Local Newspaper Column - September 2005

Published on Fri 23rd Sep 2005

September - which really began for me on the 29th of August - has been an even busier month than usual.

The first week involved meetings in Brussels from Monday to Wednesday, the opening of the "Children 1st" new West of Scotland regional office on the Thursday and a fisheries stakeholders' meeting in Inverness on the Friday.

The second week started with a Strasbourg session, where we debated anti-terrorism measures, childrens' medicines, mining waste, action to prevent natural disasters and the electronic surveillance of fishing activities. The issue that hit the headlines, though, was whether we would include natural rays (i.e. sunshine) as well as artificial ones in a measure to protect workers from their effects. The week ended enjoyably on Friday afternoon, talking to youngsters at a Glasgow primary school.

The third week involved leaving home on Sunday to spend the next two days on a fisheries committee visit to Devon and Cornwall (there's clearly a much greater variety of fish caught down there than around Scotland), followed by a normal meeting of the committee in Brussels, including a discussion of my own report on women's networks..

Come Thursday evening it was to Edinburgh and a "round table" at Holyrood on matters European. Friday morning brought a visit, along with two other MEPs, to a call centre near Dunfermline. The afternoon saw me in Edinburgh again, sticking on labels for the Livingston by-election.

The fourth week produced Blackpool and our party conference. I was really pleased to get the opportunity to speak in the debate on the Future of Europe, as there were far more people wanting to contribute than the time slot allowed. By Friday (Livingston) and Saturday (Cathcart), though, it was back in by-election mode and out with the leaflets.

The final week is a Strasbourg one: with renewable energy, train passengers' rights, territorial cohesion, cutting red tape and road safety on the agenda, concluding with a Cancer Care coffee morning in East Dunbartonshire.

I seem to have accounted for five weeks in a month of only thirty days but, given what has been crammed into them, perhaps I have some excuse.