Edinburgh Evening News - Politics - Free buses and free parking!
You look at the title of the story and think it sounds great. Start reading the article and it goes on to talk about free access to Edinburgh leasure facilities, 10 minutes free parking, and 2 weeks of free travel.

Sounds great - then you read on…

Edinburgh leasure facilities will be free for three months if you start paying your council tax by direct debit. If your already paying by direct debit then you do not qualify. In the unlikely event that labour does implement this I’m switching to pay by cash…. Edinburgh Leasure is supposed to be run as a seperate independant company seperate from the council. Now it appears to be an extension of the labour party.

2 Weeks Free Travel - if you buy a yearly LRT bus pass you’ll get 2 weeks “free”. Hardly free is it - how can you get 2 weeks free when you pay for year anyway. They could have said you get 51 weeks free and you pay for only 1 week. £444 This year, what’s the betting it’s more than that next year even with the 2 weeks free. Again LRT is supposed to be an “arms length” company - didn’t realise it was owned by the labour party.

10 Minutes free parking - if you buy 30 mins parking you’ll now get 40 mins. Or in other words if you pay 30 pence for 30 mins now, you’ll probably pay 40 pence for 30 mins after the elections and get 10 mins for “free”.

All in all it’s just a big con. Some folk will just read the headline and believe it.

The Scotsman - Politics - First Minister McConnell or is it O’Connell?

You coudn’t make it up…

First Minister McConnell or is it O’Connell?
JACK McConnell’s low-profile role in Labour’s poll campaign was laid bare last night after Patricia Hewitt, the UK Health Secretary, twice got his name wrong on Scottish Television.
Ms Hewitt had been trying to praise the First Minister’s leadership in banning smoking in public places ahead of England’s health drive. But in scenes repeated on national news bulletins, she twice called him Jack McDonnell.
The SNP said the gaffe proved Mr McConnell was the “invisible man of Scottish politics”.
And BBC News 24 made matters worse when, during its broadcast of Ms Hewitt’s mistake, the channel captioned the First Minister as Mr “O’Connell”.