Meeting of the Parliament (Hybrid) 22 December 2021
I have more aspiration for Dumfries than the Scottish National Party does. The SNP has failed Dumfries, as I will come on to later in my speech.
According to a man who still bides in Dumfries, the true meaning of life is
“no in makin muckle, mair”.
Alternatively, we could have had the city of Newton Wamphray or even Gretna Green. That sounds like a flippant point, but I strongly object to the suggestion that somewhere needs to be a city to be successful or that people need to live in a city to succeed.
In this panto season, instead of peddling Dick Whittington-esque myths that only the city streets are lined with gold, and not with rats and rubbish, as we see in Scotland’s largest city, we should, instead—this is where I agree with Emma Harper—be confident in proudly making the case for Dumfries being unique: its sense of community; guid neighbours; being a gateway to much of our rural region; the good work-life balance; the history and culture; and our connection to Burns, Barrie and Bruce, to name but a few.
When the idea was first floated, many people in the town believed that it was an early April fools’ day joke. Others came to the conclusion that the only reason that politicians would be supporting it was that politicians in cities get paid more.