The Politician

Deputy First Minister and Cabinet Secretary for Education and Skills John Swinney came to Porty this morning. I suspect he had a great time, chatting with kids, teachers and parents and getting to act a bit like Santa, handing out bundles of books and games as part of the Read Write Count campaign to the P2 and P3 children. It's all about raising standards of numeracy and literacy and the idea is that kids take the stuff home and work through the books and the games with their parents, complementing the work in the classroom. I must admit it sounds like a good idea, although probably not exactly a coincidence that the PR event was organised at a place like Towerbank with lots of supportive and involved parents. The test of the scheme is probably in places where children and parents are less receptive but hopefully it does well and achieves its goals. I went along as a freelance photographer and fired off some images round the media only to discover the Scottish Government had sent round a bunch of free-to-use images. So it was probably a waste of time being there, at least in terms of making any sales. In fact it was quite fun and, as it was just along the road, it didn't put me out too much and anyway it's all part of capturing life in Porty.