Rayleen's world of Labour Politics

Progress Report

2011-06-24T22:47:00.000Z

This week has been a difficult one, I have been on the mid shift at work so I am having to get up early round about 6am in order to get myself prepared and awake enough to go to go for the two mile walk detailed on the training plan. So far this week I have walked 11 miles this week and I am encouraged by how quickly I am getting into the swing of things.

I have planned the route and this week I have included a walk down the St James playing fields and have watched the arrival and progress of the Moscow State Circus, I am now going to try and go see the show as I think it will be fantastic. I have walked all in 11 miles since Sunday and I must admit I am feeling better for it.

Any suggestions of two mile routes for the next couple of weeks will be appreciated all so get yer thinking caps on.

http://www.sponsormetoshine.org/rayleenkelly

The Training Begins

2011-06-19T20:08:00.001Z

The Training program is supposed to start tomorrow but to try and get a jump start on it I did a short one mile walk this evening around my home area.

I co-incidentally went out this afternoon to get proper trainers for the event as well, the ones that I currently have are a pair of £10 no support and hurt your feet type jobs. I went to a great wee shop on Great Western Road in Glasgow and they really look after you.

The sales advisor (although he looked about 12) was excellent he assessed my feet and asked me to walk up and down so that he could see whether or not I would need support or minimal support, they had a treadmill at the back of the shop and you get the feeling this shop is for serious sports people but at the same time they did not make you feel unwelcome or strange if you are not sporty like myself, they put you right at ease. I came away with a rather expensive pair of shoes (around the £60 - £70 mark) and have already had them on, cant quite believe that I didn't get them before as they are excellent!!

So tomorrow is the real start to the training a two mile walk a day, this should also help with the weight loss as well. I will update how I am getting on here and on my facebook so you will all be sick of the updates and descriptions of what I am doing and seeing on my travels. Once I get into it properly I will also be taking out the camera to document my progress as well.

Taking this seriously so if you want to sponsor me either use the widget to the right hand side of the page with the donate button or click on the title of this post, I am doing this in memory of my younger brother who we lost 15 years ago this year I think he would get a kick out of it!

Glasgow Shines

2011-06-16T21:26:00.000Z

So it has been a while since I have been active on this Blog and I thought it would be an idea to get this back up and running. Talking about running (or I should say walking) I have this evening added a new widget to the blog on the right hand side of the page to help raise money for Cancer Research UK. Fifteen years ago this November my family lost my youngest brother to Leukemia after almost two years of struggle, it was a horrific and traumatising experience and one that I would not wish on ANYONE in this world.

I have done some fundraising in the past where I have raised almost £900 for Leukaemia Research by holding my 30^th Birthday party as a fundraising event and this time it is going to be a little bigger in scale at least for me. This time I am raising money for Cancer Research UK to beat Leukaemia and in order to do that I am asking you to sponsor me as I prepare and walk The Shine in Glasgow. I have detailed below the Shine website and a brief description of what it is we will be doing, I have a friend who is also doing this with me so for our sins we will be training and I am hoping to be able to keep this blog going with updates on how that is going etc.

I have been lucky in my life to have a strong family and friends network who support me in everything I do and I know that we all stand together against this horrible disease, give what you can and be safe in the knowledge that your pound could be the extra pound that makes the difference and finds the cure for this horrible disease.

The Shine is either a half Marathon or a full marathon and this takes place at night men and women from all walks of life and at varying levels of fitness (some people run this believe it or not) take part to raise funds to rid the world of cancer.

Check out the website and see if you want to take part...

http://shine.cancerresearchuk.org/

Venice here we come!

2011-04-12T22:05:00.001Z

So it is coming up to the Easter holidays again and that means another holiday. Feels like this is becoming a travel blog at the moment as when I am on holiday I have more time to update.

So our next adventure will be back to Venice and this time we have hired a flat in the centre, we are looking forward to the sun terrace on the roof and will be hoping to post the pictures on here as soon as I can.

Finally linked to my Hero

2011-04-12T21:58:00.001Z

So I have finally managed through a lot of working a way round to getting my phone and Google account linked to my blog so I will be able to keep this up to date more often.

Five Minutes Walk from the Colosseum

2010-10-27T19:54:00.002Z

This is where I found myself at this time last week, in fact at this time last week I was sitting in my favourite Italian Restaurant L'Orso 80, on the Via Dell' Orso in Rome, my lovely big sister Clare took me there for my birthday, the restaurant not Rome. We stayed in an apartment and have decided that this is the way to go, the apartment was five minutes literally from the Colosseum which is so central and it was beautifully dressed and decorated and even had it's own private terrace which was well used for lunch and an evening's glass of Prosecco before heading out to dinner.

Having been to Rome a couple of times now I am getting the hang of the public transport (Bus if you want to see the sites and have time on your hands; the metro if like us you are there for four days and time is of the essence), the site seeing (even got to see the Sistine chapel this time) and the food (try and stray off the beaten track for the best deals).

The first time I went to Rome was with the church for World Youth Day 2000 and I remember thinking what a beautiful city that Rome is and how clean etc. The city has never lost it's attraction to me and I find myself every so often wanting to return. When we entered the flat late on Saturday night the girl Francesca (who could not have been nicer) asked us if we had been to Rome before the usual chit chat and we advised that we have been a couple of times, when she asked why I quipped 'Because we keep throwing money in the Trevi' Francesca giggled as did my sister and I but it is one of the reasons I return to keep throwing that money in so that I guarantee that I come back.

I have included some of my photos below of the Vatican museums (although not the Sistine chapel as no talking or photos are allowed in the chapel itself), the gardens and the general surroundings of Rome, I have also detailed below a couple of my top tips for travelling in Rome.

Top travel tips in Rome

Queues are not a big thing in Europe so if like me this annoys you and you are flying with a budget airline get speedy boarding or priority boarding as this will allow you to not have to queue and get on the plane first.

If you have limited time get the Metro it does not show you the sites of the city but if you get the three day pass you can get on and off busses and all public transport in Rome so if you want to take in the long road to the Vatican (the number 62 bus from Termini goes down this road and stops just around the corner) then just jump on the bus instead.

Always get lost! Half the fun in places like Rome and Venice is the getting lost, stick to the streets around the main tourist sites and you should be able to find a nice reasonably priced restaurant with great food (just remember and visit the tourist information office and pick up a free booklet with a map as it has the bus routes in it and is really helpful)

If you can, go to a football game, we went to watch Roma versus FC Basel and although Roma got beat it was an excellent experience and I would definitely do it again especially since a ticket to see the Champions league game only cost 10 euro's from the club shop, despite being quoted 80 euro's online. Add to this we got a discount because we were female?!?

If you are going to see the Sistine chapel get your ticket online before you go that way you beat the crowd, the queue every time I have been to Rome the queue is consistently down the road round the corner, down the road again and round another corner it is really busy so book first online at http://mv.vatican.va/3_EN/pages/MV_Home.html

Just outside Termini on the Terravision bus side of the building (at the platform one side) across the road there is a small shop that sells wine, food etc and this is open quite late (we got two bottles of prosecco and some food at the back of 11 at night) it is reasonably priced and a real wee find.

If it is all about style and PR

2010-04-23T09:30:00.000Z

Debate Round-up

Having not watched the first leaders debate last week (I have it recorded just have not gotten round to watching it yet) I was surprised by the second in the series. A few things jumped immediately to mind, it was too long, this could have been an hour comfortably and the last half hour dragged on. Secondly the set up was a little strange, I don't mind that the audience are not allowed to contribute except for asking questions as this tends to stop the party hacks populating the audience so that their guys can boo at the others, a tactic regularly employed by the SNP, however, the leaders were very cramped on the stage and I would have liked to have seen a little more attention and pushing for substance in the answers. I would also have liked to have seen a little more introduction and the Leaders being able to answer the question instead of the moderator summing up what the questions actually were as he then changed it into a sound-bite format for the ticker writer.

Con-servatives

There were a few different issues discussed that David Cameron misled people on and I thought that I would point out a couple here. How can he claim that he has a new team when the people the Conservatives put on the TV for the pre debate hype were Malcolm Rifkind and Ken Clarke? Old policies coming through and old heads pulling relatively young strings. Further to this the election leaflets that Mr. Cameron is so synthetically angry about were based on a election promise that the Conservatives refused to make until last night when Mr. Cameron decided to make up the policy on the hoof.

Most importantly for me is the question of defence and Europe, there are a number of really important things that Cameron and EVERY Conservative candidate needs to answer....

1. Do you agree with the political ties that the Conservatives have in the European parliament.

2. Moving to immigration, if -as the Conservatives have advised on many previous occasions have admitted that they would- we moved out of Europe how would the Conservatives immigration policy work? They seem to be tied to the EU for this?

3. Do you agree with the Conservative candidate in Scotland lying to the public about local business leaders being against the NI raise and using their names without authorisation on the election leaflets? If not what action will you take against them?

Liberals

Again Nick Clegg has misled people on many occasions now and seems not to know basic history of the political system in the UK. The Liberals as a party are much older than the Labour party so when he talks about the two old parties he is really referring to his own and the Tory's. He 'forgot' to mention his ties to big business and his lobbying jobs ad doesn't seem to want to answer the questions asked of him re funding, which rings alarm bells, I am sure there was no wrong doing but why not publish the details now rather than later?

Questions for Clegg and EVERY Liberal candidate

1. Religion and politics how do you feel about a Liberal candidate describing themselves in a Catholic newspaper as 'the closest thing to a pro life candidate' in an election? (Eileen McCartlin in the last election Scottish Catholic Observer)

2. What will you replace Trident with and when would that decision be made?

Conclusion

From this mornings press conference Gordon Brown is right it is not a game show it is an election and all voters should be taking their vote seriously, today is a more important moment the recovery is under way and this campaign has already made clear that the Tories are a risk to the recovery. Voters should not be expected to put their cross against a question mark and the questions regarding their policies are growing day by day. We need to ensure that we are not making the mistakes of the 1980's and 90's. We need to make sure that we are talking up Britain and that we are showing the positive side of the Labour Policies that we have, but it would be irresponsible NOT to point out the flaws and dangers in the other parties policies, ask yourself this if we don't who will?

On a personal note I used to live downstairs from a real live suffragette, someone ho was denied the vote simply based on her sex, someone who struggled to ensure that we lived in a fairer and safer society and someone who inspired me to join the Labour Party and remember that as a party we know we are better together than we are apart and we know that we are moving towards a fairer, stronger and safer society.

Vote Labour on May 6th

Ryanair

2010-04-22T07:56:00.001Z

Take them to Court

Have a listen to the Ryanair stance on refunding their customers for their food and accommodation. Keep in mind that Ryanair were one of the last companies to restore full service to their passengers (only tomorrow will it be fully back up to speed) and one of the companies who have been complaining to the EU about the regulations. According to the Irish 'Rich List' for 2010 Mr. O'Leary is worth over £182,000,000, and yet Ryanair 'cannot afford' to re-inburse their customers under the EU legislation that as a European Airline they operate under. This is Mr O'Leary's company deciding that they will pick and choose which laws apply to them and as such they should be taken to court and not only due compensation but damages rewarded to EVERY customer who has had to suffer because of this, personally I think that it should come out of his personal fortune. They are suggesting that they will only compensate to the price of the ticket, my response to this is that they operate under European Law and are duty bound to compensate their customers they are not above the law.

The thing that really annoys me about this is that Mr. O'Leary is playing with emotions during an election period watch this space for him or a spokesperson (if he doesn't have the guts to do it himself) coming out and saying that if they were to compensate to the EU regulations that they would either go bust or have to lay off masses of people, this is his way of trying to bully ALL parties into supporting him and I for one hope that it fails miserably, call out to Ryanair and Mr. O'Leary - you knew the legislation when you started operating time to suck it up, think about your customers and their suffering and pay what is due to them.

Update - Michael O'Leary of Ryanair has advised he is going to sue the EU Government for compensation for the shut down for £30M losses ... Despite the Ryanair profits being in excess of £241M last year!!!! Again O'Leary suck it up and take the money out of your own pocket if needs be!

Volcanic Ash

2010-04-20T18:16:00.003Z

Living up to their Promises

Anyone who has flown over the past few years will no doubt have suffered some amount of disruption and delay in the flight plans and under EU law the airlines are supposed to look after their customers by providing food and shelter if needs be, I must admit that I for one have never been treated to such attention from ANY airline that I have travelled with. We learn today that many of the airlines have now decided to abandon their passengers abroad and expect the Government to step in and fill their obligations. I would expect to see more than a few court cases over expenses incurred and not covered by the airlines.

Pasenger Safety has to come first

I agree that passenger safety has to come first but someone should probably explain that to East Coast Rail who continued to sell tickets on the 2pm service from Lonon's Kings Cross to Aberdeen service on Friday. Despite their being NO seats available the train company continued to sell tickets for the train and we had each carriage with passengers and their luggage littering the aisle's. One member of staff was overheard saying that they were concerned about safety and asking why the company continued to sell tickets. Add to this the lack of air conditioning and you have an unhealthy situation where the temperatures were soaring to almost 38 degress celcius at times - and before anyone asks I have an application on my phone that is a thermometer-. Keeping your customers safe should apply to all methods of transport. And to those airlines who are saying that it was safe to fly yet the airports stayed closed I would respond that the safety of passengers should always come first it only takes one plane to go down and the Government has ben neglegent in it's duty to protect the public. Mr Walsh of BA would be best minded to remind himself of the BA near tragedy in 1982 due to the same issue and then answer why if it is so safe to fly has his airline not completely restored their services?

Who Should Pay?

This seems to be the big debate at the present time and to be honest my answer would be the airlines and the insurance companies that is why we pay for insurance and if the airlines do not have a contigency fund to cover such eventualities then they should really be looking at their business practises. I would also go as far to suggest that the airports should be partially refunding the Taxi's some of the liscense fee that they pay in order to provide a service to the airports as they were also out of pocket at no fault of their own and many of these people are self employed and cannot afford the luxury of a contingency big enough to cover this.

Who should not pay is the Government and by proxy the tax payer, why should we be paying to bail out a industry that bleeds its customers dry every chance it gets, example airlines like Ryanair who have now decided that they are considering bringing in charges for the airplane toilets! They charge for using a card online and if you call the price is dearer so you pay that way anyway, they charge for baggage and weigh your hand luggage now as well to try and get more money out the unsuspecting tourist and refuse to provide onward transport if their plane breaks down leaving you out of pocket.

Don't get me wrong Ryan Air are by no means the only airline who bleed their customers but they are one of the main perpetrators and should be paying to provide their customers the proper cover under EU legislation even if they are a low cost airline (which is a complete falicy in itself we flew to Venice cheaper on BA than on Ryanair and it was much more comfortable).

Anyway what do you think, who should pay?

Some Techno-babble

2010-01-26T23:40:00.007Z

New Phone

One of the things that I love is new technology and I decided last week to update my phone, and even though I only got it today I am loving it. I upgraded to the HTC Hero otherwise known as the T-Mobile G2 and it is a fantastic phone, I must admit to being slightly annoyed that even though I was staying for an extra 18 months they would not give me it for free (cheap skates!) however, I have fully charged the phone -extremely important- put the sim in and started to use it.

One of the things that I like about the phone is the 'apps' and from what I can tell in contrast with the IPhone and it's applications most of those available for this phone are free to download! I have so far used the maps feature, the weather and the email feature and the etch a sketch (just a bit of fun) and I must admit to being pleasantly surprised.

So a couple of hints and tips on this and other 3G mobile phones...

3G handsets use more power to connect to the network so this will have an impact on the length of time your battery lasts.

When a handset says this is how long you should get out of the phone in terms of battery it means if you don't connect to the network and you don't use the phone, so you can usually cut this in half and get a more accurate picture -let's be honest who only uses their mobile for calls and texts anymore?-

If you are using multiple applications on the phone make sure that the applications are closed down after use as running them in the background depletes the battery power (for the HTC Hero/ T-Mobile G2 you can download an application called 'kill apps' it is free and it will show you what is running and allow you to close those applications you no longer need to keep running).

Check out the Internet forums and try the handset in a store before you buy it because once you have personalised the phone there are very few networks that will allow you to return it, and if it is an upgrade there is no 14 day money back guarantee once you walk out the shop with it that is it.

I hope this is helpful, really I am just trying to say I love my new phone!

2010-01-25T21:13:00.005Z

American Health Care

I have been following the debate on the American health care system over the past few months and thinking about how good we have it in the UK. I know that this is not always a popular thing to say in fact one of our native Conservative MEP's disagrees with this sentiment entirely as shown through his appearances on American TV Daniel Hannan MEP.

At the moment I am sitting watching 'The Rainmaker' a film based on a book by John Grisham one of the story lines the young lawyer in the film/book follows is that of a young man called Donnie Ray Black who has Leukaemia, his insurance company refuses to pay for the life saving treatment because a bone marrow transplant is an 'experimental' procedure the case argues that this led to the death of the young man.

It does show a stark and albeit dramatised version of the American health care system in which insurance companies would decline and dismiss all claims as a first response. I understand the arguments against an NHS style system however, I cannot thank the NHS enough for the amount of money and time spent on treating members of my close family and cannot help but think had we been living in America these individuals in my family would have had a much harder time during their illness and half the treatments and drugs used would have been denied as experimental or too expensive.

I know we don't have a perfect system by any manner of means but it is clearly fairer and looks after those weakest in society where the US system does not, the elderly and poor are left behind. Surely the measure of a just society is how we treat those less fortunate than ourselves, how can we look someone in the eye and say I think it is fair and just for you to die because you dont have enough money to live?

Have your say here in the comments section and on the BBC website.

Tory Fanclub

2009-06-11T20:26:00.003Z

Tartan Tories Reunited

I remember from my studies in University that the SNP were the reason that the Conservatives and Thatcher got into power in 1979. They supported the Tories and were given the nick name 'The Tartan Tories' they helped bring Mrs Thatcher to Scotland and as recently as last year Mr Salmond suggested that the only reason Scotland didn't take to Mrs. Thatcher was down to her Social Policies, he was ridiculed then and deserves to be again today.

Today the SNP jumped straight back in to bed with the Tories at Holyrood, I think their side of the bed was even still warm. They voted for a symbolic motion to dissolve the UK Parliament. Personally I think those that voted for it should go back to a Standard Grade Modern Studies class and learn about the powers of the Scottish Parliament and it's scope of influence. It is almost as bad as the motion put to the Full Council in Renfrewshire by the SNP heavy weights Mylet (who had an attendance record of about 33% at Committees and Council Meetings) and McKay (now their fearful leader)...

10. Notice of Motion - Submit notice of motion from Councillors Mylet and Mackay:-

"Democracy in Renfrewshire. Discuss".

Thursday 26/06/2003 09:30

Now as much as I like helping with homework I firmly believe that the SNP should do their own instead of trying to get others to do it for them! This was grandstanding at it's worst and the motion today was the same.

I know that the scandal over expenses has blinded the public to the good that the Labour Party has done in power and I understand that not all of the work has been fruitful, there have been mistakes made but Government is made up of ordinary human beings and human beings make mistakes as a nation we are much better off for the Labour Government than we realise. As a Scottish Nation we are miles better for the Labour Government and are paying the price for the SNP in power through the slashing of Council budgets.

We need to take power back, we need to prove that we are worthy and we need to show that we can handle it, I think we are going in the right direction and am proud to admit I am a Labour Party member, come on all you hiding under the couch come out and start spreading the positive message that the Labour Government is a force for good and equality in our society.

SNP Playing Politics

2009-06-10T21:38:00.003Z

Salmond Caught Out

Listening to the radio this morning while getting ready to go to work I heard a story that Alex Salmond Scotland's First Minister was making a trip to London to participate in the business of dissolving Parliament. Angus Robertson the SNP leader at Westminster rejected claims that Salmond should be in Edinburgh voting saying that they were not going to play politics.

Unfortunately for Mr Robertson and Mr Salmond I can't help but think that the ordinary public will be thinking that this is exactly what they are doing, the vote in the Scottish Parliament today was to modernise Scotland's rape laws. How the dissolution of the UK Parliament trumps the Rape laws of Scotland is beyond me and I am sure it is beyond every rape victim in Scotland.

It angered me to hear that Mr Salmond, Mr Robertson and the SNP thought that the vote on the dissolution of Parliament was more important than the bill he announced in September 2007. They were not just playing politics they were blatantly flaunting the fact in the face of every rape victim, every family member of a rape victim and the general public as a whole, it was disgusting, arrogant and self aggrandising, but then again nothing less than we expect from the SNP and Mr Salmond.

BNP

2009-06-09T21:37:00.006Z

Did you Vote?

In Renfrewshire our electoral slogan is 'No Vote, No Voice'. I have repeated this quite a few times at work over the last week or so to those in my work who advised that they did not vote in last week's European Elections. When I voted around 8pm last week only 94 people had bothered to come out to vote at my polling place?!?

Part of the reason I get so upset by the whole not voting thing is that when I was young we had a real life suffragette living upstairs, in the warm weather she would come down into the communal garden and sit and tell us stories of when she was young. It really does make you realise how far we have come when you think about it, in my life time I knew a woman who was unable to vote because she was a woman. I used to think my mum and dad must hate this cause she is telling us about throwing toffee hammers through windows and chaining herself to railings, in reality my parents were incredibly proud to be her neighbour and her friend.

Don't get me wrong I understand the controversy over expenses and I understand why people are upset by this, my understanding however stops when I think that people think that voting BNP is somehow a reasonable alternative? It stops when I think about the gains made by the Conservatives and the SNP despite being caught in the mire as much as the Labour Party? I know we are the party of Government but surely it would take the collective will of Parliament to change a system such as the expenses and none of the main parties did very much to try and bring about this change.

The leader of the SNP is caught up in the expenses scandal, the Conservatives are in it up to their eyeballs as are the Liberals so in that regard you can see why people would be reluctant to vote for a major political party, but please vote for someone, spoil your paper make a protest instead of staying at home.

If you don't vote, you have no voice, so don't complain about Europe or the Political system if you didn't vote, you have no right to complain if you don't take part in the process.

Race for Life

2009-06-08T21:23:00.007Z

The Race for Life

I have had one of the most enjoyable and fulfilling weekends of my life and I am still buzzing from the excitement.

Saturday was the wedding of two good friends John and Lucy, the bride was beautiful and the groom couldn't stop smiling it was a truly magical wedding and I was so pleased that they allowed us to be part of their big day. Even the obligatory dancing, which I am hopeless at, even more so when I am sober and have all of the usual inhibitions, was fantastic. The band were great and covered all types of music, even the bus ride home from Kilbirnie was a great laugh and I got home around 1am, later than I planned.

On Sunday it was an early rise for the Race for Life, and getting ready was a little more difficult than expected, as I lost the safety pins so I couldn't attach my number or my name plate on my back!

My friend Charlene picked me up and we were off to Glasgow Nautical college to meet up with the girlies. We had already had one injury before we got there one of the girls has been having joint problems as was unable to take part -doctors orders- but we soldiered on. When we got there Sharon and her trusted bum bag had spare safety pins (thank god) and a whole host of things (pens to write names in case we forgot, and well it was a Mary Poppins bag), we all got suited and booted with our numbers on the front and the names of those we wanted to run for on our backs.

Before getting on our way we took a group photo (will put this up when I get it), When we walked towards Glasgow Green we could hear the music and the stage announcers right away,

'Welcome to Race for Life Glasgow, the biggest Race for Life in the UK, 17,500 women are taking part today ...'

On arriving I had no idea it was going to be this big an event,

Between and 'Reach for the stars' warm up and Suzie Maguire of Real Radio breaking two microphones it was a great atmosphere. Lord Provost of Glasgow Bob Winter gave a fab speach, short and sweet and really fitting the occasion.

On Our way to the start line, which you had to walk to down the road and round the corner, getting ready to go (male cheerleader at the start shaking his pom poms) and we were off on a whistle tour of Glasgow, we managed to complete the course in under 1 hour and had a fantastic amount of support all the way through from the road sweepers out and about and clapping the racers on their way past, to the ordinary people lining the route and clapping and cheering.

Loads of different people taking part, with the wee white scotty dog with the pink whistle round it's neck to those suffering from cancer who were running to prove that it can be done. It is a humbling experience walking beside someone who has their own name on their back, to the family of James who were in the final stages with us, obviously a mother and sisters, you could write a book with the stories just printed on the back's of those taking part and I am sure that similar to me others will be writing about this and hoping that they touch even one person and compel them to either take part or at least sponsor us.

We crossed the finishing line to whoops and cheers and I don't think I have ever had such a sense of achievement in all my life, I know it is a small victory and it is only 5Km but crossing that line you feel as though you are doing something special and it is true the taking part is the bit that matters.

Absolutely buzzing I have still not come down from the roof yet, we got a medal and a goody bag which was totally besides the point, and better than that we raised an amazing amount on line for an excellent cause. So just in case you were waiting for us to complete please sponsor us now...

http://www.raceforlifesponsorme.org/trs

Race for Life

2009-04-02T13:02:00.009Z

SPONSOR US PLEASE!!

A group of the girlies from work and myself are going to be doing the Race for Life for cancer research in Glasgow this June. There are 11 of us taking part and the above link (http://www.raceforlifesponsorme.org/TRS) is where you would go to make a donation. We may only be walking the course but we are still training hard and hoping that we raise enough money to make all of us proud.

So many of our lives are touched by cancer and this is a great way of showing that you care, making a difference and who knows your donation of £5 could be that extra amount that funds the cure of this horrific disease. Over the last ten years alone we have made dramatic improvements in treatments and prevention so your donation really will make a difference.

Thanks have to go to TRS as they have been a fantastic support, please give generously, and thanks in advance from ...

Sharon, Rayleen, Karen, Sheila, Jennifer, Belinda, Nicola, Ashleigh, Charlene, Heather & Gillian. XXX

Bad Week for the SNP

2009-02-15T17:11:00.003Z

Slogans, Cuts and Tax

This week has not been really successful for the SNP locally or Nationally. Nationally despite their protestations that they remained fully committed to a Local Income Tax the Flag ship policy was finally dropped.

The Local Income Tax was the SNP's 'Big Idea' it was the one issue they spent MORE time on than any other at the 2007 elections, more time than Education and Police and more time than independence, their so called reason for being. One SNP spokesperson is quoted as saying that they 'took command of the situation' by dumping it. An article in the Scotland on Sunday today contains a suggestion that MANY of the SNP MSP's won primarily because of this policy, and I am sure there are many people who voted for the SNP at the last election who would not normally have done so based on this policy that are now regretting their decision and many will now feel let down and deceived.

Locally the SNP presented their budget to Renfrewshire Council with a slight sting in the tail for their finance spokesperson Cllr Noon, as the Leader of the Council Cllr MacKay made the presentation of the budget himself rather than following long established convention (which I believe they stuck to last year) and allowing the finance spokesperson to present.

Could it be that Cllr Noon declined to do this as he did not agree with the budget being presented? Is there a split locally in the SNP? Or is it just that Derek is a bit of a control freak? I would have said glory hunter but having examined the budget there is no glory in taking responsibility for it.

Cuts, cuts and more cuts another £1Million cut in the Social Work budget and £2.5Million from the Education budget despite the propaganda on the Renfrewshire Council website. I was trying to put more information on the council's budget onto this article but the website for the Council will not allow access to the Council and Government section, conicendence? Make up your own mind.

SNOW DAY

2009-02-02T19:47:00.004Z

Snow and Budgets

Edinburgh is a lovely city, and it becomes even more lovely in the snow, although you do tend to find that it doesn't lie as readily which is not great. I have been mostly shut in doors today as the TV kept saying only make necessary journeys and I didn't think nipping down to Ocean Terminal to do a bit of impulse shopping was essential. So instead I spent the day catching up on the days events through the Internet and the TV. I am hearing from the Scottish News Reports that the budget decision may be 'fast tracked' through the Scottish Parliament this week.

The word 'Fast Track' makes me wonder through if you are moving at that pace is it not in the hope that those voting for it won't actually notice the hidden cuts and charges contained in it?

I get a little suspicious when people start suggesting this don't you?

It has been so good catching up with some relaxation, when I tell people I work in a call centre they assume that the conversation is all about Celebrity Big Brother and Survivors (or whatever the latest 'reality' TV show is), in all honesty we talk about Israel, we talk about Politics and we talk about the issues facing us, and most of the people I have spoken to are getting more than a little fed up with Salmond's threats to resign when he doesn't get his own way, talk about throwing your toys out the pram!

I wish that they would take these things seriously instead of giving it the petted lip every time things don't go their way. And I think the reaction of the crowd to the SNP leader on Saturday at the new St Mirren Park was a clear indication of this, talk about being humiliated, and before anyone starts yeah you would expect some booing for any politician but not so much the chanting that came after it! I felt a little embarrassed for Provost Lawson to be honest as she did not look happy and them with their big shiny banner at St Mirren Park too, just shows you politics and football does not mix.

On a separate issue I plan to release the full answer from the BBC to my complaint regarding the DEC appeal and their refusal to show it, I have asked that they get back to me if they do not wish this to go ahead with the reasons why, so watch this space it should be up (if they have no reason to wish to hide such a standard response) on Thursday.

Disaster Emergency Commitee Gaza Appeal

2009-01-29T22:38:00.001Z

Homecoming 2009 A Waste?

2009-01-29T21:45:00.004Z

Highland Games and Golf

OK so some people reading this might think well she is Labour (therefore anti Scottish) and we don't expect her to get on board, but I have spoken to friends who are of the nationalist persuasion and they agree, showing the Homecoming advert in Scotland (almost on loop round about Burns anniversary) is a complete waste of money and time.

I honestly could put my foot through the television when it comes on, Eddie Reader who has a fantastic voice (and sounds good in the advert cause the song is fab) but who seems to think that being Scottish means that you must love Burns poetry and appreciate it's beauty (sick of getting it forced down my throat) or two random rugby players (who no one I have spoken to knows), it took me while to work out who some of the others were too, but the biggest insult has to be Shir Sean and Lulu. Shir Sean who couldnt even be bothered to attempt to sing - come on do it with some gusto mate- and Lulu who has decided she has a Scottish accent after all, or at least she has it this week.

The whole campaign is an insult to normal Scottish people a lot of whom are struggling to cope in the current climate, the worlds biggest Highland games are we being serious? What about a massive rock concert twinned with the Celtic connections and leading onto a massive investment in town twinning and exchange trips for young Scottish students? What about an unprecedented investment in Scottish Schools and Scottish Home Care for the Edlerly show the world that the homecoming is not just about those overseas coming home but about social justice and caring for each other, guess that is too much to expect.

The SNP locally have slashed home care budgets, slashed the wardens service in the elderly homes and slashed the budgets for education closing educational establishments, they have let the Roads in Paisley go to the dogs and are singularly uninterested in the people of Renfrewshire, but then what more could we expect?

The BBC and Gaza

2009-01-28T22:17:00.004Z

SKY and BBC Pro Israel?

I ask this question based on their almost inexplicable refusal to air the DEC (Disaster Emergency Committee) appeal for humanitarian aid in Gaza. I have read a few posts lately from supporters of the appeal and have been astounded by the level of attacks that they have been subjected to, and I fully expect to be attacked myself for this post.

One such blogger I have come across is http://fromgaza.blogspot.com/ written by a Palestinian doctor living in Egypt, it is an eye opener and one which is written from an eye witness of the tragedy so to speak, this blog is written from a perspective of human suffering and uses posts from those inside Gaza.

To address any imbalance I tried to put in a pro Israel blog here but I am finding it difficult to find one who has posted on the above blog who allows their profile to be seen.

The BBC and Sky have disgraced themselves by even suggesting that the UK public are not intelligent enough to know the difference between a news report (which should be balanced anyway) and an appeal by a charity for support for humanitarian aid. I find it difficult to swallow the excuses given by both the BBC and Sky and impartiality, both of these stations have been universally condemned for this action and rightly so, if you have not already done so please make a donation.

I would also urge people to write to the BBC and Sky regarding their decision.

Scottish Budget Crisis

2009-01-28T21:39:00.004Z

Dishonorable SNP

The SNP budget has been voted down and immediately Alex Salmond decided that the best idea would be to try the same tactic as last year and threaten to resign if they did not get it through next time.

To be honest I am getting sick of his idle threats, the fact that he is willing to jeopardize the stability of the Scottish system by even hinting at this gives you a measure of how dishonorable the man is. Most if not all of the news reports that I have seen so far have called this a crisis for the SNP, the Greens are furious at the idea that the SNP would think that coming up to them minutes before the vote and saying yeah we change change it if you like after knowing for months exactly what the greens want would actually work.

This episode has shown the audacity and sheer arogance of the SNP and in particular Mr Salmond who must take the blame for this fiasco.

WALK FOR HOPE

2008-09-04T09:43:00.003Z

CHOOSE LIFE

Saturday is an important day in the centre of Paisley, it is the annual Choose life walk for hope, and the event just keeps getting bigger and bigger. Unfortunately I will not be able to make the march this year due to previous arrangement but I would urge as many people as possible to get along to Paisley Town Hall for 2pm.

Choose life do extremely important work helping those thinking of suicide and now those who have been affected by suicide. You will note that Scotland's suicide rates have been in the news reports lately and too many people can't see a way out and unfortunately end up taking their own lives, projects like breathing space and choose life offer someone to talk to when it gets too much.

If you know someone who has been affected by suicide or someone who has committed suicide please take the time and go to the march. The people I have had the pleasure of speaking to on these occasions are family members of those who have taken their own lives and their strength and honesty was completely overwhelming, their acceptance of new people and willingness to explain their situation made the whole experience humbling. Please go along an support them and go for a cup of tea afterwards have a chat see what I mean.

Alex 'Thatcher' Salmond

2008-08-26T21:14:00.000Z

On Yer Bike

On Margaret Thatcher and her policies Alex Salmond apparently thinks that Scotland and I quote "didn't mind the economic side so much. But we didn't like the social side at all." Of Course the problem we had with the Poll Tax wasn't the economics it had nothing to do with the fact that we were down and beaten by years of recession and unemployment with the decimation of our national industries, it was because well it just wasn't very nice!!

Does anyone else see the problem here? The fact that the First Minister of Scotland decided that in order to clarify his position had to call a radio call in show shows a level of desperation that no other leader of our country has ever even considered displaying, the scary thing is that the SNP will try and spin this as being in touch with 'the people'.

While talking to a few friends -a few of whom are SNP members- even they agreed that this made them look stupid, although on the back of the SNP locally awarding the directors of service a 16.7% pay rise and then having the bear faced cheek to write to the strikers that 2.5% was not enough, it kind of pales in comparison. I believe (and this is from sources actually present) the question put was if all of the workers and the directors are all in the same team will they be suggesting 16.7% for the ordinary worker?

I loved the fact that the SNP think that laughing in the face of Unison members when they ask the above is the done thing, it shows an incredible level of political naiveté from Cllr's Lawson, Mitchell and Adam who apparently think that the Unison members are beneath contempt.

Unlike the self proclaimed 'Tartan Tory' Salmond, I understand why Mrs Thatchers economics were bad for Scotland and I did mind them, as did the Coal miners, the small businesses and those of us affected by the Poll Tax. I wonder if Mr Salmond would consider this as a social or economic policy?

Watch his space for the next 'Salmondism' you know something like a 'Bushism' only not quite as politically articulate.

My Name

2008-08-17T13:47:00.005Z

Raelene Boyle

Lots of people are named after their mother or father, or a loved one or friend I was lucky enough to be named after this woman (Photo above) an Olympic champion, so just in case you were interested here is a wee bit about Raelene Boyle

The woman above (Raelene Boyle) is an ex Australian sprinting champion and an Olympic silver medalist three times, she took part in a number of Olympics and is where my parents got my name, as they were watching when she was competing in the 1976 Montreal games. The number of people I have met that have said 'Rayleen that is an unusual name' is massive, even in University where I was surrounded by students from across the globe I always got the same thing.

My understanding is that the name Rayleen is not as unusual as you might think, well at least not in Australia and there is even a facebook group for the Rayleen's of the world to share stories of how we got our names etc and the spellings!

Raelene Boyle was the first woman to carry their Countries flag in the Olympic opening ceremony in 1976 and although she did not win any medals that year - from what I can tell this was mainly down to being disqualified for two false starts, which were later shown not to be false starts - she was widely recognised as one of the outstanding talents of her generation. Raelene Boyle has suffered from breast cancer and help set up a charity called 'Sporting Chance Cancer Foundation' which raises money for cancer awareness, you can donate to the charity or learn more about it by clicking on the name above.

I like that I am named after someone different, I suppose it is a little like being named after the Jamaican athlete Usian Bolt who yesterday smashed the Olympic record for the mens 100 meter, those children would have their own story to tell. Having an unusual name is great, people rarely forget your name and in itself it is a bit of an icebreaker which is great with me being the shy retiring type!

So if you are pregnant and sitting in front of the TV forget about calling your child Leona after the singer think about calling them after someone more unusual and interesting give them a story behind the name.

Social Work

2008-08-14T20:56:00.009Z

What Went Wrong?

Sitting in work on one of my breaks during the week I noticed one of these trashy women's magazines that I almost never read (unless I am in the doctors surgery waiting room) in it I noticed an interesting article on the Social Worker involved in the Victoria Climbie case. She was cleared of being at fault in the case by a tribunal and I thought that it was interesting they showed her side of the story and her grief and anger over the whole tragedy. But at the time, the tragedy reminded me of something that struck me from a fairly early stage in my professional life, there are some sections of public sector workers who only ever get into the press if something goes wrong.

I don't think I have ever seen an article in the main stream press congratulating a social worker for helping a child with behavioural difficulties stick in at school and get their Higher results, or the teacher who gives up their spare time to take kids to the theatre because it will help explain what Romeo and Juliet or A Midsummer Nights Dream is actually all about, and most of us know one or both of those I have just described. Think about the relatively low paid social care worker in a children's unit helping give young people a sense of home and security as well as the emotional and intellectual support to continue in school and achieve academically.

I don't think enough emphasis is placed on public sector workers as a whole but, Social Workers definitely seem to get the rough end of the stick, it is their fault when a child like Victoria Climbie gets killed, it is their fault when a parole violator breaks the conditions of their parole and commits a crime and it is their fault when the unruly teenager decides to break the windows on their next door neighbours car because he wouldn't give them their ball back!

Society fails to acknowledge and accept that we can never fully mitigate such risks, and I know that is not a popular view I wish we could stop every tragedy like this happening but the simple truth is we can't. We could have the most robust system EVER in place and tragedies like this would still take place.

Social workers will never be able to stop every tragedy like Victoria Climbie but they can minimize them when the system works, that is why we have child protection committees in every council with all appropriate agencies represented. I have been to a few of these meetings as a Councillor and it is never easy but everyone present has one thing in mind what is best for the child. I loved the title of one of the reports to come out of the Scottish Executive when I was a Councillor .... 'It's Everyone's Job to Make sure I'm Alright' because it is.

For my part I wanted to say thank you to all of the Social workers who have helped shape my life. From my Aunts, one a retired social worker and one still serving, to the people I worked with while a sessional worker with Social Work and all of those I worked with while the Deputy Convenor on the Council. All of you made a profound impact on my view of what Social Work can do when it works, and the difference it can make not just to a child's life but, to the thousands of vulnerable clients throughout Scotland who rely on you for help.

Goodbye To A Friend

2008-06-10T15:00:00.002Z

David Ramsay

As many readers of this blog might know before I was so heavily involved in Politics I was a long time member of Paisley Youth Theatre and as a member I met a lot of lovely people and made a number of close friends who are still friends to this day. Unfortunately recently we lost one of those friends and that loss is keenly felt by all who knew him.

David Ramsay until fairly recently was the Musical Director of PACE Theatre company and it was in this capacity that I came to know him and become his friend. I think myself lucky that I met David -although the first time I met him he had a parrot on his shoulder (long story don't ask)- he always had time for me and believed in me and my ability as a singer. David and his wife Pauline were probably more PACE for me than anything else, that is not to disparage the other excellent members of staff that PACE have, but I spent a lot of time hiding behind my big sister trying to be the third spear carrier from the left, and David or DR as we affectionately called him would not allow this and although he did not push you to the front he fostered your talent and helped you believe in yourself.

I will miss DR because he was and is my friend, I cannot begin to describe what he meant to me and I am not going to try, instead I am going to leave a memory in the hope that all of you reading this who knew him will similarly leave a comment with a funny/nice memory of your own. We have had to say goodbye to DR but we do not and will not forget him, to so many us he will never be forgotten he sneaked in and made a DR shape in your life so unassuming and quiet but always there if you needed him. David leaves behind his wife Pauline and two young sons as well as his mother and brother and extended family all of whom will miss him.

Recording the song for 'Cuts Both Ways' in the PACE office downstairs, we had been rehearsing for about five minutes when the workmen outside the office window started with the pneumatic drill and they continued for about half an hour in between bursts we tried to lay down the track and we would get almost all the way through and the drill would start again, after about an hour and a half of this DR says wait here a minute. Five minutes later he comes back in the room and says right we have ten minutes lets go! DR had went outside and convinced the workmen to stop for ten minutes so that we could record the track. And I must admit to being suitably impressed with the results, it's true what they say you can do wonders in post production.

Graduate Endownments

2008-05-26T17:05:00.003Z

SNP and Education

I read today in the Herald Newspaper that the SNP has made a bit of a blunder with the Graduate Endowment and it's abolition, my reading of this is that 3000 students who had deferred payment due to continuing studies have been sent bills for £2000. Now the debate from the SNP camp (in the comments section) seems to be that either the Labour party fabricated this story, this is not supported by the statement from the Scottish Government spokesperson or that the officials were Labour supporters and so did this on purpose, again not supported by the SNP Scottish Government Statement.

Looking at the statement they have released it seems to be saying well that is just tough they can take out a student loan, but if we look back further we hear the SNP Education Secretary say...

"It is a wrong that they begin their working life encumbered by financial pressures and it is a wrong this new Scottish government intends to put right."

A feeling she should possibly have shared with her colleagues! Or even better they should have better researched what this policy would mean and have told students the truth at the time instead of delivery 3000 bills for £2000 a piece.

This is also covered on the bbc news website

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/7419980.stm

Bessie and Molly the Return

2008-05-21T20:40:00.001Z

The Return of the Wonder dogs

OK took this one while out and about in the Fountain Gardens last Saturday with the dogs, the gardens are gorgeous at this time of year with the tress losing their blossoms and the paths redone all that is missing is the fountain, but it seems that the well of opportunity that existed under the Labour administration for upgrading the parks in Renfrewshire has run dry, much like this amazing fountain under the administration of the SNP and Liberal Democrats.

Frosty the Snowman

2007-12-19T00:55:00.000Z

LEON REDBONE

With it being Christmas and all I thought that this would be a fantastic time to post this video, I found it on You Tube last night and thought it was amazing hope you enjoy it and best wishes to you all for the festive season....

Wee Nicky slips up AGAIN

2007-12-12T22:29:00.000Z

Deputy First Minister Wee Nicky has got to learn that just cause she says it doesn't make it so! Her latest is that entry into the EU for an independent Scotland would be automatic, this by no means assured, in fact, the majority of the legal opinion is that this is NOT the case. The automatic membership of the EU would not be for Scotland but for the remainder of the United Kingdom.

Her assertion that the EU would want Scotland because it is Oil rich backs up the argument that Scotland would not gain automatic entry into the EU, why? Because, why would it matter whether they would want Scotland or not if an independent Scotland had automatic entry? Her own words prove that even she does not believe her parties rhetoric. The fact that she 'Can't' reveal her legal source is more than a little suspicious and the fact that she refuses to confirm whether the Scottish Government's own legal department agrees pretty much says they don't or she and the SNP would be shouting it from the rooftops.

Now do not get me wrong my understanding of this topic is limited (as it seems is wee Nicky's) but, having limited study of the articles of association in University I have to say wee Nicky's statements are dubious to say the least. Personally I don't think it will be an issue given that I do not think that Scotland will vote to become independent, but, even if it was, I for one would like to see a little more meat on the bones of the SNP's policy here, for instance how many seats do the SNP think they will get at the 'Top Table'? Do they believe that an independent Scotland would have the same power of veto as the rest of the UK? What would they do on the new EU Constitution?

I will leave it at that for now, but it is certainly something to think about.

Erskine on a cold morning

2007-11-25T10:29:00.001Z

My sister and I ventured out to Erskine Yesterday morning with the dogs, while walking along the beach we managed to take a few photos including this one of a huge ship being led into the open waters, it is a pretty impressive sight.

Happy Halloween

2007-10-31T00:08:00.001Z

Happy birthday to my wee cousin as well, enjoy yourself people.

SYLVESTER

2007-09-15T14:22:00.001Z

And the fish

SNP IN TROUBLE

2007-09-14T21:48:00.000Z

LOCALLY AND NATIONALLY

The SNP both nationally and locally have been up to their eyes in it this week, between the SNP locally cutting £2 Million off the budget without being able to tell the Council members where the cuts would be made, and from what I hear they were also unwilling to give a long term commitment to continuing the Labour Party policy of no compulsary Redundancies, and the SNP nationally being voted down in the Parliament over their plans for their Skills initiative.

On the second case it doesn't look as though they will be paying much attention to the defeat in terms of policy, as they seem to be suggesting they will go ahead with it anyway.

Interestingly enough on the Local front according to press reports the SNP/Liberal Democrat Administration will be cutting £1.1 Million from the Education budget in Renfrewshire and over half a Million from the Social Work budget, what the PDE didn't cover was that despite being very specific about the amounts being cut, the SNP were not so forthcoming in terms of what this would mean to front line services and staff, we shall wait and see.

PEDAL FOR SCOTLAND

2007-09-12T21:14:00.000Z

LEUKEMIA RESEARCH

This Sunday starting from Glasgow Green there is a massive cycle race, starting from Glasgow and heading to Edinburgh click on the link above to find out more information but it is in aid of Leukemia Research one of my FAVOURITE charities!!

Alastair Campbell is opening the event, he has been a major supporter of the charity for sometime, if you are interested visit the website get involved!

WALK OF HOPE

2007-09-12T19:18:00.000Z

CHOOSE LIFE

When I was the Local Councillor and the Deputy Convenor for Community and Family Care, last year and the year before I had the privilege of being invited along to the Walk for Hope in Paisley Town Centre, and even though I am no longer in that role I was intending in joining the walkers through the town centre on Saturday. Unfortunately due to work commitments I was unable to attend but I was delighted to see the article in the paper today, over 100 people took part according to the coverage and I am delighted by the response.

Recently the issue of suicide prevention has taken a more personal theme for me as one of my friends recently lost a brother to suicide, no one can understand the grief and confusion that comes unless you have been through it yourself, last year I spoke to many mothers, fathers, brothers and sisters of people who had committed suicide and saw first hand the excellent work carried out by all of the agencies but in particular Rosemary Mullan and the team at Choose Life, I was delighted they got such a good response this year and fully intend on being with them next year.

Anyone interested should visit the Wynd Centre in Paisley tomorrow between 10am and 1pm for the excellent information morning co-ordinated by ChooseLife Renfrewshire and involving Breathing Space, First Crisis and ChooseLife, remember you are not alone and don't be afraid to ask for help.

The girls enjoy some time out!

2007-09-01T14:33:00.001Z

The photo is of the dogs enjoying a day out in Erskine. There are some fantastic walks in this part of Renfrewshire so if you are looking for something to do today keep it in mind.

PR THE RESULTS

2007-08-19T20:47:00.000Z

NOT QUITE THIS WEEKS POLL

OK so it lastest quite a while more than one week, a couple of months to be more precise but I have noticed an interesting trend in the results of late. When I first posed the question regarding the nature of proportional representation and whether or not it gives a disproportionate amount of power to smaller parties the results were vastly different from those I am about to announce. At the beginning it was almost equal, and the no's even had it by a slight margin, but you will see now that the results are pretty conclusive...

The Question: Proportional Representation gives a disproportionate amount of power to smaller parties

The Answers ...

Totally Agree: 72% (144 votes)

Agree: 0% (0 Votes)

Don't Know: 0% (0 Votes)

Disagree: 6% (12 Votes)

Totally Disagree: 22% (43 Votes)

Now before anyone starts on about me doctoring the figures by voting loads of times myself, I set up the poll so that you (including me) can only vote once in a year! This stopped the usual suspects (you know who you are) from trying to skew the results to the response that suited their agenda.

It happens that this was my opinion, that proportional representation is disproportionately favourable to the smaller 'King Maker' parties like the Greens in Holyrood or the Liberals in Renfrewshire Council, their agenda is foisted onto a public that didn't vote for it, and in some cases the parties didn't even stand enough candidates to win the election (Greens nationally and the Liberals on Renfrewshire Council) and so were always intending on being the King Makers so to speak. I can't help but wonder if the reason the voting patterns for this poll changed so dramatically over time, was that those getting involved noticed something either nationally or locally which drew them to this conclusion? It would be interesting to know.

For now thanks for dropping by,and thanks for voting, I will get another poll up and running pretty soon.

MY NEW DOO

2007-08-15T20:33:00.001Z

EVENTUALLY GOT ROUND TO IT

Got my hair cut and coloured last Saturday for a gorgeous wedding. Loving it, doubt if I could get it to look like this again though! Eventually got round to getting it cut, again another of those things that I never got time for during the campaign so delighted I had time to sit down for two hours and get it cut and coloured, also delighted that there is a fantastic hairdressers down the road from my flat!

BESSIE THE SIDE KICK

2007-08-09T18:17:00.001Z

ANOTHER MOBILE POST

This is another mobile post so Bessie does not feel left out, she may look cute but she is fierce!

MOLLY THE WONDER DOG

2007-08-09T17:45:00.001Z

MY FIRST MOBILE BLOG

This is the first blog entry I have made in a while and it is also the first blog entry I have made via my mobile phone. I must admit I wanted to get the mobile blogging up and running during the recent elections but the service was only available in the US at that time so had to wait.

The above photo is of Molly (of course) taken with my new camera phone extrodinaire blogging, photos, video messages and calling the lot very impressed with it so far.

TV LICENSE

2007-06-20T21:22:00.000Z

NO TV LICENSE? I'LL STOP THE DIRECT DEBIT THEN!!

Due to my work I don't usually get home till after 7pm so imagine my surprise when I got home tonight and saw the letter from the TV Licensing people telling me that they were planning to take further action because according to their records I don't have a TV license.

I might not be the best organiser in the world but the TV license was the first thing that I did when I moved into my flat, actually didn't even have a TV yet when I did it!! This is the second time that I have received a letter like this the first time I called and advised the girl at the end of the phone of my TV license number and she advised she would put a note on the system, this time I tried to visit the website (tried calling first but they were closed) and it is under construction!!! So if you are out there TV people I HAVE A LICENSE and a DIRECT DEBIT to prove it.

SNP EDUCATION POLICY

2007-06-20T20:45:00.000Z

WHAT A JOKE

I am not long back from work and I have been checking out the news on the BBC website and happened to notice the SNP's new education announcement, what struck me the most -apart from it falling short of their election promises- was that they have said that the Scottish Executive will absorb the £9 Million cost involved without telling you where they are getting it from?

As my gran used to say 'It was worth a try' but how long did they think they would get away with doing this?

In other not so new news, the SNP's transport policy is going down the drain after their previous announcements that they would scrap the trams and rail link in Edinburgh (no they would look at them, no they would scrap them, fiasco) the Auditor has come back pretty much saying that the only problem with the Rail link is that key decisions have yet to be made, pretty much down to the SNP floundering then! They were desperate to have the Edinburgh trams stopped saying we could spend the money better (before the auditor had actually come to any decisions that is), now what will be the tune?

CUSTOMER SERVICE?

2007-06-19T20:28:00.000Z

MOBILE PHONES

I am sure there are mobile phone networks that are really good at customer services but the one I am with (who for the moment shall remain nameless) is absolutely awful!! I have spent a total of two hours on hold over the last two months trying to get a decent upgrade for my phone (once for half an hour on the option I am THINKING of cancelling my contract), I have been with them for sometime and spend a significant amount of money with them (I rarely use my home phone) and they are still moaning about it, they even went as far as to give me the code I need to transfer my number over to someone else.

It got me thinking though, I spend a fair amount on my mobile and I have been looking around for a better deal always keeping in mind that I have to check the signal for the areas that I am most likely to be in first, and there are some great deals out there, from unlimited texts and calls at the weekends to free mobile Internet for two months, yet something is missing. Is it just me or have the UK mobile phone companies yet to convince the UK population that the service is about more than the phone? I want a Nokia N95 (Highly unlikely that I will end up getting one) and have been looking around as to who will give me one Free of Charge, then looking at the deals they offer, for me it is the functionality of the handset then the network deal.

You can see they are trying to move away from this towards the service they provide you only have to look at the most recent adverts by T-Mobile and Orange concentrating on the web and walk and pay as you go reserve tank respectively, did you hear a phone make or model mentioned? I understand why they do it, but I must admit I think they are on a losing battle at least one of the networks has been doing this for about three years and as yet they have been largely unsuccessful because when your contract is up all you want to know is.... What kind of new phone can I get and is it free?

BREAST FEEDING IN PUBLIC

2007-06-13T18:26:00.000Z

EQUALITY LAW

I was delighted to see the new Equality Law includes legislation to allow women the legal right to breast feed in public, a right that Scottish women already have thanks to the previous Labour led Scottish Executive. As a Councillor one of the things that I developed an interest in was the rates of breast feeding throughout Renfrewshire and the correlation that this had between poverty and ill health, it was appalling, however, with the Breast Feeding awareness information and groups that have been planned by the promotion service the rate has increased significantly in some areas. The Scottish Neighbour Statistics and the Scottish Health profiles record this data and anyone interested can visit the website of the Office of National Statistics or the Scottish Executive.

The right to breast feed without getting asked to leave a cafe or restaurant is important, it is not just the babies that need socialisation but the mothers as well and sometimes getting out for a coffee (decaf of course) is a major release, sometimes going shopping is a major release and you cannot tell the baby to wait till it gets home. I for one am 100% behind this and hope that all parties can agree with at least this section of the legislation.

GUINESS CAKE AND BIRTHDAYS

2007-06-13T18:18:00.000Z

BIRTHDAY CAKE

In our house you knew it was a birthday when the Guinness cake came out and so because one of the girls at work had a birthday today my mum made a cake! I know some of my old colleagues from T-Mobile will be raging at this point because they used to love it, I keep meaning to put on the recipe however the cake and scones went down really well.

So happy birthday (you know who you are!) have a nice night and enjoy yourself.

AND NOW WE'RE FAMOUS

2007-06-11T19:53:00.000Z

MOLLY AND BESSIE AT PLAY

So this is the first video clip that I have been able to upload on youtube of the girls at play, I know it is probably going to come out wrong (the video clip might be on it's side! Ideas on how to fix this without having to re take it are gratefully received). So enjoy!

PROPORTIONAL REPRESENTATION POLL

2007-06-06T20:26:00.000Z

THIS WEEKS POLL

I realised recently that I did not introduce the new poll on the left hand side of the page, it seems to be getting a bit of interest anyway, but the question is an important one, so have your say,

Do you think that proportional representation gives a disproportionate amount of power to the smaller parties?

Go on results will be released towards the end of the month leaving this one up a little longer as it is really important.

READING LIST

2007-06-05T20:56:00.000Z

JOURNEY'S AND BREAKS

Because I take the bus to work , I picked up the first book I could find in the flat this morning to read to and from work and while I was on my breaks, and it just happened to be 'Don't Ever Tell' by Kathy O'Beirne. I think a friend loaned me it a while back (don't worry Pauline you will get it back) and I never got round to reading it, so glad I picked it up today it is fab, depressing but fab, there were a few times where it made my skin crawl and I am only a quarter of the way through it.

Simply put it is an excellently written piece and well worth the read, I would recommend it to Cardinal Keith O'Brien who has been talking a lot lately about the Catholic Church's role in child protection (whether they be born or unborn) yet another reason why he should not get involved in the political debate your past always comes back to bite you. Before the zealots attack me I am being a little flippant but that is because I am angered by the Cardinal's statements last week and his inability to take other people's feelings into account.

FIRST DAYS

2007-06-04T20:25:00.000Z

NERVOUS? ME?

I have chaired public meetings with over 100 people at them, I have dealt with angry constituents baying for blood, but when it comes to starting a new job I must admit I did feel a little nervous.

As it turns out there was no need they are all lovely (and I am not just saying this because someone threatened to google me) and a really good laugh, looking forward to going back tomorrow.

JOB HUNT

2007-06-01T12:26:00.000Z

I HAVE A JOB

This is because I know you are all really worried about me being unemployed and all, I was offered a job yesterday, don't want to say too much about it till I start and get settled in but I am delighted.

Will try and get back into the swing of blogging in the next couple of weeks, have been a bit lazy about it all lately.

EAST END PARKING SCHEME

2007-05-30T20:00:00.000Z

PAISLEY TOWN HALL

At the Paisley East End Parking Scheme Public Hearing many local people got the opportunity to object to the current proposals for changing parking in the East End of Paisley.

The reporter, Patrick Hetherington, will weigh the evidence and make his report to the council in the near future.

Local councillor Jim Sharkey called for 2 permits for those households and businesses that require them. He said...

"Having listened to all the evidence I am convinced that working families will be penalised unless the council is prepared to move on the issue of 2 free permits to each of the residents and I feel a powerful case was made by the local businesses to have the same. I am especially pleased that the council is going to make the disabled parking spaces mandatory. That upgrades the provision for disabled people in the area and I welcome that."

Local activist Rayleen Kelly said...

"I’m glad that the Labour councillors are agreeing with my campaign to have more than one permit and that the permit must be free and I hope that the issue of visitors’ parking will be similarly considered. I am more worried about the former transport spokesperson of the SNP’s involvement in case he revives his 1997 plan to charge £10 for the residents’ permits."

BACK BY POPULAR DEMAND

2007-05-29T11:53:00.000Z

MOLLY AND BESSIE THE WONDER DOGS

At a meeting last week a few of my ex constituents mentioned that they read my blog and asked how Molly and Bessie were getting on, so I decided to take a few more photos of the girls and post them.

The above is Molly on the couch taking up as much room as possible, she has been known to kick you off the couch if you start to get into her space.

Below is Bessie, she sits on the top of the couch watching everything going on and leaping off the chair to bark at anything and everything, that and nothing! She is having a running fight with a Magpie in the back garden who sits on the porch roof to annoy her!

MINIMUM WAGE

2007-05-28T21:40:00.000Z

CHECK THIS OUT

Saw this today in the Guardian and thought that it was interesting the main point is that the minimum wage introduced by the Labour Government has made a major impact on the lives of low paid workers, a lot done and a lot more to do, check it out if you get a chance.

SSP SURVIVAL

2007-05-22T21:17:00.000Z

FINANCIAL REALITY

Given that the SSP now no longer have ANY MSPs and therefore do not have the money from these MSPs I am wondering if they will survive for very long? They will have lost at least £140,000 a year (at least according to their own admission, half of the MSPs salary went towards the parties coffers). So it will be interesting to see if they are able to survive without it, don't get me wrong I am not suggesting that I want them to fail but given the likes of Ms Kane and others previously spouting the nonsense that they didn't take the whole allowance it will certainly be interesting to see if they can continue without it.

SNP LOST IT'S LEAD

2007-05-21T12:55:00.000Z

MATERNITY LEAVE

OK quick post, but how many other people think it is rich of the SNP to go on about how other parties should not take advantage of the fact that one of their members will shortly be on maternity leave given that they were the ones to pull out of the pairing arrangement?

For those that don't know the pairing arrangement is where opposition members are paired off and if there is an illness or maternity leave the corresponding member does not vote, the SNP pulled out of this arrangement in Holyrood, now it seems they may come to regret it.

The New Statesman

2007-05-15T21:58:00.000Z

ELECTION 2007

I keep meaning to put this link on the blog but have been a little busy finding a job lately so here goes...

If you click on 'The New Statesman' above you will be taken (as if by magic) to the Election 2007 blog, among the entries is one from yours truly!! Check it out I stand by everything that I have written.

JODI PICOULT

2007-05-15T20:52:00.000Z

NINETEEN MINUTES

(photo courtesy of Jodi Picoult official website)

I have just finished reading this book and I am always pleasantly surprised by the twists and turns in the plot and how it never turns out the way you think it will, I will not spoil it for all those who have yet to read it but it is definitely worth a look.

I must admit to being a bit of a fan since buying one of Ms Picoult's books in ASDA one afternoon thinking my mum might like it, I never thought that I would be the one looking forward to the next one coming out. If you haven't read any of her books I would advise that you start from the beginning of the list on the inside cover, a lot of the characters are recurring and it makes more sense if you follow the script, definitely worth the read.

Click on the link above for more information on Ms Picoult and her work.

PR FAIRER GOVERNMENT?

2007-05-14T21:24:00.000Z

SNP & LIB DEM COALITION

The best argument against Proportional Representation has been played out in Renfrewshire Council over the last week. Despite the Labour Party getting more votes than the SNP (I say this to cover the moral authority argument) the Liberal Democrats (who had less than 10% of the vote) have decided that they would sell their souls to the SNP for the chance of a disproportionate say in the running of Renfrewshire Council.

Ms McCartin is a hypocrite of the highest order ( I can say this now cause I don't have to be nice to her or stay within the boundaries set down by the Standards Commission) she suggested at previous full council meetings that PR was a fairer system of government, sorry it is not. When smaller parties (who don't even field enough candidates to win control) get to say who will be the controlling party, how is that fairer? More to the point how is this democracy? Answers on a post card but you better believe that the Liberals will have a major influence in the positions on offer, the reason? Derek is easy fodder for the likes of Eileen, she knows that he has nothing to lose and everything to gain and will milk him for all it is worth, the worst bit is that he is too scared not to let her.

Sad day for the voting public of Renfrewshire, and before anyone says this is sour grapes, it couldn't be further from my mind, with this shower in power I am kind of glad I didn't get back in I will have to spend enough of my time in four years along with the rest of the Labour group fixing their massive mistakes.

THANK YOU

2007-05-10T20:15:00.000Z

ELECTION FEVER

Most of you will know by now that I was not re elected last Thursday and I would be lying if I said that I was not really upset about it, however, I noticed from the results that we VERY close to getting two Labour members elected and this will be our goal the next time round whether or not I am the other candidate time will tell!

I wanted to take this time to thank all of you have sent messages of good luck and best wishes including some of my opposition who have been extremely kind. I have been honoured to be the last Councillor for the Seedhill ward on the Council and I hope that I have made a difference to the people that matter, my ex constituents, don't worry though I will be keeping in touch and I hope that you will all too.

Thanks must also go to my Labour colleagues who have been fantastic, Cllr Tommy Williams, Wendy Alexander MSP and Irene Adams to name but a few have been very supportive and I am honoured to call them my colleagues and friends.

ALEX SALMOND SENT HOME

2007-05-01T21:43:00.000Z

SNP DODGE INDEPENDENCE

This just in Salmond dodges the question, when asked if the SNP lost the referendum on independence would they continue to ask until the Scottish people were sick of listening to it? He ruled it out by saying that the constitutional question was a once in a generation thing, then said well you know I can't commit the SNP to a long term strategy? Is he thinking he won't be here after Thursday anyway? Is he thinking he will be sent back to Westminster to think again? I do!

The problem is that he can't answer this question honestly because he knows that the people of Scotland by a majority want to stay a part of the UK.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

2007-05-01T21:07:00.000Z

THE UNION

Today is the official birthday of the Union with England and Blair's 10th Anniversary as the PM. Today is the day when Blair announced that he would within the next week announce his date of departure, and hinted at support for Brown to become the next Labour Prime Minister.

So Happy Birthday to the union, let Scotland make it a happy one with a vote for a positive and healthy future within the UK. Lets make Scotland within the UK a stronger and more vibrant place by working together instead of trying to break it apart. I am sick of the SNP telling me that because I think Scotland is stronger in the Union I am somehow talking Scotland down, this is absolute nonsense, just because I believe that we are stronger together than we are apart does not mean that I am unpatriotic otherwise every union member in Scotland would be unpatriotic the motto of the Trade Union movement is 'together we stand divided we fall'.

I urge the Scottish people to prove this to the SNP on Thursday by ...

VOTING LABOUR,

VOTING KELLY, VOTING SHARKEY

ON THURSDAY

SUCCESS

2007-04-30T20:37:00.000Z

GRAFFITI NO MORE

You will see from the photos below that the Scottish Power people have been out and repainted the Sub Station at the East End Park, they had advised me (as you will see from previous posts) that it can take up to three weeks for the work to be carried out but I am delighted to advise that the work is now finished.

A huge thanks to the gentleman at Scottish Power who helped do this and I have sent photos of the graffiti free sub station to the local community police to ask that they log this.

I have been informed that there have been two people charged with vandalism for graffiti offenses in the last couple of months in Seedhill so we are winning.

ELECTION FEVER

2007-04-29T22:30:00.000Z

HOW TO VOTE

The BBC website has a really good explanation of how to vote in the elections on Thursday, if you are still even slightly confused go and check it out, just click on the title 'ELECTION FEVER' above and it will take you straight to the article.

CAMPAIGNING

2007-04-29T21:33:00.000Z

THE FINAL PUSH

This weekend was the final Saturday street stall of the campaign and the parties were out in force, there were a few well kept faces including some of the normal pathetic gimmicks, however the majority of campaigners were working hard to convince the electorate to vote for them. Both of our Labour MSPs candidates were present and Wendy and Hugh received an extremely positive reception, and there was an excellent turn out including a visit from Catherine Stihler MEP for the area.

COUNCILLOR RAYLEEN KELLY

2007-04-26T10:25:00.000Z

FINAL MEETING

The last meeting of Renfrewshire Council for the term 2003 to 2007 has just finished, the meeting was actually very well behaved and the tributes to those members who are leaving were obviously from the heart. Cllr McDowell reminded the members of previous elections where apparently Cllr Mitchell of the SNP walked up and down the town centre with a TV above his head, don't ask because I have no idea why.

The main item on the agenda was the motion from Cllr Mark McMillan regarding the custody centre proposed for the Castle Gardens area in Renfrewshire, two other Labour Councillors Cllr Terry Kelly and Cllr Tommy Williams amended the motion to include a condemnation of the Police Board for not recognising the concerns of the local representatives on the board over the lack of consultation.

SCOTTISH LABOUR PARTY BROADCAST

2007-04-25T21:07:00.000Z

PARTY POLITICAL BROADCAST

As they say on TV there now follows a party political broadcast from the Scottish Labour Party....

PLEASE NOTE NO COMMENTS WILL BE PUBLISHED ON THIS POST

JUST SIT BACK AND ENJOY!

CREDIT UNION POLL

2007-04-23T21:23:00.000Z

RESULTS

OK so I left this poll up a bit longer than a week, I think I will rename the section this months poll as it is more accurate. Anyway of those that answered over 50% of respondents said they would definitely use a credit union if it was situated close to them. Although there was a sizable number of respondents who advised they would not use the service (around 40% between definitely not and probably not) the majority have voiced a positive opinion, so get yourselves along to the Renfrewshire Wide Credit Union on Paisley High Street and join up!

Check out the latest poll on the right hand side of the page, to what extent do you agree with the following statement... 'I know who I will vote for in the elections on May 3rd'

WE ARE TAKING OVER

2007-04-23T20:32:00.000Z

ANOTHER MILESTONE

(Photo from BBC Five Live website)

My sister alerted me to this at the weekend and I must admit I was sceptical, and by this I mean I was thinking it is 2007, SURELY Ms Oatley is not the first woman to commentate on Match of the day? or TV as a whole on a football game? However it seems I was wrong and although there are some dinosaurs out there saying they will never watch the BBC football programme ever again because she is commentating most of the comments I have read/heard have been positive, so good on you Jacqui Oatley I will certainly be more likely to listen now, just to make up for the idiots who say that women can't possibly know as much as men when it comes to football!

PRO SCOTLAND, PRO UNION

2007-04-23T19:12:00.000Z

SCOTLAND THE BRAVE

The SNP would have us all believe that the Labour Party only want to talk Scotland down, that there is something wrong with you if you are pro Scotland and pro Union, but don't worry this is clearly not the case.

You can't get more pro Scotland than the Scottish Football Manager and he has recently (along with other top managers and ex players) signed an advert advising the Scottish public to vote for the Union in the elections on May 3rd.

The SNP's assertion that you have to be pro independence to be patriotic is laughable, I am proud to be from Paisley, proud to be Scottish and proud to part of the Union,

ON MAY 3RD

A VOTE FOR SCOTLAND

IS A VOTE FOR LABOUR

COUNCILLOR RAYLEEN KELLY

2007-04-19T20:06:00.000Z

NICE SURPRISE

Tonight was the last surgery held for the Seedhill ward in Renfrewshire Council, you can't help but be struck by the enormity of the changes coming into effect on the 3rd of May. The surgery was quiet, it is normally but, it gives you a chance to catch up on correspondence and papers that you should read etc. Tonight only two visitors, the first to say thank you for helping with an issue which is always lovely and I thank the individual in person for their kind sentiments, the second was an ongoing issue which I was able to get sorted this afternoon.

So to those who have been at my surgeries over the last four years I wanted to say thank you, no doubt the surgery arrangements will change post May but if re-elected I hope to improve on them, many ideas and more are welcome.

COUNCILLOR RAYLEEN KELLY

2007-04-17T10:31:00.000Z

CAPABILITY SCOTLAND

Capability Scotland have launched a pretty good website explaining the voting system for the Local Government elections in May, I saw an article in the local Paisley Daily Express and thought that I would check it out. It is an excellent resource for information for disabled voters to see what help they are entitled to, and there is a section on the single transferable vote system explaining that instead of using an X you should use the numbers 1, 2, 3 etc instead.

Check out the website by clicking on the title 'Councillor Rayleen Kelly' above and it will take you straight to the Vote 2007 webpage.

SSP CAN'T COUNT

2007-04-11T21:21:00.000Z

HOW MANY CANDIDATES?

It turns out that the SSP either can't count or don't mind misleading the electorate online, if you click on the title above 'SSP CAN'T COUNT' You will see proof that they are suggesting that they are standing a candidate in EVERY Council ward in among other places our very own Renfrewshire. Now there are 11 wards in the new make up of Renfrewshire Council but, it seems that the SSP think that 8 is the same as 11 as the former is the number of Council candidates they are standing, exactly the same number of candidates Solidarity are standing locally as well!

Also on a similar note it is worth pointing out that although the Liberals are suggesting they want to change the Council they should be pointing out that they are only standing one more candidate than the Conservatives, with them standing 12 and the Conservatives are standing 11, maybe they should be more honest and tell their electorate what they intend to do with the members they get in? Who exactly would they go into coalition with? Or are they just saying what they like because they have no intention on implementing it.

LABOUR'S PROMISE

2007-04-10T20:09:00.000Z

MANIFESTO

Today saw the launch of the Labour Party's national manifesto putting Education, Community Safety and Regeneration of Town Centres at the heart of our promises to the electorate.

Making Scottish Education 'the best in the world by 2020'
Make leaving school at 16 and 17 conditional on those people staying in education, training or full-time volunteering.
Expand free education for three to five-year-olds.
Expand the Project Scotland youth volunteering scheme and create a programme for older people.
Give children access to language tuition from Primary three onwards.
Discipline code to set out rights and responsibilities of teachers, parents and pupils and legislate to give head teachers the authority to exclude pupils.
Double the number of community wardens to more than 1,000 and expand environmental wardens.
New police powers to tackle serious and organised crime, gangland criminals and take advantage of new technology.
Establish town centre trusts, with legal powers to initiate compulsory purchase orders.
Invest an initial £50m into a community fund for turning round town centres and attract further public and private funding.
National helpline for older people.
Improve support for victims of crime

The above are simply a sample of the promises that the Labour Party are making to the electorate, if you want to know more click on the title above and it will take you to the full manifesto.

Labour have delivered for our communities and with a Labour Administration in Renfrewshire Council and a Labour controlled Scottish Executive we will continue to deliver.

VOTE KELLY, VOTE SHARKEY, VOTE ALEXANDER

VOTE LABOUR

MAY 3RD

HAPPY EASTER

2007-04-07T22:52:00.000Z

EASTER GREETINGS

Thought that I should put on a short post to say Happy Easter to all of you out there in Blog city in Internet world, hope you all enjoy your long weekend. If you are out and about in Paisley tomorrow and looking for something to do the weather is supposed to be excellent why not try going to Barshaw park and rolling your eggs down the hill, sounds corny I know but it is a lot of fun.

What ever you do enjoy yourselves.

ROMA 2006

2007-04-07T22:33:00.000Z

PHOTOS

OK I know I am labouring the point but, I was looking through some posts and I had suggested that when my sister gave me copies of the photos that she took I would post them on here, I now have them so I have posted some below...

The postcard shot from the top of St Peters Basilica

Me at the Vatican

Statues on the roof of the Vatican

Me checking out the sights of Rome

As you can see from the photos the weather was outstanding especially for October and I am so grateful to my mum and my sister without whom I would never have gotten to go as they paid for a huge chunk of it for my Birthday present.

COUNCILLOR RAYLEEN KELLY

2007-04-05T21:19:00.000Z

NO VOTE, NO VOICE

Campaigning is going well and the election is well under way but both Jim Sharkey and myself are reminded doing the rounds that unfortunately in 2003 there were some voters who lost their vote because they had forgotten to send back their forms, so if you were one of them remember you have until the 18th of April 2007 to register to vote.

Click on the title 'Councillor Rayleen Kelly' above and it will take you to the electoral registration form, it gives you the address to send the form back to ...

The Electoral Registration Officer

Renfrewshire Joint Valuation Board

16 Glasgow Road

Paisley

PA1 3QF

Get on the register and use your voice,

Vote Labour on May the 3rd!

COUNCILLOR RAYLEEN KELLY

2007-04-05T13:28:00.000Z

GRAFFITI

Short update, I am literally just off the phone to a lovely Scottish Power engineer who was standing at the sub station in the East End Park further to my request for the graffiti to be removed. I call Chris lovely because he has told me that Scottish Power are going to put the East End Substation onto the rolling maintenance scheme where the painting is done every six months.

Further to this the graffiti removal should take place within the next 30 days and I have notified the Police so that they can pay particular attention to this area in the coming weeks and months.

COUNCILLOR RAYLEEN KELLY

2007-04-04T13:50:00.000Z

GRAFFITI EAST END SUB STATION

For those interested constituents, I have been working on getting the graffiti removed from the sub station in the East End Park, I have written to Scottish Power on a number of occasions and they had previously assured me that they had put the Sub Station onto a planned maintenance programme, however it does seem to have slipped through the net, so we are trying to get them to repaint it again. I have been working with the Police locally in an effort to stem the vandalism in the East End and we have been somewhat successful with a number of people charged for the graffiti.

If you see graffiti in your area contact your local Councillor to ask for their assistance, in Renfrewshire we have a graffiti hit squad that can remove the graffiti from council owned properties and help private owners as well, to report the graffiti please contact Renfrewshire Council.

NEWSNIGHT SCOTLAND

2007-04-03T22:09:00.000Z

ECONOMICS

John Swinney on the TV this evening on Newsnight Scotland, someone obviously upset him, he could not get away from the fact that the SNP's sums are questionable! He couldn't and didn't even try to explain why he didn't agree! He couldn't answer, when it was put to him that the SNP's sums based on the Oil figures have not taken into account the fall in oil price and that since the budget figures last year the oil revenues have dropped £5 Billion, which Wendy Alexander pointed out is half the budget for the Scottish Health service. For the party's economic spokesman this should be very simple, that is if they have the answers?

The question for voters now is... Why don't the SNP have the answers to Labour's questions? The answer because they have not done their sums properly instead of giving the Scottish People the truth they are trying to con them, instead of 'Building Scotland' like the Labour Party the SNP are trying to 'Break Scotland'!

CAMPAIGNING

2007-04-03T10:18:00.000Z

JACK MCCONNELL IN PAISLEY

Those who read the Paisley Daily Express will notice that Jack McConnell was in Paisley yesterday talking to the public, business leaders and elected members about the problems affecting Paisley Town Centre. A quote from the Chair of the Renfrewshire Chamber of Commerce pointed out that this is not just a Paisley Town Centre issue and that is why Labour are promising £50 Million to rejuvenate Scotland's town centres.

Jack spoke to a number of people and I doubt that everyone agreed with him, but, when they spoke to him he listened, and this puts into practise his answer to the question of leadership put to him on Sunday on Scottish Television's debate. While wee Alex couldn't even answer after being asked the same question for a fourth time, Jack McConnell was not only able to answer first time but answer honestly and with dignity. While visiting in the town centre of Paisley Jack heard many ideas from the public and I am sure that he will take on board everything that was said to him, good or bad.

The town centre is a major issue and one which the Labour Controlled Council take seriously while our opponents try for quick fix solutions the Labour party are looking for the long lasting change that will serve the people of Renfrewshire, as shown through the £7,500 recently pledged for Town Centre Wardens, helping to make Paisley safer.

SCOTTISH FOOTBALL

2007-03-31T12:07:00.000Z

PIES AND BOVRIL

On this blog you will notice that I have a statcounter logo, this shows me the breakdown of how many visitors are coming from where and the last place you have been... obviously virtually this is why I am aware of a forum all about football called pie and bovril. Checked it out and they are talking (as are a lot of others) about the St Mirren training complex at Penilee and a lot of the sentiments are those echoed in the blackandwhitearmy site, however there are a few things I wanted to clear up...

Ralston is in Paisley, and in Renfrewshire.
The new boundaries were not as a result of any suggestion by the Labour group but were in fact the original proposals of the Boundary Commission.
The proposals for the St Mirren training complex were put to the Community and Family Care policy board and the Labour members voted for it, the Liberal, and SNP members voted against it. In fact the Liberals tried to stop it through the planning committee as well (aided by the SNP's Cllr Mylet). The report to the Community and Family Care allowed the Council officers to go forward with the proposals and bring a more in depth report back to a future committee.
St Mirren are actually contributing around £470,000, the £120,000 capital contribution and £10,000 for rent, on top of this they will also maintain the area which costs about £25,000 annually, the rent and maintenance will be over 10 years.
Paisley is not losing more pitches, the Glasgow Airport Rail link will mean that the St James playing fields loses two pitches out of 22 at present (many of which are unplayable if it rains). The remaining 20 will be upgraded with proper drainage and excellent new changing facilities. Seedhill is being upgraded, and pitches around Renfrewshire will be upgraded while the work in St James for the rail link is underway so that no facilities will be lost while construction is underway.

Hope that helps! Anyone wanting more information on the proposals should check out previous post on this website and check out Renfrewshire Council's website and check out the report put to the Community and Family Care board.

I know that there have been other questions and some bizarre assertions on this forum but thought the top were the ones that needed the most attention, especially the one about Ralston not being in Renfrewshire.

GOODBYE AND FAREWELL

2007-03-31T00:33:00.000Z

RETIREMENT

This evening the Labour group on Renfrewshire Council organised a farewell meal to say thank you and goodbye to the Councillor's who are leaving us at the next election. Cllr Tommy Williams (who made the vote of thanks to the retirees) pointed out that between the six they had notched up over 110 years of public service!! I know that some of the media have been critical of the severance payments for Councillor's but when you take into account their length of service to the community, and that many of the retiring Councillors left jobs that would have provided them with a pension and are now leaving the Council without one I don't think that it is so shocking.

The Labour Councillor's in Renfrewshire who are retiring wanted to thank the electorate for their trust, they wanted to thank them for their support and to thank their Council colleagues.

Councillor's McGerty (former Deputy Provost), McNally (Deputy Provost), McDowell (Former Provost) and Jim Harkins (Leader of Renfrewshire Council)

(All of the Renfrewshire Labour Councillor's Present)

Thanks have to go to Cllr McDowell for his expert organisation, Cllr Tommy Williams for his excellent and funny vote of thanks and my fellow Councillors for their support and stories! Also to Former Provost Nancy Alison for her support and attendance this evening, she has some great stories!

On a separate note thanks also to the staff of the Watermill Hotel who made the night so memorable.

COUNCILLOR RAYLEEN KELLY

2007-03-30T15:13:00.000Z

ST JOHN OGILVIE SCHOOL BOARD

Yesterday afternoon I attended the school board at St John Ogilvie, the last before the elections in May. The meetings here are always really positive and there is always loads going on the school especially round about this time. I gave an update on the contamination issues at the Seedhill Playing Fields, previously we had asked for a plain English briefing and last week I forwarded this to the Headteacher. A positive discussion took place, and although there are still outstanding issues, I assured the board that no matter who was the Councillor next time round that I was sure that the safety of the pupils, staff and wider community would be first.

On a personal note I wanted to thank the school board and PTA for their support over my tenure as the Councillor for Seedhill, it is strange to think that I will be the last Councillor for the ward of Seedhill as it stands at present, it has been a turbulent four years but I am really looking forward to representing the area in the years to come.

HUSTINGS IN THE WYND

2007-03-29T21:37:00.000Z

WENDY SHOOTS, SHE SCORES

After reading the Paisley Express a couple of weeks ago and the electronic bulletin from the Renfrewshire Council of Voluntary Services, I decided to book myself a place for the Hustings they were hosting. I must admit when I arrived (about twenty five minutes early) I was wondering about the turnout thinking that they had really rolled the boat out, it turns out that PACE were hosting their annual Theatre School event in the theatre, hope it went as well as the hustings.

Most of the hustings I have been at have been heavily packed by political parties, and although this one was not really that different (quite a few Councillors and Candidates were there) it did start to restore my faith in this type of meeting. All of the candidates outlined their strategy and all tried to stick to the point some better than others, although to be fair to the Tory Mr Begg he had only been drafted in at the last minute! To be honest the best candidates were probably the Green and Wendy. The Green was surprisingly good some of his answers gave you reason to consider his theories, I am obviously going to say I thought Wendy was best (although that does not mean she wasn't).

The night was extremely successful and the candidates were all in agreement that the voluntary sector has an important part to play in the provision of service. Thanks to the organisers including Scott who sold me the Jute bag (trying to hide it from my sister or she will want one too) the RCVS does excellent work and I am glad that I went this evening.

MORE ON THE LIB DEMS

2007-03-29T21:22:00.000Z

NO MISQUOTES HERE

It turns out that my opposition for Paisley East and Ralston are reading this site, so to them I say welcome, glad to see Susie is enjoying it hence her comment that the last two posts on here are 'nonsense' (Direct quote from her this evening). Despite her assertion that we have never met (another mistake by the candidate) she did recognise me hence the side comment to her friend at the beginning about not being misquoted despite my never having quoted her here!? (yeah,sorry Susie I heard you!)

So to all thanks for your visits and feel free to comment as well, but remember no anonymous posters will be published and no foul language, thanks!

2007-03-27T15:02:00.001Z

STILL ON ST MIRREN AND THE LIBERALS

The Paisley Daily Express today is carrying an article on the anger of St Mirren fans to the Lib Dem plans to block the St Mirren training facility at Penilee...

'Seething St Mirren fans are urging Buddies to give the Lib-Dems the boot at the ballot box. Supporters are angry that the Liberals are trying to delay a multi-million pound project which would transform the crumbling Penilee pavilion into a super sports complex.' Paisley Daily Express (Andy Newport) 27th March 2007

It seems that the blackandwhitearmy.com website - a site for St Mirren's fans- has erupted into fury over the Lib Dems, it quotes one fan as saying ...

'The Liberal Democrats are going around trying to drum up support to stop the St Mirren training complex and youth academy at Penilee going ahead. With an election coming up I thought political parties would do things to attract voters - not put them off. Maybe they should remember that there are an awful lot of St Mirren fans who support the idea of the club having a proper training set-up and who have a vote in the May elections.'

There are a lot of mistruths going round about this particular project and the Lib Dems have put round a leaflet trying to scare the people of the community into organising against it, this tells us all we need to know. Instead of talking up the opportunities this gives the people of Ralston, the East End and Renfrewshire as a whole the Liberals are content to knock back any idea, unless of course they are pretty sure it won't go ahead, this way they can blame everyone else for their ineffectual conduct on the Council, both Jim and I are behind St Mirren, behind the Council and behind this project.

I will leave you with the thoughts of one Paisley Buddie from the aforementioned webpage ...

'Not only should Saints fans all over Renfrewshire not vote for the Lib-Dems we should be getting out there and exposing their underhand tactics as a cheap way of getting votes in Ralston at the expense of St Mirren.'

2007-03-27T13:53:00.000Z

LIB DEMS WOULD RATHER HAVE A 'PUB' THAN FOOTBALL PARKS

Paisley East and Ralston blog has an interesting article on the current situation with the Liberal Democrats and St Mirren over the Penilee pavilion, worth a look (I would say that being one of the candidates!) I have digested the post here...

The Lib-Dem councillor for Ralston would rather see what amounts to a pub being built at Penilee Playing Fields instead of a football academy for youngsters and a training facility for St Mirren. Jim Sharkey, who is secretary of Ralston Community Council and whose house looks on to the playing fields was speaking after he attended a public meeting called by Lib-Dem Councillor Nan Macgregor who opposes plans to redevelop the derelict playing fields and pavilion.

Mr Sharkey, who will be one of two Labour candidates in Ralston and Paisley East in the council elections in May, said:

"Councillor MacGregor told the public meeting she would rather the playing fields be given over to a local rugby club who had previously proposed building a licensed clubhouse beside the pitches and licensed premises is something the vast majority of people in Ralston don’t want to see there."I have been knocking on doors and the message I have been getting is that people just want something positive to happen to the Penilee Playing Fields as the place has been derelict for years. This is exactly what is being proposed."

CAMPAIGNING STARTS

2007-03-24T22:12:00.000Z

PAISLEY TOWN CENTRE

Campaigning started in force today with the Labour Party out in their numbers in Paisley Town Centre, despite what the national polling data has been telling us, the people of Paisley have been extremely positive about Labour's Achievement's both Nationally and Locally, they know that Labour is delivering for the people of Renfrewshire. Paisley's candidates were accompanied by MSP and Minister for Education Hugh Henry MSP.

I was absolutely delighted with the response we received and can only surmise that the reason that the opposition packed up and left so early was that they were so poorly received. Both Jim and I both wanted to thank the many people who thanked the Labour party for the efforts today and the many more who indicated that Labour are the only party in Scotland making a difference to their lives.

MORE PHOTOS

2007-03-23T22:17:00.000Z

BESSIE THE WONDERDOG!

I thought that this was probably one of the best photos I have of Bessie the wonderdog, it looks as though she is asking 'what in gods name are you doing?' Not long after it was taken she lunged forward and licked the lens of the camera, she is a hoot! So thought post it and see if we get any comments, ONLY on the photo and the dog please try and keep it relevant!

LAST MONTHS POLL

2007-03-23T15:08:00.000Z

VOTING INTENTION

OK I know I labeled it this week's poll but got so busy just kept forgetting to take it down and write about it. As expected the overwhelming majority of my visitors have advised that they would definitely be voting in this May's elections which is fabulous but we need to get the message out to everyone in our communities

'No Vote, No Voice, get registered!'

So just in case you are interested the vote went as follows ...

Definitely voting 81%

Quite Likely 5%

Definitely Not 14%

Feel free to take part in the new poll, how likely would you be to use a credit union facility in your area?

CREDIT UNION

2007-03-23T13:34:00.000Z

RENFREWSHIRE WIDE CREDIT UNION

Renfrewshire Council have been working on the issue of Credit Union's for quite sometime, in my time as the Local Councillor for Seedhill I have been involved with the issue of a Credit Union that would cover Seedhill for a long time, and I am delighted that this new Renfrewshire Wide Credit Union will give my constituents the chance to save and borrow in a safe environment.

Thanks have to go to Anne Wylie the Council's Credit Union Development Worker as she has been working on this project for quite some time and I among others are very grateful for all of her help and support.

Renfrewshire Credit Union's premises can be found at 39 High Street, Paisley, 0141 889 7442.

COUNCILLOR RAYLEEN KELLY

2007-03-23T13:27:00.000Z

JENNY'S WELL

This is just a quick post to thank the Jenny's Well Seniors Forum for an extremely successful open day at Hunterhill Community Centre on Tuesday. I was delighted to be able to attend and meet the members and their friends, many of the people present came from Williamsburgh or Ralston, Lochfield and Gallowhill and even found one from Glenburn. There were stalls from a number of different agencies and the response they received was excellent, the Police were present and had a great range of leaflets including audio leaflets for the visually impaired, the Voter Registration officers were also present and from what I could tell had a healthy response to the No Vote No Voice campaign the Council has been running for a number of years.

So thanks to everyone who organised it and thanks to all of the members who made me feel very welcome.

COUNCILLOR RAYLEEN KELLY

2007-03-16T12:33:00.000Z

SEVERE WEATHER WARNING

As you will no doubt have heard on the news the West of Scotland has a Heavy Snow advisory from this coming Sunday to next Wednesday anyone wanting more information on Roads, Rail or air travel should check out the respective websites.

Erskine Bridge: AMEY 0800 028 1414 (http://www.trafficscotland.org/)

Railway Issues: (www.nationalrail.co.uk/service_bulletins/today.htm

Network Rail: 0845 711 4141

Glasgow Airport: 08700 400008 http://www.glasgowairport.com/

COUNCILLOR RAYLEEN KELLY

2007-03-12T15:23:00.000Z

DISABLED PARKING BAYS

I am writing on this issue again in order to ask for the co-operation of the community, there are lots of people locally who suffer from a physical disability and the parking bays allocated to them by the Council allow them the freedom to work, to shop and use leisure facilities.

So please if you have not been allocated the space, do not use it, respect the needs of those in your community please.

BIG MOL

2007-03-11T21:15:00.000Z

PHOTOS

Spent the day at my mum and dad's today and had my digital camera in my bag so I took a few photos of the girls which I thought I would share because they are gorgeous!! What do you think? have you every seen anything cuter?

SISTERS

2007-03-11T20:06:00.000Z

UNIQUE

Any girls who are sisters will tell you that their sister is the most annoying, most troublesome and most antagonistic, and thanks to this article I now know that this is normal. I don't want to go into this in any detail in case it ruins it, seriously check it out, thinking of buying the book for my sister's birthday!

JOHN BYRNE AND STEVEN CAMPBELL

2007-03-09T21:40:00.000Z

THE CONVERSATION

This evening I was lucky enough to attend an event in Paisley Museum which turned out be an extraordinary experience. I arrived in a bit of a bad mood as I had been up since six this morning and didn't sleep well last night, and while I waited for the conversation to start I played with my phone, browsed the web and checked my emails. When the artists entered they immediately catch your attention (not least for their dress sense!) they wandered on to the raised platform and took their seats on their respective sofas beneath the paintings they had created.

Steven Campbell's was to me (and I am not an artist) a bit like a magic eye drawing, in that the more you relax the more you see in the canvass, as I said I am not an artist but, I know what I like and, I liked this. The use of the Paisley Pattern, the mirror, the suited and booted figure and the small child are all at first glance not there but, when you return your gaze you start to see the intricacy in the painting, all of this and it only took him four weeks!! It is truly an amazing sight, whether you like it or not you cannot help but be impressed.

John Byrne's creation on the other hand is not typical of his portfolio that I have seen, it was not colourful, and at the same time the use of colour was something that occurred to me, it was not busy but rather quiet and reserved compared to previous works that I have seen, but nevertheless there was something striking about it, something that drew you in and made you think about the person he was depicting.

The paintings were done as part of a project that didn't come to fruition but the artists were supposed to paint a portrait of themselves and then one of another artist, the paintings displayed in the Art Gallery in the Museum are the paintings of another artist, each other! It was an enjoyable evening and I am glad that I went and I am glad that John Byrne continues to support and come back to his home, he is truly an artist that remembers where he came from, in fact I doubt he looks or acts much different now from when he lived and played in Paisley. This was my first introduction to the work of Steven Campbell but on return to my computer I have googled his name and I must admit that I will be keeping an eye out for any more of these events that he participates in.

Go have a look at the paintings in Paisley Museum and Art Gallery they are well worth a visit, and while you are there go see Buddy the lion.

COUNCILLOR RAYLEEN KELLY

2007-03-09T12:21:00.000Z

BEWARE THE BOGEYMAN

(Jim Sharkey and Cllr Rayleen Kelly at the 'Beware of the Bogeyman event, Paisley Town Hall)

This morning in Paisley Town Hall there is an event organised by the Police on Bogus Callers, arranged for the elderly in the community and vulnerable groups there was an excellent turn out, including Jim Sharkey (my running mate in the May Elections) the Secretary of Ralston Community Council. Also present were Douglas Alexander MP Secretary of State for Scotland and Wendy Alexander MSP for Paisley North, both were warmly received and it was good to see our elected representatives involved in the community.

The title of this article is the title of the campaign, Reid Kerr College students put on an excellent piece of drama showing the dangers and the approaches that the con men and women use.

To often we think of the Bogus Caller as a young male in work gear but they can take all shapes and sizes as the students drama piece pointed out. Unfortunately I had to leave early as I had a Community Health Partnership Development session to attend but, what I did see I was really impressed with, congratulations go to the Police for the organisation and all of the exhibitors and actors involved.