Silence of the Bams
A number of readers have been in touch to ask the identity of the two Scottish MSPs who spoke up in support of my FOI request to South Lanarkshire Council.
Well these two individuals were Alex Neil from the SNP, now a Government Minister - and Hugh O'Donnell from the Liberal Democrats, who stood down at the last election if I recall correctly.
Now it will not have escaped the attention of sharp-eyed readers out there - that there is not a single Labour MSP or MP amongst this small band of politicians - prepared to challenge or just question the behaviour of South Lanarkshire Council.
In fact, every one of them has remained silent on the subject - which might help explain why the Labour Party lost so many prominent MSPs in South Lanarkshire at the 2011 Scottish Parliament elections - Andy Kerr and Karen Gillon, for example, with Michael McMahon holding on by the skin of his teeth in Uddingston and Bellshill.
In my view Labour politicians should be ashamed of their craven behaviour over equal pay - because they should always be prepared to speak out in support of their constituents even when - perhaps especially when - their own party and the Labour supporting trade unions are so clearly in the wrong.
If you ask me why the Scottish Labour Party has managed to lose the trust of the Scottish people over the past 15 years, the question comes down to the party's purpose and identity - was it to be a New Scottish Labour Party in the image of Tony Blair and Gordon Brown or something different - and, if so, different in what way?
All I can say is that all these years later I can't answer that question, but what I can say with some authority is that when it came to equal pay and - and standing up for some of the lowest paid workers in Scotland (mainly women of course) - MSPs and MPs kept their heads down and, in particular, those from the Scottish Labour Party.
If you ask me why the Scottish Labour Party has managed to lose the trust of the Scottish people over the past 15 years, the question comes down to the party's purpose and identity - was it to be a New Scottish Labour Party in the image of Tony Blair and Gordon Brown or something different - and, if so, different in what way?
All I can say is that all these years later I can't answer that question, but what I can say with some authority is that when it came to equal pay and - and standing up for some of the lowest paid workers in Scotland (mainly women of course) - MSPs and MPs kept their heads down and, in particular, those from the Scottish Labour Party.
