Parliamentary Committees

Like Council Committees, your appointment to Committees of the Scottish Parliament is very much a measure of your standing in the party, in the eyes of your colleagues and also carries so many messages for the politically aware.

The Parliamentary Committees are:
Audit
Economy, Energy and Tourism
Education, Lifelong Learning and Culture
Equal Opportunities
European and External Relations
Finance
Health and Sport
Justice
Local Government and Communities
Public Petitions
Procedures, Standards and Public Appointments
Rural Affairs and Environment
Subordinate Legislation
Transport, Infrastructure and Climate Change

So which Committee did our new MSP get onto. This is not a trick question - look at the options, and judge which are the most appropriate and suitable for a representative of the Western Isles. Tourism, Culture, Petitions (on windfarms!), Rural Affairs, or even Transport.

Er, no. Local Government, which is ironic for someone who visited the Comhairle twice before being elected, flanked both times by MWT supporters, and avoided talking to any of the Councillors.

Just to rub it in, the SNP appointed as follows:
Culture - Rob Gibson and two Central Scotland lists MSPs
Petitions - three Central Belt MSPs
Rural Affairs - Roseanna Cunningham (Perth) and two Central Belt MSPs
Transport - Rob Gibson and a Lothians MSP

Poor Mr Allan finds himself on a Committee Chaired by the highly experienced and respected Duncan MacNeil (Lab), and facing the equally experienced Johann Lamont, Michael McMahon and David McLethcie.

Never has being lobby fodder seemed less attractive.

At least the inanity of a referendum on planning applications seems much less likely as the sidelines beckon.

Student debt

The 'Graduate Endowment' has been abolished.

"It's a significant first step from the SNP in reducing graduate debt, however, more has got to be done to acknowledge that students do live in absolute hardship", said James Alexander of NUS Scotland.

I cannot agree more.

As one of the last to enjoy grants instead of loans, my earning capacity has increased dramatically as a result of my education, and my extra contribution back to the Exchequer has more than outweighed the miserly grants I actually received.

A quick look back at the SNP Manifesto shows three unequivocal promises, "An SNP government will abolish the Graduate Endowment tuition fee and replace the expensive and discredited Student Loans system with means-tested student grants. We will remove the burden of debt repayments owed by Scottish domiciled and resident graduates."

Now deliver the entire package, and encourage the young to get an education not a huge burden of debt. Society will benefit.

Intermittent power supplies

It's not just wind that is an intermittent power source, nuclear can be too. Despite what the nay-sayers claim.

However, if a wind turbine goes wrong it might spectacularly self-destruct, but at least it doesn't cause death and contamination across a wide area.

And the moral of this little tale - we need to diversify our power generation sources.

Electricity prices

We just had a letter from Scottish Gas Business advising us that our new contract was being renewed automatically from 21 July for two years, unless we phoned to tell them otherwise.

Page 2 told us that the unit cost was going up by 27%.

One phone call later, we were given a new offer - a 12% increase - on the grounds that "distribution costs in Scotland are higher". And "12% isn't much", said the salesperson.

Looks like we are shopping around - and I'll let you know just who is cheapest for the islands.

Members Informal

Every series of meetings at the Comhairle, there is an informal meeting, usually on the Monday, at which the key issues for the week are outlined, and at which members can identify matters that concern them.

Contrary to popular belief, no decisions are taken, and it is usually an opportunity to give a verbal going over to the Convener, Vice-Convener and/or the Chief Executive on anything they have done wrong. Or have been perceived to have done wrong. Or sometimes, just for sport.

Whispers reach me that this blog may feature at the next Informal, with one member very keen to rebut any suggestions of double-dealing, duplicity, being two-faced and generally trying to protect (what he thinks is) his reputation. Hopefully, he'll remember to mention the threatening lawyers letters he sent me about the blog.

No doubt there will be much sniggering behind hands as the sanctimonious words are mixed with staged self-pity, and I hope to have an early full report with some verbatim extracts for your delectation.

Arnish

It was good to see the extensive coverage of the shipping and export of the towers from Arnish*.

The facility is back in use, and has delivered on time on a contract that the previous operators weren't able to complete.

I understand that the ship was loaded 24 hours ahead of schedule and left on Saturday morning taking the towers off to Holland.

Hopefully on the back of this successful contract the 50+ jobs will be retained and new contracts can be attracted.

* Irony. I didn't see a single piece of news about this anywhere.

Tropical weather

Stornoway is positively roasting today, with temperatures up at a scarily warm 14C.

The family have adjourned to the garden, with the kids covered in sun cream, where I was pleasantly surprised to find that my wireless broadband connection seems to be even quicker than the two PCs in the house. My mission is now to find out why - but, I think I'll solve it by getting IT guy in to fix it for me.

The pubs are doing a roaring trade, with the beer garden (or more accurately patio) in the Whaler's bursting at the seams. It's not family friendly, so it's time to sit in the sun with a glass of something cold and watch the kids run themselves into the ground.

Maybe global warming has an upside (joke!)

Standards Commission

Readers of the Stornoway Gazette may remember that a complaint was lodged with the Standard Commission just before the elections, claiming that a number of members were in Breach of the Code of Conduct. This was specifically as a result of our involvement in various bodies dealing with the windfarm applications.

I was specifically accused of having compromised my objectivity by being a member of the 'Focus Group' to discuss the detail of benefits with developers, whilst also being Chair of the Environmental Services Committee. The decision is that none of us contravened the Code and the case is closed, but it raises wider issues.

I was placed onto the Focus Group because of my specialist skills and knowledge of the planning system combined with my business and professional skills. Would some of the public prefer that the Comhairle negotiate from a position of weakness rather than have the best skills available?

I also recognised the possibility of a conflict, so that I removed myself from active participation in the Focus Group when there was a live planning application if front of the Comhairle, which as it turned out, meant the vast majority of the time.

The role of the objector needs to be looked at, and he has graced these pages before. Murdo "Esso" Morrison lives in Wishaw, where he is a JP and frequent contributor on anti-windfarm themes to the Stornoway Gazette, in fancy, overblown and generally insulting terms. One attributes such "Lord of the Manor" attitudes to his experiences as a Tory Candidate in the Western Isles, a place he visits briefly and occasionally.

As a retired publicity man for Exxon, Murdo is well placed to advise the wider community on the harm that windfarms can bring to an area, compared to the benefits of traditional sources. However, not one to let a single conflict of interest affect his judgement or his pension, Murdo has another string on his bow.

His holiday home.

The reason for Murdo's ire is that he believes that the view from his holiday home - the old family home - will be adversely affected by the windfarm development, and consequently that his not insubstantial income might be diminished. Does that conflict of interest ever get mentioned in his complaint?

What particularly irritated me was an offensive and threatening email I received from Murdo in 2006. One Sunday - obviously after a long leisurely heavy lunch - Murdo threatened my three houses (?!?), and promised I would get what was coming to me(!), based entirely on a complete misreading of my entry in the Register of Members Interests. I was very close to reporting it to the Police, but instead emailed back advising that I would do so if ever wrote anything similar again. Perhaps the Justices of the Peace Committee in North Lanarkshire would be interested...

No doubt Murdo is sitting back furious with the Standards Commission for not agreeing with him. So can I suggest he use his energies on opposing the ship-to-ship transfers in the Forth, which is near at hand, and given that he has such important and invaluable experience of how oil companies operate. Or perhaps his pension is more important.

Grid connection

Whilst many people from elsewhere appear to want the Western Isles to be a 'no go' area for renewable energy under any circumstances, Shetland are going full steam ahead.

Their latest piece of smart thinking follows on from my previous posts about the possibility of private cables, and they are exploring the possibility of owning the two inter-connector cables and keeping the profits in the Shetlands.

Brilliant, lateral thinking.

Why is no-one objecting to windfarms in Shetland, yet they seem to be falling over themselves to object here? No promise/threat of a referendum from any quarter. Yet in Shetland the SNP supports windpower. At least in 2005 it did.

Bribery and corruption

If you are going to do it, then do it big.

The UK Government appear to have been sanctioning a British company (British Aerospace) to allow a Saudi Government Minister to take a cut of the price being paid by his Government for new military equipment.

The BBC reports suggests that the 'consultancy' money was paid into Saudi bank accounts in Washington where the Prince drew it for his own living expenses.

And then the UK Government - successfully - close the investigation to avoid damaging our 'relationship' with the Saudis.

Am I being stupid, but are we actually saying that selling weapons to a corrupt, theocratic misogynistic regime who deny women the vote, regularly torture those who question the government, and who treat non-Saudi workers as second class chattels.

Remember the absence of official complaints when the British Oil workers were imprisoned and tortured for drinking? Like to guess why that happened?

But the worst of it is that the taxpayer - you and I - subsidise this through the Export Credit Guarantee Department of the DTI, and bribes are accepted as part of the normal course of business at up to 10% of the deal value. Whatever happened to the ethical foreign policy so vigorously espoused by Robin Cook.

Living in the past

Anyone else notice that the Scottish Labour Party are still advertising on the Stornoway Gazette site? Top right, and it links to Alasdair Morrison MSP (Who he? I hear you cry), and hence to his website.

I've already archived all the pages, so if someone takes it down, I might resurrect it elsewhere, just for posterity. I note that the link to caperhouse.com goes to a dormant site, which says a lot about the Labour campaign team and organisation.

Alasdair (or Taylor), if you are reading this, pull the site now.

Technology goes too far?

Scientists have developed a talking paper.

Just imagine the Stornoway Gazette reading the Court pages to you on a Thursday morning .....

The next, next Labour Candidate?

It's funny how these things can be so obvious and you don't see them until you step back or hear a comment that starts you thinking.

I previously blogged about Cllr Norman MacDonald being Chair of most of the Committees in the Comhairle but until a Labour Party member made an off the cuff remark I was not seeing the obvious.

As Chair of Environment Committee, the Employment Committee, the Infrastructure Committee AND third in charge of the entire Council, Emperor MacDonald will be the council spokesperson on everything, but everything, which gives him three new job opportunities: MP, MSP and Convener.

He has a chance of being selected due to his high profile if - and only if - he keeps his fellow Labour Party members from sticking the knife in.

"Keep your friends close and your enemies closer" Sun-Tzu, former Councillor for Shiant (very) East

Grid connection

Bloomberg report that Scottish & Southern may have to compete with third party companies to deliver electricity to the grid. This is particularly focussed on renewable projects in the islands.

This is excellent news for the Western Isles, as it raises the possibility of different connections, which I have highlighted before. I don't think that it changes the chance of the application being approved or rejected, but it does have one huge benefit which I hope everyone will support.

The worst case scenario - and I have said this repeatedly - is that the large scale applications for wind power in the islands get approval, but then are not developed due to problems with the transmission network i.e. the pylons between Beauly-Denny are refused.

This would create planning blight in the Islands, while no-one knew what was happening, or whether the best/worst was going to occur.

This new plan gives the proposals (if they are approved) another way to be delivered - the AMEC owned cable, I have long forecast as being the most likely outcome.

Community Care

I've just finished doing a distressing piece of work for a client whose husband is suffering from Alzheimer's.

The impact on the other spouse is potentially horrendous, both emotionally and particularly financially.

Having researched the situation, it looks like half their savings are going to be hoovered up in a few short years to pay for care. This is regardless of the fact that they have both worked non-stop from leaving school to past retirement age, and paid all their taxes without fail.

Instead of being able to help the grandchildren - on whom they dote - to go to University and College they face paying over £600 per week for the bed and care that will be received. That's £33,800 per annum, and the philosophy seems to be that everyone must now be expected to make provision for long-term care.

This is appalling, and what can be done is limited. The Alzheimer's Scotland website was particularly useful and concise on this matter, and is blunt and too the point. This legislation needs to be changed (and paid for out of general taxation) before it affects you and I - directly or indirectly.

HIE wages/low wages

With the average wage in the Western Isles being a paltry £14,250 compared to a Scottish average of £21,500 it is disappointing for HIE to be paying staff a paltry £11,808.

Looking objectively, the bell curve means that some will always earn less than the average.

But that's not the issue.

The average wage in the Western Isles is 2/3 of the Scottish average, and has been for some time. Cost of living is higher - heating, food, building materials - and house prices are lower.

The causes are well know - transport costs being the main one - which all combine to prevent new businesses making a success on the islands, and further depress the average income.

The challenge for HIE has been to reduce that differential, and they have failed. So has Tony Blair. So did Jack McConnell. Can Alex Salmond make a difference, because the effect on individuals concerned would be immense.

The anonymous employee getting £11,808 would be on £17,712 if the Western Isles were at the same level as the rest of Scotland. That might be a bit ambitious, but it's better than accepting our current status of "cheap labour".

SNP Transport policy

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Barbecue

The good weather and sheer tiredness of us both encouraged us to close the office eary today and go home at 3pm. Well, not exactly home, but first off to the shops to buy supplies for the first barbecue of the year.

That was actually sixth on the agenda, after running an errant or two, getting the post in the post box, having a drink or two in HS1, and collecting the kids from nursery and granny.

A quick scrub and clean of the gas barbecue and it was fired up and ready to cook.

With temperatures supposedly nearing 18C it was postively balmy and (look away now if you are eating) I stripped to my shorts to undertake the traditional male role of hunter-killer and chief food burner.

Being good Lewis boys, and uncertain what to do in the absence of clouds and rain, in the absence of clear instructions the kids attempted to mimic their father and dress for the weather. The fact that they were already dressed for the weather was - of course - irrelevant and they quickly assumed the traditional costume of the young Lewis lad ready to explore a garden and play football - underwear and wellies.

Causeways

After the fatal storms of over two years ago we were promised action to replace and renew the causeways and improve the situation for the people of Uist.

WHAT THE HELL IS HAPPENING!

There is no sign of anything happening, and although the money has been promised (repeatedly, and ad infinitum) and we have been promised that the work is starting, we are now too far into the year for the work to be done before next year at the earliest.

Having driven across these causeways a lot over the past week, the state of most of them is appalling and urgent action is required before they are destroyed in the coming winter storms. Many of the causeways still have substandard (or non-existent) edging which is dangerous and far from attractive for visitors.

Of particular concern is the Gramsdale to Grimsay section where, I understand, lorries are experiencing difficult under-wheel conditions, and hauliers are concerned about the causeways deteriorating rapidly before next year.

But, the big trick is still being missed. These causeways should also be tidal barriers, harnessing the massive and strong currents to gerneate electricity on the islands. The previous Scottish Executive refused to countenance this possibility. New Executive, new thinking?

Time for a quick win, if our MP and MSP are prepared to lobby for this. There's the challenge. It shouldn't affect the timescales, but will cost more, in the short-term. Or were the promises of sustainability only for election purposes?

Wardriving in Uist

Not a phrase I had ever thought I would use, but that's life.

Wardriving n. is the act of searching for Wi-Fi wireless networks by a person in a moving vehicle using a Wi-Fi-equipped computer, such as a laptop or a PDA, to detect the networks.

It's different from piggybacking, which is the unauthorised use of said found network, which - of course - I hypothetically wrote about doing, allegedly - and wouldn't actually do as it is naughty, which someone pointed out to me after the supposed fact. No matter how desperate one might be.

Anyway, after my experiences in Lochmaddy, I found myself stopping as I approached my later appointments and checking for available networks in the area in a kind of desperate, adrenalin rush, ooh 'amn't I dangerous' sort of way. It was quite amazing to see the number of unsecured networks I was picking up, and devices that tried to identify themselves to me.

Anyway, lots of identified weaknesses if I was that way inclined - which I am not - and I have marked for other wardrivers, but not piggybackers.

The Uist 'warchalk' markings are as follows:
Open node - blue plastic bag tied to the fence and knotted
Closed node - sheep tied to fence
WEP node - salmon feed bag tied to fence

You can't miss these markings - have fun!