Midges

Friday the 7th of June approaches rapidly. That is important because that is when I and the other members of Parliament’s Rural Development Committee will be visiting Huntly.

SNP colleague Richard Lochhead and I pressed hard for one of our meetings on our ‘Integrated Rural Development’ study to take place in the North-East. It is now important that we get the public along.

So far the Committee has been to Kirkcudbrightshire, Fort William and this week we were in Lochgilphead. The format of our meetings has evolved to allow more time for the public to participate.

One of the less satisfactory things we inherited from the London Parliament is an over-rigid set of rules about agendas for meetings.

Basically no one can speak to the Committee unless their name is on the agenda. And if people turn up ‘on spec’ then they can’t speak – officially. But we have managed to get round the rule. We have a ‘half-time’ break where we ask the public to ‘step-up’ and speak to us. Even our ‘Official Report’ staff are now recording what they say.

We just don’t formally include that in our own meeting report. And thus we don’t break the rules.

This open session can be quite amusing, although generally very useful.

So this week, it is thanks to a member of the Lochgilphead public. The Committee now knows much more about the life of the midge.

Apparently the scourge of the midge is due to excessive afforestation. We probably all know that plenty of trees are good for the environment. They recycle the CO2, the carbon dioxide, in the atmosphere.

But midges use CO2 to detect us humans. Apparently they sniff us out when we breathe out carbon dioxide and home in on us.

The forests eat up the CO2 and drive the midges out to look for humans.

So now you know. Or was our witness at Committee just winding us up?

Free Personal Care

Much against our Scottish Government’s initial preference, Parliament pushed through a ‘Free Personal and Nursing Care’ scheme for our elderly. And it comes into operation at last on 1st July.

It covers the over 65s in care homes and in their own home. And I expect that care home staff will make sure that all their residents who qualify will get this new help.

For those at home it might be up to all the rest of us to lend a hand. But there is a free telephone number, the NHS Helpline is on 0800 22 44 88, where information is available. And for the computer savvy, all you need is on the Internet at www.scotland.gov.uk/freepersonalcare.

Now in the North-East we are hardy, independent folk. And the second worst area in Scotland at winkling out money from the National Lottery.

Let’s make sure that we come near the top of the league on the free personal care. Our old folks deserve it!