Comment posted Support Argyll’s single Olympic torchbearer at Tarbet on 9th June by Mairi.
It’s an epidemic, Robert! And very possibly a juvenile mindset.
I have adopted a self-denying ordinance to NOT ‘dislike’ comments. Life is too short to spend it making conscious statements of hate and aversion.
And I also prefer not to encourage the corrosive cynicism that is on the increase in society at large, I fear. It diminishes each of us, in my view, when we focus attention and energy on what doesn’t ‘light our fires’; much better, I believe, to recognise and cherish the good that does exist. This is not any happy-clappy prozac-fuelled philosophy: Rather, it is simply to recognise that great culture, civilisation and progress have come from the promotion of the good, rather than the punishment of the bad.
Mairi also commented
- So someone sees fit to ‘dislike’ that this inspirational young girl from Bute is being recognised for the fantastic fund-raising she has done.
To whoever that was: It must be awful to have such a miserable, twisted outlook on the world. I pity you. - You are going to have to change that headline! When I mentioned this to a friend they told me about Jenna Speirs from Bute:
http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/scottish-news/2012/03/18/brave-sister-launches-second-holiday-home-for-sick-kids-just-three-years-after-calum-s-cabin-86908-23792881/
http://www.london2012.com/torch-relay/torchbearers/torchbearers=jenna-speirs-4921/index.html
On who runs where… there are people from Ayrshire carrying the torch in Glasgow, and folk from Glasgow running with it in Ayrshire. I think it is the way of the logistics, coordinating people’s availability, getting a balance of people on any given day, etc.
Overall, while it is disappointing that the route does not take in more of Argyll, I would put it the other way: What did our Council, MP and MSPs do to promote the case for including Argyll? I know for a fact that other areas were ‘represented’. And that such lobbying was balanced by the organisers overall objectives of being within 20(?) miles of 90% of the UK population, when the final route was approved.
On balance, I think they are doing a really good job, and I find these stories inspirational. What is not to love about giving 7,000 extraordinary people a chance to shine?
- David MacPherson from Inveraray will also be carrying the torch. Read about his story here:
http://www.mnetv.tv/newsroom/newsStory.aspx?id=877
Recent comments by Mairi
- Baillie motion celebrates Luss Primary’s 5th Green Flag
I can hardly believe it either – some folk have lost all sense of what matters.But Luss Primary School – what a lovely example of getting children engaged and motivated – well done to all
- Argyll and Bute Council: Councillor McCuish leads again
So was this approved by the SNP HQ? It includes Liberal Democrat and Conservative councillors. Or has their recent unshackling from party allegiance cleared that consortium as being fit for SNP HQ approval? Or are the ‘SNP’ members in the second group no longer members of the SNP?#totallyconfused
- Radically new council group changes all the dynamics: party politics dead in Argyll
And maybe not for the last time, Fletcher
- Radically new council group changes all the dynamics: party politics dead in Argyll
The naivety of this contribution beggars belief.Deploy three SNP apparatchiks:
* a councillor who wasn’t re-elected last year,
* an MSP that chose to leave representative politics in Argyll and doesn’t live in the area
* an MSP that came last in the 2010 general electionand get them to “run a training course for current & prospective SNP councillors”. Of course – why didn’t we see this was the solution to all our problems?
John Patick certainly has a future … as a comedy writer, coming up with stuff like that.
- Radically new council group changes all the dynamics: party politics dead in Argyll
The situation in Argyll & Bute is worrying, and I’m not sure all players understand just how serious things have become. The arrival of Audit Scotland is also a hugely significant portent of how things might pan out.I am increasingly reminded of the fate that befell Inverclyde Council under the Liberal Democrats in 2005/06. They effectively flunked an Accounts Commission Best Value Review, and had – ultimately – to be put into intensive care. Special arrangements were imposed to restore a degree of order and competence to the leadership of the Council. Here is the report that precipitated these events:
http://www.audit-scotland.gov.uk/docs/local/2005/bv_050602_inverclyde.pdf
The key issue – then and now – is leadership. On the part of both councillors and officers. All the evidence suggests that there are major deficiencies in Argyll & Bute, and it would not surprise me if our Council found its destiny similar to the one that Inverclyde met seven years back.
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Who is carrying it the rest of the way around Loch Lomond?
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We’re checking this out for you CSB.
So far we’ve found the names of two who will carry it through Luss:
http://www.london2012.com/torch-relay/torchbearers/community=luss/index.html
It doesn’t seem to be going to the east side of Loch Lomond, but up the west side on the A82.
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If the first few days are anything to go by, it sticks to roads – main roads at that – and travels by bus between communities.
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Thanks for the info Newsroom. I read somewhere that its getting a driven from Dumbarton up to just outside Luss and then taken down to the pier, then back in the car and up to Tarbet.
Or maybe it was in my imagination
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This is probably correct.The flame is spending little time on the ground carried by torchbearers.
This is a very pragmatic tour of the flame. It is doing most of its mileage invisibly by road vehicle and by air
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Newsroom: So with a nod to former Glasgow Provost Michael Kelly, and mindful of yesterday’s events at Kilmory, how about the flash mob’s posters reading “Argyll’s Myles Better.”
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BBC News reported tonight that a team of no less than 350 were accompanying the flame as it toured including several police cars and back up vehicles so they should be able to find someone to take it through Bridge of Orchy.
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Don’t look now, but I suspect that there’s a serial ‘thumbsdowner’ at work, Ken.
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David MacPherson from Inveraray will also be carrying the torch. Read about his story here:
http://www.mnetv.tv/newsroom/newsStory.aspx?id=877
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Thanks Mairi and good luck to David, who, like three other Argyll torchbearers, is not carrying the flame in his own territory (why ever not?) but between Aberdeen and Stornoway – between which it travels mainly by air.
If they’d had the imagination, the flame should have been travelling the ferries as the organic mode of transport in this part of the world.
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If you wonder why none of four Argyll torchbearers are carrying the torch in their own territory, I wonder why a considerable number of the torchbearers in South Devon on Sunday were from France, resident in France. Some sort of sponsorship deal?
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You are going to have to change that headline! When I mentioned this to a friend they told me about Jenna Speirs from Bute:
http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/scottish-news/2012/03/18/brave-sister-launches-second-holiday-home-for-sick-kids-just-three-years-after-calum-s-cabin-86908-23792881/
http://www.london2012.com/torch-relay/torchbearers/torchbearers=jenna-speirs-4921/index.html
On who runs where… there are people from Ayrshire carrying the torch in Glasgow, and folk from Glasgow running with it in Ayrshire. I think it is the way of the logistics, coordinating people’s availability, getting a balance of people on any given day, etc.
Overall, while it is disappointing that the route does not take in more of Argyll, I would put it the other way: What did our Council, MP and MSPs do to promote the case for including Argyll? I know for a fact that other areas were ‘represented’. And that such lobbying was balanced by the organisers overall objectives of being within 20(?) miles of 90% of the UK population, when the final route was approved.
On balance, I think they are doing a really good job, and I find these stories inspirational. What is not to love about giving 7,000 extraordinary people a chance to shine?
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So someone sees fit to ‘dislike’ that this inspirational young girl from Bute is being recognised for the fantastic fund-raising she has done.
To whoever that was: It must be awful to have such a miserable, twisted outlook on the world. I pity you.
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There’s a surprising number of ‘dislikes’ in this thread, and I wonder if there’s a juvenile mindset that thinks it’s clever to disapprove of everything?
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It’s an epidemic, Robert! And very possibly a juvenile mindset.
I have adopted a self-denying ordinance to NOT ‘dislike’ comments. Life is too short to spend it making conscious statements of hate and aversion.
And I also prefer not to encourage the corrosive cynicism that is on the increase in society at large, I fear. It diminishes each of us, in my view, when we focus attention and energy on what doesn’t ‘light our fires’; much better, I believe, to recognise and cherish the good that does exist. This is not any happy-clappy prozac-fuelled philosophy: Rather, it is simply to recognise that great culture, civilisation and progress have come from the promotion of the good, rather than the punishment of the bad.
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Mairi …I LIKE THAT LAST COMMENT !!! SHOUT THAT OUT !!! You are so right it can’t be wrong, well done on such an eloquent response to the dislikers. Thankyou.
The torch is only a symbol for the true light that is within and without us all. The darkness is easily encouraged but it cannot overpower the truth that shines within us all…..no prozac required.
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