Column July 2007

Published on Thu 26th Jul 2007

Column August 2007

We stop mid way through July for our summer break- so this year saw me home on the 18th with no more airports in sight for the duration.

We managed to fit in a fair amount before that, though, with a group week, a full session down in Strasbourg and then various committees to round things off. Besides the usual meetings, the group week included discussions with Bird Life International and the NFU (about the by-catch of seabirds in fisheries and climate change respectively), and a day in Inverness for an event organised by the Highlands and Islands Equality Forum.

Strasbourg dealt with a number of issues of interest for Scotland, particularly a very detailed report on the future of maritime policy, another on postal services and one on modernising labour law. The week finished for me on a maritime theme as well, with a visit to the Glasgow River Festival and- of special interest- a tour of the Fisheries Protection Vessel, the Jura.

Then came the committees, both Fisheries and Regional Development, with the usual debates, votes and presentations, one of these being a very informative one on the best way of preventing fish being discarded back into the sea- something we are very concerned about because of the waste involved.

After these, it was home to Glasgow but still with a number of commitments to fulfil. I have to confess that the first of these- to attend a day of the Open Golf at Carnoustie- counted rather more as pleasure than work. Since that, there have been speaking to the UK Youth Parliament, visits to European funded employability projects in Glasgow, a meeting at Remploy factory in Hillington, to see what might be done to help avert the threat of closure there, and a radio interview.

Then, after seeing constituents and finalising paperwork in the Glasgow office, it is off to Norway for a week (by ship!), with plans to follow this by some time in Arran and, finally, a few days north of Oban. All the sea air should stand me in good stead for getting back into harness at the end of August.

On these or any other issues, please get in touch, either by email to info@elspethattwoollmep.org.uk or by writing to Suite 5, Second Floor, Olympic House, 142 Queen St, Glasgow, G1 3BU.