The importance of Scotland’s voluntary sector

Neon sign saying Do Something Great

It was great to see that the mini-profile of Lothians List MSP Kezia Dugdale in the weekend papers stated that she is keen to focus on improving things for the voluntary sector.  As someone who previously worked for an environmental NGO, and spent as much time scrabbling around trying to raise my own salary as I did on campaigning, I can confirm that a shake-up of the funding system for the third sector would be very welcome.

In the SNP Manifesto section on the voluntary sector they certainly seem to be saying all the right things, but it’s important that MSPs from across the parties keep up the pressure on the new Scottish Government to actually deliver their promises.

I’m hoping that cross-party support for a strong voluntary sector will be good news for an Edinburgh organisation very dear to my heart – the Pregnancy and Parents Centre. Continue reading

Reflections of a resting Scottish Green Party activist

A silhouette of a hand placing a vote into a ballot box

This day four years ago, I’d been up since 6am. I’d spent an hour driving round Edinburgh to put A-Boards up outside polling stations, before standing outside Barclay Church all day with my rosette on – chatting to a young Tory and smiling at voters in the hope it might persuade them to vote Green. When the polls closed I grabbed some dinner with DorkyDad, and we headed out to Ingliston for a long and depressing night at the Lothian count.

Today, I’ve been up since 6am. I spent an hour making breakfast, playing with trucks and reading books to DorkySon, before toddling up the road to go and vote.  When the polls close I will probably be tucked up in bed, although if DorkySon wakes up at 2am and shouts for me to tuck Peter Rabbit’s toes back in, like he did last night, I may well have a sneaky peek on my iPad to see what results are in. Continue reading