FAITH AND POLITICS

27 Feb 2011

Saturday 26 February saw a well attended conference on ‘Engaging Faith and Politics’ take place in the Scottish Parliament. It was hosted by three MSPs: Dave Thompson (SNP), Murdo Fraser (Conservative), and Karen Gillon (Labour). Representatives attended from all over Scotland including Orkney, Shetland, and the Western Isles. A wide range of church backgrounds was also seen.

The main speaker in the morning was David Robertson of St Peter’s Free Church in Dundee. He is also involved in Solas (the Centre for Public Christianity). He suggested it is dangerous if the state tries to control everything. Also, if people (including the media) are overly cynical about politicians, that undermines democracy.

He referred to four main models for the relationship between church and state:
1. Erastianism, where the state controls the church;
2. Clericalism, where the church dominates the state – “a fast mission to suicide”!
3. Total separation – which is impossible; or
4. Good neighbours and good friends.
Traditionally in England the church and state have been very close with the king or queen head of both. On the other hand there is meant to be clear separation in the United States. Scotland’s model has been somewhere between the two, with the concept of two kingdoms.

We don’t want a Christian government but we do want Christians in government. But problems will arise for Christians if the state says, ‘You can’t say or do this’ while Christ says, ‘You must…’

On Islam he suggested Christians could often agree and work together with Muslims on particular issues. However, it is essential that Christians should be able to become Muslims and Muslims become Christians without fear of punishment.

After lunch and a visit to the Parliament’s main chamber, the afternoon consisted of a ‘mock hustings’ with representatives of five political parties taking part. As well as Murdo Fraser and Karen Gillon, Gordon Macdonald represented the LibDems, Donald Boyd the Christian Party, and John Mason the SNP.

Topics for the panel included education, how to use the second (list) vote in May, marriage, protecting front-line services, the marginalisation of Christians, and how the church can engage in politics. The final question was on what was the main challenge for Scotland in 2011. John Mason answered that by saying for Christians it is to pray more but generally speaking debt is one of the biggest challenges.

After the conference John Mason spoke of how worthwhile he had found it. He said, “Faith is extremely important to me and I am comfortable being a believer within the SNP. Under Alex Salmond’s leadership the Party has had a very inclusive approach. We have a Christian grouping within the SNP (Christians for Independence) as well as gay, Muslim, and other groups. I want to see such an inclusive approach for the whole of Scotland as well: a pluralistic society where minorities are welcomed and protected.”

GAMES PROGRESS WELCOMED

24 Feb 2011

It is encouraging that the SNP Scottish Government and the Labour Glasgow City Council are working together to deliver the Commonwealth Games in 2014. Since Alex Salmond and Steven Purcell together celebrated winning the bid in Sri Lanka, it has been important that the SNP and Labour work together on this. The bulk of the money comes from the SNP Government but the Labour Council has an important part to play too.

John Mason and a number of east enders attended an update meeting at Tollcross Leisure Centre yesterday (Wednesday 23 February) and they were encouraged by what they saw and heard. Anyone passing along London Road can now clearly see the new National Indoor Sports Arena (NISA) and Chris Hoy Cycling Velodrome taking shape. The meeting heard about which venues would host which sports as well as news of how the transport of athletes and spectators will be arranged.

Apart from the obvious new buildings taking shape, the athletes village is also progressing. It will house some 6,500 athletes and officials and after the Games will be turned into 1,100 houses for sale, 300 affordable homes, and a new 120-bed care home. Perhaps the slight disappointment here is that the number of socially rented homes is only to be 300; it would have been good if it could have been more.

Other improvements taking place include the second (six lane warm up) swimming pool at Tollcross, two new hockey pitches at Glasgow Green, the upgrade to Dalmarnock station, the M74 completion, and the East End Regeneration Route. It is a bit of a shame that we are not getting a diving pool but competitors will have to travel to Edinburgh. Surely Glasgow would have benefitted from a facility for divers in the longer term?

There has been a lot of discussion about the legacy from the 2014 Games, i.e. what lasting benefit will there be? The obvious legacy is the infrastructure: NISA, velodrome, second pool, and housing. More difficult to achieve and to measure is increased sports activity by local people and a consequent improvement in health and life expectancy. Other cities hosting such games have found that during the event people actually sit around and watch more, while being even less physically active than usual. It remains to be seen if Glasgow can buck this trend.

Some people have suggested that the Games are costing too much and the money would have been better spent fixing pot-holes in the roads. One of the reasons that Glasgow is able to host the Games relatively cheaply is that so many facilities were already in place or planned before we won the bid. The stadiums at Celtic Park, Ibrox and Hampden were already in place; NISA and the velodrome were already approved. So the second pool at Tollcross is one of the few facilities that has come about as a result of the bid. And John Mason is convinced that all of these facilities will be of great benefit to local residents in the longer term. For example, the two pools at Tollcross will allow competitive and leisure swimmers to use separate pools. And in future bigger swimming competitions should be attracted because of the better facilities.

On transport the meeting heard that it was intended to have “no spectator parking”, i.e. everyone should come by public transport! John finds this a bit hard to believe given the numbers of folk who drive to football and other sporting events at Parkhead, Ibrox, Hampden, and elsewhere. However, it clearly is a good idea that as many folk as possible travel by train or bus. It is disappointing that there are still no plans for a rail station at Parkhead Forge on the Airdrie (and Edinburgh) line. This would have been more accessible than the present stations at Bellgrove and Carntyne which are some distance away.

But overall it is encouraging to see such good progress being made. Once again the east end of Glasgow is benefitting from major SNP investment. We have certainly been one of the areas to gain most from the SNP Government’s success.

OPPOSE ANIMAL EXPERIMENTS

14 Feb 2011

BUAV (British Union for the Abolition of Vivisection) has written to candidates in the forthcoming Scottish Parliament election seeking their support. John Mason has signed up to the points they are campaigning on which include:

• More should be done to reduce the number of animals used in experiments.
John strongly agrees

• Universities in Scotland should be required to publish more information on the animal experiments they conduct (except confidential and personal information).
John strongly agrees

• Scotland should lead in supporting and developing non-animal research, including financial incentives such as tax breaks and match-funding.
John strongly agrees

John says, “I do believe in a human life being worth more than an animal life. However, we humans have a responsibility to look after animals and to protect them from cruelty and unnecessary suffering. Experimenting on animals should be absolutely the last resort and only where human health is concerned, never for cosmetic products.”

Previously John was the first Scottish MP to have his constituency office accredited by BUAV as animal cruelty free. This meant that he and his staff committed to all cleaning products and the like being certified cruelty free. Amongst the major supermarket chains the Co-op are considered to be the most trustworthy in this regard.

See also www.buav.org

FOURTH SNP BUDGET SUCCESS

09 Feb 2011

Congratulations are due to John Swinney for getting all four of his budgets through the Scottish Parliament. As Nicola Sturgeon has said, “over four years the SNP has shown we can work with all parties to deliver a council tax freeze for Scottish families, 1,000 additional police on our streets, and the small business bonus for Scotland’s businesses”.

Highlights of the budget included:
• Abolition of prescription charges;
• Continuing the Council Tax Freeze;
• Maintaining 1,000 additional police officers;
• Creating 25,000 modern apprenticeship places;
• Continuing educational grants – EMAs (being cut in England);
• Extending the living wage of £7.15;
• Continuing the small business bonus scheme (i.e. no rates from small businesses);
• £16 million further investment in housing.

Effectively Labour have voted against all of these!

Some people had thought that a minority SNP government would be easily defeated in the annual budget process. But John Swinney has proved them wrong. He has been prepared to negotiate and take on board good ideas from all other parties. After all, this is how the Scottish Parliament was always meant to work. Instead of dictatorship by one party, Holyrood operates so that two or more parties are required to work together. Surely that is a good thing? It means we are more likely to get decisions which have broad support, both across the parties and amongst the wider population.

Yet Labour voted against the budget. Was it because they had some disagreement in principle? Or was it because they had better ideas about how to use the reduced amount of money Westminster has given us? Perhaps it was neither of these. Perhaps it was because it was an SNP budget and Labour don’t like the SNP. How petty the Labour MSPs can be!