This week’s Motion of the Week is a two-parter and is a case of the good and the bad, the do-ers vs the talkers.
First up is Sarah Boyack, celebrating the excellent Remade in Edinburgh project:
Motion S4M-01967: Sarah Boyack, Lothian, Scottish Labour, Date Lodged: 07/02/2012
Remade in Edinburgh
That the Parliament welcomes the work of the Remade in Edinburgh project; understands that the project provides weekly drop-in sessions that give people new skills to repair and reuse items such as clothes and computers; further notes that the project promotes a zero-waste agenda as an alternative to a culture of disposable items by diverting household items from landfill; supports the project’s wider plan to create a reuse and repair centre in central Edinburgh, which, it understands, would house a series of social enterprises to repair and reuse a range of household items; notes that a similar project in Brixton was gifted disused garage space by the local authority; urges the City of Edinburgh Council to provide similar support to create local jobs and training opportunities in reuse and repair, and wishes the project well in continuing to expand its offering to the people of Edinburgh.
Supported by: Jackie Baillie, Neil Findlay, John Pentland, Anne McTaggart, Patricia Ferguson, Iain Gray, Mike MacKenzie, Sandra White, Margaret Burgess, James Kelly, Colin Beattie, Neil Bibby, Hugh Henry, Jamie Hepburn, David Torrance, Elaine Murray
A group of people have come together to form a project that combines recycling and sustainability with job creation and boosting Edinburgh’s economy. A faultless motion focussed on a faultless effort.
We are moving away from the concept of buying products that are built to last. If a mobile phone goes beyond your two year contract then you are considered lucky and if you haven’t upgraded your TV to blue-ray, HD, built-in-freeview then you’re behind the curve. Inflating that GDP up to the supposedly sustainable 2-3% seems like a fools errand to me when we can just keep a hold of the assets that still have a value to them rather than continue the accelerating trend of buy, briefly use, throw out.
So good on Remade; proactive positivity.
And then we have the talkers…
Motion S4M-01975: Neil Findlay, Lothian, Scottish Labour, Date Lodged: 07/02/2012
West Lothian College Stakeholders’ Meeting
That the Parliament congratulates West Lothian College on hosting what it considers a successful meeting of 70 or so concerned stakeholders, including students, staff, management, trade unions, business leaders and some locally elected representatives, at the college on 6 February 2012; commends West Lothian Trades Council for prompting the meeting; shares the concerns of West Lothian Trades Council, in particular its concern at funding cuts across the further education sector; considers that it was the unanimous feeling of the attendees that West Lothian College should be allowed to stand as a region on its own, and notes the concerns expressed that changes to college structures and delivery models within the regionalisation process will be a hollow process should West Lothian College, and indeed, other colleges, have their capability and capacity reduced as a consequence of significant decreases in their funding.
Supported by: Mary Fee, Drew Smith, Jackie Baillie, Anne McTaggart, Hugh Henry, Patricia Ferguson
What Neil seems to be saying here is – ‘Hooray, we had a meeting!’. Well bully for you son.
Don’t get me wrong, I get that college funding is important and I get that training people is the next best thing to employing them in many situations but an entire parliamentary motion just because 70 people sat down and had a chat? I think MSPs should be patting themselves on the back for a little more than that.