Politicians Bite For Lunch
I strolled into downtown Inverness at lunchtime to watch the Scotland Live outside broadcast from Falcon Square outside the Eastgate shopping centre. Shereen Nanjiani and the team had gathered five parliamentary candidates to debate a range of issues including transport and health.
As I took my place in the crowd of onlookers a man next to me gave me the once-over and proclaimed:
"I know who you are...you're Charlie Wheelan aren't you?"
I denied this because, well, I'm not. But I could tell the man didn't believe me. In his mind he had developed a logical explanation for a former Downing Street spin doctor to be lurking in the crowd at a Â鶹¹ÙÍøÊ×Ò³Èë¿Ú outside broadcast.
Anyway, things soon became lively when a man from the crowd asked Labour's Peter Peacock why there aren't enough NHS dentists in Inverness. The man found himself being applauded by the crowd. Another woman claimed that she had to travel to Prestwick to get an NHS dentist.
As the discussion paused for the one o'clock news I had a brief chat with the Conservartive's Mary Scanlon who told me that, funnily enough, she'd paid an emergency visit to her own dentist that very morning. Apparently she has a loose front tooth and had begged her dentist to sort it so that it stays in her mouth until after election day.
Then I introduded myself to Fergus Ewing from the SNP who seemed very worried about the dwindling autonomy of Scottish media organisations and told me that if I wanted to persuade him that wasn't the case then he would "need a lot of persuading."
At that point Mary Scanlon dragged him off for a cup of coffee so I wandered over to the audio truck and spoke to our engineer Ken Garden who kindly produced a big bag of local fudge and offered me a chunk of it.
That's when I should have made an oh-so-smart remark about politicians and fudge being in such close proximity.
But I didn't.
I've only just thought of that.
