The truths they don't want you to read....
It is with a heavy heart that I congratulate Gordon Brown on introducing a
small measure of greenness into his taxation regime. I'm still digesting the rest, and working through the verbiage, so I'm only commenting on one area.
At last, at long last, the need to curb air travel has been recognised and a small - very small - step forward has been made. The increase in Airport Passenger Tax is absolutely right, as there is a screaming need to reduce the highly polluting aircraft criss-crossing our skies. The
best news is that the
Highlands & Islands remain exempt!
The increases are
very modest, but at least it is a step in the right direction, and I think that you could easily have quadrupled the APT for first-class passengers without them noticing, after all, the majority are paid for by their companies. As a frequent flier, I know the pollution trail I leave, but I am also aware that short-haul flights are by far the most polluting, whilst long-haul are (relatively) better for the environment.
That the taxes are biased in favour of short-haul is a stupid move, as there is still no real incentive to move onto rail or ferry. That is a serious shortcoming in the tree-hugging credentials of Gordon Green-Brown, and strikes one more of a political pose than a real stance.
Now let me get started on the fuel duty escalator. No I won't; as others will repeated the arguments
ad nauseum as will I no doubt in the future.
One simple observation: if the Canary Islands are exempt from VAT, why can't the Western Isles attract the same political concern? Surely, along with RET, that is the easiest way to secure the future of this community.
[Deleted the title as apparently it's Pat Pending]
This is the title of a presentation my brother is giving next week. He can't tell us any more as it is confidential, but I don't even understand the title.
I think it might be something about
cryptography ... but, being Kenneth, he's probably delivering it in Japanese or compiler or Klingon. So we'll be none the clearer even if he sends us a powerpoint.
Sorry Kenneth ......
Almost two years ago we had the sight of politicians queuing up to tell us just how they were going to help the Uists with various flood prevention schemes. In the light of the tragic events and loss of life, it was reasonable to expect the schemes to be in place in short order.
Today, the funding has still not come through and the politicians have disappeared and the problem fallen off the agenda of everyone but Peter Carlin the local Councillor. Peter is repeatedly raising this with the Comhairle and the Executive are constantly being pursued to meet their promises.
Nothing but words have materialised, although the Comhairle has undertaken some patching work on the causeways. If we have more flooding - and heaven forbid any fatalities - then the blame will lie squarely with the Executive.
The fattest pension scheme in the UK, the most generous expenses allowances (which are largely unchecked) and often a job for life, yet they want more.
Our MP's want
a 66% pay rise to keep them in line with senior civil servants!?! Sorry, but they seem to have lost touch with reality.
The problem seems to be that greed is contagious, and overpaid civil servants are being used as the benchmark to lever up MP's salaries.
Can I suggest that the solution is fewer and better paid (as should be the case for Councillors) or possibly the transfer of all power from Westminster to Holyrood.
I have been told that the Community skip in Galson is covered with anti-English grafitti. I have absolutely no time for such narrow minded racism, and I hope that the perpetrator is found and prosecuted.
In the meantime, I hope that the skip will be replaced as a matter of urgency.
I was supposed to be in Barra and Uist this week, but with all the ferry cancellations, there is no way I'm going to make it. The storm seems to have passed Stornoway by, albeit with a few overnight squalls, but the weather is calm at the moment.
With immovable appointments on Thursday, I couldn't get down there and back in time, so I've had to cancel the whole visit. Goodness knows when I'll get back - probably March now, given the work pressures until after the end of January.
The flight down was enlivened by a group of Scottish Water/Scottish Water Solutions/whatever-we-are-called-this-week employees on their way to a seminar at Riccarton.
The seminar was being presented by Jackie Bird the BBC newsreader, according to the boisterous conversations that went across the plane, and this seemed to be one of a large series of seminars, so presumably all the staff are going through some kind of service improvement course.
The assessment of the professional presentation skills of Mrs Bird? "She's a very scrawny bird", opined one of the SW staff. "Very good, but very scrawny", said another to general agreement.
Not many people know that Jackie Bird used to be a backing singer with Echo and the Bunnymen in the early 80's, and in about 1980 they played the Mermaid lounge in the Cabarfeidh Hotel to wild approbation from the massed ranks of the Stornoway punks. I know, because I was there.
I'm barely back on the island than I'm away again.
On Friday I had to go to COSLA (Convention of Scottish Local Authorities) for the Environment and Sustainability Committee and then to KIMO for the regular meeting.
The flight down was enlivened by the stewardess who had a rather irreverent sense of humour.
"May I remind you that smoking is forbidden, and I will kill anyone I catch smoking."
As I only had hand luggage for the overnight stay, I lost all the liquids in my soap bag as I passed through security. It all seems very excessive, but I suppose they are just doing their job -- with vigour!
Congratulations to the people of South Uist, who have today acquired the land on which they were born and brought up.
But we should thank South Uist Estates who recognised the inevitability of the process and worked with the people in a constructive manner to deliver the land to them. Contrast that with the acrimonious state of affairs in Lewis and you can see just how badly parts of this island have been served by their owners.
Both parties appear to have a very good deal coming out of the process, and this can only be good for the future. As a regular visitor to Uist I look forward to seeing the changes over the coming years and decades.
The
Gazette report and reality differ somewhat.
The facts are easily discernible in the
Statutory Instrument and the
Guidance notes.
1. I qualify for a £10k payment
2. To qualify I have to put my name forward by 20 October, as I have done
3. I receive the payment 14 days after the date of the election (3rd May 2007), as per section 8
4. To qualify you must not stand as a candidate on 3 May
5. If you die before 3 May, your named beneficiary receives the payment
6. You can opt to stand in May 2007, but you lose your right to the payment
If I decided not to stand next year, then I can stand as a Councillor in a bye-election later that month; I could stand as an MSP, MP or as first President of the Peoples Republic of Scotland; or indeed, return to the Comhairle in ten or twenty years time.
However, anyone who hasn't signed up just for the free life insurance cover needs their heads examined.
When I decide what I am
really going to do, you'll hear it here first. ;-)
The big question is: What sort of Comhairle are we going to have if the most experienced 2/3's of the members leave??
After a wonderfully refreshing break sitting around a pool and doing nothing more energetic than reading, eating and drinking, I'm back. We watched Ireland demolish Australia in a "traditional" (sic) Irish Bar and yesterday we watched the Aussies wipe the floor with Scotland at Murrayfield.
The mail - both personal and business - was about two foot high, which is slightly less than usual for ten days, and has now all been opened and sorted - but not yet dealt with.
We're away for 10 days, and with no laptop (for once) there will be no postings till I return.
Hope you enjoy my time away, as much as I do :-)
Last night I did an interview for RTE, Dublin, about the Atlantic Osprey, which is carrying nuclear waste from Sellafield to France and Switzerland.
KIMO have long had very serious
concerns about the appropriateness of using a former ro-ro ferry to carry toxic waste.
The Comhairle had a presentation about this almost four years ago, and pledged to oppose any such shipments (as far as we could).
Now with the Irish Government putting pressure on the UK Government, we might manage to get some progress. However, at the Council of Ministers meeting I attended in Gothenburg the UK opposed any and every restriction on nuclear transportation, waste production, and waste management in favour of market forces.
KIMO have members in Ireland, the Isle of Man and Wales so we hope to have a combined campaign against these shipments.
Whilst understanding the misery this collapse has caused those directly concerned, instead of hand-wringing and saying "Something Must Be Done", politicians would be better advised to encourage the public to save through Credit Unions, rather than through commercial (non-banking) operations.
A much more radical viewpoint was stated in one of the newsletters I subscribe to: As the agents are self-employed, are we now to believe that the self-employed are entitled to protection and refunds if their customer goes under? How many sub-contractors have lost money when a main contractor has gone under, and how few of them have ever got a refund for their losses? So why should one group be treated differently?
I consider that the claims in Parliament that this is a "national emergency", and that MP's should make a contribution to the appeal fund, to be nothing more than a pathetic piece of symbolism which doesn't address the real issues. Such as, why do we spend so much money on conspicuous consumption to celebrate the pagan festival of mid-winter?
I find myself quoted in the
Chicago Tribune, again, as some kind of authority on Scottish politics. The author, Tom Hundley, has recently been in Lewis and I had the opportunity to meet him. He subsequently interviewed me for this article and I'm flattered with the political company I keep in his article.
However, my ambitions are that much lower and more local.
Strange. But then they thought our normality was odd to.
The remains were stored for a week due to the demand at the crematorium, and then the funeral director walked along the road ahead of the cortege for about 1/2 mile before we dove the nest couple of miles to the crematorium. Can you imagine Al Crae doing that (no discrespect Al, but...)
Afterwards, the wake was in his local, which being England was fully smoking, so everything needs to go to the dry cleaners next week. Roll on the smoking ban.
Thence back to Sy, and normality (sic)
My first flight ever into London City aoirport was very exciting.
I've avoided the airport for no good reason, but today I landed there for speed and efficiency reasons.
It's like landing on a pier, mainly due to the fact it is a pier! The landing is no worse than anywhere else, bit the maneuvering was nervey, due to the restricted space.
Only 22 minutes to Bank, another 15 minutes to Waterloo adn the world is you Oyster (card).
Heathrow on the way back was horrendous. we left at 8am for a noon flight, and it was just about enough time. Probably the worst airport in the world.
The past week has been difficult, so apologies for holding postings, until we were ready to let them go.
On Saturday we went out for our usual dinner and drinks and were approached by a gentleman |( an I use the expression very loosely) who seemed to have a problem with some confidential and personal information that his wife held.
Without giving anything away, he ended up trying to ask my wife out for a fight, and(allegedly) physically assaulting both of us.
We both deal with confidential information every day, and to have our private lives thrown back in our faces is very difficult to deal with.
He was duly thrown out of the pub, and five minutes late he was back in and served with a pint and a double. Hey ho. The Police were interested, and we have left them to it.
I find myself in total agreement with the Gazette editorial, that whilst reduced ferry fares from the islands will be gratefully accepted, the real solution is free travel.
Without that bold step, it is just going to make it cheaper to go to Inverness for shopping, whilst local shops and tourists are priced out of the market.
However, one senses that the coming election might result in bigger carrots being dangled the closer the election comes...
I've got a cyber-stalker, so I'm obviously moving up in the world.
The poor saddo read something on the blog recently, and within a few hours was desperately trying to find the full facts, to the extent of getting others to make rude calls to members of my family.
As their virtual fingerprints are all over the weblogs, I can see exactly what they are doing, whilst they remain oblivious to the trail they are leaving.
Remember what
Tony Parsons said?
