ELECTION FEVER. Hold the Twelth Page


At long last the Berwickshire is devoting some attention to the forthcoming Scottish elections.Page 12, no less. And at last there is some mention of the Scottish Borders Council hustings. With only 4 candidates for three seats in East Berwickshire the elections will be Berwickshire's answer to Big Brother with one house mate to be voted out and the other three living happily ever afterwards. One if the four is a very local person-Mrs Aileen Orr, Farmer O's spouse who is only a stone's throw (No, don't take that either literally or as statement of intent) from down town Hutton. She is also a candidate for the Scottish Parliament and I suspect has added a second string to her bow as it seems unlikely she can overturn the Lib Dem majority and unseat Euan Robson.

Given that David Raw (Lib Dem) and the sitting councillor from Lamberton Michael Cook (Independent) are likely to top the poll in EB that will leave Mrs Orr and Jim Conundrum Fullarton locked for survival for the third seat. Tactical voting will be very important here with the single transferable vote system in operation. Huttonian's advice is that you only vote for people you would really like to see returned.

Looking ahead to the next Community Council post the SBC elections it remains to be seen which of the three councillors are allocated to us as an ex-officio member. Will we be stuck with Jim -can't- fix -it or will it be the most local person if Mrs O is successful? There is a good case for not having a too local person on board-obvious clash of interests especially a farming person in a farming community with greedy developers hovering around.

Will the Community Council have any choice in the matter?

I note from Mrs Orr's stirring address to the electors (still on Page 12) with the usual SNP targets of the war in Iraq and Afghanistan (why Afghanistan?-do the Taliban resonate with the poor hielanders of Culloden?)Trident, the Scottish Parliament building-wrong one in wrong place apparently and Jack McConnell that there is no mention of Scottish Independence.

Now that is a good start. I hope she can carry Mr Salmond with her  ¶ 2:32 PM