Press & Journal Opinion

AT LAST, the timetable for the final few weeks of the current government’s reign appears to be mapped out clearly. The announcement yesterday that the chancellor’s Budget will be delivered on March 24 would seem to confirm that the General Election will be held, as widely expected, on Thursday, May 6, with parliament dissolved early next month. While the timetable now appears to be clearer, the strategy Gordon Brown and Alistair Darling will adopt is anything but. Britain is saddled with frighteningly high debt levels, and there can be little doubt that the prudent approach to the Budget would be one which slashes public spending, raises both direct and indirect taxes and increases duty on Labour’s cash cow – alcohol, tobacco and petrol. Were it any other year but election year, that is undoubtedly the approach Mr Darling would take. There are, however, other major considerations for him and Mr Brown to ponder, not least their own, and their party’s, political survival in the wake of a Budget which would be hugely unpopular, particularly with traditional, Labour grass-roots support.

NETWORK Rail is being more than a little disingenuous by demanding that the driving test should include compulsory questions on level crossings. Its chief executive, Iain Coucher, advocates the measure, claiming that 95% of the 3,400 accidents or near misses last year were caused by mistakes by either pedestrians or motorists. Using Mr Coucher’s own statistics, it would appear that some 17 incidents in 2009 were nothing at all to do with pedestrians or motorists. What he did not volunteer was how many of these incidents were caused by the inherent danger of open level crossings, of which the north of Scotland has more than 20. Network Rail has been under constant pressure to instal barriers at open crossings, but is balking at the cost, which it estimates at £1million each. It is all very well for the company to suggest that the driving test should include questions on level crossing safety, but its concern for the wellbeing of the travelling public would appear considerably more meritorious were it first to put its own house in order. Only when it has completed the installation of barriers at all open crossings does Network Rail have the right to lecture the rest of us on safety.

A PREREQUISITE for becoming an MP must surely be the ability to misread the mood of the public. If the expenses scandal was not enough to confirm that our elected representatives are immune to the effects of their actions, then the scheme whereby they can earn medals for visiting British troops in war zones must surely do it.

THE AA has timed its intervention to perfection by challenging Chancellor Alistair Darling to divert some of the money raised from Labour’s latest attack on the motorist to repair the thousands of potholes left behind by one of Scotland’s worst winters for 100 years. The entire Cabinet is currently embarking on its best attempt at a charm offensive, scattering promises like confetti as ministers tour the world in search of votes in the forthcoming general election. With the Government about to announce that it can, after all, replace the woefully inadequate snatch Land Rovers which have been blamed for many deaths in Afghanistan, perhaps there is hope that it might also realise the vote-winning attraction of spending money on this country’s broken roads.

A MONOPOLY is rarely a good thing for the consumer, but now the Tories are making the same point about state schools: how will struggling schools improve when the system allows them to carry on regardless or simply get worse?

STEP aside world darts champ Phil “The Power” Taylor and make way for grannie power, in the shape of Aberdeen darts ace Georgina Anderson, who is still throwing the arrows at 89.

THERE has been a growing suspicion for some time that, despite being saved from going out of business through their own reckless behaviour, it has not been a humbling experience for the banks.

TEENAGER Ashleigh Hall is the latest in a long line of vulnerable young girls to fall victim to the predators who have latched on to the various social networking sites. Ashleigh, who had difficulty finding a boyfriend, was instantly attracted to the handsome 19-year-old boy who posted pictures of himself and flirted with her on Facebook. Their online conversations became more intimate and Ashleigh had no hesitation agreeing when her new friend suggested they meet. It was to cost her her life, for the handsome boy was, in fact, 33-year-old misfit sex offender Peter Chapman, who raped and killed Ashleigh before dumping her body in a field.

KATHRYN Bigelow’s stunning success in the Oscars has all the makings of a blockbuster Hollywood movie in its own right. The little-known woman director’s low-budget film went head-to-head on Sunday with the no-expense-spared movie directed by her famous ex-husband and clinched a host of awards, including the coveted best film and best director accolades.

THERE is nothing quite like jumping from the frying pan into the fire and, after his under-whelming appearance at the Iraq inquiry, Gordon Brown decided to pop up in Afghanistan the very next day.

THE relationship between public bodies, such as local councils, police and health trusts, and the public they serve was turned upside down by the creation of the Freedom of Information Act. Whereas incompetence or wastefulness with public finances could be swept out of sight in previous years, the new legislation gave people the right to know, within certain parameters.

ALMOST half of women confess that their sense of direction is hopeless to the point where many get lost while driving. Most men who have shared a car with their other halves would nod wisely in agreement with that.

Businessman Sir Ian Wood could scarcely have imagined the furore he would cause when he revealed his ambitious plans to turn Aberdeen’s Union Terrace Gardens into a new, street-level, civic square. Sir Ian had committed £50million of his personal fortune towards the estimated cost of the project, believing that it would inject new life into the city centre and improve access to the neglected and little-used gardens.

The farce that is Europe’s farm subsidy regime has been laid bare again after a farming business managed to more than treble the support it receives.

It’s almost time for another stab at the Eurovision Song Contest and, after last year’s creditable fifth place following an appalling run, hopes will be rising this time around.