Jockeys of the Glacial Thoroughfares,

The minority SNP government are having trouble in passing their budget through parliament and rather than debating properly and making concessions as a minority government should expect to, they’ve gone public with their strop. The public will never hear the full story or know the extent of the negotiations but using my experience of watching The West Wing, I can draw a frivolous comparison and say that the politicians really have to work hard to achieve a compromise that is the best for the people, Josh Lyman and the cranky old senators always seem to manage it.

Of course, I’m in an unusual position within society so I don’t really experience some of the changes governments make. One clear change I have noticed this winter in the Kingdom of Fife is the lack of attention the SNP council have paid to treating icy roads. I don’t think it should be too difficult to read weather forecasts then incorporate a cautious margin for error in their gritting schedule. The roads this winter have been absolutely atrocious and I believe the change in attitude coincides with the new SNP regime in Fife Council. A few years ago, the council used to treat roads and pavements, these days, we are lucky if they treat a few of the roads. Quite often pedestrians have had to abandon the slippery pavement and walk on the roads because they are marginally less icy, I don’t blame the public for doing so but this introduces further dangers to the roads for drivers.

With the highly publicised prediction of a cold snap, there will be no excuses for poorly treated roads in the coming weeks.