENT


Interestingly enough Scottish Television tonight ran an article tonight confirming that the UK has 'near full employment' their words not mine! The SNP will be livid given that their assertion has always been that this is not the case, and given that they helped Thatcher destroy the Scottish Economy in the first place.


A while ago I was taken to task by some right wing bloggers over my claim that Scotland was closing in on Full Employment no doubt they will be complaining to OFCOM about tonight's news?


Yet another Labour Gain, from unemployment in Scotland at 16%, to unemployment under 4% TODAY!!


That is the difference between the SNP, the Tories and the Labour Party? We have a proven track record of growing and developing the Scottish Economy, a proven record of developing the Scottish workforce, a proven record of being positive and for the people of Scotland.

http://www.scotlandoffice.gov.uk/our-communications/release.php?id=3566

COUNCILLOR RAYLEEN KELLY

DUNN STREET FIRE

I have received reports that there was a fire in Dunn Street last night, the Fire Service were called and ten people had to be evacuated. I have spoken to Williamsburgh Housing Association and it seems that the residents were taken to the Royal Alexandra Hospital in Paisley for smoke inhalation, at this point I have had no reported serious injuries.

I would like to thank Williamsburgh Housing Association for their swift response for the tenants and their ongoing efforts to support the tenants.

I also wanted to take some time to thank Strathclyde Fire Brigade for their work in this fire, time and time again they put their lives on the line for others and they have been comended by the Housing Association at the meeting last night and I wanted to personally thank them as well.

COUNCILLOR RAYLEEN KELLY

PAISLEY NORTH EAST & RALSTON

For the benefit of my constituents I thought it would be a good idea to explain the changes to the Seedhill ward under the new electoral system for May this year.

The Seedhill ward will now make up part of the new Paisley North East & Ralston Ward, this takes in Hawkhead, Whitehaugh, Ralston and a section of Paisley Central. This ward is a four member ward, which means that the electorate will be selecting four Councillors.

When the elections come round next year you will be able to vote for as many candidates as you like, I would obviously say vote for the Labour candidates first but then you would expect that wouldn't you! You get to rank the candidates in the order of preference but they have to be in order, say for instance you vote from 1 to 4 then leave out 5 and go onto preference 6, the votes from 1 to 4 will be counted and the rest disgarded. If you mark one name with a cross it will be accepted that you are only voting for this candidate.

As I suggested in an earlier post anyone with questions should contact either their local Councillor, the Local Authority or visit the Vote Scotland website which has a good explanation of the system.

COUNCILLOR RAYLEEN KELLY

RENFREW HEALTH CENTRE

As reported here Health Minister Andy Kerr visited Paisley yesterday and announced that the Scottish Executive have given the go ahead to the new Renfrew Health Centre, as coverage on the BBC website suggests it will bring together the Health Services and Social Work services.

Mr Kerr said: "The centre will provide faster and more comprehensive services in modern facilities. This will be of enormous benefit to the community."

Also present at the visit was Cllr Tommy Williams Chair of the Community Health Partnership for Renfrewshire and Local MSP Wendy Alexander both have welcomed the decision as another Labour commitment delivered. This has taken a lot longer than we would have liked but, that does not take away from the achievement of everyone involved and the hard work that has been invested in this project.

SADDAM HUSSEIN

COUNCILLOR TERRY KELLY

I try not to write about the same thing as my dad, keeping in mind that a lot of the people who read this blog also read my dad's, but, this time I couldn't leave it alone! On Saturday the Paisley Daily Express published an article about my dad, apparently slamming him for his comments on the hanging of Saddam Hussein, well they can slam me too because I agree with him!

It will come as no surprise to anyone I am sure but, I am against the death penalty, telling people that if they kill/rape/steal/think for themselves the state will kill them achieves nothing, you only have to look at the USA for evidence. In the states that use the death penalty are there no murders? No, are there no rapes? No! Capital punishment in all it's forms is barbaric and cruel, it makes the state the murderer and as such it makes every citizen no better than the person they seek to punish. I do not say this lightly I have relatives in America and I am aware of some of feelings of the American electorate to the death penalty but this does not make it right.

My dad was right to condemn the execution of Saddam Hussein and his colleagues recently executed, all of the main political players in Scottish politics have voiced similar opinions - including Blair and Brown for the Labour Party and Salmond of the SNP - so clearly the difficult questions are for Cllr McKay the leader of the SNP group on Renfrewshire Council who condemned the comments by my father , is he, like his predecessor Mr McFee, distancing himself from his leader? Is this a split in the SNP? you decide!

24 SERIES 6

FANTASTIC

The only other series that I have been this excited about was the last series of the West Wing, this evening 24 series 6 started and I am so excited that I had to stop myself cheating by reading the synopsis of the upcoming episodes on the 24 website.

At the beginning/end of the advert break there was a small promo type of advert with a web address and a password, me being my inquisitive self decided to check it out and it is a excellent system. It is like online gaming to go with the programme! They have set up websites you have to access and you get a call on your mobile from someone who sounds like the guy from Mission Impossible. On a separate note it is a little like the full gaming experience using all media, something quite a few people have been waiting on. Check it out for yourself, if you have time!

I must say though how much bad luck can one man have?