Monthly Archives: June 2011

Mrs Angry is furious at Stornoway Gazette’s parking campaign

Posted on June 30, 2011 | 13 Comments

Wow. I have had an extremely angry email about the Gazette’s ongoing campaign about bad parking. It is obviously driving some people up the wall.

This lady – I will call her Mrs Angry because she has not given me permission to publish her name – says: “It is not on for the local paper to keep highlighting badly parked vehicles without an explanation from the owners and drivers. People here know full well that my car was one of them – even though the registration number was blacked out.
“I was badly parked because I was not prepared to wait for a proper space when I was getting medicine for someone who was so very seriously ill they could not even be moved to hospital. What would the editor of the Gazette do in those circumstances? I should call her up but I may lose the rag altogether and tell her what I really think of her.
“People like me sometimes have to park badly in emergencies and because of the thoughtlessness of other drivers. When these other cars then move off, our cars are left looking as if we are the bad drivers. You have to have the whole story. This is lazy reporting which makes me very angry.”

Yeah, I can tell, Mrs Angry, but parking is a problem in Stornoway.

“These people at the Gazette should be targeting the rotten council who have still failed to provide enough parking. But we are talking about the Gazette aren’t we? Too many church people at the council to have a go at them. So they are instead trying to ridicule the public.
“Tell me this? Why is the Gazette not showing photos of the many badly parked cars on Sundays outside most of our churches and outside the Gazette office? They are hypocrites.”

Hey, that’s not fair, Mrs A. They are just doing their job.

“Iain – I want to get back at the Gazette.  Can you get me the registration numbers of all the staff at the Gazette so that I can go and check how well they are parked and whether they are completely legal in every way. I will take photos and you can put them on your blog for all the world to see.”

Whoa, Mrs Angry, steady on. I won’t put pictures of Gazette vehicles on my blog.  No way. I make deliveries to the town centre most days and the traffic warden and police are very understanding that sometimes I have to park for a minute or two where I wouldn’t normally so businesses can get their deliveries. I certainly don’t want my van plastered all over the Gazette next week.

If you still feel strongly, Mrs Angry, you should start your own blog. Personally, I agree that if the Gazette was completely fair, it should also show the diabolical Sunday parking when the churches are in. I strongly suspect, however, you have said quite enough in that email to make the Gazette think again about its entire campaign strategy. We shall all be watching developments with interest.

PS – If the Gazette wishes to defend its campaign, I will publish any comment it makes too.

→ 13 Comments

Posted in Crime, Isle of Lewis, Outer Hebrides, Police, Scotland, Stornoway, Western Isles

Inside Lews Castle

Posted on June 29, 2011 | Leave a comment

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.1682376514397.70476.1687113057

→ Leave a comment

Posted in Appeal, council, Government, Isle of Harris, Isle of Lewis, Outer Hebrides, Scotland, Western Isles

Updated – Questions about Highland Council and Stephen Mackay, social worker

Posted on June 28, 2011 | 4 Comments

UPDATE: – I put specific questions to Highland Council about what support Mr Mackay had when he found out his wife was dying and what the council did to ensure he was not the subject of a vendetta by certain staff. Mysteriously and disgracefully, they gave these questions a bodyswerve. They trotted out again what we all know, saying: “Mr Mackay was subject to a thorough investigation throughout which he was supported and represented by his professional organisation (BASW). The decision to dismiss him was not appealed. The information was passed to SSSC without recommendations and the Council was not involved in their action.” Is this lack of honesty a sign of something more sinister?

The story of disgraced social worker Stephen Mackay, of Ardross, got quite a few column inches in the last few days. Wow, some story. There is no doubt that he failed badly in his duties. However, it may not be as straightforward as the headlines suggest.

Could the reporting of proceedings of the Scottish Social Services Council have been a bit selective? Where is the plea in mitigation, people are asking?

There was little if anything under the headlines about ignoring vulnerable children that he may in fact have been trying to deal with enormous personal stress during the period in question. I think having his wife dying from a brain tumour may be considered severe stress, don’t you?

Why was that not discussed – or reported, especially as several Highland newspapers recently ran pieces about his fundraising efforts for Macmillan and Maggie’s under self-explanatory headlines? For example: http://www.north-star-news.co.uk/News/Stephens-trek-pays-tribute-to-dying-wife-6793162.htm

During the period when so many people at Highland Council are now claiming they were so dissatisfied with his work, Mr Mackay was actually commended by them. Maybe they re the incompetent ones then? It’s on the council’s website. You can take it off now. I have copied it.

More grimly, Mr Mackay was previously employed by the council at Lochaber. While there, he had to carry out an investigation into the conduct of certain social workers in Easter Ross. His report nailed certain people. He then had to go and work there. Whatever his own admitted failures, some of us would like to know what inquiries have been done to ensure that he has not been – as some suspect -  the victim of a vendetta by some of the people close to those he highlighted in his no-holds-barred report?

Highland Council chiefs claim the authority is a caring employer and has procedures to support employees in crisis.  If that is true, I am sure they will be in touch with me shortly to give me chapter and verse about all the support they gave this man when they realised his family was falling apart through the scourge of cancer.

They had plenty time and they won’t have forgotten his wife Pat was diagnosed in September 2009.  I have noted, and so must they, that the accusations they made against him were between 2006 and August 2010.

→ 4 Comments

Posted in council, Crime, Government, Highland Council, Media, politics, Scotland

Maybe I should not upset these angry chefs. That’s so obvious

Posted on June 27, 2011 | Leave a comment

The diet started on Monday. It lasted until Tuesday. That was when I had a call from a magazine which had the ultimate job for me. All I had to do was go round every restaurant in the Western Isles, eat whatever I wanted and then write about it. And I would get paid for that? Uh-huh. Hey, where do I sign?
Diet? What diet?

Then, just after I bit their hand off, I read about a poor woman in Taiwan who also did restaurant reviews and posted them online. She told it like it was, saying the food in one certain eatery was far too salty, the owner was a bit of a bully and she referred to some delicate issues over cleanliness. Whoops, like the noodles, her comments didn’t go down well. The alleged bully sued. She now has to fork out $7,000 for defaming him and generally not being very nice about his establishment.
The court decided she shouldn’t have said the food was salty as she only had the dried noodles and had no way of knowing what the rest was like. And another thing – if she saw cockroaches, why didn’t she catch one as evidence? The last thing I want is to upset our wonderful restauranteurs by writing something they take objection to. Some of them, particularly the ones who do the cooking themselves, can be a bit sensitive.

I can see it now; James from that fine Stornoway eaterie Digby Chick galloping after me along Point Street for “a quiet wee word, sunshine” with a suspicious bulge in his whites which may or may not be a meat cleaver. Or worse; Effie in the Crown Hotel. I would be mincemeat if she started on me for criticising her wonderful high teas.

By Wednesday, I’d thought twice about it. I decided I couldn’t risk writing anything about any island restaurant. I know these guys and they can all be a bit Gordon Ramsay at times.
I’m not really worth suing either. I think I signed over everything to a couple who agreed to buy me lunch in London many years ago. Well, when I say lunch, I should explain it only took until the sixth pint of lager before I was ready to sign on the dotted line. I handed over all my wordly whatsits to some guy in exchange for a book by L Ron Hubbard about something called Dianetics. Ish thish where I shign?
All I had to my name was the clothes I stood in, which unsurprisingly they let me keep, a portable typewriter and two tins of beans. I was happy to trade them for an invitation to a meeting where all the secrets of the universe would be revealed. When I sobered up and realised I had been force-fed Foster’s by a pair of Scientologists, I decided not to pop round to where all would be revealed. I’d already read a few horror stories. In fact, I had written some.

Not everyone is as sensible as me, though. Some others were more gullible. They both fell for the spiel. Don’t know how many pints it took them to not see the obvious.
Ah, the obvious. We all ask questions which, if we thought about them more, we may not have done. Who did I bump into the other day but Jimmy, the laird of Ogilvie Towers. He’s the fellow who a few years ago, after a lifetime of poor sight due to cataracts, finally got to see the girls he was chatting up after going under the knife. Being in the licensed trade for many years, he was organiser of the Stornoway publicans’ day out. Back then, the pubs were ordered to shut up shop on the Thursday of the Stornoway church communions. A pride of pint-pullers would club together for a bus and head off on a jolly boys’ outing to another jurisdiction.

They would set off with the best intentions of visiting somewhere new. Motoring along along the Lochs Road, they would wonder loudly whether they should chooose the Dounes Braes Hotel in Carloway or Scaliscro Lodge in Uig. Conversation would become so animated with such memorable contributors as ex-Clachan Bar boss Jim Morgan, and James himself, that the driver always forgot to take the correct turn-off. In fact, he always forgot to take any turn-off.
Which was why they invariably ended up in Harris. I know what you’re thinking, but no; the driver was the one without a half-bottle.

It was during one of these biannual excursions that Jimmy first met Harrisman and bon viveur Mr John Shaw. A former globe-trotting seaman turned bakery worker, he must by chance have popped into the Macleod Motel for his usual refreshing orange juice. Coming across the Stornoway jolly boys, it wasn’t long before they were all very refreshed.
Then a thought struck Mr Shaw, who lived up in Lewis. Maybe he could get a lift back to his digs with this thirsty throng of communion-dodgers. So he inquired of Jimmy: “I don’t suppose you’re going through Ballalan?”

Jimmy blinked. He did a lot of that back then before his operation. He fixed Mr Shaw with that famous piercing gaze that you need four eyes to perfect. Jimmy wondered if he had somehow missed some vital link in the islands’ transportation network. Was there any other way to get back to town without going through Balallan short of going by sea or air?
In case this was someone who knew some secret trails for getting to Stornoway via Loch Lanagavat, Jimmy decided to keep in with the mysterious all-knowing stranger. And that is how he became pals with my wife’s uncle.
I hope that yarn did not upset Mr Shaw either. If there’s anyone I shouldn’t upset other than someone who knows how to use a cleaver, it’s one who knows how to use a bread slicer.

→ Leave a comment

Posted in Isle of Harris, Isle of Lewis, P&J column, Popular culture, Scotland, Uist, Western Isles

Isles Labour imploding

Posted on June 27, 2011 | 21 Comments

Any truth in the rumour that the Labour Party in the islands has now not only lost its chairman but also secretary Brian Chaplin as the new religious right-wingers, and their sycophants, become more entrenched?  The betting has already begun about who will replace them. Who do you think? Does Charlie Nicolson really, really want it?

→ 21 Comments

Posted in Free Church, Government, intolerance, Isle of Harris, Isle of Lewis, politics, religion, Scotland

Council leader is a right blogger

Posted on June 23, 2011 | 6 Comments

See how here:   I am a blogger.

Some blogs put up by UK local political leaders in the last couple of years have been quite tragic. They end up being mocked, held up as examples of how not to blog and have often been quietly consigned to history. The reason? No one read them. Now our council leader, Angus Campbell, has started blogging.

A bad sign is when they are carefully written or edited by someone else – as Angus Campbell’s first attempt obviously is. It should not be a dry business report – there’s enough of them in the White House. A blog should be personal, warm, informal – so it’s a minus point is if it is dull and humourless. It should be a combination of fun and serious content. Even exaggeration is OK. Let’s see what Mr Campbell’s best line is. Er, er, er. How about: ” It’s always been important to me as leader of Comhairle nan Eilean Siar to engage as much as I can with our communities.” Ho ho. I’m splitting my sides here. Hey, I said exaggeration was OK, not complete nonsense.

The cardinal sin though is not putting in orginal material. We know about the worthy stuff like the fight for the coastguard stations, the Cosla meeting, Southern Cross and the schools moratorium. We don’t care what meetings you’ve been to on the mainland if you aren’t going to tell us something interesting about them. Who did you meet on the plane?

For goodness sake, just tell us something we don’t already know. Please. It’s a very poor start. I would give it one out of 10 just for the good spelling. Gold star for you, Nigel. The actual content is really pretty dull. You must do better, Mr Campbell, or just forget the whole flipping thing.

→ 6 Comments

Posted in Appeal, Barra, Benbecula, coastguard, council, Government, Isle of Harris, Isle of Lewis, Media, Outer Hebrides, politics, Scotland, Stornoway, Uist, Western Isles

Why Alex Salmond needs Donald to stop him ending up in court

Posted on June 22, 2011 | 2 Comments

Press and Journal June 20, 2011

Sitting here laden with all my Fathers’ Day presents, I can’t help thinking how lucky I am. Who else gets a boxful? I’d better unwrap them and see what I’ve got from my wonderful loving family. What on earth’s this? It’s one of those ear hair trimmer things. Do I need one of them? Must have been on special offer. I know how my other half can’t resist a bargain. Bless.

Look, a book. Yay. What’s it called? How To Teach A Man To Cook. My family are so thoughtful. They know that I have been looking for one that’s got a bit on how to make the perfect sausage sandwich. And what’s this? I expected something a bit bigger and made of glass. A screwdriver? That’ll be another hint from Mrs X to fix that kitchen cupboard. Is that it?

The one day of the year when I should be spoiled, given expensive presents and served in bed with a sumptuous breakfast of caviar and hand-picked grapes dropped onto my tongue from the fair hand of a buxom wench, and what happens? My family, including the big wench, is still up there snoring away and I’ve come down to find a pile of the most useless presents a man has ever had. Oi, you up there, where’s my bottle of malt? And there’s no batteries in this strimmer.

No, it’s not the thought that counts. I was looking forward to a bottle of something fine and warming to enjoy within the fine and warm bosom of my family. Now I have to wait until next March to get my revenge.
Don’t you worry; I’ll remember to forget Mother’s Day.

One organisation that didn’t forget to help out someone else was Western Isles Council. They set themselves the task of finding ways to help BBC Alba, the Gaelic TV channel, now that every man and his dog can see Donald Macsween presenting the Gaelic version of One Man And His Dog because it’s all now on Freeview.

Our great councillors had been scratching their heads to think of ways to come with fresh and interesting content that does not impact on vital budgetary considerations and overall strategic objectives. That means something cheap or which costs nothing at all. They talked about the need to put on a Gaelic drama series; a soap with storylines that would grip the nation. Just one problem; the cost. Drama is hugely expensive. All these actors, producers and directors would want to be paid.

These TV people are so greedy, said one councillor who forgot to mention that he has not one, not two, but three jobs. Hmm, it’s a real problem. “By jove,” shouts one elected member, “I think I’ve got it. Why don’t we broadcast every council committee’s proceedings. People will see us working hard on their behalf and it’ll be very interesting. It’s all about openness.”

Openness? What he actually meant was that he considered himself a bit of an inspiring orator. He could see himself on his feet at the licensing board meetings proposing that the latest application for Sunday opening be thrown out for the health of the community. Our eloquent elected member would then look at the camera and raise a knowing eyebrow, à la Roger Moore, before resuming his seat to thunderous applause, foot stomping and whoops of “Way to go, a’ Thormoid,” from all the Free Church elders packed into the public gallery. Note to council: You will need more seats up there because the upcoming split in the Church of Scotland means there will be far more of those Wee Frees packed into licensing board meetings soon.

Hey, could be a good plan. Cheap too. The Beeb could just send Sweeny down with his camera. He could leave it switched on and go off to do a sheepdog programme as long as he remembers to come back last thing at night to switch it off. Not everyone was sure of the plan for a Live From The White House daily show. One member, diplomatically avoiding any suggestion that some councillors are extremely boring speakers, raised the possibility that wall-to-wall council meetings could be too much for many viewers and that it could just put them to sleep.

What? Ridiculous notion. They were all bemused by any such suggestion.
Donald Martin of BBC Alba is a wily Harrisman – and we all know how careful Hearachs are when it comes to spending money. He made it clear that these upstanding pillars of the community were far from being a dull shower while also doing away with any need to spend £10 million on a Gaelic soap. He looked the councillors straight in their 62 eyes and said: “We don’t need to spend money on drama. You already have it here.”

The bewildered members just looked at each other. They’re probably still wondering what he meant by that. See? It’s that kind of cunning wickedness of the pure-bred Hearach that Scotland needs. If Alex Salmond, just to take one example, had that lightness of touch so delightfully exemplified by Donald, he wouldn’t be at loggerheads with every eminent judge in the land or be in the slightly awkward position of having some of the best legal brains in the country threatening to sue the pants off him.

He would have been far better picking up the phone, calling Donald Martin and asking him what was the best way to call the judiciary a bunch of numpties without irking them enough to threaten reprisals. It’s not what you say but how you say it. For instance, I’m still mad with Mrs X for my rubbish Father’s Day. I won’t tell her directly, of course. However, if you see her, you could mention to her that when I was shopping recently, the checkout assistant saw me reaching for a plastic bag.
“Sir, would you like a bag for life?” she beamed, helpfully.
“No thanks,” I snapped. “I’m already married.”

→ 2 Comments

Posted in council, Government, Isle of Harris, Isle of Lewis, Media, Outer Hebrides, P&J column, religion, Stornoway, TV, Uist, Uncategorized, Western Isles

Religionists who broke Labour Party constitution to be expelled?

Posted on June 20, 2011 | 21 Comments

I have been passed a copy of a letter to the local Labour Party from a female member. Like many others, she too seems to fear the local party is now “a cesspit of discrimination, dogma and denial” – a recent quote to me from a young member who restricts his Labour activism to Glasgow because of the slide of the party in the isles into the hands of dogmatic religionists.

I have anonymised her letter below. She appears to say the constitution of the Labour Party bans discrimination on grounds of sexuality. Waow. Is this correct? Can we expect resignations from those who flouted the party’s constitution? If they were decent people, I would think so. Alternatively, if the party itself was decent and honest, they should be expelled. Well?

The CLP is obviously every busy getting ready for the next election because, I hear, after four weeks, they have still not found the time to let her have the courtesy of a reply. And what does the Donald John Macsween she quotes think?

I

The Secretary                                                                                      18th May 2011
Western Isles Constituency Labour Party
ADDRESS DELETED

Dear Sir,

I write to you to voice my concerns about certain aspects of the recent Election Campaign,
and ask for clarification from the C.L.P. Executive.

I joined the Labour Party after reading coverage of a speech by Donald John Macsween, an inspiring  speech about the equality of humanity. In this speech he stressed that he believed the Labour Party
was the party of everybody, and indeed that they were the champions of the oppressed and the
discriminated against.

You cannot imagine my shock at reading the coverage of our candidate for the Scottish
Parliamentary Elections performance at the hustings at Stornoway Primary School. He seemed to
suggest that people who ran businesses in the Western Isles could pick and choose customers on the
basis of their sexuality. This is ridiculous and under Equalities legislation, championed by the Labour
Party, illegal. Was he implying that “Christian” businesses should be encouraged to quiz customers
on their sexuality or to just assume that every male couple are gay? Was he also implying that
Western Isles businesses, under a Labour administration at Holyrood, would be exempt from
Equalities legislation?

The Labour Party states in its constitution that ALL are equal and should not be discriminated against
because of their:
• Religion (faith or creed).
• Race (colour or ethnicity).
• Nationality (actual or implied).
• Disability (physical or mental).
• Sexuality (Gay, lesbian or bisexuality).
• Gender (Corrected or uncorrected, implied or chosen)

Is the Western Isles C.L.P. claiming exemption from this?

I do not even want to consider his views on marriage as he seemed to say that married couples
should have more rights than unmarried couples.

I await your reply.

NAME WITHHELD

→ 21 Comments

Posted in Crime, Free Church, Gaelic, Government, intolerance, Isle of Harris, Isle of Lewis, Outer Hebrides, politics, religion, Scotland, Stornoway, Uist, Western Isles

When will false prophets murder gays?

Posted on June 15, 2011 | 6 Comments

I completely reject the attacks on me saying I should keep my nose out of Church of Scotland business. When minorities are attacked and stripped of rights open to others, whether by politicians, churchmen or whomsoever, it is entirely the business of people with reason and compassion to defend them in any civilised society. And to the idiot who claimed I was just making money out of ridiculing Coghill, I don’t get paid for writing on my own blog. Great idea, though. Thank you however to those who sent messages of support.  There are homophobes in most congregations, it seems, but there are still good people in that church. I

A disingenuous news reporter recently wrote that Andrew Coghill warned the General Assembly that ordaining gay ministers would destroy the church. No, it’s him and his deluded followers who are doing that. That is the black truth the splitters are deliberately trying to obscure. By their actions shall ye know them.

Intent on dragging Scotland back into a reign of terror and an anti-gay atmosphere of the kind the Nazis adored, and which the BNP still do, Coghill is just a false prophet spouting the same hateful trash as these warmongers and bloodthirsty extremists.

He is not new to extremism. As a trainee extremist intent on making a name for himself, he gave a sickeningly warm North Lochs welcome to the gruesome Reverend Ian Paisley, who is so dreadfully proud of sectarianism that pitched Protestant against Catholic till blood ran in the streets. Now I am sure Coghill and the numbskulls he so self-assuredly leads are all watching events in Uganda with delight.

The haters in that country are trying to change the law so homosexuals can be simply executed. Just like that. Don’t even think it couldn’t happen here. Zealots are taking power everywhere. Only a small step …

Coghill and company are so brainwashed they claim to be merely returning to what is required in their Bible. Sadly, the Bible they speak of is one that has been interpreted, twisted and rewritten by bigots.

Let everyone be absolutely clear what Coghill wants. Leviticus 20:13 does not say gays should merely be stopped from being preachers in the Church of Scotland. It says all gays should die. Not die but be slaughtered. In fact, bloodily murdered. Executed, exactly as in Uganda, Communist Russia and Nazi Germany. And soon, Luerbost.

By their own vile words, that is the next step for those trying to split the Church of Scotland. Because it’s in their Bible and that is what they say they must follow.

If a man also lie with mankind, as he lieth with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination: they shall surely be put to death; their blood shall be upon them. — Lev.20:13

So murder it is then. Anything else would be hypocrisy.

People of reason will hope – and those of proper Christian faith and understanding will pray – that Matheson Road’s High Kirk will reject Hitler’s and Coghill’s unnatural lust to judge anyone – especially those born gay. Sadly, from what I hear, compassion and love have long since left that building.

Even if you too believe everything in the bible, remember it warns of people like Coghill.

Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.
1 John 4:1

I was advised earlier tonight that Coghill and his henchmen have loadsa money and that they will sue me for suggesting they may soon begin to murder homosexuals. No, they will not sue. Because I have their training manual – and how and why they are going to do it is all in there. The only question is when.

→ 6 Comments

Posted in Benbecula, council, Crime, Free Church, Government, Isle of Harris, Isle of Lewis, Outer Hebrides, politics, religion, Scotland, Stornoway, teaching, Uist, Western Isles

Comhairle must start tweeting – updated

Posted on June 15, 2011 | 1 Comment

UPDATE: Just as I suggest the comhairle should use social media more, I hear the council leader is to start a blog – probably next week. They deny it was due to my encouragement but, well, it all seems terribly coincidental to me.
I have also discovered why communications chief Nigel Scott is so reluctant to tweet. A reliable source tells me Nigel did try Twitter in a personal capacity a while back – with traumatic results. His sole follower was a sizeable Russian lady who wanted to immediately get together with him, also in a very personal capacity, if you know what I mean. Poor Nige took fright and hasn’t tweeted since.

Why is Comhairle nan Eilean Siar still failing to use social media properly in the course of its business and dealings with the public? I know most of our councillors are well past their sell-by dates but, for goodness sake, so many of their constituents are online that they are making  a mockery of their own claims of transparency and accountability.

I know, of course, that some of the sensible members are already online and that they are communicating with style and panache but every councillor, director and senior official should be on Facebook and Twitter at the very least. They are showing themselves up. Why should we get fast broadband here when our decision-makers are such wretched technophobes? They are clammed up, refusing to engage and just the worst examples of how not to embrace advances in technology. In other councils, some of their best rows are conducted entirely on Twitter (see below). There is also a lot of love on Twitter.

Even at their advanced ages, the councillors could easily be taught the basics with a little care and patience. It’s not all had work in the tweetosphere though. Before long, if they say interesting things,  our great councillors could soon have more followers than Lily Allen or Stephen Fry. As I say, that’s if they say interesting things.

I expect to get a tweet soon from Nigel Scott, their communications supremo, confirming he has organised training sessions for everyone who is anyone in the White House.  Oh, and if they want to follow someone, they could start with @iainxmaciver. Lol.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/greenslade/2011/jun/15/local-newspapers-twitter?CMP=twt_fd

→ 1 Comment

Posted in Barra, Benbecula, council, Isle of Harris, Isle of Lewis, Media, Stornoway, Uist, Western Isles