While council has been in recess, global events have continued to have their impact on Edinburgh, not least the visit of the US President to Scotland to play a few rounds of golf.
There was no need for the First Minister to meet with Trump while he was here. And there was even less need for him to use the opportunity to offer £180k of public money to fund an unnecessary golf tournament. This was the view clearly expressed by the thousands of Scots who turned out to protest the president’s choice of holiday destination.
Just looking at the countless (and often hilarious) signs held aloft by protestors showed the range of reasons we had for shunning his visit. There’s his treatment of women and trans people, the racism he has unleashed against people of colour, and his utter disregard and disrespect for disabled people. There’s his despicable plans to turn Gaza into a ‘riviera’ by continuing to sell the Israeli government weapons of genocide. And, of course, there were plenty of signs highlighting his less-than-savoury choice of associates.
Some will say that there will always be objectionable people in positions of power (just look at the council), and we can’t refuse to meet with them all. But we are still in the early days of this presidency. And already news stories tell of of literal concentration camps created to hold immigrants snatched from the streets, and new powers sought to expand these to contain homeless people and anyone with a diagnosis of mental ill health. For John Swinney to have refused to entertain the man responsible for this would have sent a strong message, but instead we were left with nothing short of appeasement.
As it was, I’m proud of the people of Edinburgh for turning out and saying what the first minister was afraid to. As someone said to me at the rally – being on the right side of history may not necessarily change anything straight away, but it’s not nothing.
So let’s not put away those placards too quickly – Trump is due back in September on his official state visit and no doubt more protests will be called. With reports suggesting that his comments on immigration may be too much for even the King to stomach, time will tell how kindly history will look on the actions of those UK political leaders who fell in line.