Meeting of the Parliament 22 March 2016
As Kevin Stewart said, councillors “normally” act wisely. That underlines the point that there must be occasions on which they do not act in that way. John Wilson’s amendment, which simply sought to ensure that the provisions that existed in the ancient act would carry on, was perfectly sensible.
I will finish by commenting on departing members. Malcolm Chisholm’s contributions over the years in which I have watched him in Parliament have always, on every occasion, given me pause for thought. They have very often challenged my conceptions, although they have often reinforced them on subsequent consideration. I have always admired Mr Chisholm’s tenacity and fluency in identifying issues—even in relation to the amendments that he did not move today—that might otherwise have escaped the attention of Parliament, and in developing an argument around such issues in a way that has always given us pause for thought and helped to inform our debates all the more so for that. I will certainly miss him from this Parliament in the next session, if I am fortunate enough to be here myself.
I turn now to my colleague Nanette Newman—[Laughter.] Nanette Newman! Until I met Nanette Milne, I had never met or come across a Nanette before. The only Nanettes I had encountered were Dame Ninette de Valois, who I seem to remember was some ghastly old ballerina who used to stamp her stick on the television in some odd programme or two, and Nanette Newman, who I knew was married to a film director called Bryan Forbes and who—from my recollection—appeared in a lot of dreadful movies. I seem to remember suffering through some awful thing called “International Velvet” with my sister when I was younger. However, Nanette Newman was most famous to me for singing:
“Now hands that do dishes can feel as soft as your face with mild green...”
That was my recollection of her on the television.
Before that, the only other Nanette I had ever known was “No, No, Nanette”—the 1925 musical that had in it the songs “Tea for Two” and “I Want to Be Happy”. I am very autosuggestive, so every time I have seen Nanette Milne in Parliament during the past nine years, the songs “Tea for Two”, “I Want to Be Happy” and “Now hands that do dishes...” have gone through my mind.
Nanette Milne has been a persistent and superb member of this Parliament. On health, she has the advantage of having been a medical doctor. She has a son who is with her now because of an organ donation and she has spoken powerfully on that issue, too. I wish her well.
Mr Stevenson should be reassured. Nanette Milne’s discomfort was not that Mr Johnstone was not there. It was because Nanette is so mild-mannered and polite that the savaging that Mr Stevenson was getting from the farmers left her slightly uncomfortable. That must have been the emotion that Mr Stevenson witnessed on that occasion.
I look forward to staying in touch with Nanette. We have worked together since John Major invited us both to be party vice-chairmen more than 25 years ago. She has given great service to this Parliament and I know that she and Alan will have a long and happy retirement, for which I wish them every success and happiness.
12:20