Don’t play politics, just do it

Politics is a great game for those playing it but not for the rest of the population who vote to get things done.

I read an article explaining how much you can get to be a councillor, and wondered what the head office get.

Anyway, after reading Bob Shields’ article I thought ‘ how true’. We live in an age when politicians are acting like playground bullies in trying to get their party into power and once there the reaction changes to what is best for me and the party.

Do you think that, with the current situation and our potential changes, they could stop playing oneupmanship and think ‘ what does our local area need and how can we get this great country on its way again?’. They should take a look around and develop plans that do not benefit one party but benefit all the local community.

This applies as much to national as to local policies. Scotland has a great history for a very small country. Let us see them give it a great future that our children’s children can be proud of. Pines. Two men came in and wanted to sit outside.

The barman went on to explain there would be a 20 per cent surcharge for sitting outside. The men protested and were told that they had to add the 20 per cent on to their final bill to cover the cost of sending people outside to serve them and collect empties.

I find this bizarre and thought other people should know about this fair weather tax before they decide to go on a sunny day. I was delighted to see Ayr, Carrick and Cumnock Labour candidate Carol Mochan calling for a debate with SNP candidate Corri Wilson in the upcoming election campaign.

I would be very interested to hear both candidates’ views and, of course, the Tory and LibDem ones too.

I was, however, utterly staggered at the tone and content of the last paragraph of the article, which seems to suggest some private personal vendetta whereby your paper refused even to attempt to contact Ms Wilson to seek her views on this.

I am sure that I and many of your readers would be very interested to learn more about this extraordinary situation. To secure a station reopening at Mauchline and elsewhere a promoter, in this case East Ayrshire Council, would need to identify the need for one

They would inform Strathclyde Partnership for Transport who, if they find there is a case for these reopenings, would ask for a STAG appraisal.

This would ascertain which mode of transport would best suit local circumstances.

East Ayrshire Council would then apply to the Scottish Stations Fund for finance. We should press vigorously for just such a STAG appraisal. Having emigrated to Canada many decades ago, I decided to return for a holiday to my home county of Ayrshire.

I must confess I was totally shocked by the condition of Ayr town centre. When I left these shores Ayr was a propserous and thriving place.

I can remember the Big and Small stamp works, Templeton’s Mill, Turners lemonade, Gray’s carpet factory, boat building and the fishing fleet.

I read recently in the Ayrshire Post the Station Hotel was in a dilapidated condition. When I saw it I was deeply saddened.

I saw Burns House, the most ghastly building I had the misfortune to set eyes upon, right next to the statue to the Bard.

The lovely town of Ayr deserves better and the Station Hotel should be restored as the new council headquarters.

I was informed Ayrshire could be reconfigured to one administration area and the Station Hotel would be ideal.

The one thing that has not altered in Ayr is the warmth and friendliness of its residents.

They appear to be unaffected by the passage of time and, even sitting in a cafe on my own, people strike up a conversation. This does not happen often in other parts of the world.

The people of Ayr made my visit to my homeland an extremely enjoyable occasion which I will always cherish. Bob Shields had interesting comments ( Post, May 19) on the council election and he was right about predicting a Tory mess.

Looking at the best interests of the people of South Ayrshire, the sensible way for Labour was to go with the SNP. The SNP had a detailed 25- page manifesto about what they intend to do and change in the way SA Council is run and much of this Labour could agree with. Also the Labour wish list would not have been unacceptable to the SNP.

The Tories had no manifesto and no policies for the next five years’ council work. What could Labour find to agree with there? All the Tories talked about was an Independence referendum, which had nothing to do with South Ayrshire Council.

Bob suggests that the SNP councillors should not bang on about independence. I agree but the only party not going on about independence is the SNP and there was no word of it in their council manifesto. As the SNP, Labour and independents Alec Clark and Brian Connolly have signed up in principle to the SNP manifesto then the people of South Ayrshire can have a clear idea of what they can expect and on what they can hold our councillors to account.

Surely this is a better way forward than trusting a Tory Party which has no policies at all.

There is a huge challenge, however, which will be to find ways to deal with a required £ 17 million in savings over the next year, considering the previous Conservative administration ran down reserves to a bare minimum. Now that the dust has settled on local council elections, I’d like to take this opportunity to sincerely thank all those who voted for me and supported my campaign.

It was a real privilege to represent Labour in Ayr West and I was genuinely touched by the level of support and goodwill I received from voters.

Hearing about the issues that matter to local people has been a great experience which I hope to build upon as I continue to serve the local community in my capacity as community councillor.

I’d also like to reassure disappointed Labour voters that, despite not retaining the seat in Ayr West, the Labour vote locally did not suffer the great reversals forecast. We achieved an impressive 911 first preference votes, a slight increase in the actual number of first preference votes secured in 2012, so be confident that, particularly with the current bounce in the polls nationally, support for Labour is still strong.

Let’s congratulate and support our newly elected representatives in challenging times as they strive to meet just some of the aspirations expressed to me by voters: protection of local services, transformation of the town centre and support for the Gaiety Theatre and Ayr Flower Show.