Pre-Budget Report

The economy is doing worse than expected. Belts need to be tightened. All the fault of the sub-prime market crash in the US. Still the best performing high-tech economy based on an island of the west coast of Europe. That doesn't begin with "I" obviously. Don't mention the mess left to me by the previous Chancellor. Re-announce a few cuts in taxes. Again. And again.

Squeeze not our fault. Certainly nothing to do with ex-Chancellor allowing credit to run riot. Need to pull rabbits from hat. Not look like rabbit in the headlights.

Inheritance tax. Offer meaningless rise in thresholds. Forget I used to oppose such a rise. As did GB. Negligible cost as very few couples will be affected significantly.

Rubbish Tories plans on non-doms. Announce intention to introduce a slightly higher tax on non-doms. Eventually. If they stay in the UK for seven years. Will affect none of our friends. And raise very little.

Remove taper relief to increase tax on private equity companies. And small businessmen. Don't mention that short-term investors and buy-to-lets are winners. Dress up as 'equality' when actually benefits the vast majority of the rich by reducing their tax rate on gains from 40% to 18%.

Ignore Lib-Dems. Steal their idea on taxing flights. Our idea to show our green credentials.

Cross fingers. Hope economy continues to grow and nothing else goes wrong.

Licensing Policy

Please read the Comhairle's draft licensing policy on which comments are required by 9 November.

I've already seen some glaring anachronisms and holes in what has been written, and intend to make a submission. I'll happily include any other relevant points if you bring them to my attention.

My immediate reaction is that there is a distinct possibility of a serious clamp down on extensions and anything that might smack of liberalisation of hours. The Licensing Board appears to be evenly split between liberals and conservatives, and the public and the trade need to get their voices heard before this is enacted.

When I sat on the Licencing Board, I remember being told by more than one colleague that a certain hotel had no customers on a Sunday and for that reason alone we should not renew the afternoon licence. I was able to point out to these teetotallers that I had been there the previous weekend, and it had been full of families enjoying a Sunday dinner together, and that about 75% of the families had one person employed by the Comhairle. The dirty looks I got!

European Maritime Policy

This afternoon I had a phone call from the office of Commissioner Joe Borg of the European Commission asking me to participate in the launch of the new EU Maritime Policy tomorrow, as an alleged 'expert'.

I had met Mr Borg's colleague Stavros Dimas in Göteborg in May 2006 when I was a participating delegate at the Council of Ministers of the North Sea Convention, as President of KIMO, and unexpectedly he asked to have a meeting with KIMO to discuss our ambitions and expectations. Actually, I think he though we had organised the evening's entertainment with singers, food, dancers etc. in the Town Hall, when in fact it had all been arranged by the City and we had hijacked the event to raise the profile of KIMO. However, our actions obviously caught the attention of the Commission for all the right reasons.

I'm (half?) promised a copy of the policy and statement at the same time as the press, and I will then be a/the principal contact for Scotland and Scottish reactions to the new policy. I'm to tell it as it is, so the first course of action is to download the Comhairle, Scottish Executive and KIMO submissions and remember refresh my memory on what we were hoping to achieve.

It's all very flattering, and will probably come to nothing much, but I did so enjoy being able to affect and set policy at the very highest level.

Rampant sexism

I took my daughter for her first set of injections today. Despite my fear of needles, I'm happy to take the kids to each and every series of immunisations.

As I sat in the reception at the surgery, I thought I heard her name being called out. And again, so I stood up and moved forward only to be blanked by the nurse. It was only when she saw me carrying my daughter in the car seat that she apologised saying, "I'm sorry but I was looking for a mum".

My wife gets upset when callers assume that she is the receptionist and not a full qualified accountant, so perhaps it's my turn to be insulted.

Find foot, find mouth, insert one into the other

The latest exchange of correspondence between the MSP and the Education Department demonstrates a serious lack of understanding of the role and remit of the Council and of the MSP.

Following on from the previous correspondence, it would be funny if it weren't so serious.

As Murdo MacLeod, Director of Education says, "The situation therefore is that you sought to intervene at an operational level, as much as a political one, by seeking to engage with this Department’s staff before the Comhairle had even met to consider my report and its recommendations. This is totally unacceptable."

Pretty clear an unequivocal, but obvious Mr Allan knows more about what should happen to the education system in the Western Isles than the Director. I look forward to the next instalment with baited breath.

Update 1pm: There is another letter from Mr Allan, but this time I am told he backs down from his previous stance. A copy, along with the response from the Director, would be much appreciated.

Comprehensive Spending Review

"A row has erupted over the CSR and it's impact on Scotland", according to the BBC.

To explain it simply, the Scottish Government compare the award this year against last year to get the percentage increase. Westminster strips out the 'exceptional' items of expenditure and then uses that lower figure to calculate the increase.

Who cares? Well we all should try to understand if the 'exceptional' items that are being stripped out are genuinely 'exceptional'.

Trying to create an argument about the size of the cuts (for that is what they are) is hardly going to make news, as I - and others - have been forecasting this for some time.

The quote from the SNP that this would bring bad news, leading to a "very real spending squeeze" in Scotland is countered by the Tories who say, The SNP won't then be able to blame Westminster for any of the difficulties arising out of what we all knew would be a tight spending review.

And that is the problem for the SNP. The CSR was going always to be tight; Labour in Westminster will make it much tighter for party political reasons; and the SNP have made numerous spending pledges without any compensating savings.

As Mr Micawber said, Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure nineteen nineteen six, result happiness. Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure twenty pounds ought and six, result misery.

Brown denies polls changed mind

Yeah! Right!

All the ducks were being lined-up - as I prophesied a long time back - to maximise the options, and then the Tories pulled the rug from under him with their promise on Inheritance Tax.

Incidentally, IHT is the easiest tax to avoid, with some planning and foresight, and about the most punitive if you do nothing.

George Osbourne appealed directly to the greed of middle-England (by which I mean those sitting on large increases in house prices, where ever they live) yet hit a brilliant re-distributionist button in taxing the non-domiciled, albeit a nominal amount.

Perhaps - hopefully - we'll get into a bidding war to tax the non-domiciled and Shock! Horror! they may end up paying a tax rate not dissimilar to that paid by everyone else in the UK.

How low can politics go?

According to the BBC News:

SNP leader Alex Salmond said Gordon Brown was a "big feartie from Fife" who had lost credibility.

In other news: Condoleeza Rice said Kim Il-Jung was a "speccy git from Pyongyang", Osama Bin-Laden said George Bush "did a poo in his pants", and the Burmese Junta reacted to global condemnation by saying "Nyah, hyah, hyah!" and sticking out their tongues.

Have we really sunk this low to find this acceptable....

Windfarm referendum

Our MSP attended the informal meeting of Councillors on Monday night, and announced that as the Council had taken a democratic decision on the windfarms, he was going to respect this stance and abandon his call for a public referendum on the planning applications.

Of course, he had no option after he was told by Ministers that such an idea was ludicrous and was never going to happen, exclusively revealed by me three months ago.

Has anyone told MWT or the electorate yet, as they must feel utterly betrayed.

As you will recall, I have said for a long time that the referendum was never going to happen, simply because it opened too many cans of worms. That's what happens when one jumps blindly onto bandwagons rather than thinking through policies.

Presumably Mr MacNeil is similarly backtracking.

I have long argued that it was vacillation and an inability to hold and justify a position that did for Calum MacDonald, and not the issue itself, so I intend to put my £10 on Labour to regain the seat in 2008 or 2009 simply on how this perceived 'betrayal' will play in Barvas, Ness and beyond. I'll also put money on any PLI not being finished by that point, which will finally cripple our MP's bid for re-election.

Of course, if Mr MacNeil hadn't repeatedly refused to discuss renewable policy with the Councillors who were setting said policies, he would have had some understanding of the issue.

No! to an election

Speaking to a senior Labour Party activist last night, he was strongly opposed to an election being called just now. In his view it was too manufactured, and too obviously political, rather than any genuine desire for a vote.

Two months ago, it could have been sold as a genuine wish to have a mandate, but not now.

Despite the obvious desire to select a candidate asap, he was not keen on traipsing around the doors this soon after the Scottish Parliamentary elections, and I suspect the entire WI Labour Party may be suffering from torpor after two defeats, and the 'lucky' winner of the selection contest will have a major task in rebuilding morale amongst the wider membership.

Power supplies

Intermittancy of supply is something that opponents of wind power often point to as being a reason why we cannot rely on wind.

True ~~ish.

This week power supplies in Scotland were reduced by 25% after Hunterston nuclear power station was taken off line,

The truth is that you need a mix of power supplies (in my mind preferably excluding nuclear) to ensure that supply is maintained regardless of the impediments that chance can throw at us.

Single Hulled ex Ferry Sets Sail for Sellafield with an Ultra Hazardous Radioactive Cargo

The Atlantic Osprey an ex roll on roll off cargo vessel will depart Nykoping, in Sweden, on the 5^th October carrying shipment of 4.8 tonnes of ultra hazardous spent nuclear fuel, containing Plutonium, for Sellafield in the UK to be reprocessed in the B205 Magnox plant. The use of this vessel which is single hulled, single engined, unescorted and already has had one engine room fire is unacceptable. It puts at risk the marine environment and the millions that live along the shipping route which route transverses some of Europe’s busiest shipping lanes and most dangerous waters

KIMO International has been calling for many years for such shipments to be halted and for the wastes to be dealt with at the site where they were produced. However where this is not possible, for safety reason, transports should be carried out with the Best Available Technology (BAT). The ex ro-ro ferry vessel the Atlantic Osprey, INF2 class, not only doesn’t represent BAT it doesn’t even represent the Second Best Available Technology.

Yet again coastal communities are being treated as third class citizens by their own governments. At last years North Sea Ministerial meeting in Göteborg Ministers refused to agree on the use of best available technology for these shipments and refused to review their marine national contingency plans for nuclear pollution.

At KIMO’s International Conference in Gorey, Co. Wexford, Ireland, on Friday 5^th October a presentation will be given by Marine Nuclear Expert Tim Deere Jones on the deficiencies in the vessels and the risks associated with transports of just the type proposed to set sail for Sellafield.

As well as presenting a threat while it is transported this cargo of ultra hazardous spent fuel will also lead to an increase in emissions in to the Irish Sea and beyond during reprocessing at Sellafield. Then MOX fuel will have to be transported back to Sweden, along with some of the radioactive waste generated during reprocessing, doubling the risk of an incident. A KIMO International spokesperson stated,

“KIMO remains convinced that the transport of nuclear materials should be halted and that such materials should be stored at the point of production. However should these shipments go ahead governments should be insisting that the highest standards of ship and security arrangements are in place to protect their citizens.

This means that the Best Available Technology (BAT) should be applied to the ships and flasks used in European shipments and should be at least to the same standard to the ships that are used for MOX shipments to Japan. The arrangements surrounding this proposed shipment are flawed and second rate. We are asking governments to take national action to ensure that their national pollution and security plans take into account a nuclear accident near the coast and that these shipments should be escorted by the own naval ships for protection. These are actions which they can commit to themselves with breaking any international regulations.

It is absolutely irresponsible in this day and age where we are requiring super tankers carrying oil to have double hulls to protect our marine environment that these dangerous cargoes are being transported in an ex roll on roll off ferry with a single engine and single hull through some of the most populated areas of Europe with little or no security.

KIMO stresses that if an attack by terrorists succeeds in an incident involving a severe long-term fire, breaching shipping casks and/or sinking a nuclear transport vessel, the consequences would be comparable to the most severe accident that authorities insist is too improbable to be considered.”

--------

This is going to go through the Minch or down the deep water route, but either way, the Western Isles are in the front-line.

Sadly, at Göteborg last year, it was the UK who were the strongest opponents of the use of BAT and adopted a laise-faire approach to nuclear transportation.

I was due to be in Wexford today making this announcement and standing down as International President, but family commitments meant that I couldn't attend, but I remain Senior Vice-President for the next two years.

Mary Salmond Trust

This is the Trust set-up by Alex Salmond in memory of his late mother, which has been approved by the Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator as a charity.

As I have previously noted, the pledge from Mr Salmond is very clear:
3. Mr Salmond has decided to pay his gross Scottish Parliamentary salary of £1,474.75 per month into the Trust and has backdated this to the May election

As a Higher Rate Tax payer, Mr Salmond will receive a further 18% tax relief (40%-22%) on his contributions, reducing his tax bill by £3,185 pa.

I'm sure that such an outcome wasn't on his mind, and he meant to obtain NO benefit whatsoever from his double salary.

An open letter...

4 October 2007

Data Protection Officer
Scottish National Party
107 McDonald Road
Edinburgh
EH7 4NW

Dear Sir

On 17 August I submitted a request under S.7(1) of the Data Protection Act 1998, a copy of which is enclosed.

As you will be aware, you have 40 days in which to respond, which have now expired.

If I do not hear from you within seven days, I intend to lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioner and take such other action as may be appropriate.

In light of the current postal strike, I am faxing this document to you.

Yours sincerely

-------

17 August 2007

Data Protection Officer
Scottish National Party
107 MacDonald Road
Edinburgh
EH7 4NW

Dear Sirs

Please send me the information which I am entitled to under the Section 7(1) of the Data Protection Act 1998.

If you need further information from me, or a fee, please let me know as soon as possible.

For the absence of doubt, I specifically seek inter alia copies of all documents, emails, notes of meetings or telephone calls relating to my expulsion from the SNP.

Yours sincerely

Election - or not?

As the country builds to a fever pitch about whether or not Gordon Brown will call an election, one can almost taste the excitement in the air. Not.

In what must be one of the dullest preambles to an election ever, we are supposed to be bothered about whether some overpaid, under-worked careerists want to save their jobs.

Personally, I don't think it will get called until next year at the earliest, but the ducks are clearly being lined up to allow the choice to be made.

The Pre-Budget Report has been moved forward to next week, after the MPs all return from their excessively long holidays, with the clear implication that a budget to reward key sectors will be followed by an election announcement, and us all gratefully re-electing Gordon Brown for demonstrating his munificence.

I may be proved wrong, but I don't see him taking the chance of losing and being remembered as the shortest serving PM ever.

Priorities, priorities

George Bush is very clear on his choices:

When faced with a bill to raise $35bn on tobacco taxes to provide health insurance for 10 million children, he vetoes it.

Entirely coincidentally, tobacco firms spent $20m on lobbysits in 2005, with over 75% of that going to the Republicans.

Timsgarry FS

The community have now secured a Big Lottery Grant to acquire the store at Timsgarry, and to expand it with renewable power sources and motion sensitive lighting internally.


Congratulations to everyone involved.

Israel attacks Syria

For an event shrouded in much mystery and even more disinformation, some snippets are sneaking out.

Without passing judgement on the rights or wrongs of such an action - as I don't know what I would be passing judgement on - can any see any difference between this action by one sovereign state against another, compared to, say, Iran attacking Iraq and it's occupying forces allies?

Well, it is obvious. Defensive first-strikes against those who threaten you politically, militarily and for religious reasons are the normal and acceptable course of action; and this also applies to Israel.

Of course not.

It is part of the hypocrisy of international diplomacy that what is done by you enemies is condemned, whilst supported when done by your allies.

Axis of evil anyone?

North Korea - gets the nuclear bomb and is rewarded with food aid from the US.
Libya - joins the UN Security Council
Syria - now not as bad as Iran!

Outer Hebrides Seafood to be floated

The latest news from Marine Harvest is that OHS (formerly known as Fjord Seafoods) is to be part of a group with Pan Fish Scotland which will be floated on the Norwegian Stock Exchange.

This is obviously quite worrying, as it is a major change in what was originally proposed, and the small scale of the joint operation would make the company attractive to being snapped up, asset stripped and dismembered.

Although the spokesmen talk of complementary operations, the danger remains that the only way to achieve growth for both elements is to have them physically closer together, otherwise they cannot have any benefit of scale.

I predict yet more turbulent times ahead.

The unnecessary delay in delivering RET is hurting this sector particularly badly.

...and then there were two

The ritual culling of the prospectives has taken place, leaving two candidates seeking the Labour nomination, for what some expect to be an early election. (If my list of those culled is correct, then some sanity may have returned to the WICLP)

How can I describe the remaining candidates? Unflattering terms? Politely, as I know them both very well? Or perhaps I'll refrain from naming them until I have only one target to focus on. :-)

However, I have recently received a snatched paparazzi shot taken outside the hustings meeting, and I think it is only fair to let the public know who might be standing .....

... and the supportive way I intend to comment on any stupid pronouncements from the lucky winner.