Monthly Archives: February 2009

Scottish Water to meet Argyll and Bute Council to discuss discharge of untreated water at Innellan

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Scottish Water is to meet officials from Argyll and Bute Council’s Environmental Health Department in the Council’s HQ at Kilmory in Lochgilphead on 12th March.

The agenda will focus on the recent discharge of untreated waste into the Firth of Clyde at Innellan on 10th February. This happened while the waste water network in Innellan was being cleaned.

Scottish Water’s Regional Community Manager, Jane McKenzie,  says: ‘Scottish Water takes its environmental responsibilities very seriously and since this incident we have started an investigation to establish how it happened and how we can reduce the risk of any recurrence. Training issues have been highlighted and these are being addressed with the relevant staff’.

After the incident, Argyll and Bute Council asked Scottis hWater to come to an immediate meeting. They did not do so and Mrs mackenzie now explains: ‘Scottish Water was asked to meet with Argyll & Bute Council shortly after the incident but we were unable to attend at short notice. However, we hope that the meeting arranged for March 12 will prove to be useful for all parties concerned’.

Mid Argyll’s Furnace finds its quarry the subject of a painting in the Royal Scottish Academy

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The Lochfyneside community of Furnace has discovered that the Royal Scottish Academy has in its collection a 1929 oil painting of Furnace Quarry by Archibald Kay. The title of the work is Furnace Quarry – the streets of a great city, neatly tying together the village, its quarry and the city of Glasgow whose streets were paved with its granite.

Kay was a landscape painter focused largely on the West Highlands, including Arran and the Isle of Iona. Furnace Quarry was evidently a favourite subject of his. The painting in the Royal Scottish Academy is particularly interesting because it is not a traditional landscape painting but an industrial one. You can see the painting on the RSA website.

In Homecoming 2009, Irene Tilley from Helensburgh asks for information to help her come home

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Irene Tilley is now 67 and has been living in Dundee for three years after a married life in various postings with her soldier husband and many years in Kent.

She was brought up at 52 East Clyde Street in Helensburgh, near the school and beside the plumber’s business that is still there. She herself went on to the Hermitage School – now Hermitage Academy and was wonderstruck by its new buildings on her last visit to the town. Her grandfather, who fought in the first World War, was a tailor in the town with a shop in Sinclair Street.

Irene has cousins in Helensburg, one of whom, Helen, was in the Wrens and she has several other cousins in the area – stretching into Dumbarton.

Irene wants to come home now. She has itchy feet to get back to her own place and there couldn’t be a better year to think this way. She got in touch with us this morning and asked us for help. She wants to know what the current situation is with 52 Clyde Street, as she has a sentinental attachment to that building. She’d also be delighted to get information on any other suitable place a pensioner like herself could afford to rent – and she would go as far as Dumbarton, although Helensburgh’s the place that tugs the heartstrings.

If anyone can help her she would love to hear from them and has asked us to publish her contact details. Her phone is: 01382 642258. Her address is: 13 McGonagall Square, Dundee DD2 1AJ

There may also be people who knew her during her earlier life in the town and she would obviously be delighted if anyone from then made contact with her – especially in this year of homecoming.

The UK Government is burying bad news by making Sir Fred’s pension the headline issue – and Peston is the Patsy

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The row over Sir Fred Goodwin’s pension is the distraction the UK Government’s spin doctors literally ordered in the leaks they engineered yesterday. The real story is not Sir Fred’s £693 THOUSAND annual pension but the £24 BILLION annual loss that RBS declared yesterday (the biggest in UK corporate history), the £300 BILLION of toxic debt RBS insured yesterday with the taxpayer (us) and the £2 TRILLION national debt we now carry.

This was yesterday’s real story – and today’s – and for more tomorrows than we dare count.

But the Government threw Sir Fred into the road – a meaty bone the news media hounds seized on savagely, too blinkered in the rush for blood to see the real carrion, the carcase in the shadows – as the spin controllers knew they would. The carrier pigeon for news on the road-kill decoy was the government’s new trusty, the BBC financial journalist Robert Peston who makes John Redwood – aka The Vulcan – seem normal.

Peston blew the whistle on Goodwin’s pension on cue on Wednesday night’s 10.00pm news – in good time to lessen media interest in the profoundly bad financial news to be released the following day.

There are major issues of policy and principle around what we are learning of the way people in certain sectors are paid and rewarded but these are far less pressing than the genuinely frightening level of debt the UK is now committed to carrying.

Even Mervyn King, Governor of the Bank of England has now said that if Britain had not gone into this recession with the level of public borrowing it had already taken on under the Blair/Brown governments, the Treasury and the Bank would have had more scope for effective action to resist the economic slide. This criticism of Government performance by the head of the Bank of England is unprecedented and is a sign of the seriousness of the UK’s current position.

Sir Fred’s pension is not the issue. His unregulated actions on behalf of RBS are the issue. The UK Government decided to go for ‘regulation with a light touch’, which of course meant little or no regulation of the banks by the feeble FSA. This was a tacit invitation to the banks to go bald-headed for profit – which led to the current collapse of the banking system.

This collapse resulted in the government going in for panic-driven progressive borrowing, all caution thrown to the winds in the interests of political survival. And the presses of the Royal Mint are due to start rolling next week in the interests of ‘quantitative easing’.

So let’s keep Sir Fred in our sights for later on but let’s not take our eyes off the cosmic cloud of ordure that’s hovering above our heads.

And by the way, it’s  not over yet. The Lloyds Banking Group will only say that it is in discussions with the UK Government, which are progressing well. These discussions are thought to relate to the group’s wish to follow the RBS into insuring another welter of toxic assets with the taxpayer. And what they want to ‘insure’ (Alistair Darling’s term for this liberating manoevre – ‘asset protection’ – is even more laughable) is said to be around £250 billion of toxic debt.

£2 trillion of a national debt already looks like a very conservative estimate.

Jackie Baillie’s Members’ Bill to penalise abuse of disabled parking gets cross-party support today

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Today at Holyrood, a Member’s Bill was put forward by Jackie Baillie, MSP, seeking to penalise those who misuse parking spaces intended for the disabled.

The Bill – proposing fines of up to £60 – received unified, cross-party support. Argyll’s MSP, Jim Mather, Minister for Enterprise, Energy and Tourism, has instantly welcomes the collective will of the Parliament to address this social wrong.

Mr Mather said: ‘The unity in the chamber today was a good advert for the Scottish Parliament and showed how we can all on occasion work together in the common interest.

‘This is an issue that has brought some very  welcome consensus across the parties and I hope its successful passage  into law will see an end to the abuse of disabled parking spaces by people who should know better. It is an essential and necessary requirement considering the present abuse of disabled parking spaces and the imposition of fines is the only realistic way to prevent their misuse.

‘I was pleased to see how Scotland’s politicians can work together in the common interest in order to improve the quality of the lives of Scotland’s disabled and underlining the fact that  the abuse of disabled parking bays is wholly unacceptable’.

Here in Argyll there is a recent precedent for such grown-up politics when all parties came together in harmony and common purpose to agree and approve the annual budget. Perhaps the old-fashioned polarised, adversarial, party political – and frankly tedious – political model is seeing a more evolved model emerge?

Clyde-built HMS Daring paid respect by HMS Ark Royal in English Channel

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The Royal Navy has reported that the Fleet Flagship, HMS Ark Royal, back from a busy deployment in UK waters, rendezvoused with HMS Daring, the Type 45 Destroyer which recently left the Clyde for its new home port in Portsmouth.

The rendezvous – with ceremonial formalities exchanged by both ships – took place in the English Channel, South East of the Isle of Wight on Thursday 5th February. HMS Daring, which had been conducting gunnery and weapons engineering trials in the area, then showed off her amazing turn of speed and what the RN call ‘her awesome posture’.

The respective captains – Captain John Clink OBE, HMS Ark Royal’s Commanding Officer (CO), and HMS Daring’s CO, Captain Paul Bennett – are long term friends. During the rendezvous they communicated over VHF and enjoyed demonstrating their ships’ manoeuverability and capability.

Ark Royal’s photographer, LA(Phot) Macready took photographs of the occasion and then Captain Clink, eager for his Ship’s Company and guests to get a sight of the Royal Navy’s newest ship, took Ark Royal in two passes of Daring with Daring close in on his port side.  The warships exercised together for 20 minutes before Ark Royal detahced to go into Portsmouth Naval Base.

Stone of Destiny not proof against RBS – Ian Hamilton QC forced to abandon ‘negligence’ claim

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At Oban Sheriff Court this morning (26th February) Sheriff Simon Pender upheld the plea by the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) that the case pursued against it in the Small Claims Court by retired QC Ian Hamilton (one of the gang of four students who liberated the Stone of Destiny from Westminster in 1950) would have to be heard in a higher court.

The bank’s argument was that the complexity of the case and of its potential consequences meant that it would need to be heard in a court higher than the Small Claims Court. Sheriff Pender agreed.

Mr Hamilton had made clear in advance that, if this decision went against him, he would have no option but to withdraw his case – and he has now done that. The Small Claims Court limits the amount that a losing litigant can be required to pay in respect of the costs of the other side. This is not the case in the Sheriff Court or any other higher court.

Mr Hamilton had initially taken his case to the Small Claims Court to claim against the RBS for negligence in raising a share issue without disclosing its financial position – and also as a way also of testing the ordinary person’s access to affordable justice.

It has been Mr Hamilton’s contention that the RBS move in arguing for the case to be heard in a higher court – where, should he lose, he would have no protection against the level of costs imposed – was intended to achieve just what has happened today. The case has been withdrawn.

The issue may not have gone to court but Mr Hamilton has made two notable scores.

  • The publicity accorded to the case – and, ironically, to the RBS’s now successful attempt to have it transferred to a higher court – has meant that Mr Hamilton’s perception of the bank’s actions are now widely known and largely accepted.
  • The lack of any judicial protection for the ordinary person to take legal action against an opponent with deep pockets has been laid bare.

David may not have felled Goliath but he has left his mark.

Get to Gigha this weekend and get into Gaelic with Henri Macauley

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This weekend – February 28th and March 1st – is the second of Henri Macauley’s Gaelic language sessions held on Gigha. Following the success of the last series, Henri is taking another sequence of Gaelic classes for beginners and improvers.

The classes run over four weekends – each the last in the month – starting at the end of January and running through February, March and April.

The classes are famously fun and conversational – and since you’re on Gigha and it’s the weekend, prepare to enjoy the ceilidh on Sunday nights.

You don’t have to live on Gigha to come there and start on the language of Earra Gaidheal. The Gigha Hotel is offering a special deal for the weekends of the Gaelic courses. Get information on the Gigha website or phone: 01583 505 101 for more details.

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Arthur Cormack confirmed as Chair of Bord na Gaidhlig

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Arthur Cormack, who has been acting Chair of Bord na Gaidhlig since Matthew McIver moved on last July from the Gaelic development organisation, has been confirmed in the role today.

Mr Cormack’s appointment was immediately welcomed by Culture Minister, Michael Russell and Mr Cormack himself, a Gaelic speaker from the Isle of Skye, said: ‘I feel that this is an era of unprecedented opportunity and goodwill towards Gaelic’.

For Argyll would echo the remarks of both men. We reviewed the recently introduced Gaelic social networking site, MyGaelic.com – fairly and with heart but with some reservations. The Gaelic community engaged with the article and with each other with energy and ideas. This conversation, condiucted at the foot of the article, attracted a lot of attention to what they were saying.

Then Mr Cormack appeared in these discussions, openly declared himself and obviously enjoyed the engagement. Watching what he achieved in this activity, our Internet Services Director (who had written the review) remarked wryly and with admiration, that Arthur Cormack had skilfully proceeded to subvert the review.

For Argyll also has real respect for someone at this level who was interested in debating the issues with fellow community members. This appointment does augur well for the vitality as well as the development of Gaelic. For Argyll looks forward to playing a bit part in this.

Appin Forest provides larch for a boat to be built by GalGael in Govan

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The GalGael Trust based in Glasgow’s Govan, formed in the 1990s, is a charitable community project that lays out a route back to work for people with addictions or who have not worked for a long time. They learn to build and sail wooden boats.

One of the problems the project faces is getting supplies of the right timber to build the boats. Last week they had two lorry loads of timber delivered, courtesy of Appin Forest in north Argyll.

How did this come about? Well, the Galgael people have learned not to be backward about coming forward. They asked former Environment Minister, Michael Russell, if he could help them get timber supplies and, as Tam McGarvey from GalGael puts it, Mr Russell ‘came good’. He put them in touch with the Appin Forest people, leading to the 50 tonnes of timber just delivered.

Amongst the delivery were a dozen fully mature and good quality larch trees – ideal for boatbulding and described by GalGael’s Tim Norman as: ‘…the kind that every traditional boat builder in Scotland is after. And there was some oak for the keel and some Sitka Spruce for oars and the like. You could build anything from a boat to a house with this amount of wood’.

The GalGael trainees will now get to grips with the entire timber processing sequence from the forest to the workshop to the Clyde.

This is an inspirational project in so many ways. Michael Russell and Appin Forest will be remembered as the bow of the boat to come cleaves the waters of Scotland’s west coast.