£17k spend on fancy lights tarnishes Glasgow's Lord Provost

However, there’s still a place for the Broken Window Theory in politics. Politicians aren’t poor. Most are very comfortable. They don’t need "help" to be better people like the teenage boy from the run-down estate who risks being dragged into gang culture.

To make politicians better people, they need to know there’s zero tolerance for their misbehaviour. If politicians are scared of being caught for minor infractions, there’s more chance they won’t abuse their power and position.

So, with politicians, the public’s motto should be "fail us and you are done". Which brings us to Glasgow’s Lord Provost.

READ MORE: Housing Crisis highlights SNP’s central dysfunction

READ MORE: Humza Yousaf has broken the social contract with the people

READ MORE: Scotland is a land of small ideas, ruled by even smaller people

Jacqueline McLaren, an SNP councillor in Milton, spent £17,000 in taxpayer’s money installing two fancy lampposts outside her home in Glasgow’s west end.

Glasgow City Council says it’s a “long and proud tradition that individuals who have served as First Citizens … receive honorary lampposts at their residences”.

If this lamppost nonsense is indeed "tradition", then it’s a stupid one. And today, when Glasgow is on its knees, and citizens go hungry, it’s simply despicable. The so-called First Citizen should have had the sense and decorum to refuse such treats.

And isn’t "First Citizen" an absurdly condescending expression? The Lord Provost isn’t president. But then, municipal pomposity is boundless.

There’s nothing "small" about this behaviour. Yet rest assured, the SNP’s zombie army is already defending Ms McLaren. "Another SNP-bad story," they bleat. ‘It’s only 17 grand.’ Seventeen grand would do much for most Glasgow schools today, or Glasgow’s hospitals and GP clinics, or social work offices and police stations.

For the SNP’s shield-wall, however, their politicians are never wrong. "It’s only an iPad, it’s only a ferry." It’s always "it’s only". Yet enough "it’s onlys" add up to a lot of wrong-doing and failure after 17 years in power.

We’ve been here before with the Lord Provost’s role. In 2019, Lord Provost Eva Bolander resigned after we discovered she’d charged taxpayers for an £8,000 shopping spree, including 23 pairs of shoes.

There were jackets, coats, underwear, makeup, bags, haircuts, gloves, glasses, a £200 hat by Kate Moss’s designer, and toenail painting.

Ms Bolander eventually quit, but not before the SNP’s useful idiots screamed "sexism" at anyone criticising her, in the most egregious attempt to silence and smear citizens who care about standards in public life.

Ms McLaren should, perhaps, not be forced to resign. Lampposts are, evidently, considered "traditional". But she should apologise for not having the sense to turn down this ridiculous treat, and she should pay £17,000 back to Glasgow.

Eva Bolander resigned as Lord Provost in 2019 (Image: Newsquest)

She earns around £44,000 annually. When it comes to councillor expenses, the Lord Provost claimed the most: £7090.

Glasgow is a wreck today, and Ms McLaren is part of the top team in charge. She should want to ensure that every penny that can be spent goes on the city’s needs - especially the needs of our poorest children - not personal street lights outside her home.

There’s a £107 million black hole in Glasgow City Council’s finances. Around 450 teaching jobs face being axed in Glasgow. Cuts loom despite the rise in violent behaviour in schools.

Look at the state of Glasgow, the city where I live. It’s a ruin of what it once was. Just walking down Sauchiehall Street is enough to make most Glaswegians cry. The city is strewn with rubbish. The roads are a disgrace.

I don’t know anyone in Glasgow - apart from members of the SNP - who isn’t fed up to the back teeth with the council. They can’t even empty bins. Public sector workers are exhausted and morale at rock bottom.

In times like these, symbolism matters. Leadership matters. Are we all in this together or not? If we are, then why don’t we all get fancy lampposts outside our homes?

Ms McLaren could have made a powerful, symbolic gesture of leadership and solidarity if she’d said: "There’s this tradition that the Lord Provost gets expensive street-lights put up outside their house. I think that’s a silly tradition, and especially in such tough times, there’s no way I’m going along with it. I’d like the money to go towards Glasgow’s public services."

If Ms McLaren had done that, we’d have been cheering her from the rooftops. But she didn’t. We had to wait for a Freedom of Information request to inform us - the people of Glasgow - what our great and wonderful First Citizen was up to.

Ms McLaren looks like she’s taking two scoops of ice cream, when most of us get one and some none. Even after the MP expenses scandal, politicians just can’t help themselves.

This isn’t about stripping all funding from councillors. There was anger recently about Glasgow councillors - including the Lord Provost - jetting to New York for Scotland Week after pushing through cuts to the city’s budget.

Now, I get the complaint that the trip is tone-deaf in a time of austerity. The cost to taxpayers is £1,700 each. Four plan on going. So, the bill should be cheaper.

However, if spending money accumulates money for Glasgow, then that’s good. If this trip brings tourists and investment to Glasgow, that’s great. But taxpayers need to know there’s real benefit and this isn’t just another jolly old junket.

The reason the SNP’s feet need held to the fire over this is that there still remains some sliver of hope the party can do better. Though, perhaps, I’m just being wildly naive.

The SNP isn’t the Tory Party - yet. Power hasn’t completely corrupted it - yet. But the SNP will only do better if its politicians know there is zero tolerance for their antics.

Sometimes the truth is found not in huge stories, but the small ones.