Odds on a victory

The Bookie has Labour ahead; I have the SNP by a nose.

Donnie, I'll put a £100 on Alasdair. Each way.

It's going to be very close.......

Windfarms - a referendum?

Alastair Allan is to "press" the relevant Minister for a referendum on the Lewis Windfarms, if elected.

(1) Whatever happened to the promise that there would be a referendum? It never appeared in the manifesto, and is clearly NOT a commitment.
(2) To change the planning rules at this stage will give a clear opportunity for AMEC to seek a judicial review, which they will undoubtedly win, stopping any referendum.

Not so much a promise as a weak aspiration, undermined by his own party.

Nor a "neverendum", more a "neverhappenum".

The only party promising to stop the windfarms are the Tories, everyone else agrees that the law is ... er ... the law, and must be abided by. At last Alasdair Morrison has had the good grace to admit that the Council's position on this - as I repeatedly expounded - was correct, and the candidates have all been wrong. Just for the record, I've told candidates of every party that they were wrong.

Fjord Seafoods

Continuing speculation over the future of Fjord.

Will it still be a going concern when I return from holiday? Sadly, I doubt it.

Now, let's make sure that the fish farm lease can be "nationalised" by the Comhairle and re-issued to people within the local community.

Holidays

Tomorrow sees the family leave Glasgow for warmer climes, but typically it is unseasonally sunny as we leave this afternoon.

I intend to join the prolific May Day in Greece just after we land, and when you see the film of rioting I'll be the peely-wally one with a half-brick and a push chair.

The children have been busy learning some simple phrases such as Καλημέρα (good morning), (please) and
(thank you). This evening they will learn how to persuade a judge to grant bail for their father and purchase super-strength tranquillisers for their mother.

I'll be thinking of you all as I blog from beside the pool, with an ice cold beer. I'll be keeping a close eye on the election results, and no doubt will have a thing or two to say.

Uninspiring

This morning on Isles FM, I heard possibly the most uninspiring reason for voting SNP on Thursday.

"It's only going to be a change of administration."

Well hold me back, but I doubt that that will have the voters cheering in the streets and storming the barricades to demand Scottish Independence. That is the bland middle-management speak learned at countless seminars so as not to scare one's customers and epitomised by Nu Labour in 1997 when they promised to stick with the Tories economic plans.

As the Corries sang, "But we can still rise now, and change the administration in Scotland to be less London-centric whilst we develop our comprehensive people-facing economic strategy and probably hold a multi-option referendum in four years time, one of the choices of which will be an option for independence, but without suggesting in any way that this might include any element of republicanism, and subject to a satisfactory financial settlement between Edinburgh and London."

Storàs Uibhist

As you may have seen from press reports, something seems to be badly wrong in the South Uist community company.

Having been on to this story a few weeks back, following a tip-off from a concerned resident, I've been making a few enquires and a few FoI requests. Knowing my luck, the documents are going to get here whilst I'm away and someone else will run with the story.

The position of Chief Executive remains unfilled, and a second advertisement has been published. Is it true that a very highly qualified individual was identified at the first advertisement and despite an excellent interview was not selected?

The resignation of two directors - who are very highly thought of in the community - one of whom I know well, and for whom I have the highest regard and respect, indicates all is not well. I'm caught between a rock and a hard place of not doing down the community, but not wanting to see anything that might not be in the best interests of the community as a whole allowed to be pushed through.

I understand that legal letters have been sent to the former directors which have effectively gagged them on pain of serious legal consequences, which leads one to ask, "Is that in the best interests of the community as a whole?" I haven't got the answers, yet, but when I do I'll let you know.

In the meantime, if anyone wishes to forward any information to me - with a promise of total confidentiality - I'd be most grateful.

Election leaflets

I'm repeatedly being told that, in a fit of piety, one candidate has had his election address reprinted and is redistributing it.

Although in common with most leaflets he put his name with "1" beside it to indicate that he was asking for your first vote in a multi-member ward, he has decided that to do so in some way suggests that he is equal to Jesus Christ who, of course, is the first.

I'm not mocking his religion, just the complete lack of common sense which suggests that anyone things that the individual concerned could have any kind of Messianic Complex, or that by asking for a vote he is in any way being heretical.

If anyone can get me a "before" and an "after" leaflet, I'd love to see them.

It is going to be some patter at the doorsteps: "I'd like you to vote for me with a number higher than that which you use for the second vote you cast, but not one that is not a singleton. The number shouldn't be unity, the sole member of set {0} in the von Neumann representation, nor e. It shouldn't be it's own factoid, nor the first two members of the Fibonacci sequence, nor the value of sine at π/2. Finally, under no circumstances would I expect you to vote for me using the value of -1²."

Presumably when this person goes to vote on Thursday then he is going to vote "2,3,4,5" rather than dig an even deeper hole for himself?

Toilet malfunction

A fabulous story reaches me about a toilet malfunction in one of Stornoway's most salubrious licensed establishments.

The Clachan Bar, a long time haunt of fishermen, drunks, underagers, drunk fishermen, women for whom the low intensity lighting is a blessing, drunk underagers fishermen, and Stornoway's foremost live music venue for youngsters, was rebuilt following a devastating fire in April 2003.

It appears that during the renovation, some of the sewerage services were accidentally blocked or never connected, and consequently have been backing up for some time. The patrons and staff have been noticing a smell that was getting worse for some time, other than that emanating from some of the patrons, but it was put down to the pipes backing up at high tide - the same problem as the Crown often faces.

Initial investigations discovered that the sewage had been seeping under the floorboards, but further investigations found that the sewage had been backing up in the cavity wall, and I was told that it had reached "as high as the jukebox on the wall".

This whole scenario prompts all sorts of questions. I did notice that the downstairs public was closed yesterday and the upstairs bar was - unusually - open. A massive insurance claim will no doubt follow, but it gives a whole new meaning to the expression "a shit pub".

Journalists: read the copyright notice at the bottom of the page, before you lift this as an "exclusive". ;-)

Wireless network

I spent a disproportionally large amount of time last night and today getting the domestic wireless network up and running.

"Be up and running within 30 minutes of taking it out of the box", it enticingly and misleadingly promised.

We already have a domestic network, with the three computers wired together and a spare cable for the occassional times I need to connect the laptop to the home broadband. I say three computers, but the oldest machine has suffered a terminal(?) hard disk failure and is currently with our techy guy for fixing.

The office network, which is both hardwired and wireless, had been set up by self-same techy guy, so I was pretty much in the dark, albeit using the same brand of USB adapters and router to perform the same function.

Machine 1, which remained hardwired throughout, was a doddle, and it really was under 15 minutes between connecting the USB adapter and getting on line. Admittedly, that was about 1 hour after I took the router out of the box, for the second time. The first time it took me an hour to get the cabling sorted, and then I had to stop and revert back to the original system as there were some pressing needs to get on-line (Ebay etc etc.)

The second time, I wired everything to everything else on Friday night, and found neither broadband (hardwired) nor phone (cordless) were working, and incoming calls weren't coming through. Spaghetti junction under the desks, and behind the table, and around the phone sockets quickly (hah!) told me that I had plugged everything in to the wrong sockets, the wrong way. A simple piece of engineering demonstrated that the reason the phone wasn't working was (1) because the phone cable was now connected to a disconnected/spare phone cable that didn't connect to the outside world , and (2) the phone power source was disconnected. One hour, some swearing, and a large glass of wine soon sorted that situation.

The second computer, which is the same model as the first with a few extras, resolutely refused to connect, despite repeated attempts to install and connect the USB adaptor. Tonight I solved the problem. The simple slogan is: RTFM. Read The F Manual. I got the install disks from the office and it worked at the next attempt. Secured, encrypted and connected. Now to annoy someone else, wirelessly.

Not gagged, just discrete

I didn't appear on the Isles FM Hustings programme last night for reasons of discretion.

I was running late - due to work commitments - and arrived at the Castle Grounds as the introductory speeches had finished. I then heard Angus Graham's question, and then my name being bandied about, and decided that whatever I was going to say could appear to be bitterness, or sticking the knife in, so I turned about and went home.

Just as well, as when I and my family get praised by my old bosom buddy Angus Graham, then I wouldn't have been able to keep my face straight. Alasdair Morrison also quoted my analysis of the impact of a national Local Income Tax (sic) on the Western Isles, and I noted that no-one quibbled with the figures. I think I heard myself described as a member of the Labour Party by Alasdair Allan, which nearly had me falling off my chair, but perhaps he was referring to someone else, and the moment passed without clarification.

End result: score draw, but I wish I was here for the Unison hustings on Tuesday night.

Voting

Council elections - Angus Campbell got my first vote, for the dedication, time and effort he has put in to delivering the best to the Western Isles. He has quickly become an elder statesman of the Comhairle, and has a huge degree of respect from his colleagues.

List - I was going to vote SNP, but the current crude attempts to gag me (and the persistent attempts by senior members of the local party to smear me) have persuaded me not to support any SNP candidates.

Having reviewed all the manifestos, I've decided to vote Green as they support independence and have sensible joined-up policies on the environment and renewables.

I hope that they are successful both locally and nationally, as it is vital that their input into the Climate Change debate is heard.

Constituency - I knew that I wasn't voting SNP for their lack of a sensible policy on renewable energy and their willingness to give away our potential to develop offshore wave and wind without asking anything in return. However, the following quote for Alex Salmond gave me pause for thought:

"The construction of a series of tidal, wave and wind energy projects which, we believe, will put the Western Isles in the forefront of European efforts to develop renewable energy resources of the kind we have in more abundance here than in practically any other region on earth."

Excellent idea, allied to a clear commitment. Pity that was what he said on 3 March 1992. Compare that to the current manifesto:

"In government the SNP will make the creation of an EU wide green energy research centre a focus of our external affairs efforts in the EU. The centre, which we propose should be based in Aberdeen, would allow us to build on decades of offshore energy expertise and the proximity to some of the world’s most promising renewable energy locations - from Peterhead and the North Sea for carbon capture and storage to the Pentland Firth, described as the Saudi Arabia of tidal power."

There you have it: the past 15 years of Tory and Labour Governments have systematically deprived us of the best conditions to develop offshore power. Alternatively, the vehement opposition of (some of) the local SNP to on-shore wind power has lead to us losing the opportunities for wave and tidal. Exactly, what I feared would happen.

Compare another promise from 1992: "We will be introducing Road Equivalent Tarriffs on island ferries..." with the manifesto "... we will undertake a pilot project on RET to the Western Isles ..." Anyone who deals with the public sector in any context will recognise the wriggle room in the latter promise. 'Pilot projects' have a limited lifespan, and with no promise of early introduction (merely an early study!) this has been kicked into the long grass until just before the next election.

For the first time ever, my vote has gone elsewhere, to someone who lives in the islands and mentions the need for economic development of the Western Isles in their election materials.

Un-gagged

I'm back on Isles FM tomorrow as a pundit, following the hustings programme from the Lews Castle College. No doubt my acerbic comments may attract some complaints, but I sincerely hope that they come AFTER the programme and there is no repeat attempt to gag me before hand.

Rumour of the day...

.....is that I have a new job in the renewable sector and this is why I am standing down from the Comhairle.

There is no substance whatsoever in this story.

The election addresses

I received the balance of the election addresses today, along with my postal vote. Decisions, decisions. Here's my (maximum of) ten word summary of each election address, in no particular order.

Tory (constituency): I'm nice. Who is Thatcher? Help save my deposit.
Tory (list): Vote Tory, or it is your fault.
LibDem (constituency): I'm local and not called Alasdair. We ran the Executive.
Scottish Socialist (list): We promise utopia. Tommy Sheridan is a b@$tard.
UKIP (list): Europe is BAD.
Solidarity (list): Comrades: suntans and utopia. Down with the running-dogs of capitalism.
Labour (list): We can cure cancer. *
SNP (Constituency): Don't mention any policies.
Labour (Constituency): If it wasn't for me the sun wouldn't shine every day.
SNP (list): What good are policies when you have a personality cult?
Green (Constituency): Idealistic and anti-globalisation.
LibDem (list): No, really, we did run the Executive.
Scottish Christian Party (list): The future is the past. Working mums go home.
BNP (list): Would be cuddly skinheads.
Senior Citizens (list): Make life better for pensioners. Don't ask who's paying.

* This is genuinely what they are implying. Labour claim that the smoking ban is their first stage of a plan to cure cancer. And we thought that they were just politicians.

St George's Day

Now, no-one can call me anti-English (or xenophobic in any way) by the wildest stretch of the imagination.

However, on Monday night our MP seems to have gone way over the top - indeed one could say he has almost gone native.

This photograph from the St George's Day National Banquet at the Banqueting Hall in Whitehall Palace shows him parading behind an English flag and wearing a Labour Red Rose.

It may have been a charity event, and it may have been necessary to sit through a speech by John Major, but it surely would be better to actively try to promote St Andrew's Night and Burns Suppers throughout Scotland first.

Self destruct

According to yesterday's Herald, the Iranians are refusing to return the top secret portable computer systems which form the Xeres network. This network is "mission essential" and Xeres is "top of the range" kit.

Anyone know why they didn't just throw the computer overboard when they were captured? Instead, the Iranian are reverse engineering the secrets out of it.

So, not content with allowing themselves to be captured due to inadequate military cover; losing top-secret equipment; then cracking under the vicious torture of being called "Mr Bean" and having one's ears flicked; the returnees are hailed as heroes and allowed to sell their stories to the press. What is going on?

Being pampered

I explored my metrosexual side this afternoon, when I went for one of my occasional treats at Body & Sole, for a facial and a massage.

(Don't bother with the predictable jokes)

I can thoroughly recommend the experience, as I left relaxed and refreshed and ready for my holiday next week. I've no idea what solutions, compounds and potions where rubbed in, but they still smell lovely and have left me feeling perky and raring to go.

The massage really hit the spot, as all the swimming in the Scotsman Hotel had left my shoulders aching and tense, probably because I am totally out of shape. Just for the record, we didn't pay anywhere near the published rates for the room, as Expedia came up trumps, again, at about 1/3 of the normal cost.

The election

I keep waiting for the campaigning to spring into life, but I suspect the politicians are preferring to say nothing, rather than say anything wrong (or right!). As a spectator sport it is dull beyond belief, and that apathy is definitely flowing though into the local electorate.

Because I speak to so many people during a working day on business and for other reasons, I get a lot of feedback about where the election is going, so I'm going to give my personal summary of where I think the constituency election has reached.

I'll start with the easy ones first... and all comments are subject to change when I see the election addresses.

Dave Petrie (Con)
Invisible. Will be lucky to keep the vote that the Tories had last time. Main pitch: "We're not as nasty as we used to be".

Ruraidh Ferguson (LibDem)
Invisible. Should have been in with a good change of increasing the LibDem vote by attracting disillusioned Labour and SNP votes. Possibly hoping for a good outcome at the Comhairle elections as being the best result possible. Deeply underwhelming and missing a great opportunity.

Alasdair Allan (SNP)
Invisible. Unknown to vast sections of the community almost all voters. Even, fellow attendees at St Columba's Church simply don't know who he is. In a twist of synchronicity, the Minister probably won't be voting SNP for other reasons. An open goal is in great danger of being missed as avoiding the public replaces handshaking as an electoral technique.

Alasdair Morrison (Lab)
Almost invisible. Facing the double hurdle of being the sitting MSP and the Labour candidate, Alasdair appears to be sleepwalking to losing. In line for a 'good kicking' (c) Tony Blair just for being, he appeared resigned to his fate until late last year.

My conclusions
Tory and LibDem may save their deposits, but only due to either a low turnout or voter disillusionment with the main contenders. Either way, they will be far back also rans.

My reading of the situation is that both Alasdairs and both parties have each lost at least 1,000 votes, and possibly even more. Morrison for anti-Labour reasons; Allan for not being local or known; and both for the low profile of their campaign.

I would place Alasdair Morrison marginally ahead at the moment, partially because of the advantage of incumbency (which he has definitely not used to his advantage) and partially as the labour voters who turned to Rev Hargreaves in 2005 are being fairly successfully wooed back.

The SNP have the national swing behind them, but they are not seeming to push this in any way.

But, and it is a BIG BUT, I think an enormous number of people have yet to make up their mind about who to vote for, despite what they might profess to telephone canvassers. Certainly, it is more than I have ever experienced, with committed Labour and SNP voters both expressing their doubts and despairs. In my view, the election will be won or lost - not in the last week - but as voters enter the polling booth and have to cast their votes and either party could have a 2,000 majority. I think the outcome might be to within a few hundred votes, but I can't call it yet.

My decision day is just around the corner, when the postal vote comes.

Last duty

I have just finished my last formal duty as a Councillor, chairing the Local Biodiversity Action Plan steering group.

Amongst the topics being discussed and taken forward was the development on local nurseries to produce native woodland stock. The entire stock of 25,000 stems per annum has already been pre-sold for use on the island.

We were also told about three sites that are being trialled for small-scale (domestic) biomass projects using a mix of alder, sycamore, poplar and willow to determine the viability of different sites and different ground conditions in a long term project that might take seven to ten years to produce any result. The trees will be planted to what are effectively lazy beds, indicating that our ancestors knew how to look after the ground and encourage development in a sustainable way - something we must learn from.

Away again

Work takes us both away this weekend, with an important meeting with a large client in Edinburgh. Consequently, the blog may be a bit slow over the weekend, unless I can log on with my palmtop.

I was stopped in the street yesterday by an acquaintance who works on an oil rig in Norway. Two of his colleagues on the rig asked if he knew me. One is from Glasgow and one from Norfolk, but they are both clients of the firm, and very kindly recommended our firm to this Sy lad for the preparation of his Norwegian Tax Returns.