True Partnership

One of the buzz words in the Scottish Parliament is ‘partnership’. It seems that nothing the Scottish Government does fails to mention the word.

And on the SNP benches we have taken it on board too.

The campaign to save Peterhead Prison crosses many of the conventional divides in politics. It is quite clear that there are members of all parties who are ‘on-side’.

We just have to manage our activities to ensure, as the Chairman of Hearts football club put it this week after 10 of the 12 clubs resigned from the Premier League, that we do not become a ‘disadvantaged majority’.

Because we have a majority doesn’t mean we win.

So I was particularly pleased to meet with a new group of Peterhead supporters. Not in this case ‘Footballers Wives’ but an altogether more serious and determined group, ‘Prison Officers Wives’.

Being civil servants, Prison Officers contracts mean that they may not speak to the media. But their wives and partners are not bound by the Civil Service Code. And they are determined to be heard!

So partnership for Peterhead Prison is growing every day, inside politics and outside.

The Parliament has received three petitions this week on varying aspects of how our judicial system deals with sex offenders. This shows that the issue is of widespread concern across Scotland.

So it is probably unique that a community is campaigning to retain a unit with 300 sex offenders. And when even the prisoners are alarmed at closure we have the most unusual partnerships springing up.

Time to Spare – Go by Air

As part of my research into prisons, I went to Parc Prison in Wales as part of a wider visit.

Until then I had not realised how difficult Cardiff was to reach and had to fly to Bristol to be collected from there.

So with a flight back from more convenient Cardiff, I thought would be OK. But no.

I found myself sitting in the departure lounge watching British Airways cancel three flights and postpone another by five hours. So I was probably lucky that my BA flight was only postponed by 90 minutes.

But my difficulties paled into insignificance beside the experience of a gentleman who sent me an e-mail recently. He tells me that he has flown from London to Aberdeen on 22 occasions recently. However he is beginning to wonder what he is paying for as only four of them have left on time.

But then I noted that our main aviation radars are thirty years old and require daily maintenance. The National Air Traffic Services have indicated that replacement has been postponed.

So may be it is not just British Airways fault. If controllers cannot see planes, they won’t be allowed to fly.

And I can’t get a solution. It is yet another power Westminster has kept to themselves. So we can’t buy the new radars that would we need to improve our air services.