Robertson Road

Gibson Gardens, I am told, rather than Dead Dog Drive.

Eishken windfarm

An anonymous wellwisher advises me that the windfarm at Eishken has been sold; lock, stock and wind tower to EDF (Électricité de France).

Update: I'm told the E in EDF is wrong.  I must be being stupid, but ???????

I'm told that the missives are being concluded currently, and that they will be signed off shortly with transfer expected on 1 August.

If true, given the vast sums required to develop windpower, this shouldn't come as any surprise as the risk/reward trade off must be very high for any individual.  Especially with the huge probable costs and legal issues involved in constructing any power cables from wind farm to grid connection.

The EDF website makes it's wind strategy very clear, and with the pattern of consents seemingly being more valuable than the completed windfarms, it is likely that the buyers need renewables to offset their other (nuclear and conventional) emissions.


The nature of this sort of transaction is that there are few if any footprints until the deed is done, but my delving shows that there have been some changes in the structure of Beinn Mhor Power and associated companies recently; which leads me to believe that something is in the offing.

Beinn Mhor Power has very recently appointed Ms Serena Oppenheim as a director, and issued some more shares (I haven't got round to finding out about these changes yet).  In the last month, Eishken Nominees Ltd has replaced the Nominee Shareholders at McLay Murray & Spens with Nick Oppenheim, Serena Oppenheim and Peter Smith - who I believe is the Estate Manager - and moved the Registered Office to Eishken.  All of which is indicative of some active plans being brought forward.

Update: Crionaig Power Ltd had 3 x Miss Oppenheim appointed as directors in February along with Marcus Trenick QC - of windpower fame.  Loch Sealg Power Ltd was incorporated in October 2010 and is dormant.

I'm sure there is still another company, whose name escapes me at the moment.

Of course, there could be another explanation, but my source is utterly convinced and convincing that a sale is to proceed, so only time will tell.  And where does this leave the Community Trust?

All will become clear very shortly, I suspect.

------


Reproducing this article is forbidden, without my permission and then only if your fully attribute the source.  Newspapers on Francis Street, Stornoway, should remember Johann Hari before plagiarising me.

The Town Hall farago rumbles on....

Even at this far distance, I am told that the Council have made yet another series of mistakes as there proposals to rip the stage out of the Town Hall, fill in the balcony and create yet more publically subsidised space to compete with the struggling private sector.

Complaints have been lodged that the Council did not put the revised proposals out to public consultation - as they are legally obliged to do - before they took a decision on their own proposal (and unsurprisingly found it to be acceptable).

The complaint has not been responded to, and the Ombudsman is now being involved in Council maladministration, again.

The grounds for the complaint include that the revised proposals are, er, not Disabled Disability Act compliant; which you may recall was one of the principal reasons for making changes to the Town Hall in the first place.

The proposals also appear to be contrary to the Council's own policies, as former emergency Planning Officer, Murdo MacLeod, explains.

Bells and balls

Somewhat amusingly, the RSPB are requesting that cats have bells put on their collars to alert the corncrakes (right) and stop them being killed by the domesticated moggies of the Western Isles.

I like wild birds as much as the next man, and roast pigeon is one of my favourite dishes, but the developing attempt by the RSPB to effectively designate the whole of the UK as a nature reserve goes beyond the rational and into the dominating and obsessive.

Although there is obviously a need to protect our wildlife, when offered the chance to enforce a permanent ban without cost on commercial shooting on the hunting estates in Lewis, the RSPB declined to get take up such an opportunity and refused to get into a debate about the subject.

Why on earth could that be? What double standards could be being applied here?

I think we should ask their Patron (below), seen caring for the wildlife on one of her estates.

Bayhead infill

It is really not a huge surprise that the project is not going ahead, for as the Stornoway Port Authority point out, they have long had serious reservations about the whole concept.

Despite the Port Authority objecting to the planning permission applications, the Council made an funding application to the Government to develop a piece of ground that it doesn't own or control and where the landlord had expressed extreme reservations.

Whilst not professing to understand the precise technicalities, I understand that the reservations where three-fold, and they remain unchanged since they very first made known to me, perhaps 10 years ago.

• There could be an increased risk of flooding without the basin and the Glen River being available to absorb higher tides. Allied to this, if the Glen was in spate, then the restrictions in mouth of the river could cause the water to back-up and flood.
• The impact of wave reflection on the ability to use the harbour needed to be professionally assessed, and the design amended to minimise any such impact.
• The overall impact on the harbour required to be assessed for issues such as changes in sedimentary deposits, and the impact on existing structures.

Now, I don't know about you, but I can see the cost of the assessment of all of these issues being fairly immense; and no public body is going to give approval for a potentially massive development until all of these matters were addressed.

That the Council though otherwise and tried to ram this through as an urgent development almost beggars belief, and demonstrates a complete lack of consultation and involvement with a key partner (sic).

It should not have come as a surprise, as the Council Leader was a Commissioner on the Port Authority for (I think) 6 years, when these potentially insurmountable problems were highlighted.

Eishken wind farm

I am really pleased to see that this has been given approval by Jim Mather, although his bathetic comment almost makes me want to cry or throw something through the computer screen:

"The study the Scottish Government published last January showed that there could be further renewable energy development in the Western Isles. This could just be the start."

Preceded only by the incredible:

"Since the first proposals for a wind farm on Lewis were put forward, I have maintained that the Western Isles must be able to play its part in harnessing and benefitting (sic) from our vast green energy potential. Today, we are making that reality."

FFS, if you are going to tell a lie, make it a big f'ing whopper!

Now the inter-connector and cabling need to be resolved, and as per Beauly-Denny undergrounding doesn't seem to be a matter for Government, which is - in my view - unacceptable.

Those who supported the application will be wearily glad; those who opposed will be livid, not just for the application itself, but for the implications for other applications.

And what does the press release from our MP and MSP say, given they will have been told about this a few days in advance?

---

I've quickly read through the Consent letter and I'm pleased to see that most (all?) of the concerns were fully addressed by the conditions that the Comhairle recommended (paras 42 onwards), which I think just shows that the hard work the Officers and the Committee put into the applications was an excellent piece of work, and one I remain very proud of having been invovled in.

However, para 54 refuses consent for 6 turbines, which seems completely contrary to the Beauly-Denny stance of "I don't have the power to...." and concurs exactly with what I blogged yesterday about Ministerial powers.

(Back to work, I'll read the rest later)

Mather unplugged

At the weekend I was speaking to another person who had been a very strong and vocal supporter of wind farms in the Western Isles, and like me he was totally disillusioned with the theory and practice of the Scottish Government energy policy.

I have been particularly bemused by the claim by Jim Mather, restated today, that the Government could not force the Beauly-Denny line to be undergrounded.

At the time that the various windfarm applications came to the Council, we were clearly told that the Council could impose any conditions they saw fit, and that the developers could either challenge them as being unreasonable, or accept them (or walk away). For that reasons a large number of mitigation measures were insisted upon, including undergrounding part of the overhead lines, especially around Barvas.

We were also clearly told that when the application went to Government for a decision, then Government could still impose, modify or remove any conditions that they saw fit. This was stated at the public meetings by the Civil Servants and made clear to us in discussions with the Government.

Obviously, they don't want to do that if they can, and it was clear that they would either be major decisions - for instance a big block of turbines not being allowed - or trivial matters - such as amending membership of one of the working groups.

It appears that there has been a fundamental change in the interpretation of the Planning Legislation leaving the Government (a their own desire) with a simple Yes/No option, and all the power to decide upon terms and conditions with the Councils.

Is this better?

No, I don't think so, as the ability of the Government to satisfy wider strategic objectives or simply ensure consistency by amending individual applications can only be to the ultimate benefit of the process.

What we have here is a piecemeal approach of dealing with each issue as it arises, irrespective of how it fits into the bigger picture, and that doesn't benefit anyone.

It is all very cackhanded and bumbling, and does nothing to dispel the impression of a very difficult decision avoided, and the easiest decision taken without sensible justification.

An energy policy in search of logic...

Can anyone give me any logical and rational explanation of the SNP energy policy?

I tried to influence one, by attempting to bridge the different shades of the spectrum, but sanity was discarded in favour of meaningless and ill-though out platitudes. And these are coming back to bite with a vengeance.

Today saw the long awaited, long foreshadowed, and expensively prevaricated decision to approve the Beauly to Denny power line.

The decision in itself makes sense and I approve of it, but the context is so perverse that it almost defies belief.

The good news (1 cheer) is that it will be the basis for extending the power network to the Western Isles which gives the possibility of the early-stage wave power developments having some chance of coming to fruition and being commerically viable, irrespective of the OFGEM charging regime.

Where it all goes horribly wrong for the SNP is that having tried to play the anti-wind farm card in the Western Isles and elsewhere, they are also simultaneously granting permission for extensive developments in less commercially viable locations. Whilst stressing their green credentials by promoting renewable energies, they are also allowing 200ft pylons to run through the centre of Scotland.

It looks, smell and tastes like they have tried to face both ways at once, by trying to avoid taking a position until they realised that they had no option but to do so, when they then tried to avoid responsibility (cf Sunday ferries and letters from the Churches).

Actually what they have done is to piss off both sides in this debate by their attempts to be two-faced and the attempts to avoid the question:

• Pro- campaigners are appalled at the delays and refusals of large schemes with huge community benefit
• Anti- campaigners are now appalled at the permission for the towers and for the implications for large scale developments in the Highlands and Islands

Most people can guess where I stand (or more accurately stood, as the debate has moved on), and what I particularly take umbrage at is that many of the key reasons for approval of Beauly-Denny were ignored when it came to the Lewis Wind Power project. Some of these were hard fought for, and approval of the LWP scheme was only recommended with these conditions as part of the package.

They have no-one to blame but themselves, as they were warned about this on many ocassions, but the sheer lack of understanding of the issues at local and national level was startling. Lack of understanding and an unwillingness to hear other arguements.

I'd like comments on this post to avoid the detail of the LWP scheme which I used as an example, and concentrate on the wider policy implications eg a cable into Gravir is now much more likely and there will also be an incentive to develop mixed renewable schemes in the Highlands and Islands.

New Year predictions

After some off-line prodding/provoking by a regular correspondent, I have decided to don my psychic hat and put down some hostages to fortune. They range across all matters of interest to me, from national to parochial, but have one thing in common....if I am wrong, you won't stop reminding me.

Here goes.

1. The General Election will be on 25 March
2. The Tories will win (this is an easy one!) with between 300-350 seats
3. If they don't have an overall majority (323 seats) they will not form a formal coalition with the LibDems, but will work as a minority Government
4. Labour will do better than the polls predict
5. The SNP will win 8-14 seats at the General Election (if pressed, I'd estimate 11)
   
6. The Western Isles will not be held by the SNP
7. Alex Salmond will announce that he will stand down as SNP leader after the Holyrood elections in 2011 (arise, Lord Salmond???)
   
8. Tesco will announce their plan for a much larger new, additional, superstore in Stornoway
9. The Lewis Sports Centre won't open on Sundays - but will in 2011
10. The Council will be seriously reprimanded for their mishandling of certain commercial matters, and the public will be shocked when the facts are in the public domain :-)
    

Best wishes to you all for 2010, and I hope to entertain as much as I infuriate during the coming 12 months.

Town Hall refurbishment

Have a look at the application here, and the detailed plans, and be prepared to be shocked....

You can also use the on-line site to submit comments. I would strongly suggest that to make these as effective as possible, you do refer to planning matters, rather than just general abhorrence of the scheme.

The balcony remains, but the seating is to be removed and the floor levelled to create a Gallery and 'Flexible Function Area' (Doc 8).

The stage goes to create an 'Exhibition Area' with another 'Exhibition Area' under the balcony.

There is potentially to be a Cafe, although this doesn't appear on the plans and searching the online planning system is less easy than it should be, but I have one serious, major, concern about the whole scheme.....just what are we going to show in this new Exhibition Area?

I went to An Lanntair over the weekend and it was quiet, deadly quiet, just as it seems to be on the occasional instances that we go there for a drink. With the Council already making very, very, substantial deficit support payments for the facility, are they now going to create a competing space that will also require revenue funding, and a cafe that will compete with the cafe in the library (proprietors Comhairle nan Eilean Siar) as well as all the hard-pressed businessmen in town?

Or are they just going to approve the alterations and leave us with a building that doesn't deliver the purposes for which it was intended?

An Lanntair should - and must - make a profit from the commercial activities to put it on a level playing field with private business. It must do that for it's own sake, and to prove to the sceptical taxpayers that it can, before the Council provide another space for Gaelic Mime Artistes or for sculptures made of Mars Bars wrappers and engine parts to undermine a struggling business.

Or they could reinvent the Town Hall as a public space, for the public of the islands.

The plans need Listed Building Consent. The absence of public consultation on the most historic and significant public building in the Western Isles should be enough to delay or refuse the application, and allow us a chance for some say in what happens to this fine building.

No doubt the Stornoway Historical Society will have something to say about these plans, and no doubt the Councillors who are members of SHS will take due attention to what SHS has to say. ( I've lifted the picture off their excellent and informative website.)

Power, politics and policies

I lay in the bath on Sunday night re-reading the Report of the Public Local Inquiry into the proposed windfarm in Eishken.

With a glass of wine in one hand and the jacuzzi bath bubbling around me, I was perfectly relaxed.

Until, that was, I read the Report and this week's Economist magazine.

The Report is all things to all men - maybe aye and maybe no - and is aimless in its attempts for balance and an objective review of the evidence and the submissions.

Everyone was given a fair hearing, and (virtually) all the evidence was accepted. Meaning anything and nothing to everyone. Time and planning applications have moved on, and we are still no nearer or clearer about the acceptability or otherwise of large-scale wind farm developments on the islands.

Lingerbay II anyone? Which is something we all wanted to avoid.

But the bigger policy issue was in an excellent Economist article called "The looming electricity crunch" which clearly sets out the impending problems we will be facing.

Renewables will never bridge the gap - that's a given -until the technology moves on dramatically, but the underlying imbalance between demand and supply highlights the over-dependence on a free-market solution.

The Economist was advocating a rush to nuclear as a potential solution, as was Tony Blair after he prevaricated so long that every other option was ruled out, but now it certainly appears that there is no solution that is going to bridge the gap; other than reliance on supplies from Russia.

We are all going to have to face the fact that there are going to be major energy shortages in the next decade as a direct result of the failure of the Labour Government to take any decisions, instead (mis)placing their faith in the free market to meet demand.

There is an urgent need for long-term strategic decision making, both conventional and renewable, and for new structures to encourage security of supply. That can probably only come about with major changes in the way in which the energy companies operate, and with more state intervention in the infrastructure.

This country is burdened with regulation for the sake of regulation, which abrogates responsibility to quangos and believes that the free-market must solve everything. Our politicians then deny any correlation between that and the inability to get things done. We are not as bad as Ethiopia, but we get close.

One only needs to look at the farce over the Beauly-Denny power line and the need for Ofgem to encourage bidding for the electricity infrastructure to understand that politicians seem unable to take and implement necessary long-term strategic decisions. The trivial and stupid stuff is easy for them; but deciding yea or nay to what sort of power supplies we will have in ten years time is too difficult for them.

When the lights threaten to go out, I'll be throwing the nearest politician onto the fire.

WTF was the delay?

From page 1 of the document:

Report by Miss Janet M McNair, a Reporter appointed by the Scottish Ministers

· Case reference: IEC/3/134
· Application by Beinn Mhor Power Ltd for consent under section 36 of the
· Electricity Act 1989 for a wind farm and associated infrastructure
· Site Address: Muaitheabhal, Eisgein Estate, Isle of Lewis
· Date of pre-inquiry meeting 7 March 2008
· Dates of inquiry: 13-21 May 2008
· Date of this report: September 2008

Look at the document properties:

Last printed: 25 August 2008 20:24:00

Does this mean that the Government have been sitting on this for nearly a year???

During which time the scheme has been dramatically modified, amended, cut into pieces and put back together in a different order, whilst all the time someone has been sitting on this.

Great.

Restores ones faith in the ability of the public sector to move with all the speed and athleticism of an arthritic hippo in concrete wellies.

Two big planing issues

So, the Pairc windfarm and the new Nicolson Institute got through planning yesterday.

Both now have to go to the Minister for consideration; the former due to the size of the application and the later due to the advice of the HSE to advise against approval.

Watch both disappear into a black hole of bureaucracy. The school building project is, of course, integral to the entire PPP/PFI scheme and without clarity over the possibility of proceeding with the new school the plans to close others and move the children would seem to be premature.

One can only hope for speedy decisions, but based on past experience, I wouldn't be holding my breath.

Wind farms

It looks like Eishken is getting the approval on Thursday as Cllr Annie MacDonald is apparently laying out the red carpet for Jim Mather and is in charge of organising his flying visit. (Not that the Council supremos know very much about the visit, as the Civil Servants are being uncivil playing their cards close to their chest).

A planned visit to Arnish in the afternoon will allow our MSP to continue his self-proclaimed 'regular contacts' with the facility which amount to one actual visit and two refusals, but that should prove interesting as many of the new employees of Bi-Fab lost their jobs in Arnish thanks to our MP and MSP opposing the very windfarm that they are now there to celebrate. This is actually a better record than our MP, Macavity MacNeil, who has visited less and refused more.

MacNeil & Allan or perhaps Allan & MacNeil

MWT, meanwhile, are quietly fuming (correctly) that they have been hung out to dry at the last elections and are planning their revenge.

Looks like both sides are gunning for the elected representatives......

Of course, I got expelled from the SNP for saying the policy that they are about to espouse (once again, although it never actually stopped being party policy except in the Western Isles for a few months) is correct, and the policy that they were trying to be elected upon was bollocks, and lo and behold it looks like I was right and they were talking out of their ballot boxes. Tis their loss.....

New school

With the plans for the new Nicolson Institute lodged for Planning Permission, a new problem has appeared over the horizon - the Health and Safety Executive are objecting to permission being granted, as the school is located too closely to the gas tanks on Sandwick Road.

Only this isn't a new problem.

And this shouldn't come as any surprise to any sitting Councillor or any of the senior staff in any of the departments and certainly not to the planners.

Why not?

Because in 2004 when the proposed new flats on the Auction Mart site at Inaclete Road were in front of the planning Committee they were the subject of an objection by the HSE as they were deemed to be too close to the gas tanks.

The Committee disagreed with this refusal, and the matter went to the Scottish Executive who sided with the HSE.

At that time, I pointed out to all the other Councillors that this meant that a huge area of Stornoway was sterilised from almost any building work for the foreseeable future. The HSE guidance was very clear and I asked the clerk to the Committee to write to every Director advising them of the this decision and that they must take account of this in any plans that they had for the future. I was especially concerned for the plans for Housing and for Education, as all new buildings within 250m of the tanks would be adversely affected by this decision.

On the map, draw a circle with 250m diameter centered on the gas works, and see the area impacted.

At later Council meetings I specifically asked about the impact of this decision on the proposed redevelopment of the Nicolson and I was explicitly told that there had been discussions with the HSE, and that the HSE had said they would not object to the new school.

Having read the guidance clearly, I was very dubious about this, and I made my reservations clear to the then Chair of Education, but I accepted the assurance from the officers that their consultations with the HSE had been productive.

Only it looks like we were misled to by the Council officers.

The most vociferous supporter of the plans for the Inaclete Road site was the Vice-Convener, so I have no doubt he will remember all of this accurately, and will also know that due to the HSE objection, the planning application will be decided by the Government.

So how the hell did the Council allow itself to end up in this mess, when the problem was known about 5 years ago and who misled the Council and the Councillors?

My wife says that I start too many sentences relating to the Council with the phrase "I don't believe that they have....." but really, this would be a fuck-up of epic proportions.


For those who are interested, here is the relevant HSE Guidance. The new school falls into the OZ (Para 2.2), is a Level 3 or 4 building (Para 4.1) and is Development Type DT3. Look at the decision matrix (Para 5) and you will see that the building has been considered to be Level 4, or the most sensitive, and that none of the potentially mitigating rules thereafter affect the Advise Against position.

Eishken wind farm

According to a very badly written, poorly researched, and vacuous piece of journalism in the Scotland on Sunday, the Eishken wind farm is due to be approved by the Minister during his visit later this month.

I must confess to mixed views on this outcome, which I believe is being approved for all the wrong reasons. I gave evidence to the Public Local Inquiry, so my position on the application has been clear for a long time.

The source said the farm would get the green light when energy minister Jim Mather visits Lewis later this month to discuss economic issues. The scheme will be given planning permission, the source suggested, even if the public inquiry found against it. He told Scotland on Sunday: "The decision is going to be made shortly and find in favour. Because of the financial downturn everyone is keen to boost the economy. The minister is going across on April 16 to talk about energy and the economy, and it's a fair bet that's when it will be announced."

There you have all the signs of poor - indeed, very bad - Government decision making, where political priorities take the lead over proper consideration of the facts.

Planning Permission will be granted, regardless of the PLI decision.
Wasn't it a waste of time and money (£1m?) to hold the PLI when the decision is going to be disregarded anyway. The avoidance of due process is setting a dangerous precedent, but also opens the decision for legal challenge by opponents.

And this is what will happen.

Impact on Arnish
Give the 'importance' of this approval for the economy of the islands, wouldn't it have made sense to have taken this decision a long time ago to ensure continuity of work for Arnish? Or did it only become 'important' when they ran out of other ideas?

Unless Bi-Fab can be granted the tenancy of Arnish promptly then the planning requirement to build the turbine towers at Arnish may lapse, meaning that any benefit for the islands will be reduced. [There is another story here, but one I cannot currently comment on].

Expect to see a mad rush to get the paperwork signed before the visit so that the Minister can 'open' the facility that his actions previously closed.

Political impact....
Oh, this will be so much fun to watch.

Both the MP and MSP opposed the windfarms, and promised they would never be built.

Now they will have to support their Minister in giving approval; which will have a serious impact on their credibility and prospects for re-election.

With every other (very limited) attempt to rejuvenate the local economy having failed, suddenly the Government believe that renewables are the way forward - exactly what the Comhairle and HIE have been telling them for years, and exactly what they have opposed over the years. But having no other ideas, they are having to backtrack and reverse their position with the minimum political damage.

This is an appalling decision, based on a failure of other ideas, a serious misunderstanding of the issues surrounding the islands' economy and renewable energy, and the Government is being forced into an embarassing corner by their own elected representatives.

Bad Government - bad processes - incompetence and ineptness - but the right decision at the end of the day.

New school - more thoughts

I've looked at the plans, and although I don't have the full architectural language to describe the plans, the following is my view.

The overall design obvious attempts to mimic/replicate/echo the Comhairle buildings.

The Comhairle buildings are subsiding due to the ground conditions, and could do with sympathetic redevelopment with a wrecking ball and half a ton of TNT.

I have a few problems with the entrance area onto the corner of Sandwick Road/Matheson Road. This will push the children into two of the busiest roads at crucial times and the crossing, access and pupil management issues will need very serous work. That corner has been opened up over the past few years, and now it will need to be closed, or at least access restricted.

The plaza between the north side of the building and the old Tech building is very interesting and exciting, andore than compensates for the trivial loss of direct access along Springfield Road. The drop down is a function of the site, BUT I feel that the space is too constrained by the nature of the site resulting in the two buildings being almost on top of each other.

The same problem arises with Matheson Hall, and although there is clearly an attempt to meld the buildings, I feel that the new build totally overshadows and overpowers the old buildings.

This is a problem with the site, with too much needing to be crammed into a small site.

Clearance from Historic Scotland is obviously going to be a key element of the application, and I would be surprised if this version got approval.

I would think that the design could be improved by making the long leg of the building four stories high, and with the two small legs being moved south (into more of an "F" shape) this would allow the plaza area to be expanded, making it the major entrance into the building, with the bus park off Sandwick Road being more closely controlled and with restricted access to prevent pedestrians coming through this area.

The smaller footprint would mean that that the old buildings are less overwhelmed by the new build, but this still has problems with the increased height of the new building.

Assuming this site has to be used (declaration of interest!) then there are going to be some compromises and I think that children's safety and the impact on the historic buildings are two I am greatly concerned about.

New Nicolson Institute

The plans for the new school are available here as a Powerpoint.

The file is 66Mb, so it will take about a long time to download.

Any views on the proposals? I'll add mine when I get the file downloaded and I have time to look at the plans carefully.

Dinner with SSE

I was aware the SSE were about, but I hadn't been aware of the dinner for Councillors (and others?) last night.

I'm sure that there is nothing to hide, so a list of attendees and the topics of discussion would certainly help with the spirit of openness.....

Come on, don't be shy, or the public will think that there is something to hide!

I so hope this is true......

I was told this third hand a few weeks back, and I wanted to speak to the apparent first hand source before putting it in the public domain.

My recent posting about the Scalpay factory has attracted much comment from people with an obvious inside track on the matter, and some with a considerable degree of animosity towards the proposal.

This blog has attracted the wrath of Marine Harvest a a consequence, so much so that I am told that it was the subject of discussion at the recent Scottish Board/Management meeting.

A number of the attendees were so irate about the matter that they suggested hacking into the blog to find the identities of those who are making the comments. No seriously!

Look guys, the names or email addresses aren't stored in my blog. If you were trying to find the mole/a mole by feeding misinformation, then forget it as my lips are sealed about the person in Marine Harvest who told my source first hand, as well as everything else.

Coincidentally, someone tried to reset my three different passwords at 2:32 am this morning. The IP log shows unusual activity around that time which seems characteristic of an attempt to hide a trail. Still, I'll keep it as evidence should I ever need it.