NOTEBOOK by BILL HEANEY
Glasgow’s night-time cleansing team has doubled its personnel in a bid to better clean up the city after a day of muck and littering.
In an underwhelming statement, council chiefs say increasing the overnight street cleaners from 40 to 80 staff will lead to “a difference in the condition of the city” — just how much difference remains unclear.
The recruitment drive comes after the council agreed to invest £7 million in frontline services in its February budget. A familiar figure that one.
The SNP councillor Laura Doherty, who’s the convener for neighbourhood services and assets, said that by doubling the number of night-shift cleansing workers they can “get through more of the work that matters to our residents — picking litter, power washing, street sweeping and emptying bins”.
The investment has been welcomed by the GMB union’s Glasgow convenor Chris Mitchell.
However, Mitchell said he “had to laugh” when he saw Cllr Doherty “celebrating the very change we’ve been pushing for”.
Sounding more positive, he continued that the streets in Dalmarnock and Pollok are “already looking cleaner” and that people are even stopping staff to say “thank you”.
Wouldn’t you like to hear someone say that about Bellsmyre, Bonhill, Balloch and Brucehill?
Mitchell finishes by calling for greater respect to be shown to cleansing workers, such as in New York, where they are known as the “fourth emergency service”.
Well, we all had great respect here for Michael Mulkerrin, who kept the High Street tidy until his retirement, and I myself came from a line of council cleansing workers.
It would be no bad thing as they continue to filibuster on the question of grass cutting in public spaces (they think we’re all daft and don’t know they’re spinning their decision out until the grass stops growing) if they took a leaf out of Glasgow’s book and cleaned up Dirty Old Dumbarton.
Top of page picture is of Dumbarton Town Centre near the entrance from Strathleven Place to St James’s retail park.
@@@@@@
Talking of Rangers, their supporters must now be the only people in Scotland who get so much less for their money than council taxpayers in West Dunbartonshire.
Sorry to intrude into private grief, but those of us who fall into the football crazy category were glued to our TV last night for the Ibrox club’s European tie against Club Brugge.
Disappointingly, the game was over before it had even started with Rangers down 0-3 until they brought on some young, indigenous substitutes who helped them to rescue a smidgen of their once famous pride.
The truth is Rangers are not “Aye Ready” these days. Far from it. Dropping two goals to Alloa Athletic a couple of days before this tie did not augur well for what was to come last night.
One unbelievable comment made by the puerile pundits who bore us to tears night after night during the game was that Rangers had three players in their team who are still on loan to the club.
One of these pundits is former Rangers striker Steven Thompson, who said : “You can take positives because it could’ve been worse.
“They showed character, a lot of teams could have folded but they didn’t do enough to go over there next week with a great deal of confidence.
“It was the worst possible start, they looked so incredibly hesitant, so nervy and until that goes away they are going to concede goals and give points away.”
As usual we got a more commonsensical reaction from a fan.
Peter Cooper White told the BBC: “All my years watching Rangers, it’s one of the craziest 20 minutes I’ve witnessed. Then after the game Martin said he was proud of his team. He is so deluded it beggars belief. The board must give him an ultimatum; improve quickly or you’re off.”
Even Rangers can’t expect to win a European tie with that number of loanees in their side. Indeed, with any loanees in the team.
Rangers, like many Scottish icons, are struggling financially right now. But money isn’t everything.
Perhaps they should concentrate on the young players who came on to the pitch late in the day and won a goal back from the Belgians?
That might not win them a League championship right away, and certainly not a European trophy, but it would be excellent for Scottish football if every schoolboy (and girl these days) took up playing football in the street again.
And brought back ambition, compassion and commitment to this once great sport of ours. Which has been saved, yet at the same time, ruined by moguls and money. Tanner ba’ skils would be greatly apprecitiated.
These essential items are things that weren’t there against Club Brugge on Tuesday.
Don’t tell me you are not interest in Celtic and Rangers. Every Scot has a passing interest at the very least in these great clubs and every exile’s ears prick up to hear their names – along with Dumbarton’s of course – on the radio at 20 to 5 on a Saturday night.
And don’t tell me I have no right to comment on Rangers. My Father and my Uncle William were Rangers supporters, even if they were regulars at Fatal Boghead in their youth.
To cheer you all up on this sad morning here’s a Rangers team worth supporting made up of boys who learned their trade in the street and the school playground:
Who’s who is this Rangers team? Left to right: Davie Wilson, Ronnie MacKinnon, Jim Baxter, Jimmy Miller, Eric Caldow (captain), Ralphie Brand, Bobby Shearer, Ian Macmillan, Billy Ritchie, Harold Davis and Willie Henderson.
@@@@@
I had hoped to be at the Edinburgh Book Festival this week, but other important commitments have had to take precedence.
And I have an appointment to be at the Health Centre to hopefully remedy an impairment to my hearing.
After all, what use is a journalist who hasn’t got his ear to the ground to hear what’s going on?
Hopefully all will be well soon, although good news for me from the nurse is unlikely to be welcomed by West Dunbartonshire Council, whose ban I continue to wear as a badge of honour.
What a load of palaver. Councillor David McBride has (at last) admitted the Labour administration made a mistake when they decided to ban grass cutting. They may have made an even bigger one when they banned me.
The Democrat’s readership figures have grown exponentially since the Labour administration allowed that to happen.