Nicolson Square - 'No part of the city should be a no-go area'

WHENEVER the authorities take action to restrict liberties they must be pressed to justify their actions.

There can be little doubt though that the decision to make another part of the city a booze-free zone is a sensible one which the vast majority of locals will welcome.

Nicolson Square was given a 100,000 council facelift just two years ago, with new trees, paths and seating introduced to make it a more pleasant environment to be in and watch the world go by.

Yet the money was wasted as far as most people were concerned, because the square just became a more salubrious place for the resident drunks to sit, get boozed up and occasionally fight.

Everyone else gave the square a swerve, or cut through it as quickly as possible on their way to work or the shops.

It goes without saying that this is not acceptable: no part of the city should be a no-go area for honest, council tax-paying citizens.

In 2008, police said they had no plans to impose the same restrictions at Nicolson Square as at nearby Hunter Square.

The rethink is welcome and, unlike blunt measures to curb alcohol which hit everybody (such as minimum pricing), so are surgical efforts to weed out the troublemaking minority.

Honest appraisal?

MUCH of George Foulkes' criticism of the Scottish Parliament will ring true to those who remain disappointed with parts of devolution.

Few would argue with him that some of the millions spent on the Holyrood building could have been better used. Many would agree that the list system which tops-up MSP numbers is imperfect.

He is also right to ask why more talented politicians haven't been attracted. Indeed, if anything, standards have fallen since 1999.

That said, Foulkes perhaps wears rose-tinted glasses when looking to Westminster. Today's party leaders there are shadows of those who have gone before, while its backbenches also remain packed with lobby fodder and ex-councillors.

Foulkes' attitude to Holyrood has always been ambivalent and it won't surprise many that he is bailing out next year.

Which is a shame as he, for one, has brought wit and experience to the parliament - as well, as his latest foray shows, as a healthy appetite for making mischief.