A Leith bird

I was all set to blip about the meeting we had in the Scottsh Government offices at Victoria Quay in Leith. We had our quarterly meeting of the Children's Hearings Improvement Partnership - CHIP for short - where representatives of the key people involved in the children's hearings system meet to discuss how to improve the system. Not primarily for themselves but for the children and young people, involved in the system. Many of the challenges are behavioural and cultural or stem from the constraints of a legislative tribunal system. All established for good reason but the practical operation can throw up challenges and unintended consequences.

The partnership is up for the difficult discussions about how to effect improvements despite these challenges. A good meeting. My blip was to have been of one of the bright images designed to promote the CHIP website that will b launched shortly.

However, as I left the offices and drove past the Ocean Terminal shopping centre where Britannia is docked I came across this pheasant and hen walking b the roadside. We are in the centre of north Edinburgh, by the docks, do this was an unusual sight.

A very full day ended with a discussion with a neigbour about the Common Fisheries policy and its importance to Scotland. She is training to be a tour guide and has to study a wide range of topics and be able to answer questions on them. As well as plan detailed timings on tours. Hugely demanding. For some reason she found my explanations helpful!

the evening was diverted by the Richard Dimbelby lecture - a fascinating and hugely enjoyable talk about whether Shakespeare is Chinese. Listened to the first few minutes and was hooked!