It will come as no surprise to regular readers that I again turn my attention to the record of this SNP administration in Glasgow, especially in relation to its record on cleansing and the continuing threat to so many Glasgow Life venues and services across the city.

Many of you will have seen the claims from the SNP leader of the council in an interview with STV’s Bernard Ponsonby. Despite all the evidence to the contrary: she claimed that all the city needed was ‘a spruce up’.

This, of course, just weeks after saying that the council wasn’t going to ‘gussy up’ the city’s libraries, sports centres and community halls. My colleague, Malcolm Cunning, put it most succinctly when he asked: why should the city be cleaned for Joe Biden, but not Jo Public?

I wish I could say that I was surprised by the claim – essentially saying that everything is fine and that there’s nothing to worry about.

But, of course, we have been told that anyone raising concerns about cleansing, bins and waste in the city are ‘far-right’. A statement which the council leader doubled down on at the last full council meeting.

My view is this: there are genuine and legitimate concerns about the state of this city - especially in the run-up to the most significant climate change conference of our lifetimes. It is appalling that anyone should attempt to discredit citizens, trade unions and frontline staff, by insinuating that their worries are in any way ‘far-right’.

I would urge readers to examine their own communities, and the city when they move around. I would ask them to listen to the pleas of frontline workers across the city, whose voices grow louder with each passing week.

And I would hope all fair-minded people reject the phony claims of politicians who refuse to confront the very real challenge Glasgow faces.

Because it is quite clear: there is a crisis. There is a crisis in cleansing. There is a crisis in Glasgow Life. And the pressures grow worse with each passing day. Instead of passing the buck on to Jo Public, the minority SNP administration should face reality, and admit that Glasgow deserves better.

This city has seen a decade of cutbacks, because of decisions made by the nationalists in Edinburgh. And the response of this SNP administration in Glasgow has, in effect, been to accept and implement them.

Glasgow’s budget is down by 11 per cent since 2013. Holyrood’s is up by three per cent. Frontline staff are under pressure. SNP politicians dismiss their claims. Campaigners still gather outside libraries to make sure they reopen. The SNP ignore them.

The nationalists in Glasgow have not stood up to their SNP bosses at Holyrood. The fact is they will never do so. Glasgow deserves better.