Steve Cardownie: Being a councillor is not as easy as it seems

After the recent flurry of activity at the City Chambers, where two members of the SNP group left to become independents, matters seemed to have settled down and no further movement is anticipated (although this is the world of politics, so I suppose anything can happen) and the current coaltion is looking forward to its next year in office.

No one can deny that it has been a turbulent year for the SNP but after its short spell of blood-letting it will be anticipating sailing in calmer waters as it attempts to apply manifesto commitments along with their coalition partners, Labour.

It could be argued with some justification that the administration has been ploughing on regardless and that the recent defections are merely a sideshow which has not caused the coalition to deviate from the course it set last year.

But opponents will be gleefully looking out for clouds on the horizon and it will be up to the members of both coalition parties to ensure that the weather forecast continues to predict sunny conditions as any further squalls may be met with an unwelcome response which may consist of more positional exchanges that could threaten the direction of travel.

For all new councillors – it’s not as easy as it looks, eh?