Reflections - An interview with SPVR

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Be prepared

Louis Pasteur said that, "Fortune favours the prepared mind" . But in undertaking my Parliamentary duties in Edinburgh, in the constituency or elsewhere, each activity requires preparation. Sometimes that preparation is a quick read of a note prepared by my staff who do much of the heavy-lifting that keeps the Stevenson show on the road. But much has to be personal. The first hour of the day when I read a variety of news media is my filling the brain with things to say when the question requiring an answer is one not previously anticipated. But day to day preparation is a small part of preparation. Ron Rivest was the mathematician in a group of three who developed a viable public key cryptography system. What does that mean? Does it matter you might say? Basically, it allows important, particularly financial, information to travel across the public internet without being either read or modified by anyone other than the intended recipient. When I say public internet, a c...

Discussions at a Distance

The pace of change seems to be stepping up. This week will see me participate in eleven online video discussions, only one of which is social. Two are international discussions centred around COVID-19 and its potential long-term effects. The remainder are Parliamentary. But I think we have further transitions in our mode of working to make. We shall have legislation to progress. And I am deeply concerned that this key part of our duties excludes those of us unable to be present physically. With social distancing rules also restricting the number who can be present in the Chamber, the scrutiny is potentially reduced while we are accelerating the pace at which we make new, albeit mostly temporary, new laws. The risk of error is rising, although I cannot see any yet. Others may. Two difficulties exist that need our attention. We don't seem to be able to run sessions where some members are physically present while others are "dialled in" from home. And yet even Westmins...

Clarity of vision

I remember standing at a bus stop in Aberdeen when I was a student in the 1960s and realising that I could not quite read the destination on the front of the approaching bus very clearly. I did nothing about it. I was 20 years old and immortal. In 1970 the Commonwealth Games came to Edinburgh for the first time. We got tickets for various events. On one occasion we travelled from Linlithgow, where we had not long bought a house, by train. There was a station adjacent to Meadowbank stadium. But it was a slow journey. So when we later attended some of the badminton competition in an evening, we drove in our elderly car. It may have been that there simply were no trains at the required times. I just don't remember. The drive home predated the building of the motorway between Edinburgh and Linlithgow and was a twisty-turnie local road. It was slightly alarming. I found myself seeing two lines in the middle of the road. Not the normal double white line that prohibits drivers from ...

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