Wednesday, 30 September 2009

Glasgow City Council - Labour Party Haste to justify closures was just not true!

It seems almost beyond satire, but after savagely closing schools across Glasgow and justifying it by claiming school rolls are falling, Glasgow City Council have admitted that surprise, surprise the number of kids at Glasgow schools has actually gone up (see HERE)!

You might expect that this would mean an apology to the parents and campaigners who so determindely fought to save their schools? Or perhaps the councillors who so contempously dismissed the case against closure would now be investigating how they could re-open the slashed school spaces to take account of their startling new admission? Not a bit of it. Once again exhibiting the twisted logic of Glasgow City Council these revised figures means that they will have to find another £22 million to cut from the education budget.

The more pupils there are - the less money we will have to spend on them. Nothing like investing in our future and that certainly is nothing like investing in our future! The fight to save our schools hasn't gone away no matter how much Labour might want it.

Sunday, 27 September 2009

Vote for Education, not Labour school butchers

Started back at University recently and like most of us doing teacher training the worry is whether there will be a job at the end of it. Apparently only one in seven newly qualified teachers got a permanent job last summer and the signs for the future aren't good.

Last week the SNP attempted to cover their retreat on smaller class sizes by announcing a maximum of 25 for primary one. Some way short of the 18 promised for primary ones, two and three. Laughably the Labour Party are leading the charge to decry them. The same Labour Party that this summer butchered Glasgow's schools, closing twenty of them across the city, including schools in Glasgow North East. Pretty much sums it up for mainstream politics right now, in that society's educations needs are not met both for users of services and for those who want to work in them.

There is no doubt that part of the reason for the delay in calling the by-election was in the hope that the anger about school closures will be forgotten. Hopefully this will not be the case and more than this the demand for smaller class sizes, maintaining local schools and providing much needed jobs in education are at the heart of the campaign. Certainly the SSP will do what it can to make sure that's the case.

Sunday, 20 September 2009

On the campaign trail...

"Just back from campaigning at Springburn shopping centre and again a real willingness for people to talk and to listen about what the SSP has to offer. A week that's been dominated by the cuts agenda now being pursued by every one of the main parties, with the Tories and Labour falling over themselves to compete over just how savage their cuts are going to be. The SNP has just got on with it by announcing their cuts budget this week.
Enjoying the campaign trail in Springburn


The equivalent of £31 000 for every family has already has been paid to bail out the bankers greed and now they're telling us that we have to pay for it again with unemployment, wage freezes and job cuts. Communities in Glasgow North East have already seen their schools stripped out of them and now their community facilities will be under threat because free market politicians are terrified to make the rich pay for the economic mess they have made.
Springburn Residents were, like us, confused why the rich who caused the economic crisis were being given our tax money, and we are paying again with loss of jobs and cuts in our services...


Its no surprise that people are cynical about politics but its a cynicism that doesn't prevent people from thinking about alternatives. That's why my pledge to take only the average wage and not the inflated MP's wage is going down extremely well. Its time for politicians to put their money where their mouths are, but somehow other than the SSP, I suspect none of them will."

SSP ex-MSP Frances Curran, with me and other activists at Springburn Shopping Centre