Doing it the Rab C Nesbitt way

Published 30 Mar 2010 16:52

This has been a dismal week not brightened by the prospect of eight weeks of politicking.

Can we endure the prospect of endless claims as to the virtue of the political protagonists?

The main parties can make all the claims that they wish, but they cannot escape the facts that we are deep in a recession and there are, at present, no 'green shoots' of recovery.

Alistair Darling admitted last week that his budget was effectively a stopgap election-oriented budget - that is to say a budget designed to prop up the Labour vote rather than prop up or salvage the economy, and that future cuts would be deeper than those imposed by Maggie Thatcher.

No surprises there then.

The similarities between Thatcher and New Labour continue to grow.

Last month's budget proposals by the West Dunbartonshire Labour Group included a proposal to take away the we'ans' milk in schools - a fact that did not go unnoticed in Holyrood where First Minister Alex Salmond was televised at First Minister's question time waving a copy of our Labour Group's budget, and thereby drawing attention to the fact that we, as an authority, are host to a reactionary, rather than radical opposition.

We are also in the fall-out period of the last follow-up report from the Best Value auditors - the results of which caused a national newspaper to describe us as a "dysfunctional authority" and the "worst in Scotland".

I am beginning to think that some of us suffer from 'RCN Syndrome', ie Rab C Nesbitt syndrome, who, when asked by the buroo clerk why he would not work, responded "Sumbuddy's goat tae be oan the burro so why no them that likes it".

Has our local attitude become that someone has to be the worst authority in Scotland, so why not us?

Despite the fact that the latest report focuses on the speed of change, or lack of speed of change, I believe that the term used is 'pace of change'.

The Labour opposition continues to focus on the failings of the administration, completely exonerating the part that the party itself played when it formed the administration that brought us to this shameful position.

Labour also conveniently forget that when we first came to the attention of Audit Scotland in 2005/ 2006, it complained to the Accounts Commission that the report was unfair and spent £160,000 of public money on spin to rubbish the very accurate condemnation that Audit Scotland placed upon the council's performance.

Karl Marx said that if we do not understand history then we understand nothing and our New Labour comrades locally have obviously given up any claim to Socialist/Marxist ideology along with clause four of the Labour Party constitution (aims and values).

They prefer to dwell on the glories of "three for the price of four" - that masterstroke whereby we got three new schools but still paid the price that was originally to be for four schools.

The way forward for the long-suffering people of this area is for our politicians, of all political persuasions and none, to start to pull together and work for the benefit of our population and not the ascendancy of their own and their political parties' fortunes.

I said this in 2007 when the electorate decided that it would not give any of the big two a clear majority in council and that point of view has remained unheeded up until now.

With daily revelations of more Government sleaze, including cash for lobbying and allegations of bullying in the Lothians, I wish those brave souls who are about to venture onto the doorstep seeking support for their candidates all the best as I hope that our West Dunbartonshire folk see through all the spin and return a candidate on results achieved.

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This article appeared in Dumbarton & Vale of Leven Reporter 30 Mar 10

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