Gaelic education - 'The complaint is a distraction from main issue'

IT is easy to understand why supporters of expanding Gaelic medium teaching in Edinburgh want Councillor Marilyne MacLaren removed from her key role in reviewing provision.

The city's education leader is a combative politician who will fight her corner vigorously and the national Gaelic development agency, Brd na Gidhlig, feels, rightly or wrongly, that she is not on its side.

The complaint about her alleged comment about "segregation", though, is simply a distraction from the main issue at hand.

After all, isn't some form of segregation central to the whole idea of creating a dedicated Gaelic medium school in the Capital?

What should perhaps worry the relatively small number of parents who back the plans more is Cllr MacLaren's attitude to the cost of creating the new school or expanding the existing Gaelic medium unit at Tollcross Primary.

Council officials estimate the cost of Gaelic education will rise by up to 4.3 million over eight years if they decide to go ahead with the separate school. Cllr MacLaren is on record as being mindful of the impact that these extra costs would have on the education of children in other city schools which would be deprived of funding as a result.

In the current climate that concern could lead to the Gaelic plans being shelved. But that concern is precisely the reason why Cllr MacLaren is the right woman to continue to head up this review.

Room for optimism

the growing number of empty shops in the city centre and particularly the west end has to be a concern, but not a surprise.

The double whammy of tram works and the economic downturn were always bound to take their toll on large parts of the Capital's shopping districts.

But we should not be too downhearted about the city's prospects for bouncing back. Among the shops lying empty in Princes Street alone are the former Marks & Spencer which is being turned into a Primark and the former Waterstone's and Gap stores, which are also being redeveloped.

Besides, once again the Capital has not been as hard hit as most other parts of the country, with a larger share of shops lying empty in the average Scottish and UK high street than there are in Edinburgh.

And there is another reason for the hard-pressed traders in the West End to look towards the future with optimism - the tram works cannot go on forever, no matter how much it feels like they might.