Today the Scottish Government was able to progress its proposed changes to our legal system. Despite a rebellion within its ranks.

The abolition of #NotProven verdict and changes to jury sizes and majority are undoubtedly controversial.

I shared some initial thoughts 👇 ⚖️

The massive year long Bill narrowly made it past stage 1. 62 MSPs abstained to 60 in favour. Had they all voted against it (they wouldn’t) it would have fallen and gone back to the drawing board.
Interesting SNP rebellion.
This would never have happened under Nicola Sturgeon.

It’s time for all NATO members to now rise to the challenges we face. The 2.5% commitment is a worthy endeavour.

I'm passionate about tackling prejudice and bigotry. That's something I pride myself on.

But sometimes governments just make bad law. Well-meaning, poorly implemented.

The Hate Crime Act is an example of Holyrood just not listening.

I lived in Sydney for a year and spent many a Saturday afternoon wandering around Westfield Bondi with pals. This is just the saddest and most horrendous thing to happen. Thinking of my friends back in Oz today, and those affected by this horror. bbc.co.uk/news/world-aus…

Heads rolling, fall guys for errors beyond their responsibility or simply had enough of Scottish government officials meddling and messing up.

🤔

Very sorry to learn of this disaster. As Convenor of the Cross Party on Taiwan I send my condolences and thoughts with those affected. Nature never ceases to awe and affect humanity. #taiwan reuters.com/world/asia-pac…

Simple solution: if you don’t want gay marriage, don’t have one. 🤷‍♂️

More taxpayer funded propaganda from the supposedly neutral civil service in Scotland. (Incidentally, Scottish civil servants are part of the UK civil service). Repeated complaints to the Permanant Secretary reaps little more than a letter back. The Civil Service Code is clear:

Why was he sacked? No answer!
If he was sacked why was he paid off? No answer!
How much was he paid? No answer!
Did he sign a gagging order? No answer!

This is beyond a joke now.
#ferryfiasco

I suspect there is more to this story than first meets the eye. Given that it’s all public money, and it’s wholly owned by government, my colleagues and I will be asking questions about the latest episode of this saga. 👇 ⛴️

greenocktelegraph.co.uk/news/24211128.…

There’s so much here to unpick. Public body execs with unlimited credit cards, senior directors knowingly breaking rules, the Board ignores it, Audit Scotland smells something fishy and investigates. The CEO resigns with a huge ££ goodbye. Incredible.
news.sky.com/story/nice-wor…

Today I asked the parliamentary corporate body to investigate if any MSP or MSP group has been complicit in aiding or facilitating the disruptive protests we’ve seen at Holyrood in recent weeks.

Seems like there’s an investigation on the go! 👀

The Scottish Water Industry Commission boss, who resigned after a damning report into serious governance and expenses failings, walked away with 6 months salary according to its Board Chair.

According to publicly available figures that could be around £90K.

Unbelievable.

Anti-social behaviour involving fireworks is on the rise.

The Scottish Government must ensure violent offenders are prosecuted.

👇

I suppose best get the insults in whilst you can Dave. Better politics and all that….. 🤦‍♂️

Ouch 😝

My birthday is always a bitter sweet day. I think of David’s family and friends who must really feel it on the 19th. 2 years have just flown past, but from the tragedy so much love and goodness has been spread and his family have done so much work on raising awareness of CRY.