20 April 2012
It’s a while since Karl Marx was cited in the columns of the Free Press but I can’t help thinking that the old boy would recognise the process which is now threatening much of Britain’s local and regional newspaper industry.
Capitalism’s inherent greed for profit through expansion, blind to more rational or socially responsible considerations, leads to “constant revolutionising of production, uninterrupted disturbance of all social conditions, everlasting uncertainty”. Then the bubble bursts.
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April 20th, 2012 in
Politics |
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13 April 2012
So who will pass the “Saltire underpants test” and become convener of the Crofting Commission — or chairman of the Crofters Commission as we used to know him in the old and perfectly adequate language?
The indelicate phrase was coined by Tavish Scott, Liberal Democrat MSP for Shetland, to highlight the frustration over what is now going on within the new commission. Having allowed two-thirds of its members to be directly elected, our control-freak devolved rulers have drawn a line under such dangerous trends.
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8 May 2012
My first time in New York was en route to Kansas City to report a Republican National Convention at which Ronald Reagan was challenging the incumbent President, Gerald Ford. Reagan was still dismissed as an unelectable right-wing freak even by most Republicans so Ford duly won the nomination but lost the election to Jimmy Carter. In other words, it was a long time ago.
A lot has changed in the meantime, not least the reputation of New York itself. It’s a place in which people feel a lot safer than they would in London or Glasgow, and that is quite a change. I am told that Manhattan is smaller than Raasay but a phenomenal level of energy is packed into that small space. Activity and excitement abound which is why 99.9per cent of the population remain blissfully unaware of something as ephemeral as Scottish Week or whatever it is currently called.
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30 March 2012
It is incredible but true. Unless common sense and human decency make late interventions, we are now on the eve of Black Monday for the Western Isles when the largest ferry fare increases in history will take effect.
Over the past couple of months, a superb campaign has been maintained to alert people to what is being done. The implications for every business and household in the Western Isles have been spelt out both locally and nationally. But all, it seems, to no avail — unprecedented increases in charges on commercial vehicles, the lifeblood of the economy, will go ahead.
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23 March 2012
There is no great joy in being proved right when it takes 33 years to achieve that distinction. But at least, for those with long memories and esoteric interests, it is now firmly on the record that the Free Press was entirely correct when we denounced the Land Registration (Scotland) Act of 1979 as a near-useless piece of legislation and a failure of political will.
To recap. Back in these days, land reform was a live issue in Scotland and there was a persistent, specific demand for the establishment a Land Register, partly in response to the scandal of large tracts of land being bought and sold by faceless trusts and mysterious companies. The basic contention was that everyone had the right to know who owned the land on which they lived and worked.
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March 23rd, 2012 in
Politics |
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16 March 2012
When a round of European Structural Funds spending was announced for the Highlands and Islands last month, it crossed my mind that there had been an unhealthy change of emphasis in the way the news was presented.
No longer did the press release come from the Highlands and Islands Partnership Programme, as used to be the case, making clear that this money was separate from Government and represented additional funding from the European Social Fund or European Regional Development Fund.
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9 March 2012
I was pleased to see Charles Kennedy entering the fray over Scotland’s constitutional future with a thoughtful article in Saturday’s ‘Herald’ and hope that he will play a leading role over the next two and a half years.
“Two and a half years “. Even to write these words highlights the absurdity of what is going on. An argument which has been boring away for decades and could be comfortably concluded, one way or another, within three months is to be protracted until October 2014. There is only one reason for this. Alex Salmond believes that, given enough time, he can use every manipulative weapon at his disposal to obtain a majority in favour of independence. The delay has nothing to do with the good of Scotland; only his own selfinterest.
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March 9th, 2012 in
Politics |
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2 March 2012
As a lifelong believer in the power of the public meeting, I was delighted to hear of the huge turnout in Daliburgh last week to press the case for a Lochboisdale - Mallaig ferry service.
By organising the meeting, the Missing Link group performed a necessary public duty — particularly in light of the recent “survey” produced by the Scottish Government which proved to their own satisfaction that there was great contentment within South Uist regarding the existing ferry arrangements.
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March 2nd, 2012 in
Transport |
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24 February 2012
It was an uplifting occasion in Ness on Monday to mark the fifth anniversary of Urras Oighreachd Ghabhsainn and the official opening of their fine new business centre.
Aside from the formalities, it was good to catch up with a lot of old friends and allies who have channeled their energies and commitment into the community land ownership movement in Ness and elsewhere.
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17 February 2012
I was checking out something on the internet this week which led me towards the most recent report on attainment levels in Scottish schools, published last November.
Having gone in to check a single statistic, I stayed to contemplate an alarming picture which is, I suspect, either not very well known or little commented upon by those who do know it, because it is so familiar as to be taken for granted. What a huge mistake!
The figures which caught my eye referred to the proportion of Scottish school pupils who attain the expected standards in reading between P3 and S2. If you don’t know the answers, have a guess before you continue.
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February 17th, 2012 in
Education |
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