George Washington’s response when asked if he had chopped down the cherry tree has gone down in history.
“I haven’t chopped down the tree,” he replied. “Its cherry delivery system was inefficient so I have stopped the delivery of all future cherries until a new system, better targeted at those without cherries, can be implemented. I will report back in October.”
Welcome, dear reader, to the wacky world of Scottish politics.
Last week, this paper revealed Dundee City Council intends to stop delivering across the board swimmimg lessons, during school time, to primary six pupils, because the current system was inefficient and some pupils spent hours out of the classroom for just a few minutes in the pool.
When asked, the local authority’s response was so unequivocal they even said schools could, potentially, use Public Equity Funding money earmarked for reducing the attainment gap to provide lessons if they so wished.
There was predictable outrage from political opponents of the SNP group that runs Dundee City Council but nary a peep from any of the party’s councillors until Deputy First Minister and education secretary John Swinney said such a use of PEF cash was unacceptable two days later.
In Dundee, the wagons began to circle. The decision to scrap lessons was no longer a cut, instead a redesign of the service to target those who need it most even if the council hasn’t quite decided how it will replace the lessons it is no longer delivering to every pupil in the city.
While teaching kids to swim out-of-school hours may make sense in terms of classroom hours, it is pupils from disadvantaged areas who are likely to need lessons the most. It is not unfair to say they may also struggle with the additional transport and time costs necessary to attend these lessons.
Council leader John Alexander blamed a “communication cock-up” for stating PEF should be used, which is where the matter should probably have ended. Councils are, after all, populated by humans and humans are fallible.
Nevertheless that did not stop the children and families services convener Gregor Murray and predecessor Stewart Hunter taking to social media to decry the whole story as incorrect and maintain the cherry tree is in full blossom. Gregor Murray even went so far as to say the “current system doesn’t work for anyone”, which makes you wonder why it has taken the council so long to do anything about it.
Of course, councillors take their direction from the top.
When Dundee-based MSP Jenny Marra told Nicola Sturgeon they had both enjoyed better opportunity under Thatcher than children do today, the First Minister accused her of admiring Thatcher. It might be a handy way of avoiding the point but makes as much sense as claiming someone who thinks Hitler was worse than Stalin was a fan of the purges.
Such contemptuous disregard of meaning is an insult to the intelligence of voters.
The SNP is busy restating its case for independence but right now it looks like the party’s real legacy might be nothing more than faux outrage, mimsy shrieking and a refusal to take responsibility for their actions.
