I am in the process of being formally denounced by the Scottish Parliament for remarks I made on CoffeeHouse last week – that Castlehouse and Easterhouse were “beautiful names, but scummy estates”. An MSP named Charlie Gordon has found time in his busy schedule to table a motion against what he read on the blog. So far, it has 11 signatures. It reads as follows:
That the Parliament notes that the journalist, Fraser Nelson, in comments on The Spectator magazine’s Coffee House blog on 30 January 2009, referred to Castlemilk and Easterhouse as “… beautiful names, scummy estates”; draws Mr Nelson’s attention to motion S3M-1561, which celebrated the award-winning Castlemilk Stables project, a regeneration project that produced a building awarded Scotland’s Best Building 2008 for best practice in conservation and sustainability through design excellence; also draws his attention to motion S3M-2184, which celebrated Castlemilk High School’s 2008 HM Inspectorate of Education report, which awarded the school six excellent ratings, the best ever achieved by a Glasgow school, and to motion S3M-3286, which highlighted the recent award of the Evening Times International Scotswomen of the Year title to Mary Miller, a former Castlemilk resident and founder of the outstanding Jeely Piece Club in Castlemilk; further notes the many outstanding regeneration projects in Easterhouse, and considers that Mr Nelson’s rudeness towards the communities of Castlemilk and Easterhouse is outstripped only by his ignorance of them.
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