This was a Unionist party vanity project from the beginning, in conception when they were in power, and implementation when in opposition by collectively outvoting the minority SNP government in its first term.
The project has subsequently descended into farce, but one that has wreaked untold damage on the economy and the image of the City of Edinburgh.
Lesley Hinds, Labour Councillor and Jeremy Balfour, Tory Councillor formed an unlikely liaison, went for a ride on the tram project, and jumped off at Haymarket, to cries of disgust and derision from the people of Edinburgh.
Gordon Mackenzie, LibDem Councillor, squeaks ineffectually on the sidelines.
Lots of other people walk away with lots and lots of lovely money - our money ...
Posts
Nothing to do with unionism or separatism this one.
ReplyDeleteSNP in Edinburgh play their full part in the Keystone Cops as anyone!
They have to take responsibility. They are where they are and have to deal with the situation in front of them. They need to grow up - it is not student politics.
Last week their abstention effectively a vote for the 'stupid' option.
And their opposition?
Before 2006, if anything they broadly supported.
Before 2007 they didn't really exist in Edinburgh but their opposition opportunistic - not deeply thought through idea.
A touch of the central control too I suspect. SNP on Holyrood opposed because they wanted big capital projects like this to go outside central belt not because they were opposed to tram project as such.
Opposition since has become lucky expediency.
But in Edinburgh they have generally tried to look both ways, been obstructive or just failed to take responsibility.
Sorry they are a bunch of balloons in Edinburgh.
As part of the sorry tale as much as anyone.
Cowardly, took no responsibility, nul points!
That's what I like, GHmltn - short paragraphs. Good LibDem stuff - short, and way off the point.
ReplyDeleteThanks for posting.
A pleasure Mr M.
ReplyDeleteI wouldn't want you excusing the Nats from the farce!
The Nats were the reluctant audience to the farce - now we've been called in to save the unionist parties from their folly. We'll do the best we can with unpromising material ...
ReplyDeleteNot only is this a Unionist vanity farce put into play by the likes of Ian Gray etal, it is my belief that is was doomed to fail from the very outset. This is just another heap of tosh to be added to the "too stupid" agenda to be rolled out when an independence referendum rolls round.
ReplyDeleteAs of this afternoon, it looks as if it ios going ahead, Hazel. I suppose they had little choice, once the Haymarket lunacy was stopped.
ReplyDelete"[The SNP] have to take responsibility. They are where they are and have to deal with the situation in front of them. They need to grow up - it is not student politics.
ReplyDeleteLast week their abstention effectively a vote for the 'stupid' option."
Gavin, these blatant attempts by supporters and members of the Labour, Tory and Lib Dem parties to somehow shift the blame onto the SNP do not wash, so I don't know why people such as yourself even attempt them. The SNP knew the trams would turn into a fiasco, so they tried to stop it. They couldn't, so they instead sat back and said "well if you think it'll work, then you go for it, but we're having nothing to do with it". This was a perfectly legitimate position.
Their abstention was not "effectively a vote for the 'stupid' option", so don't try to tar them with that brush. Thursday's debacle came about because of Labour tabling a ridiculous option, and the Tories backing it. I'm sure I heard one of the Labour councillors even expressing surprise their option had gotten through,so if you want to throw the "student politics" accusations at anyone, look no further than Labour.
Of course, the SNP have indeed now taken responsibility, by saying "no more", and now you have the two idiots above from Labour and the Tories again trying to paint the SNP as the bad guys in all this. It's utterly ludicrous, and I think the people of Edinburgh will remember which parties were at fault for this mess. Here's a clue - it won't be the SNP.
Clarification: Doug Daniel's post (above) is a response to GHmltn's post of August 31st.
ReplyDeleteI waatched the Hinds video extract and was dumbfounded by Hinds' lack of comprehension of the trams farce (it's official name now), it strikes one as 'Carry On' Councillors and shows that basic things are simlpy delegated to 'officils' and left afterwards to their own devices.
ReplyDeleteIf I conducted myself in my work like this I'd be fired, and rightley so.
It's actully shocking - I had imagined the Labour/Tory/(I imagine also the Lib dems) groups were just trying to be difficult but now I see that they are just incompetents who are incapable.
Thanks, Stevie.
ReplyDelete