Broon in Troon for Party Conference

The seaside capital of the Scottish western riviera welcomed the Scottish Conservatives for their Annual Conference - the first under the leadership of Ruth Davidson.

Thursday to Saturday of sun, sand, sea and political anoraking was the agenda.

Kicking off, we had the Deputy Chairman's Reception followed by Pre-Conference Dinner, hosted by David Mundell MP.  What a treat we had as guest speaker in the shape of Rory Stewart MP, the Member of Parliament for Penrith & the Border.

Natural retiral to the bar - I had my fill of Vitamin C - and a late night was had by many of the delegates.

There was an early morning shock to many systems as all Council Candidates were invited to an 08.30h meeting to discuss the forthcoming election battle.  For such an early start, there was a huge buzz about the place. 

Maybe it was the meeting or the impending arrival of the Prime Minister to Conference! 

David Cameron spoke to Conference with such passion towards the preservation of the Union and how Scotland & the United Kingdom as better off together. 

Good friend Iain McGill, Chairman of Edinburgh North & Leith opened up the economy debate shortly after - a tough act to follow - but the lad done well!

After a visit to the Daily Telegraph debate - hosted by Alan Cochrane, the paper's Scottish Political Editor, it was back to the main hall for the Local Government Session.

In this session, I was privileged to be asked to deliver a speech to conference. 

Localism and my campaign were the key topics of my speech which was well received from delegates, senior party members and even neutral observers from the media.  

The Rally for the Union debate finished the day as the Conservatives continue their fight to stave off Salmond's Separatists.  Here I am with Ruth and fellow Unionists showing we are 'Together for Good'.

Another dinner in the evening was enjoyed, this time with Rt Hon Lord Lang of Monkton as the guest speaker. 

The food in the Barcelo Marine Hotel in Troon was pretty decent to be fair.

One of the highlights of the Scottish Conference, is 'The Blue Review'.  This is billed as a cross between Have I got News for you and They think it's all over' - only funnier....

Jackson Carlaw was once again the man in the middle, having the packed room in fits of laughter. 

It must also be recorded that the event raised in excess of £1,000 for the Combat Stress charity.  Well done all.

The night slipped into early morning, with somewhat bizarre tweets from the SNP's Joan McAlpine keeping all and sundry amused.

Up and at them early Saturday and as the Police arrived in their wagon-load and the Horses were put on patrol on the beach, the Conference awaited the arrival of the Home Secretary, the Rt Hon Theresa May MP.

May, famed for her love of shoes, didn't disappoint:

Theresa spoke very well indeed, despite almost losing her voice midway through her speech.  Part of her delivery focussed on myth-busting - putting the Nats in their place.

May told the hall, "The Scottish National Party is not made up of nationalists. Nor should we see them as patriots. As David Cameron said yesterday how dare the SNP claim patriotism for Independence alone? Is not everyone in this room a patriot? No, the SNP are not nationalists. They are separatists."

A standing ovation for the Home Secretary then a wee while later, she was back up on stage, this time introducing Leader of the Scottish Conservatives, Ruth Davidson.

Boosted by some 2,000 new members having joined since the time of the Leadership election, Ruth took to the stage to deliver a barnstorming speech telling of the work being carried out within the party to take it forward, including the announcement of new Policy Board.

Ruth continued where the Prime Minister and the Home Secretary left off, by telling Alex Salmond how it really is. 

"Alex, get back to your desk, get on with the job you were elected to do." has a great ring about it. Businesses, public services and the people of Scotland are being ignored, abandoned and neglected by Salmond's Separatists.

It is time to get out there ahead of May 3rd to tell people that a victory for the SNP at the Council elections would be claimed by them to be a vote to break up Britain. 

We are the true party of localism and REAL devolution.  We won't stand on a one-trick pony policy. 

Our Union is a partnership.  

A strong Scotland in a strong Britain. Together for Good.

Foul play calls for Doggy DNA

One familiar theme I am, erm, picking up on the doorsteps is that of dog fouling.  Yes, pesky pooch poop is really getting on residents nerves and it appears, their shoes and buggies.

The vast majority of dog owners out there, as we all know, are responsible and will bag it and bin it.  Some may bag it and lay it beside the bins but thats another matter or another day.  The Dog Fouling (Scotland) Act 2003 was brought in to help deal with this and give local authorities have to right to issue fixed penalty notices.

Last year, after reading about a scheme in a suburb of New York, I was interested in the programme being run there which saw DNA samples being taken of the poo which would allow the guilty party to be tracked down and dealt with accordingly.

Therefore, could you imagine my surprised and delight last week when I read not one, but two articles from the UK where local authorities have been considering this very topic.

Hyndburn borough council in Lancashire are in discussions with a forensic vet over plans to analyse dog dirt found on pavements and in parks according to a report in the Telegraph, whilst even closer to home in the village of Castletown in Caithness, a similar scheme is being investigated.

Greater visual deterrents are required to highlight (I still can't believe people have to reminded, but lets go with this) to prevent irresponsible owners from just leaving it on the pavements and in the parks.  Perhaps I would tone it down a notch from Hastings Borough Council's poster campaign of 2010 however, getting the kids in the local primary schools to design a poster or two to put up in the area would be a great start.

What is also clearly needed is education over the reasons why it is vitally important to pick up after your dog has done its business.  Toxocariasis, for example, is a potentially lethal disease carried in dog faeces which can also blind.

The practicalities of imposing a scheme like this in somewhere as big as Edinburgh would be subject of course to some fine tuning - and it's likely to be a voluntary basis with a database needing to be drawn up and costs worked out.  Perhaps there could be a trial in a ward within the City or one of the four Neighbourhood Partnership areas.

It will be interesting to see how the other local authorities move on with this and if elected, I'd like to look at this again in greater detail.

Until then, if all the good guys out there could tell the bad guys to bag it and bin it and the Environmental Wardens continue to patrol the City, then we are continue to fight against faeces.

Cats, Cars and Toads - Caring Conservativism in action

It's been some weekend on the campaign trail. 

Whilst my namesake from Fife once claimed to have saved the world , I've saved a couple of potentially catastrophic calamities whilst out delivering my resident's survey over the past 48 hours.

Down in South Gyle on Saturday, I was met by a young mum with her wee kid & whilst discussing the issues surrounding dog fouling in the area, something caught her eye.  "Is that car moving?" she enquired...

Like Ussain Bolt out of the blocks, this retired rugby prop forward made an emergency dash to halt the runaway motor from careering into a park car.  I made it with inches to spare!  Phew. 

A grateful resident came out to secure the handbrake and off I went to finish my delivery run.

Today, it was the turn of the Toad.

Yip, there was a toad on a wee Sunday sojourn to the Craigmount part of the ward.

Blissfully unaware of the dangers around it, our wee amphibian friend just sat there minding its own business.

Thankfully, lets call him Tory Toad, was grateful for the assistance in getting him back onto the grassy verge away from danger.

Regular viewers of my Twitter feed will also recall a couple of weeks back when I saved a cat from being the cause of a certain crash and a potentially poor outcome for the moggy.

The big question is - will I carry this luck with me to the ballot box on May 3rd?

I'll be out on the hunt to cross as many black cats over the next 53 days of campaigning....

Ensure you get the chance to vote!

Now is the time to ensure you can vote in future elections.

There are of course the local council elections -  coming up on May 3rd.  But first, if you want to be put on the electoral register - or check to see if you are on, read on.

• How do I check if I am on the electoral register? Click here.
• How do I get added to the electoral register? Click here. Download the form here.
• Who is eligible to vote at the May local council elections? Click here.

The register is maintained by the Lothian Valuation Joint Board - whose site is here. (The 'Joint' part of that title refers to representatives from the four Lothian local authorities - East Lothian, Midlothian, West Lothian and Edinburgh.)

More on postal voting very soon....

Edinburgh Conservative Council election candidates announced

The full card of Conservative candidates for the Council election in 2012 is now available. There will be new faces in the Conservative group after May, as we see long serving councillors Alastair Paisley (Pentland Hills) & Kate MacKenzie (Almond) standing down, along with Gordon Buchan (Fountainbridge/Craiglockhart).

We're confident of gaining seats on the new council, and every seat is being worked hard & is in play. Despite initial bluster from the SNP no party has put forwards enough candidates to win an outright majority - but I'm hopeful our group will be larger than last time, & that we will be part of the administration getting Edinburgh back on track come May. The city has surely had enough drift over the last 5 years of SNP/Lib Dem shenanigans.

You can follow fellow candidates on Twitter via the @ names provided.

Ward 1 - Almond
Lindsay Paterson @LSPaterson

Ward 2 - Pentland Hills
Dominic Heslop
Sheila Low

Ward 3 - Drum Brae / Gyle
Mark Brown @Mr_Mark_Brown

Ward 4 - Forth
Allan Jackson

Ward 5 - Inverleith
Scott Douglas @scottdouglas_
Iain Whyte

Ward 6 - Corstorphine / Murrayfield
Jeremy Balfour

Ward 7 - Sighthill / Gorgie
Susan Dewhurst

Ward 8 - Colinton / Fairmielhead
Elaine Aitken
Jason Rust

Ward 9 - Fountainbridge / Craiglockhart
Will Searle @willsearle

Ward 10 - Meadows / Morningside
Mark McInnes

Ward 11 - City Centre
Jo Mowat

Ward 12 - Leith Walk
Miles Briggs

Ward 13 - Leith
Nicola Ross

Ward 14 - Craigentinny / Duddingston
Jason Lingiah @jasonlingiah

Ward 15 - Southside / Newington
Cameron Rose @cameronrose

Ward 16 - Liberton / Gilmerton
Nick Cook

Ward 17 - Portobello / Craigmillar
Henry Christian @HarryHatless

Election update - Eventful day in the Candidates stakes...

It's been an eventful day in the Drum Brae / Gyle election contest.

As I blogged last Wednesday, SNP Candidate Elaine Morris announced her intention to withdraw from the contest due to ill health.  The Evening News today run with the story which contained the names of the TWO candidates selected to replace her.

Hoping across town after being de-selected from his Pentland's seat is Cllr Ron Cairns and joining him in the Nats corner is Alison Lindsay, who was previously a Cllr in Clackmannanshire from 1999-2003 and has stood (and stood down) in previous Holyrood elections.

The Greens have also announced their intention to seek election and have selected seasoned campaigner Linda Hendry who stood in the 1992 General Election in Edinburgh West gaining 0.5% of the vote and was 4th on their 2011 Holyrood Election Central Region List.

Lib Dems Cllr Robert Aldridge is the only incumbent looking to retain their seat (well, in this ward anyway!) and also standing is Labour's Karen Keil.  There's still a couple of weeks for others to put their hats in the ring...

Oh, and there of course is me!  I'll be concentrating on my campaign as normal, fighting the cause for the citizens of Drum Brae / Gyle as I have done with much enjoyment & success so far since my selection.

Blogger Dan Phillips has posted another piece on what could be one of the more interesting wards come the count at Meadowbank on May 4th.