Published: Thursday, 15th January, 2009 9:55am

Flying the flag

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IT is unfortunate that the motion on Homecoming recently discussed at Fife Council has, as is all too often the case, become a party political squabble (Press, 1st January).

The motion proposed by Councillor Chapman and seconded by Councillor McMullan only made mention of "flying the flag" by way of promoting the Home-coming Year of 2009 and, for a council which aspires to be the best in Scotland, was lacking in content and vision. There was no mention of Scotland"s rich heritage – writing, poetry, cultural, art or music – only a very bland "let"s fly the flag".

It is also unfortunate and sad that the quotes attributed to Councillor Walker distorted what actually took place during the discussion at Fife Council.

The fact was that neither the motion as proposed by the SNP/Lib Dem administration nor the original amendment as moved by the Labour group were satisfactory. The motion as presented would not have gained the support of all councillors for the reasons given above.

It was equally unfortunate that the original amendment as moved by the Labour group included the provocative term "tokenistic" but when that was pointed out Councillor Rowley, to his credit, immediately withdrew the offending term and we were left with a motion/amendment which all councillors could support.

This promises to be a tough year for us all and the Homecoming celebrations could give Scotland a badly-needed lift in what otherwise might be a pretty gloomy time.

There is a responsibility on the SNP as the party of government in Scotland and in Fife to offer both a vision and to act responsibly.

By a vision I mean more than just "flying the flag" and by acting responsibly I mean not turning every issue into a party political squabble.

Councillor Bryan Poole (Independent), 49 South Road, Cupar