Helen Martin: Edinburgh's tram fiasco shows the limitations of councillors

FORMER transport convener and Lib Dem councillor Gordon Mackenzie told the tram inquiry that a national transport agency backed by the Government should have led the tram project.
Former city transport convener Gordon MacKenzieFormer city transport convener Gordon MacKenzie
Former city transport convener Gordon MacKenzie

Edinburgh Council, he said, didn’t have the expertise to make complex decisions and the project created local opportunities for political division.

Now where have I read that before? Here, in my own column!

Being a transport convener isn’t necessary to recognise that such a huge undertaking is way beyond the skills of a bunch of local “cooncillors” who can’t even cope with emptying bins.

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Nor can they cope with focusing their budget on necessities. They will claim the planned £3 million cut in our already disastrously inadequate health and social care services, along with hikes in parking permits and charges for brown bin clearance, is down to austerity, rather than idiotic mis-spending on trams.

Anti-wrinkle cream ageism

AT 64 I snort derisively at adverts for stair lifts featuring 40-something, glam models. But 25-year-old model Cara Delevingne’s face promoting Dior’s new anti-wrinkle cream? Ageist and duplicitous!