Early Years Scotland

Elections are an essential part of the democratic processes of our country. We vote individuals and political parties into positions of power because we believe that they will best represent our interests, our families and our communities overall. While this is the case every time we take to the ballot boxes (which, let’s face it, we’ve done more than most over the last ten years or so), it rings even more true at local elections, where votes determine who will make up the elected representatives in each of Scotland’s 32 local authorities.  This vote is really important – legislation, policy and practice are made at Holyrood, but so much of it is put into practice at local level. Yet historically, these elections tend to have a low turnout, both in population terms and compared to others which take place, such as the Scottish and UK Parliaments. Often, this is due to a perception that this vote is somehow not as important as others. How often have you heard someone say that they don’t

Have you ever had that feeling where you’re reading or writing something and you see a word so many times that it no longer has any meaning? Despite the fact that it is absolutely 100% real and it’s in the dictionary, you’ve read it so often that what it’s actually supposed to mean is lost. I feel a bit like that with the word crisis at the moment. We’ve had a Covid crisis. The NHS is in crisis. There’s a crisis in the Ukraine. We’re living through a climate crisis. It’s common to hear of a crisis of confidence in our leaders, whether that be on an international, national or local basis. The crisis that everyone’s talking about at the moment, however, is the cost-of-living crisis. Any time you turn on the news or scroll through Twitter, there are discussions about skyrocketing energy and food prices, a rise in National Insurance, exorbitant fuel costs and a general increase in the cost of everyday items, with little to no increase in wages or benefits to balance this out. There is no