I hope everyone has had a wonderful time and wish you all the best for 2011, and let's face it, we are going to need it.

As West Dunbartonshire Council reveals we have a budget cut double the national average, we can only wait to see what vital services will be lost.

This year will see the fourth Holyrood elections that will allow us to decide who will rule in the Scottish Parliament.

So far we have had two sessions of a Labour/Liberal Democrat coalition and one of SNP rule.

What happens this year is anyone's guess, although I think we can be pretty sure that the Liberal Democrats won't get anywhere.

A recent poll has put Nick Clegg at one of the lowest levels of popularity of any Liberal Democrat leader.

All the promises of no increase in student fees, scrapping the Council Tax, no to Trident, no to war, no to... well just about everything Tory, lie empty in our streets, like the discarded election leaflets to follow.

When we make our decision at the polls what should we consider?

Well the SNP will probably want us to remember that they have frozen the Council Tax since getting into power.

Which would be great, except no-one asked them to.

They promised to reform it so those in the highest income bracket would pay more. The current policy of no increase benefits the rich the most, including our MSPs. Labour will want us to remember our new schools, although no-one wanted schools funded through private companies in the first place.

Even Charlie Gordon's cry for a train link from Glasgow to Paris seems ridiculous in the current circumstances. Really, our priority is a train link to Paris?

I could hardly get to Glasgow during the snow just before Christmas (don't get me started on the lack of gritting).

The next election is due on May 5, the same day that Con-Dem has since arranged a referendum on changing the voting system for Westminster.

It is interesting that our Westminster Government has such a disregard for voters in Scotland that they would "forget" our national elections.

It makes you hanker for independence.

There is no doubt we will hear more promises the nearer we get to the election.

In the meantime it is expected we will see a raft of unemployment in April, as the public and voluntary sector reduce their workforces in response to budget cuts and we will all be on average £600 worse off per year due to the increase in VAT.

I nearly choked the other day when I heard a minister saying VAT was a choice tax.

If we don't want to pay it we should just stop buying and we buy too much anyway.

VAT is one of the most oppressive taxes in our country, targeting the poorest the most.

We can't choose whether or not to pay VAT on fuel, utility bills or clothing.

They can rewrite history, make empty promises and use doublespeak as much as they want, all we have to ask ourselves on polling day is do we want to keep making the same mistake by voting them in?

'Happy' new year?