Boys have done the town proud
We have all seen the huge rises recently in food prices.
In my adult life, I’ve never seen prices rise so quickly and, even if the price of some goods hasn’t gone up too much, the size of the item you have just bought seems to be getting smaller.
So, that’s why I am glad to hear the UK Government is conducting research into why prices seem to have risen so steeply in recent months.
We all know about the obvious reasons such as Brexit, the war in Ukraine, weather conditions in Southern Europe.
But the other one, which I fear, is the possibility that companies are exploiting the current situation and pushing up prices even further to boost their profits.
As I say, I am glad this investigation is underway and I look forward to hearing its findings.
Like all people, I was shocked to hear about the shocking incident at my old school Johnstone High last week.
I have spoken to education officials who told me how staff handled the situation and that they did well to control things and make sure things didn’t escalate.
Three staff were injured as well as a school pupil.
No one who goes to their work or school should be subjected to violence and I send them my best wishes and thanks for the way that they handled last week’s incident.
This week in the council, we are getting a further report on the Dargavel Primary debacle. The cost of putting this huge mistake right is going to run into tens of millions of pounds.
The important thing is that things are put right for the pupils of the Dargavel area but there is no doubt that this error will cost all people in Renfrewshire for many years to come.
The Labour group in Renfrewshire has been campaigning for several months now for ‘Better Buses’.
The people of Renfrewshire deserve a better bus service than they currently receive.
As part of the campaign, we have arranged a public meeting on the issue to be held in the Tweedie Hall in Linwood on Tuesday, June 6 at 7pm.
We have several guest speakers and the meeting is open to all.
At the last council meeting, my two Labour colleagues, Gillian Graham and Alison Ann Dowling, successfully moved a motion calling on the Scottish Government to help more with the issue of kids who have additional needs.
We feel that parents of those children seem to have to fight to get the best for their kids and we in the Labour group believe that it doesn’t need to be like that.
The motion seemed to be well received by parents and after receiving all party support – it is now over to the Scottish Government to come up with the cash in order to help Renfrewshire improve education for these children.
On the subject of Scotland’s young people, I see the children and young people’s commissioner Bruce Adamson has stated that Nicola Sturgeon has absolutely failed to improve the lives of young people in Scotland.
You can add this issue to Ms Sturgeon’s long list of failures during her time in office as First Minister.
Finally, some more good news on the sporting front from Johnstone.
Thorn Athletic’s 2006s boys team won the Scottish Cup on Sunday against Blackburn at Airdrie’s Excelsior Stadium.
They won the trophy after a 4-1 victory, watched on by a large and noisy crowd who had travelled through from Johnstone to cheer them on.
So, well done boys – you have made the town very proud.