The Year of the Union Jack Mug

One of the things that struck me when I took my seat at my first City of Edinburgh Council meeting in 2019 was the display of Union Jack mugs on the Labour benches. Two senior Labour Councillors had  Union Jack mugs to the fore Cllr Cammy Day the Labour Group leader and sometime vice-convener of something Cllr Lezley Marion Cameron.  It seemed odd and might more readily have been expected on the Tory benches. The SNP councillors did not turn up with Saltire mugs. Since I'd left the council in 2012 the Independence referendum had happened and Labour had been an enthusiastic member of 'Better Together'.

Wrapping yourself in any flag - Union Jack or Saltire was not something I was familiar with in the City Chambers over my time there. Until 2019.

Labour were at that time in coalition with the SNP and had been since 2012. By 2019 they were the junior party. The SNP were the lead party in the coalition by dint of getting more councillors elected. Between 2012 and 2019 there had, of course, been the Independence Referendum. During the referendum period Scottish Labour had effectively silenced any of their members who showed sympathies to the independence cause. By 2019 the tensions between the SNP and the Labour groups that were almost wholly based on the constitution. 

After the 2022 elections when again the SNP elected the most councillors there was some speculation that a coalition could be formed again with Labour though because of numbers it might include the Greens as well. Meanwhile away from the council chambers the Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar was giving interviews where he kept saying that Labour would not enter coalitions with any party. He meant primarily the SNP. The Edinburgh Labour group went along with that and despite having a group of only 13 councillors emerged as the party running the council. How did that happen when the breakdown was 19 SNP, 13 Labour, 9 Conservative, 12 LibDem, 10 Green and Labour did not enter any formal coalition? Simple if you are Labour do a background deal with the Conservatives and the LibDems that sees those parties gain convenor and vice-convenorships (some specially created). Of course Labour protested their innocence saying they'd done no deals. The Conservatives and the LibDems mumbled and looked the other way and hey presto Labour became the party in power. The Union Jack mugs had triumphed and for the first time Edinburgh has an administration based on the constitutional question and not on good governance of the city.

There were two newly elected Labour councillors who refused to back the deal and were promptly suspended from the group with one eventually leaving to sit as an independent. Other strange things happened with the new Transport Convenor saying he would only be in post until October when he'd be replaced by someone better placed to take that remit forward. He's still there. Who his mystery replacement was I guess we'll never know. 

There was some speculation that Labour's tenure would be short but the numbers remain in their favour generally though from time to time they lose out.

The Budget would be the big test and that is exactly what it turned out to be. Labour seemed to have crafted a motion that would allow some asks of the the other groups, particularly the Conservatives and LibDems, to be incorporated to get their budget passed. It didn't turn out that way. Labour's motion was voted down thanks to some tactical voting by some Green councillors and the erstwhile Labour councillor (who resigned from the Labour party during the meeting). Labour had a choice and chose to support the LibDem budget voting it through along with the Conservatives. The progressive and visionary SNP/Green budget was cast aside. There was a problem for Labour though - the LibDem budget that they'd voted for contained causes to end compulsory redundancies and seek to outsource council services starting with waste services. What did Labour have to say about that? Their Leader, the Council Leader, Cammy Day said he'd not read the LibDem budget motion! All would be well though they just wouldn't do those things. Labour had officially lost a member during the budget meeting and now had the same number of councillors as the LibDems whose budget had just passed and who were expected to easily win a by-election in Corstorphine Murrayfield putting them one ahead of Labour. Would the LibDems try to take over? They'd doubled the size of their group at the 2022 Council elections and were expected to gain a new councillor in a few weeks so why not pounce and take control of their budget and the council? They looked the other way again. Perhaps the new 'Better Together' arrangement is too fraught and distrustful for a switch to happen at least for now? 

Time will tell but from the outside it looks like this coalition which insists it is not a coalition will trundle on Union Jack mugs held high. There could be a couple more by-elections that could cause problems for Labour especially if they lost them to the SNP or Greens. There's always the possibility of a defection too as socialist Labour members become increasingly disenchanted with Keir Starmer's Labour. As I wrote this news broke that former Labour councillor Nick Gardner had joined the Greens. I don't know how fresh those Union Jack mugs are but they could be looking mighty tired by this time next year. 

Postscript: Full Council on 4 May marked a year since the last elections and the SNP attempted to remove the Labour leader and the Convenors/Vice-Convenors. It failed because the Union Jack coalition held - great thing giving senior roles to parties you 'are not in coalition' with isn't it? 

 Rob Munn was SNP Councillor for the Leith Walk ward 2019-2022

Me For Queen and Samantha Whates live at Leith Depot April 2023

 I like small gigs. That closeness to the artist testing their sounds in front of small audiences is a special thing and one that I always find enlightening. 

This was certainly one of those nights. I was there to see Me For Queen and Samantha Whates two singer-songwriters creating music one step outside of the mainstream staying true to their muse and sharing those creations with small but appreciative audiences.

None more so than the the audience that greeted them at Leith Depot's new performance space in April. I was lightly familiar with Samantha Whates music (initially through here work with Josienne Clarke in the duo PicaPica) and was less familiar with Me For Queen but aware of her connections to other artist like Alva Leigh and Sarah Howells.

Samantha opened the night and performed a well received selection of her songs focussing on her recent album 'Waiting Rooms' (recorded in, yes waiting rooms around the UK) and the brand new 'Early Works'. 

Me for Queen (Mary Erskine) focussed on her new album 'Microclimate'. The songs are worth taking the time to get to know as Mary has a way with subjects and words that is worth following through. 

Both guested on each others songs adding to the feeling of collaboration that touring can bring to artists and audiences. These were unique performances that are unlikely to be repeated.

These are two artists that are well worth seeing so if you get the chance then take it. You won't be disappointed.

A friend of mine uses the hashtag #shoplocal to tag small gigs he goes to locally and that is applicable here. I walked to the venue like it was a local shop and walked home afterwards. If only a trip to my local Tesco was so uplifting. #shoplocal

https://www.samanthawhates.me/

https://meforqueen.bandcamp.com/

Gordon Lightfoot a reflection

I drove into Orillia, Ontario in the summer 1990 on the second long road trip of my North American odyssey and saw the City of Orillia sign (population 27000) it proclaimed proudly "Orillia Home of Gordon Lightfoot."  

(picture credit unknown)

I allowed myself a wry smile for the Canadian troubadour known worldwide for his hits 'If you could read my mind' and 'Sundown'. Orillia and Canada are rightly proud of this song-writing genius. He wrote many songs over his long career and the two mentioned are the ones most will remember hearing. There are many others. His songs caught the mood of those late sixties early seventies singer songwriter times with their beautiful melodies and lyrical turns.

His death at the age 84 robs the world of a master tunesmith but what a legacy he leaves. Over a run of albums from his debut 'Lightfoot!' in 1966 through the 1970s and 1980s he established a reputation as a songwriters songwriter with his songs covered by Elvis, Bob Dylan and many others. In 1976 he had a hit with a song named 'The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald' a song about the tragic sinking of an ore freighter in Lake Superior. It was an unlikely hit being longer than the radio standard but caught  contemporary interest in the tragedy and told the story of the victims. 

The outpouring of emotion on his death from across the world and especially the music world in Canada and beyond illustrates the reach that he had, how familiar people are with his music and how his songs connected to people. That is the testament to a great artist.