| The Scottish Executive this week
vetoed plans by Edinburgh City Council to apply an unspent £400K budget on the city’s
Hogmanay Party. A special sub-group of MSPs charged with assessing the
legality of the move claimed that the money, ring-fenced for youth work, could not be
spent on the end-of-year-pissathon.
A spokesweegie for the group denied that the presence of so many Glasgow based
MSPs had influenced the decision to deny the Capital, er, capital funding.
"We examined the criteria objectively and it gave us no
pleasure to rule the use of cash unlawful. We fully recognise the UK-wide importance of
the Hogmanay party in Edinburgh but rules are rules. In any event, why should we dole out
£400k for Edinburgh’s collective cairy oot? Fuck them." |
An appeal against the funding
block, fronted by Edinburgh MSPs, is expected to fail as the sub-group has dug up another
objection: that no public money be spent of festivities centred on a city whose name
begins with "E". Glasgow tourism officers promised that if
Edinburgh’s annual bash fails to go ahead, visitors will be welcome to experience the
annual Hogmanay celebrations in Glasgow - enjoying the time-honoured spectacle of razor
fights in the taxi rank at George Square when the boozers shut.
A spokesned for Glasgow tourism told the JT that Glasgow would not be waiting
till the end of the year to mount a challenge to Edinburgh’s traditional dominance in
the visitor market: "See that Edinburrah? They’ve only goat wan tattoo right?
Well, Glesca’s got fuckin’ hunners mun, and some of thum are spelt pure dead
right an’ everyhin’." |
