The week ahead...

Monday
Attending a suicide prevention strategy event in Clydebank for part of the day. In the evening I will be attending a meeting of Port Glasgow High School Parent Council.
Tuesday
In the morning I have meetings with Labour Council Leaders in Glasgow. In the afternoon I have an all Members' briefing and a meeting with officers.
Wednesday
In the early afternoon I have an interview with Inverclyde Radio followed by my weekly meeting with the Chief Executive. I then have the weekly meeting of the Labour Group.
Thursday
In the morning I have an meeting with Government Minister David Mundell MP to discuss welfare reform issues. In the afternoon I am attending a walk about in the Kelburn estate and a meeting of the Inverclyde Community Health and Care Partnership Sub-Committee. In the evening I will be attending Mass to celebrate Catholic Education Week in St Stephen's High School.
Friday
I will be attending the COSLA Leaders' meeting in Edinburgh. In the evening I will be attending a meeting of Greenock & Inverclyde Constituency Labour Party.

Some more words the Nats don't want to hear...

"Web sites are put into categories by external organisations. Our web content filters use categories initially and then we apply rules to unblock excepted individual web sites on request.

The Society and Culture category is blocked by default for pupils in schools (not teachers) - this was agreed by Education Services in consultation with schools, as it contains a wide variety of subjects - home life and family related topics, including weddings, births and funerals; parenting tips and family planning; non-pornographic LGBT issues; foreign cultures and socio-cultural information and non-explicit tattoo and piercing parlours.

We have no information about why the Yes Scotland web site is classified as Society and Culture, rather than Politics.

Beyond the default categories, Internet content filtering in schools is controlled at the individual school level. Category filtering is the first 'level' of default filtering that the council uses. Subsequently, schools can then request that individual web sites are unblocked and there is a standard, agreed process for this by an authorised person in the school logging a request with the ICT Servicedesk. Once this request is agreed by education services, ICT will apply an exception rule to the requested web site and it is then available for viewing."

The words the Nats don't want to hear...

There is absolutely no question of any site being deliberately blocked. Our IT service have sorted out the small glitch which appears to have caused this.

The first line of the council’s content filtering system is based on website categories. The Yes Scotland website was categorised under ‘society and culture’, which is blocked by default for pupils in schools.

No-one at the council or school was involved in deciding the category of the website, which meant that it was not accessible.

As soon as we were alerted to this situation yesterday (Thursday) morning the site was unblocked by applying more detailed filtering rules, to ensure it could be accessed.

The week ahead...

Monday
In the morning I have interviews for prospective Board Members for Riverside Inverclyde. In the early afternoon I am attending a meeting in Glasgow between Labour Group Leaders and Labour's Scottish Leader Johann Lamont and some of her shadow ministers. This is one of our regular get togethers to discuss common issues and campaigning strategy.
Tuesday
In the early afternoon I have my weekly meeting with the Chief Executive. In the evening I have a surgery in Boglestone Community Centre followed by a meeting of the St Stephen's High School Parent Council.
Wednesday
In the late afternoon I have a meeting of the Labour Group followed by a meeting of Newark Primary School Parent Council.
Thursday
In the afternoon I have a Members' briefing; a meeting of the Local Police and Fire Scrutiny Sub-Committee; and then a meeting of the full Council where I will present the Administration's budget proposals. This is followed by a meeting of the Port Glasgow Town Centre Working Group and Slaemuir Tenants' and Residents' Association.
Friday
In the evening I am due to attend the Inverclyde Sports Personality Awards in Greenock Town Hall.

The pound in your pocket...

On the 18^th of September this year Scots 16 years of age and older will face the most significant democratic decision in our country’s history. For many adults this decision is extremely daunting. I can only imagine then how my fifteen years old son and his peers will feel when they go into the polling station in September.

The referendum is not like a general election where we can change the government every few years if we don’t like what they have been doing. It is also not like previous referenda, such as those on membership of the EU, the establishment of the Scottish Parliament or, more recently, the introduction of the alternative vote system for Westminster elections. These decisions were, or are, all potentially reversible.

If we vote to separate Scotland from the rest of the United Kingdom on 18 September there will be no going back. It is a one-way ticket. Before we make such a momentous decision therefore it is crucial that we know the consequences.

Polling evidence shows that for those who are undecided how to vote the economy is the major concern. They want to know what currency we will have; who will be setting our interest and mortgage rates; will our taxes go up or down; what will happen to pensions; and generally will we better or worse off?

Until recently the SNP assured us that there was no question that we would form a currency union with England, Wales and Northern Ireland after separation and that we would continue to use the pound and the Bank of England would continue to set our key interest rates.

It is becoming clear that this isn’t going to happen. The SNP and the other parties involved in Yes Scotland must now let us know what their Plan B is.

Are we going to join the Euro? Are we going to have a separate Scottish Currency? Or are we going to continue to use the pound without the consent of the Bank of England and without any influence over it, similar to the way that Panama uses the US dollar?

We really need an answer to this fundamental question as many other economic consequences flow from it.

Of course there are deep divisions within Yes Scotland on the currency question. While Alex Salmond and the SNP stubbornly cling to the forlorn hope of a currency union with the rest of the UK, senior figures like its Chairman Dennis Canavan and Green MSP Patrick Harvie openly support a separate Scottish currency.

In most countries elections tend to be decided by economic factors. As they say in America: “its the economy stupid”.

It appears increasingly likely that the outcome of the 2014 Scottish referendum will be determined by which side is trusted most on the economy. In the end it could be “the pound in your pocket” that decides it.

The week ahead...

Monday

I have the Inverclyde Council pre-agenda in the late afternoon followed by a meeting with Unite the Union.

Tuesday

In the evening I will be attending a meeting of the Park Farm Tenants' and Residents' Association.

Wednesday

In the early afternoon I have an all members' briefing followed by my weekly meeting with the Chief Executive. This is followed by a meeting of the Labour Group were we will be finalising our proposals for next week's budget review. In the evening I hope to attend a meeting of Port Glasgow East Community Council.

Thursday

In the evening I will be attending a Labour Party selection meeting in Paisley to chose our candidates for the twinned Scottish Parliament seats of Paisley and Renfrewshire North & West.

Friday

No commitments in the diary at this time.

The most significant political decision in the history of our country...

I was pleased that at last month’s Education & Communities Committee the Council agreed a plan to raise awareness of the Independence Referendum in schools for pupils who will be 16 or older on the date of the poll – Thursday 18 September.

Regardless of party or personal opinion we have a responsibility to support young people to understand the referendum process and to support them in registering and becoming familiar with the electoral process.

Representatives of the Electoral Commission will visit schools over the next few months and a couple of ‘Question Time’ sessions will be arranged for pupils involving representatives from both campaigns - ‘Better Together’ and ‘Yes Scotland’ - over the summer months.

All secondary schools have already been issued with a Curriculum for Excellence briefing paper providing information and guidance for teachers regarding the broad theme of political literacy. There are also details of the benefits of using current events such as the independence referendum and young people undertaking Modern Studies will also look at political literacy within their core curriculum.

These plans I am sure will inform our young people allowing them to exercise their democratic right for the first time.

We cannot underestimate how big a decision these young people face. It is the most significant democratic decision in the history of our country. Some of us may have voted for the first time at a local or national election. These young people will be participating in a vote that could change their lives for ever, for better or for worse.

Two of my sons will be voting for the first time this year. My oldest will get in some practise in May's European elections before the 'big one' in September. I will do my best to ensure that they both get good parental guidance before they cast their votes.

The week ahead...

A new chapter in my life starts this week following my departure from Govan Housing Association after sixteen and a half years. From now on I'll only mention my public and political duties as I'm sure nobody will be that interested in the school run and my domestic chores, etc.

Monday
I have an early morning meeting with Lib Dem Group Leader Ciano Rebecchi to discuss the Council's budget for the two-year period 2014-2016. In the evening I will be chairing a meeting of the Clune Park Task Group.
Tuesday
I have a mid morning meeting in Glasgow with Councillor Gordon Matheson, Leader of Glasgow City Council, before heading to Greenock for a members' briefing by the Chief Executive of the Beacon Arts Centre, Julie Ellen. This will be followed by a meeting of the Council's Policy & Resources Committee and a meeting with Unite the Union. In the evening I will be attending a special meeting of Kilmacolm Community Council on the planning application for a new mixed retail and housing development at Kilmacolm Cross.
Wednesday
I have my regular Wednesday afternoon meeting with the Chief Executive and a late afternoon meeting of the Labour Group.
Thursday
No commitments at this time.
Friday
I will be spending much of the day at an event in Glasgow with Labour Council Group Leaders, MPs and MSPs. In the evening I will be attending the 'Stand up for Labour' comedy event at the Albany in Greenock. It should be a good night!
Saturday
I will be attending the Upper Port Glasgow Social Club Burns' Supper.