so near and yet so far

2010 began and ended for me in the same fashion I watched fire works on TV. I was celebrating Hogmanay in two of the great cites on the Planet I saw in 2010 in Venice and saw it out in Edinburgh. This example demonstrates what a year it has been for me so near and yet so far away. I was so near to St Marks Square in Venice to bring in the year (I wasn’t there because it was flooded) and was so near to Edinburgh Castle and the centre of Edinburgh. Both of these venues are famous for their Hogmanay celebrations and although I was there I wasn’t really.

I look back on 2010 with a huge sense of pride not many people can say they stood for parliament and changed the law in the same year but I have a sense of so close and yet so far. My parliamentary campaign went well feel looking back on it I was close to being in parliament. Sitting on the platform waiting for the returning officer to declare the result I was one sentence away from being the Member of Parliament for Orkney and Shetland. So near and yet so far.

The Barred campaign has been part of me for nearly two years it gave me a job, new friends and even more belief in myself. The 27th of October was my finest achievement it is even more important to me than my degree. That night the Barred campaign won the devolved campaign of the year prize at the Public Affairs News Awards the Oscars of the Public Affairs Industry I thought I had finally arrived. But like so many others I cant find work and again I have a feeling of so near after that fantastic achievement and so far because I cant find work from a professional point of view Barred was meant to be the final push off the diving board into a professional life of work I am still teetering on the edge waiting to get pushed in. So near and yet so far.



2011 will be a big year for me and for the whole of the UK. For me personally I have to take the next step in my life. I would love to stay in Edinburgh but in the current climate beggar’s cant be choosers so I am open to work anywhere. One day I would love to work in America. I lived in New Mexico for a Semester as a student and loved it. In the UK as a whole it will be a big year. The Coalition faces its first big test in May with elections for the Scottish Parliament and Welsh Assembly as well as the AV referendum. If it fails will Nick Clegg be thinking so near and yet so far? Closer to home the Scottish Parliamentary elections will be taking up a lot of my time. I am not standing this time round but I will be campaigning hard for a Labour victory. But I think it will be tight and expect there to a handful of seats in it. For who ever wins it will be a case of so near and yet so far!