"Kelvin Latest" archive 2003

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Holyrood 2007: Candidate Selection

Nominations close on Friday 30th December for potential candidates to contest Kelvin in 2007. This will ensure we have our candidate in place early in 2006. 13/12/05

Kelvin pre-Hallowe'en social

Kelvin SNP are holding a Halloween social on the 22nd of October at the Hut in Andrerston. Starting at 7.30pm, the evening will feature:, the evening will feature:

• Halloween fun and games
• Spooky food
• A scary amount of booze
• A quiz with top prizes (maybe)
• More monkey nuts and turnips than you can fit in Charlie Gordon's spare tyre (not that he's invited)

Tickets are £8 and £5 for concessions. Contact for more details, or just turn up on the night.

6/10/05

G8 Alternatives

The G8 summit in July 2005 will take place in Gleneagles. Thirty years of G8 (previously G6/7) summits have not brought peace and prosperity for the many but have led to further impoverishment for millions of people, undermined basic democratic rights, destroyed the environment and increased global instability.

Kelvin SNP members will be participating in the campaigns and demonstrations surrounding the Summit. These include:

	Sat 2nd July	Make Poverty History demonstration	Edinburgh
	Sun 3rd July	'G8 Alternatives' Counter Summit	Edinburgh
	Mon 4th July	'No Nukes - Our World' blockade	Faslane
	Tues 5th July	'Refugees are Welcome Here' demonstration	Dungavel Detention Centre
	Wed 6th July	'Another World is Possible' demonstration	G8 Summit, Gleneagles

Please for further information, or visit the G8 Alternatives website.

The SNP has published a people's manifesto to Make Scotland Matter. The manifesto focuses on measures to improve the lives of people in Scotland as well as campaigning priorities for the next Parliament.

To find out more, download the manifesto:
• 2005 Manifesto Magazine (1.4Mb PDF)
• 2005 Manifesto Core (175k PDF)
28/4/05

A new website covering the SNP's activities across Glasgow has been launched. The site includes profiles of all the Westminster candidates, as well

as a range of local and national news.

28/4/05

Only Independence will allow Glasgow to release its potential, creating a thriving, 21st century city. Instead of Scotland's oil revenues subsidising legal wars, billions will be spent on improving the city's infrastructure, revitalising health care, tackling poverty and deprivation, ending council tax and giving young and old the opportunity to prosper.

Make Glasgow matter on May 5th by voting SNP; a vote for Glasgow and a vote for Scotland.

Please click on the candidates' photos above to email them. 28/4/05

The SNP has published a people's manifesto to Make Scotland Matter. The manifesto focuses on measures to improve the lives of people in Scotland as well as campaigning priorities for the next Parliament.

To find out more, download the manifesto:
• 2005 Manifesto Magazine (1.4Mb PDF)
• 2005 Manifesto Core (175k PDF)
28/4/05

A new website covering the SNP's activities across Glasgow has been launched. The site includes profiles of all the Westminster candidates, as well

as a range of local and national news.

28/4/05

Please click on the candidates' photos above to email them. 5/12/04

A large turnout of SNP activists were present at a national rally in Glasgow in 2nd October, to defend our health services across the country. Nicola Sturgeon spoke on behalf of the SNP.

Queen Mum's gets 5 Year Reprieve The SNP have welcomed Health Minister Malcolm Chishol's announcement that he is blocking NHS Greater Glasgow's planned closure of the Queen Mother's Maternity Hospital. The hospital will now remain open for at least another five years, when a new hospial is expected to be build combining the functions of the current Queen Mums and Yorkhill Sick Childrens haspitals. The reprieve is a tribute to the efforts of the thousands of people who signed petititons and wrote letters. But there are still many other hospitals across the country facing downgrading or closure, whose fate lies in the hands of the Health Minister. In total a further twenty hospitals across Scotland are currently the subject of reviews on their future operation. Many are being downgraded, while some are being lined up for closure completely. A moritorium is required for all services under threat. We need a clear national strategy in place before any drastic action is taken so we can be sure that no patient in Scotland is going to be at a disadvantage. The SNP have long believed that local health boards should be elected rather than appointed, so that the needs of communities can be properly represented. The SNP will continue to fight relentlessly for hospital services and the communities they serve throughout Scotland. 3/10/04

Another of our popular quiz night's will be held on Saturday 6th November. This will take place in our usual venue, The Hut, 3A Port Street, Anderston, from 7.30pm. See map below for directions. Apart from the quiz, there'll be music, a bar and a bufet. Entry is £5 (£3 low waged).

3/10/04

Rally in Kelvingrove Park against the closure of the Queen Mum's HEALTH Minister Malcolm Chisholm will soon make the final desision on whether or not the Queen Mum's Maternity Hospital is to close. The SNP have been campaigning hard to save the hospital and its unique link with Yorkhill's Sick Children's Hospital. We are encouraging people to write to Mr Chisholm to express their concerns. You can email him directly at malcolm.chisholm.msp@scottish.parliament.uk, or alternatively contact ourselves for further information on our campaign and how you can help save the hospital. 27/6/04

Alasdair Gray Joins Our Campaign The author Alasdair Gray has joined Sandra White MSP as she stepped up the pressure to keep the Queen Mother's Maternity Hospital open. The author of Lanark lives in the West End of Glasgow where the closure threatened hospital is sited but both emphasised the fact that the Queen Mother's treats babies from across Scotland. The two visited the hospital (6th April) to meet with midwives including Sue Forsyth, Head of Midwifery and Unison rep. Sandra White said after the meeting "I felt it was important to hear what the midwives had to say. They, after all, are working at the frontline and it seems nobody is listening to them". Mr Gray said his impression after the meeting was that the midwives were continuing to provide a first class service but that morale was understandably low. 6/4/04

For further information and tickets, please . 18/3/04

Save Yorkhill's Hospitals campaign news

Final Lap in Campaign to Save Queen Mum’s       Rally in Kelvingrove Park against the closure of the Queen Mum's GREATER Glasgow Health Board’s “consultation” into the future of maternity services in Glasgow is now finished. SNP activists from throughout the city have campaigned vigorously over recent months for the retention of all three maternity units in Glasgow. Almost 350 submissions were sent to the health board’s consultation, with a significant number of individual responses coming from SNP members. These can all be viewed on the health board’s website at www.nhsgg.org.uk. The SNP were by far the largest and most visible contingent at a rally in Kelvingrove park a fortnight ago, organised by the cross-party Save Our Hospitals campaign. The health board will make their recommendation on the future of the hospitals on 20th April. This will be passed to Health Minister Malcolm Chisholm to make the final decision. Our campaign is by no means over yet. We are currently handing out postcards addressed to Malcolm Chisholm, at street stalls, outside bingo halls and football matches, and in bars across Glasgow. These have proved very popular, in a campaign which has seen us receive an unprecedented level of public support. 4/4/04 The Queen Mum's has gained international renown as a centre of excellence, due to its direct link with the Yorkhill Sick Children's Hospital. This important link would be lost if the Queen Mum's was to close.   The proposed closure of the Queen Mother's Maternity Hospital helps no-one apart from the Greater Glasgow NHS Board, who want to put financial considerations before people's lives. The proposals to close the Queen Mum's and sell the site to private developers would create a giant "baby factory" at the Southern General, which means many families will have considerably further to travel. The Queen Mum's has won many awards of excellence - no-one can guarantee that standards of individual care, hygiene and medical expertise will be continued at the proposed hospital. Those against the closure of the Queen Mother's Maternity include: Sandra White MSP, who has campaigned vigorously against the closure, Medical experts, who point to the devastating effect the closure of one of Edinburgh's maternity units, Most of all, the women of Glasgow, whose opinions, comfort and safety is being ignored. Sandra White and Kelvin SNP have been mounting a campaign in recent weeks against the proposed closure. The campaign has received a very good response from the public and Sandra has collected thousands of signatures on her petition. Please if you would like to help with the campaign. 22/3/04   Stushie Over Banned Leaflet There was a sizeable SNP presence at a public meeting on 19th January, where 400 consultants, surgeons, academics and concerned parents demanded that their voices be heard by the health board. The health board were accused of gagging staff, as consultant neonatal surgeon Graham Haddock revealed the Yorkhill NHS Trust had produced a leaflet expressing the clinicians' point of view, but which had to be with drawn. In the interests of free speech, you can read the censored leaflet here. 24/11/03

Kelvin SNP have been working with Sandra White MSP in her campaign against the proposals to close the Queen Mother’s Maternity Hospital at Yorkhill. Greater Glasgow Health Board's plans would see expectant mothers from the north and west of the city having to travel through the Clyde Tunnel to the Southern General. It has been suggested that the move is for financial reasons rather than for the benefit of patients. The closure of the Queen Mother's and the eventual transfer of Yorkhill Sick Children's Hospital would free up land for developers worth tens of millions of pounds. See Sandra's press release for further information, or sign the Evening Times online petition. Photo: three month old Stuart Douglas, born in the Queen Mum's, campaigns on Byres Road. 14/10/03

A large SNP presence joined 2000 protestors outside Dungavel Detention Centre near Strathaven on Saturday 6th September, where assylum seekers have been imprisoned for the last two years. The strong public feeling that the centre should be immendiately closed is supported by the SNP. In particular, the imprisonment of children, sometimes for extended periods of time, has been condemned. There are currently 22 children detained within the complex.

Sandra White, who serves on the Parliamentary Group on Refugees and Asylum Seekers, had spoken the previous night at a public meeting in Glasgow. 8/9/03

Following the death of New Labour's Councillor Madge O'Neill of Drumry Ward, a by-election has been called for Thursday 4th September. The SNP's candidate is Bill Kidd, who stood in Anniesland Constituency (which includes Drumry ward) at the Scottish Parliament elections in May this year. Bill is also a former Convenor of Kelvin SNP. This by-election is winnable for the SNP. If you would like to help with Bill's campaign please for details.

Maryhill activist Bill Wilson has decided to stand against John Swinney for the position of National Convenor.

Bill believes he can bring greater democracy to the SNP by returning power to the grass roots activists. He feels that recent election manifestos have failed to promote our existing radical policies for social reform and taxation, and that Independence has been given lower priority than it should be.

John remains confident of victory, and is determined to push through his proposals for internal reform of the SNP including centralised membership and a new constitution.

The leadership contest can only be a good thing. It will allow the SNP to have a proper internal debate about its future direction. 25/7/03

Springburn SNP, who have recently launched their own website, are holding a Treasure Hunt on Sunday 3rd August. It starts at 11am in Springburn Tesco's car park and the aim of the game is to get to the endpoint, answering questions along the way. £5 per person and a car is needed. The entry fee includes food. Contact for more details.  21/7/03

Kelvin Constituency Association recently met to discuss the future organisation of branches within the constituency. It was felt that having five separate branches resulted in too much administration work for office bearers, while campaigns tended to be organised at constituency level rather than by individual branches.

By moving to a three branch structure, the strengthened branches will be in a better position to run local campaigns in their areas. The new structure will also coincide with the proposed new boundaries coming into effect for the next Westminster election.

The proposals were accepted unanimously by the CA, and following approval by the Party’s National Executive Committee the new structure will come into effect as of January 2004. 9/7/03

Scotland Office Abolished Tony Blair's cabinet reshuffle sees the abolition of that great British establishment, the Scotland Office. With very little to do post-devolution Helen Liddell, the last incumbent, apparently spent her time having long lunches and taking french lessons (according to her leaked diary in February 2002). With one Westminster institution removed from Scottish life, now is the time to remove the rest of London Rule and to allow us to run our own affairs in an Independent Scotland. 12/6/03

"But I can't understand
  why we let someone else rule our land,
  cap in hand"
   (The Proclaimers)

The Scottish Parliament and City Council elections are now over, and while Glasgow Kelvin constituency saw a modest swing towards the SNP, nationally both the SNP and New Labour found themselves with fewer MSPs as the voters turned to smaller parties, evidently as a "protest vote".

Yet the existence of such a large protest vote is evidence that the public are unhappy with the current devolution settlement and are ready for change. There are now significantly more MSPs representing the Scottish Independence Cause, spread through the three Independence-supporting parties as well as at least one independent MSP. The coming parliamentary term will see Independence take a front seat as our goal of self government becomes closer and closer to becoming a reality. 6/5/03

Sandra White Re-elected Kelvin SNP's parliamentary candidate, Sandra White, has again been returned as an MSP to serve on the Glasgow Regional List. She will continue to ensure that the interests of the people of Glasgow are best served. 6/5/03

TODAY IS POLLING DAY!
Polls are open until 10pm
If you need a lift to the polling station please 'phone 334 4949
1/5/03

EDUCATION
• Reduce class sizes to a maximum of 18 for P1-3
• End privatisation of school buildings and services
• Scrap student tuition fess and provide a liveable maintenance grant

CRIME
• 1000 more police officers on Scotland's streets
• Preventing crime: Tackling the causes through increased jobs and opportunities
• Fairness for victims
30/4//03

Kelvin SNP's campaign rooms are at 57 Byres Road. Please feel free to call in for further information or to offer your support. You can also phone us at the campaign rooms on 334 4949. 30/4/03

Glasgow City Council is electing its councillors on 1st May at the same time as the Scottish Parliament elections. Kelvin constituency consists of nine council wards, for which we have selected the following candidates:

> Candidate biographies
4/4/03

With Bush and Blair having declared war on Iraq without the agreement of the UN and without having made any justifiable case for military intervention, the SNP along with the majority of Scots has remained streadfastly against the war. Glasgow has been the scene of several large protests and demonstrations against the war over recent days, notably a sit-down protest on the day war was declared, and a march and rally attended by over 10,000 people, on Saturday 22nd March. 23/3/03

For further information and tickets, please email us at . 23/3/03

The controversal Glasgow housing stock transfer finally went ahead on Friday 7th March, after two years of delays and complications, and with unprecedented levels of subsidies and interest free loans from the Scottish Executive. Glasgow Housing Association is the new landlord for the City Council's former 80,000 tenants. The SNP in Glasgow believe that the use of private money to finance the housing stock will cost the tenants dearly in the long run, and that if the stock had been kept in democratic local government control with the debts written off (as has happened now with the transfer) then the necessary improvements to the housing stock could have been carried out far mpore effectively and efficiently.

A judge threw out a plea backed by the Glasgow Campaign Against Housing Stock Transfer, to suspend the transfer pending a judicial review. 23/3/03

"Not In Our Name, Mr Blair"

National March to stop Blair and Bush's war, Saturday 15th February

Nine out of 10 Scots are opposed to war with Iraq but Tony Blair is not prepared to listen to us. The rally on Saturday 15th February was one of the biggest Scotland has ever seen, with estimates of up to 80,000 protestors in attendance including a massive 3000 SNP activists.

The march sealed off much of the centre of Glasgow for several hours, and culminated in a rally outside the New Labour conference at the SECC, at which John Swinney gave an address. 16/2/03

"Not In Our Name, Mr Blair"

National March to stop Blair and Bush's war, Saturday 15th February

MARCH & RALLY in GLASGOW on the weekend of New Labour's Conference in the SECC and co-inciding with Tony Blair's speech. This will be one of the largest mass demonstrations to take place in Glasgow in recent years, with estimates of up to 40,000 people. The event is being organised by the Scottish Coalition for Justice not War. John Swinney MSP, Shadow First Minister & SNP Leader will be speaking at the rally.

Timetable
1000 Assemble Glasgow Green
1100 March off
1330 Surround the SECC and "Jericho Rumpus"
1400 Rally (the SNP's speaker will be John Swinney)
1600 Dispersal from SECC

A large contingent from Kelvin SNP will be present, and many senior SNP figures will also be marching. All members are encouraged to attend.

For further details see the Scottish CND website. 10/2/03

Kelvin SNP Supports the Firefighters



Kelvin SNP were among a 5000 strong crowd who marched through the centre of Glasgow on Saturday 1st February in support of the firefighters. The SNP was by far the largest political group present.

The SNP is opposed to John Prescott's proposed draconian measures to abandon negotiations with the FBU and impose a solution in the fire-fighters dispute. The deputy Prime Minister has concluded the FBU is not serious about reaching a settlement to its dispute.

The Scottish Parliament has already caused the First Minister considerable embarrassment by voting down Jack McConnell's plan to give more power to local authorities in managing pay negotiations and modernisation proposals within the fire service. 1/2/03

In the latest edition of her regular parliamentary newsletter, Sandra White MSP reports on her recent bill for a right of appeal in planning controversies. She also expresses her concerns over the Lab/Lib Executive's proposed cutbacks to Glasgow's A&E services...
MORE > 2/2/03

The festive season always gives us an opportunity to lie back and consider our lives, and how we would like to see the future of ourselves and our nation. Dreaming about an Independent and democratic Scotland is the easy part - making it a reality will require a lot more effort on everybody's part.

Now that we are in the closing stages of an election campaign which will make a real difference to the lives of Scotland's citizens, make it your New Year's resolution to get out and do your bit for your country. Kelvin SNP is stepping up its campaign over the coming weeks. Please to offer your support. 4/1/03