DESPITE some late papering, there can be no doubting that there are major cracks appearing once more in the Lib Dem/SNP coalition running the city – and yet again it's schools proving to be the divisive issue.
Just a fortnight ago, council leader Jenny Dawe said that the "betrayal" felt by her group when the SNP pulled its support for closing 22 schools and nurseries last year would never reoccur, thanks to new "protocols" put in place.
This essential
ly meant SNP councillors were no longer allowed to talk to the press without first having a discussion with her group, so to present a united front.
While David Beckett, the nationalists' education spokesman, has stuck to the deal, SNP group leader Steve Cardownie has had no such qualms.
Wading into the row between Kenny MacAskill, the MSP for Edinburgh East and Musselburgh, and schools chief Marilyne MacLaren, Councillor Cardownie has well and truly nailed his yellow and black colours to the mast: the five schools which need rebuilding can expect no money from his party in Holyrood.
Perhaps more devastatingly for Cllr MacLaren, he added: "I don't want to get involved in calling for anyone's resignation." Not quite a ringing endorsement for his coalition colleague.
There are many, not least Mr MacAskill, who feel Cllr MacLaren is out of her depth as education convener, that she's been too easily led by officials, and her high-handed manner with the general public has won her few friends.
She may also have believed that if she asked often enough, eventually Mr MacAskill's ministerial colleague, Fiona Hyslop, would give in and pay out.
That was never likely to happen, because the SNP in Holyrood has no real, "brick for brick" plans to help local authorities build major new infrastructure. Cllr MacLaren is right when she says that there's "no way any local council can fund very large capital budget projects".
Which, of course, is why the Private Finance Initiative and Public Private Partnerships were introduced – to leverage private money into public sector infrastructure, so it wasn't costing taxpayers massive sums in interest repayments.
However much they were hated for ideological reasons, the fact is that PPPs got things built or refurbished – 25 schools in Edinburgh alone.
Right now, nothing is happening for the five collapsing schools – Portobello, St John's, Boroughmuir, St Crispin's, and James Gillespie's – and it would be surprising if by the end of the term of this administration that had really changed.
Even the plea from the council that a pledge from the Government that some cash could come its way in three years, so the £33 million it has locked away to start the process can be released, is unlikely to move Mrs Hyslop. If the council is forced to go to the open market to borrow the money, taxpayers will suffer.
Should that be the case, then it's the SNP which should be held to account. Mr MacAskill's argument, that if they gave money to Edinburgh, then Glasgow and Aberdeen would also come cap in hand, is surely the relationship between local and central government. It's up to the SNP to ensure there's a workable process by which money can be raised.
The Scottish Futures Trust, supposed to be a cheaper alternative to PPPs, may perhaps prove to be that, but it has already been roundly criticised. More importantly it's nowhere close to being up and running after a year of SNP government.
The figures don't seem to add up either. It's been suggested that the SFT will raise an annual £150m for all infrastructure – not just schools – for the whole of Scotland. Yet the Wave Three schools in Edinburgh alone will cost £165m.
The SNP also claims that the city council has had a fair financial settlement, the capital funding available for the council over the next three years is only £155m.
Mr MacAskill has consistently said that Portobello High (in his constituency) needs a complete overhaul and that the council's just required to put in "an application ... saying what is needed".
Well they've done that, time and again. It's up to you to help them.
Lotta bottleTHE tyranny of the "breast is best" message which forces many new mums into deep despair when they can't get the hang of it could be coming to an end.
It's ridiculous that the very word "bottle" has become so offensive that many ante-natal classes don't even discuss the possibility that such a thing exists. The pressure this puts on new mothers is appalling.
Now, retired midwife – and breast-feeding guru to the stars – Clare Byam-Cook has broken ranks. "The idea that every woman can breast feed because she has breasts is ludicrous," she says.
It is time to stop suggesting that bottle-feeding is a "heinous crime". Mothers should be taught how to do both.
Spiritual heel-ingGOING to church ain't what it used to be. A quick visit to a certain place of worship in Corstorphine last Sunday revealed... well more than I expected.
It seems that if you're a female teenage churchgoer there's nothing more appropriate to wear than thigh-skimming dresses and high gold heels.
If such a dress code was introduced, there would be less concern about getting bums on pews. The places would be packed... with young men at least.
The full article contains 894 words and appears in Edinburgh Evening News newspaper.
