Report to the People
21st July 2003
Dispelling the Dangerous Myths
You’re
not going to believe this one.
There
is a myth, currently doing the rounds in the organic coffee shops of
Morningside, that anti-social behaviour is a menace that politicians have
manufactured for electoral purposes. And,
the excited patrons tell you in between mouthfuls of carrot cake, the
forthcoming Bill aimed at cracking down on the selfish thugs is just empty
posturing.
I’ve
heard it said that a little knowledge is a dangerous thing. And
I think I know what they mean: if anyone came out with that sort of offensive,
ill-informed claptrap in Greenock, they wouldn’t last five minutes.
But
while you and I can see right through this politically correct nonsense, a real
danger lurks. With the Scottish
Executive currently consulting on what shape the Anti-Social Behaviour Bill
should take, we have to make sure it’s the views of those who know what
they’re talking about – the decent people whose daily lives are made a
misery by anti-social behaviour, rather than the liberal elite who just read and
write about it – which take precedence. We
cannot let this most important of issues be hijacked.
That’s
why it was a so good to see Communities Minister, Margaret Curran, coming to
Greenock last week as part of the consultation. It’s in communities like ours where she will hear the real
story.
Although
the meeting was very well attended (we sent out the invitations at very short
notice and some 60 people still managed to attend) the debate was calm,
considered and constructive. That’s
not to say, however, that it was without emotion.
Some of the stories people related would break even the hardest of
hearts. In fact, I wish those who
criticise these plans as a cosmetic solution to an invented problem could have
been there. I wonder if they’d
have still thought it was all in our minds then.
Today we have a golden, perhaps once in a lifetime, opportunity to change the law and make our community safer and stronger. But we can’t blow it.
The
voices of places like Inverclyde need to be heard loudest.
And that’s not just up to me as your MSP, or even to the people who met
and put their views to the Minister last Thursday.
It’s up to every single one of you cares about this community.
Having your say is quick and easy. You can get a questionnaire on the consultation, or a copy of the document itself, simply by calling my office on 791820.
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