I have recently had a letter about the delays in the re-opening of the Waverley Line published by three newspapers, which are:
The Scotsman
Edinburgh Evening News
The Southern Reporter
Below is a copy of the letter submitted to the papers, which was slightly editted by them for publication. The letter was sent to them on 12 October 2009.
"Dear Editor
I am concerned in the delays in the reconstruction of the Waverley Line and feel more pressure should be put on the Scottish Government to provide us with a starting date for work to commence from both ends of the line which should commence simultaneously at both Edinburgh and Carlisle.
Your readers may be interested to known of two groups on ww.facebook.com which are
“The Waverley Line + Borders Rail Link Edinburgh Galashiels Carlisle” and “Get the Scottish Borders Linked by Rail to Edinburgh”
These groups support the re-opening of rail links between Edinburgh and Carlisle and I would encourage your readers to join in the campaign to ensure that more people know of the need for this link.
Yours sincerely
Alex Scott MBE"
Following the publication of the letter the number of people signed up to the Facebook groups mentioned has increased greatly.
There has also been some increase in the interest in the subject and other people have responded with their opinions in later editions of newspapers.
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
East Coast Mainline - High Speed Rail Link - Edinburgh to London
I believe that there should be a high speed rail link on the East Coast Mainline route connecting London-Leeds-Newcastle-Edinburgh and Glasgow with improvements in the lines to Inverness, Aberdeen and other Scottish towns with more dual tracking and extended electrification which should be started within the next five years.
This high-speed link, along with the other improvements would, bring many advantages for businesses, users and the environment by encouraging traffic from the roads. the time taken from the centre of Edinburgh to the centre of London using the high-speed link would be much less than travelling from the centre of Edinburgh to the airport and then flying to London and then onwards into the city centre.
I think this would save time, stress and damage to the environment. You just have to look at the system that they use in France, for example the TGV rail system from Paris to Lyon.
From now on all rail lines ie the tracks and rolling-stock should be built and developed within the UK in order to preserve and create jobs for British workers.
All the stations and trains should be made accessible by having a universal information system which can be used by blind and disabled people. All trains should have a standard layout for buttons.
This would give us an intergrated transport system which would be accessible to all and fit for the 21st century.
This high-speed link, along with the other improvements would, bring many advantages for businesses, users and the environment by encouraging traffic from the roads. the time taken from the centre of Edinburgh to the centre of London using the high-speed link would be much less than travelling from the centre of Edinburgh to the airport and then flying to London and then onwards into the city centre.
I think this would save time, stress and damage to the environment. You just have to look at the system that they use in France, for example the TGV rail system from Paris to Lyon.
From now on all rail lines ie the tracks and rolling-stock should be built and developed within the UK in order to preserve and create jobs for British workers.
All the stations and trains should be made accessible by having a universal information system which can be used by blind and disabled people. All trains should have a standard layout for buttons.
This would give us an intergrated transport system which would be accessible to all and fit for the 21st century.
Monday, August 31, 2009
Campaign to save DLA and Attendance Allowance
I recently had this message passed to me via a friend who received it from the Benefits and Work website: http://www.benefitsandwork.co.uk
I would be pleased if you would consider supporting this campaign.
Alex Scott
"This week we’re asking you to take the argument to the government by posting your opinions on their official green paper website. By doing this you will be contributing to the consultation process and your views– according to the government – will be taken into account when they begin work on drawing up the white paper due out next year. We think it’s vital that you do contribute because, otherwise, you’ll be leaving it to others to speak on your behalf and they may not say quite what you want to say or with quite the passion that you might want to say it.
We also think it’s important that the green paper website reflects what sick and disabled claimants actually do think, rather than what anyone else would like to claim you think. There are lots of places on the Big Care Debate website where you can have your say. All comments are moderated, so if you say anything especially rude or potentially defamatory it’s unlikely to be publishedWe suggest you either use the Executive Summary page here:
http://careandsupport.direct.gov.uk/greenpaper/execsum/
or the Having Your say page here:
http://careandsupport.direct.gov.uk/greenpaper/execsum/having-your-say/
You are asked to give your name and email address. Your name will be published on the site but your email address won’t. If you want more details about the confidentiality policy for this consultation you can find them on the Having your say page, under the sub-heading ‘Confidentiality of information’. As usual, we’re not going to tell people what to write. There are lots of contributions from claimants on the green paper website already, so you can see what others have written. You may also be able to copy and paste things you’ve written to your MP or disability organisations into the feedback box, if appropriate.
The issue we’ve been campaigning about is the proposal to hand disability benefits over to local authorities. But there are lots of other issues in the green paper you may also wish to comment on. For example, there is the fact that the government have ruled out using taxes to pay for care (Option 5 of the funding options) before the ‘Big debate’ has even begun. Lots of people think general taxation is the right way to pay for care and that it’s wrong to take this option off the table before people have even been consulted.
THE CAMPAIGN SO FAR
A huge amount has been achieved in an astonishingly short space of time. Information about the threat to disability benefits has been published on many hundreds of websites, forums and blogs. Over 21,000 people have signed up to the campaign. All the major disability charities, and the vast majority of the smaller ones are now very aware of this issue. This, for example, comes from the Arthritis Care website:
“A large number of people with arthritis have expressed concern to us about Government proposals to remove Attendance Allowance (AA) benefits, as part of a wider review of social care services. Both AA and Disability Living Allowance (DLA) offer nationally-set, non-means tested benefits which are often vitally important to help keep people with arthritis active, independent and in work wherever possible. Arthritis Care is opposed to any attempts to remove or subsume such benefits into mainstream social care services.”
The full statement is available here:
http://www.arthritiscare.org.uk/campaigns/currentissues/socialcarereform
There’s also unlikely to be an MP in the UK who hasn’t heard from constituents about this issue. Replies have begun trickling in from them already. For example, labour MP David Drew has emailed a constituent to say:
“Like you I have serious misgivings about interfering with DLA and Attendance Allowance and particularly the introduction of means testing.”
Remember, if you’re not a member of Benefits and Work and so can’t post on our forum, you can post replies from MP or anyone else at the newly established welfare watch website at:
http://welfarewatch.myfineforum.org/index.php
So . . . disability organisations informed . . . MPs quizzed . . . if we can now get a thousand or more responses on the green paper website, then all the major avenues for consultation will have been covered. There are other things happening too. In Cornwall today, for example, there’s a public petition signing going on at Lemon Quay in Truro from 12.00 – 3.30pm. The event is being covered by Radio Cornwall. More details of this and other possible petition signing days from:
http://www.politicalcripple.com/d/
We’ve also no doubt that someone will get a petition put on the No 10 website as soon as it opens for business on 7 September. And we’ve heard from people who came across the campaign from letters and articles in their local paper, so there’s no doubt that it’s worth the effort of contacting your local media. Well done to everyone who’s managed to get coverage so far, do keep it up.
WHAT HAPPENS NEXT
For the present, we won’t be sending out any more emails asking you to do things simply because you’ve achieved in a few weeks more than we expected to achieve in months. But we do think it’s vital that disability charities actually seek members views and actively campaign on this issue. So keep the pressure up and let us know if you think they’re not being proactive enough. We’ll do our best to keep you informed by email of any developments between now and November 13th, when the consultation ends. We’ll then delete this mailing list –we won’t hold on to your details. But you’ll still be very welcome to sign up to our free monthly newsletter if you haven’t already, so that you can keep yourself informed about what’s happening. Meanwhile, please do visit the green paper website and let them hear, loud and clear, what you think.
Good luck,
Steve Donnison"
I would be pleased if you would consider supporting this campaign.
Alex Scott
"This week we’re asking you to take the argument to the government by posting your opinions on their official green paper website. By doing this you will be contributing to the consultation process and your views– according to the government – will be taken into account when they begin work on drawing up the white paper due out next year. We think it’s vital that you do contribute because, otherwise, you’ll be leaving it to others to speak on your behalf and they may not say quite what you want to say or with quite the passion that you might want to say it.
We also think it’s important that the green paper website reflects what sick and disabled claimants actually do think, rather than what anyone else would like to claim you think. There are lots of places on the Big Care Debate website where you can have your say. All comments are moderated, so if you say anything especially rude or potentially defamatory it’s unlikely to be publishedWe suggest you either use the Executive Summary page here:
http://careandsupport.direct.gov.uk/greenpaper/execsum/
or the Having Your say page here:
http://careandsupport.direct.gov.uk/greenpaper/execsum/having-your-say/
You are asked to give your name and email address. Your name will be published on the site but your email address won’t. If you want more details about the confidentiality policy for this consultation you can find them on the Having your say page, under the sub-heading ‘Confidentiality of information’. As usual, we’re not going to tell people what to write. There are lots of contributions from claimants on the green paper website already, so you can see what others have written. You may also be able to copy and paste things you’ve written to your MP or disability organisations into the feedback box, if appropriate.
The issue we’ve been campaigning about is the proposal to hand disability benefits over to local authorities. But there are lots of other issues in the green paper you may also wish to comment on. For example, there is the fact that the government have ruled out using taxes to pay for care (Option 5 of the funding options) before the ‘Big debate’ has even begun. Lots of people think general taxation is the right way to pay for care and that it’s wrong to take this option off the table before people have even been consulted.
THE CAMPAIGN SO FAR
A huge amount has been achieved in an astonishingly short space of time. Information about the threat to disability benefits has been published on many hundreds of websites, forums and blogs. Over 21,000 people have signed up to the campaign. All the major disability charities, and the vast majority of the smaller ones are now very aware of this issue. This, for example, comes from the Arthritis Care website:
“A large number of people with arthritis have expressed concern to us about Government proposals to remove Attendance Allowance (AA) benefits, as part of a wider review of social care services. Both AA and Disability Living Allowance (DLA) offer nationally-set, non-means tested benefits which are often vitally important to help keep people with arthritis active, independent and in work wherever possible. Arthritis Care is opposed to any attempts to remove or subsume such benefits into mainstream social care services.”
The full statement is available here:
http://www.arthritiscare.org.uk/campaigns/currentissues/socialcarereform
There’s also unlikely to be an MP in the UK who hasn’t heard from constituents about this issue. Replies have begun trickling in from them already. For example, labour MP David Drew has emailed a constituent to say:
“Like you I have serious misgivings about interfering with DLA and Attendance Allowance and particularly the introduction of means testing.”
Remember, if you’re not a member of Benefits and Work and so can’t post on our forum, you can post replies from MP or anyone else at the newly established welfare watch website at:
http://welfarewatch.myfineforum.org/index.php
So . . . disability organisations informed . . . MPs quizzed . . . if we can now get a thousand or more responses on the green paper website, then all the major avenues for consultation will have been covered. There are other things happening too. In Cornwall today, for example, there’s a public petition signing going on at Lemon Quay in Truro from 12.00 – 3.30pm. The event is being covered by Radio Cornwall. More details of this and other possible petition signing days from:
http://www.politicalcripple.com/d/
We’ve also no doubt that someone will get a petition put on the No 10 website as soon as it opens for business on 7 September. And we’ve heard from people who came across the campaign from letters and articles in their local paper, so there’s no doubt that it’s worth the effort of contacting your local media. Well done to everyone who’s managed to get coverage so far, do keep it up.
WHAT HAPPENS NEXT
For the present, we won’t be sending out any more emails asking you to do things simply because you’ve achieved in a few weeks more than we expected to achieve in months. But we do think it’s vital that disability charities actually seek members views and actively campaign on this issue. So keep the pressure up and let us know if you think they’re not being proactive enough. We’ll do our best to keep you informed by email of any developments between now and November 13th, when the consultation ends. We’ll then delete this mailing list –we won’t hold on to your details. But you’ll still be very welcome to sign up to our free monthly newsletter if you haven’t already, so that you can keep yourself informed about what’s happening. Meanwhile, please do visit the green paper website and let them hear, loud and clear, what you think.
Good luck,
Steve Donnison"
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
Save our Resource Centre, George IV Bridge, Edinburgh
I've created a group on Facebook called "Save our Resource Centre".
We are asking for your support to help save this service.
This group has been created due to concern over the future of the Resource Centre for blind, deaf, physically disabled and senior citizens at the Central Library, George IV Bridge, Edinburgh.
The Resource Centre provides computers with voice and magnification software to make the machines accessible and staff to provide one to one support.
The Resource Centre is well appreciated by all who use it, and they like coming to a central point, which is well served by Public transport. They appreciate the opportunity to drop in without appointment, as most would be unable to use the mainstream services. The clients are given as much individual time as they need, which would not be possible without a dedicated team and dedicated machines.
We are asking for your support to help save this service.
This group has been created due to concern over the future of the Resource Centre for blind, deaf, physically disabled and senior citizens at the Central Library, George IV Bridge, Edinburgh.
The Resource Centre provides computers with voice and magnification software to make the machines accessible and staff to provide one to one support.
The Resource Centre is well appreciated by all who use it, and they like coming to a central point, which is well served by Public transport. They appreciate the opportunity to drop in without appointment, as most would be unable to use the mainstream services. The clients are given as much individual time as they need, which would not be possible without a dedicated team and dedicated machines.
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
My Campaignes
CAMPAIGNS I HAVE BEEN INVOLVED IN TO HELP PEOPLE UNDERSTAND BLINDNESS AND MAKE LIFE ACCESSIBLE FOR BLIND AND PARTIALLY SIGHTED PEOPLE
The article below was taken from a booklet issued by the Community Trade Union December 2007 the National League for Blind & Disabled is part of this union.
“My ultimate aim is to get free or at least cheaper off peak travel on all train and ferry services for disabled people and pensioners”
Battling for better rights for blind people has become a way of life for courageous campaigning Community member Alex Scott.
Alex, who is registered blind, struggled for 12 years to win the campaign to get free travel for all blind and partially sighted people on buses, trains and ferries throughout Scotland and he finally succeeded eight years ago.
"It was a long campaign but very worthwhile because it has made a huge difference to a lot of people," says Edinburgh man Alex, who was awarded an MBE for his sterling efforts.
"I am very pleased and proud that I was able to achieve that. Over the years I've written hundreds of letters and traveled many miles, but if I had been campaigning as an individual I doubt I would have had the same success.
"The union's strong campaigning reputation with MPs and others was one of the reasons why I was so successful." Alex's own experiences of the inequalities of the travel system which used to be free in only some areas across Scotland, made him decide to launch a campaign in 1987.
A union member for the past 27 years, Alex quickly became an active campaigner and soon joined the Scottish Regional Council where he doggedly pursued his aims with no less than four successive Transport Ministers and eventually won the support of some 200 MPs.
Spurred on by the success of his achievement in 1999 he went on to campaign and achieve the same free travel rights for disabled people and senior citizens and Alex hasn't hung up his campaigning hat yet.
"There are still many campaigns to fight - my ultimate aim is to get free or at least cheaper off peak travel on all train and ferry services for disabled people and pensioners, so I'll will keep trying until I achieve that too," he pledges.
I have taken part in the successful campaign organized by the RNIB to get the higher rate mobility allowance for blind and severely blind people and was down at Westminster with the deputy NLBD on 4 December 2007 and returned on 15 October 2008 as part of the RNIB for Scotland.
The other campaigns I have been involved in is to have all buttons on trains on trains standardized so all the buttons are all in the same position in all the trains and to be coloured coded for easy access for everybody.
The NLBD is also taking part in the campaign against shared surfaces such as Exhibition Road Kensington, and I believe is being looked at by Edinburgh City Council in the re-development of Niddrie Road Edinburgh which is a very busy road with three disabled units and a lot of families in the area. We are against this on the grounds of safety and believe that pedestrians and cars should be separated and must campaign against where ever it happens in the United Kingdom.
http://www.community-tu.org/
CAMPAIGN AGAINST XMAS RAIL SHUTDOWN 2008
I fully support this campaign against the annual rail shutdown over 58 hours at Christmas time as for example there is a big number of football matches and other sporting events all over the country on boxing day and people travelling using cars and coaches polluting the atmosphere which is totally unnecessary.Unlike our European colleagues who have a train system running throughout the year saving congestion on the roads, stress and the environment and people should contact their Westminster MPs to help in this lobby to take our rail transport system into the 21st century.
The article below was taken from a booklet issued by the Community Trade Union December 2007 the National League for Blind & Disabled is part of this union.
“My ultimate aim is to get free or at least cheaper off peak travel on all train and ferry services for disabled people and pensioners”
Battling for better rights for blind people has become a way of life for courageous campaigning Community member Alex Scott.
Alex, who is registered blind, struggled for 12 years to win the campaign to get free travel for all blind and partially sighted people on buses, trains and ferries throughout Scotland and he finally succeeded eight years ago.
"It was a long campaign but very worthwhile because it has made a huge difference to a lot of people," says Edinburgh man Alex, who was awarded an MBE for his sterling efforts.
"I am very pleased and proud that I was able to achieve that. Over the years I've written hundreds of letters and traveled many miles, but if I had been campaigning as an individual I doubt I would have had the same success.
"The union's strong campaigning reputation with MPs and others was one of the reasons why I was so successful." Alex's own experiences of the inequalities of the travel system which used to be free in only some areas across Scotland, made him decide to launch a campaign in 1987.
A union member for the past 27 years, Alex quickly became an active campaigner and soon joined the Scottish Regional Council where he doggedly pursued his aims with no less than four successive Transport Ministers and eventually won the support of some 200 MPs.
Spurred on by the success of his achievement in 1999 he went on to campaign and achieve the same free travel rights for disabled people and senior citizens and Alex hasn't hung up his campaigning hat yet.
"There are still many campaigns to fight - my ultimate aim is to get free or at least cheaper off peak travel on all train and ferry services for disabled people and pensioners, so I'll will keep trying until I achieve that too," he pledges.
I have taken part in the successful campaign organized by the RNIB to get the higher rate mobility allowance for blind and severely blind people and was down at Westminster with the deputy NLBD on 4 December 2007 and returned on 15 October 2008 as part of the RNIB for Scotland.
The other campaigns I have been involved in is to have all buttons on trains on trains standardized so all the buttons are all in the same position in all the trains and to be coloured coded for easy access for everybody.
The NLBD is also taking part in the campaign against shared surfaces such as Exhibition Road Kensington, and I believe is being looked at by Edinburgh City Council in the re-development of Niddrie Road Edinburgh which is a very busy road with three disabled units and a lot of families in the area. We are against this on the grounds of safety and believe that pedestrians and cars should be separated and must campaign against where ever it happens in the United Kingdom.
http://www.community-tu.org/
CAMPAIGN AGAINST XMAS RAIL SHUTDOWN 2008
I fully support this campaign against the annual rail shutdown over 58 hours at Christmas time as for example there is a big number of football matches and other sporting events all over the country on boxing day and people travelling using cars and coaches polluting the atmosphere which is totally unnecessary.Unlike our European colleagues who have a train system running throughout the year saving congestion on the roads, stress and the environment and people should contact their Westminster MPs to help in this lobby to take our rail transport system into the 21st century.
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