Such a lot has happened since the last post I hardly know where to start: immensely disappointed Hillary didn't do it...if she is feeling half as gutted as I am for her then she won't be feeling good. Obviously I want Obama to win the Presidential election but he is up against a tough opponent. McCain plainly has many high moral qualities but his age is against him. However, I am not yet convinced the USA is ready for a mixed race president. I sincerely hope so, but it would be foolish to discount both the race and experience issues. If I was a floating US voter there would be a lot of thinking to do now.
Yesterday I had a good session with local officials on the issues affecting Granton Road. Many constituents have raised their concerns about road safety here and with a local primary school, a rugby club, a community centre, recycle bins, shops and many, many houses where parking is a problem, there is the recipe for problems. I am hoping to have a public meeting soon with the other ward councillors and local residents to thrash out some of the problems. It is clear we must find some solutions.
Tuesday's C+F committee was a laid back affair with the only real meat being the a poorly thought out proposal to address the SNP minority government's demand for class sizes of 18.
The real problem is, of course, there is no new money on the table to fund the manifesto pledge.
Basically, the Lib Dem Edinburgh solution is to use 30 probationer teachers we get for nothing to free up experienced classroom teachers who will then be put in to team teach classes of 30 in P1-P3.
This is a one year stop gap: not a strategy: it makes no pretence to be for every child and it will fall down around Lib Dem ears . Parents will smell the duplicity in this cheating charade and it will surely lead to more composite classes and lots more confusion for children and parents...
The convenor earnestly assured us that the funding for year 2 would be the subject of debate at budget time...but I wouldn't hold my breath...the Lib Dems have nailed their political priorities to the mast of older & vulnerable people [no complaints about that], roads and pavements and fiscal prudence aka building up bank balances at the expense of services.
Schools and children's education are lower on the political priority list than they have been for 20 years due in part to a weak convenor and to a right wing perspective.
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