Posted Missing

In the last month, lots of things have gone missing and at Our Scotland we have done our best to try and locate them.

For a start, in the recent BBC Question Time programme from Edinburgh, every major Scottish political party had their leader present on the forum except the Labour Party. Where was Jack McConnell? In the run up to the election, you would have thought that politicians would be only too glad of the air-time to express their views. Is this a shrewd political move by Mr McConnell, or is he scared of sharing the same platform as Alex Salmond?

Also gone missing was some common sense. With Jack McConnell unwilling to accept the Question Time invitation, Lord Foulkes took his place and used the platform to announce that the SNP were xenophobic. This was barely a few days after the Lib Dem MSP Jamie Stone had to make a public apology for a similar remark.

The Scottish Lib Dems also seems to be missing an internet link to their very own website. For in that website they claim to “champion freedom”, they believe in “fundamental values of liberty” and they want individuals to “take part in decisions which affect their lives”. Yet Nicol Stephen, their Scottish leader has said that they would block a referendum unless pro-independence parties gained a majority at Holyrood.

If it wasn’t lost already, Tony Blair’s credibility was also shot to pieces this month when he pleaded with Alex Salmond to stop calling him names and stop mentioning the Iraq war.

Finally the last thing to be posted missing is subtlety. With an election just two months away councils have announced an average council tax rise of just 1.9% which is below the rate of inflation. Are councils efficiently using our money, or is this just an enticement to give them our vote?

However, it is not all bad news as a few things have been found during the month. We found out that the final bill for the Scottish Parliament was $414 million. Was this money well spent? We also found out that MSP expenses have risen by twice the rate of inflation to £9.8 million. Are they value for money?

The next two months could potentially be the most important in recent history for Scotland. There is a strong wind getting behind the independence movement and this could potentially deliver significant gains come election time.

Discuss this and much more at Our Scotland.