Murray's salary: 'This ugly spat revives old and awkward debate'

THE ugly spat over what new Edinburgh South MP Ian Murray does with his councillor's salary might, on the face of it, seem like just another petty political row.

But it speaks not just to opposition parties' concerns about the council's ability to handle its massive budgetary black hole, it also revives the long-running debate about "dual mandate" politicians.

Is Murray right to refuse to forego his council salary, saying the Lib Dem/SNP administration will simply "waste" it? Instead, he says he will draw up a list of charities and pay the money to them.

The bottom line is that Murray could just pocket both salaries until his council by-election later this year, though clearly that would open him to public ridicule.

In the interest of openness, if he sticks by his planned compromise we assume he will be happy to supply receipts. But even then his stance goes against precedent and is clearly just political posturing.

However, Steve Cardownie should have thought twice before condemning Murray in typically forthright and colourful terms. He may have taken umbrage at Murray's assertion that the council would just waste the money, but doesn't the Labour man's plan sound a bit familiar?

A politician with two jobs taking both salaries but giving one away to his own favourite charities?

That's exactly what Cardownie's party leader, Alex Salmond, did for three years with the share of his MSP's salary he took in addition to his wages as First Minister and as an MP.

Proud reminder

HOW many of the millions of shoppers who pass through Fort Kinnaird every year know they may be walking over a significant piece of the city's industrial heritage?

You can still see bricks today across Britain bearing the Niddrie name, in testimony to the bustling works which stood on part of the site for almost 70 years.

Now what is thought to be the last local building made from the distinctive red bricks is facing demolition. Realistically, the 70,000 a year cost of maintaining and guarding the empty Niddrie Mill Primary cannot be sustained.

But it would be very sad if some way cannot be found to breathe new life into what should be a proud reminder of the area's productive past.