The Clowncil needs to grow enough of a backbone to say that the whole path must not be closed if only part of it is needed for work. They keep half a road open while work is done on one side and can do the same with cycle paths given the will.

The City of Edinburgh Clowncil has been indifferent about blocking unnecessary parts of these essential routes for decades, with dangerous "alternatives" officials would not cycle on.

This has been going on since I first used them, when several still had railway ballast surfaces.

Israel does not believe any other country in the region has any right to sovereignty, or borders, or airspace, or protection from the Israeli military. Israel's posture, aka Israel's illegal occupation of Syrian territory and its repeat attacks towards Syria, is entirely consistent with this.

Good work by Mark Ruskell.

🧵 6/6
There needs to be a cross party discussion on how we can maintain EU alignment and future proof these protections while not opening them up to being watered down completely.

🧵 5/6
and species that play their part in maintaining our environment.

Stripping away our nature protections will open the door to the rich and the powerful who are trying to exploit our land and seas.

Our nature protections work, it's important they are safeguarded for future generations.

🧵 4/6
justify why they needed such extreme and extensive new powers and none of the environmental experts who gave evidence to the committee supported them.

No government should be given sweeping powers to remove protections as they see fit. They should be doing more to protect our vital habitats

🧵 3/6
returns to parliament.

Our natural world is our shared wealth, but Scotland is one of the most nature-depleted countries on earth, and it is our duty to change that. This act is an opportunity for us to secure greater protections for nature, not less.

The Scottish Government could not

🧵 2/6
would have given all future governments huge and un-precedented powers to re-write laws that h ave protected nature for generations. It's right that parliament has agreed to my amendments today to remove Part 2 and that Ministers will now have to re-think a major part of this bill before it

"And last year Transport Secretary Fiona Hyslop warned of the financial pressures the Scottish Government faced"

A major such pressure is self-inflicted. Money is being squandered on widening roads like the A9, when there are much better uses to which it could be put.

In government politicians and officials tend to leave things to fester until it is too late to do the least worst things and only some far worse things remain possible.

I used to think that this was "merely" incompetence, but now think that there is more to it than that.

Officialdom sees any cost as being worthwhile, because of the links with nuclear weapons yhat they think they have hidden.