I HAVE often stated that every community needs to feel included for the nation to flourish.

THIS is a historic week for Scotland and the SNP. On Tuesday of this week, April 1, a raft of new policies have come into effect which include:

THE political world can be brutal and uncompromising, it is often noted for its caustic personal remarks and the constant argument between the political parties. It is said that politicians only attend each other's funerals to make sure the other is definitely dead!

IN the Scottish Parliament I represent constituents in the Highlands and Islands and am also the Scottish Conservatives spokesman for health. Since my last notebook much of my work has been on health issues but I am sure that readers will agree that health always matters.

SO — after literally hundreds of responses from across the Highlands — the consultation exercise over 28 proposed post office closures has now reached its end.

THE political carve-up of Ross-shire continued last week when the boundary commission redrew constituencies of the Highlands for the Scottish elections in 2011.

I SPENT a very enjoyable afternoon with the Easter Ross Community Wardens in Alness the other day.

THE festive period is now behind us, although you might not think so given that adverts are already in the papers and on the TV suggesting next year's presents.

JANUARY was nothing if not eventful in politics. It is difficult to know where to begin.

EVERY week a new campaign seems to be launched to protect our way of life such as countering the threat to local post offices and the shortage of affordable housing across the land.

HER Majesty's Inspectorate of Education (HMIE) has reported this week that they are pleased with improvements to school food provided by the Hungry for Success scheme.

THE SNP reached the end of 2007 having had the most successful year ever for the party, myself included, and for the future of Scotland.

MY Christmas break involved a special family re-union to celebrate my parents 60th wedding anniversary.

WHAT a year it has been. For some full of woes, for our small nation Scotland, a leap forward in May that mirrors the growing confidence of our people ready to face the challenges of a modern and dangerous world, but on our own two feet!

IT IS a tough time to be a Highland Councillor. The Highland Council has emerged, along with several other Scottish councils, at the very bottom of the league table of annual increases in funding just announced by the Scottish Government.

IT IS great fun being an SNP MSP in Edinburgh where our new minority Government is tackling many longstanding issues in a positive and ambitious way.

ROSS-SHIRE was the host to a truly remarkable musical performance last month. Strathpeffer Pavilion – a simply superb venue and worth every penny of its restoration cost – hosted the third annual showcase of the Scottish Schools Centres of Excellence in Music.

"I DON'T believe it!" was my response when a friend of mine said that the Highland Council debt was over £500 million.

AT their best, elections bring with them competing ideas for the future. Governments inherit the task of turning ideas into action — and the real challenge is very often doing that while making the books balance.

FOR Scots of a sporting frame of mind and who value a positive gain from the taxes we pay, this is a key week.

IT IS not every day that you get to fulfil a lifetime ambition but that was what I was able to do last weekend.

THIS week Ross-shire marks the anniversary of last year's flooding of Dingwall, Strathpeffer and many other parts of Ross-shire.

IT IS the essence of politics to continually seek to find the Holy Grail, the magic policy that makes voters want to vote for your party.

FOR Gordon Brown and his closest advisors, it is all over bar the recriminations.

THE extreme worry of farmers and crofters about the future of their stock and whether it would begin to starve due to foot and mouth disease FMD restrictions has been relaxed this week under strict biosecurity rules.

SINCE I last wrote the Parliament's summer recess has come and gone and much work lies ahead including, possibly, a snap UK Election in the next month or so. Indeed, you may already know by the time you read this article.

ONE of the joys of not being in government (there aren't many) is more time.

IT IS back to Edinburgh, to the Nationalists, with their new found charm, the grumpy Labour Party and the Lib Dems.

WE are emerging from what politicians and journalists traditionally refer to as the 'silly season'.

THIS week I took part in the first away day of the Transport, Infrastructure and Climate Change Committee in this new parliamentary session.

I KNEW what you put on your boiled egg, and I knew about the salt mines in Siberia, but I had never quite connected that during the 17th and 18th centuries there had been a successful salt production industry based in Brora.

IT'S August again and the schools are set to go back, so the weather is bound to improve and we can hope for less rain!

IT’S now three months since the third Scottish Parliament was elected, and a very different Parliament to the one I left in April 2006.

AFTER a gap, it's a great pleasure to write for the Ross-shire again. I'm looking forward to sharing my thoughts on what's going on with Ross-shire readers from time to time over the coming months.

IT’S raining — mid July, still raining. I haven’t seen anything like it, rain without remission it seems. Funnily enough, its arrival coincides with Alex Salmond becoming First Minister — perhaps the gods are angry!

TO BE the new boy in any establishment is a daunting experience but to be the last MSP to be elected to the Scottish Parliament, and the majority of one for the SNP, was a totally overwhelming experience.

It’s been a very busy two months or so for me since I was privileged enough to be re-elected as one of the Highlands and Islands Regional MSPs at the election.

SEVERAL weeks ago, when my party leader Nicol Stephen walked into my (beautiful; more of that anon) Holyrood office one evening and offered me the convenership of the Scottish Parliament's Subordinate Legislation Committee, I was surprised. Nay, I was astonished.

ONE photograph in a recent edition of the Ross-shire has caught my eye. It was the photo of Tain Royal Academy taken 33 years ago on a school trip which showed pupils clearly enjoying themselves. It took me back to my own school days and a recent re-acquaintance with school pals.

IT'S good to be back to serve you as Regional MSP. I received nearly double the votes of 2003 which helped the SNP to pull ahead as the biggest single party in Holyrood and now form a minority government.

IT is great to be back in Parliament, and to follow Maureen Macmillan in penning some thoughts for the Ross-shire Journal.

IT has been a busy time where fish are concerned, with two days spent at a discussion on rebuilding cod stocks, my report on funding for Regional Advisory Councils going through committee, an interview with someone doing research on them, the Commission announcing its plans to stop fish being discarded and a meeting about maritime policy more generally.

THERE is growing public concern across the Highlands and Islands over the centralisation of health services.

LAST March Scottish Water lost its way and its chairman. In a debate initiated by the SNP I argued that the Government’s stewardship of the public water utility needed a shake-up.

CLIMATE change has been in the news again recently, with the publication of the latest report from the Inter- governmental Panel on climate change.

THERE is a lot to write about this month — lots of good news, I think, and much of it depends on women power.

I TABLED a motion on Monday of this week: and, believe you me, there was no pun intended.

WE’RE getting closer and closer to May’s elections —elections which are an opportunity for real change locally — and there is little doubt that the public across Scotland is becoming increasingly disillusioned with the failing Liberal Democrat and Labour Scottish Executive.

TODAY we live in one of the officially designated Crofting Counties with even fewer crofters than 30 years ago when Willie McRae came close to winning the Ross and Cromarty seat for the SNP.

FOR reasons that will become apparent later, no-one under the age of 10 should be allowed to read this column.

I DON’T mean to be a killjoy, but I have drawn up a Member’s debate on alcohol abuse the day before we break up for holidays.

WE seem to be clattering along like an express train, down here in Holyrood, as we head for the Christmas recess.

TEN days before you read this the Parliament passed the new Planning Bill. It was a marathon third stage.

TWO weeks ago we in the Scottish Green Party held our annual conference. Despite several parties having already held their gatherings, journalists didn’t seem too conference-weary, and the press and TV were out in force.

DRIVING through Dingwall's west end on Sunday, I couldn't help but notice the clear-up from the floods still going on - a car being loaded up, skips half full of damaged stuff, mud still smearing walls and paths, gardens devastated.

LAST Thursday morning, first thing, I quickly rang my better half from my Edinburgh digs.

AS a hill farmer in Argyll who still produces store sheep and beef cattle, I welcomed a debate on a subject vital to my region of the Highlands and Islands.

THE Convention of the Highlands and Islands is due to meet in Forres. What is it, you might ask? Does it do anything useful, and what could government do better to focus on our distinctive needs?

MSPs work hard - we do, honestly - but we sometimes get nice things to do as well. I had a couple recently.

WHAT fun politics is, especially in the conference season. Tony says goodbye but when will he go? Will the best Prime Minister we ever had be followed by the best Chancellor we ever had, or will it be by the best Home Secretary?

AS weeks go, this is a seriously busy week for me. By the time this edition of the Ross-shire Journal is published, I will have made no less than three speeches in the Chamber of the Scottish Parliament.

THE summer recess is over and MSPs are back at Holyrood. While the time we spend in the Scottish Parliament is, of course, extremely important, it's my opinion that the time I spend visiting constituents across the Highlands and Islands is more so. Over the summer period I've been able to visit Orkney, the Western Isles and other areas, and I'm very lucky to represent such a beautiful and diverse area.

IT'S always good to see small businesses grow into larger ones. So that's why the SNP is consulting on a Small Business Bonus Scheme so that 120,000 small businesses could have their rates abolished and a further 30,000 businesses could benefit through higher rates relief.

PEOPLE may wonder what MSPs do during July and August when the Scottish Parliament is in recess. We do take some time off, of which more shortly, but not for the whole two months - mostly we use the opportunity to get out and about in our regions. This is particularly the case in Highlands and Islands where MSPs cover such large areas.

I'VE only recently returned home after enjoying a wonderful holiday in the Uists with my wife and three children.

LAST month, on what must have been one of the hottest days ever in Ross-shire, the Enterprise Minister, Nicol Stephen, visited the Nigg yard. As the constituency MSP for Easter Ross I was also asked along. So were local Highland councillors like Richard Durham and Alasdair Rhind.

AS someone who lives not too far from Conon Bridge, I read, with interest and concern, the recent lead story in the Ross-shire Journal on antisocial behaviour in the village.

IT'S good to be back in the summer routine of Highland Gatherings and this week's Black Isle Show. After our break in Brittany comparisons and contrasts always spring to mind. How we live, how they do things and so on.

WITH the collapse of global trade talks due to the unwillingness of some rich nations to reduce agricultural subsidies, it is a good time for us to think about what these payments mean for us here in Scotland.

THIS is the time of year when MSPs go on their summer tours. If you have a constituency it doesn’t take too long; if you have to cover the whole region, then it can take forever. But I’m not complaining. What other jobs would allow you summer trips to Orkney, Shetland, Skye, Islay, Mull, Tiree… and a chance to look at all the interesting things that are going on?

DID I vote for the smoking ban bill? Yes I did. If for no other reason than my much-loved father died as a result of lung cancer.

NEW figures have been released which show the number of Highland children requiring treatment for cannabis addiction is rising.

AROUND 20,000 gathered to dance the night away at Rock Ness last Saturday. Most were from the north, the weather played fair and a friendly, seething mass gyrated to DJ music, showing off a huge Highland appetite for fun in a spectacular lochside setting.

ALONG with other MSPs, I get quite a large postbag on planning issues.

IT'S been a busy fortnight. Last week started with me chairing a housing conference on stock transfer.

I THOUGHT it was a flattened metal toothpaste tube. It was the right shape after all.

THERE is a real shortage of affordable homes to buy across the Highlands and Islands. This problem requires planners, the local council and the Scottish Executive to work together to ensure new developments are built where they are needed.

ROSS-SHIRE readers may be as perplexed as I am at the cost-cutting agenda of Highland Council.

WHEN the Scottish Parliament was set up it was intended to be accessible to the people of Scotland. It has tried to achieve this in several ways - encouraging visitors (over 716,000 since the building opened in September 2004), having a petitions committee (so members of the public can lodge petitions on issues of concern to them), and broadcasting its proceedings online to give some examples.