Glenrothes, the FInal Push

Not surprisingly, Alex Salmond is telling everyone who will listen that the SNP are going to win Glenrothes on Thursday. He said they were going to win Livingston. They came second. He said they were going to win Dunfermline. The came a pretty poor third. It's not a record that inspires confidence and after their earlier confidence it will be a huge story if they don't win on Thursday.

I was quite surprised to see SNP Towers in Markinch in darkness last night when I drove past at around 7:30 on my way home, although, to be fair, they were still there tonight when I left at the back of 7.

So far in Glenrothes, I've seen loads of Lib Dems, obviously, cos I've been in our office, a fair few Nationalists - including Nicola Sturgeon, whose driver clearly wasn't expecting to meet another car on the High Street when he pulled out the other week, the odd Tory, which is hardly surprising, because they are next door to us, but the only Labour people I've come across were drinking coffee in the Marks and Spencers Simply Food this afternoon. Of course, there are reports of Labour MPs sporting Politburo Chic, and it would be very remiss of me to ignore these.

If I weren't a liberal, I would suggest that whoever produced Labour's The Fifer A3 crappily risographed piece of nonsense being delivered this weekend should be deprived of cakes for all of time for crimes against political literature. See what happens when you even mention the Politburo? This leaflet breaks virtually all the rules of good literature and I suspect will help Fife Council meet its recycling targets. The photos are terrible, the print quality is appalling and the content simply does not inspire in any way. You would think that they would have realised that they would have to try to win people's votes with decent messages, but this doesn't seem to have happened.

The Nats aren't much better - they've been delivering a postcard with a picture of Gordon Brown and Margaret Thatcher, which, strangely, fails to mention their own leader's flirtation with the Iron Lady. They've also been putting out a glossy which lands on the doorstep to show the word THUD in red on a sickly yellow background. Gee. That's going to make you want to read it. They have obviously spent tonnes of money - all their literature has been expensive, slick and not really saying so much.

In contrast, the Lib Dem literature is full of colour, photos, relevance to the things people care about like the cost of living and Tavish Scott's clever tax cut plan, standing against illiberal SNP and Labour actions and creating the campaign for Fairer rail fares between Fife and Edinburgh. Already Harry Wills has taken up hundreds of concerns brought to him by local people. As MP, he would continue to fight on their behalf, in the same way that Willie Rennie has done in Dunfermline.

One of our number overheard a conversation between some young people who had been delighted with Harry Wills' mailing to them and said that it inspired them so much that they wanted to vote.

Harry Wills' campaign has the energy and the practical solutions to ease current problems. A vote for him is a vote to add to the already strong Lib Dem team in Fife.

What has Harry Wills got to do with Leonardo Di Caprio and Archbishop Desmond Tutu?

I've got to know Harry Wills, Lib Dem candidate for Glenrothes and his lovely wife Trudy quite well in recent weeks. I have been very impressed with how he has handled his role as by-election candidate and I'm sure he would be a fabulous MP. I've seen him come back from meeting people passionate about the problems they are facing and determined to do something about them.

Anyway, much as I like him, never did I really think of him and Leonardo DiCaprio in the same headspace. Now, I'm annoyed, because I know I saw this on my computer at work, but can't for the life of me find it at home, but I'm going to post this anyway.

I will update with the links when I'm back in the office tomorrow.

Some local Glenrothes genius has a blog and made a few comments about the by-election. They put the pictures of all the candidates through some Celebrity Look a like website. Harry's came back as Ernest Borgnine, Peter Sellers, Leonardo DiCaprio and Archbishop Desmond Tutu. I can kind of see where they are coming from with Borgnine and Sellers, but it's maybe a little more difficult with the other two.

Update a few minutes later - I should have been more patient, as I found it very quickly after I posted this. Here is the link.

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Liberal Democrats Launch Glenrothes by-election campaign

Aided by a rather majestic looking golden eagle, Liberal Democrat candidate for Glenrothes Harry Wills launched his campaign today accompanied by Tavish "Tax Cut" Scott, Dunfermline by-election winner Willie Rennie and Dunfermline West MSP Jim Tolson.

Willie's comments reminded me of the last cold and wintry Scottish by-election - his own, in Dunfermline, in February 2006. That campaign was fought in difficult circumstances, but Willie Rennie listened to local people, campaigned on the issues that mattered to them and won through because people saw that he was a hard working, genuine person who would fight tirelessly for his constituents. He has continued to do that as MP as has Jim Tolson as MSP. Harry Wills is made in the same mould. Already he has taken up people's concerns about (among many other things) their housing repairs, anti-social behaviour, fears over the soaring cost of living and anger at the injustice of high rail fares.

The Liberal Democrats at both Holyrood and Westminster have shown that they can provide practical and credible solutions to the problems that people are facing at the moment. As Willie Rennie said, the Liberal Democrats have another good candidate and we have it all to play for.

The photo shows Jim Tolson MSP looking very much at home with the golden eagle.






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Liberal Democrats Soar in Glenrothes

Liberal Democrat hopeful in Glenrothes Harry Wills was joined in the skies above Glenrothes by keen aviator and MP Lembit Opik. The duo were at Fife airport to give Harry's campaign a flying start.

The Party is working hard in Glenrothes with new Scottish Leader Tavish Scott leading the entire contingent of MSPs and many Fife Liberal Democrat councllors campaigning there last night.

Liberal Democrats select Harry Wills for Glenrothes

Businessman Harry Wills has been selected to fight the vacant Glenrothes seat for the Liberal Democrats. I spent Sunday up there delivering his Residents' Survey in Leven.

If this guy has even half the drive and energy of the last Liberal Democrat to win a by-election in Fife he would make an extremely good constituency MP. Good luck to him and to his campaign team.

So, the SNP and the Lib Dems have selected. Labour have yet to pick their lamb to the slaughter. In the absence of any big name volunteers, the Dunfermline Press suggests that Dunfermline Central Councillor Willie Sullivan might be in the frame. He was beaten in the selection contest for Dunfermline and West Fife last year.