Also, I met my MSP! First, some background on how the MSPs are elected: 73 of them come from districts that work exactly the same as our House ones; small area, and whichever candidate gets the most votes wins. There are 56 votes, though, which are allocated proportionally (the voter picks a PARTY for this, rather than a particular candidate). There are 8 regions for this proportional list vote (with 7 seats each, hence 56). SO! back to the relevant bit: David Stewart, my MSP, is one of the three Labour MSPs from the Highlands and Isles region (massive in area, but still about 1/8 of the population). The three of them work very closely together, so while I'm officially under Stewart, I'll probably get to dabble in anything concerning Labour's presence in the north.
The "local" office is up in Inverness, which basically the furthest-north city. It's about 5 hours by train, but they can get my travel paid for so I hope I can visit a few times! They tend to spend Mondays and Fridays in Inverness (as all the real parliamentary business is carried out Tues-Thurs) so I could probably stay a weekend there at some point. :D I've got to imagine the hostels aren't as expensive up there as they are in Edinburgh!
Also, fun thing, I might get to work on the Firth of Forth Bridge project: It's this landmark of a bridge that was built at the end of the 19th century that still serves as the rail link between Edinburgh and Fife across the Forth river. Needless to say, the thing is in need of renovation, and David serves on the committee to figure out what to do in the case of the classic bridge as well as the other crossings that have been built over the years.
*excited!*
Excitement! I hope you get to visit the Highlands. Also, don't MSPs need to be called "Mr."? Just a thought. :)
ReplyDeleteThey actually go by their first names 90% of the time, which is surprising to me. That's how they've all been talked about in third person, introduced themselves to me, etc. :O
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