Enlgish as she is wrote

From the online Gazette:

More disruption is on the cards for Western Isles Council services with the news that unions: Unison, Unite and GMB plan further industrial action on September 24.

Following the first day's action on August 20 there were talks in Edinburgh between the employers and the trade unions. The employers made a revised offer of 2.5% for one year only – the previous offer was for 2.5% for a three-year period.

During the last day of strike action Comhairle services throughout the islands were severely disrupted with the Local Authority's offices in Stornoway and Balivanich closed to the public and only limited services available in Tarbert and Castlebay.

Stornoway Library and Ionad Spors Leodhais were closed and it is anticipated that the Education Service, Refuse Collection and Bus Services throughout the islands will be seriously disrupted by next week's action.

Now I admit to not being the finest writer, and sometimes mangling my English, but is the above not somewhat incorrect. I have identified some errors in the writing, but I am sure that others can correct even more errors in syntax, grammar and punctuation.

Revised

More disruption is on the cards for Western Isles Council Comhairle nan Eilean Siar services with the news that unions - Unison, Unite and GMB - plan further industrial action on September 24.

Following the first day's action on August 20 there were talks in Edinburgh between the employers and the trade unions. The employers made a revised offer of 2.5% for one year only – the previous offer was for 2.5% for a three-year period.

During the last day of strike action Comhairle services throughout the islands were severely disrupted, with the Local Authority's offices in Stornoway and Balivanich closed to the public, and only limited services available in Tarbert and Castlebay.

Stornoway Library and Ionad Spors Leodhais were closed and it is anticipated that the education service*, refuse collection and Comhairle bus services throughout the islands will be seriously disrupted by next week's action.

* should this read "schools"?

Or have I just been reading "Eats, shoots and leaves" too thoroughly?

Cloud cuckoo land

A union has warned it will not accept any compulsory redundancies if a proposed merger between HBOS and Lloyds TSB goes ahead.

What????? Unite deputy general secretary Graham Goddard said:

"The country is in the grip of a credit crunch and the cost of living is spiralling. Lloyds TSB and HBOS must take a socially responsible approach to this merger and make the well-being of their hard-working staff a priority during these difficult times."

Wake up and smell the coffee you irresponsible idiot.

HBOS are in trouble, and all the employees could be losing their jobs; all the savers could be in despair; and pensioners could left in penury and children losing their inheritances.

Instead of welcoming the rescue of the economy (and he should really speak to Gordon Brown about his support of Lloyds TSB, given that Unite are one of the biggest funders of the Labour Party) this gormless tosser would rather see the bank go belly-up.

Constructive involvement by the unions?

No! They still seem to prefer unthinking confrontation, irrespective of the big picture facing them.

Found: A spine

To get rid of Brown, you need this turbulent (ex-)priest.

At last a Minister remembers that his responsibility is to the wider public, and not just his party.

Or

Despite his generous majority, the prospect of unemployment after the next election is too much.

Or

The party has lost it's soul, and {insert name} must wield the sword and take control.

Whatever way you slice it, this is the end (of the beginning of the end) for Brown as he presides over a party at war with itself and a public that has lost all fair in his leadership.

Time will explain David Cairn's real reasons, but if Brown continues to ignore the obvious then his legacy for Labour is going to be even worse than he could have imagined in his biggest, baddest nightmare.

Harris Tweed - an investment fund (!)

From the Gazette website

Na h-Eileanan an Iar SNP MP Angus MacNeil has called for the establishment of a tweed investment fund to enable weavers to continue weaving at the traditionally quiet back-end of the year.

Mr MacNeil is writing to Enterprise Minister, Jim Mather MSP to look at bringing together various bodies, HIE, Comhairle nan Eilean Siar and the Scottish Government to establish a fund to enable weavers to continue weaving all through the year.

"The most popular patterns could then be bought by the mills at the times of peak in demand; this would help level out the peaks and troughs within the weaving industry and keep weavers weaving

"I know work has already been done on this by the Harris Tweed Authority and Comhairle nan Eilean Siar, thus, I am asking the Minister to use his Office to try and get a £350,000 investment fund, not a grant, underway.

"The beauty of such a fund is that it would always keep the value in either cash or tweed assets. This would then give weavers a livelihood over the next four months during this restructuring period and ensure that weavers are still present when the industry becomes busy again, as is expected in 2009," added Mr MacNeil.

As I understand it, the proposal this would subsidise the mills (and their wealthy investors) to buy tweed in order to keep weavers in work, irrespective of actual demand.

Far from keeping 'the value in either cash or tweed assets' you would actually end up with a situation where the fund had to guess next years best sellers and then persuade the mills to buy the stockpiled tweed the following year. Can you see any mill owner committing their own money to next year's patterns in advance of the trade shows?

And can't you just hear the mill owners sucking through their teeth, "Ooo, that pattern isn't popular this year. I'll only buy those tweeds at 50% off."

Wouldn't the time, money and effort be better spent in trying to ensure that the weavers are allowed to claim benefit during the quiet times?

Being your own boss....

One of the privileges of being your own boss is that if you feel like crap, you can close the door and go home for the rest of the day.

The down side is that the work is still waiting for you the next morning, and still needs to be done. Just in less time.

(The picture suggests some kind of terminal illness. It was more like some kind of flu/cold/viral infection that you get from the kids. But I'm a man, so I'm expected to be melodramatic when feeling unwell.)

BBC licence fee

With the news that Noel Edmonds was refusing to pay his Licence Fee due to the 'threatening manner' of the BBC towards collection, can I issue a plea to all the Parliamentarians reading this to bring back capital punishment in this instance for the following set of circumstances

• crimes against humour on Saturday nights
  
• stupid pullovers
• rampant pomposity
• trying to promote your Sky TV programme
• having a stupid beard
• Mr Blobby (which should be enough in itself)
• generally being an arse

I suggest a very public hanging, as part of the Saturday National Lottery draw, would be an appropriate and very ratings friendly manner to proceed.

And the winner is....

He won the election....
He biggest threat is still in office...


and he's laughing.....

A slow car crash

The massed ranks are massing to wield the sword to dispatch Gordon Brown.

Well almost.

In a moment of 'Not me, Brute', they are scared and incapable of actually taking a stand and saying what they are thinking.

Siobhain McDonagh and Joan Ryan actually had something to lose when they said what they said, and they duly paid the price. That they were prepared to lose the posts says a lot about the situation inside the Labour Party, and with a further 5 MPs calling for a contest the runes are quite clear.

It takes 70 MPs to nominate a challenger, something that I think is unlikely in the immediate future, but that is not the problem.

Gordon Brown is irreparably damaged, and the sooner he realises that that better for Labour. His presence is destroying the party from within, and every day that he stays the hole is getting deeper.

His one advantage is that he has surrounded himself with spineless acolytes, none of whom have the courage to tell him what is really happening, and what he is doing to Labour.

The King must die! Long live the next King! It will make the difference between annihilation and a recoverable defeat.

Schools, yet again

I'm going to give great credit to Angus Campbell for taking a stand and putting his neck on the block by resigning as Chairman of the new schools company.

Frankly, I cannot see how any of the other three Councillors can actually sit on the body charged with delivering new schools, and closing others in order to fund the shortfall in budgets, when they have undermined the policy of their own Chair of Education. At least until the other side of the elections.

The tensions at the top are immense with the Vice-Convener at odds with the Convener and his own Vice-Chairman, and with the Chair of Education being hung out to dry by her colleagues.

We now have the Director of Technical Services on secondment to the schools PPP until 2011 at the earliest; new staff being recruited to fill finance and managerial posts; and all the while, the Council are delaying the implementation of a policy that the majority of Councillors believe requires to be followed; whilst, they acknowledge that the delay is costing large (but unspecified) sums that is tossing the entire capital programme of the Council out of the window.

And in the meantime, the Scottish Government might prevent the closures on educational grounds, leaving the Council without a raison d'etre for the schools PPP.

Regardless of your views on the entire project, the indecision, delay, prevarication and reversal of voting intentions has exacerbated an already difficult situation.

A situation that came about when the original project was created and the Council was forced into accepting insufficient funding to rationalise the schools in the islands.

The funding is dependent upon closing schools, otherwise the hole in the budget grows from huge to immense. The crocodile tears from MacNeil and Allan on this are pathetic, as it is their party that is forcing the Council to get restricted funding on the condition that the Council rationalise the schools.

The only responsible option here is to scrap the entire project and re-start discussions with the Government on the impact on all the schools in the islands; and then to seek proper funding for whatever is decided to be the correct approach. There are too many entrenched positions that people need to be levered out of.

For the good of education in the islands, the re-evaluation needs to be done quickly; and then the decisions implemented quickly.

Sunday opening of the Sports Centre

Dear All [sent to various public representatives]

Would you be willing to put your name and title to this letter along with several others including members of the electorate, health care professionals and council members? Your support would be helpful and very much appreciated. Feel free to add any suggestions, although we would like to keep this short and to the point.

Kind regards

Elma and George

-----------------


Mr Gordon Jamieson
Acting Chief Executive
Western Isles Health Board
37 South Beach
Stornoway

Dear Mr Jamieson

We, the undersigned, believe that the Western Isles Health Board should be encouraging all avenues to improve the very poor standard of health amongst the population of these islands. There can be no doubt that one way of improving health and reducing the shocking statistics surrounding premature death due to heart disease and obesity, would be access to sport and leisure facilities at the weekend.

At present, the Western Isles Council prohibits the use of these facilities by the public on Sundays. We urge you to raise this matter at Board level and petition the Council to change this policy.

Yours sincerely

Death to birds of prey

I lift all these quotes direct from the Stornoway Gazette.....

A rare bird who found sanctuary in the Western Isles after taking a wrong turn during its migration met a sad end this week.

As the sad tale of the Osprey continues, the utter despair and hopelessness of it's life is neatly condensed by those who had (cruelly?) tagged it....

Moray seemed to lose all sense of direction and fly north west towards the Hebrides.

Perhaps Moray knew where he was going before heading to Africa, and it was the other one that was lost, but never mind...

"A batch of signals came in during the day, and I became worried that Moray had not moved location," explained blog writer Jamie Whittle. "After examining the data carefully, including the activity counter, I was convinced that he was either dead or unable to move at Barvas."

Moray's body was soon discovered in a roadside ditch, raising suspicion he may have been hit by a passing car.

This is almost beyond satire, but I will continue anyway.

With more birds killed every year by cars than are ever killed by wind farms... No! Stop now!

Off licence sales

The Electric Crofter is slightly less cynical than his colleagues, and I welcomed almost everything in Alex Salmond's speech last week.

I think that it is filled with good ideas and the real test will be delivering the big promises that have been made. Like many other voters, I think that he needs a chance to succeed, and show us he is not like all the others. Of course, if he fails then the Electric Crofter household will respond in the appropriate manner in the ballot box.

One policy implication hit me straight between the eyes this weekend, and I realised that it might have a wider and more detrimental impact here in the islands.

Our eldest decided to meet some friends over the weekend, and it was agreed that they would each buy a few drinks before meeting at someone's house to listen to music, watch films, or whatever else they do. Eldest is 20 and all their friends are the same age, and none of them drink much at all, and they don't like going into pubs. Indeed almost all their weekends are staid sober affairs.

Eldest pointed out to us the next morning that under the planned new policy restricting sales at off-licences to over 21s they wouldn't have been able to get their small carry out from the local shop but would have had to drive many miles to Stornoway to go into a pub and then drive back.

Whilst that may dissuade that group from drinking in a civilised manner, the view from the young adults was that it would only encourage the less restrained to make a trip to the big city for a night out, an inevitably someone will try to drive back home.

My initial reaction is that eldest is right, and that those who are supposed to be prevented from drinking by this policy might actually be pushed into travelling to drink. And not by bus.

Tax rich at higher rate, says TUC

I'm with the TUC on this one, as it is about time that someone advocated proper redistributionist taxation policies.

The supposed virtue placed on unearned income - dividends and interest - is based on the false Thatcherite notion that the recipient has worked hard all their lives and deserves to pay less tax.

Mrs Tina Green, a long time resident of Monte Carlo, demonstrates that this is not the case, and that the majority of the beneficiaries are middle-earners and above who run their own businesses.

If you receive £1m in dividends you pay an effective tax rate of just under 25% on the whole amount (unless you live outside the UK, when it become zero) and if it is your own company, you can arrange not draw a salary hence not facing any PAYE or National Insurance.

While everyone else has no option but to pay 31% (or 41%) of their salary.

Labour's insane infatuation with the mega-rich, and the premise that they must be good for the economy, has resulted in a bidding war to give them everything they want in terms of tax relief, without expecting them to contribute financially (other than negligible sums) to the Treasury.

Meantime the pensioners - the ones who should benefit from the tax breaks on unearned income - are means tested on paltry sums received. To pay for the tax planning opportunities of the very wealthy.

(At this juncture, I must point out that unearned income will be ignored for Local Income Tax, meaning that with a modicum of planning, someone with their own company will pay no LIT. Hardly egalitarian!)

The debate on taxation - and the false premise behind it - needs to be reopened, for the sake of the poorest, and the need to ensure fair taxation is now more pressing than ever.

Will Labour again become the party of the less privileged, or will they continue to pander to the rich - at least until their bank overdraft is clear?

Cynicism tells me that the battle to schmooze with the wealthy will extend to all parties. Just watch which rich party funders benefit from each policy 'adjustment'.

How politics works

With the collapse of Zoom and the loss of tickets for the Flying Fiddlers from Uist it was sure that this would jump to the top of the political agenda, with both major parties trying to do their best to be seen to do something, or at worst anything, for the group.

It is utterly heartbreaking that they have lost their flights, so it was good to see politicians trying to do something. What is very telling is the sincerity they put into their actions, and the speed of the issue of the press release proclaiming the importance of what they had done.

First out of the blocks was our own Mr Allan with an instant press release, and a call to action....

Isles MSPAlasdair Allan has taken up their cause and today tabled a motion in the Scottish Parliament to highlight the issue and called for more protection for air passengers.

By the next day, Dave Stewart had joined the action, suggesting the Comhairle might fund the trip and....

He has also written to the Culture Minister of the Scottish Government to highlight the case and seek funding possibilities from the Scottish Government.

The difference between the two approaches is clear. Allan was ultra busy being seen to do anything, however useless and aimless. Stewart to his credit came up with some concrete suggestions that might, just might, mean that the fiddlers get to Canada.

Will Allan now join with Stewart lobbying the Culture Minister to try to ensure his constituents get to Canada, or is he to busy issuing press releases?

(and yes I have some friends who are in the Flying Fiddlers)

Lawnmowers of the sea?

The article in Thursday's Guardian on underwater turbines makes for very interesting reading.

We should be the automatic choice for the location of any test turbines; just look at the sea colours in the picture - the deeper the colour the better the resource.

But, without a grid connection, we aren't going to be in the running for this.

The prospect with one of the onshore windfarms is to get that grid connection, and then to be able to exploit the connection for other alternatives which could mean that onshore wind then itself becomes an obsolete technology.

That prospect is around the corner - and is an aspiration of the Scottish Government - and we must make sure that the wave resource of the west coast is used to benefit the entire community.

Windfarms in North Lewis - the plans (?)

The presentations and supporting papers are available on the Scottish Government website, here.

My first reaction is that this multiple small-scheme plan is a worse 'opportunity' than the single big development at every level.

It can only provoke outrage from those who thought the matter was closed, and bewilderment for those who wonder why the previous scheme was really refused.

Schools to close (eventually)

Despite claims that any delay in taking the decisions was costing the Comhairle £10,000 (or £70,000 per month) the closures have been approved, only delayed by three years.

This - apparently - was met with a round of applause from the parents.

Were they applauding the decision to close?

Or were they applauding the decision to delay closure until after their children had left the affected schools?

The closures are either right or wrong, and a decision should have been made with immediate effect. The choice by Councillors to delay the implementation is a sop to appear to avoid taking a difficult decision; and a very expensive one at that. (Para updated for clarity)

The Council is tied into a very expensive, and wholly inappropriate, PFI scheme which both Alasdair Morrison and Alasdair Allan fell over each other to promise to deliver, regardless of the impact it is going to have on education provision in the islands.

So where does this leave us?

Over the next few years money that should have been spent on other services will be diverted to retaining crumbling schools, and teachers whose employment has been extended by three years.

Thereafter, the Council will find itself having to bridge a bigger and bigger financial gap to afford to pay for the new schools (I forecast the gap will at least double from today's estimate) which will have a further adverse impact on services, and we will still see moves to undermine the whole scheme with appeals to the Government not to close the schools in Daliburgh, Paible, Lionel and Shawbost. Which, if successful will result in yet more expense, time and effort in trying to bring this to a conclusion.

We were promised that the Scottish Futures Trust would replace all of this PFI nonsense, meaning cheaper and easier borrowings for the Council, but that scheme ran into fundamental problems in its conception - problems long pointed out by third parties.

The concept of borrowing cheaply from Government to deliver essential services has been long established, and long supported by the SNP as the way forward for public services. Until now.

The building of a new Secondary in Shetland has faced many of the same funding (and political) problems that we have, but they are borrowing the money from their Oil Fund, so that the 'profit' is recirculated back into the economy. We are forced to pay higher charges to bankers - but will we get a better deal at the end of the day? No, we will get a worse one.

I expect to be commenting on more shenanigans on this issue over the coming months and years.

(This whole decision has been even more traumatic than the windfarms; something I never thought possible)

Council pay rises

Council workers say they want more; Councils say they don't have enough to offer any larger increase in pay; Government tells the Councils to live within their means.

Sounds familiar?

The years of Thatcherism?

The Winter of Discontent in the mid-1970's?

And now in Scotland in 2008, when the various aspirations of the different parties are irreconcilable.

Of course, the same is happening in England, where Gordon Brown faces exactly the same problems, only without the Scottish Government as a buffer.

We will face strikes, lock-outs and a lot of bitterness - and for those using and needing Council services a lot of difficulties.

Now, I'm never one to expect inflation and salaries to necessarily be directly correlated, as performance improvements and changes in expectations and demands may make certain aspects of any organisation more or less important over time. The days of the blanket increases and permanent job security are long gone - except it seems in the public sector - and there is a need to reward good performance or high service demand by adjusting salaries.

BUT, coming on the back of regrading and single-status, many public sector employees must be feeling that they are getting nothing but bad news from their employers, and this is only going to compound the antagonism between the sides.

With the Scottish Government taking a very strong view against an increased settlement taking any responsibility for the decisions of local Government, I predict that the Unions will take a lot more industrial action before settling for an only slightly better offer, which will have to be funded by service cuts.

With the Government having given an unrealistic funding settlement for the increase in payroll costs, the cause is clear....but just who is going to get the blame from the public?

Dear Darling Chancellor

Dear Al

Don't invite journalists to your holiday retreat in Uig unless you are prepared to have them report everything you say.

The photo and accompanying article make you seem like a sad lost soul desperately trying to save his job, by undermining the Prime Minister to such an extend that you think you will become a martyr or a hero by being sacked.

You don't make jokes about the resemblance between the stormy sea and the sub-prime market and expect knowing laughs from the financial markets, when you have the reputation for being as interesting as a bowl of semolina.

Frankly, you are a twat for taking the job in the first place being the punch bag for Gordy and taking all the blame for everything, whilst he takes all the glory.

But your most serious offence is to all Lewis to be called a "remote Scottish island". That, bugger-lugs, only compounds your sins and demonstrates the insularity of the London mindset and shows just how little attention we should pay to them.

On the upside, your description of the blessed Wendy as 'not likeable at all' surely understates her popularity amongst the rank and file, and the general public. You are to be congratulated on speaking the unutterable truth.

Go back to London, sit and sulk for the next 18 months, and prepare for a long time in opposition. And it's your fault almost as much as Gordy's.

Yours almost truly
LC

Fishing licences

It has been brought to my attention that fishing licences can no longer be sold on the open market, meaning that many fishermen in the Western Isles are going to face the double whammy of collapsing prices and the inability to realise their major asset, if they try to leave the industry.

The Scottish Government introduced a restriction on the sale of fishing licences, whereby the licence cannot be sold outside Scotland, except in "special circumstances", and the announcement was slipped out as a small paragraph in new regulations that are now being applied.

This was raised at a meeting with the Minister in Uist recently, but as far as can be discerned there has been no clarity over "special circumstances" and neither the MP and MSP have not pursued the matter.

This could have potentially expensive consequences, especially if you are trying to change a boat and need to alter the licence that goes with it, and the only buyer is outside Scotland.

In the circumstances of a proposed 'swap' of boat and licence with someone in, say, South Shields or Belfast, the local fisherman could find himself unable to deal, which could make a whole mockery of the proposals.

Is this a case of the legislation not acting as intended, or is it simply an ill-thought out proposal?

Are their other industries to which similar restrictions are to be applied?

And, is any of this legal in terms of the Single European Market?