The political bubble pt 2: Rank double standards

An interesting juxtaposition of correspondence in the Courier one day last month. The lead letter asked why Dundee MSP Joe FitzPatrick (and the first minster) hadn't responded to an enquiry about a rail link to Edinburgh Airport. No doubt by sheer coincidence the final letter was from Mr FitzPatrick, and concerned aid convoys sailing to Gaza and his intention to take part in one at a later date. Which perhaps explains why Mr FitzPatrick doesn't have time to attend to matters such as questions about a rail link to Edinburgh Airport.

Which brings to mind the seemingly perennial debate over various matters pertaining to Dundee's taxi trade. In February Mr FitzPatrick said: "I have contacted other Councils to find out whether they have caps and how they operate their taxi-services. Edinburgh operates a limit on the number of taxis and frequently reviews the demand for taxis and commissions regular surveys of demand."

However, an Edinburgh taxi driver contacted the Courier and proffered views which were clearly at odds with Mr FitzPatrick's, who responded: "Mr Taylor is a resident of Edinburgh and will be reflecting his experiences as such, which will be different to those in Dundee, and I have suggested that Mr Taylor contact his local MSP in Edinburgh to pass on his views."

Needless to say, when I pointed this out in subsequent Courier letter, there was no response from Mr FitzPatrick. Perhaps he was trying to join the aid flotilla at that time.

By the same token, almost a decade ago the (then) Scottish Executive launched a consultation on the taxi licensing issues involved. A follow up report was published, but then forgotten about. Of course, MSPs like Mr FitzPatrick - who served as a Dundee councillor for some time, thus should have had some kind of grasp on the issues involved - have other things on their minds, such as independence for Scotland, and in any case acquiring more powers for the Scottish Parliament, when they're self-evidently often not interested in dealing with those they have already, particularly where they may involve a big can of worms.

By coincidence another Dundee politician, Lib Dem councillor Fraser Macpherson, was also posturing about Gaza at the same time as Mr FitzPatrick. He proposed a council motion criticising Israel, clearly intending to fundamentally change the situation in the Middle East and geopolitics more generally.

Not long after and yet another taxi flare up, this time concerning a proposed late-night taxi rank outside a cathedral in Dundee, which is one of those incongruous buildings stuck in the middle of a busy street with shops, pubs and busy traffic. Cue a minor uproar, and several articles and letters in the local press, with Councillor Macpherson beating the drum for disgruntled churchgoers and ward residents, who clearly considered the prospect of a taxi rank equivalent to eternal damnation. But the forces of good triumphed over evil, and a few days ago it was announced that plans for the rank had been dropped.

But an unofficial taxi rank had been operating on the proposed site for several years, seemingly to cater for the Dundee Contemporary Arts centre next door and other licensed premises in the city's 'cultural quarter'. One of the main concerns was litter, but I drove past the area late one night when the proposal was being debated, and the only litter evident was that strewn outside a nearby takeaway.

Indeed, the reason police take an, er, relaxed attitude to the sort of unofficial taxi rank which had been operating is because it helps disperse the late-night drunks and thus alleviates rather than exacerbates any problems with litter, vandalism or disorder, thus installing an official rank in the area would have merely regularized the situation rather than causing any additional issues. And in any case council orderlies are up at the crack of dawn clearing the late-night litter from such areas lest real people see it, a fact that Mr Macpherson (and Councillor Richard McCready) should have been aware of when he "sought assurances" from the council that any litter arising because of the proposed rank would be cleared up before the cathedral opened in the morning.

A not dissimilar scenario arose a few weeks earlier regarding another unofficial rank in the town centre which had been operating for perhaps twenty years, which I knew about having driven a taxi in Dundee about fifteen years ago, but about which the likes of Councillors McCready and Macpherson seemed blissfully unaware. I pointed this - and other related farces and double standards - out in a letter to the Dundee press, but needless to say there was a huge ruckus between the taxi trade and the powers that be.

But the facts of the matter are irrelevant. Politicking is more important, and blissfully ignorant constituents were happy with the substantively irrelevant result, which is ultimately all that matters.

Of course, these local issues can hardly be equated with Gaza and the Middle East, but if politicians like Mr FitzPatrick and Mr Macpherson want to indulge in pointless posturing then perhaps they should at least do so in a more private capacity, or at the very least seek elected office as an MP before concerning themselves with matters reserved to Westminster while neglecting their more immediate responsibilities. And it's not as if they don't get involved in these more mundane domestic matters, but in Mr FitzPatrick's case in particular this only seems to extend to what the vested interests he's sucking up to want to hear, with alternative viewpoints contemptuously and hypocritically dismissed.

Indeed, Westminster politician Jim McGovern also stuck his oar into the recent taxi rank dispute in Dundee, when perhaps he should be the one more involved in the Gaza situation.

(And regarding Mr McGovern's comments about parishioners and the public being ''distressed" by "litter and other mess" (a euphemism for a 'pavement pizza'? - which is indeed also a euphemism!), I always wondered about the official double standards in this regard since others just have to put up with being distressed, but perhaps there's a religious dimension to it all!)