Three years late, £389 million over budjet, and already the Scottish Parliament building at Holyrood is dropping to pieces. All jokes about the loose beam swinging precariously over the Tories, it is scandalous that a building which cost so mush of the taxpayes money has hardly lasted two years. It has been a farce since the very beginning. The construction of this hideous building took far longer than it should have, and since opening it has been plagued by problem after problem. Now MSPs are running about like headless chickens trying to find alternative accomodation, with Holyrood unlikely to re-open for another couple of months. Those in charge of the construction should be held accountable for their shoddy building work, and should be ashamed that they have let the people of Scotland down.

Since the deregulation of bus services, many vital routes rely on public subsidy to operate. In my area, First Glasgow has recently emabrked on a series of cutbaks due to lack of subsidy from the Strathclyde Passenger Transport. In my home town of Cumbernauld, half of it's 60,000 residents have had their bus service almost completely withdrawn as it is not subsidised. Meanwhile, SPT intends to invest millions in new electronic timetables at bus stops. I don't see the point in investing such money in these high-tech bus stops which will undoubtedly be destroyed by vandals within half an hour of their being erected while thousands of people are left with little or no bus service because their is no subsidy. If the government is serious about getting people out of their cars and onto public transport, and thus reducing carbon emissions, they must ensure that they provide the appropriate authorities with sufficient funding to subsidise vital bus services. The problem with the privitisation of buses is that companies are free to cut bus services at will even if they leave people stranded. Buses are essential in the battle to reduce polution, and the government must encourage their use by providing sufficient subsidies.

Local authoritites across Scotland have recently announced their increases in council tax for the coming year, and it remains blatantly obvious that this is a totally unfair system which must be replaced. As it happens, my own local authority, North Lanarkshire Council, will increase tax by 3.5%. This is clearly unacceptable, and will result in yet more crippling council tax bills landing on doormats. However, it is even more outrageous when you consider that NLC (and undoubtedly others) have failed to adjust the council tax bands in line with increases in property value, elevating many households into higher bands. In a recent publication, NLC published blatant lies regarding house prices in the region, claiming that the vast majority of households are in band A, and thus most houses in North Lanarkshire are worth below £27,000. Now I don't claim to be any expert on the issue, but I know enough about it to realise that you would struggle to acquire a rabbit hutch for £27,000 these days. Band A tax is now £694 p.a. going up to an astonishing £2,802 in band H. As if the sheer amount of it is not enough, many residents of North Lanarkshire would agree that they do not see the benefits of their tax once it has passed into the greedy hands of the fumbling council. And then there is, of course, the fact that the method of derermining the amount paid in tax is completely unfair. The value of a persons house does not necessarily refletct their income. Local authorities should set tax levels on ability to pay, and not property value.