Monthly Archives: October 2008

Margo MacDonald to introduce an assisted suicide bill in Scotland

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On 29th October Debbie Purdy, a wheelchair-bound Multiple Sclerosis (MS) sufferer, failed to have the law on assisted suicide in England clarified. She had wished to have it interpreted to protect the position of those who might transport a terminally ill but disabled loved one abroad for an assisted suicide.

The following day, Margo MacDonald MSP announced that she is to attempt to introduce a bill to make assisted suicide legal in Scotland. Lib Dem MSP, Jeremy Purvis, has previoulsy had a bill on the same subject before the Scottish Parliament and has seen it fail.

Margo Macdonald’s plan is to build patients’ right to choose to end their lives, with assistance, into the principles of palliative care.

She says she believes it is ‘inhumane and ultimately futile’ for the law to deny the right to choose when to die’. Her intention is to start a serious public debate on the matter. She feels that it has progressively become a matter of considerable public interest and that therefore politicians must explore it fully.

Herself a Parkinsons sufferer, Mr MacDonald has long made it clear that if her condition deterioriates she will want the right to choose when to end her life with whatever assistance is necessary.

The distressing aspect of Debbie Purdy’s case in England is that this articulate woman is likely to travel abroad for an assisted suicide sooner than she would have chosen had she won the interpretation she sought. If she waits now until she is no longer physically able to travel alone, however mentally lucid she is, her husband will be open to prosecution for assisting a sucide when he returns to England alone. She has no intention of putting him in that position.

Mrs MacDonald is aware that the most difficult case to legislate for is that of someone who is no longer mentally able to make the decision to die. Her research in Holland has found a sensible potential model. There the decision may be made on behalf of the patient by a doctor – but only if that doctor has had – and can show – a long standing medical relationship with the patient.

Helensburgh prepares for the big fireworks display and for a safe season

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With a grand fireworks display coming up soon on 8th November, raising the bar for performance and big bangs, its no wonder that Argyll and Bute Council’s Trading Standards team in Helensburgh and Lomond is working hard along with Strathclyde Police on promoting the safe storage and sale of fireworks.

The joint team has made visits this year to all trade premises selling fireworks in the town. Anyone supplying or selling fireworks has to comply with strict regulations and the teams are checking that all traders measure up to the requirements.

Anyone selling fireworks has to be registered with the Council and is only allowed to sell fireworks between 15th October and 10th November. A very few have a special license to supply fireworks all year round.

It’s also against the law now to let off fireworks between 11pm and 7am. The only exceptions to this are 5th November (extended to midnight), New Years Eve, Diwali and Chinese New Year (extended to 1am).

Groups and individuals may also apply for special permission to use fireworks on other specific occasions.

Fireworks are potentially lethal. Fireworks sold outside the protection of legal scrutiny and licensing carry a greater risk of dangerous malfunction. Children are particularly vulnerable to the damage they can do – as are crowds. For this reason, the Council is asking anyone who can provide information on any potentially illegal sale or use of fireworks to contact Trading Standards on 01436 658909.

Holyrood votes to keep HBOS independent

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HBOS inherited the affections of Scotland for its Bank when, after the merger with the Halifax – effectively the end of genuine independence – the new body kept its headquarters at The Mound in Edinburgh.

The Scottish Parliament at Holyrood today voted for a motion proposing that HBOS should remain an independent bank rather than go ahead with its proposed takeover by Lloyds TSB.

The best crack of the session came from Patrick Harvie of the Green Party who said that debating the HBOS takeover without addressing the fundamental causes of economic trouble was pointless. He described the effort as: ‘little more than a group hug on the deck of the Titanic’.

Last member of Argylls explosives conspiracy jailed at Maidstone

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Andrew Quinn was sentenced to six and a half years in jail today (30th October) at Maidstone Crown Court. He pled guilty at the court in June to conspiracy to possess explosives and conspiracy to dishonestly undertake or assist in the retention, removal, disposal or realisation of stolen goods. Quinn was the last of four men to be jailed for their part in this conspiracy.

A former member of the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders (now the 5th Battalion of the Royal Regiment of Scotland) and now unemployed, Glaswegian Quinn’s co-conspirators were all serving members. Earlier this week, two  of these were sentenced to twelve years each and one to four years.

Sentencing Quinn today, Mr Justice Akenhead said: “Your involvement was a pivotal one. It involved procuring them [the explosives] from contacts in the Army, the paying of soldiers and selling them on. You knew that the people to whom you supplied would use them only for criminal purposes to spread death and violence’.

Council to work with Scottish Government on funding for free school meals in Argyll

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Twenty three Scottish Councils were today said to be struggling to make their budgets meet the Scottish Government’s requirement for them to provide free school meals. Some councils have declared themselves quite unable to do so.

Since Argyll and Bute did not feature in either of the above lists, For Argyll asked the Council about its position on the matter.

We have now received a statement from Education spokesperson, Councillor Isobel Strong, who says: ‘Argyll and Bute Council welcomes the Scottish Government’s approach and supports the principle of free school meals. We look forward to working with the Government through the Concordat to identify the funding for this policy’.

The ‘Concordat’ to which Councillor Strong refers is a formal and ‘new relationship between the Scottish Government and local government, based on mutual respect and partnership. It underpins the funding to be provided to local government between 2008/2009 and 20010/2010.’

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Swinney reveals UK Treasury has now responded to questions on HBOS

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Scottish Government Finance Secretary, John Swinney, revealed in session at Holyrood today (30th October) that he has now received a response from Chancellor Alistair Darling to queries on the recapitalisation of HBOS.

In reference to the proposed takeover of The Bank by Lloyds TSB, the Chancellor had been asked if the £37bn bail-out was conditional on this deal going ahead; and if concessions on competition law would be available to other potential buyers. Mr Darling had also been asked if the Financial Services Authority (FSA) would look again at HBOS in the event of the take-over not proceeding.

According to Mr Swinney: ‘Although the Chancellor doesn’t answer all of the questions, his letter is a helpful intervention into the discussion’.

In describing the letter as making it clear that there are other opportunities for the outcome of the HBOS situation, Mr Swinney quoted some extracts from it.

These included the Chancellor’s statement that: ‘If for any reason the merger did not go ahead, the FSA would need to reassess both banks to determine the extent to which each would need to re-capitalise’. While this statement is generally being interpreted as positive, it is also open to reading as an indication of potential conditionality.

The Finance Secretary told MSPs that it was the Scottish Government’s duty to protect the country’s best interest and this would be the maintaining of HBOS as a independent bank, protecting jobs across Scotland and top management functions at its Edinburgh HQ.

He said: ‘We will continue to have dialogue with the Chancellor to ensure these propositions are fully and properly considered by the United Kingdom Government’.

Portree Lifeboat launches on report of mystery lights in Staffin Bay

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Last night (Wednesday 29th October) Portree Lifeboat received reports of lights in the water in Staffin Bay in Skye. Fearing a capsize or a floundering liferaft from an emergency out to sea, the lifeboat launched.

There was indeed a wallowing hulk in the surf – of a toy boat containing a light and a ‘Happy 40th Birthday’ message. Coastguards later retrieved the little vessel from the surf. It is thought that it had probably carried more than one light and that the others were washed out to see as the toy became swamped.

Alastair Campbell (yes) to chair Tiree Association Concert in November – and may give the pipes a skirl

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Yes it is the Alastair Campbell you thought it wouldn’t be. Tony Blair’s master of the dark arts of public relations by whatever means, now back on the Downing Street team in its crisis-ridden state, is the son of a Tiree man, Donald Campbell. His brother, also Donald, is currently the official piper of the Tiree Association which has now secured Alsatair’s services for its 108th annual concert in Glasgow on 22nd November, at the Woodside Halls in Maryhill.

The event brings together Tirisdeachs from the island, from Glasgow and from elsewhere. The Association had asked Alastair Campbell to chair the event two years ago but this year is the first date he could make.

At one point in his pre-Downing Street career, Campbell famously busked for a living playing the pipes in the kilt in the chic south of France. Today he says: ‘It is from my father that I learned to play the pipes and in so doing also learned the iportance of traditions and a culure that meant a great deal to him’.

With all of this in mind it’s not surprising that there’s a distinct possibility that the concert programme may include an impromptu (does Alastair Campbell do impromptu?) piping duet from the Campbell  brothers.

Glimmer of hope for workers at Campbeltown’s Vestas plant as new company shows interest

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Enterprise Minister Jim Mather has confirmed that he has been in talks for several weeks with a Danish company showing an interest in the Vestas wind turbine plant in Campbeltown.

One hundred workers at the plant were to lose their jobs in November with the sudden decampment of Vestas to the Isle of Wight. The issue of their redundancy notices has now been postponed for eight weeks which will at least see them through the Christmas and Hogmanay period.

Mr Mather describes the current development as ‘a valuable opportunity to retain the highly-skilled workforce’.

BT staff call each other to fiddle MoD phone contract

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The Audit Commission has required BT to pay £1.3million to the Ministry of Defence (MoD). Staff at a call centre in Kettering in Northamptonshire were found to have met the performance targets built in to a Private Finance Initiative (PFI) between the MoD and BT by calling each other. The tactic was to help the company avoid fines for slow response to calls. The £3bn PFI contract is for BT’s running of the forces telephone network.

BT has sacked the staff concerned and taken the Kettering call centre out of the operation.

The Audit Commission – which is the public spending watchdog – pointed out that the incidents showed a need for uch more effective scrutiny of the way the expensive PFI contracts are delivered by contractors.

BT is now has to provide more detailed reporting and also undergo regular and detailed checks of the integrity of the reporting system itself.

PFI contracts remain highly controversial. They lay a long burden of debt on a country. In Scotland, First Minister, Alex Salmond, has shown that PFI contracts entered into by the previous Labour administrations cost the country £4,000 a year for every single member of the population.

I this instance, Lib Dem Defence Spokesman Nick Harvey says: ‘PFI projects should only be used where they can be clearly proved to provide the best value for money. Instead, the MoD appears to be signing up to PFI schemes without thinking, then throwing away millions abandoning them years later. This level of waste is scandalous when our troops are still going without vital equipment and helicopter support in the field’.

The MoD says that the project team concerned ‘has reviewed and strengthened their service assurance and management process, with the assistance of external independent advisors’.