Mimanifesto – Jaye’s weblog

You might well ask. That is, if you’re a casual observer or interested party, or plain old nosey Parker wandering past Trongate and down the Saltmarket in Glasgow’s Merchant City. You can’t fail to notice the forest of ‘To Let’ signs over vacant shop and business premises, courtesy of estate agents Ryden. It’s the same in some other parts of Glasgow as well.

Why does Labour-controlled Glasgow City Council appear to have no interest in stimulating the small business demand by doing something about its empty property portfolio, all sitting there empty and gathering dust, as well as costing a pretty penny in management fees, no doubt.

We’ve just vacated our premises, driven out of the city into an industrial unit by the sheer craziness of rent demands from City Properties, the arms-length body which manages the Glasgow municipal portfolio. And let’s not mention the water and sewerage charges levied by Scottish Water, despite the rate relief applied to small business. Our former gallery on the Saltmarket is still vacant, more than a year after we left it, and there are eight others empty in the immediate area.

What to do then? Why are City Properties content to force businesses out of the city centre with their crazy rent demands? And what on earth are Ryden doing to fill these empty shops up? Not much at all is the truth of it. And why should they…after all, they get paid regardless.

I’m about to put in some FOI requests to Glasgow City Council about this, asking how much they pay Ryden to do diddly squat about vacant properties and just how much empty square footage exists, as a percentage of their total property portfolio, as well as what their strategy is for filling up the empty shops. I don’t expect much in the way of useful answers though. The usual about how the city council tries to encourage small business with a range of initiatives blah blah etc etc… Well, I’ve not seen any of this…only the rent demands. I’ve not seen Ryden doing much in the way of marketing either.

Here’s an idea for the Trongate, High Street, and the Saltmarket. Offer six month rent free periods for new business taking on these premises. You could create an Artist’s corridor… This would allow businesses time to get established and grow, creating jobs and contributing to the city’s economy. The area would be more occupied so crime and disorderly behaviour would reduce. The area would look nicer too. At the moment, it’s an eyesore to be honest and certainly not attractive to new business. The district court is closing down this summer, and there will be less and less of a footfall in the area because of this. Something needs to be done to encourage visitors to the area, few and far between since City Properties paid through the nose for the Paddy’s Market site, promising to redevelop it, then closing down the market (a Glasgow institution and tourist attraction, by the way) and claiming it needs oodles more money to do the job.

This might appear to be a bit of a simplistic idea, but then again, the best ones always are, aren’t they? What’s stopping Glasgow City Council from doing something like this? They need to do something otherwise this part of town will become a ghost town ghetto.

Or maybe it’s a bit mo complicated. Are there any links between Ryden and City property folks or councillors maybe. Perhaps this might be a suitable subject for an FOI…

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There’s a lot of stuff swirling around the web about Glow at the moment. Twitter is awash with rumours, Google pull out of a dubious procurement exercise in which the goalposts appeared (from the Invitation To Tender document, anyway) to change almost daily! Microsoft appear to be offering a product which is based on the same SharePoint software underpinning the current iteration of Glow and which wasn’t even launched internationally when the procurement closed. The Microsoft product won’t run on mobile devices which, it’s being pointed out, puts it on a collision course with the Government’s Bring Your Own Device strategy.

The results of the user engagement testing by teachers and pupils of both Google apps for Education, and Microsoft 365 are shrouded in mystery. A recommendation was made to the Glow programme board, and then promptly ignored by a bunch of people who have never actually used Glow in action, let alone taught a class full of fourteen year olds with it! Trudi Sharpe and Andy McLintock of the Scottish Government civil service appear to stage a coup d’état and Andrew Brown disappears…

Freedom of Information requests arrive at the Scottish Government like bullets seeking out their targets in ISIS or Education Scotland. Civil servants move into back-covering mode…

I was going to blog about all of this this week. However, there is an awful lot of work going on in the background, and behind the scenes. Some very careful evidence gathering needs to be completed in order to clarify the very muddy waters which are in danger of snuffing out GLOW in a morass of very bad decisions. Quite a few folks are putting in overtime trying to decipher this whole sorry situation, and have been for the best part of this year. It’s important to let this work continue without the distraction of supposition and guesswork. It’s too important an issue to education in Scotland to become clouded in a ping pong game of ‘he said-she said’

So I’m going to wait before blogging anything. I hope others decide to follow suit while this work continues…..

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My elderly mother in law flew back to South Africa on Sunday. We thought she’d be fine with BA. We’d booked assistance for her transfer to the Cape Town flight at Heathrow. All fine. But at the check-in it all started to go wrong. Firstly, the BA flight to London was delayed due to the wind! This meant she’d miss her connection to Cape Town. No problem said BA’s agent….she could fly to Johannesburg and connect onwards to Cape Town. Ok, she’d arrive seven hours later and have an extra change, but they’d look after her and help her at Jo’Burg….all well and good. Err, no. Firstly, nothing offered to compensate for the delay, despite the flight originating in the EU. The Servisair (agents for BA) batted this one away quicker than Kevin Peterson on a flat track. “you’ll have to write to BA” then they charged her £40 for taking an extra bag, depute the fact that her hold luggage came in at only 22kg combined! She uses two suitcases because at 79 years old, it’s difficult for her to carry a big case about at each end of the flight. This has never been a problem for KLM, Virgin, or SAA, but it’s apparently an opportunity for the money-grabbing bastards at BA….the Servisair woman again batted this one away, Ian Botham style. “You’ll have to write to BA” she said, as if someone was pulling a string in her back to activate a pre-programmed response.

But it gets worse….

On boarding the Jo’Burg flight, she asked the cabin crew to help her lift her bag into the overhead lockers. And the jobsworths refused!! Unbelievable, as was the response. “it’s not our job” she said. So this is the service you can expect from a company which likes to proclaim itself as the ‘Worlds Favourite Airline’…

When I took BA to task on twitter, they batted it away, quicker than a metaphor involving a Servisair agent and a famous cricketer by explaining that the refusal was to ‘prevent the possibility of injury’. What utter shite! If I’d have been on that flight, I’d have put the bag at my feet, sat down, and let them deal with the bag.

My point is that every other airline I’ve ever flown with would have helped an elderly frail old lady with her bags. My wife (her daughter) flew to Cape Town earlier that day with KLM and as she’s disabled, they gave her every assistance she asked for, including help with her bags.

So British Airways… You’ve lost our families business. Well be making a point of not flying back and forward to South Africa with you. Because Virgin, KLM, Lufthansa, Emirates, and good old SAA all know that the most important thing for their business success are their customers. Something BA need to wake up and realise….

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I was at the Scottish Parliament yesterday for the launch of the Faith in Marriage coalition. For anyone who’s missed the news, this is a group of faith leaders and representatives arguing for religious freedom of choice. It’s a message which is in stark contrast to that of the rather strangely named ‘Scotland for Marriage’ group who are seeking to restrict freedom of religious choice and impose their own narrow minority view on the majority. I was there in an official capacity as co convenor of Changing Attitude Scotland, a group working to effect change and advance the cause of equality in the Scottish Episcopal Church. Now, religious freedom has to cut both ways, as the vast majority of politicians across Scotland have already pointed out to these faith leaders protesting about the proposed changes to marriage law. You can’t claim the right to not conduct same-sex marriage on the grounds of freedom of religion whilst seeking to prevent those faiths who do wish to marry same-sex couples from doing so. Because religious freedom has to cut both ways in any democratic and free society. It’s a point which appears to have escaped the odious John Deighan from the Roman Catholic Education Service here in Scotland. On News night Scotland yesterday evening, he tried, and failed, to defend the indefensible, becoming more and more aggressive until he finally spat out the dummy, accusing the Equality Network of spending ‘Millions’ on advancing the cause of marriage equality. Tom French, from the EN managed to remain calm in the face of this provocation, simply reiterating the point that freedom of religion has to work for both sides of this particular debate.

But poor John can’t help it…he’s simply modelling the behaviour of his own particular churches ‘bigot bishops and cruel cardinals’

Thankfully, he’s in a minority. The Humanists conduct more weddings in Scotland than the RC church, and when you add the Unitarians, United Reformed Church, Quakers, Liberal Jews, Pagans, Buddhists, and Open Episcopalians, as well as significant parts of both the Church of Scotland and Scottish Episcopal church, I think anyone can see a very significant faith group indeed.
And that’s Faith in Marriage…a coalition standing for real and meaningful religious freedom.

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I couldn’t put it much better than the Provost of Glasgow’s St Mary’s Cathedral, the Very Rev. Kelvin Holdsworth did in his Easter day sermon

As usual, whilst Cardinal O’Brien preached his usual gay-bashing ‘you’re dammed unless you’re one of us’ diatribes from Edinburgh, a line slavishly followed by his acolytes here in Glasgow and Paisley, Kelvin’s message was one of love, tolerance, inclusion, and above all hope.

He of course, took Cardinal O’Brien and his Bishops to task, gently suggesting a better direction for them to travel whilst at the same time providing a marvellous headline for tomorrows newspapers and news bulletins. But he also called on government and big business to change their ways.

A wonderful uplifting address, beautifully crafted, and for me and the hundreds of others who were present, capturing the essence of the Easter message perfectly. But don’t take my word. Read his text yourself, or better still watch and listen to his words. It should be on his blog

And a very happy and peaceful Easter to you all

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This is a test post

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Via Scoop.it – Education and Technology

Check this interesting graphic that actually places example iPad applications into Bloom’s levels of performance in the cognitive domain.
Via www.upsidelearning.com

The UK’s most senior Roman Catholic has been sounding off against marriage equality again. Cardinal Keith O’Brien, in concert with English bishops Nicholls and Smith has been on the stump peddling his peculiar brand of prejudice again. Apparently, he’s been likening marriage equality to slavery and his English buddies have backed this up by forcing their congregations up and down the land to listen to their exhortations to fight against what they see as Armageddon, the end of civilisation as we know it, etc etc etc…

I’m angry now…..very angry.

The Cardinal claims biblical authority to ‘preach and teach’ however we all know he’s on shaky ground here with the little known (!) fact that the bible actually says nothing against marriage equality at all. Nowt, nada, zilch, whatever negative you wish to use. Why is the Cardinal not waging his holy war against those of us who eat Mussels, I wonder? Or perhaps those of you who wear clothes made from mixed fibres will be next in line for the Cardinal’s ire. The fact is that the lobster-eating Primark-wearing meat and milk mixing brigades out there have, we are told in the bible, much more to fear from God than those of us who are married to same-sex partners.

In fact the Cardinal is pissing in the wind somewhat, with more and more countries legislating for marriage equality, including staunchly Roman Catholic ones such as Spain and Portugal. It’s coming here too Keith, and there’s not much you can do about it except it seems, misquote and distort holy scripture for your own ends.

And the real truth of the matter is the perverse reality of a church in which child abuse is an embedded reality, an organisation which conspires to cover up its priestly shenanigans. A faith which denies protection against HIV/AIDS by its stance on barrier contraception. Where you have the Blessed JP II responsible (according to many) for the deaths of millions of Africans by scaring them away from condoms, the current pope who has been deeply involved with the cover-up of abuses, a continuing ban on women in the priesthood, and a previous Scottish cardinal who declared LGBT folks unfit to be teachers, it’s a wonder anybody takes them seriously. It’s certainly true of congregations here in the UK where over half disagree with their leaders on the issue of marriage equality.

Instead of worrying about Condoms, Gays, and Women, they should be concerned about their own dirty, shameful, past of covering up for all of their pedophile priests and abusive nuns. And of course about child poverty and domestic abuse which I might venture are of much more threat to the future of society than making marriage open to everyone.

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I read Brian Boyd’s recent eloquent defence of a Curriculum for Excellence(ACfE) with great interest (letters, The Herald February 7th). I have to say that I believe ACfE does not go far enough.
In my view, The problem of teaching to the test and death by past-paper which currently exists in our schools will not die the death it deserves until all examinations are abolished at the S4 stage. The new system keeps the exam, in the form of the new national 5, albeit for a smaller percentage of pupils and therefore, the old teaching methods will continue as long as the exam, in whatever format, exists.

What is wrong with a school leaving certificate for all sixteen year olds anyway? Its good enough for Finland, against whom we constantly compare and benchmark our education system. Teachers are best placed to make judgements as to the abilities and efforts, as well as the characters of their students. As in Finland, a school leaving certificate could be a passport to either higher level study, vocational and work-related education and training, or even work itself.

The problem with our education system is not and never was ACfE and it’s introduction, which was underfunded and poorly managed by both the government through Learning and teaching Scotland (who couldn’t have project managed their way out of the front door and should never have been given the job in the first place) and Local Education authorities who siphoned off most of the money rather than giving it to schools where it should have gone in the first place.

Imagine this: if the whole pot of dosh that has been spent so far on ACfE and GLOW had been divi’d up between all the schools, what might they have done with this? Formed their own communities of practice to pool and share resources, networked on line across the country, and taken time out to think and reflect?

No, the real problem with ACfE lies with the almost fanatical insistence on testing and examination in our schools which results in pupils being crammed with facts to remember leading to shallow knowledge retention lasting, in the most part, only as far as the exit door of the exam hall.

In this day and age, most of what we need to know can be found on the Internet with one or two clicks at most. What we really need to be teaching children are the skills to find, evaluate, present, and use the knowledge they need. This will never be done with tests and exams in their current format, whatever name we choose to label them with.

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Via Scoop.it – Marriage Equality in Scotland

Telegraph.co.ukGay marriage won’t make the world stop turningTelegraph.co.ukUntil Civil Partnerships came along in 2004, gays would typically use contract law to approach a similar legal outcome as full legal marriage.
Via www.telegraph.co.uk

Via Scoop.it – Marriage Equality in Scotland

stv.tvSame sex marriage campaign wins political leaders’ supportstv.tvLeaders of the main political parties pledged support to moves to legalise same sex marriage.
Via news.stv.tv

Via Scoop.it – Autism News and research

Daily MailNow in one in 100 adults has autism with the condition much more likely to …Daily MailAnd as with children, the study has found that autism is far commoner in males than females.
Via www.dailymail.co.uk

Nobody trips over mountains. It is the small pebble that causes you to stumble. Pass all the pebbles in your path and you will find you have crossed the mountain.

And this is just what the Equal Marriage campaign in Scotland is doing, winning hearts and minds in the process. Tonight’s parliamentary reception at Holyrood was the biggest in the Scottish Parliament’s history! All the opposition party leaders support the change to the law, as do most of the Government ministers.

Historic change is coming…..

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The wife and I were guests on BBC1′s Big Questions discussion programme this morning. I use the term *wife* because that is what she is to me, and I to her, despite anything the Free Church, Catholic Bishops, or anyone else may think. I find it rather depressing that despite us legally marrying in another Commonwealth country, they won’t accept the validity, moral, spiritual or otherwise, of our marriage and of the certificate I carry in my purse. What they’re trying to tell me, I guess, is that when the plane takes off from Jo’Burg…we’re married, but by the time we land in Glasgow…we’re civil partners, even though it’s a marriage certificate we have. We are walking talking legal and spiritual anomalies I think, at least according to some religious groups and ministers here in Scotland.

Despite all the biblical arguments, dire warnings of the breakdown of society, and other threats, the real issue is one of religious freedom, both to not carry out same-sex marriage, or, to carry them out. We were told in the programme by CARE for Scotland, a Christian group, that this freedom of religion must be proportionate, but this also cuts both ways. The Humanist society of Scotland performs more marriages than the RC church so should they have a greater say?

Religious freedom must indeed, cut both ways. It works well in other countries so why not here in Scotland. However the most significant thing which struck me about all the comment on this morning’s broadcast was this; that it appears most folks in Scotland are amazed we are having this debate at all. That in this 21st century a simple matter of equality in society actually needs to be debated, when it should in fact be a given.

For this is not about the rights under civil partnership being the same as those under marriage. It’s about the lack of equality in choice. The spurious arguments about polyandry and ancestral marriage don’t wash either, for both states are made by active decision, whereas being Gay or Lesbian is not choice but a fact of birth.

Equality should exist in all parts of society, including marriage. Anything less is discrimination pure and simple. In this day and age, this has to be the only moral state allowable.

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How could you spend £11 million ?

Well, how about some of the following…

Running costs for maybe fifteen secondary schools for a year
Salaries of 300 or so extra nurses
1100 extra hip replacement operations
11 day centres for adults with learning disabilities or elderly people
Free school meals for all children
A new hospital maybe?
Extra respite care for parents of disabled children…20 thousand holiday places for these parents who never get a decent break.
Public sector workers get inflation matching payrises
Pensions for care workers, nurses, teachers, fire and rescue workers, ambulance staff maintained at current levels.

What else could you add to the list?

And what will Barclay’s Bank chief executive Bob Diamond do with his £11 million bonus when he picks it up in a few weeks time ?

Economic crisis? All in it together? I don’t think so.
Cutting disability benefits to pay for an economic crisis caused largely by people like Mr Diamond, whilst they still get their huge bonuses is obscene and sick. What value is £11 million to him anyway? An extra £100 a month to severely disabled folk and their families has much more meaning.

Anyone for a 90% supertax on bank bonuses over, say £10K? That would get my vote….

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A quote from a recent Guardian online report on the proposed abolition of Disability Living Allowance..

“Francis Maude, the Cabinet Office minister, is the Fords’ MP, and Emma rolls her eyes when she tells of his doorstep visit at the last election: “I said I was really worried his party would cut benefits for disabled people. He said to me, face to face, ‘You know about David Cameron’s son, that’s why you know there’s no way we’re going to harm disabled children like yours’. Right there, on our doorstep.”

And the title of this blog post? Judge for yourselves…

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