Scouting for Boys (ahh... a classic...)

Me in my younger Scouting days

Well I got back from Scout camp on Saturday, so haven't done any posts recently. Not that it's a huge issue, because to be honest I haven't had a lot to say... I also want to clarify that I am actually a leader, and not 9, or indeed a Girl Guide. I was on this thing called Festival Camp, which was made up of about 700 people from all around the world, and each sub-site was a famous festival (ie Christmas and St Patrick's Day). It was strange meeting people who'd never even heard of Alex Salmond. It highlighted to me how little Scotland really is in the big wide world, and how unionism makes us stronger. (OK, it didn't, but I just felt like I should say something political. I actually just thought about sleep and hot meals.)

I really did surprise myself by how much I got emotionally involved in Glasgow East. I didn't think I cared as much as I ended up caring, and after last Thursday I think spending a week in a field without so much as a Metro in sight was a really good thing for me. Sometimes it takes something exceptional and out of the ordinary to put life in a very real and brutally simple perspective. The bitter truth is that feeling distant from politics was a good thing. This week, this year?- I don't know, but it felt like a cool summer breeze.

Sometimes we are too busy looking ahead, focusing on worry and concern for the future, that we miss the things right in front of us.

The Labour Party needs something new to promise people. The SNP ran a whole campaign on change and 'sending a message to Westminster' which always goes down with voters, especially at by- elections, but which doesn't actually do society any good. What struck me this week is that we as political geeks spend more time arguing amongst ourselves than trying to help the people we claim to want to represent.

Instead of Labour trying desperately to keep its head above the water, I wish we could just take a deep breath and go under to try and untie some of the knots that are keeping us there.

Panic and fear release very unhealthy parts within people, which is so ironic, because it is at times like these in which we need most to work together.

This isn't about Alex Salmond or David Cameron, it's about us.

That's another thing I missed, apparently there's some leadership contest thing going on. Sounds very exciting... Haven't decided who I'll support yet. Is Tony standing...???