Big round of applause for the boys and girls running Aberdeen City Council for achieving the impossible – almost making me nostalgic for the previous administration.
Not, of course, that I had much time for the last mob but at least they had an air of competence about them.
Hard to say the same about an SNP and Lib Dem partnership that axes the entire budget of the much-loved and life-changing Big Noise Torry kids orchestra only for First Minister Nicola Sturgeon to step in and save it.
That intervention came after justified howls of protest about the cut from within the SNP itself, from Westminster and city MP leader Stephen Flynn on down.
Well, that’s awkward.
It’s not even as if the cooncil wielded the axe on Sistema Scotland – which helps disadvantaged youngsters through music – with deep regret and apologies.
No need to rubbish the work of Big Noise Torry
Nope, the council’s anti-poverty convener Christian Allard decided to give Big Noise a kicking when it was down by saying it had made no impact whatsoever on vulnerable kids in Torry.
Quite a bold statement from a Torry councillor, echoed by his SNP Torry colleague Lee Fairfull.
Delighted that Big Noise has secured funding from the Scottish Government. Hugely important for folk in Torry and glad that we have delivered 🎻https://t.co/KLaFbB3oou
— Stephen Flynn MP (@StephenFlynnSNP) March 4, 2023
It’s also at odds with the numerous times I have seen an orchestra of kids joyfully playing music at a range of events – all of them learning the skill, discipline and dedication that goes with it.
What particularly stuck in my craw was when Holyrood saved the day, Cllr Allard tweeted it was “great news for the young people of Torry”. Hang on while I check how you spell hypocrisy.
Setting a council budget is tough but you have to question targets of cuts
There was no need to rubbish the work of Big Noise. A simple “we don’t have any money, sorry” would have sufficed.
Perhaps those councillors doing down world-renowned Sistema should have taken a leaf out of John Cage’s 4’33” – that’s the orchestral composition that is simply silence.
Sure, trying to set a council budget in these tough times is no easy matter. I wouldn’t thank you for the task.
But you have to question the targets chosen and the effects it will have – swimming pools closed, libraries shut. These are things that enrich lives, especially for kids.
Kids across Aberdeen will now be denied opportunities
Don’t know about you, but I grew up in a library. As a wee boy on a council estate on the Gorgie side of Edinburgh, Balgreen Library was my sanctuary.
It was my gateway to new worlds, new horizons, new possibilities. It was where I first fell in love with the written word and the wonder of boundless imagination. My life was shaped by that experience.
Now there are kids across Aberdeen who will be denied that opportunity and that makes the Granite City all the poorer for it.
Sadly, there doesn’t appear to be a saviour for the libraries or the swimming pools. We just have to take it on trust there really was no choice for our council leaders but to bin them.
However, their judgement is surely called into question when the grown-ups in the political room had to clean up the mess over Big Noise.
We are still in the early days of this SNP-Lib Dem administration – this was their first budget after all.
But after this cack-handed performance, they need to change their tune and fast.
Scott Begbie is a long-time journalist and editor for The Press & Journal and Evening Express
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