Wednesday April 2nd 2025
Christine Grahame MSP writes her monthly column for Midlothian View
Last Thursday started as a very ordinary day.
I had checked my diary to see what lay ahead, then set about preparing a speech for the afternoon on a Bill being brought by Liz Smith ,Conservative, making it a statutory duty for state and grant-aided schools to offer 5 days (4 nights) outdoor education. It is Stage One of the Bill so we were to discuss the principles, which I support, thought there are huge issues to overcome about funding. Draft saved; I moved on to check my emails.
Then the day changed. Red flagged was an email announcing that my dear colleague Christina McKelvie had died. As you would expect I burst into tears which were to come and go most of the day. She had survived breast cancer a few years back but it had returned. She had been off having treatment for the cancer which had returned – which in the main we heard was going well. She had already advised she would not be seeking re-election next year and like others I thought it was good she would have time for family and friends especially with her long-term partner Keith Brown who is also an MSP, her sons and new grandchild.
Christina was held in affection across the entire Parliament. Funny, feisty and compassionate, she wore her heart on her sleeve and thank goodness for that. Some of you may recall her visit to Penicuik to visit Ladywood Centre when she was Minister for Older People a role that suited her to a tee. We both had a go at table tennis with the regulars who spared us nothing.
FMQs on Thursday was a muted affair, with many suppressing tears, including the Presiding Officer but the afternoon went ahead as per schedule. I sat way at the back not confident I could get through without crying. In a way having to speak that afternoon on Liz Smith’s Bill was a welcome diversion.
This week we are back and the sombre mood will hardly have shifted. There is a book of condolence for signing and many colleagues whatever their party allegiance have contributed their own thoughts. It is difficult to know what to write but at least I managed to put something down.
What you see on television of the Scottish Parliament is a small part of the business. At First Minister’s question there is the theatre, the hurly burly of questioning, fighting for the evening’s headlines. It’s gladiatorial. But in the many committees scrutinising the government’s work Members come out chatting to each other and when something so cruel as this untimely death happens to a member, there is kindness and consideration across the political divides.
Christina was only 57. She endured years of treatment with courage and the Parliament has lost one of its best and it knows it.
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