Bill's philanthropy woos Holyrood

John Knox
Political reporter, BBC Scotland

"He who dies rich, dies disgraced."

Bill Gates told us this week that he was trying to live up to Andrew Carnegie's maxim.

Bill Gates speaking at the Scottish Parliament in Edinburgh

"I'm working on it," he smiled as he gave the keynote address to the Microsoft Government Leaders Forum, which this year was held in the Scottish Parliament.

There were worries among Green MSPs about the parliament getting so close to one of the world's giant multinationals - especially one whose products we can hardly escape.

But Scotland did get something very concrete out of the gathering of 300 ministers, civil servants and academics from 40 countries across Europe.

Microsoft announced it was teaming up with two other IT firms, State Street and Cisco, to offer computer training to 100,000 Scots over the next three years.

Mr Gates himself signed an agreement with the First Minister Jack McConnell to use Microsoft's 1,300 business partners in Scotland to give work placements to some of our 20,000 NEETs - young people not in employment, education or training.

Typically geeky

In a typically geeky address to the forum, Mr Gates outlined his vision of the immediate future - his Vista programme to replace Windows, new uses for the phone and the television, and the "tablet" lap top computer which will replace the notebook, and even the text book, in the years ahead.

"These changes will empower the user, not enslave him," he said, "and in this new world, the greatest investment any country or individual can make is in education."

Chancellor Gordon Brown joined Mr Gates at the forum to make much the same point.

Britain can only survive in the global market, he argued, if we use all our people's resources.

"If we are to make a success of globalisation, we cannot afford to waste the potential of any child, we cannot waste the talent of any young person, we cannot write off or discard the skills of any adult."

Mr Gates said he was trying to live up to Andrew Carnegie's maxim

He said he wanted to mount a campaign this summer to get more young people into employment, education or training.

He hinted at raising the school leaving age from 16 to 18, with older teenagers required to stay at least in part-time education.

And so by Wednesday afternoon, the Gates caravan had rolled out of town.

The $90bn man had sauntered off to spend his fortune on fighting malaria and AIDS in Africa.

Andrew Carnegie left us his libraries, Mr Gates is leaving us his small screen.

The parliament returned to normal business. MSPs fell to debating the merits of Bill Butler's bill to make our 14 area health boards more accountable.

Sustainable sources

He wants half the members to be elected. But, although the idea won the backing of the health committee, it was voted down by the parliament as a whole, by 64 votes to 55.

On Thursday, the Greens staged two debates.

They argued that more flexible procurement rules coming out of Brussels should allow councils and government agencies to purchase more of their supplies locally and from sustainable sources.

And in a debate on the water industry, they pointed out that the regulator was not allowing proper investment in pipeline repairs.

The result, they said, was that Scottish Water is losing half its water through leakages.

A small but very useful bill was passed on Thursday afternoon.

The new bill aims to help families of asbestos victims

It will allow the families of men suffering from the lung cancer mesothelioma - caused by exposure to asbestos dust in the shipyards 20 years ago - to claim compensation at the same time as the victim himself.

It reverses a court ruling which forced the families to chose between claiming compensation for their "man" or themselves.

First Minister's Questions brought a revelation from the SNP that the number of pupils excluded from school for bad behaviour had risen by 18% in the last four years, up to 43,000.

The first minister admitted his predecessor had been wrong in trying to impose a target on head teachers of cutting exclusions by a third.

"But the opposition parties are distorting the figures and simplifying the problem," he said.

The SNP's Nicola Sturgeon said: "The figures I refer to are government figures and the predecessor he refers to is the previous education minister, one Jack McConnell."

Child protection

Conservative leader Annabel Goldie asked what was being done to ensure the failings of the social work department in Midlothian were not being repeated elsewhere in Scotland.

The social work inspectors had found that the council was not adequately protecting the children in its care. Two council officials have resigned.

The first minister said a new system of joint inspection, by multi-disciplinary teams, was being rolled out across Scotland.

"For far too long in Scotland, both public and voluntary bodies have not accepted responsibility for failings in the child protection system that they should."

Labour MSP Gordon Jackson raised the issue of race relations in the aftermath of the terrorist arrests in Birmingham.

Jack McConnell met leaders of Scotland's Muslim community

He said Muslims in his constituency, Govan in Glasgow, have been alarmed to discover that Muslim members of the armed forces have been issued with safety information in case they receive threats from supposed Islamic terrorists.

"We remain in Scotland an inclusive, tolerant nation," he said, "and all of us are horrified by these threats."

Mr McConnell agreed and indeed he went on to meet some 25 Imams at his official residence Bute House on Thursday afternoon to discuss their concerns.

Finally, lone campaigner Harry McEachan from Largs brought a dash of colour to Holyrood this week.

He spent a couple of days waving his large rainbow peace flag outside the parliament, inviting people to a St Valentine's Day protest at the Trident submarine base on the Clyde.

Shouted slogans

Then on Thursday he made his way to the public gallery at question time and entertained us with some flag waving and shouted slogans.

The first minister ploughed on while two security men hustled Harry out of the gallery.

His good humoured protest made a change from the grey suits and easy tones of those with power and money.

It wouldn't be a parliament without such rude voices and colourful banners.

He who dies quietly, dies disgraced.