Martin Hannan: Real gathering storm is trams

Published on Monday 28 February 2011 09:55

There are lies, damned lies, statistics, and then there's spin. To listen to the spinning of opposition politicians on Edinburgh City Council in the last few days, you would think that council leader Jenny Dawe and deputy leader Steve Cardownie have committed a crime so heinous that they should be immediately lashed to a tumbril and then guillotined.

Those bastions of morality the Labour and Conservative parties are energised because they think Councillors Dawe and Cardownie have been caught telling lies about the ill-fated clan Gathering to a committee of the Scottish Parliament who appeared to prefer the evidence of the council's media managers to that of the its two most senior elected members.

Jenny Dawe presumably can look after herself, and I know my fellow SNP member Steve Cardownie is more than capable of defending his views - he was, after all, the Hearts fan who defied Wallace Mercer when he tried to make a snuff movie with Hibs as the victims.

Neither needs my help, but having examined the evidence - the testimony of all concerned about the press release at the heart of the Gathering issue - and being well aware that the council's media department are in possession of some "interesting" e-mails, my conclusion is simple.

There was no conspiracy here, no attempt at a cover-up. There was a cock-up, a mistake, and somewhere along the line, confusion emerged as to what was said about what and by whom. No lies, just muddle.

I know people who lost painfully serious amounts of money when the Gathering went bust, so in no way will I belittle the issue. But the bottom line was that the losses were in six figures.

Compare that loss to the sheer magnitude of the bills which this city faces for the trams project. Hundreds of millions are being spent on a tram system which simply will not be that which was promised. The Scottish Government says it will pay no more, so if the project is completed, the cash for it will come from the pockets of the citizens of Edinburgh.

Could it be that Labour and the Tories are making so much fuss about this Gathering "credibility" issue because it neatly detracts from the truth that they and the LieDems were the parties which foisted the ruinous trams project upon the city? On doorstep after doorstep, canvassers for the various parties in the Scottish parliamentary elections keep hearing the word "trams" and my fear is that the SNP has not succeeded in getting over the message that the biggest fiasco in the city's history was due to the other parties.

The SNP council group's big mistake was to concede defeat on the issue back in May 2008, which allows the decision to proceed to be portrayed as unanimous, but the key decision was that taken on funding by the Scottish Parliament when all the other parties ganged up to defeat the SNP's motion to cancel the project.If Jenny Dawe and Steve Cardownie are proven to have lied about the Gathering they will have to resign, not least because the Tories seem determined to force a vote of confidence on the issue. But I can't see any lies in their statements.

On a much more expensive issue, however, let's start asking who has been economical with the truth over the trams. What did Labour and the Tories know about Bilfinger Berger before they brought the contractors in? Who knew about previous "problems" which the authorities in various countries had with the company? If no-one knew, then why not?

Why were contracts signed so hurriedly? Was proper due diligence done? If so, why did the council's professional advisers not ring some alarm bells about Bilfinger Berger? Just exactly who sanctioned high salaries and extra payments?

I strongly suspect vastly more lies were told and are still being told about the trams than were ever spouted over the Gathering. Let the liars beware - truth will out.

Not-so-smart casual

MIDNIGHT on Saturday at the always busy junction of the High Street and the Bridges. A bunch of pathetic, albeit well-dressed, young men and teenagers start a battle royal, during which a pint tumbler is thrown which splits the head of one lad. In the midst of the melee, which spreads to involve innocent people standing outside the Bank Hotel, the dreaded cry goes up: "CCS".

For those not in the know, the letters stand for Capital City Service, the dreaded "casuals" linked to Hibs who were such an abomination in Edinburgh and elsewhere two decades and more ago.

It seems the casuals are back in a new generation, with the present young scum being encouraged by balding fortysomethings anxious to recapture the "glories" of their past.

The casuals I saw on Saturday night were nothing more than cowardly filth who ran in, threw a punch, and ran away, as always. As soon as the police came near, they scarpered, fortunately leaving only cuts and bruises, though the tumblered fellow did appear more badly hurt.

What an image they created of Edinburgh, rolling about on the Royal Mile. Not nice, not nice at all.