The new Editors of the SI are Professor James Taggart, and his wife, Dr Jennifer Taggart; we are fortunate indeed that the work undertaken by Kenneth and Margery has moved seamlessly to another well known nationalist family. I have known James and Jenny for nearly all of my time in the SNP (a trifling 38 years).

Their first issue is Issue No 906, August 2004, and it has a different look, as design and contributors changed with editors; we are also using a different printer and a wee bit better quality of paper, and it looks very well indeed. There are articles by well known political commentators Professor James Mitchell and Professor John Curtice of Strathclyde University, and Dr Peter Lynch of Stirling University, and some rather provocative comments from people in our own and other political parties. An article on the back page from John MacAllion (Labour MSP for Dundee East until 2003) is neatly juxtaposed with our regular columnist James Halliday, our own elder statesman, who will continue to occupy that spot. The first editorial spells out the independent credentials of the SI, and there have been generally very favourable comments in the press about the new look.

We will be holding the official launch at the SNP Conference in Inverness in September, at which the past and present editors, the SI Board and the Flag compilers all hope to be present.

THE LEADERSHIP RACE

There is no doubt as to whom the press want to win this contest; Alex Salmond has been their clear favourite ever since he put his hat in the ring. We see items like: " 82% of SNP voters back Alex Salmond", "SNP Chief Whip backs Alex Salmond", "Westminster colleagues back Alex Salmond", followed by "Jimmy Reid backs Alex Salmond" and now "Arch enemy, Alex Neil MSP backs Alex Salmond." It would all seem to be a foregone conclusion as far as Alex is concerned, but we are at this stage only talking about 6 votes among the above. SNP voters per se only have a vote if they are also members of the SNP, and Jimmy Reid, who was awarded the Oliver Brown Award by the SI this year, and is very much for Independence, has not as yet joined the SNP, so cannot vote for Alex either. On the other hand, the people of Scotland might consider the SNP suicidal to reject the most talented politician of his generation.

What is of more interest, as I indicated in Flag 216, is the post of Deputy Leader; the contest for Leader is between one MSP, one MP, and one who is neither, so if Roseanna Cunningham does not become the SNP Leader, then the Deputy Leader automatically becomes the Shadow First Minister, and Leader of the Opposition in the Scottish Parliament.

This will be very high profile, and as the other Leadership contenders cannot be elected to the Scottish Parliament until 2007, there is ample room for differences to emerge; politicians are no different from other human beings in that the have their own hopes and ambitions, and strongly held views.

Speculating, as one does in idle moments, as to why Alex decided to have Nicola as his running mate, and why Nicola agreed: could it be that Nicola was reluctant to step aside, as she had a very good chance of becoming the SNP Leader, but went along with Alex’s plan because he said he would remain at Westminster until 2007 and this would allow her to build up her credentials, while Alex would not have to watch his back? This of course we don’t know, but certainly, as Alex Neil has stated, support for Alex does not necessarily mean support for Nicola, and while I do not believe that either Fergus Ewing or Christine Grahame would wilfully create trouble within the Party, perhaps the Party itself will opt to have Alex but not his nominee as a way of reining him in. As I have said before, Alex is very much of an individualist, and has already started hares running; it all makes for fascinating politics!

One factor pointed out to me by one of my older friends; SNP membership is down to 8209. A fairly large proportion will be long time members like myself who know the ins and outs of what has gone on and not the sanitised version that appears in the press, so that in itself will skew the voting. This OMOV is certainly causing consternation - but will also bestow legitimacy in a way not done before. For the politically correct - OMOV means One Member One Vote - not One Man.............

PUTTING THE CASE

To try to reach people who don’t go to meetings some candidates have published websites where manifestos are published, questions are asked and answered and up-to-date statements are published. Like the candidates themselves the websites vary as you can see for yourselves on any of the following:

PRIVY COUNCIL

There have been some remonstrations within the SNP at George’s acceptance of that honour; my stamp of approval is because of the precedent. The late Donald Stewart, MP for the Western Isles and leader of the SNP Parliamentary Group at Westminster from 1974-79, accepted the office of Privy Councillor; at that time we had 11 MPs and Donald’s acceptance meant that he could officially attend the Cenotaph in London on Remembrance Day. As a merchant seaman serving during the Second World War he had more entitlement than many to be there. Donald was a dedicated nationalist, a fundamentalist at a time when we were all fundamentalists, and not the meaningless cliche that it is today. If Donald did not find his nationalism threatened by being a Privy Councillor why should George Reid?

Extract from Lords Hansard - 23 Oct 2003: Column 1770.

Lord Campbell of Croy : My Lords , does the noble Baroness agree that there are some advantages in the present Privy Council system? For instance, the oath taken by a Privy Councillor is equivalent to signing the Official Secrets Act as regards protecting sensitive and confidential information, such as records of Ministers' discussions as well as official secrets.

Baroness Amos: My Lords, members of the Privy Council sign an oath which enables them to have conversations with each other that can remain secret. I entirely agree with the noble Lord that there are some advantages to that system.

I can’t see George having any secret conversations with anyone in the Scottish Parliament; there are no other Privy Councillors in that Parliament - not even Jack McConnell!

We also have the case that in Edinburgh, the flagship hospital, built under the PFI proposal at a cost of £184 million there are still teething problems; last year, when it was opened first, there was trouble with heating and cooling systems. Some wards were boiling, some were freezing; the windows could not be opened for safety reasons and in all it was a mess. One year on, hospital maintenance contractors received 35 calls from staff in two days; some wards were recording 30+ degrees! Now this is a brand new hospital, just built, and supposedly with all state of the art equipment, and we are at a loss to understand how the builders got it so wrong? Was the PFI process a corner cutting job, despite all the assurances to the contrary? Did the planners take in to account that there would be patients, in bed, perhaps unable to move? Perhaps Audit Scotland could investigate this as a one off, before we get any more scandals.

On a more positive note, the staff at the ERI say the hospital is well equipped, but that the problem is still a shortage of nurses; this could take a lot longer to solve, because this hospital, like others, is having to cut costs to meet its budget. So what is the main cost item - wages, so the hospital is trying to use less staff; this means that existing staff get more work to do, at the expense of patient care, so they get fed up and leave. The hospital then has to use bank or agency staff, who cost much more than permanent staff, so the budget gets eaten up quicker, and the downward spiral continues.

This business of bank and agency nurses is serious; in 1999-2000, Scottish hospitals spent £21.6 million on bank nurses. By 2002-2003 this had risen to £39 million; Christine Grahame MSP, convener of the Scottish Parliament’s Health Committee, who called for the report on agency and bank nurses said "These figures confirm that the Scottish Executive is failing on its pledge to tackle the problem of a shortage of nurses in Scotland. This reliance on temporary nurses, including agency nurses, costs the taxpayer millions of pounds every year which could be better invested in front line health care services."

This problem goes back to the Tories and their attempt to make patients customers, but customers have a choice as to where they spend their money; wealthy Tories could always go private, but only did if they were desperate. Like anyone else if they thought they could get it for free they would.. However, the Tories have been out of office for 7 years and one would imagine New Labour could have moved a bit faster. Hospitals should be run by medical staff for the benefit of patients, and not by accountants for the benefit of budgets. (I have nothing against accountants - I am one.)

                          And by sheer coincidence - or serendipity..........

FOOT IN THE MOUTH NOTES

Turnout at that election was 49%.

Culled from Sue Arnold’s column in the "Observer": in a recent Radio 5 Live’s breakfast show, a caller from Edinburgh said that if FA (the English Football Association) wages were performance related, then Sven -Goran Eriksson would have to pay back quite a lot as he hadn’t exactly come up with the goods. In a fit of innocence, the interviewer asked "As a Scotsman, who would you prefer to see manage England?"

"Sven-Goran Eriksson", replied the Scot.

The British Army is much less discriminatory; when I was in the Black Watch we were all white.

Mynheer van den Bergh is Dutch.

Heavy drinking has fuelled a culture of "thuggery and intimidation" according to the English Home Secretary, as violent crime soars, and the presence of women drinkers in pubs is no longer a civilising influence as they now indulge in binge drinking. On the other hand, research is now showing that nicotine helps people with schizophrenia, Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease; according to the research, a whole range of psychiatric conditions seem to be helped by nicotine.

Banning smoking in pubs seems a bit simplistic.

We are familiar with the phrase "Burning one’s boats" but we might have expected that they would wait until they reached the shore.

SYNOPSIS

Well, both Parliaments are in recess, but our elected politicians are still busy; there is also a leadership contest going on, which may slant coverage a bit!

North Tayside MSP Mr John Swinney has expressed hissympathy for constituents hit by severe flooding and pledged to press for all help to be made available to them by local and national authorities. Commenting, Mr Swinney said:

"Heavy flooding and landslips have hit the area and dozens of homes and businesses across North Tayside are affected. People are facing massive disruption to their lives and businesses, many reliant on the tourist =trade, are facing huge losses. My sympathies go out to them.

"I know that the emergency services, as always, as doing everything they can, but I will now be pressing for relevant local and national agencies to make all help available to try to ease this difficult time."

Mr Salmond has pointed out that the Test Centre will be undermined by the recently passed Energy Act, which received Royal Assent on 22 July 2004. Under the new legislation electricity transmission costs will be based on location and therefore electricity generators further away from population centres, like those on Orkney, will have to pay more to put their power on the national grid. He said;

"It is all very well for Mr Wallace to run around making grand announcements, but he has failed to notice that the new Energy Act will actually penalise these kind of projects. This legislation is a real kick in the teeth for the renewables sector in Scotland and will cost them millions every year. Once again a Scottish Executive initiative is floored by Westminster.

"The North of Scotland has enormous renewable energy potential but it will be hardest hit by the new government provisions. For example the proposed offshore wind farm project, in the Beatrice Field in the Moray Firth for instance will have to pay an additional £20 million a year to run. That kind of cost will make it exceptionally difficult for any renewable initiative to get off the ground and renders any kind of government investment meaningless."

SNP MSP for the South of Scotland Ms Christine Grahame written to the Presiding Officer asking him to ensure that Scotland's Parliament promotes Scottish products. Ms Grahame said:

"I recently visited Wicken Fen Gourmet Sausages in the Borders where they produce a range of vegetarian foodstuffs. This was a great example of the quality of food in Scotland and the many jobs that are dependent on this industry.

"Scotland is famed for its fine produce and it would be a travesty if we could not use the new Parliament building to advertise our quality produce.

"We must grasp the opportunity to give the Holyrood building positive publicity and at the same time help our essential industries.

"Scotland's Parliament must promote Scotland's goods at any and every opportunity."

"Scottish fishermen know the industry best. They are keenly aware of the need for responsible management of the marine environment such as the introduction of larger net mesh sizes to protect immature fish. However, the action taken by the MCS gives no credit for their responsible stance and, worse still, gives misleading information advising consumers against buying species where stocks are, in fact, plentiful. Haddock stocks, for example, are at a 32 year high!

"The real threat to the environment comes from the disastrous Common Fisheries Policy which everyone agrees has damaged the fishing industry as well as the environment. In the Faroe Islands, outside the Common Fisheries Policy, the fishermen are closely involved in the management of the resource. That makes sense, no-one knows the industry as well as the fishermen do and no-one has more of an interest in the sustainability of that industry.

"If Marks and Spencer and the Marine Conservation Society really want to help the industry they should be targeting the Common Fisheries Policy. The very Policy which has so mismanaged stocks that fishermen were forced out of the main haddock grounds and forced into nursery grounds. This is also a Policy that encourages industrial fishing which scoops up everything in its path. If the environment is to be protected that Policy must go."

The call comes after East Renfrewshire Council made dramatic changes to an Audit Committee Report concerning the procurement of kitchen units, which include the rejection of an earlier committee recommendation to make the Executive Summary of the case fully available to the general public, and a number of other significant amendments. Mr McFee said:

"In more than a year of deliberation the Audit Committee couldn’t reach a conclusion on the most serious allegation of contract fixing for financial gain. Indeed they openly invited further investigation.

"I believe that the ‘process other than this investigation’ recognised by the Audit Committee is quite properly the Police, where this whole matter should have been taken some considerable time ago, which is why I have asked the Procurator Fiscal to investigate this case."

Commenting, Mr Ewing highlighted that more than 125 million pounds in Council Tax revenue had been lost due to the Executive efforts to resist the reform. He said:

"The SNP has joined with communities across Scotland to campaign for an end to the Council Tax discount on second homes. After five years spent opposing our plans to end this special discount, the Executive has finally conceded the argument.

"Andy Kerr’s late conversion to common sense is welcome, but those five lost years have cost councils at least 125 million pounds in lost revenue – money that was desperately needed to tackle the affordable housing shortage.

"The additional revenue from second homes will be welcome, but it must only be a start. The Executive now needs to recognise the desperate need for a coherent strategy to tackle the housing crisis."

Shadow Health Minister Ms Shona Robison MSP has called for an inquiry into the true impact of NHS spending, after a report from Audit Scotland revealed that the Executive’s Health Department had not fully demonstrated how extra funding would be spent to benefit patients. Ms Robison said:

"This report from Audit Scotland suggests that while the Scottish Executive may be putting more money into the NHS, nobody is any the wiser about how it is being spent to benefit patients.

"The Executive must clarify exactly how this extra money is being spent, otherwise the concern is that rather than improving the situation, it is simply being used to try and plug the black hole in NHS finances.

"We continue to hear about patients languishing on waiting lists and hospitals that are grossly understaffed, which is why we need a full inquiry so that we can say for certain how far the cash is going to improve patient care.

"The fact that the cost of treating patients varies so widely from one Health Board to another is also a major issue and the Executive must make it clear why this continues to be the case."