I’ve been thinking again….

In bed to be precise. Occasionally, I indulge in a bit of power thinking when I’m ‘in-between-states’, in-between the sheets. I find it the best time to do my thinking, no distractions, no telly, no nooky…. (but that’s another story).

It’s that state, just between sleep and consciousness where things suddenly come ‘as clear as day’…. I can analyse, follow things through to a logical conclusion – and generally solve my own problems. Tony Blair should try it sometime instead of sleepwalking through his Premiership.

Anyway, as I was saying, my latest bit of power thinking threw up a sort of odd conundrum.

I’ll explain.

It’s all to do with complaining – and who to go to.

If I want to complain, say about some crappy service in my local hospital, or a hole in the road outside my house – I’ll go, as a last resort to my local MP. (A very last resort because my MP is bloody rubbish). I bet most constituency surgeries are full to the brim with complaints and queries about Health, Transport and Education. What do you think is the total time taken on these three subjects in a typical English MP’s surgery and letter enquiries? What percentage would it be? Pretty high, I’ll bet.

I reckon the only other stuff an MP gets is complaints about the war in Iraq, making poverty history and wanting to punch Tony Blair in the gob…… in other words, international or leadership issues.

So, the domestic trinity of Health, Education and Transport must take up most MPs time I reckon. Add to that a smidge of pension moaning and a dollop of council tax indignation and there you have it – an MP’s ‘in box’.

But What if I lived in Scotland? Who would I go to if wanted to have a chat about any one of the domestic trinity? My Member of the Scottish Parliament of course because the Scottish Executive has responsibility for most domestic stuff in Scotland. Would I also moan to them about the Iraq war and world poverty? Possibly.

So while I’m moaning about this Health issue, that Transport problem and the fact that my kid isn’t being taught Scottish history in school to my very own MSP, what the hell is my Westminster version doing? (You know, the one that costs around half a mill a year each once ‘exees’ have been taken into consideration).

And that’s where the virtue of power thinking comes in. After much doze-zone musing, I reckon the only thing left for Scottish MPs to do, with their surgeries in stasis and their in-trays incommunicado is to busy body into other people’s lives.

No prizes for guessing which people are on the receiving end then…….

I feel a letter writing frenzy coming on…….