It seems strange to be in any way exercised about the proposed transfer of the British Transport Police to Police Scotland. At its heart, this is a process which I’m sure the Scottish Government reckons will simplify cooperation between those who look after our railways and those who protect our communities.
That may well be true in some respects. However, it relies on a lot of faith being put in Police Scotland. And therein lies the problem. What exactly has this country’s single force done since its inception to build up trust or inspire confidence?
I don’t mean individual officers. By and large they do a sterling job keeping our communities safe and the majority of them do it for all the right reasons.
However, you would have to have had your head buried so deep in the sand you might as well be at Tentsmuir beach not to have noticed the series of shambolic policies being forced upon those on the front line.
Do we really want the people who misled us on the stopping and searching of children, who so enthusiastically championed the carrying of weapons to routine incidents, whose own federation points out is driven by a target culture, in charge of our railways too?
On top of that, we have the fact the current system works pretty well. There’s nothing wrong with cross border cooperation if it keeps us safe.
Indeed, the man in charge of representing BTP officers has voiced his concern this could mean fewer officers looking after the rail lines as more and more are roped into doing other work.
Would that really be a surprise, given that we know there are cops sitting behind desks, rather that being on the front line, because of police staff cutbacks?
A line by the singer/songwriter Frank Turner incidentally one of the most interesting musicians to interview brought this situation to my mind.
He sings: “Because a man who’d trade his liberty for a safe and dreamless sleep, doesn’t deserve the both of them, and neither shall he keep.”
That’s well worth keeping in mind when we think about how much extra power we want ministers to give Sir Stephen House.
SIR ALEX Ferguson has been the face of a campaign which has led to a quarter of all breast, bowel and lung cancers being detected early in Tayside and Fife. And, despite attempts to reimburse him, the former Manchester United and Aberdeen manager has steadfastly refused to take any cash to front the Scottish Government’s Detect Cancer Early programme. Sir Alex, who lost both his parents to the disease, stresses the importance of not ignoring a persistent cough which has not cleared after three weeks in the TV clip. Top man.
IT’S TOUGH at the top and Scottish Conservative leader Ruth Davidson is proving there are expensive side effects to the stresses of being the boss. Ruth now grinds her teeth so viciously in her sleep they keep breaking and she is regularly visiting the dentist to have them rebuilt. One trip alone this week set her back £180. That’s a double whammy of pain!
THOMAS DOCHERTY had a “Boris Johnson moment” as he made his usual commute to the Houses of Parliament. The Dunfermline and West Fife MP was preparing to board the tube at Liverpool Street when a group of around 40 teenagers approached the Labour politician because they’d recognised him from BBC’s Inside The Commons documentary, where camera crews followed him around Westminster. He then spent the duration of his journey answering questions about politics and getting “selfies” taken with the kids, who were on a school outing. Fame at last!
NORTH EAST Scotland MSP Alex Johnstone has been selected by the Conservatives to stand as their candidate for the Banff and Buchan Westminster seat. In an unfortunate page layout in the local paper up north, though, his bid to switch the Scottish Parliament for the House of Commons is placed beside another story with the headline: “Record number of snakes rehomed.”
POLITICS CAN be a dog eat dog world but there now seems to be a bit of genuine canine rivalry amongst the SNP ranks. Westminster leader Angus Robertson has declared a labradoodle named Freyja, which he met whilst out canvassing, is the “cutest campaign dog”. That sparked a strong reaction from the Twitter account of Mr Q, the dog of MSP Dennis Robertson, which simply posted: “Cute? Yes, definitely! Cutest . . . ? I think we need to talk about this.” Who knew a man’s best friend could be so intelligent? Or possessive!