LIKE the proverbial swan gliding smoothly on the surface, East Dunbartonshire has some frantic paddling going on underneath.
A reputation for affluence and one of the highest standards of life in the UK hides a not irregular maelstrom within the local council.
It's whether its residents have noticed or not.
The national picture will mean an otherwise low key campaign has new relevance. The SNP's John Nicholson secured a majority of 2000 in the Westminster poll two years, just months after the constituency returned one of the highest pro-UK votes in the independence referendum. In the interim it has voted in massive numbers to Remain in the EU. The LibDem Jo Swinson has -re-entered the political fray with an attempt to win back the seat where she had a spell of big popularity in a contest which may come down to the EU or the UK.
What gives next week might have a major bearing on June 8.
Labour has run East Dunbartonshire under Rhondda Geekie with support from the Tories and LibDems for a decade, opting in both 2007 and 2012 against a deal with the SNP.
Last time around it finished the day with eight councillors, the same as the SNP. But a by-election win has give it a comfort zone.
This time the SNP will field 12 candidate, enough for an overall majority in the 22-seat authority. Some within the local party believe a pro-Union coalition could keep it in opposition for another five years, some SNP figures outwith the authority have concerns about the energy, enthusiasm
and strategy for the campaign. Kirkintilloch and Bishopbriggs in the east are a better bet for SNP votes than Bearsden and Milngavie over west.
The council has had a somewhat torrid time in the last year or two with watchdog reports, concerns over its numbers of highly-paid officers in such a small authority and its priorities in an environment of cuts.
The row over the future of St Joseph's Catholic primary school in Milngavie has been a running sore for the administration, its roads a regular sore point.
For a council with such an elderly population, the bad publicity over its the highest cost of municipal burials in Scotland has not played well.
And the 'shared space' initiative in Kirkintilloch, an attempt to integrate motorist and pedestrian in the town, has been shrouded in gegativity around safety concerns and business impact.
Campaigner against the scheme, Sandy Taylor, is one of few blind candidates in Scotland on May 4 and is an ever-present on Kirkintilloch's main street for a year. He is standing against Ms Geekie. If there is going to be a protest vote in East Dunbartonshire this is it.
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