David Green has delivered his first speech at Holyrood.
All our seven newbies have now done so. Every single one of them made me cry, David more than any of them.
Not just because he is the best of people and I’ve known him for pretty much half his life (which is a tiny proportion of mine), but because he represents where I spent my teenage years and, much further south, where my husband’s family comes from. His constituency is massive, stretching from John O’Groats in the north, almost to Skye in the west.
I’ve driven the long, long road from Wick to Inverness many, many times. It’s a good bit shorter, with the Dornoch Bridge, than it used to be, but it is still a very, very long way. Even in the Summer when it’s pretty much light till well gone 11pm, it’s long. In the Winter when it’s dark at the back of 3 and the wind and the ice and the snow are doing their thing, it’s terrifying. Also, there’s a lot of rural Caithness and northern Sutherland that is very much further away than that.
I say this because a succession of SNP health ministers have done nothing to reverse the downgrading of maternity services which means that mums have to traverse that road to give birth. Now when I was in labour, I had to drive 15 or so miles on a relatively straightforward road to have my baby. And that was not a fun experience, I can assure you. So David’s commitment to fight for a full maternity unit in Caithness means something to me.
New Skye, Lochaber and Badenoch MSP Andrew Baxter made his first speech in Holyrood this week. He looked very happy about it, as well he should given that he represents what I think are some of the most beautiful places in the world, especially my happy place, Rosemarkie Beach.
He paid tribute to the “resilient” communities of his constituency and set out his desire to be a voice for the Highlands on issues like building public services that are accessible, reliable and closer to home.
I was in tears when he talked about the lady whose husband had been put in a care home 2 hours away – the unnecessary reality of life in the Highlands.
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