Monthly Archives: February 2009

QE2 situation in Dubai threatened by economic downturn

Posted on by

The RMS Queen Elizabeth 2  sailed into her new home in Dubai facing significant restructuring and re-engineering to fit her out for a very different life there as a floating five-star hotel, permanently moored at the Palm Jumeirah. Since she arrived nothing at all has happened to her.

There are now widespread concerns for her future. The company who bought her and brought her there have let it be know that the major job planned is in limbo for the time being but that they are considering simply opening her to the public as she is, as a tourist attraction.

This, of course, means that her engines will not be removed – or not just yet. And if her engines stay in place, the hope remains that she could return to the UK. There are two groups with a special interest in this. One is at her birthplace on the Clyde in Scotland and one is at her home port of Southampton where there is a move to try to buy her back and install her permanently there.

Scott Becker, a former member of QE2′s staff and who has set up a tribute website that aims to become the fullest possible online record of the life of the ship, says: ‘The news of QE2 having an uncertain future in Dubai is a bit disconcerting. Especially when one considers the current global economic crisis, the costs of converting her to a permanent shore-side facility will be enormous.

‘I recently mentioned to someone that it will be interesting to see whether QE2 has the same hand of providence that RMS Queen Mary has had in Long Beach. Through so many dire situations, she has remained. Every attempt to remove her has failed. Sadly, what will put an end to QM is neglect. The corrosion in her superstructure is getting very serious now.

‘QE2 is a far more delicate creature. Extreme care will have to be made for her future existence. Especially where the aluminium superstructure and the steel hull meet. They cannot touch but must remain apart with separators. (Ed: This is because of the process of galvanic corrosion that would otherwise occur.)

‘I would be thrilled if she were to come back to the UK, her true home. Who knows, the very thing that seems so threatening (the economy) could actually save her from a life of obscurity.’

STIFF’s last stand at Bute public local inquiry into Inchmarnock Fish Farm proposal

Posted on by

The Stop The Inchmarnock Fish Farm (STIFF) campaign will make its last stand at the public local inquiry next week into the proposal for a 16-cage fish farm off Inchmarcnock island on Bute’s west coast.

Local Councillors on the area committee refused approval for the plan. Offshore Farm Developments (OFD) appealed against the decision and its appeal will begin on Tuesday 24th February in Rothesay’s Victoria Hotel. It is likely to last for four days, working from 10.00am each day until 5.00pm with a one-hour break for lunch from 1.00pm to 2.00pm.

Michael Culshaw QC has been appointed as Reporter for the Inquiry by the Scottish Government. When the public hearing is over,he will deliberate on the evidence offered and announce his decision a month or so after the end of the inquiry.

STIFF’s opposition is certainly just that. The campaign body has been charged with representing to the hearing the objections of a range of affiliated organisations including:

  • Bute Community Council
  • Argyll District Salmon Fisheries Board
  • Clyde Fishermen’s Association
  • Dunoon and District Angling Club
  • Isle of Bute Angling Club
  • Eachaig District Salmon Fishery Board
  • Otterferry Ltd
  • Lighthouse Caledonia Ltd
  • Loch Fyne River Improvements Association
  • Ruel River Improvements Association
  • British Marine Federation Scotland
  • Sail Clyde
  • Scottish Boating Alliances
  • Isle of Bute Artists Collective
  • Bute Marketing and Tourism Ltd

This has been a determined and imaginative campaign of opposition from the outset. The inquiry hearings and the decision will both be interesting. Members of the public are welcome to attend and, even if you have no particular interest, it could be a good spectator sport.

Is the Tallest Tree in the UK Argyll’s Own in Glendaruel?

Posted on by

Dunans Douglas Fir

Today in the Cowal community of Colintraive and Glendaruel a team from Sparsholt College in Hampshire have climbed the Douglas Fir at Dunans. They didn’t do this just for kicks but to begin the task of finding the tallest tree in the UK. On Friday and Saturday Mark Tansley and his adventurous team will be climbing two other candidates for the title – another Douglas Fir at the Hermitage in Dunkeld and a Grand Fir in Diana’s Grove at Blair Castle. Continue reading →

Glasgow Exhibition for Argyll artists: Earra Ghaidheal, Coast of the Gaels

Posted on by

The Pentagon Centre in Washington Street at The Broomielaw in Glasgow is hosting an exhibition by Argyll Artists: – Earra Ghaidheal, the Coast of the Gaels. It previews from Saturday 21st February, has its formal opening on Thursday 26th February and runs for a further month until 27th March.

It;s a collection of recent works by the artist members of ArtMap Argyll.  Those participating include:

  • Libby Anderson
  • Rebecca Barnett
  • Susan Berry
  • Kirsty Brady
  • Lesley Burr
  • Julia Love Griffiths
  • Alexander Hamilton
  • Stuart Herd
  • Richard Kennedy
  • Karen Liversedge
  • Fraser McIver
  • Wilma MacKenzie
  • Don McNeil
  • Jean McNeil
  • Clare McNiven
  • Sian MacQueen
  • Louise Oppenheimer
  • Norman Rae
  • Lizzie Rose
  • Kathleen Russell
  • Jane Smith
  • Derby Stewart-Amsden
  • Ann Thomas
  • Jane Walker
  • Rob Walker
  • Nicola Wilks

Phone the Pentagon Centre for details: 0141 221 2128

Oban Times story on Tiree’s Gordon Scott training for a Himalayan climb- on Tiree’s 500ft Hynish

Posted on by

KalapatarToday’s Oban Times (19th February) has a fabulous story on Page 2 – one of those joyous life-enhancing about indomitable people who take advanage from what they can.

It reports that islander Gordon Scott is off to the Himalayas on a charity trek in April. His plan is to do the 10,000ft climb to Everest’s Base Camp and then do an 18,000ft climb up Kalapatar from whose summit he shoud have spectacular views of the range and of Mount Everest, known in Nepalese as Sagarmatha, Head of the Skies.

However, Mr Scott has work to do to prepare for the expedition. Is he off to Glencoe? Is he going to the Ice Factor at Kinlochleven to hone his ice-climbing skills? No. He’s got everything he needs on his doorstep on Argyll’s so called sunshine island of Tiree.

Tiree Balephuil BeachHe is going up and down the 500ft Ben Hynish every day – although he realises that the altitiude is something even Tiree cannot prepare him for. He’s making the trek in aid of Sense Scotland, the charity focused on deaf and blind adults and children.

Gordon Scott is paying his own costs for the challenge but you can donate to his fundraising efforts for Sense Scotland at his own webpage.

The photographs above, of the 18,000 ft Kalapatar in the Himalayas, top and of Balephuil on Tiree show the very different landscapes Gordon Scott will face. These photographs are reproduced here uder the Creative Commons licence.

Another setback for Ennstone – and for their Argyll quarries

Posted on by

Ennstone Group has announced that the discussions it has been engaged in over a possible offer for the Group have been terminated and that the Group is consequentlty no longer in an offer period. This development sees one of the Group’s options closed down. For Argyll is keeping a watching brief on this situation and will report when there is more news.

The hope for Argyll is that the Group’s subsidiary, Ennstone Thistle, operator of its four Argyll quarries at Benderloch, Bonawe, Dunbeg and Furnace, is said to be in a good trading position.

60th Anniversary of Campbeltown’s Argyll and Kintyre Drama Festival 19th-21st February

Posted on by

Starting tonight and running until Saturday at Campbeltown Grammar School, the Argyll and Kintyre Drama Festival – on its 60th anniversary – showcases several short one act plays a night. Starting at 7.30pm nightly, the programme presents productions by Community Drama groups in Argyll. There are two junior teams in the programme and the Kintyre Cultural Forum‘s newsletter reports that some of their members are in full Fame mode and have enrolled at weekend theatre schools in Glasgow.

Campbeltown’s isolation on the Mull of Kintyre has its advantages. This is a genuine functioning community and, unlike the city-based drama festivals in, say Glasgow, there is a real community feel to this event. The audience is usually a big one with everyone from babes-in-arms to those who remember a previous generation of local playwrights all their together, paying serious attention to the plays.

For details, phone the Organsing Secretary, Jackie Westerman on 01586 810356.

And the Hamilton v RBS case reaches cartoon celebration

Posted on by

There is a hilarious cartoon strip this morning (19th February) making the most of the David and Goliath aspect of the case of 83 year-old Ian Hamilton QC holding the banking giant, Royal Bank of Scotland, to account in the Oban Small Claims Court (reported below).

No surprises that the cartoon has fun taking a few well aimed digs at fat-cat bankers and lawyers.  Here are a few samples:

  • Small but perfectly formed chalk-striped banker lounges in big chair behind executive desk, on the phone from Edinburgh saying: ‘He’s suing for £1,400… ‘ His colleague at the London end replies: ‘That’s hardly a decent lunch’.
  • Then the London banker asks: ‘Is Oban offshore? What’s the exchange rate?’
  • And then, in puzzlement, he asks another question: ‘What’s a small claim?’
  • RBS phones the Faculty of Advocates to arrange representation – and the response is: ‘RBS? We’ll need cash up front’.
  • Two bigwigs from Brodies, the high-end Edinburgh legal firm retained by RBS are gleefully saying to each other: ‘On top of the fee, we get a £5million bonus if we lose and £10million if we win’.

Stone of Destiny QC must wait a week to hear which court will hear Hamilton v RBS

Posted on by

Ian Hamilton QC, whose name will forever be associated with the deed of derring-do on Christmas day 1950 when he and three fellow students repatriated the Stone of Destiny from Westminster – albeit initially in two halves. They managed to break it while they and it went into hiding together.

Anyway, as we have reported recently, Mr Hamilton was in court yesterday (18th February) – specifically in the Small Claims Court in Oban in Argyll. He was beginning his case against the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) for compensation for a share issue the bank persuaded him and others to buy into in June 2008. Mr Hamilton, who is representing himself, argues that the bank was insolvent and concealed its financial situation at the time of this share issue.

The amount at stake is small and is within the limits that the Small Claims Court is empowered to deal with. The problem for the bank is that if Mr Hamilton wins, other larger shareholders will be encouraged to pursue legal action for compensation on their own account.

The RBS has therefore been arguing that the case should be heard by a higher court – perhaps the Oban Sheriff Court. This move is being resisted by Mr Hamiton because if he lost he would required to pay the RBS legal costs which in the Small Claims Court are limited to £150. In the Sheriff Court the costs applied could bankrupt him.

At the age of 83, Ian Hamilton is naturally unprepared to risk this financial wipeout and has said that if the decision of the Oban Small Claims Court is to pass the case to the Sheriff Court, he will have no choice but to withdrawn his case.

At heart, Mr Hamilton’s action is about making the point that the large and the powerful must be accountable without draconian cost to the ordinary citizen who may well have right on her or his side. He said in court that people were said to live in a democracy but that: ‘If this is so, there must exist a court in which the members of that democracy can defend their little pieces of property against the big beasts which prowl about in our society’.

At the start of the case in Oban yesterday, Mr Hamilton withdrew an allegation of fraud against the RBS which had previously been contained in the writ.

The RBS’s Solicitor advocate, Joyce Cullen, said that, with the bank denying all the claims made by Mr Hamilton, the action would include ‘detailed pleadings’ and there was no provision for this in the small claims court. She argued that the complexity of the case therefore indicated that it be heard in a higher court.

Both Mr Hamilton and the RBS will have to wait for Sheriff Simon Pender’s ruling on the issue which he will give next week.

Listen to new Scottish Culture Minister, Michael Russell, occupy the territory in first session with creative sector

Posted on by

Michael Russell Culture Minister

Michael Russell, the new Culture Minister, today (18th February) met representatives from Scotland’s creative industries at Edinburghs Traverse Theatre and immediately took the territory for his own.

He paid generous tribute to his predecessor, Linda Fabiani. He made it clear from the outset that, as he said, the train that is Creative Scotland has left the station and that Scotland will get what it needs in a new enabling body for the the creative sector.

He was equally unambiguous about the tightness of the financial framework the Scottish Government must work within at the moment. At the same time, everything he said demonstrated an understanding, simultaneously intuitive and developed, of the potency, the volatility and the value of the creative.

He dealt briskly but in kindly fashion with a ponderous interrogation from one delegate on the need to protect the making of ‘great art’. We would be less kind and more brisk. This is a death-dealing pretension. Great art happens. It does not respond to intent. Artists set out to create honest art. Sometimes in doing this they are possessed by something from somewhere else and create more than they intend and sometimes more than they know. Lawrence Durrell once said sharply to a precious interviewer: ‘Art is for arting and fart is for farting and that is all there is to it’. And it is.

The podcast below is of the entire event, the Minister’s opening address, the questions from the floor and the Minister’s responses. Listen for yourself.

Play