A victim of the climate
And so he has gone: a victim of the climate, in two senses.
Stewart Stevenson has resigned as Scotland's Transport Minister, admitting to failures of communication during the harsh snow last week.
Equally, he blames a political campaign, presumably enhanced by the pre-election atmosphere at Holyrood.
Labour and the other opposition parties are building a narrative for that election which is based upon depicting the SNP as stranded in office, unable to act.
Challenging the Scottish government - and Mr Stevenson in particular - over the transport problems suits that narrative admirably.
Equally, though, several backbench SNP MSPs found themselves squirming somewhat as their party found itself obliged to defend Mr Stevenson.
Privately, several thought that he had not helped his own case by initially praising the efforts to keep traffic moving as "first class".
More than one said to me that, had the roles been reversed with the SNP in opposition and Labour in power, they would have mounted a sustained attack.
The First Minister Alex Salmond feels that the resignation is unwarranted.
Indeed, he persuaded his colleague and close friend to think again when resignation was offered on Thursday - after sharp exchanges on the issue at Holyrood.
Mr Salmond's statement tonight speaks of "reprehensible" parliamentary game-playing by the party's opponents.
He praises Mr Stevenson's "diligence and devotion".
Speaking for the party, Shirley-Anne Somerville MSP goes further.
She says a "decent and dedicated man" has been "hounded from office".
His critics, she says, should hang their heads in shame.
Among other comments, Friends of the Earth praise the departing minister's contribution to addressing climate change.
But, on the same topic, Patrick Harvie of the Greens says that Mr Stevenson appeared to enjoy ministerial status without truly understanding the issues.
As to preparing for Scotland's winter, Part Two, John Swinney is in direct charge - with a replacement minister due to be appointed tomorrow (Sunday).
~RS~q~RS~~RS~z~RS~49~RS~)
I'm 
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He's done Scotland a great service by temporarily silencing the sanctimonious rantings of Liam..., er Leon... oh I forget, that Labour leader guy.
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To be frank, he should have been sacked after his woeful performance in parliament the other day. If the boot was on the other foot and any other party was in Government, the Nationalists would have been having a field day - a convenient truth the diehards here will no doubt ignore.
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Apparently he'll be staying on until next week some time. Can't get his car out of the Holyrood car park.
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#3 Hardly. Anyone with more than a brain cell can see that the last 2 winters have gotten worse than at anytime in the previous decade. I myself remember when it was -10 in Aberdeen for 2 whole days but that was 12 years. The weather since then got milder. This is just cheap political point scoring as the opposition know that if the SNP get back in power again their own positions will be weakened somewhate. What we see is the unionist partys uniting to thwart the SNP. Iain Gray is a disgrace to politics ...if it wasnt for his loyal Daily Record printing his gumf word for word nobody would know who he was. Its a sad day but as has been said ..by resigning he has stolen their wind. Time to up the campaign.
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NOW will the BBC ask the serious questions of
AMEY
The Local Authorities
Network Rail
as to what their failures were here. Because if everyone affected thinks just by changing the minister that its all fixed you are all very VERY wrong. As I've said previously. No point in having a dog and barking yourself.
As a license payer I expect the BBC to be investigating these bodies and bringing them to book in the same equally handed manner.
This is nothing to do with Snow and Ice!!!
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The turning point came when the Army started doing their stuff to visible effect. People then wondered why it had not been done sooner. That said at least he had the grace to do the right thing - something that Labour will always be adverse to do.
It is clear that the UK's approach to harsh winters needs to change. The current strategy of gritting is not far off crossing your fingers and hoping for the best.
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There may be successes and failures, but it is far better having different parties in control rather than just Labour. Labour have got so used to power and being elected, no matter how good or bad they were, that we have seen many abuses under their rule in Scotland; it's a bit like the Democrats in Chicago where one dominate party for years has lead to many corruption cases
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This is like Aberdonians thinking that by sacking McGhee and bringing in the auld guys will make it all better.
That 11 are no use and Neither are the Cooncils, Amey etc.
We should be asking that Clearing ops are centralised under one not for profit organisation.
Is anybody else bothered that your chances of getting to work, home, school etc are in the hands of folk whose main aim is to turn a profit.
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unbelievable! it beggars belief that the condemlab rabble in edinburgh could bring about this thoroughly unsatisfactory outcome to an act of god.
when it comes to making their mark in may, I hope the scots remember the behaviour of gray, scott, goldie and their camp followers on this occassion and support the SNP government for another term - the others are unelectable.
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As I see it, the motorways would grind to a halt no matter who is in power. Its to do with lorries on the motorway, in these conditions, jackknifing. Introduction of snow chains and alternatives for cars as well? Winter kits in cars such as blankets, energy bars, etc?
Of course, the press would have you believe its all one persons fault! It always annoys me how the press in Scotland are so Labour biased. People never get the truth and so the system grinds along.... predictably. Perhaps its time the press was banned from having political bias? I'm sure this happens in some countries.
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If the Transport Minister is to be held accountable for roads, etc., then perhaps we should take away the roads portfolio from councils and give it completely to the Scottish Government.
Come to think of it,
Let's just abolish ALL local government, and let every aspect of Scottish public service provision be handled by appointees acountable to Holyrood Ministers.
Quite a saving there, methinks....
...not least in terms of councillors' expenses!
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"Stewart Stevenson has resigned as Scotland's Transport Minister, admitting to failures of communication during the harsh snow last week."
'Failures of communication'; NOT errors in doing the job!
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Speaking for the party, Shirley-Anne Somerville MSP goes further.
She says a "decent and dedicated man" has been "hounded from office".
Quite so. This is a major political mistake by the SNP. People are getting heartily sick of the opposition tactics of doing nothing in parliament but baying for the blood of a minister whenever anything happens. It is childish and makes politics in Scotland look like the school playground. Now that they have managed to remove a minister the opposition will be going at this all the way to the election. The SNP have got to get on the front foot and expose the opposition, particularly Labour, for what they are, no talent, no policies, no clues, no hopers. And the MSM are again culpable including the BBC.
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"Privately, several thought that he had not helped his own case by initially praising the efforts to keep traffic moving as "first class".
What a twisted version of the truth.
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well done BBC Scotland you have achieved your objective so lets move on . wickyleaks, the Scotland act , the Scottish budget,the tartan tax powers and anything else that has been totally ignored while you ran this witch hunt 24/7.
Sid
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26. tripefc
What do you mean by "the Scottish affliction"?
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Alex Salmond misses no opportunity to cause political mischief. If the roles were reversed and his party were in opposition, he would have played the same political game.
Mr Stevenson mucked up big time, he had to go!
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A very good friend of mine from darkest Southern England expressed his utter astonishment that the quality of the opposition at Holyrood is so incredibly poor that they elevated this piece of trivia to a level where they were actually going to propose a vote of no confidence.
He said and I agree that it must now be impossible to take them seriously.
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i believe he was badly advised before commenting on the condition.
anyhow he is a very good politician for Scotland and will be back in May.
just like mandy hard to keep a good man down.
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Well Ian Gray and the other opposition leaders have got their scalp. Disgraceful - they should be ashamed !! The worst weather in my lifetime and all they could do was shout for a resignation. No ideas, no coming together for Scotland. They are not interested in the people of Scotland - all thoughts are on the election in May. Shame on them !!
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#33
BBC News 24 - Top story and nearly fifteen mins coverage. Interview with Gray and some political editor bloke from the Scotland on Sunday.
Sky News - A mention about 20 minutes in.
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Seems like the Opposition parties are already preparing for an attempt to form an "Anything But SNP" coalition following the election, a bit like the so-called Angus Alliance in control of Angus Council - the only thing that unites them is that they oppose the SNP, and the will of the electorate.
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I believe one of the main protagonists in this witch hunt, a Mr Charles Gordon MSP , (who was involved in soliciting iffy donations from foriegn doners and reregistered as being from a differing party) made statements concerning cock ups etc and then compared this to his own time at Strathclyde Region in charge of roads. As a native of Harthill and having worked @ the former Harthill Services may I take this opportunity to remind him that the Services, M8 and the surrounding roads were often closed due to snowfall/ blizzards for upto 3-4 days at a time during his tenure at Strathclyde Region so maybe he should again consider his position and resign for a second time from his role shadowing transport. But I forget, unionists only resign when they are to be elevated or when criminal charges are pending but never on principle.
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Presumably if they are rounding on their critics, our out of touch SNP administration thinks that it's perfectly acceptable for people to be stranded in their cars in temperatures up to -20C while gridlock ensues on our main arterial transport network in Scotland. Even the calls from New Labour, banging the big 'resign now' drum, sound hollow having done nothing for the good of Scotland in the last 20 years. Just what do these incompetent politicians think has to happen before accepting responsibility for their inaction? People losing their lives? Wee Eck never blamed God in opposition. Why is it God's fault now?
The BBC have also shown their true worth in Scotland by failing to provide travel updates for those in need most - those stuck in their cars.
The Councils have continued their 'do as little as possible approach' so I'd have been happier had some of their lot had been removed from office over this diabolical, disgraceful mess. Where were the gritters/snow ploughs on Sunday night and early Monday morning? I certainly saw no evidence on my commute but unlike these politicians in their taxpayer funded cars, I start at 8:00am so an 8:00am weather forecast was of no use to me.
All this is down to a series of cutbacks over the years, the money being transferred to cover other political pet projects. As usual it's the public who are let down time and time again.
And now this mob want taxation powers? Are we mad?
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Well done, BBC Scotland; you got your man in the end.
Now, it goes without saying that Stewart Stevenson did himself no favours at all by falling so easily into Raymond Buchanan's trap on Monday's Newsnight Scotland, but the state broadcaster's dishonest reporting and selective use of weather forecasts ever since has put even your one-sided Megrahi coverage to shame.
Keep this up and Iain Gray could well be pushing at an overall majority next year.
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#41
Catriona Renton. She has form.
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Mr Taylor wrote:
""Labour and the other opposition parties are building a narrative for that election which is based upon depicting the SNP as stranded in office, unable to act.""
And as they 'build their narrative' what of the people of Scotland or do they not care?
Destruction as a political strategy to gain office is neither attractive nor likely to win support.
This is a shabby and disgraceful incident in which no one in the opposition side or in the BBC emerges with any credit.
They play politics for politics sake and have not a single idea or policy to put before the people of Scotland.
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#44 Are you me?
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Some might say that the pressure from the opposition parties and the press were going produce this result in the end and perhaps it should have happened sooner to nip this in the bud. However, to the general public (especially the ones on the motorways overnight) I would imagine that it does now smell like there is guilt in the air. Why resign if you did the best job? Why not just call for an investigation? In the past Labour would have just set up an inquiry and produced no results when the dust had settled.
It's going to be an interesting political year for Scotland in 2011. There are no policies in opposition at all. It's unlikely the Scottish people will vote Tory or LibDem considering what is happening in the UK as a whole and Labour are currently befuddled. The SNP Government now seems to be scrambling to justify what it's been doing for the last few years. All this to a background of anti-SNP stories in the Scottish Press (snow, tax powers, Megrahi) and anti coalition in the UK Press. Doesn't it seem to be getting a little red around here?
The SNP were given a chance by the Scottish people and this is where results need to be seen. What positive things have the Scottish voters seen since the General Election from the SNP Government? I would say not much and as such I don't think things are looking good for the SNP. No matter how true the statement and challenges may be, in the current climate the words "minority government" may be the sword the SNP fall on.
Overall it's like a race to find the least pathetic runner and I predict that Labour will start their UK comeback from Scotland. It's all pretty sad!
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Has nobody else noticed the spooky resemblence to Slobodan Milosevic? Shaving brush hairstyle is a dead giveaway. Get him over to The Hague for crimes against the Met Office. A slow news week or what?
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it is now becoming very apparent that there is a hidden agenda to discredit the first nationalist goverment in scotland, who had the nerve to deny the labour party their God given right to rule Scotland in Westminster, Holyrood and most councils around Scotland. The media help by ensuring smoulderings are fanned into flames when it suits their political leanings. If Stevenson had to go - will the Transport minister in England also be hounded till resignation. When the drinks bill was going through NOT one Scottish oppposition MSP had the guts to stand up and say lets give it a go if it helps our communities but NO all we hrard was it will hit the poor and business and its got to be our way or nothing and to hell with what the people of Scotland want.
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I do not blame the minister I blame the councils and the private companies that are Paid to clear the roads did they look at the forecasts etc I wonder. As for Angus council when the SNP were in power in Angus at least we got the roads clear as for this lot they are a disgrace.
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Whoever prepared the briefing for his Newsnight Scotland interview should own up & accept responsibility. Having declined to say 'sorry' several times then stating that the Scottish Government's response had been 'First Class' during the interview, beggars belief!
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52. tripefc
Seems you broke some floating rule earlier as the comment you have just posted could border on the Barroness Deech level.
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He'll get a nice payoff and a cushy number somewhere out of the public eye...which would all be paid for out of my taxes if I was actually daft enough to work hard and hand even more of the sweat off my back to these jobs fir tha boyz muppets.
They'll just have to extort more money via consumption taxes because I sure aint working any harder for our modern clergy.
Currently working on reducing my massive tax burden...and I make 10,000 a year.
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So politicians are now responsible for the weather?? What a load of nonsense. Next thing we know Scottish Labour will be promising us a hot, dry summer!! - suppose it'll make a change from their usual hot air
THe Scots are becoming a nation of whinging softies egged on by the baw-heids in the media
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#50 Garnqueen - you claim that "there is a hidden agenda to discredit the first nationalist goverment in scotland".
The truth is that the opposition hardly need to bother. Salmond and his incompetents have succeeded in discrediting themselves. What a waste of space this so called "nationalist" government has been.
Stevenson himself has a track record of stupidy and arrogance. Gaelic speakers remember him very well as the crypto-racist clown who argued that bilingual roadsigns might cause road accidents.
This latest foul-up is entirely in character. You can attribute it to incompetence or a naive willingness to parrot any line given out by government officials. But either way it is obvious that neither Stevenson nor his colleagues are up to the job.
Problem is, all of the other parties are just as useless.
But I'd still like to hear the cybernats make excuses for the abject failure of the SNP to do anything of substance since 2007. I'll bet it turns out to be everyone else's fault, or something to do with the weather.
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This is brilliant... If the shoe (or maybe more appropriately, wellie boot) had been on the other foot and it was another party whose transport minister had presided over an almighty cock up like this, all of you whinging Nats on this board would have been baying for blood - Father Jack was the Transport Minister, the buck stops with him he should have gone ssooner
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59. deducted4points
Am I right?
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Does this perhaps not show problematic leadership within the SNP government?
That he felt the need to step down instead of facing the problem and working out a solution for the next time sets a bad example to the wider community. Are we moving here from "if at first you don't succeed try, try again" to "if at first you don't succeed buckle under, resign and let someone else do he job"?? Shame on you Mr Stevenson. Failure is a detour, not a dead-end street.
If I caved-in to the whim of every person who challenged my decisions I'd never have got anywhere in life. Nowadays there are too many people with an opinion on situations they know little about.
@ #57. Couldn't agree more! If u want something done in this life do it yourself. Stop moaning and just blooming well get on with it.
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58. Riaghaltas_Allabanach
"But I'd still like to hear the cybernats make excuses for the abject failure of the SNP to do anything of substance since 2007. I'll bet it turns out to be everyone else's fault, or something to do with the weather."
No its because of attitudes that you portray in your maiden speech.
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#59
No - The opposition and particularly Labour have behaved in an appallingly bad, immature and amateurish manner which has done the reputation of the Scottish Parliament and Scotland no good at all.
Donald Dewar would be squirming with embarrassment.
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60. ai_gin_ray
Yep.
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Brian,
I take it that you and Ian Gray will resign when the Ice Storm that arrives next week end and cuts the power lines, or will that be the SNP government’s fault as well.
Will the SNP government next time force an election before May month by calling the unionist bluff, remember it is the Lib-Dem SoS that has to call the election it is his head that will roll.
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#63 Is that the excuse? Doesn't add up to much.
After three and a half years of Salmond's empty rhetoric we undoubtedly deserve an explanation, or a few more resignations.
Or perhaps the SNP has a more general policy of leaving the general public stalled on the road to nowhere, freezing their butts off and wondering why we are all paying for a government that is clearly incapable of doing anything right.
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Shirley-Anne Somerville for the vacancy apparently.
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#68 Tell us some SNP failures then ... also while you are at it tell us some superb ideas put forward by the opposition ..i await some good answers !
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==a hidden agenda to discredit the first nationalist government in scotland==
I thot we a' new they didnae wan' us to leeve the ewe-kay.
iff wee hud ony talent thin wud' bee okayy...but thon parliament doods arney much yooce tae onybody.
Alec shood jus' tak a brae wee hollyday sumwhere, get rare an' sunburnt, an' gie us a break until yon time when they vote in 2011.
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Gonny be a guid laff tae see whae kin tell whit ane o' us is oan aboot whin wi' gie it a bit o' the jockinspeel.
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Come May I am voting for...whats-his-face...the labour dude.
As I gather, the labour party would be out shovelling the snow for us...infact, scrap that, with Gray in charge he wouldnt even let the first snowflake land!
I'm now of the thinking that Grays persistent "anything they can do, we can do better" approach is simply gray-washing. That is, empty words and absent actions. Sadly, the party - who must surely be uncomfortable - seem desperate to support every claim and promise made by him regardless of how unrealistic it may be.
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Ahm sorry eff thu moderators arney frae thon places thut wi'we're frae but wir ah' diffrunt ahn wir ah' ehntituled tae gie it abit ay wally noo an then.
if ye dinnae git ony oh the things thut ur goin' oan dinnae fret yersel' aboot ony o' the gen that's goan doon ye can jus' blether tae yer boss that thir giein' it a bit o' the gaelic.
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I can't beleive the poor guy has had to resign. Hapless, maybe, but certainly not to blame for the weather conditions we had this week, which were exceptional.
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Aye.
It's a sair fect tryin'tae figger oot whit the flip is goan oan when the natives dae thir ain lingo.
Perhaps it's easier for all you allegedly educated people from the southern regions to deal with scottish hordes who only converse in the Queens english.
Toodle pip.
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oh dear. the moderator seems to be stuck.
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Avoiding the tiresome petty politicing, you can't expect politicians to prevent snow falling, but you can expect them to be accountable for the systematic failures that we've seen in the last couple of weeks.
Locally the roads have been nae bad, but hit the trunk road network and I think you can tell that Amey / Bear bidded low.
Assuming that Scotrail / Network Rail execs are overjoyed that the roads have been a shambles as the rail network is *still* suffering severe disruption.
Stevenson's performance on TV on Monday was horrific. Good that he's gone and I'm glad he had the courage to realise when he'd made a proper bùrach of things...
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Amazing timing - the Beeb waits till the Minister resigns then puts up the story on the Airdrie to Bathgate railway line which he and the Scottish Government helped to bring to people in the Central belt - talk about rubbing salt into wounds - never mind the roads. Much needed £300M investment by the Scottish Government, they should reinstate Mr Stevenson with an apology.
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poor old Mr. Stevenson...what about the leaders of the councils, scotrail etc.? When will they post their resignations? Much as I was apalled at his comments re the weather not being predicted - having heard the forecast myself, it is refreshing to see a man who has his integrity intact. For that I applaud Mr. Steveneson. Throughout the Blair years there was far too much of 'I accept full responsibility' with absolutely no consequences thereafter, Nr, Stevenson's resignation reminds us there is still some decency in public servants.
I hope he does a Mandelson....just because he had the decency to resign.
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Is John Hirst, Chief Executive of the Met Office also going to be held to account for underestimating the amount of snow which would fall at low levels? Clearly not, for the notion is fool-hardy. So why hang out a perfectly capable politician who was ill-advised on Monday evening's 'Newsnight Scotland' resulting in his 'first class response' statement to the interviewer.
Having grown up in Aberdeenshire, I am all too familiar with harsh winters, and historically, aside from a cursory mention on the Scottish news, little was made of it because harsh winters had 'aye been'.
However, now that heavy snow-fall has happened in the larger, more densely populated area of the sprawl of 'Glasburgh', there has been an outcry from the opposition at Holyrood, rather than accept the situation for what it was - unprecedented, extremely bad weather which had never been encountered so badly. Shame on the Con/Dem/Lab MSPs who couldn't wait to get the proverbial (welly) boot in.
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#79 naegears ... 'Locally the roads have been nae bad, but hit the trunk road network and I think you can tell that Amey / Bear bidded low.'
Aye fa div ye think wis in power fan the contract wis negotiated wi Amey/Bear ? Ill tell ye .... Labour and the LibDem coalition. Think about that before suggestin that Stevenson is to blame. Id like te ken how lang their contract has to run ?
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Brian isn't back until Monday either...he usually shuts his blogs down Friday night...must have been a good one at the pub...xmas is coming...!
Aye the big Bee isnae aboot 'til Monday...whit aboot thon blog thingy bob oan Friday...mustae bin a bit o' a' doo...Happy New Year!
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It would appear that any time there are important news stories for Scotland that don`t fit the British mold they get pushed to the back and right at the front every time is an SNP accused story which most of the time comes to nothing and there was no wrong doing or neglegence, just due process and a few ruffled feathers maybe. The rest of the hysterical unionist media who mirror perfectly the hysterical polititions and their many claims of wrong doing can behave just how they want but as we are taxed for the BBC it has a duty to be impartial which only someone like Iain Gray would seriously deny is to be the case. Why we let our broadcasting in this country be run from London is beyond me. The sooner we start gettin grown up politics and grown up journalism the better because for those who aren`t even political ( which are many and no surprises these days) it is a major TURN OFF.
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Aye.
If ye dinnae fit in with yon establishment then woe betide ye.
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We reserve the right to fail messages which:
Are written in anything other than English - Welsh and Gaelic may be used where marked
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This comment has been referred for further consideration. Explain
I got three!
and not an insult in one of them.
Oh ye cannae fling pieces oot a twenty storey flat
Seven hundred hungry weans’ll testify to that
be it butter cheese or jeely
or the bread be plain or pan
the chances o' it reaching earth
are ninety-nine tae wan
Alec Salmond would be proud of me. :)
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Removing a minority comment is not racist...if they don't know what you are talking about...
I'm happy to live in my mud and wattle hut...and do whatever the people in London tell me to do...it's my destiny.
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Achtung! Achtung!
Das ist verboten! Anything other than English - Welsh and Gaelic may be used where marked
Danke
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96 ... hey min ..ging te yer bed !
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From Wikipedia;
Bullying
"Bullying is a form of abuse. It involves repeated acts over time attempting to create or enforce one person's (or group's) power over another person (or group) , thus an "imbalance of power". The "imbalance of power" may be social power and/or physical power. The victim of bullying is sometimes referred to as a target. Bullying types of behavior are often rooted in a would-be bully's inability to empathize with those whom he or she would target.
Bullying consists of three basic types of abuse – emotional, verbal and physical. It typically involves subtle methods of coercion such as psychological manipulation. Bullying can be defined in many different ways. Although the UK currently has no legal definition of bullying, some US states have laws against it.
Bullying ranges from simple one on one bullying to more complex bullying in which the bully may have one or more 'lieutenants' who may seem to be willing to assist the primary bully in his bullying activities. Bullying in school and the workplace is also referred to as peer abuse. Robert W. Fuller has analyzed bullying in the context of rankism.
Bullying can occur in any context in which human beings interact with each other. This includes school, church, family, the workplace, home and neighborhoods. It is even a common push factor in migration. Bullying can exist between social groups, social classes and even between countries (see Jingoism). In fact on an international scale, perceived or real imbalances of power between nations, in both economic systems and in treaty systems, are often cited as some of the primary causes of both World War I and World War II. Put simply, historically and from this perspective, certain international 'bullying' between nations is seen as having resulted in at least two very major and costly international wars.
Definition
Bullying is an act of repeated aggressive behavior in order to intentionally hurt another person, physically or mentally. Bullying is characterized by an individual behaving in a certain way to gain power over another person.
Norwegian researcher Dan Olweus defines bullying as when a person is
"exposed, repeatedly and over time, to negative actions on the part of one or more other persons." He defines negative action as "when a person intentionally inflicts injury or discomfort upon another person, through physical contact, through words or in other ways"."
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I feel badly for the Minister. Fact is, as strange as it may sound to those of you with no background in geology or knowledge of the story, your weather is being caused by what occurred in the Gulf of Mexico this Summer and Fall. Both the Gulf Current and the North Atlantic Drift have been disrupted by the blowout, dispersants and inability to kill the well or cracks in the rocks beneath the bottom sediments there,(it's still leaking)up the outside of the riser and in places where they tried to use concrete to repair cracks in the bottom.
The Gulf Current is now staying with and simply circling inside the Gulf. The Drift has been broken in several places and is not carrying warm water and weather north and east to Europe. There is nobody, and I mean nobody, who knows what to so, not how long you will now have these winters.
In addition there remains a major danger of the collapse in the seafloor or explosions of methane, not to mention health damage to those exposed to what came up out of that well - including radioactive materials - because it was so deep. You know the company in question; some of you complained about dividends at the height of the crisis.
I now fear you reap what you have sown - but they may be worse things to come for other parts of the world.
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Good one SNP. By the time the next cold snap hits, and all the idiots ignore the warnings again and get stuck, Stevenson's resignation will be yesterdays news but the depths reached by Goldie and Gray will be remembered. And as for the Lib Dem Tavish Scot, what's in peoples memory there? The Scottish Lib Dem Westminster MPs doing a volte face on their Election Pledges perhaps? Or even Tavish Scot's predecessor who put Labour in to Holyrood in '99 and supported them in suffocating the Assembly for 10 years?
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#101 SirJames
I heard rumours of this but info on it is rare, you can see some utube vids on it here;
http://wn.com/bp_oil_spill_turned_planet_into_the_next_ice_age_!!_gulf_stream_gone__usa_america_uk_world
I guess it could be conspiracy theory but you never know, it has been cold!
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Strange as it may seem, I dont think the Minister should have resigned over the response to the snow. It was forecasted, and drivers were advised not to travel.
What was pathetic was his reponse to the criticism - blaming the weather forecasters, the police, Labour, anyone but actual problem. Agreed the lack of communication with the drivers stuck was poor, but not a resigning offence in itself.
Would the SNP have done the same if they were in opposition? You bet their life they would!
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93. ady
Stupid person.
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I presume that the travel chaos down south ALSO resulted in the resignation of the Westminster counterpart of Mr Stevenson?
No?
My, you do surprise me!
BBBC England NOT calling for his head?
No?
My, you do surprise me!
Any "special" programmes down south on the weather?
No?
My , you do surprise me!
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The SNP should have allowed a vote of no confidence to go ahead with an amendment of no confidence in the government.Labour would have been terrified of that as they are unable to govern themselves having no policies to put in place.
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I think that the chaos in central Scotland because of severe weather is down to an obvious number of factors, not least the fact that the public there were obviously not prepared for bad weather which was pretty accurately forecast.
However, my first thoughts were with those stuck in cars for endless hours, it must have been a difficult and at times alarming situation, and not one that I would like.
My family, friends and colleagues and I in the North East thought to ourselves that we would not be venturing out, at least not until later in the day, if that weather had been forecast here. The transport minister who I have no view on whatsoever has resigned because of not being able to impart the relevant info to the public and the fact that the attempts to keep roads clear were not up to the task, but would this have happened pre devolution. Can anyone imagine a Westminster official resigning because of serious snow in central Scotland? Not a chance.
I've been amazed at the blame culture and the expectation that the government should be able to sort out such chaos in one day. We have a collective and individual responsibility to ensure the safety of ourselves and others and also have the moral authority within us to make decisions based on information, (in this case about the weather) as to what actions one should take.
I also think that all of us in this country, but especially the Central belt people should get used to this. We've been let off with harsh winters from 1993 when until last year there was almost a generation of young people who had hardly seen snow. Global warming isn't going to make our winters easier, it is climate change which will interfere more acutely with our winter weather as it has done in this case.
I listened to Radio Scotland in my car from Aberdeenshire whilst this crisis was going on and I thought the information they presented was precise, informative and up to date, helping people make decisions about travel. How could the government have go that info to us? Exactly via this route, the radio, twittter, facebook, email etc? The radio presenters almost admitted that the concept of user involvement in their programmes was not always relevant but they also agreed that on this occasion it was essential in helping to keep the country moving.
Ergo, the public can do it! It just needs more of us to take individual, which then becomes, collective, responsibility.
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Mr Salmond's statement tonight speaks of "reprehensible" parliamentary game-playing by the party's opponents.
This coming from the guy who is worse than all the others at "game-playing." Maybe he should take a look back at some of his videos and columns hes written for various newspapers over the years.
Oh so different now the shoe is on the other foot eh Mr Salmond?
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I think that the road services have worked very hard under extremely difficult conditions and they should be praised.
road users have been told time and time again NOT to go out when conditions are bad, to be prepared with food , hot drinks and blankets and to have plenty of blankets.
Thus equipped we went went up to Pitlochry from Edinburgh last Saturday 4th of December .We were prepared to turn back if necessary.
We were extremely pleased to see that the main roads had been cleared of snow and we were able to travel at 60 m.p.h.
We got to Pitlochry in the usual time of two hours and after an over night stay returned to Edinburgh on the Sunday in the same time.
There was very little traffic and no abandonned cars on the road side.
The only hazard was some fog around Perth on the Sunday.
I congratulate the police and the road clearing teams!!
What drivers need to do is to adapt to winter conditions as on the continent. People need to buy winter tyres as one of my neighbours has done. Our local garage is already selling many to these to members of our village.
PeterDC
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Apart from collecting their fat Salaries and Expenses, and championing their Parties’ cuts in Public Services,what have Annabel Goldie and Tavish Scott been doing about the ‘Weather Chaos’?
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bmc875, that made me laugh! Thanks
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114. albijuve23
It is always a pleasure to bring some happiness. However, please read my #19 then ask yourself (or your teacher!) why these have not been pursued with the same vigour.
Have a nice day.
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I am in my seventies and in all that time that I have lived in Edinburgh,this is only the third bad winter,that I can remember,1948, 1963,and maybe 1983,I do not remember anyone in Westminster resigning or taking responsibilty for these Winters,is this the new Poltics? are MSPs are now to answer for the Weather forcasts.
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Please write to the opposition parties in Scotland and ask how they would have handled the situation differently. You will need this information when making a decision in May.
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as a post script to my last post:
I feel we have to ask These questions of strathclyde police.
1. have they a plan for acquiring extra 4X4 vehicles in bad weather
2. why where there no or little officers deployed on foot to pass information to stranded drivers.
3. why did they not send out rescue for those stranded.
4. why were the police unwilling to go on radio Scotland and give out any information or advice (they refused apparently claiming it was nothing to do with them.)
These questions are not for government to answer but the Chief Constable of Strathlabour police.
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105
None of the continually updated BBC Weather and Travel reports broadcast early on Monday give any warning, any suggestion not to travel or anything vaguely suggesting there would be any problem on the roads in Central Scotland.
You have swallowed the great lie
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It's the politicians own fault when they become victims of a traffic system which is based on knife edge calculations and political anti-car dogma of their own making.
A couple of lorries jacknife in snow and the main artery for the entire country grinds to a halt for two days.
One van can bring the north west side of edinburgh to a virtual halt:
Parking tickets for cars blocking Edinburgh roads
A spokesman said cars will be towed if they block an emergency vehicle and fined if they are causing congestion.
An abandoned van at Barnton caused huge tails backs earlier.
A 45-year-old motorist told the BBC Scotland news website that her journey into Edinburgh from Newmills in Fife took an extra hour due to the van holding up traffic.
She said: "I was so angry that one transit van could cause so much congestion on the A90.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-edinburgh-east-fife-11958453
The entire road system has been managed to death and now has zero room for error.
One van or one lorry can bring the whole network almost to a halt...potentially costing the country millions of pounds...and whose fault is that?
The politicians.
They gave the road guys the go ahead to create a system bordering on gridlock with goofy anti-car traffic light systems and road infrastructure underinvestment.
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The entire road system in central Scotland is set up to maximise the inconvenience to road users, so they are quietly forced out of using cars and onto public transport.
This tactic backfires when there's any form of road crisis or emergency because the entire system collapses.
So Stewpot can blame his MSP buddies for giving him a job which was a disaster waiting to happen.
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I told the wife that the driveway was clear and that I had made a 1st class effort to do that and there would be no problems getting out in the car.
She got stuck.
I resign.
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Brian,
For once you're being more even handed than your media colleagues. At least it doesn't leave you with egg on your face in the way that Adam Boulton's ludicrous attempt to put the FM in a bad light over this and the Megrahi issue on Sky News live interview with the FM this morning. Unsurprisingly, there's no video of it yet on http://news.sky.com/ but I suspect it may eventually find its way onto YouTube.
Re the previous Court of Holyrood opinion thread:
#72 DrK
"The BBC remains, as it always has, with a london focus. scotland and the snp are no more ignored than the South West, the North East, Wales or anything outwith the M25 so please, no more "EBC", if you want to poke fun and whine please call it what it should be called the L(ondon)BC."
Fair comment.
..... BUT .....
#76 Anagach
"even if this bias is evenly and generally applied around the UK outside London does that make them one iota less anti-Scottish ? and that one iota less damaging ?"
Of course not.
#94 Severn07
"The common denominator is the pro Labour bias, north & south. I find this strange because the BBC is full of apparently quite intelligent people & yet Labour is not at all sophisticated & never has been. During the Blair & Brown years, my view was that there was nothing inherently evil about Labour, they just were not very good at what they did. What draws these two bodies (BBC & Labour) together?"
Fair comment, if you don't regard corrupt practices as evil and exclude the one "New Labour" PM.
What an œcumenical thread this became!
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115 - the police forces in Scotland are funded by the Scottish Government. Please get your facts right. Strathclyde Police force may still be around, but Strathclyde Council was put to bed many years ago now. To say a police force is Labour funded just makes you look stupid.
It seems to me that the SNP trolls on this board think if they scream their lies often enough, people will believe them. I see no sign of "Labour bias" in this story - Brian's been balanced and fair - as he always is. It's pathetic some people can't take any criticism of their party at all, yet lay it on with a trowel when talking about other parties.
If the SNP were in opposition, they'd act exactly the same way in these circumstances. Don't kid yourselves on that they've got any more honour than any other political parties - they're all the same!
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