Views

Our troops need to be looked after - for the Inverness Courier

LAST week at Westminster I was pleased to have the chance to attend an event hosted by the British Legion to launch their manifesto for the general election.

Manifestos are normally associated with political parties, but the Legion has produced important proposals of its own, backed up by a nationwide campaign across all parties, to show how much the issues facing current and retired servicemen and women deserve to be given attention in the campaign ahead.

In an all too brief era when our military commitments at home and overseas were decreasing, the uncomfortable truth is that we neglected the important covenant which should govern the relationship between armed forces and the civilians they ultimately protect.

Now - after costly missions in Iraq and Afghanistan - we urgently need to make good that neglect.

As the Iraq inquiry continues, and with the then Chancellor's appearance to come, there is a potential for the focus to be drawn solely onto battlefield equipment and technology.

It is plainly unacceptable that we should ever put our troops in the line of fire without the right kit to do their jobs.

But I hope the Legion will succeed in pointing out that the armed forces are first and foremost about their people.

It is a lot less glamorous to spend resources on paying our troops properly and providing adequate accommodation for their families.

It is perhaps less glamorous still to provide proper support after their active service has finished, with accommodation, finding a job and staying healthy.

But that is precisely the kind of commitment needed from us - first and foremost on moral grounds, but also for good operational reasons.

I hope that when the inevitable tough spending choices come, there will be more emphasis on the welfare of our troops overall and a lot less on "status symbol" hardware like the planned Trident replacement.

SUPPORT FOR THE YOUNG

Few have not been affected by the economic problems caused by the banking collapse.

It is hard to generalise about where the worst effects have been felt.

One thing that can be said is that a particularly severe burden tends to fall on the youngest generation emerging from full-time education and needing to find jobs.

Apart from the financial hardship some will face, it is a demoralising experience not to find the first rung on the employment ladder.

Research on previous recessions has shown that the economic fortunes of young people held back in this way, through no fault of their own, often do not recover fully even when the economy as a whole bounces back.

Research my colleagues in the Scottish Parliament carried out more recently showed that right across the country colleges are receiving more applications than ever and record numbers have been turned away.

At Inverness College the waiting list has risen by 50% in a single year to 162.

I am pleased that last week the finance secretary diverted extra funds to give those people a chance.

There is much that is still wrong with the new budget - including significant wasteful spending on central belt SNP quangos such as the Scottish Futures Trust, which has yet to justify its existence.

But after winning concessions for our colleges, to support post office branches and help small business while bank lending remains hard to come by, it was right that we allowed the budget to pass.

PRIDE IN OUR CITY

The nomination of Inverness for the so-called Carbuncle Award by an architects' magazine has already generated a lot of comment. I do not think anyone would deny that bad mistakes have been made in the design of buildings in our city in past decades. From my office on Huntly Street, the beauty of the Inverness riverfront is easy to appreciate.

But the mistakes are also plain to see, towering over the old Courier office. The era which those buildings come from should give any architect or town planner pause for thought.

But that era happened everywhere else, too, and there are high-profile mistakes in Edinburgh, Glasgow, Dundee and many places besides.

The Highland Capital has unique attractions, both natural and man-made. Our riverfront is the finest in any Scottish city by some distance and we should make more of it. The Ness Islands, the Bught and Tomnahurich provide peaceful green space within walking distance of the centre.

Thomas Telford's canal and the revitalised sights of historic Church Street give us plenty more to shout about.

There is a lot we can improve on - the changes to Church Street should remind us of that. But we can only hope to preserve what we already have if we are willing to recognise it and to take pride in our city.

Posted on: 09/02/2010