The law of (un)intended consequences

The restrictions on the use of ADS for 'business' purposes are really starting to bite.

And not where I expected.

A local group of volunteers regularly attend meetings on the mainland, for a charitable body in which they participate.  As it is a large organisation and people are travelling from all over Scotland, a staff member at the HQ makes the bookings.

Not any more.  An attempt to book the plane for the group of local volunteers was refused on the grounds that it was "business travel".

The suggestion from the ADS team - that the individuals book their "business travel" personally, and then it wouldn't be rejected.  Quite apart from having to carry the cost, and the hassle factor of doing so, they are effectively being told by the regulator to lie when buying their tickets.

"You will not dissent without my permission"

Just in what warped definition of "business" does a not for profit charitable organisation become excluded through the regulations that were sneaked in just before the election?

Hark: is that the sound of the MSP or MP standing up for their constituents?

An election hand grenade

The election campaign has really been as dull as ditchwater, with the two principal candidates rivalling each other in driving tedium to a new low.

So it's good to be able to report something that is hugely important, and which might enliven the campaign for at least a few minutes.

A client has received a worrying letter from the Government, which they believe will adversely affect the Western Isles. I think they are right, but because they don't want to go public, I will.

The new ADS cards come with these friendly words of warning:

"The Scottish Government has announced that business-related travel will not be reimbursed under the scheme.  Business-related claims are considered and journey where there is a business component, regardless of whether there is also a leisure-related component." (My emphasis)

As my client rightly points out, just who is to police and enforce this scheme, and just what is a "business component"?

My good lady and I left the island on Saturday, both carrying laptops.  We weren't away for work purposes, but will do some work whilst we were away; after stepping off the third plane.  Does that disqualify me; as the first journey was the only one that qualified for ADS, and I did not do any work between flight 1 and 2?

If I take a business phone call in Glasgow Airport after stepping off the Stornoway flight, does that disqualify me?  Do I have to turn myself in to the ADS Police?

If I take a business phone call in Stornoway Airport between checking in for an Edinburgh flight, for a client who has heard I'm coming to Edinburgh and wants to see me, do I have to go back and confess all to the FlyBe desk, and ask them to surcharge me?

Is this going to be a civil or criminal matter?  How do I appeal against a wrong decision?

My guesses: they'll look for a regular pattern of travel and the civil servants will then stop the card until you persuade them they are wrong, through some undefined and yet to be worked out method.

And who will be the easy first targets?  Step forward the offshore workers travelling every fortnight to Aberdeen, regular as clockwork.  You might as well hand the ADS cards back now.

But let's not forget the purpose of ADS, as it's website proudly and clearly announces:

• The primary objective is to facilitate greater social inclusion in the most peripheral areas of the Highland and Islands through affordable access to air services to the main economic areas administrative centres of Scotland.
• Other important benefits are potential improvements in capacity and frequency and greater economic growth as a result of improvements in accessibility.

And how does this fit in with stopping business people making a living - and continuing to live - in the Western Isles?  It so obviously doesn't.

It is all about the Government saving a few pounds here and there, and paying lip service to a policy that it doesn't want to implement properly.

As my client further points out, this might even be illegal, as the Western Isles has a higher percentage of female small business owners than the rest of the Scotland, and a statutory equality impact assessment should have been carried out before the policy was sneaked out.

Can I encourage everyone to think how they might be affected, and then to demand that both leading candidates pledge to reverse this move.  They might also want to know why our former MSP has never done anything to stop this massive economic damage to the islands.

The Government can spend huge sums issuing the Census in Gaelic, and celebrating this fact, whilst bringing in policies that will further undermine the viability of the Gaelic speaking areas.

Barra air service

Half a cheer for the news that a new plane is going to be bought to service Barra (and Tiree and Campbelltown) before the existing Twin Otters finally fall to pieces.

This provides some security for the people of Barra ahead of the re-tendering exercise.

The plane will be owned by Ministers - it appears - and leased to the successful bidder for those routes.

I haven't seem the Government Press Release yet, but what does it mean that "Work will start over the next 12 months on buying a new aircraft"?

Does that mean that the process hasn't actually been approved, and that we are just in the later stages of the early stages of assessing the position; before actually coming towards a conclusion?

Surely not.

Barra-Benebcula air service

As the Council cuts begin to bite, difficult decisions have to be taken, and I think we all appreciate that, but to vote to remove the Barra-Benbecula air service is a serious blow to the economy of Barra.

It also raises questions about the focus of the Council - is it looking after the islands and inter-island travel, or is it just provide exit routes from the islands?  And, as importantly, what message does it send to the Scottish Government about the priorities.

And with Barra Airport having just been described as one of the top 10 inspirational airports to land at in the world.

This decision can only serve to undermine the viability of Benbecula and Barra at a time when our connections need to be protected.


I understand the meeting was quite fractious, and the Chair and Vice-Chair were overruled in their recommendation to keep the service.  Interestingly the MP finds himself screwed over by a prominent "I'm not a member of the SNP" Councillor, who had personally pledged full support for the Barraich, before voting for removal.

Nothing ever changes; and such is the measure of the man.

Highland Airways - the final outcome

The BBC report on the final financial position of Highland Airways is a bit confused and unclear, but some obvious conclusions can still be drawn from the situation.

It appears that the company owed a total of £3.2m of which £1.13m is to unsecured creditors.

It appears from the report that there was further debt of £2m (including a £1.2m overdraft) which was secured; which is to say that it will be repaid from the sale of assets etc.

This will obviously have a huge impact on some of these firms, and a loss of £50,000 for Argyll & Bute will also be painful.

The plug was pulled by the Inland Revenue over unpaid PAYE liabilities, and at the time a lot of politicians were lambasting the Inland Revenue for threatening to do so.

The simple fact is that the Inland Revenue - through it's business support scheme - is helping to give time to pay to lots of individuals and businesses affected by the recession. BUT it is also propping up some business that are insolvent, and where further debts are being run up, which in turn could bring down other businesses when the crash actually happens.

The business support scheme is excellent, but it is not a cure-all; nor is it something that a business should rely on for more than a few months. Above all, it is not cost-free. Just how much extra did the tax-payer lose by giving the extra time to the company to renegotiate its funding streams?

This kind of support - and the calls for unqualified funding from politicians - helps no-one, and it would be much better for this to be more accurately targeted on business that can and will survive, rather than those which are insolvent. It's never a perfect science, but in this case it is clear to me that the Inland Revenue acted properly to safeguard the public purse and other creditors and the political energy should have been directed earlier and towards turning around the company before the collapse became inevitable. That in itself may not have been successful, but it would certainly have been more constructive.

Access all areas

Along with their plane tickets, I understand that Councillors are being sent a pass for access to the Executive Lounges at mainland airports, so that they don't have to mix with the plebs. A problem that seems to have spread down the food chain vanity ladder.

One Councillor I spoke to was unaware that these passes were being issued, and assured me that they had never used them, but on checking with colleagues he found a different story.

I don't have a problem with Executive Lounges, and I have never been in one, but I do have a problem with taxpayers money being used to allow public servants to avoid the public.

I'm told, but this seems ludicrously expensive, that these vouchers normally cost £25 a flight which even allowing for a huge discount for bulk buying implies a large annual cost, when annual membership is available for as little as £69. And if you were buying 40 (31 Councillors + Chief Officers) you can surely bargain that down further.

Perhaps the Comhairle might like to clarify just how much we are paying for Councillors to get access to free booze.

BTW, if we get a $hit excuse that it is "all part of the cost we pay to the travel agents", then I will have to dig deeper.

The Royal Flight

So just who recently wrote to the Chairman of Loganair complaining about being searched every time they went through the airport?

Who asked for an easing of the searches on the grounds that they should never be a suspect?

And, who asked for a dispensation whereby they didn't have to turn up and check in 30 minutes before a flight, but could arrive at the last minute and have tickets, baggage staff and security all ready to zoom them through the check-in and onto the flights, without having to wait with the mere public?

And when the Chairman phoned the airport and told the airport staff at Barra to give said Very (self)Important Person an easier time, which employee stood her ground and told the Chairman where to stick the request for 'special treatment' and insisted that all passengers be treated equally?

 I'm told that the story is running around the island like wildfire, and is doing absolutely no favours for Mr MacNeil coming polling day.

But then, it can't be true, can it?

Brown -v- the volcano

Their is joy and glad throughout the land as Gordon has beaten Vulcan and the Icelandic vandals who have been spreading dead, destruction and political chaos across the land.

As the PM promised, the Ark Royal has been tasked to leave the war games off the coast of Lewis and to travel to Northern Spain to rescue potential votes stranded tourists from the flesh pots of Costa del Chips.

Except, the Ark Royal has received no orders and knows nothing more than what they have seen on the TV, on what appears to have been an on-the-hoof comment.

Listening to Willie Walsh tonight, and reading today about how the entire closure decision was based on a theoretical model with little or no testing of the evidence, there will be questions about how this whole matter was handled.

But, they will be on the other side of the election and only after the grateful voters thank Gordon for his decisive leadership.

Nicolsons senior

The senior members of the family are stuck in Madeira, having been due back on Monday and now facing plans to travel 'probably' some time this week, but certainly within the next 7 days.

The most senior Nicolson had vocalised his view on the week-long holiday to his sister befroe he departed, in way that is sure to have the proverbial ripped from him when he gets home:

Harrumph: it hardly seems worth going all that distance for just a week!

Highland Airways - the end

How much would the Fuel Duty Regulator save us?

The sad collapse of Highland Airways would cost £30 per adult in the islands for the tax bill alone.

Before people start criticising the Inland Revenue for withdrawing an agreement, you have to understand just how these agreements work.

In my experience there are three simple rules you have to meet to have the Inland Revenue stick to the agreement:

• Make the payments when you promise
• Over a reasonable period, and
• Keep current liabilities up to date

If you can't manage these, then your liabilities seem to be running out of control, and you will find that the Revenue take serious action.

Even then you have lots of opportunities to solve the situation (as I have done on more than a few occasions) before it gets terminal.

As far as I can find out, Highland failed these tests, passed these deadlines and then – only then – tried to find a saviour. That is way too late, and places all the power in the hands of the Revenue.

The directors now find themselves in a potentially very difficult position, having traded whilst insolvent and run up large debts that were unlikely to be repaid. It is very sad for them, as they had all the right intentions and all the hopes and best wishes from the community, but that is the way that business works.

Blaming the Inland Revenue is simple, a non-brainer and totally imbecile, and reflects badly on the business knowledge of those mouthing these banalities.

Flights to Barra under threat?

The Times are reporting that Loganair may not bid for the next round of route franchises as the cost of keeping the Twin Otters maintained and in the air is proving to be too high.

With replacements for the Twin Otter being built by Viking Air but unlikely to be available before 2015, the prospects look bleak unless a different approach is taken.

The ball is firmly back in the court of the Scottish Government to develop a new tendering structure if they want to see the service continue, and with the Chair of the Transportation Committee being a Barra resident, I expect the Council to make their position clear and forthright next month.

Without doubt this issue will also be an important factor at the coming election, and something I will return to over the next year.

al-Megrahi - the aftermath

So who is telling the fewest lies? Westminster or Holyrood?

This is turning into murky tale of claim and counter-claim and the 'angels on the head of a pin' argument between release under the Prisoner Transfer Agreement and compassionate release.

The whole situation is filthy, and no-one is emerging with any credit.

Let's start by destroying the straw man: if Kenny MacAskill thought that al-Megrahi was innocent, then he should have released him on those grounds, not some other spurious excuse. It seems that if not entirely and solely responsible, al-Megrahi was 'involved' to some extent, and may have been scape-goated for that reason.

We now have a very nasty oil-for-prisoner deal that has been approved by Westminster and pushed through by Holyrood.

Cui bono?* Big oil. Join the dots and draw the picture.

Did you know that al-Megrahi is actually on parole, and his parole officer is an employee of North Lanarkshire Council? His parole officer phones him (I think) weekly to check he is abiding by the terms of his release. Can you imagine the calls:

PO: Did you stay at home between the hours of 7pm and 7am?
al-M: Yes
PO: I heard you were drinking Buckie and hanging out with the young Tripoli Tong?
al-M: Not true.
PO: Have you been associating with any known criminals?
al-M: Well, Muammar al Gathafi is a cousin....
PO: Report back to the office next week, as you have broken your parole!
al-M: No.

What next?

This is turning into a mess that is only going to get worse, andI can already visualise the Scottish Labour Election Broadcast showing saltires fluttering in the Libyan wind.....

Such a parcel of rogues in two nations!

* Italian Gaelic - "Who benefits?"

Lockerbie

Compassion -v- Justice
Right -v- Wrong
Scottish justice system -v- the rest of the world

Whatever decision Kenny MacAskill finally makes, he is going to be wrong. And he has no-one to blame beyond the Scottish Government who have been instrumental in raising the profile of the prisoner swap over the past few years, and creating the atmosphere that we find today.

The hare has started running, and it can't be stopped.

I must admit to having an underlying bias when I think about Lockerbie, as I used to drive through and past the town regularly when I worked on the mainland, and because I know that if the plane had stayed in the air for another 30 minutes, it would have come down in Stornoway.

We are not going to get the truth from yet another investigation; as what we have got to date is only part of the truth. But will that matter?

It is clear that the whole affair is political - for which read being driven by big oil companies - but the handling of the matter by Kenny MacAskill is utterly inept.

A murderer is a murderer is a murderer. You don't go and visit one and not the rest when you are considering their case; possibly compromising your position.

The US bitterly oppose the prisoner transfer; Mandelson has an 'unexpected' meeting with Gadaffi's son whilst on holiday in Corfu; the promises to look at the case were made long ago and cannot be unmade.

For once the SNP are utterly wrong-footed and utterly exposed on this issue with them having sole responsibility for whatever happens.

But is there a right way forward?

Not from where we are today. This matter should have been dealt with in a low profile way until such time as a decision as very close to being made, and then that decision should have been explained and debated in Parliament.

With a decision supposedly being made within 2 weeks, with the Parliament in recess, you have all the makings of a decision being implemented and present to Parliament on its return. That course of action will cause a spectacular row, and quite right too, and do serious damage to the reputation of Ministers, the Scottish Government and the reputation of the Scottish justice system.

And that - sadly - is where we are going.

How politics works

With the collapse of Zoom and the loss of tickets for the Flying Fiddlers from Uist it was sure that this would jump to the top of the political agenda, with both major parties trying to do their best to be seen to do something, or at worst anything, for the group.

It is utterly heartbreaking that they have lost their flights, so it was good to see politicians trying to do something. What is very telling is the sincerity they put into their actions, and the speed of the issue of the press release proclaiming the importance of what they had done.

First out of the blocks was our own Mr Allan with an instant press release, and a call to action....

Isles MSPAlasdair Allan has taken up their cause and today tabled a motion in the Scottish Parliament to highlight the issue and called for more protection for air passengers.

By the next day, Dave Stewart had joined the action, suggesting the Comhairle might fund the trip and....

He has also written to the Culture Minister of the Scottish Government to highlight the case and seek funding possibilities from the Scottish Government.

The difference between the two approaches is clear. Allan was ultra busy being seen to do anything, however useless and aimless. Stewart to his credit came up with some concrete suggestions that might, just might, mean that the fiddlers get to Canada.

Will Allan now join with Stewart lobbying the Culture Minister to try to ensure his constituents get to Canada, or is he to busy issuing press releases?

(and yes I have some friends who are in the Flying Fiddlers)

FlyBE luggage charges

In today's Gazette advert the phrase "15kg complimentary luggage allowance" caught our eyes and deserved further investigation.

A look at the terms and conditions on the FlyBE website makes it slightly clearer (we think!).

A Bag weighing up to 20kgs being placed in the aircraft hold will be charged at a rate of GBP12.00 per bag per one way flight. A discounted rate of GBP7.99 per bag per one way flight will be charged if bags are booked up to two hours prior to departure through Flybe.com.

So it appears that luggage weighing between 15-20kg will cost you £12 each way, unless you log on and confirm the number of cases, when it will still cost you £7.99 each way. But weigh them carefully....

Excess baggage charges of £9.00 per kilo will be applied at the airport to any passenger carrying over their baggage allowance.

And don't try to take anything too big onto the plane....

All cabin baggage must fit into the gauge at the airport and will be weighed. Any bags exceeding either size or weight must be checked in and hold charges will apply.

The big question must be,"When will the complimentary allowance be withdrawn?" as this will add £24 to every return flight, which will not be subject to an ADS discount.

I hope I am wrong, but always read the small print and weep.

Flights to the islands

It has just occurred to me that the Loganair planes flying to and from the islands have been repainted.

Instead of the BA dark blue on their underside, they are now FlyBE light blue; and whilst the majority of the plane is a blank white canvass, I suspect that we are going to see them fully painted as FlyBE very shortly.

The new timetable seem interesting, with up to 5 flights a day; but it unclear which planes are going to be used. Presumably, the Loganair ones will be operating somewhere....

Costs seem lower, but it also appears impossible to through ticket on FlyBe, but if you are going onward on a BA flight then do so via the BA website.

ADS was not operational, but this (one assumes) is imminent.

MSP struck by lightning

This mornings flight from Edinburgh was struck by lightning.

There is no truth in the rumour that it was aimed at our MSP who was on the flight.

Jokes about "lightning rods" and "lighting balls" are invited.....

ADS approved

With only a few days to go, ADS has received approval by the European Parliament and can continue until 2011.

Excellent news with continuing 40% discounts on flights (before taxes), but why did it have to be left to the last moment?

The countdown banner is being removed, but kept to make a return in three years.

12 year-old malt

As I passed through Edinburgh Airport this week, I was still recovering from the security checks as I strolled slowly through the duty-free shop.

Three elderly women were buying a liquid present for whomsoever they were going to see.

One, in a posh Edinburgh accent was explaining to the others which bottle they should buy: "That's a 12 year-old malt", she explained knowledgeably, "they are all 12 year-old as 1995 was such a good year for whisky."

SNP Transport policy

The SNP Transport policies are turning into a bit of a mess, at least as they relate to the Western Isles.

The Benbecula-Inverness flight is removed due to under-use, and the knee-jerk reaction is to demand a meeting with the Minister, to discuss a PSO. A PSO is a subsidy to the company to run an under-capacity plane at a fixed price, not a mechanism to reduce the fares. Unless the PSO provides a realistic subsidy to the travel, you will end up with an empty plane being paid to fly AND still have high fares.

Perhaps the money would be better spent on a Benbecula-Edinburgh (or Aberdeen?) flight, rather than assuming that what we have must be the best answer.

On RET, our MP and MSP are suggesting that the SNP abandon its weak Manifesto pledge "we will undertake a pilot project on RET to the Western Isles" and move to an immediate introduction of RET without the studies. Good move, but why wasn't it argued for before? And why wasn't it in the Manifesto.

It would be churlish to point out that Transport is a devolved matter, but our MP has more to say on the topic than our MSP.

However, MacNeil's comment that "I am confident that the Western Isles has the flair and the enterpreneurs to take advantage of a more favourable economic climate, which reduced ferry fares will bring", could only be made by someone who has never been in business.

The Western Isles are bursting with entrepreneurs and fantastic businesses all of whom have been screaming for decades about ferry fares. I've signed goodness knows how many petitions on this very topic, many originated by the SNP, many before Mr MacNeil became politically active, and promoted the same through the Comhairle.

Any further delay is going to hit the local economy further. Act now and release our potential.