An open email to Tony Robson, Stornoway Amenity Trust

Tony

New Year Celebrations

As a resident of Stornoway who is interested in the amenity of the town, and as someone who is a long term supporter of your very worthwhile projects, I must protest in the strongest terms at the decision to terminate the New Year celebrations early, to avoid running into Sunday.

Firstly, can you advise me exactly who made this decision; and after consulting with whom?

Secondly, can you please ensure that this matter is reconsidered by the entire Amenity Trust at the earliest possible opportunity, as it is giving an utterly wrong impression of life in Lewis.

With Public Houses having late licences until early Sunday morning, I am sure that it is really the aspiration of the Amenity Trust to provide family enjoyment, and to encourage the family to be together at the celebration of the New Year; rather than to see participants believe that the only way to celebrate in Stornoway is in the pub.

The decision gives the impression to potential visitors of not so much an air of quaintness, but more an air of weirdness and a certain detachment from reality.  This will only continue to be played up by the national media.

It is not too late to retrieve the situation, and I truly hope that the celebrations - thanks to the very hard work of the Trust members - are successful.  And held at midnight.

Yours sincerely


Angus

How others see us......

Two almost unbelievable pieces of news, that are guaranteed to keep us as the community that time forgot and where dinosaurs still run wild.

Hogmanay celebrations on Lewis will be cut short an hour before the bells – to avoid offending strict religious groups by partying on a Sunday.

With almost a quarter of the residents of Lewis expected at the event, which is being paid for by a Council grant, it looks like the whole rationale of the event will be lost by the plug being pulled at 11pm.

Of course, it will actually be midnight GMT, so perhaps the solution is to have a separate time zone for Lewis and Harris (and bits of N Uist).  As your ferry docks - Bing! Bong! - "Turn your watches back to 1970".

Mad fecking protestor

In a further burst of the true spirit of Christmas, the recording of an Ecumenical Christmas service in Martins Memorial Church last night was the subject to picketing by various Christian groups who objected to a Priest, a Minister from the Church of Scotland and a Minister from the Free Church (this sounds like the start of a joke, but it so isn't) holding a joint service.  Hopefully, the media will reveal exactly who was outside, rather than in, and we can all hold them in the respect they are due.

The spirit of Pastor Jack Glass lives on....

Still we are not as bad as the spokesman for the Reformed Unfree Alternative Church (continuing) in Saudi Arabia who have adversely assessed the proposition that women should be allowed to drive.

The report contains graphic warnings that letting women drive would increase prostitution, pornography, homosexuality and divorce.

Your chance to see the Olympic flame......

Lovely story from Mike Merritt highlighting the non-Olympic standard somersaults that are having to be done to keep everyone happy on Sunday 10th June, when the flame arrives.

Remember, the Council policy (in Lewis & Harris) is that no-one should work on the Sunday.

Quoth a spokesperson just a few days ago:

"The Comhairle has invested heavily in sport across the Islands and we want this event to be a major sports celebration for people to join in and make the most of what will be a wonderful occasion.

There will also be an economic spin-off for the islands with an additional 70 visitors or so associated with the Relay arriving in the Islands. In addition the media coverage is likely to generate interest in the Islands and prompt many people to visit”

So we have 70 people coming off the 37-seater Inverness plane at 4pm on Sunday, piling into 18 taxis and heading to the hotel.

As they pass the Sports Centre they can view it from outside with amazement, as the Olympic slogan "Faster, Higher, Closed" is spelled out by protesters*

Perhaps, of course, they'll get a Council bus, for which the driver obviously won't be working or paid, and which won't cause any wear and tear on the bus, dropping the visitors off at the various hotels like some dour package tour.

With 70 beds taken, or 35 if they are doing a Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the not-working chefs, waitresses and other staff will serve them.  After which they can take a walk around town, and give media coverage that is likely to focus on pretty, quaint, unwelcoming and shut.

Check-in for the Aberdeen flight is 1:30pm, and surely much earlier if you are carrying a naked flame (I must check these rules) as the 70 visitors pile onto the 25-seater, meaning a maximum of 5-6 hours of running time after the 7am start.  Expect to hear about entire schools being decanted to the route to catch the merest glimpse, when they could really have had their Olympic ambitions nurtured at a ceremony in the Sports Centre after the flame arrives.

Shotgun.  Both barrels.  Own feet.

* Protesters of both persuasion.

Sports Centre - users survey

In case you haven't had the opportunity to make your views known, there is a survey where you can make sure that public opinion on the services is recorded for the Comhairle to use as part of it's public consulations.

Go on, and have your say here.

You have been warned!

A simple 'please' would have changed the whole tone of this leaflet, which was distributed to every house in the area, and put a lot of backs up.

I am at a loss to understand what possible sanctions could be brought to bear on those who disregarded THE INSTRUCTIONS.

Is this now Council policy?  And does it apply to all skips or just to this individual one?

Gorillas in the mist.....

From the livecam on the Golf Course, yesterday....

Licencing Board - sobering up

So today (Tuesday) is the first meeting for the Licencing Board since some of them threw the toys and the lawyers out of the pram.  And it is likely to be an entertaining affair for those invited to be inside the room.

An astute adherent to one of the local Churches posed some thoughtful points about the application for the Sunday licence for the Chinese Restaurant that is being heard at the Meeting, for which he had no answers, but lots of philosophical thoughts, in light of the illegal refusal of the Golf Club licence.

Let me summarise them, whilst removing his more florid and identifiable phrases:

• Even if there is a good reason to refuse the Sunday licence, will anyone believe that the Board has followed legal advice in coming to this decision?
• Does anyone really believe that the Free Church Five can be objective after their last performance?
• Just how much fun are the lawyers for the applicants going to have when addressing the Board?
• How many Board members are going to ask for the legal advice to be in writing from now on?
• When will the Free Church Five realise that they have effectively neutered any influence or respect by their past actions?
• Have they actually committed a criminal offence?

Not that long ago, a prominent former Councillor related to me a tale about a call he received from the Lords Days Observance Society in which he was told to instruct a friend who sat on the Licencing Board how to vote at a forthcoming meeting, under threat of being voted out at the next election.  He refused point blank* and told the LDOS never to contact him again; and perhaps a question for the lawyers is to find out just how many sitting Board Members have been contracted on the same basis before previous meetings.  These contacts should all have been logged as attempts to influence a quasi-judicial process, in exactly the same way that a publican slipping a Board Member a bottle of Whisky would have been shouted about from the rooftops.

Still, if your lobbyists are pushing at an open door ..... they aren't lobbyists, but friends.

* Personally, I would have gone to the press and the Police.  But, as the person concerned never told his volatile, nay explosive, colleague for pretty good reasons it was a dilemma he faced alone.  However, I am sure he will testify to the attempts to bring undue influence, if required.

How many ....

communicant members does it take to create a schism on the head of a pin?

 (Just for clarity: I'm not having a go at my former neighbour Rev Stewart)

The Licencing Board give in...

A Councillor phones me to let me know that the Licencing Board are about to lodge their defences against appeal by the Golf Club over the refusal of a Sunday Licence.

I'm told that the Chairman has refused to sign up to anything other than a bland statement reiterating the majority decision (which he opposed) and that no attempt at justification will be made.

The Golf Club's legal advisor?

Largely, of course, as the legal advice given to the Board Members was that refusal was illegal and would lead to a successful challenge and costs awarded against the Board.  A matter confirmed by Cllr Murdo MacLeod when he abstained at the first hearing, before voting against after coming under pressure from the Church.

Am I right in understanding that the individual members were cited, as well as the Board?  If so, could the Golf Club be looking for the £15,000 expenses to be paid by the Board Members individually, rather than by the Comhairle?  That would be interesting.

Secret meetings aren't secret anymore

The Licensing Board decision about refusing the Sunday licence for the Stornoway Golf Club and the subsequent outburst from the Chair have had further ramifications. All at further cost to the taxpayer.

However, it also appears that there has been much needed clarification about how at least one member of the Board came to his decision.

But first, there are some interesting aspects of the relationship between the Board and the Council that seem to be contrary to all I understood to be the case.

The entire Board were summoned - not invited - to a meeting by the Council Leader. Quite what powers he used to do that are unclear, and why the Board acceded to such a demand when they are supposedly a completely separate legal entity appointed from within the Council, is even more unclear. But straight to the Headmasters study it was.

Not to worry either, as it was an 'approved duty' which meant that the taxpayer paid for each and every member to travel to Stornoway and have all the accommodation costs paid for those from the Southern Isles. Plus officer time in dealing with the travel and attending the bollocking party. No change out of £1,000.

The Board were duly shouted at by the Leader for the following sins:

• Ignoring legal advice on the application
• Ignoring legal advice on the decision
• Talking about the process in the press
• Squandering £10,000 of our money on legal fees in a battle that inevitably would be lost

After much wailing and gnashing of teeth, and tears before bedtime, the Leader called for the Chair's head, inviting Cllr Taylor to resign. Quite rightly, Cllr Taylor told the Leader to insert his resignation letter into the appropriate orifice.

Then the penny dropped that shooting the messenger might actually make more of a story than the Comhairle was comfortable with, and there was much kissing and making up.

Those of you who were bemused or perturbed by Lord MacKay of Clashfern's encouragement for the judiciary to use the Bible in daily Court proceedings, may not be surprised to find that such a practice has never left the quasi-judicial arses seats of the Western Isles Licencing Board.

I am advised that one member of the Licencing Board who voted against the Sunday licence and against the legal advice admitted that he did so because he was told by 'external third parties' that he must not abstain.

If that is the case, then that member should resign immediately as he is clearly unable to demonstrate objectivity, is influenced by matters that are not related to the application, and is clearly bringing the Board into disrepute by his actions. I can't wait to see him in Court on the stand!

Perhaps now is the time for the Board and the Council to make a clean breast of what has happened, and save us all some money by confirming that the Board will not defend the indefensible in Court.

Councillors: you need to get a grip on the board members. I suggest a double handed grip around the throat would be entirely appropriate in these circumstances, until Board Members who lack objectivity and integrity finally see sense.

Another Licencing Board success....

A week after the Licencing Board prevented the Golf Club opening on Sunday afternoons, my family and I were out for a walk this afternoon, when we were passed by three people carrying plastic bags from a certain off-sales.

As they staggered past us - and past the Free Church seminary - wondering from side-to-side with what I estimated to be 8 cans of beer + bottles (each) in clinking bags, I pondered the LDOS view that an absence of Sunday licences means that families of alcoholics have a day off.

As neither the woman nor the two men have immediate families, beyond the sad community they inhabit, it was easy to see the utter fallacy of that argument.

The absence of LDOS in ever providing support or advice to these unfortunates was conspicuous.

The irony in them bouncing past the FC Manse and the AA building was not lost on me.

(Nor, to be fair, was the fact that we had enjoyed a nice bottle of wine with lunch).

However, as far as I could see, none of the three were carrying golf clubs, nor were they ever likely too. Never mind, the easy target was shot by the Board; whilst the real point was missed.

To pee or not to pee

So the toilets in Percival Square are to remain closed after the building work in the square is completed.

This is in accordance with some vague, unspecified, Council decision made in light of budget cuts etc etc etc.

As the tender documents, issued in on 28 January said:

Comhairle Nan Eilean Siar, local authority for the Western Isles Area, is inviting expressions of interest for the construction of a new civic space in the centre of Stornoway. The works mainly comprise the remodelling of an existing car park and the resurfacing of approx 1100 sq metres in natural stone paving.
The estimated cost of the project is £350k.
Expressions of interest must be made through the Public Contracts Scotland Portal by 8th February 2010.

They seem to have forgotten that the new 'Civic Square' was to have what is now a derelict building right in the middle of the tourist attraction. That'll have the Cruise Liners queuing at the harbour mouth.

However, there won't be any queues at the public toilets in the Bus Station - the new main public toilet provision for Stornoway - at least on Sundays, as the Bus Station is locked, where Percival Square was coin operated.

Perhaps the £350,000 on remodelling Percival Square would have been better spent on toilets, showers and other facilities for yachtsmen and other tourists?

Perhaps the Councillor might try and find out who made this decision, with what authority, and why a major piece of work in the Town Centre is now to be ruined. Or will the building be demolished, to solve the problem?

Swimming on a Sunday

I was supposed to be at the photo-op outside the Sport Centre yesterday, where all those who think that it should be open 7 days a week were invited to attend and show their support.

But I went swimming instead.

Well, paddling actually, when a pipe burst in the kitchen, flooding the area with the entire contents of the cold water tank until such time as I got the stopcock closed and the system drained.

I count three hotels in Stornoway offering a full Sunday dining opportunity. Five bars that are open to the public. Plus one bar that is (was?) invitation only. Oh yes, and 12 (or is it 13?) Churches. A single ferry and flights in and out to Inverness, Glasgow and Edinburgh.

And as I have discovered, more 24/7 on-call plumbers than you can shake a Catechism at.

Twenty minutes - yes, 20 minutes - to have two of them at my door (from the same firm, which will remain nameless) at the request of a friend in the trade who couldn't do the work himself.

Despite the Sports Centres in Uist and Barra being open 7 days a week, we mere mortals in Lewis (and Harris) and considered unsuitable to be able to cope with a family swimming event on a Sunday.

Probably because the powers that be think we will be too pished from going to all the pubs and hotels they licence as being suitable entertainment for a Sunday.

I'd love to link here to the decisions of the Licencing Board to give a fuller understanding of the logic and lateral thinking, but as the Licencing Board are a separate legal entity, made up exclusively of Councillors, the Comhairle are apparently unable to publish the minutes of meetings, or even the decisions they have taken. The Comhairle do, however, publish the notices of applications and the current agenda; and the current - flawed - policy document; and underwrite all the costs; and provide the legal advice that is frequently ignored by some of the more original thinkers on the Board; and pay for the legal costs of successful appeals.

That's democracy and public accountability for you.

But then I've just submitted an FoI request about that: the result of which will be hosted somewhere suitable in due course.

Lewis: the only place where you can you drink yourself unconscious on a Sunday, but not teach your child to swim.

----

“What do I think of Western Isles civilisation? I think it would be a very good idea.” Mahatma Gandhi Morrison

Is there a cupboard in the White House in which the Council keeps the Councillors who are a danger to democracy?

Has one escaped the armed guards, scaled the barbed wire and shrugged off the straight jacket and gag, only to let let rip with the kind of comment which will have the Press Officer banging his head off the desk, and the lawyers writing suicide notes?

In the great spirit of the democratic system, public and civic responsibility and the maturity to make a decision based on the facts, ones understanding of the circumstances: and all tempered with the nuances of beliefs, public interest and a sense of judgement; the ability to ditch all of those and drop you colleagues into an expensive and embarrassing position whilst trying to avoid taking any kind of stance takes some doing.

Step forward Cllr Murdo MacLeod to receive the Arse-from-Elbow award for ludicrous decision avoiding.  The prize is a large pair of pliers to remove the splinters from the fence from your backside.

Unwilling to take a stand either for or against the application for a Sunday licence at Stornoway Golf Club, in true fashion he praised both sides and feigned an inability to come to a conclusion so as to try to offend no-one.

"This is not a cop out.  I have to abstain."

Hear that noise?  It's the bullshit detectors exploding.

You never HAVE to abstain, unless he is implying some kind of conflict of interest that he didn't declare.  Just what was the position of the Free Church of which he is a Deacon?  Should he perhaps have declared an interest and not participated?

He conceded that the club would be "highly likely" to win an appeal.

WTF?  He is pretty sure that the Licencing Board are taking the wrong decision, yet he allows the decision to go the 'wrong' way and encourages an appeal that he thinks the applicants will win.  Oh yes, and we the public will pick up the tab of perhaps £15,000 in that event.  But that's not important enough to take a stand about?

Now imagine the appeal by the Golf Club, and the Board having to write their defence of the decision.  Just how will Cllr MacLeod defend his view that the Board were wrong and their decision should be overturned, yet not feeling any obligation to prevent a waste of people's time, energy and money on something that he thinks was "highly likely" to be wrong.  And how will his colleagues on the Board appreciate him undermining them?

Of course, he has form in this area.  As a vocal and highly public opponent of Sunday transport to the islands, he was previously caught taking a secretive private Sunday flight on a Council sponsored trip to the US to go and see some tourist sights.  And let's not mention using another Councillors pin number to access executive lounges, so other Councillors could get the free booze.

Time to close that door again and double the guards.

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.

A rotten burgh?

With an electorate of about 21,500 at the coming election the two main parties will each spend close to the maximum they are allowed by law. Or possibly just a tiny fraction more, if they think they can get away with it.

The maximum allowed, per constituency, is current just over £7,000, meaning that the SNP and Labour will spend about £14,000 and share 80% of the vote, with the other parties spending perhaps another £6,000 between them. So a total spend of £20,000.

Except that there is an exception to this general rule. Any political party can spend a total of £30,000 per constituency contested, on the wider -national - PR campaign.

It is with a huge degree of discomfort, nay disgust, that I see that the Scottish Christian Party are entering into the battle for the Western Isles constituency, and are using their full allowance of £30,000 in the one seat.

It may be within the law, but it is certainly not what was intended; to effectively allow one campaign to try to buy the seat by outspending the total of all the other parties by 50%.

That the SCP appear to be planning not on victory, but simply to unseat the SNP for being responsible for the introduction of Sunday ferries to Lewis, may to a very small extent change the perception from vainglorious self-aggrandisement by the Rev Hargreaves, to a deliberate "Anyone but the incumbent" campaign; and may give it some veneer of respectability, but it still leaves me with a distinctly unpleasant taste in my mouth.

Even allowing for paying for the open primary - election advertising in all but name - the lucky candidate will be spending more on general advertising in each of the months after their nomination than the main parties will spend in the whole campaign.

With the wider Christian community lining up behind the good Rev's plan, the successful outcome for the SCP is almost certain and I forecast that the SNP majority of 1,441 will be overturned and, subject only to a half-decent candidate for the SCP, a SNP loss is a virtual certainty, as the SCP will get 10-15% of the vote, just by virtue of their spending power.

One final thought for those who plan to participate in the open primary, or be active for the SCP, which comes from Proverbs 22:7, and seems entirely appropriate to the role of Rev Hargreaves:

"The rich rule over the poor, and the borrower is slave to the lender."

Council Sunday policy dismantled

It is good to see that the Council's Sunday policy is applied consistently. And I am not referring to the Sports Centres in Uist and Barra being open today, whilst that in Lewis is closed with the Free Church manning the barricades.

Remember what the position was on Sunday ferries?

This was an open and wide ranging meeting in which both Cal-Mac and the Comhairle outlined their respective positions. We clearly stated that the Comhairle remains opposed to the introduction of Sunday sailings for Lewis and Harris because of the traditions and customs of those areas. CalMac gave a commitment that further discussions will take place with other interested parties and with the Comhairle.

Traditions and customs?

Today, Sunday, surveyors employed by the Comhairle are surveying the Bayhead basin for the proposed infill to build a new car park (?) office accommodation (?) or - wild rumour has it - a seven day pole-dancing brothel night club facility.

Work of necessity or mercy? As the Lewis and Harris policy would have it; except for Sunday street cleaning for the Church attendees; except for opening schools and the Town Hall for Church services; and except for certain employees working some Sundays in the Sandwick Road offices when no-one is watching.

Explain this policy to me again. Only with logical arguments, this time.

No comment can do this justice....

The Outer Isles Presbytery of the Free Presbyterian Church of Scotland has condemned Cal Mac for its controversial Sabbath sailings between Stornoway and Ullapool.

The Presbytery has recorded its protest which reads: “The Outer Isles Presbytery of the Free Presbyterian Church of Scotland met in Stornoway on Tuesday 1st September 2009 places on record its most vehement protest against the actions of CalMac Ferries Ltd in imposing a Sabbath ferry service between Stornoway and Ullapool on the Lord’s Day and against every fair test of community opinion.

“The Presbytery wishes to record that CalMac Ferries Ltd have broken a written assurance, in 2000, to Comhairle nan Eilean Siar that Sabbath sailings would not be introduced against the Council's wishes; that these sailings were only inaugurated after the solitary Western Isles representative on the Company's Board retired in March this year; that they ignore the weight of petition evidence (3,760 island residents against Sabbath sailings, as opposed to barely 1,200 for); that the Company has refused to make public the legal advice on which it claims it is obliged to provide a 7-day service; and that the service was finally initiated after only five day's notice in July.

“t further considers the alleged reasons for the commencement of this service to be utterly spurious and an incorrect interpretation of the law cited. It considers reprehensible the fact that commercial, social and entertainment interests appear to be shielded behind this supposed legal necessity and demand that Caledonian MacBrayne make public its legal opinion which precipitated this action.

“The Presbytery notes too, with regret, that letters of concern from the Sabbath Observance Committee of our Church in 2007 to Western Isles parliamentary representatives, Alasdair Allan MSP and Angus MacNeil MP, were not even granted the courtesy of acknowledgement.

“The Presbytery considers the action to be harmful to the local community and to be overtly anti-religious as was attested by the triumphalism on Stornoway quayside – with baiting slogans and blasphemous comments – and the attendance of a senior Company manager to exploit the considerable publicity.

“The Presbytery further fears the employment rights of those with religious convictions opposing Sabbath work, other than those done in necessity or in mercy, are now imperilled. Despite assurances to the contrary it seems inevitable that, in future recruitment of Company shore staff, applicants not prepared unequivocally to commit to Sabbath working as required will be denied employment.

“There is no legal safeguard against this and little to protect shore staff presently in employment by the Company from pressure to comply in this regard.

“We are again reminded that, as our land retreats from the law of God and all the blessings of the Reformation and our spiritual inheritance, we see not only contempt for the Fourth Commandment but the power of the State being wielded to impose on a despised minority.

“This has been done in open disregard of and in disobedience to the moral law of God contained in the Fourth Commandment, “Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work: but the seventh is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates; for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day, and hallowed it.”

“The Presbytery cannot believe these sailings are either a work of necessity or of mercy.

“The operator’s action being a further public breach of God’s law, the Presbytery exhort and warn Caledonian MacBrayne and users of this service of their danger in so acting and that such transgressions deserve the just punishment of God, who observes all sin with displeasure.

“The Presbytery call on CalMac Ferries Ltd to cease this service immediately and encourage the Comhairle’s Transportation Committee to initiate an inquiry into the legal interpretations given as reasons for this action.

“It further calls on islanders and visitors to refrain from using this service and to honour the law of God before temporal and supposed financial gains.”

The great CalMac stramash

The Big Issue has an entertaining and pretty accurate review of the major issue of the month.

Sunday working

Good to see that the Sunday (non-)working policy of the Council has been abandoned again.

Martins Memorial Church are meeting in Stornoway Primary this week (and last?) and presumably the building will open itself and there will be no need for a caretaker to work on Sunday moving chairs and then moving them back before the kids arrive on Sunday Monday morning*.

No doubt this fits perfectly with the definition of "essential" or as "an act of mercy".

However, as a debate on the opening of the Sports Centre on a Sunday is banned by those who want consultation on everything but that which they want to prevent, it seems more an "act of hypocrisy".

Perhaps someone can tell me where and when the Council sanctioned the employment of staff at the Primary on a Sunday?

Update 19/7: * Yes, I know that the kids are on holiday, but the use of the Primary by the Church is going to continue well into the new school year.