Cllr. Gavin Ayling

I am slightly reticent to publicise this at the moment given that the BBC just has. But Kiva allows people to lend money to a specific cause in the developing world.

You can choose your cause from a list and, when the money is repaid by the donee, it can be redirected towards other good causes. Unlike charitable giving there are no expenses taken by Kiva and you can choose causes that you believe will help the country in question to progress.

I know it won’t happen, but it should.

The LibDems are being described as ‘KingMakers’ but if the Conservatives in Scotland really believe in democracy, they can ensure the SNP’s power is not watered down by going into coalition with them. A minority coalition of Labour and the LibDems is the last thing Scotland needs and exactly what they did not ask for.

The Conservatives could ensure that Scotland gets to express its opinion in Independence and also show the Scottish electorate whether the SNP is able to run the country as they claim.

Source of table

The announcement by Cameron that the Conservative Party in Scotland is going to be outsourced should enable this freedom. A unionist party is, today, as relevant as would be the Communist Party. Parties should stand on principle — I’ve said it many times since Cameron started abandoning it — but when something becomes irrelevant there’s no sense in hanging onto it. If we were to leave the EU (one can dream) then pro-EU parties would share a similar relevance to the “and Unionist” part of the Conservative Party’s name has today.

Let’s see the SNP and Conservatives work in coalition in Scotland. Let’s see bravery in our parties.