John Swinburne: An election is coming up. It must be inspirational for any pensioner who is tuned in to today's debate to hear how much all the parties are going to do for senior citizens. The Tories talked about taking 50 per cent off council tax. The SNP will take a number of pensioners out of having to pay council tax. Little else has been offered, so a plague on all your houses! The grey vote will be...
John Swinburne: I think that everyone agrees that the bill is excellent, but the missing link that no one has mentioned is the 20 per cent of the population who will not be able to afford to use the facility. Will the minister look into free off-peak travel for pensioners and ensure that the facility can be fully used once it has been established?
John Swinburne: Will the minister give way?
John Swinburne: I think that it was not so much that the employers did not know, as that they did not care. That is the difference.
John Swinburne: By the law of averages, I have no right to be standing here, because I worked in the shipyards. In 1947—60 years ago now—I worked in the city of Johannesburg as a young apprentice marine engineer. I worked in an area roughly the size of the chamber with scaffolding up either side of the inside of the ship's hull. Young apprentice laggers who put on the asbestos would make snowballs out...
John Swinburne: Does the minister agree with me that the Criminal Justice (Scotland) Act 1980, which banned alcohol from football grounds, was a gigantic step forward in controlling sectarianism?
John Swinburne: I thank Alasdair Morrison for securing today's debate. People do not realise how much progress has been made. When I went to Ibrox and Parkhead just after the war, there were problems with sectarianism. I started working in the Glasgow shipyards in 1947. One day, this little rivet catcher came over to me and asked, "Football man?" I said, "Aye." "Rangers?" "No." "Celtic?" "No." "Are you an...
John Swinburne: Does the minister agree that a total ban on advertising alcohol would be a gigantic step in the right direction?
John Swinburne: Will the member take an intervention?
John Swinburne: Does Karen Whitefield agree that everyone who votes for ordinary working people going to work on new year's day should be prepared to come in here on the same day for a plenary session and a full day's work?
John Swinburne: On a point of order, Presiding Officer.
John Swinburne: It is more a point of information than a point of order. What would the procedure be if none of the Presiding Officers was able to fill the chair?
John Swinburne: Bristow Muldoon was the first person in the debate to mention pensioners. Yesterday, I spoke with a pensioner who was in full-time employment three years ago, when he paid 3 per cent of his income in council tax. Three years into retirement, he pays 22 per cent of his pension income in council tax. It is an abomination that, in 2007, we are squeezing pensioners to such an extent with an...
John Swinburne: That is an interesting observation, but it is of little interest to the honest pensioners who do not contribute to the 7 per cent of uncollected council tax. By and large, my generation pays its dues and does not contribute to the uncollected tax. The council tax is supposedly fair but, no matter how politicians squeeze it or talk about it, it will have to be replaced with an equitable and...
John Swinburne: Will the member give way?
John Swinburne: Does the member agree that, unless protection is built into the Scottish Register of Tartans Bill such that the only tartan that matters is that produced in Scotland, tartan will go into cyberspace and then out to China and the sweatshops of the far east, where it will be produced in great quantities to the register's specifications? Tartan must be Scottish.
John Swinburne: To ask the First Minister what further action the Scottish Executive will take to address the essential needs of senior citizens who are currently living below Government-defined poverty levels despite previous initiatives which provided free bus travel, free central heating and free personal care. (S2F-2670)
John Swinburne: Does the First Minister agree that fuel poverty among the elderly is a national disgrace? Fuel bills have doubled over the past three years. Since June 2006, wholesale prices of gas have dropped by more than 60 per cent, but no reduction has been offered to the consumer. Fuel suppliers in Scotland have diverse schemes whereby senior citizens can obtain rebates or deductions if they meet...
John Swinburne: My final question is on a positive note. Will the First Minister consider fast-tracking a bill to means test prisoners? Senior citizens are currently means tested and regularly lose their homes to pay for residential care. If prisoners were means tested and they were awarded £1,000 for losing the right to vote or £3,000 for having to slop out, it could be pointed out to them that it costs...
John Swinburne: Will the minister acknowledge the grand work that is being done by the people in the gallery who are using sign language? Their conveying of what is being said to the people in the gallery is admirable.