Talk of the Town: Rough justice for tram project chaos

Published on Wednesday 9 December 2009 09:24

TRAMS firm TIE must know it's up against it when even the second most senior judge in the country can't help but have a dig at the chaos.

In his recent ruling, the Lord Justice Clerk himself – Lord Gill – must have had his tongue firmly in his cheek when he penned this summary of the trams saga so far: "From 1871, tramcars made their way along Shandwick Place. In 1956 the tram lines were dug up in the name of progress and the tramcars were replaced by buses. Between March and July 2008 Shandwick Place was dug up in the name of progress for the laying of a tramway."

Neatly put, M'lud.

The word is councillor's future has been spelled out

COUNCIL deputy health leader Norman Work's recent comments about the amount carers are paid caused controversy.

He said he'd love to get paid the 12.65 per hour that care companies would receive under a proposed new approach to "direct payments".

But some were more concerned by the senior politician's "creative" use of language and grammar during his e-mail exchange with a care provider.

Councillor Work had said, "indecently, I wouldn't mind working for 12.65 an hour," begging the question, what line of work would be "indecent" in his eyes? Another e-mail said that "miss information is branded about as fact", with opposition councillors asking who this Miss Information is.

One councillor said: "Some people have said in the past that the current administration are Philistines. Cllr Work has proved me wrong. Some of them are not that clever."

Dog's dinner

A WOMAN walking with a dog looked slightly embarrassed when the pooch stopped to perform right outside the Queensberry House entrance to the Scottish Parliament.

A Holyrood member of staff going in at the time made some good-humoured remark.

"Perhaps it's a statement," said the dog owner. But thankfully she decided against leaving the statement to make its full impact on MSPs or passers-by.

After all, the parliament outlawed dog fouling – or at least failing to clear up afterwards – in 2003.

A real page-turner

SINCE Mike Russell was appointed as education secretary, newspapers and opponents have been busy digging out remarks he made between 2003 and 2007 when out of parliament.

These include referring to councils as "arrogant, mealy-mouthed and domineering".

Many of the comments were in a book he co-authored with Dennis MacLeod.

Edinburgh West Lib Dem MSP Margaret Smith revealed: "I have not managed to get my hands on a copy yet, it is selling like hot cakes."