Monthly Archives: September 2011

STOP PRESS – Scottish Fuels boss coming to Stornoway

Posted on September 30, 2011 | 16 Comments

If islanders are really bothered about high fuel prices in the islands, here is their chance to make their feelings known to the main distributors.  A boss of Scottish Fuels is coming to Stornoway next Friday to discuss fuel prices.  I would suggest people start making the placards now.

It’s that simple. If hundreds do not turn out to protest then the only conclusion Scottish Fuels, which is owned by DCC, a dodgy Irish company which has been fined for overcharging elsewhere and found guilty of insider trading, will come to is that most islanders are perfectly happy to pay the prices they impose.

It’s probably the only chance we will ever get to face up Scottish Fuels.  Yes, I’m asking them again for an interview to explain themselves but I’m not holding my breath. They normally will speak only to people who don’t give them a hard time.

Iain

PRESS RELEASE FROM ANGUS MACNEIL MP.

SCOTTISH FUELS AGREE TO MEET IN ISLANDS OVER FUEL CONCERNS

Following Na h-Eileanan an Iar SNP MP, Angus MacNeil’s request to Scottish Fuels to come to the islands and meet over concerns with fuel distribution, Scottish Fuels have been in contact and have confirmed that will come and meet next Friday (7 October) in Stornoway.

Angus MacNeil said: “We need to know what is happening to cause our high prices in fuels, as a near monopoly supplier, I believe that Scottish Fuels are pivotal in reaching an understanding to enable us to lower fuel costs.

“There are three bits of key information we need, price per litre leaving the refinery, price per litre at the various ports of discharge and of course all too painfully, we know the price per litre at the pumps.

“I am pleased that Scottish Fuels have responded to my request last week, for a meeting in Lewis, by having a meeting next week.”

ENDS

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Posted in business, fuel rip-off, Isle of Harris, Isle of Lewis, Outer Hebrides, Scotland, Western Isles

Scottish Government set to nobble grazings committee bullies

Posted on September 29, 2011 | 1 Comment

Well well. Wonder who else is reading this blog?  Just hours after I mentioned appalling bullying by certain out-of-control Lewis grazings committee members – some of them who you would think would know better – the Scottish Government contacts a victim of these vicious bullies to confirm a proper map-based Crofting Register is being introduced as Part 2 of the Crofting Reform (Scotland) Act 2010.

Incoming crofters will soon be able to fix the boundaries based on the sale and other documents and objectors will have to come up with proper evidence if they think it is inaccurate.  It may not completely stop the ongoing harrassment in certain Lewis villages but putting that into the Act instead of the current haphazard and unfair procedure by leaving it all up to the Little Hitlers on these committees is a splendid first step.

I have also heard today from people who have had to leave this island because of campaigns against them by these committees without shame.  Nothing official, making life difficult, stealing, damaging, always at night. Drunkards and church-goers. They have all been at it. Makes you proud, eh?

As well as knowingly selling land they know will be snatched back by grazings committees, some solicitors know about the intimidation and turn a blind eye. If anyone else is unhappy about how island solicitors – and certain ones in Inverness – are handling these transactions, please let me know.  Let’s build up some firm evidence – just like they would do.  After all, one of these solicitors – who has obviously been watching too many Ku Klux Klan films – recently gave one woman the wonderful advice: “You’d better move on somewhere else. It is useless to complain. This is how things are done here. No one will listen to you – not even the press.”

Er, excuse me, Mr Dodgy Solicitor.  That may have been the case then. Now some of us are definitely listening – and writing.

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Posted in corruption, Crime, crofting, Government, Isle of Lewis, Outer Hebrides, Police, Western Isles

Aite mo Ghaoil? For some people, it’s very far from that.

Posted on September 28, 2011 | 21 Comments

Just imagine if you went into a shop for beans. I’ll have a large tin, you say. When you get home, you find they had deliberately given you a small tin of beans. Would you complain? Me too.So how do you think people feel when they think they are buying a place with land and then find out it’s not the three acres advertised by the estate agent, but just two.

That’s exactly what happens in some villages on Lewis where unprofessional solicitors and power-mad grazings committees are working together to rip off new arrivals. There is a foul  anti-incomer sentiment among some supposedly decent people which allows this to happen. Some areas are worse than others. People have fled in the face of this bullying. However, at last, because other villagers are disgusted, a clear picture is emerging of exactly who’s at it.

The acceptance by allegedly-professional individuals that it is OK to advertise something and later, after the sale, reveal to the buyer that they didn’t get what they thought is reaching epidemic proportions, according to my sources. Corrupt grazing clerks keep turning a blind eye when immoral villagers – usually a cousin or neighbour, of course – attempt to turn the ignorance of buyers to their own advantage.

Knowingly selling croftland as a fixed acreage and later claiming that no map or other records exist to confirm the boundaries is not only morally wrong but criminal. Yet it is happening regularly on this island. Buyers should be told before the transaction if there is no map-based register or other proof of boundaries so they have the facts in advance. It should never be up to whether random grazings committee members agree, or can remember, or think they can get you into bed.

The Crofters Commission has been aware of the problem of inaccurately-described parcels of land being flogged by slightly-dodgy lawyers for some years and wants to stop it, but hasn’t. The police know and have done nothing … yet. The Scottish Crofting Federation knows and has done nothing. A victim went to the MP who has done absolutely nothing. A victim went to the MSP who did absolutely nothing. Even the great campaigner for truth, The Stornoway Gazette, knows all about the conspiracy of grazings committee bullies and their legal sidekicks but has decided … well, you guessed it.

Claims that arguments over crofts and boundaries have always gone on is simply not a valid excuse. Victims are bullied if they object to the kangaroo court system of grazings management. One whom I know has had her sheep stolen. Intruders regularly go onto her property. Gates are mysteriously opened to let her sheep out. She and her children are regularly abused, usually with very unchristian obscenities, by the children of committee members. One such young yob tried to run her down.

Now though, there are decent residents in the village where racism and discrimination are rearing their ugly heads and they do speak privately about what is going on and who is doing it. Someone may have to start naming names soon. It may be me.

I don’t know what’s happened to some people over there. I always thought Aite Mo Ghaoil was a nice place.

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Posted in corruption, crofting, Isle of Lewis, Outer Hebrides, Police, politics, scams, Scotland, Western Isles

Joy unbounded as our monarch is found to have a full set of those lower limbs

Posted on September 28, 2011 | Leave a comment

Published Press and Journal – 26 Sep 2011

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Our Queen has two legs. Apparently, it just became official the other day.
Even though Prince Philip is always following closely behind her when they are visiting this or opening that, I never suspected Her Maj was being pushed about by him on some kind of modified shopping trolley.
Still, it seems to be red hot news that the monarch is as devoted to obligate bipedalism as the next monarch and it was reported the monarch not only has a pair of pins on her but that they are a fine and shapely set. Good grief. Hold the front page.

I remember the old, full version of the National Anthem referred to an aid but I didn’t think it was a walking aid. How did it go?

Lord grant that Marshal Wade, may by thy mighty aid,
Victory bring. May he sedition hush,
And like a torrent rush,
Rebellious Scots to crush. God save the King.

Oh, that version. Right, let’s move on quickly.
The latest fuss about the royal limbs was because a portrait was commissioned to mark the Royal British Legion’s 90th year and the 85th birthday of our dearly-beloved monarch, its patron. Done by one Darren Baker, well-kent for his classical realism style. Seriously, he is superb. In fact, he is so good you’d be hard-pressed to figure out if it was a painting or a photo.

Well done, the Legion. Which reminds me; I’d better nip down and pay my subs. Well, one day the Legion might commission him to paint me. Mind you, if Donnie the inscrutable barman in the Stornoway branch has anything to do with it, I would be done alright – in emulsion.

The Queen’s portrait was unveiled the other day in Westminster Abbey, where Lieutenant General Sir John Kiszely KCB MC, the national president of the Legion, was very excited. He described Darren’s painting as “remarkably realistic”.

That is old duffer-speak for: “I say, chaps, you can see the jolly old Queen’s legs – and they ain’t half bad. Gosh, I need to go and lie down.”

Apparently, it is not the Queen’s habit normally to allow any close-ups of the royal ankles in portraits of any kind. One’s ankles are not for gawping at, you know. However, she completely melted when it came to requests by Darren, 35, whose usual subjects, if his website is anything to go by, are ladies in, er, varying states of undress. It’s OK, ma’am. You can keep the cardigan on.

So why am I, a convert to republicanism and conscientious objector to unearned privilege, telling you all about the Queen and her wonderfully, gorgeous legs? Because I know the Queen’s secret. I unwittingly discovered how she manages to possess fine feet, angelic ankles, unknobbly knees and so on.

When she and her husband last came to Stornoway in 2002, the visit culminated in lunch at Lews Castle College. A flock of the prettiest young animals with cute little tails and bright, sparkling eyes, which had gambolled just days before by a burbling stream in a sunny meadow, had been rounded up and slaughtered so the kindly royal twosome could feast on rack of lamb with the Hebridean favoured few.

Purely, by chance I was in touch with a cousin of mine the other day and we happened to be talking about the royals, as you do. She told me she had been at that lunch in the presence of Her Maj and her man. As one of the longest-serving staffers at a certain organisation, she had wangled a meal ticket.

In what was obviously a massive error by the organisers, my cousin Bernice found herself sitting opposite the glittering guests of honour. How lucky was that? Actually, I’m not so very sure it was lucky at all.
I’m not sure how well I would slice up my rack of young Blackface knowing that some blone who happened to be not just Head of the 54-strong Commonwealth of Nations, but also the British monarch for 50 or 60 years and also the Supreme Governor of the Church of England, and also one of the wealthiest women in the entire universe, was staring at me to see if I was using the correct knife.

“Lamb? No, thank you. I’m not very hungry, actually. May I have something I will not need to use cutlery for? That’s fine, just a glass of water then. Ice? No thanks. Let’s keep it simple and uncomplicated. By the way, is herself still staring at me?”

I think Bernice somehow managed a morsel or two but she admits she was entranced when Their Royal Highnesses came and plonked themselves down in front of her. She told me: “Honestly, when she sat down I was watching her and she kicked off her shoes under the table. Then she got out her wee mirror and proceeded to apply her lipstick.”

Now we know. Any chance the Queen gets – it’s off with the bachles and on with the lippy. So That’s how she has kept those fine ankles looking so well-turned down the years. Not with the lippy, obviously, but by kicking off her size sixes.
I was intrigued to learn that there are at least two pubs abroad which are called The Queen’s Legs in tribute to the royal pins. One is in Canada and the other in France and both are said to well-patronised by Brits.

Must be embarrassing to go to these pubs and find they’re not open yet.

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Posted in Isle of Lewis, royals, Stornoway, Western Isles

So how on earth did all very these sharp Hearachs not know about the CalMac ferry consultation?

Posted on September 27, 2011 | Leave a comment

My nurse mate Margaret Mackenzie and her colleagues on Scalpay Community Council are at it. These moaning minnies are all over the papers and TV claiming they didn’t know there was a CalMac consultation on Sunday ferries from Tarbert. Nobody told them. It’s really unfair, blah blah blah. The LDOS, of course, are at the same carry-on.

The BBC too is giving a lot of airtime to ladies with Free Presbyterian buns to whinge about not knowing anything about anything either. This week, Hearachs are queueing up to be like Manuel in Fawlty Towers insistng: “I know naaathiiiing.” Even though the BBC itself, and all these other media, carried the story of the CalMac consultation back in January. Remember? It was with the story harking back to the day in the early-1990s when John Murdo Morrison called on Hearachs everywhere to burn their bras – or something like that – in protest at Sunday ferries. John Murdo’s a bit more realistic nowadays though and he doesn’t want them to burn anything now.

Click here to see the BBC story

Despite the recent bizarre and frankly unbelievable claims of not knowing what’s going on, everyone in Harris – especially on Scalpay – listens to the BBC.  Nothing much goes past these cunning Hearachs. They knew alright. So, dear Margaret, Morag et al, pull the flippin’ other one.

So someone at the community council didn’t do their job and forgot to object. Fine. Own up. Move on. All you’re doing with these ridiculous claims of ignorance is making Harris and Hearachs everywhere seem very out of touch.

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Posted in ferries, Isle of Harris, Outer Hebrides, Western Isles

Is the Scottish Crofting Federation bankrupt or barmy?

Posted on September 27, 2011 | 1 Comment

There are so many clues when an organisation is badly losing its way and likely to go tits-up. Take the allegedly almost-bankrupt Scottish Crofting Federation, if that is what it’s called this week.
It refuses to help community wind farms on the grounds it has no spare cash and, interestingly, that there is no evidence the people involved have a clue what they are doing. Pots and kettles.
The future, say certain SCF people, is to support big commercial operations like Amec, the Stornoway Windfarm people. “It’s almost as if a Tory is pulling the strings,” an exasperated crofter tells me. Hmm, who can he mean?
Yet the supposedly member-led SCF has plenty cash to splash about on a barmy idea to get the United Nations to recognise crofters as indigenous people – without asking any sons of the soil if they actually want to be tagged.
That will aid PR, they reckon, because National Geographic will then come and take pictures like they do of African tribesmen with bones through their noses.
I gather the SCF has already jetted someone across the Atlantic to talk nonsense about the idea. Could Krause & co be about to spend a whole lot more soon?

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Posted in crofting

Crooks behind Scottish Fuels rip-off exposed – so who is still loyal to them? And why?

Posted on September 26, 2011 | 34 Comments

UPDATE (Monday) – I’ve had a few calls. If people want a public meeting to decide the next course of action, fine. I’m up for it. We cannot do without fuel but we can, for example, stop buying confectionery, groceries, alcohol, etc., from filling station operators who are in bed with Scottish Fuels.

We can organise regular protest lines near them. We can also exercise our right to peaceful protest with frequent demonstrations at certain depots, if we decide that is the way to go. Ordinary members of staff must not be targeted. Senior management, of course, who dance to the tune of evil Irish crooks, are all fair game.

Let me say one thing – I would welcome elected representatives to be involved on condition they don’t use it as a platform to berate other parties and politicians. All recent governments have promised action but failed to stop us being ripped off. Everywhere I go, people say enough is enough and that it’s time for direct action since learning that Scottish Fuels are just unscrupulous crooks.

We must focus on an agreed outcome and strive for that – not on tiresome political mud-slinging. Otherwise, I’m out.

Well done to Brian Wilson for exposing the crooks behind Scottish Fuels in the West Highland Free Press. See here.

The former energy minister also made those claims to me live on a radio programme more than a week ago and I know that certain local listeners were utterly gobsmacked to hear about the company bosses of DCC, as they are properly known – as well as all their other names like Scottish Fuels, GB Oils Ltd, boilerjuice.com and the 41 other trading names they use, and their crooked dealings.  Good on Brian for putting it in print too.

The heat is on

I offered a radio slot to Scottish Fuels/DCC bosses since then too but they decided that answering difficult questions about their past illegal practises and alleged current racketeering on fuel prices was the last thing they wanted to do. However, it’s truly excellent journalism by Brian and the Free Press which certain other supposedly truth-seeking publications should have spent time on too instead of regurgitating the sickening guff and flannel that the dodgy Irish oil barons pumped out knowing that weak, lazy, ineffectual editors would run it unquestioningly.  We hope these publications weren’t pressured not to investigate by the Free Church stalwarts who work for them and the ones who are also on the Irish crooks’ payroll. That would be just awful.

It is no accident that that the cheapest petrol and diesel in the islands is from the one retailer at Barvas who has steadfastly refused to deal with the Irish crooks – unlike the other cowardly retailers elsewhere on the islands – some of whom have this week been trying to defend the crooks whose over-priced fuel they peddle. I have heard horrific tales of dirty tricks against the Welcome Inn in Barvas by Scottish Fuels minions. They really want to get rid of Mr Derek Macleod. Of course, they do. If they get rid of him then Scottish Fuels will have complete control of our fuel supplies and can charge whatever they like.

DCC were fined tens of thousands of pounds for 17 counts of overcharging in Wales. The local councils tore into them. The comhairle here of course is appalling – doing nothing, as usual. They should be leading the fightback. There is a rumour going round that a Scottish Fuels infiltrator is embedded in the comhairle at a high level to ensure they stay paralysed.  As I say, it’s just a rumour. It would be just too ridiculous to contemplate, so it’s probably not true.

It is extraordinary that our supposedly-honest fuel retailers – some of whom openly told me and other journalists how ghastly Scottish Fuels were just a few years ago – then caved in and signed new long contracts with them. Apparently, they were offered “incentives” like Christmas cases of booze, new pumps and, in the case of at least one remarkable alleged bribe, secret foreign holidays with an open tab, whatever that means.  One of the retailers told me face-to-face in a workshop in the industrial area of the town that he had been “threatened”. Now he is smugly on board with Scottish Fuels. Wonder what that sweetener was?

Finally, we have official confirmation of the type of company DCC really is and what hoodlums their people are – from insider trading, conning banana companies and their shareholders out of 41 million euros, setting up fake price comparison websites like boilerjuice.com that always led unwitting users back to DCC companies and products and, well, God only knows what else.

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Posted in business, corruption, council, fuel rip-off, Isle of Harris, Isle of Lewis, legal, Outer Hebrides, politics, scams, Scotland, Stornoway, Western Isles

Sunday ferry service from Tarbert – CalMac

Posted on September 26, 2011 | 4 Comments
Ferry Operator Caledonian MacBrayne (CalMac) has announced it is to timetable a service between Tarbert, Harris and Lochmaddy, North Uist, on Sundays during the winter.
The ferry already sails between Tarbert and Lochmaddy on a Sunday during the Winter as a repositioning run, but up until now has not taken fare-paying traffic. However,  following representations by some Harris residents and a consultation with the local community, CalMac has agreed to make the run part of its Winter timetable starting on October 23, 2011.
In addition to providing indirect access to and from Skye from Harris on a Sunday, it reduces the need for ferry travellers to travel across the Sound of Harris from Leverburgh to Berneray and also provides a useful back up to that service, which is prone to tidal, as well as weather, disruptions.
In economic terms, the use of the repositioning run is attractive because there are no additional costs in providing the service and it creates an opportunity to generate revenue to offset the existing costs.The timetable will operate on a Sunday as follows:

Depart Tarbert                               09:00
Arrive Lochmaddy                       10:45
Depart Lochmaddy                     11:15
Arrive Uig                                        13:00
Depart Uig                                       14:15
Arrive Lochmaddy                      16:00
Depart Lochmaddy                     16:15
Arrive Tarbert                              18:00

These services will be available to book in the next few days.

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Posted in ferries, Isle of Harris, Outer Hebrides, Skye, Western Isles

The reason I do not want to sit on the fence is that it really, really hurts

Posted on September 19, 2011 | Leave a comment

Published in Press and Journal – Sep 19, 2011

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They are sharp and horrible and have caused me terrible pain and misery. I’m not actually talking about my in-laws – well, not this time. What I am talking about has had me agonisingly trapped by my shoulder, by my hand and one even came close to ripping off my undercarriage when I fell on it while straddling a stile in my rush to get to a beach.

The wretched instruments of torture of which I speak are, of course, our fearsome island fences. If there’s one thing guaranteed to bring tears to my eyes it is recalling that particular humiliating episode down at Coll Beach a few years ago when I was left dangling on the most penetrative barbed wire on which I have ever rested my wee pink bits.

And something equally painful happened on South Uist as well.  Trying to get a better position to take photos of that pod of ill-fated pilot whales which had ended up in Loch Carnan, I thought I’d go up the road and climb the hill. Just one problem. There was a sturdy fence barring the way and no gate for miles. Oh no, it had vicious-looking barbed wire all along it. Ach, no bother, I can tackle any fence after what happened to me in Coll. I never learn.

This time, there wasn’t even a stile. So I had to drop the camera over it first and begin my ascent. What I didn’t plan for was that I was fairly high up the hill so, just as I was getting my leg over, I was hit amidships by Hurricane Floraidh. A sudden wind swung me back like a weather vane slamming me against the groaning fence post.

In situations like this, the kindly advice of physics teachers like Mr Robbie, Mr Campbell and Mr Mackay come flooding back. For any non-scientific readers, kinetic energy is best explained by showing how it is changed to and from other forms of energy.

For example, I was using chemical energy provided by the sausage and black pudding I had at the Dark Island Hotel to climb that fence at my chosen velocity. That movement had to be maintained with enough oomph to overcome air resistance and friction.  So, the chemical energy was being converted into kinetic energy, the energy of motion, but that kind of process is never completely efficient and was also producing heat and sweatiness on certain parts of my anatomy. OK so far?

The law of gravity meant I’d acquired a whole shedload of even more kinetic energy and, by swinging back too far, had run out of options for transfer. Meanwhile, my right leg was still partly over the barbed wire and being dragged back over the by-now bloody pricks. Yeeeouch.

By the time I became completely dislodged and fell to earth, the pain was so intense I didn’t even notice my head bouncing off an ollack and rolling into the swamp.

Kinetic energy, of course, can be passed from one object to another and when I passed it to the fence post it went all wibbly-wobby and undoubtedly was thereon transferred by way of local terrestrial tremors. That’s kinetic energy. See? Science is so interesting when you have a tutor who has personally experienced what could otherwise be boring, theoretical situations. A bonus was that, as I eventually came to my senses, I realised there was no one around to witness my downfall. So no one could get offended if I let rip with the most fearsome oaths and curses about the usefulness of fences, the properties of barbed wire and my lessening affection for bewildered marine creatures.

Who’d have thought that loudly proclaiming unspecified doubts about the parentage of pilot whales above a Uist sea loch was an effective stress reliever? Worked for me, I tell you. Mind you, that was probably because this was South Uist and I was far away from the influence of the Free Church or the Continuing for the feelings of guilt at stooping to profanity to be sufficiently suppressed. I have to say I’m intrigued by a competition launched by a tradesmen’s website called Get Off The Fence. They are looking for get nominations for the biggest, best, ugliest or most ridiculous fences. Whether they are fabulous or very bad, they want to feature them.

Fences serve so many purposes, they say, including keeping out unwanted intruders, marking clear boundaries between neighbours and affording you privacy when you’re enjoying some time in the garden. They think it’s time to celebrate these brilliant boundary markers and fantastic fences which, while doing so many other things, actually brighten up our day. Yeah, right. One gets the impression it is more about poncey garden fences more than jaggy-topped livestock ones but, hey, a fence is a fence.

The blurb says Britain’s got millons so they acknowledge that not all are going to be that great. Some may be faded, splintered, too small or too tall, they expect. Whatever the reason, they are asking the public to get off the fence and name and shame the worst offenders. I think I could win this, you know. If I took them to those fences in Coll and Loch Carnan that are not just ugly to look at but capable of inflicting deep and lasting injury to innocent people, they would have to be impressed. No lily-livered lawn border or terrible trellis could beat my entries. Because I took photos before I applied the ointment.

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Posted in Free Church, Isle of Lewis, Outer Hebrides, P&J column, Popular culture, Scotland, Stornoway, Uist, Western Isles

A letter from Iain M Macdonald, Miavaig

Posted on September 15, 2011 | 84 Comments

A letter from my former classmate Iain M Macdonald, Miavaig, Uig, concerning matters recently discussed on this blog.

I am the letter writer who inadvertently initiated this particular debate at Iain X Maciver’s blog on attitudes to homosexuality/freedom of speech. I did so by submitting a letter which was forcibly withdrawn from publication when some of our island’s broad-minded and tolerant libertarians personally threatened, with action liable to disrupt his livelihood, the island journalist who briefly featured my correspondence on his Hebrides News website.

So I’m obliged to my once lean and nimble former hostel mate, Pluto – now better known as our cheerfully corpulent local press baron/newspaper colomnist, Iain X Maciver – for allowing me to put the record straight with an (uncensored) contribution to the debate. Although my views on homosexuality brought criticism from some quarters, the only way to avoid such criticism is to sit quietly in a corner and let others opinions prevail.In preference to which I’d rather risk incurring the barbed and vitriolic outbursts of our present host who would be sadly missed in the Western Isles, despite his propensity to launch highly personal attacks of flamboyantly embellished invective against his former school mate and others who inadvertently stray into his line of fire.

Whatever our philosophical disagreements,I would never wish that Iain X be replaced by another grey-suited,obediently PC yes-man/woman. We have quite enough of them already.

Contrary to what my detractors seem to believe, I have nothing against individual homosexuals, many of whom are decent people no worse and no better than their heterosexual brothers and sisters. Nor do I think myself to be ‘better’ or superior in any way to the average homosexual. But that doesn’t alter the fact that I recoil with revulsion at the thought of two men sharing an intimate physical relationship. It’s an involuntary reaction stemming from deep within my psyche. Although my reaction is a personal matter, why shouldn’t I be allowed to convey that reaction in any public forum or debate, whether I’m a bricklayer, B&B owner, or a Bishop.

And if denied that opportunity, who has conferred onto those who would seek to gag me ,the legal right to do so? Obviously some people believe they have that right, as shown by events referred to above. The revulsion I speak of is not a significant problem for me personally because it doesn’t prevent me from doing anything I otherwise would wish to do, such as a similar aversion to water would have prevented me learning to swim. Nor does my revulsion prevent anyone else from declaring their homosexuality, if that is their inclination. So why do some people view this situation as a problem – our website host included ?

I would suggest the real problem is caused by those amongst us- whether homosexual or heterosexual- who demand that everyone must follow to the letter their views on all aspects of homosexuality, To ensure their demands are met, they have introduced on the coattails of equality legislation, laws to forcibly impose their views on others. Laws incidentally, which I have no intention of recognising, in the same manner that I don’t recognise the validity of a law which permits the cruelty of fox-hunting or allows our fishermen to throw thousands of tonnes of edible dead fish back into the sea while countless people worldwide slowly starve to death.

Those feelings of revulsion mentioned earlier are shared to various degrees by many others in the male population. They then have the choice of either hiding their revulsion whilst paying lip-service to the gay lobby, knowing they’re hypocrites, or they can be honest and face the consequences,whether good or bad. So for the benefit of those men ( and women ) unacquainted with such feelings I’ll give an example of their manifestation.

I was recently watching a TV programme about Elton John’s musical career when a clip appeared showing the singer snogging his male partner. I felt physically sick looking at it and had to change channels. I was rather annoyed at the elaborately thatched English singer for ruining my appetite in anticipation of a rare and mouthwatering culinary treat of freshly caught Gallan Head herring smothered in oatmeal.

Although confessing to past homosexual experiences, Elton John’s fellow rock star David Bowie has never put me off my food in similar fashion. Bowie is today a happily married heterosexual family man, who has stated that dabbling in non- heterosexual activities was “the biggest mistake of my life “.

This rather disproves the theory advanced by Mr Iain Maclean ( A Gay Student Writes ) who believes his homosexual disposition was genetically inherited. Confusing, isn’t it ?

Perhaps all will be explained by eminent evolutionist Prof Richard Dawkins following up his widely read ‘The Selfish Gene’ with a sequel entitled “The Indecisive Gene.” Not content with postulating his own homespun theories on genetics, Mr Maclean also alludes to have been a highly proficient school debater, before promptly shattering that allusion by referring mockingly to ( Mr or Ms ?) Dare2Differ as a “dinosaur” for contradicting the gay student’s views on homosexuality. It must have escaped Mr Maclean’s attention that the quickest route for any race of people to follow the dinosuars into extinction is for it’s members to mate with their own gender.

Mr Maclean also declares his hope of eventually marrying another man in a church wedding. If that is his intended direction of travel ,I would wish him well in pursuing his obsession and think him no lesser a person for doing so. But it doesn’t alter in the slightest my attitude to homosexual practises.
You’ll understand there’s no offence intended Mr Maclean. But come the day of your nuptials, in the unlikely event of my driving past the chosen Island church as the two bridegrooms pose and embrace for the cameras, please excuse me for not throwing any confetti in your direction as I’ll be otherwise preoccupied searching the glove compartment for a sick-bag.

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Posted in homophobia, intolerance, Isle of Lewis, Outer Hebrides, Popular culture, Scotland, Western Isles