Why will Alex Salmond not meet the Dalai Lama?

We are all used to seeing Alex Salmond jetting off round the world to meet foreign dignitaries. He's off to California soon, Hollywood no less, among other places, to "promote Scotland's interests". He's at a film premiere tonight, mixing with the rich and famous - as he seems to like doing. Let's not forget his mates Murdoch, Connery and Brian Souter and his former bff Donald Trump. Our globe-trotting First Minister has also been to China, the Gulf States and Norway in the past year. If he's bringing the money in by promoting Scottish products to foreign businesses, then fair enough, I suppose.It would be good to have a balance sheet on that so we can judge for ourselves, though.

Given that Salmond is so keen to meet anyone he can, it's quite perplexing that he can't find the time to meet the Dalai Lama during his forthcoming visit to Scotland. You have to ask yourself why. Could it be anything to do with the fact that such a meeting would upset the Chinese? I would be disappointed if that were the case. I have a pretty good hunch that he backs the rights of the people of Tibet to self determination. David Cameron and Nick Clegg took some grief from the Chinese over their meetings with the Dalai Lama so why shouldn't Salmond do the same?

Salmond will be back from his US trip while the Dalai Lama is here. It would be good if he could find a space in his diary to spend some time with him.

Willie Rennie certainly seems to think so. Yesterday he said:

This is a missed opportunity. By failing to meet with the globally respected spiritual leader and Nobel Peace Prize Laureate the First Minister may leave the impression that he is more concerned with pandering to the diktat of the Chinese government than promoting human rights.  We ignore China’s human rights record at our peril.  I appreciate that China would be sensitive about such a meeting but the First Minister should stand up for what’s important. People from across Scotland have waited six years to meet with His Holiness. The cities of Dundee, Edinburgh and Inverness have all noted their enthusiasm towards welcoming him into their streets and town halls.
 Either Mr Salmond has completely misjudged the importance of this event, or he has shown once more that he is too afraid of “rocking the boat.” Last week we saw the First Minister continue to defend Mr Murdoch’s Empire. This week we are seeing his obsession with powerful people continue. I call upon the First Minister to recognise that it is in Scotland’s best interests for him to honour this historic event and show respect for his position by meeting with the Dalai Lama

If Salmond does not meet the Dalai Lama, it could be construed, not least by the Chinese themselves, as panda-ing to them a subject I wrote about when our furry zoo friends were first announced. I'm  reminded of what Shabnum Mustapha, Director of Amnesty Scotland, said when Salmond was in China at the tail end of last year - that, yes, the Chinese would have the diplomatic equivalent of a bit of a strop when human rights were mentioned, but there was evidence that repression did reduce as a result. Offending the Chinese authorities is therefore not a bad thing to do, whether it's about the Dalai Lama or human rights.

Happy 70th Birthday to Sir Paul McCartney

Hard to believe, but my childhood hero, former Beatle Paul McCartney turns 70 today. You wouldn't think it, given the stamina he showed on stage last December when my niece Laura and I, with a Responsible Adult in tow, went to see him. Over 3 hours on stage and over 43 songs. You can read my review of that event here. The bands of today would be completely floored just looking at such a setlist. That evening was definitely one of the highlights of my life.

One of the things I really liked about McCartney was that, unlike many other musicians of the same vintage, he was really family orientated. He didn't figure much in the tabloid headlines because his private life was too boring. He kept his kids well out of the limelight and just got on with his life.

You'll probably all be aware that I'm a committed carnivore, but I see some merit in the Meat Free Monday campaign that McCartney has become associated with. Yesterday's Sunday Times, with the cringeworthy headline "Give Peas a Chance" trailed this new video he's released on the subject but it's behind the paywall. It's a wee bit rambling, but makes some interesting points about why it's in our long term environmental and health interests not to eat meat every day. You can't really argue with that.

For those of you who don't have access to that, here's an earlier video of him singing his Meat Free Monday song:



So, Happy Birthday, to Sir Paul. I really appreciate him providing 3 generations of our family with the soundtrack to our lives. It was great to see him closing the Diamond Jubilee concert and to know that he will also be singing at the Olympics opening ceremony.


If I have half as much energy as he does when I turn 70, I'll be happy. 

Fathers' Day

If they gave Olympic medals for falling asleep in front of the television, my Dad would have a bucketload. That explains why, completely independently and 150 miles apart, my sister and I both bought him the same Father's Day card. It depicted a man lying on the sofa with the caption "Dad was an expert at watching tv with his eyes closed". Certainly once I'd seen that card, no other would do. Nevertheless as we set off to visit my parents this afternoon, I rather apprehensively hoped that the bottle of Remy Martin would be enough to atone for my cheek. I burst out laughing when I saw my sister's identical card already on the mantelpiece.

I should add that if they gave out Olympic medals for being lovely, kind, hilarious, wise and brave, he'd have a fair old haul of them too.

The other dad in my life is, of course, Bob. He is such a brilliant dad to Anna. The bond between them was sealed when, less than an hour old, she grabbed hold of his finger and wouldn't let go. He brings the creativity and originality that she so desperately needs and I lack to the parenting table. He takes her on adventures. The Summer I was ill with Glandular Fever, he presented her with a box with 50 or so cards, each depicting an activity, for the Summer holidays.her challenge was to use them all within the 7 weeks. Some she was literally able to cash in because they were for things she wouldn't like, such as going to the burial site at Cairnpapple Hill. She was paid for doing them! They had a whale of a time.

For her birthday this year, it was his idea to get her an underage driving lesson as he had learned with his mother on the disused airfields in Easter Ross as soon as his feet could reach the pedals.

I am incredibly lucky, too, that we agreed on how we wanted to bring her up. He unquestioningly supported my hippy, attachment parenting ideas. I could not have wished for a better companion on the parenting journey and I'm incredibly grateful for that.

I recognise how lucky Anna and I are to have our Dads around. My Facebook and Twitter feeds are full of loving messages from friends who are missing their dads. I'm thinking of them tonight.

Let's not miss the point on Trident

Today's Telegraph reports that a new Government contract for nuclear reactors in submarines brings the renewal of Trident a lot closer and creates a rift with the Liberal Democrats.Well, I'm glad that they recognise our point of view on this, that we fought the last election on a policy of there being no like for like replacement of Trident. Can I suggest that before we get ourselves in a twist about this, we read what Liberal Democrat defence minister Nick Harvey wrote on Liberal Democrat Voice last month. The main decision will not be made until after the next General Election. We have seen to that.

I for one was never entirely comfortable with the notion of no "like for like" replacement of Trident. I have no desire to go shopping in the bargain basement for nuclear weapons. I actually don't think we have any business investing squillions in weapons of mass destruction at all. I want to see our entire nuclear weapons programme ended. No ifs, buts or maybes. Keeping a stock of these weapons is absolutely unjustifiable in my opinion. Why would you want to have missiles whose prime purpose is to cause widespread devastation, death and destruction amongst innocent civilians, people like you and me.

What those of us who feel the same way, whatever party they're in, should be doing is spending the next 3 years building a campaign against a nuclear deterrent in principle. That's going to be a huge issue in the next election. I am far from convinced that we'll be out of the economic mire by then and we will have better things to spend our money on than stellar guided wickedness. The Labour Party needs to think long and hard about whether it can justify it. They may well be haunted by their 1983 manifesto which advocated unilateral nuclear disarmament but we are in a different world now. If the biggest threat we face is from international terrorism, as the US and UK Governments would have us believe, then there is no point investing in more nukes, because they will do nothing to deal with that threat.

My Nationalist friends will no doubt rush to tell me that an independent Scotland wouldn't have any nuclear weapons. How selfish can you get?  As part of the UK, we Scots, who tend to be less convinced by the argument for these things, have a chance to bring about a change of policy which will rid the whole island of them. Narcissistic nationalist nimbyism isn't going  to help make the world non nuclear place. A UK without Scotland would, I think, be less likely to abandon nuclear weapons, leaving all on these islands worse off.

We know that the Tories like to scare people into accepting the unacceptable - just look at Theresa May's comments on the Draft Communications Data Bill (which is only a draft bill due to Nick Clegg putting his foot down). She's clearly trying to convince us that unless she's given unbridled power to snoop on all our Facebook messages, terrorists will run amok. Of course, the people who are really up to no good will be able to circumvent such measures. In the same way, they will build a frightening case for maintenance of the deterrent. The  opponents of nuclear weapons need to build a more compelling, evidence based case for getting rid of them. We don't have long - just around half a year further away than the Independence Referendum. Let's get to it.

Congratulations to Sir Malcolm and Lady Bruce

As I was going to bed last night, I had a quick look at the Queen's Birthday Honours and switched off my iPad in disgust when I realised that former Labour cabinet minister Tessa Jowell had been made a Dame.

I wish I'd read on, though, because much further down the page was the news that Gordon Liberal Democrat MP Malcolm Bruce had been knighted. When you can still remember a Conference speech 20 years on, you know it's had an impact. I remember him making a speech in Glasgow to the Spring Federal Conference in 1992 that was searing in its indignation at the way the Tories had denied Scotland its right of devolution. It was compelling to listen to at the time.

Malcolm's speeches to Conferences remain one of my favourite parts to this day - they combine a fascinating  understanding of history, of how countries work together and the challenges facing the world with a passionate liberalism. He'll never gloss over difficult problems and if the outlook is gloomy, he'll jolt you out of any sense of complacency you might be feeling.

The world is a lot better off for his wise contribution on such issues as human rights and international development. He combines that with an understanding of how the global economy works and experience across the employment, trade and treasury parliamentary briefs over the last 29 years as an MP. The Party owes him credit for one of our most popular policies of the 1990s - the penny on income tax to pay for education. He helped build the party up from the nadir of the 60s and 70s so we need to listen to his advice on how to recover our position in these challenging times.

The experience of having a deaf daughter has made him a powerful advocate on issues connected with hearing loss and he chairs the All Party Parliamentary Group on deafness.

I am delighted that Sir Malcolm has been awarded this honour - his decades of service both in Scotland, the UK and within the international community deserve recognition.

The #neverseconds jokes begin - Falsetto Sock Puppets

The Falsetto Sock Puppets put the saga of Argyll and Bute Council's Day of Shame to a well kent song.
Enjoy.

Argyll and Bute back down on school dinner blog ban

The leader of Argyll and Bute Council has reversed the decision to ban a 9 year old schoolgirl from taking photographs of her school dinners and blogging about them. Roddy McCuish did so live on Radio 4's The World at One, bringing to an end a morning of social media frenzy which had seen the subject have 3 of highest trending topics on Twitter in the UK.

In my earlier post, I covered the background and Argyll and Bute's initial statement on the matter. It seemed strange for the Council to say it was taking action against "unwarranted attacks" on their school meals service when the average mark Martha had given her meals was 7.59 out of 10.

It's good to see that common sense has prevailed in this case. It's the right decision. It is worth observing, however, that it appears to be an interesting example of the SNP chain of command in action. While Liberal Democrat councillors would never dream of taking orders from parliamentarians or ministers, it's common for SNP councillors to be dictated to from above.  Liberal Democrat councillors who had worked in coalition with them told me that their deference to their MSPs could be at best irritating. We know that Mike Russell, the local SNP MSP and Cabinet Secretary for Education called the decision "daft" last night and eventually his wish prevailed.

The Communications Department at Argyll and Bute Council has had a troubled few months. Edinburgh Eye recounts how the communications officer had told a social media gathering how she created social media accounts in false names to follow critics of the Council. In April, two other officers were suspended, and  subsequently resigned after messages joking about other council officials were intercepted on the Council's messaging system. With that sort of atmosphere in the Department, it's hardly surprising that they have not produced their best work.

Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Willie Rennie  earlier slammed Argyll and Bute's actions as a "dog's dinner" and said he was delighted

by Martha's enterprising approach to highlighting an age-old problem, and encourage the council to work with her to create healthy and tasty school dinners.

By reviewing good dinners as well as bad Martha was being fair, it’s a shame that the Council haven’t followed her example.

Martha clearly has a bright future ahead of her. We should be seeking to reward her courage, not ban it.

After the ban was reversed, he suggested Martha could help train council officials across Scotland in blogging and social media skills.

Meanwhile, Martha herself continues to rake in funds for the charity Mary's Meals. Over 2000 children in Africa will now benefit from meals for a school year because of this furore. Who says the internet is a waste of time?

Last day to have your say on Glasgow subway photo ban

Last month I told you about SPT's plan to ban photography on the Glasgow Subway.  I said that:


So, you're on the Glasgow subway with some friends and one of them does something cute or funny or otherwise worth recording for posterity. You take out your phone to capture the moment.....

What should happen next is....nothing. Life should go on as normal. However, if Strathclyde Partnership for  Transport gets its way, new bye-laws could mean that you're on a slippery slope to a £1000 fine. The operator has put their new proposals out for consultation and they include the controversial clause 12.1:

Passengers must not take photographs, or make video audio or visual recordings on any part of the subway.

There is a get out clause - but it involves you obtaining the written permission of SPT in advance. So much for spontaneity.

This brings to mind the situation under the last Labour Westminster Government when amateur photographers were apprehended by Police under the controversial Section 44 of the Terrorism Act.This report from the Independent summarises how people innocently taking photographs of public buildings, tourist attractions and even a fish and chip shop found themselves being stopped and searched. By and large, although the law applied in Scotland, it was largely ignored. I wrote in 2010 that while over 200,000 people had been stopped south of the border, only 79 searches had been recorded here.

I always tend to take the view that if an authority is given a power, it will use it.That's why we need to make sure that any powers they have are both necessary and proportionate. 

The photography ban is only the tip of the iceberg. Some of the other proposed  bye-laws, also carrying a potential £1000 fine for their breach, are equally questionable. Failing to report lost property to a member of staff, singing, using musical equipment in a way which might annoy a reasonable person, being drunk (which isn't defined, but may well apply to a fair few people taking the subway home on a weekend night) or going the wrong way up or down an escalator all carry the same penalty. So does trying to get on a train before the last person has left and trying to jump the queue. These things can be rude, but deserving of a four figure fine?

Have a read of the proposed rules here and make sure you send your response to the consultation by 15th June. It needs to go to:

FAO: Joanne Gray

Glasgow Subway Byelaws Consultation

Transport Policy Directorate

Area 2 D North

Victoria Quay

EDINBURGH

EH6 6QQ

or e-mail joanneDOTgrayATtransportscotlandDOTgsiDOTgovDOTuk

Do it today or it will be too late! Do it in your lunch hour.

Argyll and Bute Council ban 9 year old's school dinner photo blog

Way back in April, 9 year old Martha Payne started reviewing her school dinners. Every day she wrote on her Never Seconds blog, under the pseudonym Veg, short for Veritas Ex Gustu which means Truth from Tasting in Latin. The blog quickly became an internet sensation and she and her Dad were interviewed on the BBC's You and Yours in May. 


Each day, Martha would rate dinner at her Lochgilphead primary school on criteria such as Food-o-Meter, health rating, how many mouthfuls and  how many pieces of hair were in it. What made the blog were the photos she posted to illustrate her reviews. Some days she didn't have her camera and so she drew her dinner instead.


Martha's school were very supportive of her writing project. She often had good things to say about her meals and attracted the attention of celebrity chefs Nick Nairn and Jamie Oliver.


She also used her blog to raise money for charity. In six weeks it has raised over £2000 to provide school meals in Africa.


Sadly, though, this was too much for Argyll and Bute Council. Yesterday Martha recounted how she was sent for during her Maths class in a post entitled Goodbye:

I was told that I could not take any more photos of my school dinners because of a headline in a newspaper today. 

I only write my blog not newspapers and I am sad I am no longer allowed to take photos. I will miss sharing and rating my school dinners and I’ll miss seeing the dinners you send me too. I don’t think I will be able to finish raising enough money for a kitchen for Mary’s Meals either.

Her Dad Dave added:

I felt it’s important to add a few bits of info to the blog tonight. Martha’s school have been brilliant and supportive from the beginning and I’d like to thank them all. I contacted Argyll and Bute Council when Martha told me what happened at school today and they told me it was their decision to ban Martha’s photography.

It is a shame that a blog that today went through 2 million hits, which has inspired debates at home and abroad and raised nearly £2000 for charity is forced to end.

Now, let's give Argyll and Bute Council the benefit of the doubt for the moment. It may well be that they know that the best way to attract attention to something is to ban it. This may not be the entirely unreasonable, churlish and petulant action that it appears to be.


Scottish Education Secretary Mike Russell, who also happens to be the local MSP tweeted last night that he thought it was a daft decision and he'd be taking it up with the Council.


I sought out my local Councillor, Andrew Miller's view on this as he was until last month responsible for education in West Lothian and he is usually pretty sensible. He didn't want to directly criticise Argyll and Bute Council because he didn't know enough about the actual situation there, who took the decision and their reasoning but he felt that:

As long as she was being fair (ie not setting up false images) then I'd think she should be perfectly entitled to express her opinions. If the council are worried about the quality of their meals being shown then the obvious solutions is to provide better food to the kids.

Andrew went on to say how good it would be for literacy if we could find a way to get every kid to go home each day after school and write 4 or 5 lines about anything at all.

If you are as convinced as I am that this decision needs to be reversed, you may want to write to Argyll and Bute's Chief Executive Sally Loudon and make your views known through their website. Funnily enough, though, and I'm sure entirely coincidentally, their website is down this coming weekend. Never mind. They have a Twitter account you can contact. You may also be motivated to donate to Martha's charity effort here. Let's see if we can get her to her £7000 target.


Let's hope that common sense prevails and the ban on Never Seconds is soon lifted. How dare this Council silence a beautiful, compassionate and articulate voice. 

Salmond defends Scottish Enterprise chief's £55k directorship on top of £200k salary

You have to wonder what sort of world the SNP Government is living in. Alex Salmond hangs around with so many rich and powerful people that maybe he thinks £55,000 is loose change.

Anyway, the chief executive of Scottish Enterprise, Lena Wilson, has taken on an extra job, which requires 12 days' work a year and is to be paid £55,000 for the privilege without losing any of her Scottish Enterprise salary of £200,000 for the days she's not there. Given that the average wage is somewhere around £26,000, most Scots will find it incomprehensible that the SNP Goverment has agreed to this.

Willie Rennie tackled the First Minister about it yesterday. Here's the exchange:

Willie Rennie: Earlier this week, I received a letter from a former senior official of Scottish Enterprise, who was angry at the appointment of the chief executive of Scottish Enterprise to the board of Intertek for an annual payment of £55,000 on top of her £200,000 salary. What does the First Minister have to say to that former Scottish Enterprise official?

The First Minister: I am surprised, because there are precedents for the chief executive of Scottish Enterprise being a non-executive director on the board of private companies under the Labour and Liberal Administration. Perhaps the former official was part of that Scottish Enterprise team. I am not sure whether Willie Rennie was aware of that but, nonetheless, it is a fact.

Willie Rennie should look at the positive reaction to this move from a range of business organisations. A lot of people understand the benefits of having the chief executive of Scottish Enterprise as one of the very few Scottish women who have ever been on the board of a FTSE 100 company. There are no conflict of interest concerns, because they have all been dealt with in Scottish Enterprise’s rules and regulations. Perhaps Willie Rennie should look at the broader picture and see the potential benefits to Scotland—and to Scottish Enterprise—of the appointment that was announced earlier this week.

Willie Rennie: Two years ago, the First Minister told the chamber that John Swinney had already acted to heavily restrict bonuses in the public sector; only now we find that there is a loophole allowing access to an extra £55,000. Most people—perhaps not those on the Scottish National Party benches—would not accept that £55,000 for 12 days’ work can be justified for someone who is already being paid £200,000 every year. [Laughter.] SNP members might laugh, but most people will find their laughter hollow.

I cannot really believe that the First Minister supports this appointment. If he reverses this decision today, he will get my support. Will he act?

The First Minister: I was just wondering myself what anyone would pay Willie Rennie as a non-executive director. I suppose that that might have been part of the reason for the interest shown in his comments.

There is a substantive point that Lena Wilson did not put in the press release—it is typical of the woman—but which I should make clear to Willie Rennie, because it might change his attitude to these matters. Under contracts that were drawn up during the years of the Labour and Liberal Administration, Lena Wilson has a contractual entitlement to a public sector bonus; indeed, it was commonplace for the contracts for the chief executive of Scottish Enterprise to set out bonuses. She has relinquished her right to that public sector bonus. It seems to me that Willie Rennie should support that move, because it is in line with Government policy to eliminate contractual entitlements to bonuses from public sector contracts, even those that were drawn up and framed during the Labour and Liberal years of government. Eighty per cent of the people who were entitled to a bonus have voluntarily relinquished it. Lena Wilson has relinquished any entitlement to a public sector bonus. For the sake of fairness, on the record, Willie Rennie should accept that that is in line with Scottish Government policy. He should welcome that.


The decision to allow this appointment is simply not acceptable, especially in the current economic climate and it makes the Government look remote and out of touch. Salmond should think again.

After First Minister's Questions, Willie Rennie said:

Boasting that bonuses have been abolished means nothing when the First Minister celebrates the £55,000 payment for 12 days work for one of the highest paid civil servants in Scotland.

“Two years ago he told the Parliament that John Swinney had acted “to heavily restrict bonuses in the public sector.” But now he has created his own loophole to allow the bonus culture to continue.

169 days to help Julian Huppert protect the internet from the prying eyes of the state

 I have a list of measures passed by this Coalition Government that I can't stand. I call it the FFS list. A measure has to be monumentally awful to get on to that list. The changes to the Immigration Rules that Theresa May is planning are on it, as is the removal of ESA from people after a year. It's a very short list, but it affects a lot of lives in an absolutely heart rending way.

Slightly different, but still in the same league, is the Draft Communications Bill published today. You can read all its 123 pages of measures and guidance notes here. I must confess I haven't yet, but I will. Nor do I claim to understand all of it. But that's ok, because there are people like Zoe who combine impeccable liberal credentials with an understanding of the technical nitty gritty. If this measure was passed in its current form, it would be straight on to the FFS list. Clause 1 is full of the sort of wide ranging power granted to a secretary of state that brings anyone who cares about civil liberties out in hives. Apparently it won't be used in an inappropriate way. Aye, right. Let's just not take that chance.

Thankfully, though, thanks to Nick Clegg putting his foot down, this Bill is purely a draft. If you've ever seen me write a blog post, you'll know that the first draft is nowhere near what eventually appears. Rather than allow the Home Secretary to tack a bit about Communications Data on to another crime bill, he's insisted that this issue is scrutinised within an inch of its life. If it hadn't been for Nick, make no mistake, this Bill would be being rushed through Parliament now, probably as part of another measure, and it would have very little scrutiny.This is different, though. We have 169 days to change things.

What happens now is that a Parliamentary Committee of 12 from both Lords and Commons hears evidence from a wide range of people with an interest in the Bill. Yes, the Police and the Home Office and the spooks will want to have their say, but so too will Liberty, Big Brother Watch, ISPs and the like.

What's particularly good is that one of our poster boys for civil liberties (well, you can't get much better than a former  Liberty Council member) Julian Huppert, MP for Cambridge. He's pretty well clued up on this as I've found during several Conference calls now. What he wants us to do is hone in on this Bill, dissect it and build an evidence based watertight case for amendments which provide the maximum safeguards.

Some of you will ask why we don't just kill it now. Well, we will if this scrutiny process doesn't come up with a Bill we can accept. But if we do that we are still left with RIPA, the 2000 Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act which has been augmented with deeply authoritarian nasties over the years. Last year there were 540,000 data requests. That's far too many, and some only need the authority of a Police inspector. The Draft Bill does reduce the number of people who can get access to data but it needs to go further. As far as I'm concerned, the best form of authorisation comes from a Judge issuing a warrant so I want to see more of that.

So half a million data requests plus - and what for? The Home Office hasn't really broken it down, but I'd really like to see how many there are for different types of cases.

Anyway, your mission, dear reader, should you choose to accept it, is to go through the Bill with the finest tooth comb you have and help Julian build an absolutely watertight case for a massive redrafting of this Bill to improve it beyond recognition and ensure that the freedom of citizens to go about their business on the internet, to exchange bitchy Facebook messages, to indulge in secret geeky obsessions or just to indulge your Amazon habit without the unwarranted intrusion of the State. The Committee has to report by the end of November. That's just 169 days. So, get to it. Where we want to get is somewhere around the policy we passed earlier this year:

a) ensuring that there shall be no interception of telephone calls, SMS messages, social media, internet or any other communications without named, specific and time-limited warrants;

b) guaranteeing that any communications data kept by service providers in accordance with the EU Data Retention Directive are kept securely by the service providers, and that they be only released to government bodies with strict and strengthened safeguards;

c) ensuring that service providers are not mandated by law to collect communications data by any method that would also provide access to content information, unless specifically authorised by a warrant;

d) ensuring that service providers are not mandated by law to collect third-party communications data for non-business purposes by any method;

e) renegotiating the EU Data Retention Directive and changing how it is implemented into UK law, to provide a better balance towards privacy.

I will keep you posted as the Committee is formed. There will be two Lib Dems, Paul Strasburger, along with Julian. They will probably start taking evidence in September. I'll let you know how to contribute your views.

Oh, and by the way, if you read anywhere that Nick Clegg is happy with the draft bill, it's total bollocks. He hasn't spoken to the press about it. Both the BBC and the Daily Fail apparently had him quoted as being happy with it and he is not. And he's prepared to kill any bill that doesn't have appropriate safeguards.

These next five months are important for civil liberties. Let's demolish the nasties in this Bill clause by clause and end up with something workable and sensible which guarantees civil liberties - or nothing at all.

Liberal Democrat MPs have better options than inglorious abstention over Hunt

Imagine if Jeremy Hunt had been a Liberal Democrat & his SpAd's behaviour with the Murdochs had come to light. Nick Clegg would have taken him by the scruff of the neck and sat him on Ministerial Code Adviser Alex Allan's desk. And there would have been no faffing. If he was found in the wrong, he'd have gone. End of.

Jeremy Hunt is not a Liberal Democrat, thankfully. David Cameron seems desperate to protect his troubled minister. And the harder he tries, the dodgier it looks. Failing to subject the minister to the appropriate scrutiny pretty much tells the world the PM is not confident he'd survive it. He's showing a darn sight more protectiveness towards this troubled Minister than he showed his wee girl that day chillaxing in the pub.

Liberal Democrats pride ourselves on being the people who want to clean up politics. To make sure that vested interests are not served. To make sure justice is done.

Being in Government carries with it certain obligations, some of them painful. I don't see anything in the Coalition Agreement that obliges us to cover the backs of Tory Ministers over allegations of wrongdoing. Therefor, we shouldn't abstain. We should vote for the investigation into Hunt. If our backbenchers do, then there's a chance that the motion will pass & Hunt will be investigated.

I loathe and detest abstaining. I think you always need to take a position. We can't back Hunt's behaviour so we must back the investigation for 2 reasons. The first, low political one is that our current position, which effectively lets Hunt off the hook, also cedes the moral high ground to a Labour Party which has spent most of the last two decades pandering to Murdoch and his acolytes.

Secondly, voting for an investigation is quite simply the right thing to do. I wouldn't want to pre-judge it, but it needs to take place for the Government to have any ethical credibility.

But they may not even have to do that. If enough Lib Dem MPs tell that nice Mr Carmichael that they will be voting for the motion, they may never have to. If Nick Clegg tells Cameron his MPs could vote for the investigation, the PM could well decide to refer Hunt anyway. Then the vote will be unnecessary.

So, lovely Lib Dem MPs, especially those not on Government payroll, say you will turn up and vote tomorrow. That is the best option for everyone.

Actually, leaving a child behind is a big deal

Twitter is full of people saying that we shouldn't be talking about David and Samantha Cameron leaving their 8 year old child behind in a pub.  Not a big deal. There are much bigger issues like Syria and the economy that we should be talking about and this is a mere distraction. In fact, some suggest that it's a deliberate distraction to take our minds of various top Tories' forthcoming appearances at Leveson.

Do you know what? Our brains can take it. We can think of more one thing at a time. And it is a big deal that an 8 year old was left on her own in a pub or anywhere else when they were expecting to be going home with their family. The adults in the party outnumbered the children - there would have been David, Samantha and their protection officers and surely it wasn't beyond the wit of them to check that all 3 children were accounted for.

Now, nothing went wrong. They were lucky. But they mucked up big time. I am absolutely disgusted with them. I would be saying exactly the same if it were Nick Clegg who had left one of his kids behind. It's not funny. What if she'd gone outside on her own to look for her parents and been knocked down by a car? The possibilities are endless.

If I had done something so monumentally stupid, I would be absolutely mortified. It wouldn't be all over the papers, but it would be a serious thing.

But just imagine if some unemployed single mother had left her child in a pub after lunch with her boyfriend. I am certain that the tabloid press would be ripping her to bits. It doesn't matter who does it, what their background is, it's utterly wrong and they should be ashamed of themselves. There are no excuses.

I'm not saying that any sort of action should be taken, but I think we are well within our rights to criticise the Camerons. To be fair, they are probably criticising themselves. The whole incident and reaction does show how as  society we are so adult orientated, how we don't see things from children's point of view and how we justify extremely poor parenting practice. Look at "sleep training", a euphemism for cruelty if ever there was one, as an example. There is no justification on any level for ever leaving a vulnerable human being in distress in my opinion, yet if your baby doesn't sleep through the night at a very early age, your health visitor will tell you to leave him or her to cry it out on a like it or lump it basis. There are no alternatives offered. This latest study from Texas is the latest in a long line which indicate that this is harmful.

Now, Nancy Cameron came to no harm, her mortified parents will no doubt be waking up in a cold sweat for weeks thinking about what could have happened, and they'll learn from the experience. That child will never be left anywhere again. However, we do our kids a disservice if we fail to recognise that this was a huge error. There's nobody more prolific than David Cameron at preaching to others about taking responsibility for their actions, after all.

Willie Rennie: We need Scottish Water funds now

Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Willie Rennie has asked John Swinney to pick up the phone and talk to Danny Alexander about releasing funds in Scottish Water to create jobs and investment in Scotland.

In the 2011 Holyrood election, Jeremy Purvis came up with the original and radical idea of turning Scottish Water into a Public Benefit Corporation, releasing a one off windfall of somewhere around £1.5 billion. This would be a real boost to the Scottish economy at a time when it is really needed and could create 100,000 jobs.

Liberal Democrats would spend the money on:

• £500 million to support Scottish business that grow and create jobs
• £250 million to install super-fast broadband in every part of our country
• £250 million to support science and technology research in Scotland’s universities
• £250 million for an Early Intervention Revolution to transform the lives of young people
• £250 million to transform public sector energy efficiency, micro-generation and reduce household bills through    energy efficiency


If we're looking at early intervention, we should look at a pupil premium - just look at the difference it's making down south. This is a policy Nick Clegg has championed and it's making a real difference as he said last month.

The odds can be beaten. It’s happening right here – New North Academy – where you’re working hard to close the gap and seeing real progress. It’s happening in great schools up and down the country. There are now 440 secondary schools – one in five - where disadvantaged pupils are doing better in their GCSEs than the national average for all children. A new generation of high poverty, high performance schools – with high expectations to match. Yes, they are in the minority, but a minority that proves the power of ambition, leadership, great teachers: a ‘sky’s the limit’ approach.

And that is what the Pupil Premium is for: to equip every school to support pupils from the most disadvantaged backgrounds, to help us build a more socially mobile Britain where ability trumps privilege, where effort trumps connections, where sharp elbows don’t automatically get you to the front.

It’s not the only tool in the Coalition’s box. We’re intervening at every stage of a child’s educational journey, from when they’re very young - for example, increasing early years education for two year olds in households feeling the squeeze as well as increasing it for all 3 and 4 year olds – to when they make the transition to adulthood, opening up internships and work experience placements. Giving employers cash bonuses to take on the young and unemployed. Providing disadvantaged university students with more financial support than before. Ensuring – through our income tax changes – that when you start your working life you keep more of the money you earn.

But, for me, the Pupil Premium remains the most important lever we have - and it’s in your hands.

You can read whole speech here. For me, it's a policy that sums up what Liberal Democrats are about - breaking down barriers and giving people the flexibility to decide how they do it, what works best for them. That's why some schools are spending the extra money on Summer schools, others on more classroom assistants and all sorts of innovative plans that work for their children.

But anyway, back to Scottish Water. The SNP, having dissed the idea last year, are now saying that it could happen - but only after independence. If it's a good idea, it's a good idea and we don't need to hang around for four years. Why not try to implement it now? Willie Rennie is a bright boy. He's hardly going to suggest John Swinney talks to Danny if he thought Danny would knock him back. He must think there's a realistic prospect of the Treasury agreeing to the plan.

If Swinney doesn't try to make it happen, it looks very much like he's storing it up to use as a bribe in the independence campaign. I actually think he's better than that. It would astonish me if he put narrow party interest above genuinely exploring a sensible idea. Mind you, he's constructing a tax quango now rather than coming up with innovative ideas for use of the new powers the Scotland Act gives. 

The SNP needs to govern for the needs of Scotland in the here and now. People need houses, jobs, a decent education, social care, good health care now. Everything the SNP does seems to be woven round independence which may well not even happen. 

Willie Rennie said pursuing the Scottish Water plan now was a "no brainer":

Unlocking the money in Scottish Water to re-invest in job creating projects is a no brainer.

We need this investment now to create 100,000 new jobs in broadband, science, energy efficiency and more but the SNP government seem content to sit on their hands and do nothing.

There appears to be no longer any objection in principle to reforming Scottish Water by the SNP. They have dropped their wild and inaccurate rhetoric that this would be ‘privatisation’ that we heard during last year’s election. People will ask one simply question, why wait?

The suspicion is that the SNP want to hold this money in reserve as an independence bribe, putting party politics above national interest.

I want Scotland to be able to invest this money now. CBI Scotland and the Institute of Directors want Scotland to be able to free up these funds. Danny Alexander is ready and willing to listen to any approach the SNP government makes.

John Swinney should pick up the phone and work with the Coalition Government to deliver this investment for Scotland.

So, Mr Swinney, please go talk to Danny. Today. Thanks very much.

How to sell something to me

If someone wants to sell me something, I have no objection to them presenting their products to me and allowing me to make an informed decision in my own time. Here are some rules, though:

1. The huge pile of unopened junk mail on the gramophone in our hall is testament to that being an utterly useless way of contacting me. Just save yourself the stamp and the production costs, why don't you?

2. Don't ring me. I have no way of verifying whether you are from my bank, mobile phone company, or some scumbag fraudster looking for my personal details so you can clean out my bank account. I am not going to buy anything from you unless I know for sure who you are.

There are a small number of lucky souls who are almost guaranteed a sale if they ring me. These do not include kitchen or double glazing or solar panel sales people. They do include the Liberal Democrats or that nice young man from a popular home delivery wine company. My conversations with the latter normally go something like:

"Get thee behind me Satan. I'm not buying any more."

"Oh, but we have (insert name of one of my favourite wines here) on offer and free delivery"

"Oh, all right then, if I must."

Because it's the same guy who rings me every time, he knows exactly what buttons to press. And he's a proper human being, too. I ask him all sorts of random stuff. Last time it was how Scottish independence would affect their operation - and it would because the duty would no doubt all be different.

3. Don't ever, ever try to pull the wool over my eyes. And that would be you, Dunfermline Building Society. How dare you send me a letter in the post, looking like a normal personal letter that hides its true purpose.

Last week they sent me a letter, marked "Private and Confidential" with our mortgage acccount information on it saying:

"I write with reference to the above numbered account and I would be grateful if you would contact me on (phone number) regarding your existing home insurance arrangements."

The first time I got one of these a couple of years ago, I wondered if there was some new rule that we had to comply with, whether we had to provide a certificate to them or whatever. No, it was some grubby ploy to sell us poorer cover than we already had. I was wise to the ruse this time, and I rang them up and told them that I would be very annoyed if I were to discover this was a plot to sell me house insurance. They very sheepishly hung up.

We've also had similar letters from the Bank of Scotland, asking us to contact them about our account. Now, having already been a victim of fraud a couple of years ago, I was obviously very worried so I rang them. No, all they wanted to do was sell us stuff too.

If I am contacted in that manner, which I consider sneaky and on false pretences, I will never, ever buy anything. Is that clear?

4. Now, if you aren't the Liberal Democrats or the nice wine man, the single most effective way to make me buy something I don't really need is to e-mail me. You know that new Amazon place they've built near Dunfermline. Well, the first bit you can see as you go up the M90 is not so jokingly referred to in this house as "the Lindsay Wing" for a reason. I would also rather be boiled in oil than go clothes shopping, so when certain companies drop me e-mails with nice offers in them, I am more liable to succumb. Of course, Nigerian businessmen looking for partners or wishing to pay me millions of pounds if I just hand over my bank account details aren't going to find it a successful route, but you get the drift.

What gets up your nose about sales techniques and how do you like to buy things?

We should all just shut up about Bill Walker and let things take their course

Innocent until proven guilty. One of the fundamental cornerstones of our legal system.

Bill Walker, MSP for Dunfermline West, has been arrested and charged in connection with allegations of domestic abuse.

What's important now is that the justice system should be allowed to take its course and while it does, we should all keep our traps shut.

That includes Labour MP Thomas Docherty and  MSP Jackie Baillie who have today called for Walker to resign. It's completely inappropriate and Docherty himself has a cheek. In 2010, when he stood in Dunfermline, he faced charges of careless driving from which he was later cleared. It wouldn't have occurred to anyone at the time to call for his resignation as candidate solely on the basis of being charged. Maybe he should treat people with the respect with which he was treated.

Jackie Baillie is trying to bring Nicola Sturgeon into it as well, saying that her office was told of the allegations long before the election. As far as I'm aware, the person didn't speak directly to Nicola and this seems to be more to do with political mischief making than anything else.

On a personal level, I have absolutely no time for Bill Walker at all. I think, however, that we should all refrain from talking about the case and any potential charges until the legal process has been completed. It's only fair. Jackie Baillie and Thomas Docherty should know that.

John Swinney jumps the gun with new tax quango

"Everything the SNP does is a stepping stone towards independence".

These were the words of the former leader of the SNP's councillors in Glasgow, Allison Hunter, during the disastrous election campaign  which saw her group fail to form the administration.

I sighed a bit when I heard yesterday that John Swinney had announced the creation of a new Scottish revenue quango to collect a new landfill tax. What was wrong with giving it to local councils I have no idea, even if HMRC were going to be more expensive. I'd like to see more about that, some more detailed costings. I wonder if this is like the £250 million that they SNP claim to have saved on the new Forth Crossing. Public sector projects have a habit of costing a lot more than planned.

I think we need more in terms of new ideas and less in terms of creating, in fact, replicating, the machinery of bureaucracy.

But Swinney gave us a glimpse of his real motives:

With full fiscal responsibilities, we could tailor policies to match the aspirations of the Scottish people and deliver competitive advantages… These are the opportunities opened up by independence.”

The SNP are talking like they have already won the referendum, even though polls suggest that they are far from close to a majority. Alex Neil on Question Time last night was talking about how "Independence Day" would be in 2016.

It seems they've already decided how it's all going to pan out. Allison Hunter, John Swinney and Alex Neil may well find that the Scottish people don't agree with them. I'm making no predictions because I'm not taking anyone's vote for granted. I will be campaigning our socks off because I think we're much better off staying in a reformed union than we would be as an independent country.

There's a feeling that the SNP are marking time - but now is the time where we need ideas, vision and passion. People need them now, not in 4 years' time. I sometimes think that the SNP have forgotten what they were elected for last May. It wasn't just for a referendum on independence, it was to look after health, education, the legal system, transport, the environment, housing and we need them to do it now.

Willie Rennie talked about the lack of SNP vision yesterday:

Mr Swinney didn’t set out today a grand new vision for the use of these new tax powers.

“Instead, what got him excited was the prospect of setting up a new tax office quango with all the potential costs and extra administrative burden on business that come with it.

“He reluctantly accepted the need to look at Scottish Liberal Democrat proposals on the potential use of the taxes for high street regeneration, brown field redevelopment and energy efficiency."

The Scotland Act gives so much scope and plenty new powers. We need to make sure we can make best  use of them, not just concentrate on the government architecture of an independent Scotland which might never come to pass.

Mr C and Alex Fish give politics and the media a wake up call

Last night I went to see Anna's drama group's annual performance for parents and friends. The play was one the kids had entirely produced themselves. I may be a little biased here, but I honestly think it could hold its own on the Edinburgh Fringe. It combined satire, comedy, drama and tension almost seamlessly as it explored issues around drugs.

The most powerful scene in the whole play was when drug dealers, who'd picked up a vulnerable young girl from the street, threatened her and her family unless she acted as their mule. It as a tense scene, exceptionally well acted by the three girls.

Interspersed with that frightening tale was the backdrop of celebrities and politicians running an anti drugs campaign. The politicians, Mr C and Alex Fish (and I feel I should point out that Mr C is the PM, not his deputy for the avoidance of doubt) were every bit as vacuous and shallow as the celebrities. They were also guilty (in the play) of blatant hypocrisy as well as criminal moves on the dance floor.

I would never expect my daughter to take anything less than a questioning attitude to authority. However, it worries me that a group of the brightest, most talented teenagers have such a cynical view of politicians, portraying them as entirely narcissistic and unpleasant. The last thing you'd ever want is for them to be deferential but the edge to what they'd produced is a cause for concern.

In my experience of almost 30 years in and around politics, I've found that most people in all parties are decent folk who want to change people's lives for the better. There is disagreement in philosophy and approach, but most are in it for the right reasons. The culture and perception, especially in the wake of the expenses scandals, that they are all out for themselves, is false. There are plenty valid reasons to criticise them, from naivety to incompetence to lack of intellectual rigour and also reasons to cut them a bit of slack, too. People make mistakes and learn from them. It's a fact of life. Yet, when a politician does it, even if it's not that serious, it can be terminal. I'm not talking about the obviously self serving mistakes, but instances where they've tried to do their best and it hasn't worked out. The more time spent suggesting solutions and the less pumping vitriol into the atmosphere, the better in my view.

It strikes me that both politicians and the media need to up their game. Where does the perception of self obsession come from? Well, sometimes from the proponents themselves, in the way they conduct themselves. Even those of us in politics watch the circuses that are FMQs and PMQs with an undercurrent of despair. Those pantomimes take up in total half an hour a week, yet the angry exchanges they contain are most likely to be all people see of what goes on in Parliament. Nobody wants to hail people actually getting on and working together and getting the job done.

The media loves to talk about splits and fallings out and politicians kicking lumps out of each other. Working together? Not so much. Hopefully the Leveson Enquiry will open people's eyes to the tactics and lack of ethics in journalistic practice and will make them more aware of the agenda behind the stories in our papers.

Politicians need to take a long, hard look at the public perceptions of them. They may not be true, but they are there and they are influencing people. The bright young people on the stage last night had something to say about the issues of the day. They showed knowledge, creativity and emotional intelligence. They are exactly the sorts of people it would be great to have in politics but they'd probably reject it.

I'm not suggesting that people should go into politics expecting deference, or not to be laughed at. That's never going to happen and nor should it. Surely it's not too much to ask, though, that our politics is conducted in an atmosphere of a little more mutual understanding and empathy. With the European economy on the brink, with the future of Scotland at stake, surely it's not too much to expect quality debate and not mudslinging.

So, David Cameron does know Sir Alex Allan's phone number then

One of the non jubilee items of the last few days has been the news that Sayeeda Warsi has been referred by David Cameron to the Independent Adviser on the Ministerial Code, Sir Alex Allan. She took her brother in law, with whom she has business interests, on a government trip to Pakistan. Despite her apology, it's absolutely right that this should be investigated.

So now we know that Cameron's failure to refer Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt to Allan is not just because he's lost his phone number. The Prime Minister was very quick to turn Sayeeda Warsi over, so why will he not do the same for Hunt, whose clear bias in favour of the News Corp bid for BSkyB, as shown in a series of contacts with the Murdochs and others, casts doubt on his adherence to the Code.

For Cameron to be the sole arbiter on this does not seem to me to be right. He's hardly an unbiased bystander. In fact, he has a clear interest in Hunt remaining in office, because the next stop after Hunt is Cameron himself.

I might be doing the man a disservice, but being seen to do the right thing is really important. Particularly when the foreword to the Ministerial Code says:

In everything we do – the policies we develop and how we implement them, the speeches we give, the meetings we hold – we must remember that we are not masters but servants. Though the British people have been disappointed in their politicians, they still expect the highest standards of conduct. We must not let themdown.

We must be different in how we think and how we behave. We must be different from what has gone before us. Careful with public money. Transparent about what we do and how we do it. Determined to act in the national interest, above improper influence. Mindful of our duty. Above all, grateful for our chance to change our country.

And who wrote that? One David Cameron.

It makes you wonder whether cases where impropriety is suspected should automatically be referred to the Independent Adviser. There would have to be some evidence, or there would be something on the internet every day that would merit investigation. It certainly should not be the call of the Prime Minister.You can't leave it up to the Opposition either or you could end up with a farcical, politically motivated situation like you had with Clinton in the 1990s but the current situation is not satisfactory at all.

I'm glad that our lot have not been anywhere near defending Hunt. In fact some of them have been actively calling for an investigation. It's the right and proper thing to do and the longer this lingers, the worse it's going to get.

Watch out! There's a teenager about!

Forget all this Jubilee stuff for a moment. For us, today is not about honouring the Queen's 60 years on the throne. We've been doing that all weekend. Instead, it's about Anna's 13th birthday.

I'm really not sure how the time has passed so quickly since this beautiful 9lb 3oz baby with a thick mop of dark hair arrived in our lives.Now, I'm in denial about her possibly being taller than me - seriously, she's not, not yet.

What I have always found, though, is that there are many times when I've felt that she simply could not get any cuter and more fun to be around. And I've been unfailingly wrong. This being a mum business just gets better and better. And though I can't hold her in my arms and spend the day chuckling with her and reading her books and pushing her on swings, I can take her to Cardiff for Doctor Who conventions and have endless conversations over who was the best Doctor and I can have her critique my blog posts. If I can smell out a misplaced apostrophe at 50 paces, she can do it at 25. I can watch her sing in choir concerts, perform on stage, listen as she learns to play her guitar. I can be the butt of her jokes or her co-conspirator. The best thing on the planet is seeing her face light up.

She's a bright, funny, quirky, caring, kind girl and we just love her to bits. Happy Birthday, Anna.