Portobello Hustings

The candidates for the upcoming Scottish Parliament election were at Portobello Town Hall this evening. As well as the four constituency candidates, there were also representatives of the other parties only standing on the Regional List. This are the constituency candidates, or rather three of them and the Lib Dems stand-in - Pramod is actually standing in Edinburgh Southern but was there because the Lib Dems candidate for Edinburgh Eastern, Cospatric D'inferno, was already booked for another event. The assumption is that the SNP candidate, Ash Denham, will win easily, based on the nationally high level of support for the SNP. Perhaps that was why she seemed a little flustered by getting an unexpectedly hard time. Even if it was suspiciously well-orchestrated and using children to ask the questions came across as a little tacky and manipulative, the issue of where a candidate sends her children to school does seem a legitimate one if she and her party are claiming to be a force for progressive change. I think that claiming it is an unreasonable personal attack is missing the point, notwithstanding the valid question of why women in political life often seem to be held to different standards than men. And the other touchstone question, about the issue of the Named Person legislation, also seemed to be directed at her by Labour supporters with an axe to grind. Apparently not caring that their representative on the panel, Scottish Labour leader Kezia Dugdale, seemed to be speaking in favour of it too. Kez seemed to deal pretty well with what could have been difficult questions about the structural problems afflicting Edinburgh's PFI/PPP schools. Colin Fox was banging the same drum - even using the same anecdotes as he used last time I saw him at an event in Porty a few weeks ago. The Women's Equality Party candidate did okay, constantly returning to the question of gender equality as you'd expect. Less impressive were her responses on other issues that weren't directly gender-related as the party seem to have no position on them, which is not great. Peter McColl from the Scottish Greens and very local, living just down the street, did a fair job of proposing the Green alternatives on a number of issues. The UKIP guy tried hard to claim his party had more to them than the image everyone has got but was largely met with laughter from the audience who didn't seem to take him seriously at all. The guy from Solidarity seemed a little out of his depth to be honest. And the Tory, as a councillor, seemed keen to defend the workings of the council, even if the council is run by political opponents. All in all, an interesting evening, and I even bumped into fellow blipper Whisky Foxtrot and had a bit of a chat.
 
And, of course, I meant to write something about Victoria Wood who died today, much too young at just 62. A part of my life for many years - so many great sketches and TV shows that L and I probably quote from at least once a week. Impossible to pick a favourite. RIP