Budget Day

Trip to Celtic Connections last weekend was excellent. I'd forgotten how good a venue the ABC in Sauchiehall Street is. Three Blind Wolves were great but Roddy Hart and the Lonesome Fire were fantastic. A very varied set that mixed the best of the sound of contemporary Scottish bands with a sprinkling of Gerry Rafferty and Johnny Cash for good measure. His cover of Randy Newman's Louisiana (1927) was outstanding and I hope he tours a bit more this year, it would be good to see him in Edinburgh.

Back to business this week though and the culmination of many months of work took place today in our annual Budget Debate. Pleased to report that all went well and in a significant departure from centuries of budget setting tradition we managed to adjourn the meeting to consider proposals from other parties and agree that some elements could be incorporated into the Capital Coalition Budget Motion. So some proposals from the Greens and the Tories will now be implemented. Didn't accept anything from the LibDems. Obviously. At the risk of being lazy, all the background details and the link to the Council webcast coverage of the debate can be accessed through Andrew's excellent blog.