Good to be back

Yes it`s good to be back.

Seems a long time - in fact it is a long time - since I last posted a blog. April I was off sick for a few weeks but now am back in business and thought it was time to catch up with things.

Beginning of May saw me flying to Reykjavic in Iceland - yes joining the council you can occasionally travel a bit further than Ayr and Maybole. Through the auspices of Cosla I was attending a policy meeting of the Councill of European Municipalities and Regions (CEMR), which is a coming together of local councillors from all over Europe. The Policy Group aim to exert more influence over the powers that be in the European Parliament in Brussels; they aim to influence decisions before they are made.

It wa a fascinating experience not only seeing the European democratic process at work but visitng the Icelandic Capital. You think life in the UK is expensive - you should try Reykjavic. About £10 for a pint of beer or glass of wine! Mind you you don`t see many (any) drunks hanging around the streets late at night! Scottish government take note.

This week-end was the opportunity for me to see my leader in action - yes I did attend the Tory Party Conference at Ayr Racecourse where understandably everybody was in euphoric mood after the Crew and Nantwich by-election result.

David Cameron is better looking in real life than on telly and he does have that je ne sais quois quality that the really successful have; charisma I think it is called. OK effective policies are what the electorate need and want,(and will get I am sure) but star quality does help.

Though throughout the conference I found myself staring at a succession of men`s ankles and asking - why don`t men get their trousers to fit properly? Why do they all wrinkle round the ankles? (The problem of sitting in the front row with my eyes at ankle level). Two speakers however were rumple free - of course, David Cameron and one guy who wore the kilt!

But I digress. It was a good conference, helped of course by the aforesaid victory, and it will be interesting to see if the surge in the polls is reflected here in Scotland come the next election.

Main topics at the conference on the first day were safer communities and the scourge of the drug problem in our society and it was disheartening to learn that Scotland has the worst drug addict figures in Europe. Nobody could say why and were obviously having trouble coming up with a solution. The Tory approach is abstinence, less use of Methadone and more opportutnies for rehabilitation.

At council level the main headline hitting event has been the troubles within the Labour party. The waves from the forged signature affair continue to spread with the two councillors concerned, Helen Moonie and Ian Cavana being stripped of their senior panel chair positions. Their behaviour was investigated by the council`s Standards in Governance Committee and their recommendations were approved by last week`s full council. Two other councillors Elaine Little and Douglas Campbell have resigned from the Labour Group within the council and are now Independents.

So only a year on from the election the make-up of the council has dramatically altered with 12 Tories, eight SNP, Labour, seven members and three Independents.

Interesting times ahead.