CityCyclingEdinburgh was launched on the 27th of October 2009 as "an experiment".
IT’S TRUE!
CCE is 14years old!
Well done to ALL posters
It soon became useful and entertaining. There are regular posters, people who add useful info occasionally and plenty more who drop by to watch. That's fine. If you want to add news/comments it's easy to register and become a member.
RULES No personal insults. No swearing.
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@SarahBoyackMSP: .@CyclingEdin @POPScotland @walkcyclevote Yes, am looking forward to this year's Pedal on Parliament - https://t.co/6uvQ7ANKfN
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@AlisonDickieSNP: @alishaann94 @CyclingEdin @POPScotland Hands up, been a while! More walker than cyclist but delighted to take part. Will bring few from team
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Nothing to do with 'cycling', just another campaign to get things 'done differently'. Difficult even with evidence...
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Yet only 12 per cent of countries worldwide share British practice – all former parts of the British Empire. 66 per cent start school at age six and 22 per cent at age seven, including Finland, Estonia and Switzerland – the three most successful western nations in the most recent OECD international review – all of whom have a play-based kindergarten stage for three to seven-year-old children.
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Thanks to the Upstart campaign all this has been exercising minds in village halls across Scotland. With 99 days to go though, shouldn’t it be the stuff of a Scottish election debate too?
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http://www.scotsman.com/news/lesley-riddoch-changing-school-age-should-be-on-msps-radar-1-4010142
The age a child starts school is a red herring
I think the nordic countries have compulsory kindergarten so in effect the children have started formal education or if you like - school.
The value placed on this is higher than in many countries where English is the first language. In such countries nursery is often seen as childcare extension
There are quite good arguments for children living in deprived areas starting school earlier to help them catch up with their middle class contemporaries wjho have lots of books at home, love having bed time stories read to them, go on nice days out to the museum etc.
"middle class contemporaries wjho have lots of books at home, love having bed time stories read to them, go on nice days out to the museum etc."
There's no reason why "children living in deprived areas " couldn't have those things too. Museums are generally free entry; books are free with a library card. Dare I suggest if these children do not experience these things, it has to do with the parents' belief in the importance of education or otherwise? If education is seen as l`rely irrelevant to a child's opportunities in life, then reading books are perhaps also seen as irrelevant. That has something to do with class, but not exclusively.
"I think the nordic countries have compulsory kindergarten so in effect the children have started formal education or if you like - school."
Effectively P1 and P2 are extended kindergarten anyway. So it's really just a naming convention: our kids go to "school" at 4/5 years, in much of continental Europe (not just Scandinavia) they stay in "kindergarten" until 6/7.
It's a sterile and useless debate about what we call things that are largely similar.
Dare I suggest if these children do not experience these things, it has to do with the parents' belief in the importance of education or otherwise?
Yup, and the general social milieu they are operating in (easier to do all those sorts of things if a number of your peers are doing it). It's self-perpetuating, unfortunately ("it was good enough for me, son...").
Great news. Toni Giugliano (SNP) is going to campaign locally for increasing cycle paths. I can think of one he can campaign for...
Western Edin SNP leaflet by HankChief, on Flickr
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Former SNP cabinet minister Mike Russell has called for Scotland’s councils to be largely scrapped in their current form and broken down into “smaller units”.
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http://www.scotsman.com/news/politics/mike-russell-calls-for-most-councils-to-be-scrapped-1-4017582
Is he being serious?
He says: “City regions may be appropriate levels of subsidiarity for some things though a strengthening of community councils in cities would be essential if the current structure was maintained.
So to improve the quality of governance we need to hand control to unelected community councils.
Would we get more stuff like the current Edinburgh-Midlothian boundary-marking-through-suddenly-surface-quality-changes throughout the city?
Community councils are elected - if there are more candidates than seats.
Hard to know how serious he is.
Even harder to know what is 'best'.
In my view, Scotland lost a lot when the Regional Councils were abolished.
Plenty of places throughout the world have decision making bodies - with substantial financial resources to make decisions about - that cover quite small areas/populations.
It's all related to democracy and what sorts of decisions need 'democratic control'.
I think there is probably a need for a decent transport authority with more power/resources than SEStran. Whether it should have a board mostly of local councillors or have its own elections is another matter.
I have no view as to whether Edinburgh or Lothian or Edinburgh's travel to work/education area should have an education authority - or just one for Scotland (modelled on PoliceScotland of course).
Currently local gov is overly controlled by SG which in turn is related to Westminster, which in turn has a relationship with Europe!
Lots needs looking at!
I'm sure if CCs were given more power/responsibility they would not be the same as they are today.
Various people have been arguing that Scotland's local authorities are too large, too remote:* Andy Wightman, and also Lesley Riddoch, are two recent examples. Presume as Ms Riddoch is an SNP supporter she may have influenced Mr Russelll's thinking?
Good to see these issues debated by a mainstream politician, even if his ideas are a bit "back of fag packet" in their improvised quality. If he actually studied the detailed research by the likes of Wightman, Riddoch and others he'd see that European models are available for us to adopt/modify accordingly.
* They are too: the largest LAs in Europe! See this detailed and fascinating report by Andy Wightman for the Scottish Green Party from a couple of years ago: http://www.andywightman.com/docs/RenewingLocalDemocracy_final_v2.pdf
I think there is probably a need for a decent transport authority with more power/resources than SEStran
A sort of TfL for SES.
There would certainly need to be a significant amount of top down leadership (Which the SNP seem to like). Imagine is Corstophine Council decided to shut St John's road to through traffic in order to reduce pollution. Or Gorgie decided they would rather have a carpark than a park on White Park.
Other areas such as Highlands probably suffer more from remote governance than we do.
What is largely unique about Scottish local government is its unitary nature - most European countries would have 2 or 3 tiers of LG, roughly along region/county/commune lines. Even England largely retains its county councils. There is also such a thing as local government being too small (eg forget being able to do anything in a small French town without being onside with the local Maire...)
At the risk of playing the man (or at least his political history), it would be easier to take Mike Russell more seriously on this had he not been a SG Cabinet Minister in the massively centralising governments that pushed through Police Scotland and Scottish Fire Service? Also recall him being quite the clunking fist when he had power, especially if his family were involved (see http://www.scotsman.com/news/michael-russell-may-face-inquiry-into-school-closures-row-1-1495555 )
I also find the timing of this interjection from MR somewhat suspicious, at a time councils are making themselves inconvenient to the SG over the cuts in this year's central funding...
Edinburgh seeking to devolve some powers to localities. One of the four localities is as big as Dundee (Dundee city smaller than it was due to losing Angus etc). Glasgow similarly has 7 or 8 localities. People do not always know where they live. They know their street and where their kids go to school, they know their town. My pal used to have a flat near kings cross station, now the flat has not moved but now it is in Bloomsbury. When I worked on the phone helpline asking people which London borough they lived in could often end in tears.
If Edinburgh devolved further to say roseburn /murrayfield, a local gent would stop the cycle lane we are keen on
@MB, yes, coming from the SNP it does sound more like "rio as we say or we'll abolish you" rather than a thoughtful debate starting about the role of local government. Come to think of it, that's exactly what the Tories did when they abolished the old regions and districts and created unitary authorities!
"Edinburgh seeking to devolve some powers to localities. "
Already happened to some extent through the Neighbourhood Partnerships.
"If Edinburgh devolved further to say roseburn /murrayfield, a local gent would stop the cycle lane we are keen on"
Only if those localities had power over transport. Depending on how devolution is done, they might not...
Andrew burns whilst agreeing with the suggestions John swinney has insisted local authorities prioritise has complained about not having any choice
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Scottish transport think tank STSG has published a report suggesting that these changes are very controversial and Scottish political parties only have until May to gain a democratic mandate for reform.
Without that mandate, the Scottish Government’s aspirations for an effective transport strategy could struggle after the election.
• Derek Halden, CILT Scotland
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http://www.scotsman.com/news/comment-time-we-did-more-to-meet-transport-targets-1-4017973
Did Lesley hinds get third in south east Scotland?
Lothian
1. Kezia Dugdale
2. Neil Findlay
3. Sarah Boyack
4. Daniel Johnson
5. Lesley Hinds
6. Jalal Chaudry
7. Cat Headley
Just listening to Any Questions on the internets. Conservative Holyrood chief whip happy to self-identify as a bicyclist!
Really no chance of LH becoming an MSP.
Whatever she may think, that should be good for Edinburgh/active travel.
Next year's CEC elections will be interesting.
Spotted LH at bus stop at Asda chesser this pm, shortly after posting above. I was on top deck of bus.
Not good for her only first three any chance.
Good for segregated cycle paths in Edinburgh though I think.
Even Sarah Boyack's chances of re-election seem doubtful. Bad news - she's one of the few who take any interest in cycling.
"Even Sarah Boyack's chances of re-election seem doubtful."
Depends.
She might win Central Edinburgh.
But if Labour do particularly badly in constituencies then good chance of three seats on List.
Unless of course 'both votes SNP' convince lots of people and/or many (other) people go with '2nd vote Green'.
The voting system was designed to (almost) eliminate the chance of any party having overall majority.
At present many voters seem content with the idea that one party does have a strong majority.
(But this isn't actually the same as a 'One Party State'!)
Not same as a one party state as only 37 per cent of the electoral roll vote for the party that will win all the seats. Labour only going to pick up list seats in the second vote. Three in each of the 8 list areas by many estimates and very outside chance of a fourth in Glasgow. Quite a few actual seats would go to labour with tiny swings. But the isn't going to happen. They will be down to a maximum of 25 Seats.
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