Maybole Man in No 10
Maybole man, Alex Kelly, was my guest at a recent reception in 10 Downing Street hosted by the Prime Minister, Tony Blair. The Reception was for those who have made a substantial contribution to community life. Alex serves on the Maybole Community Council. He has been Chair of the Crime Prevention Panel for 25 years. He chairs the Sports Association and is on the Patient Participation Group for Maybole Health Centre. He is active in the local church and does voluntary work in primary and secondary schools in the Carrick Area.

Digital Switchover
I have had further discussions with the Digital UK Regional Manager for the Borders to plan community meetings in Carrick to look at issues surrounding digital switchover. I am delighted that community councils are getting involved in this and would also urge any other organisations serving the needs of the elderly to come along to these meetings. Contact my office for more details.

Veterans’ Badges
I would like to thank all those who travelled to Ayr for the presentation ceremony of veterans’ badges. Some travelled from as far as Ballantrae. Presentations were made by the Lord Lieutenant of Ayrshire, John Duncan and the Rt Hon. Des Browne MP, Secretary of State for Defence. The eligibility date has recently been extended to cover service up to and including 31 December 1984 so many more veterans will now be eligible. Any veteran wishing to apply for a badge should call my office on 01292 262906.
 
Pensions Bill
During the debate on the Pensions Bill I had the opportunity to raise in Parliament once again the plight of those who lost their pensions when their employer went bust. I have been working closely on this with my Welsh colleague, Julie Morgan, and the Trades Unions, Amicus and Community. Our aim is to get the level of funding from the Financial Assistance Scheme up to 90% of the core pension, the same level as provided under the Pension Protection Fund for new victims.  Former employees of Chilton’s of Girvan were the very first to receive payments from the PPF. The Government has guaranteed that all 125,000 people who lost their pensions when their scheme wound up will receive 80% of the core pension they were expecting and £8b of public money is being put into achieving this. We have now persuaded the Government to go further and hold a review to examine what more can be found from alternative sources to get to that 90% figure.

Democracy Day
I am writing this before the elections are held and you are probably reading it after they are over. The one prediction I am willing to make is that they will go ahead and a new Scottish Parliament and Council will be elected. That may seem obvious but there are many parts of the world where they do not take democracy for granted. Zimbabwe has elections but opposition parties face violence and intimidation making the elections themselves meaningless. Malawi embraced multi party democracy in 1993 and elects both its President and National Assembly. But the local elections, first held in 2000 and due again this year, have been ‘postponed’. There are oil rich countries in the Middle East where there are no meaningful elections at all. Many of the former communist countries of Eastern Europe have become young democracies but the elections held in Russia by Boris Yeltsin in the wake of Gorbachev’s perestroika have not exactly led to a blossoming of democracy under Putin. One swallow doesn’t make a summer and one election in Iraq doesn’t mean democracy has been established. Whoever wins the elections here in South Ayrshire we should cherish democracy and our right to vote