Urgent Council decisions

If my sources are right, The Bridge Centre has had to be bailed out by the Council to avoid being wound up by the Inland Revenue.

I am told that £9,000 had to be transferred to the Inland Revenue last week, at the very last moment, to prevent the Court being petitioned or other legal action being taken.

As the organisation is also a Charity, there are all sorts of questions arising over the financial management, but mainly how it all managed to get so bad so quickly that such urgent action was necessary.

But perhaps the most intriguing element is that the Council decision didn't need to be made so urgently in the first place; and that emergency powers didn't need to be taken by a small cabal of Councillors at the last moment.

All the information was - apparently - in the hands of the Council since April, but a decision was taken not to advise Councillors or seek their opinion at the last series of Council meetings, as it was deemed to be 'political', and could have been used in the election campaign to attack Donald John MacSween. Instead, it was delayed until recently, when it suddenly became an emergency.

Perhaps this was the kind of event that the good Councillor was referring to 'hiding' from other Councillors and the public?

I'm told the future for the Bridge lies in the hands of the College, and will be resolved very shortly. I am sure that we all agree that such a provision needs to continue, albeit with a new budget and new controls.

The future for the islands

I read an article like the one appearing in the Herald today, and I despair; not because it is wrong or casts any aspersions on the islands, but because it is so true. And painfully so.

Of course, we can only read it electronically today, and it might be tea time tomorrow before we might get the paper in our hands, and that perhaps is the key part of the problem.

I was asked to put the Fuel Petition on the blog, but I feel that it is doing nothing but putting a sticking plaster on an amputation. I don't want to not support it, but it is only going to help at the slightest margins. My view is clear: we need a VAT and duty exemption, like the Canaries, if we want to really regenerate the islands, rather than pick at the edges. (Don't get me wrong; a duty reduction would be a welcome gimme, just like a discount voucher from Tesco)

I want my children to have a future here, but I think that the demographics mean that they will have to join the vicious circle of emigration in order to find a decent career. And I am starting to feel that as a family we have to look elsewhere for our future lives, as the critical mass of population to support a variety of businesses is never going to be here, unless something fundamental changes

We are probably very lucky in that our generation is going to be the last to actually be able to make a living here as professions - at least in the private sector - and that the islands are going to increasingly become a branch office for the mainland businesses, until indigenous business is a small niche service, and local shops become a distant memory.

We have deliberately targeted business growth on the mainland, and with something like 75% of our new business coming from off-island, we are better placed by most (by deliberate strategic planning) to survive any downturn, but what happens to our kids?

But enough of decrying the islands, do I have some solutions? Yes I do, and they are painful for some.

The sheer size of the public sector is killing the islands, with the stifling hand of big Government is causing many, many, more problems than it can possibly solve. The current round of cuts needs the public sector to think about off-loading every single possible non-obligatory service into the private sector. The self-employed work harder and longer for less pay than the public sector, and they can create jobs where the public sector creates sinecures. Of course I have a financial interest in what I have just written, but I think that the wider public interest for our and your children makes that interest pale into insignificance.

(9am at Sandwick Road, according to management)

The private sector needs to double in the next 5/10 years to provide the opportunities for the erstwhile exiles and that needs the public sector to back off and abandon the expensive, but smothering, escapades into the private sector. Yes, that means some services have to go and be replaced by other cheaper private sector alternatives that the Council may need to subsidise in the short-term.

Change has to come, and it is going to have to be rapid. Otherwise it is going to happen slowly, as those who oppose change die off (yes, I am being that blunt and brutal) and the recognition comes too late for those elderly who are left alone.

As a very good Councillor friend of mine said, "Do you want your grandchildren to be photos on the mantelpiece or living in the village with you?"

Who said Gordon Brown doesn't have a sense of humour?

John Prescott a f'ing Peer of the Realm!

FFS, as social satire goes it couldn't be any funnier if it wasn't just so sad and so true.

Jonathan Swift, eat you heart out.

Just look at the other deadwood arriving at Platform 1 along with the verbal mangler of Hull, and the case for abolition (or involuntary euthanasia) for the Upper House as currently constituted is made.

Nightmare scenario

Would you like to guess what the Nightmare Scenario is as far as some of the Councillors are concerned?

"We'll never be able to hide anything from them...", said a senior Councillor with a touch of vitriol, "if Manford, a certain former Councillor, and X all get elected". His colleague - who has featured on these pages a number of times, for his repeated hypocrisy - agreed, and started to work out how to try to subvert the democratic process.

(X is a current Council employee, who I understand is taking early retirement shortly, and is thinking about standing.)

All this is very flattering, but begs the questions of just what else do they have to hide???

Oh yes, and why are they hiding anything from other members and the public in the first place?

Highland Airways - the final outcome

The BBC report on the final financial position of Highland Airways is a bit confused and unclear, but some obvious conclusions can still be drawn from the situation.

It appears that the company owed a total of £3.2m of which £1.13m is to unsecured creditors.

It appears from the report that there was further debt of £2m (including a £1.2m overdraft) which was secured; which is to say that it will be repaid from the sale of assets etc.

This will obviously have a huge impact on some of these firms, and a loss of £50,000 for Argyll & Bute will also be painful.

The plug was pulled by the Inland Revenue over unpaid PAYE liabilities, and at the time a lot of politicians were lambasting the Inland Revenue for threatening to do so.

The simple fact is that the Inland Revenue - through it's business support scheme - is helping to give time to pay to lots of individuals and businesses affected by the recession. BUT it is also propping up some business that are insolvent, and where further debts are being run up, which in turn could bring down other businesses when the crash actually happens.

The business support scheme is excellent, but it is not a cure-all; nor is it something that a business should rely on for more than a few months. Above all, it is not cost-free. Just how much extra did the tax-payer lose by giving the extra time to the company to renegotiate its funding streams?

This kind of support - and the calls for unqualified funding from politicians - helps no-one, and it would be much better for this to be more accurately targeted on business that can and will survive, rather than those which are insolvent. It's never a perfect science, but in this case it is clear to me that the Inland Revenue acted properly to safeguard the public purse and other creditors and the political energy should have been directed earlier and towards turning around the company before the collapse became inevitable. That in itself may not have been successful, but it would certainly have been more constructive.

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?

Be careful what you wish for

Let me surmise that the SNP thought that the best result for Scotland the SNP (perhaps not in that order) was a Tory Government.

You know the arguments - Tory Cuts, English MPs setting a policy for Scotland etc.

Is it really any surprise that one of the outcomes is a Boundary Commission review of constituencies to bring them into a more 'standard' size?

And, too late, it brings a realisation and a press release issued on behalf of our MP.

Does anyone in the Western Isles believe that the current Council boundaries recognise communities in any way shape or form? Lochs and Harris as one ward shows it for the nonsense it is.

The simple fact is that when the Boundary Commission are given a remit, then they have no discretion to modify that remit. If they are told to bring all the Parliamentary Constituencies inside boundaries of a voting population, then they have to do so in a ruthlessly mechanical way.

When the Council boundaries were being draw, we Councillors were presented with two option on how to split Stornoway between different wards. When I suggested making Stornoway one ward, we were told that that was not an option. The process seemed to involved counting voters from a starting point and drawing a line when you reached the requisite number. Hence you start in Tiumpan, Leverburgh, Ness and Uig and draw the first wards, and fill in the blanks from their. Natural communities don't matter; it is simply numbers.

Come the Parliamentary boundaries, the only criteria will be either (a) how many voters per seat, or (b) how many seats in total. Thereafter a simple number crunching exercise will take place to draw the outline seats, and the public will only be able to haggle at the margins. Unless you have a special dispensation like Orkney and Shetland written into the legislation.

As it is, we are on the back foot before the process has even started. There are now only three potential outcomes:

1. Obtain a dispensation (highly unlikely as the LibDems will be trying to maximise their future seats, and the Tories will be trying to stuff Labour by reducing the number of Scottish seats further)
2. Lobby for the best new boundaries for the seat (but I really cannot imagine what they would be)
3. Or, hope for multi-member pan-Highland seats to give us some influence over a number of members

That is also my order of preference at the moment, although I'm finding some merits in option 3 at various moments.

The potential irony is that the SNP have always described Westminster as a burden of Government we don't need, but it looks to me like Westminster might actually be the least intrusive (at least in terms of numbers of Parliamentarians) whilst the SNP Government in Edinburgh presides over a (comparatively) bloated Parliament and Council structure......

Call to take Lewis Chessmen home

The Councillor for Uig has called for the Lewis Chessmen to be sent home.


That will be to Norway then, Norman, won't it?


Or do you think the Elgin Marbles belong in Morayshire?


Cllr MacDonald is on the left, er right, er left, er ... one of the two in the photo.  Probably.



Please feel free to treat this as a caption contest.

The picture shows a large wooden object, and a Lewis Chessman....

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

How are the cuts to be implemented?

It was obvious that the Scottish Budget was going to take a hit, and that it is 'only' £332,000,000 in the first round of urgent cuts is slightly less savage than I expected.

However, I suspect that the second round and the emergency Budget will bring further deeper and more painful cuts.

It is quite intriguing that the Chancellor has allowed the Scottish Government to defer making the cuts until 2001 if it wishes.

This indicates a clear level of understanding of the nature of devolved power, and that to try to impose immediate cuts - when an agreed budget has been set in Scotland - is neither reasonable nor fair.

It also shows a fair degree of political acumen, that was largely lacking in the previous Labour administration.

The SNP have sought to have the cuts held over until 2011 so that they could portray them as "Tory cuts" imposed on Scotland as a major plank of the election campaign. A strategy that would have worked well politically, had the ground not been cut from under them by the Chancellor. So now the cuts are going to be portrayed as exactly what the SNP asked for, and when they asked for them.

The Holyrood election campaign is going to be fight on the grounds of "How will you implement the cuts, if you get into power?" Which will make for an interesting campaign.

The SNP, controlling the budget and the purse strings at present are the only party who will have the knowledge of how to achieve this (whether they want to make cuts or not).

Labour on the other hand, can rightly claim that they need to see the books first, and if they play their cards right, could create a powerful attack.

The Tories and the LibDems will take the blame for the cuts, and are likely to suffer as a consequence.

One of the depressing elements of the dismal science of economics is that there are so few certainties, but I think that deferring all the cuts until 2011 is a major economic mistake, as these cuts have to be made at some point. The SNP Government obviously hope that the economy will improve by then and that the cuts can be avoided or mitigated, but I strongly suspect that this is wildly over-optimistic, and that the party political imperative is over-ruling good governance.

So let's see just how and where these first set of cuts are to be made; and an early and clear indication of the spending plans for 2001/12 will help everyone to plan, and allow the political arguments to be bases on facts and not just supposition.

Progress

In 1970 Afghanistan was a Monarchy, and broadly stable and law-abiding and a member of the international community. Even whilst poor and economically backward, like (say) South Korea.

But it had a certain degree of sophistication.

Until the international politicians decided that it need to be used to beat the Cold War opponents across the head. In came guns, missiles and high politics.

And the result? Before and after are just too sad for words....

Whisky tasting

(see previous post)

With a Portishead cd playing beautifully in the background...

Antiquary: is that Ant-iquary or Antiqu-ary? I always think of the pub in Stockbridge. Light colour. Mild and gentle nose. Strong and sharp, if not acidic taste in the mouth and as it goes down. The pub used to do a marvellous plate of stovies for us impoverished students, which frankly I'd rather have at the moment.

Almost a bit a catastrophe there. I nearly poured myself a Sloe Vodka which I received as a present in a Whisky bottle that has still got the original label. Not a route I plan to go down tonight. Yet.

Chivas Regal: This bottle is the first time I have ever had Chivas. Nice light colour. Mild, unassuming smell. Strongly flavoured with a good finish that gives you just the right feel as it goes down your throat. Yet there is something missing. Is this an export blend appealing to the bland? Not quiet, but nothing I would buy again. Actually gets quiet clawing towards the end of the small glass.

Interlude: on a visit to Uist many years ago I went back to the B&B where the owner offered me a dram. He opened the bottle of Glenfiddich, threw the top in the fire, and said "We've started so we'll finish!" All with a 7am boat at Otter Ferry (pre-causeway days) awaiting.

Time to open the Macallan 10yo: darker colour and a much stronger and more abrasive nose than the other two. But a sip and it is like being kissed by angels as the flavour fills the mouth and coats the tongue and throat in a full whisky experience. Yum, yum, yum.

Another interlude: Another time in Barra, during an election campaign, I was driven from the B&B in Northbay to Vatersay at no more than 15mph by a wonderful, but now sadly deceased friend, at 12pm for a 'cup of tea' which turned into a bowl of soup and a wine glass full to the very top of whisky. The glass was sipped and then declined, and I was driven slowly back to Northbay getting into the B&B by close to 3am, just in time to rise for the early ferry.

Taster three empty, and so to sleep.

Drink responsibly, but enjoy.

Saturday night - alone (ish)

The Boss and I usually go out for dinner on a Saturday night in a desperate attempt to wind down after another frantic week of work.

But she and our daughter are some 7,000 miles and 8 time-zones away at a family wedding happening next week on a Pacific beach, whilst the boys and I are having a even madder time trying to do everything we all need to do, and keep the house in some kind of tidy order.

So the boys and I went out for an early - and relaxing - dinner, and as they finish off their games on the computers and get chased up to bed, I'm sitting here wondering if the Skype will ring and I will be blinded by the mid-afternoon sunshine from the Sunshine State.

It seems so strange to be without her company during the brief leisure time we normally spend together.

I'm keeping busy with the laundry, ironing and bits of work I shouldn't really be doing, but it really isn't the same.

Right. Boys to bed. Read the papers. An early night. Tomorrow the boys are learning to cook a chilli, which is a meal that they really love and which they have demanded. I'll need all my strength to clean the kitchen after the boys are finished.

And before they get back I also need to clear the vast Lego armies of clone troopers and imperial troopers versus pirates and Indiana Jones types that are marching across the sitting room......

Volcanic weather

In conversation with a number of locals, it was clear that the influence of the the Icelandic volcano was significant, if not sever for us as ground dwelling beings.

The thin layer of dust every day on the car, the unexpected precipitation in very large rain drops and the intermittent snow/hail falls were evidence that the dust was causing water vapour to form around it and crash to the ground in short, sharp falls. The dust is probably good for the ground, as it carries minerals and is bring moisture to a usually less damp (I really hesitate to use the word 'dry') soil in these islands.

And then I saw a video the Mr Eugenides had of an Oklahoma hail storm, and thought that we really have nothing to worry about.



Mr E thinks we are all doomed: I think we need to be less pessimistic and rise to the immense challenge.

Offshore wind

Good news or dull news that the Government have announced the possible locations for offshore wind farms off the Hebrides?

A bit of both, as far as I am concerned.

It is good that certain areas have been ring fenced as 'possibles', as it clearly delimits the 'not acceptable' areas, which was a policy decision that was sorely lacking in previous rounds of decision influencing by Ministers.

The bad news is two fold.

The areas defined are so large as to be nothing more than splodges on the map of areas not ruled out for any other reasons.

Secondly, the technology doesn't yet exist to exploit these areas, and having spoken to the operators of wind farms in the very shallow waters of the North sea off Denmark, I know just how vast the challenges they face are. Move into the teeth of Atlantic Gales and it is a infinitely more difficult challenge, and one that is likely to be unachievable for the foreseeable future. Although I will be delighted to eat my words.

Next month, the Government plan to announce that North Uist will probably be be able to produce enough energy to power Western Europe from the innovative Pixie Dust harvesting competition they are launching.

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.

Tory Budget plans

George Osbourne has laid out his plans - or perhaps his outline ideas - for the Budget, so what can we read into the messages he has sent out.

He spoke at the CBI Dinner: it is a pro-business agenda
He is calling for lower and simpler corporate taxes: it is a pro-business agenda
A five-year plan to reform corporate taxes: it is a pro-business agenda
A reform of the CFC legislation: tricky and technical, but it is a pro-business agenda
Abolish employers NI for small new starts: a sensible, cheap but effective boost
A move towards increase the personal allowance: a nod to Clegg, but little action

"We will reform the corporate tax system by simplifying reliefs and allowances, and tackling avoidance, in order to reduce headline rates," said Mr Osborne.

Trite comments, but I can already see three big tax-planning opportunities for my profession which will attempt to circumvent the limits on any tax law changes.

Over the years I have learned that every major change in tax policy does nothing but encourage everyone to find new loopholes, simply because the tax system is so complex that you need to fine tune your plans to ensure that you don't fall foul of exemptions, exceptions and over-riding exclusions.

The plans seem quite clear to me:

• Big, deep, public sector cuts (and the public sector better be ready for them)
• Cuts in some business tax exemptions
• Reducing rates of corporation tax (probably for big business only)
• Minor tweaks to the personal tax system to benefit the lowest paid (h/t to Clegg)

Er, isn't that the virtually exact policy that Margaret Thatcher followed in 1979.

Cameron doesn't have a major industrial base to destroy, so the employment impact will probably be much less severe, but the overall further rebalancing (sic) of the economy in favour of services above manufacturing seems inevitable.

Sad to say, but my profession seems likely to be a major beneficiary of the changes. Again.

On a practical front, I'm suggesting strongly to clients to consider bringing forward large investment projects, as I think that the Annual Investment Allowance can't survive at its current level, due to the cost of the scheme. it may be flagged up for reduction/abolition at the end of the tax year, but I wouldn't be in the slightest surprised to see it halved with immediate effect in June. (If you don't understand this, don't worry. It's aimed at the self-employed and small businessmen only)

Intermittent posting

Someone had complained about why I haven't posted something I promised/teased.

Sorry, but trying to do everything means that sometimes something has to give.

It's blogging that has suffered as I haven't had time to assimilate the papers I hold.

Hot air

The situation with SSE and Storas over the provision of a cable connection to a community wind power project in Uist is despicable, and SSE require to be taken to task over the whole episode.

Except, there is more to this than meets the eye. Much more, and potentially a scandalous amount more.

Just why were Storas so up in arms about the offer to another small energy generator, that they threw around accusation of lack of planning permission, unfairness and general malfeasance on the part of everyone else?

Senior levels of SSE management have been lobbied by senior (now ex-)Government Ministers including Jim Murphy, apparently through contacts arranged by former Energy Minister and now advisor to Storas, Brian Wilson.

I am led to believe that a director of Storas has been in active negotiations with a merchant bank about the possibility of funding his own private windfarm, and that the award of capacity to the third party meant that the director's scheme was not going to progress (at least not until the technical constraints in Skye were resolved).

No doubt these negotiations were fully disclosed, as a potential conflict of interest, to the other directors of Storas so that there was no suggestion that the position of director was being (mis)used to obtain information that could give him benefit.

But the interesting, intriguing, elements don't end there.

One of the principal partners in Warburgs, who is involved (on the periphery or perhaps closer?) of the director's planned deal was none other than one of the former shareholders in South Uist Estates who did so well from the buy-out deal. I might have the name wrong, but it may be Mr Racine (sp?) appears to be Mr David Ruck Kenne Esq.*, but I have no doubt that others can clarify this.

Anyone who acts as a director or any company knows there is a huge responsibility to ensure probity in all one's dealings. everyone who deals with public money knows there is an equal, if not greater, onus.

A director of a company funded by public money has a double responsibility and must deal with public scrutiny to ensure that their actions are above any hint of impropriety. The ball is firmly in their court to substantively refute any suggestions to the contrary.

* Thanks to anon for the correction and update.

MacKafka

A press release today gives some idea of the issues running above and below the surface in South Uist. Why is there apparently so much fear of retribution for speaking our against the evil rapacious landlord friendly community directors?

Petition from the Friends of Murdo MacKenzie

An email bearing the name Murdo MacDonald notified the Chief Executive of Storas Uibhist that a petition would be presented to the company at 4pm on Monday May 10th 2010.

Today Eric Twelves (Loch Eynort) and Archie MacDonald (Torlum) attended the Storas Uibhist office . They were accompanied by Susy MacAulay, a freelance journalist.

The petition was presented to the Chief Executive who issued a statement on behalf of the company. Both documents will added to the company website (http://www.storasuibhist.com/) shortly.

The petition contained no names, but a handwritten note stated that: "You may verify the signatures by arrangement with Gilbert Walker or Eric Twelves at Lochboisdale Police Station." This statement was also unsigned.

In the circumstance, the Board is minded to give no weight to the document unless the membership considers otherwise.

Comments can be sent to the Board via email (info@storasuibhist.com) or by writing to the Storas Uibhist office.

Signed:

The Board of Directors