Glasgow’s General Election Candidates

The Westminster General Election is just around the corner. Labour will look to retain Glasgow East, while Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s embattled government look to gain a fourth term in office.
However, the SNP’s John Mason MP, Liberal Democrat hope Katy Gordon and all the other candidates will have something to say about that. Local News Glasgow lists the hopefuls announced so far in anticipation of a momentous battle at the hustings this spring.

GLASGOW CENTRAL – John Bradley, Scottish Conservatives;  Anas Sarwar, Scottish Labour Party; Osama Saeed, Scottish National Party; Chris Young, Scottish Liberal Democrats; Alastair Whitelaw, Scottish Green Party.

GLASGOW EAST – Margaret Curran, Scottish Labour Party; sitting MP John Mason, Scottish National Party; Hamira Kahn, Scottish Conservatives; Kevin Ward, Scottish Liberal Democrats.

GLASGOW NORTH – Martin Bartos, Scottish Green Party; Erin Boyle, Scottish Conservatives; Katy Gordon, Scottish Liberal Democrats; Patrick Grady, Scottish National Party; sitting MP Ann McKechin, Scottish Labour Party.

GLASGOW NORTH EAST – sitting MP Willie Bain, Scottish Labour Party; Charlie Baillie, British National Party; Eileen Baxendale, Scottish Liberal Democrats; David Kerr, Scottish National Party.  The Scottish Conservatives are yet to announce their candidate.

GLASGOW NORTH WEST – Margaret Park, Scottish National Party; Richard Sullivan, Scottish Conservatives;  sitting MP John Robertson, Scottish Labour Party. The Scottish Green Party is yet to announce its candidate.

GLASGOW SOUTH – Malcolm Fleming, Scottish National Party; sitting MP Tom Harris, Scottish Labour Party; Davena Rankin, Scottish Conservatives; Shabnum Mustapha, Scottish Liberal Democrats. The Scottish Green Party is yet to announce its candidate.

GLASGOW SOUTH WEST – Ian Davidson, sitting MP, Scottish Labour Party; Heather MacLeod, Scottish Conservatives; Isabel Nelson, Scottish Liberal Democrats; Chris Stephens, Scottish National Party.

While there is, as yet, no official date for the General Election, all indications point to the big day being on Thursday 6 May. There will almost certainly be other candidates standing at the seven Glasgow seats. The Scottish Socialist Party say they will put up candidates at selected seats, and Charlie Baillie tells us that despite the BNP losing their deposit at the recent by-election in Glasgow North East, his party is planning on putting forward candidates at each of the seats.

To keep up with the latest and best inside local knowledge on the Glasgow constituencies, log on to www.localnewsglasgow.co.uk

Message to youth at Glasgow Holocaust memorial

Glasgow marked Holocaust Memorial Day with a sobering reflection on the events of the Second World War, an uplifting tribute to a survivor of those terrible times and a message to the city’s youth that they have a legacy of hope to carry on.
This year is the 65th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz death camp in Poland by the Red Army.
Lord Provost Bob Winter and Leader of Glasgow City Council Steven Purcell were joined at the City Chambers by Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill, Communities Minister Fergus Ewing and leaders from the city’s many faith groups to tell pupils from the city’s schools that as the Holocaust passes from living memory, young people must keep the lessons learned at such a high price alive.
There was a tribute to the late Rev Ernest Levy, who survived seven Nazi concentration camps and became a cantor at a synagogue in the south of the city.
Rabbi Moshe Rubin, of Giffnock & Newlands Synagogue, reflected upon the tireless work of his friend, who died last year, in spreading his message of tolerance and understanding.
Recounting one of his many conversations with Rev Levy, Rabbi Rubin said Ernest insisted he could not stop with his work. ‘The story must be told, so that we make sure that it is never repeated again,’ he said, quoting the survivor.
‘Recording that in book form, the longest days of his life, was nightmarish. Literally, he would suffer nightmares throughout his life, and especially through those many months when he was writing down his memories. But it was as he told, many times, that it was for his grandchildren to remember.’
Citizens Theatre Young Co performed Voices from the Holocaust, taken from the words of ordinary people who struggled to hold on to their sanity in the camps – places where there was no sanity.
Pupils from Shawlands Academy featured in an educational film – to be distributed throughout Scotland as a DVD – about their trip to Auschwitz and their impressions of the camp with its exhibits of suitcases, hair shorn from inmates, empty canisters that contained poison gas and photo galleries where victims of the mass killings stare down at visitors.
Linda Hooper, Principal of Whitwell Middle School in rural Tennessee, spoke about her school’s remarkable Paper Clips project, which is the subject of an award-winning 2004 documentary.
The project, which aimed to collect six million clips as part of a voluntary afterschool programme aimed at raising awareness of the Holocaust and teaching tolerance, created huge interest across the US. A global rush to contribute to the project has followed.
Principal Hooper was inspired by the story of anti-Nazi resistance in Norway, who used the paper clip, the invention of a Norwegian Jew, as their symbol.
‘The event of the Holocaust, that horror, happened because people chose hate and intolerance,’ she said.
‘I look out at you and I think how marvellous it is to be a part of this diversity. That’s what we’ve tried to teach our children, that there’s a huge global community out there.
‘I can be anywhere on this globe in 18 hours or less, so when I start thinking in those terms, as I say to the children at our school: you’ve got to think that those people are your neighbours.’
In his address, the Justice Secretary said he hoped that Scotland could create ‘a future that will ensure, for our children and grandchildren, do not suffer the fate that our parents and grandparents suffered before us’.
‘One of the many lessons we’ve learned when confronting the horrors of the Holocaust is an understanding that mobs and movements are made up of individuals, and that each and every one of us has a choice.
‘Each of us has a moral responsibility to ourselves, our society and the world we all share and inhabit. We can all challenge discrimination where it resides.’
Mr MacAskill concluded: ‘It is important to remember that we must never forget … but perhaps the best words I can leave you with, since yesterday it was Burns day, that “for a’ that and a’ that; It’s coming yet, for a’ that; That man to man, the warld o’er; Shall brothers be for a’ that”.’

Glasgow solicitors gain approval of head injuries charity

Headway, the UK brain injury association, has added Bonnar & Company to its list of approved solicitors.
In adding Bonnar, the healthcare charity acknowledges the firm’s expertise in handling complex, high-value cases which often involve catastrophic injury.
The firm, which represents personal injury clients throughout Scotland and has offices in Bath Street, is authorised to include the charity’s logo on its website and business stationery.
Headway, which was launched 30 years ago, exists to promote understanding of all aspects of brain injury and to provide information, support and services to people with a brain injury, their families and carers.
Bonnar Litigation Partner Ronnie Conway said: ‘We handle all types of head and brain injury cases and we fully support the work of this important charity throughout Scotland.
‘It is a great accolade for the firm to be included on the list as we had to meet Headway’s stringent membership criteria and code of conduct, which involved an in-depth assessment of our capability to successfully represent the interests of brain injured people and their families.’

DOTS gets its teeth into Glasgow’s dental health problems

Health Secretary Nicola Sturgeon has opened a £1m South Side dental surgery which aims to accommodate 10,000 National Health Service patients and make a major difference to Glasgow’s dental health record.
The project, which is known as Dentistry On The Square (DOTS) and located at 12 Niddrie Square, Queens Park, is the brainchild of Dr Mark Skimming.
One of the youngest Masters qualified dentists in the country, Mark’s ambition is to turn a moribund practice into one of the busiest in the city. He personally raised that substantial sum of money to get DOTS off the ground.
Raised in Cumbernauld, but now a Westender, Mark studied dentistry at the University of Glasgow, taking his inspiration from family friends in the healing profession.
He completed a postgraduate diploma in advanced restorative dentistry, a two-year course, and is due to graduate in 2010.
At this time, Mark will be the youngest dentist in the UK to be awarded this qualification from the Royal College of Surgeons. He has also been awarded the Membership of the Faculty of General Dental Practice postgraduate qualification from the Royal College.
He chose restorative dentistry because ‘You can really make a change to people’s lives by providing them with a new smile.’
With television pictures of queues of people waiting to join NHS dentists, DOTS’s target of 10,000 patients within the next two years is not an unrealistic one.
‘In our first month we hit the 300-mark,’ said Mark. ‘Ten thousand is very ambitious but we have the capacity and we’re more than capable of coping with that number.’
While a specialist, Mark appreciates there will be a focus on what a patient might imagine would be the more ‘day-to-day’ aspects of dentistry. DOTS offers evening and weekend opening.
‘There’s nothing that we don’t offer at the practice. It’s just that there’s more of a specialism in that when there are cases other dentists can’t manage, we’ll be looking to be the guys who’ll step in.’
With dentistry, Mark points out that prevention is better than cure and urges Scots – who are not the world’s best at taking care of their teeth – to take the steps towards better dental healthcare.
DOTS has four surgeries that could support six dentists, and Mark hopes the practice will train as many as 20 newly-qualified dentists over the next decade.
‘In our part of the world there are still a lot of people with poor dental health,’ Mark added. ‘It’s important that the people of Glasgow have the resources they need and at DOTS we are playing our part. With a fair wind believe we can make a big dent in the target for NHS registration.’

Council creates £1.5m fund for private sector house repairs

By Martin Graham

Glasgow City Council has announced a £1.5m fund to help private homeowners to carry out essential repair work.
The fund, along with the new powers granted to local authorities as part of the Housing (Scotland) Act 2006, means that the council can enforce work to be carried out to resolve the issue, especially prevalent in tenements, where a minority of owners are unwilling to pay their share of essential repairs.
The money will be allocated from the Council’s Private Sector Housing pot and will be set aside into a fund that can be used to cover the costs of moderate repair work carried out under statutory notice.
Work paid from the fund will be replenished as accounts and fees are repaid to the council, with the local authority charging a fee of 15% to cover its technical and administrative costs.
A lack of participation by some homeowners often means that problems such as rain penetration is not dealt with, dampness not treated and this lack of timely remedial action leads to a much more serious and expensive repair, and misery for those owners willing, but unable, to get consensus to address the problem.
Until now, the council was unable to assist owners or property mangers in carrying out this work because it did not have the necessary resources to cope the scale of the problem and the housing services lacked the appropriate power to enforce the work by all owners.
As reported in the Local News previously, lack of repairs to properties can lead to buildings becoming dangerous, like the property on Cathcart Road in Mount Florida which was in such poor repair that masonry was falling on to the pavement below.
Councillor Elaine McDougall, Executive Member for Housing, said: ‘We regularly receive calls from frustrated home owners, across the city, in tenemental properties, who cannot gain agreement from all owners to pay for minor but essential repair work to their properties.
‘Up until now, we have been unable to assist all of these owners or property managers but this new power allows us to enforce the work to be carried out and recover the full cost from all the owners.
‘This scheme will help to improve the quality of the city’s older housing stock, preserving it for future generations, and I would hope that if proved successful, this self-sustaining fund can be expanded in the future.’
This is a step towards the model for property management common in Edinburgh, where there are no factors for tenement closes, rather the council acts as property manager and issues statutory notices for essential repairs to each homeowner.

South Side’s big noises gather for community awards

The South Side of Glasgow celebrated its many achievers and recognised the best of them as the Community Champions Awards were announced to a boisterous and good-natured crowd at the St Francis Centre in the Gorbals.
The evening’s team award went to charity Great Gardens, the horticultural, gardening and training initiative subsidiary of Govanhill Housing Association. The group was recognised for its work with 16-to-25-year olds and its environmental and civic programmes. It has improved thousands of square metres of back courts and gardens in partnership with Govanhill Residents’ Association.
After receiving the group’s award from Lord Provost Bob Winter, Co-ordinator Ian Borthwick said: ‘We hope this award will bring us work. That’s exactly what we’re looking for at the moment. We’re really struggling through the economic recession.’
Reflecting on the tough times, he added: ‘I’m hoping that we’ll get more funding. That’s the big issue at the moment. We have funding applications in and it’s a case of wait-and-see.’
Also nominated were Gorbalites 50+, who meet at St Francis to provide social, health and welfare support for senior citizens, and Bridging The Gap, a group that hopes to break down barriers between ethnic youth groups with its Go 4 It peer tutoring initiative.
Toryglen resident Patricia Dooley won the evening’s individual award for her work on improvement of local housing and services. Jeff Stewart, chairman of the board of Hutchesontown Community Council, and Andrew Montgomery, a driving force behind the Southside Festival in Queens Park and secretary of Shawlands & Strathbungo Community Council, were nominees for the individual award.
The evening’s individual public service award went to PC Donna Smith, a community constable for the Greater Gorbals area.
Laurence Johnson, senior instructor with City Building who has helped establish a skills academy for young people, and Alan Sinclair, who has spent 30 years in the city’s Land Services department dealing with cleansing in the Gorbals, Toryglen, Govanhill and Pollokshields, were also recognised.
Donna told LOCAL NEWS: ‘I’m extremely pleased and honoured to have won this award on behalf of the Police and myself.
‘A lady congratulated me tonight, saying the kids in the community have been talking about how I’ve helped their lives. It’s touching to learn how your work impacts upon different people.
‘It’s just my job, at the end of the day,’ she said modestly. ‘It’s on a par with other policing work, but you’re getting to spend more time dealing with individuals and providing support when needed.’
There was a double celebration for the area’s Police officers as the public service team award went to Southside Central Community Policing Team for last year’s high-impact summer action plan. Task Childcare Services and Strathclyde Fire & Rescue Water Rescue Team were also nominees.
The choice of Jimmy Mutter as winner of the senior award was hugely popular. Jimmy, who saw honorary secretary of Dumbreck Community Council Ken Fee and noted Govanhill gardener Charlie McHugh into second place, is keeping busy after more than 20 years with Glasgow City Council.
‘I tried to retire in 2007 but I’m involved with more groups now than ever I was when I was a councillor,’ he said. ‘I’d advise anyone, if you’re still fit keeping working on.’
Did he find his focus had changed when he left the City Chambers?
‘Not really. I always felt I was a community worker. I’ve always worked within the community and been an active trade unionist as well.’
Besides having a reputation as a heavyweight campaigner for the Labour Party, Jimmy’s housing regeneration focus has bought a mix of public and private provision into the community. Lessons from his teenage years, when his family moved from the Gorbals to Pollok, were well learned as shopping and leisure became just as crucial to the mix in creating a community beyond the famous Greek Thomson Caledonia Road UP Church as homes.
Asked what he feels was his greatest achievement for the area in his time as a councillor, Jimmy replied: ‘Older people say to me the best thing I’ve done was the leisure centre. People enjoy going there, people like to keep fit and it’s free for that age group. I’m proud of that.’
The loudest noise of the night – probably the loudest noise anywhere in Glasgow that evening – was reserved for young award winners the Shawlands Dance Group. Bringing the evening to a close, they celebrated their win with a superb performance onstage. The group, which was set up at Shawlands Academy by Huma Abbasi nearly three years ago, demonstrates the unity dance can bring to an ethnically diverse youth group.
The Gorbals Youth Café was also nominated for its drop-in café, youth development, training and holiday initiatives.
Also in the spotlight was Abby Louise Tombs, aged 12. The Kings Park Secondary pupil has shone as a fundraiser for Kidney Research while battling the effects of Lupus, a disease of the auto-immune system.
Holy Cross Primary pupils were nominated for the youth awards for their vibrant environmental work across Govanhill.

SPT sinks the Renfrew Ferry after 500 years service

Strathclyde Partnership for Transport has voted 14 to five to withdraw the Renfrew Ferry service which links Yoker and Renfrew. The move will save SPT around £430,000 per year in subsidies which it pays to support the route. SPT pays around £3 for every passenger journey, while the fare is only £1.20. A ferry has operated the route for over 500 years.

The current vessels, the Renfrew Rose and the Yoker Swan, are reaching the end of their working lives and do not comply with accessibility laws. To bring them both in line with the Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) would cost in excess of £2 million. SPT Chairman Alistair Watson said the decision to end the Ferry service had been made with great regret. He said: “The decision to close the Renfrew ferry was not an easy one and we recognise that it has served communities across the Clyde very well for a long time. “The sad reality is that we are living in an exceptional financial climate. Like all local councils we have had to make extremely difficult choices on where to cut public spending. “SPT is making a substantial loss to keep the ferry running and that is simply unsustainable.”

SPT are in talks with four private firms who may be interested in maintaining the ferry service.

North Kelvin Meadow willing to co-operate but not backing down

Don’t expect protesting gardeners to chain themselves to flower beds when land testing work commences on the disputed ground at Clouston Street.
Despite a promise of co-operation from developers New City Vision and the gardeners of the North Kelvin Meadow Campaign, their objectives remain poles apart.
In December last year, New City Vision Ltd signed the missives with the council.
The land is not yet sold by the council, but will be if subsequent planning permission is granted.
Harry O’Donnell, Director of New City Vision, said: ‘We are nearly at the stage of testing the land with trial pots and bore holes.
‘We are doing everything possible to work in a spirit of co-operation with the gardeners on the site.
‘I recognise that they have invested time and energy into their project so I am doing all I can to ensure my people don’t disrupt their their plant boxes.
‘Moving some of their boxes may be inevitable but we are not going to ride roughshod over what is already there.
‘If possible we will see if an area for gardening can remain.’
Douglas Peacock, Chairman of the North Kelvin Meadow Campaign, claims he is still waiting for a meeting with New City Vision.
He said: ‘We are wanting to co-operate but the ball is in their court.
‘We were told that New City Vision would be test-drilling in January and we were going to meet them in December.
‘We were meant to meet with New City Vision and to discuss where they want to drill and to see what raised beds we might move.
‘However, I was informed by the council that they were still waiting on a meeting time.’
While Mr Peacock is happy to play ball with the developers and the council, he insisted there will be no let-up in their ultimate aim.
He said: ‘In the longer-term we will continue to fight and expect to win in our objection to the planning permission which is not yet granted.
‘We have overwhelming support with more than 800 local names on our petition.
‘So the council should take that on board and shouldn’t sell the land, but then again money talks.’
A spokesperson on behalf of Glasgow City Council said:
‘The developer is proposing to carry out site investigation in the near future, but is sympathetic to the needs of the campaigners and is amenable to planting continuing during the growing period in 2010.’
‘A meeting involving all concerned parties and the developers would be beneficial and we hope to have one soon.’

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Sponsor adds fizz to Spiders’ Saturday encounter

Fans of Queens Park and visitors from Annan Athletic will be able to take part in Scottish Football League sponsor Irn Bru’s latest challenge this weekend.
As the Spiders lock horns with the Galabankies at Hampden on Saturday, 23 January, the Irn Bru SFL Tour Bus will be in town and fans of both teams will be the first to take part in the sponsor’s shooting competition.
From 2pm, the doors to Irn Bru’s ‘shooting chamber’ will open and footballers of all shapes and sizes can test measure their speed against a camera. The hardest and the fastest will win, and fans can compare their performances with others on the Phenomenal Footy website.
The bus is also there with giveaways and ‘the Matchbox’, which allows fans to record their post-match reactions which are uploaded to www.phenomenalfooty.com.
Half-time entertainment will come in the form of the inflatable football game, and there will be a chance to collect a free wee-bru on the way home.

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