The Secret Diary of Ruaraidh Ferguson, age 53 and a half
(Published with apologies to Sue Townsend, author of The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole, Aged 13¾)
Thursday 09/04
The first hustings has been confirmed. It’s to be held on Tuesday 28th April, 7.30pm in the Town Hall. It’s being organised by the Evangelical Alliance in association with a number of local churches. Hopefully all the candidates will be attending. Should be interesting for the political anoraks out there, no doubt a few controversial questions.
Interesting point about how things are reported locally. The press release on the LibDems not putting up any posters this year was pretty much reported by Iain X as it was sent; the Stornoway Gazette decided to print it next week as they didn’t have anything from other candidates, whilst Heb News changed the whole emphasis and tone of the release.
Ruaraidh … Macneil is credited with discovering Penicillin during half time when he was captaining Celtic in the 1967 European cup final.
Friday 10/04
Bit of a row brewing over comments by the SNP candidate on Twitter and, if true, he should really apologise. Always very dangerous this social media malarkey, I’m not allowed anywhere near an iPad if I’ve sneaked a cold one out of the fridge.
The daily directives continue to arrive from party HQ, the latest being: “For the coming week it is important for candidates to emphasise that no party is going to get an overall majority. That means it is important to choose who gets to influence the government.”
I really don’t buy into the idea that you should be talked out of voting for who you want in order to keep someone out. The whole election campaign by the major parties seems to have been on them trying to explain why you shouldn’t vote for someone rather than why you should. The first-past-the-post system is only one step up from the rotten burghs.
Saturday 11/04
I was disappointed to see the first political posters are up in town, in this case from the Scottish Christian Party. I took a short poll on Saturday morning and asked 15 people that given the posters were up would they now vote for the Scottish Christian Party. 5 people said “what posters?” and “no”, another 5 said “what election?”. Four more also said “no” whilst the last was fairly uncomplimentary about politicians in general and asked what business was it of mine. I took that as a maybe.
It appears that our SNP candidate is taking full credit for the 5p derogation of fuel in his election address. My memory is not what it was and I’m pretty sure there was a strong north of Scotland LibDem connection with all of this prior to any action by Mr Macneil. I’ll need to do a bit of research before commenting further but it does look a bit like Gordon Ramsey wishing he had played for Rangers.
Monday 13/04
I find Dr Wilson’s letter in which he claims Mr Macneil was responsible for the 5p derogation absolutely incredible. Repeating something often enough doesn’t make it true. I have seen an advance copy of the next SNP press release in which Mr Macneil is credited with discovering Penicillin during half time when he was captaining Celtic in the 1967 European cup final.
Compare that to the true story of Sir Menzies Campbell who represented Great Britain in the Tokyo Olympics, Captained the Scottish Team at the 1966 Commonwealth Games and went on to become a Queens Counsel.
Tuesday 14/04
Research into the fuel derogation does indeed establish that Mr MacNeil was a very small cog in a large cross-party machine in which Danny Alexander was the main catalyst. As part of the coalition negotiations, he ensured the 5p derogation was part of the coalition agreement, and was then able to implement the derogation through his position in the treasury.
Wednesday 15/04
Launch of the manifesto. Big day for all however the headline policy seems to be on education which of course is devolved and not part of a Scottish MP’s remit. Labour lead on the NHS whilst the Conservatives big hit is the ability to purchase council houses, again all devolved policy and nothing to do with a Scottish MP. I also notice that the conservatives are rewriting the Smith Commission report in their manifesto, deciding by post code who can vote on what regardless that the funding released effects everyone.
Mark Brown’s leaflet arrived through the door yesterday, the tone, regardless of the policies looks very positive. I notice though that he holds committee roles in both Rugby League and Rugby Union, the experience and history of this should help him answer some controversial questions about marriages at the evangelical hustings.
Thursday 16/04
That’s the SNP posters up. Obviously means they are going to win now! I checked William Hill and the odds are still the same 1-50 SNP, 12-1 Labour, 150-1 LibDem and 200-1 Tory, no odds for the Christian Party, not sure why.
Lots of memos from party HQ on the manifesto and how wonderful it all is. Strangely enough it’s not the worst I have seen and am pleased to see the policies on the environment but as mentioned before a lot of it is based on specific policies for England and Wales. I will need persuading on a few policies but don’t actively dislike any – which makes a change.
I also seem to be in the bad books with HQ over not filling in some online biography as this would appear to be very essential, I will continue to ignore for the moment as it’s all getting very Sir Humphrey.
