Monthly Archives: February 2012

So you want to know who is plotting to stop our referendum vote in two years?

Posted on February 29, 2012 | 1 Comment

So now we know. The date that Alex Salmond has chosen for the people of Scotland to tentatively decide if they maybe want to perhaps, like, consider if we want to possibly leave the UK and perchance go it sort of alone is October 18, 2014. Except it’s not going to happen.

No, there will be no referendum on that date. Remember I told you that in February 2012. Not in a million years. That Sunday newspaper which claimed it as an exclusive is wrong. The First Minister may have planned it for that, the first time a major vote was held on a Saturday – but not now. H had’t reckoned with the power of the Free Church and all its hardline schismatic offshoots.

My man on The Mound tells me that the Wee Frees will not allow the Sabbath to be desecrated for the sake of some airy-fairy social experiment by some here today, gone tomorrow politician. They will make it quite clear to the returning officer in Stornoway that he will be sent hurtling to his fiery doom if he so much as lifts a pencil to try and count a single vote after 11.59pm on Saturday 18th.

Just to ensure Free Church-style salvation, he will be instructed he must be tucked up in bed with Mrs Returning Officer before Big Ben bongs. We may have Sunday ferries and Sunday planes because their operators are out of the control of the churches. However, they still have the council by the Curlys and the Charlies.

It doesn’t matter about the councils on the mainland. They are beyond redemption anyway, like Sabbath-breaking CalMac staff. The church’s Executive Committee of Anti-Democratic Soul Savers is more concerned about the spiritual health of those who toil for Western Isles Council. And there is no way that council chief X counter Malcolm Burr and his team could guarantee to count all the votes and be back under their duvets one hour and 59 minutes after the polls close.

I asked the council what would happen and they said: “That will be a matter for the returning officer and the new council.” See, I told you. It would take more than a helicopter from Barra, which they use at elections, for that to happen. It would take divine intervention and the local agents for the Almighty have no intention of making a one-off application to give us a surprise present.

Unlike myself. Mrs X was having a go at me the other day because she wanted a fine camera that costs a bomb. There was no way I was forking out that much – upcoming birthday or not. So I came up with a plan. I told her that I absolutely understood she wanted to take better photos so I was getting her a credit card so she could just order whatever she wanted, whenever she wanted.

She was over the moon. Until the card came and she found out it was in her own name. What? You thought I would pay for a new camera for you? Am I made of money? Still, I enjoyed the cuddles till the card arrived.

My point is that if Alex Salmond cannot go on the Andrew Marr show on Sunday morning to crow that the whole of Caledonia has turned its back on the United Kingdom and decided to follow him then he’s not going to go for a Saturday vote, is he? That was the whole point why the old fox was going for the weekend poll. Back to the drawing board, Mr FM.

Someone has pointed all this out to Mr Salmond. Now he is in a right cream puff about it. He has pulled out of a Stornoway gig on Friday. Our council had pencilled him in to open the new all-singing, all-dancing media village thingummyjig down on Seaforth Road. He’s since turned round and told them he’s not available.

I think he would rather stick pins in his eyes than head up to the Western Isles, a place where people have not only ruined his great Saturday referendum plan but which is threatening civil disobedience over the removal of that Road Equivalent Tariff thingummybob from big lorries.

Alex Salmond must be thinking: “No way am I going up there and be forced to smile at people who are trying to undermine everything I do. Get that MSP fellow to go, Alabaster Allan, or whatever his name is. He is not doing much anyway because he is lying low over the RET thing.”

Never mind. It doesn’t matter what day it happens, the important thing is that we get the chance to have our say on the future of our country. An old lady I know in Stornoway tells me she hopes to live long enough to help decide the future of Scotland. She smiles sweetly as she tells me: “I just want to put my X in a box.”

Which is exactly what Mrs X said when she saw her name on that credit card.

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Posted in P&J column

That Facebook campaign

Posted on February 29, 2012 | Leave a comment

I’ve had a lot of comments from people around the country about a certain Facebook page and my post about it.  Someone who knows the administrator of the page has been in touch with me.  They tell me he has been unable to completely delete it but that he has deleted as many of the members as he was able to and that he will try and get the page removed entirely.

As far as I can tell, the vile comments which many found so upsetting have all gone. That sounds to me like the responsible thing to do so therefore I have withdrawn my critical post. I am sure I will be informed if there are any other significant developments.

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Posted in Stornoway

Transport group respond to the parliamentary debate

Posted on February 28, 2012 | 1 Comment

OUTER HEBRIDES TRANSPORT GROUP
Email: [email protected]

Response to Parliamentary Debate

In response to the recently held debate in Holyrood, Co-ordinator of the Outer Hebrides Transport Group, Gail Robertson said: “We were bitterly disappointed to learn our MSP Alasdair Allan betrayed his constituents and voted with the SNP Government.

Alasdair Allan should have realised that his first priority is to those he is elected to represent and that the trappings and bountiful remuneration that Ministerial office bring, should be a secondary consideration. We are grateful to all the MSPs from across the political divide who supported the motion calling for a moratorium on price rises until a proper study is conducted.

“At the end of the day Liberal Democrat, Conservative and Labour MSPs all voted in support of the islands. I am sure that there were MSPs supporting our islands who have never even been here – but they had the sense to understand the issue and to vote the right way. Mr Allan has never failed to tell us and media outlets he courts with such regularity that he is always working tirelessly for our islands.

“His vote last Thursday tells a different story and it is not lost on the countless people I have spoken with in recent days who appreciate that some of us are fighting for fairness for island families and businesses.”

Another spokesman for the OHTG Stornoway Haulier, David Wood said: “I read a transcript of the debate, and speeches by SNP MSPs amounted to nothing short of an orgy of self congratulatory guff. All their self promotion and pious words about RET was as sickening as it was unbelievable.

“Member after member told stories about RET and its introduction – but none appreciated that any reduction in ferry fares that they introduced is being removed, and any talk of RET is meaningless in the context of a 50% rise in our fares this April and another 50% next year and again in 2014.

“Alasdair Allan should be the islands man in Edinburgh but after he betrayed us he is clearly the SNP government’s man in the islands! He has still to contact us and explain why he couldn’t join MSPs from the other political parties and support what was a very sensible and island sympathetic motion.

“We greatly appreciate the efforts of MSPs from the three parties who made measured and intelligent speeches. And I was pleased to see that Cal Mac’s Port Manager in Stornoway, Iain Don MacIver, who recently resigned from the SNP and is standing for the Comhairle as an independent was quoted in the debate. If there is any man in the islands who knows the importance and value of cheaper ferry crossings – it’s Iain Don.”

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Posted in ferries, RET

Councillor calls in cops

Posted on February 27, 2012 | Leave a comment

Cllr Donald John Macsween has confirmed that he has made a complaint to the police over comments made on a local blog (he means this one, X).

He said: “I will not comment on the particular issues that are the subject of my complaint to Northern Constabulary. However, the personalised and abusive anonymous comments that are routinely posted on some local blogs are alien to the type of politics that traditionally we have enjoyed in the Western Isles. It does no credit to the few who partake in such infantile practices and I would call on them to stop and consider what they are doing to individuals, their friends and the families of those they abuse.

“Local politics are too important to be reduced to name calling and rumour mongering. It is also a tradition of the people in the Western Isles that those who have an opinion on political matters should be prepared to stand up and debate matters in public and not hide behind anonymity. It is time to remove the stains that are blemishing our political environment.

“If we do not then we are holding the door open for the anonymous bullyboy to shout their abuse whilst they hide their identity like cowards, afraid to stand up and debate politics in an open, fair and civilised way.”

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Posted in SNP

Will relaxed nat Roy Pedersen take up invitation and come over to learn a few facts about life without RET?

Posted on February 27, 2012 | 1 Comment
Relaxed

Council leader Angus Campbell has invited blinkered SNP Highland transport mouthpiece Roy Pedersen to see for himself the evidence of benefits of RET for commercial vehicles.

Councillor Pedersen is now going about saying to anyone who will listen that he feels “quite relaxed” about removing RET from commercial vehicles and that “the introduction of RET for commercial vehicles really had very little impact in terms of generating freight traffic to and from the isles or in terms of prices in the islands”.

Now Angus Campbell is not relaxed. He hissed: “Any suggestion that the introduction of RET has had very little impact in terms of freight traffic and prices is completely misguided and in direct contradiction to the facts. At a recent meeting with the Outer Hebrides Transport Group they showed the evidence that industry had indeed passed on the benefits from RET to consumers.”

Now the council leader has invited Relaxed Roy Pedersen to the islands to meet with the Outer Hebrides Transport Group.

It will be like teaching counting to a wee child, I suppose. Now, if it costs £5,000 more to take a kit house on the ferry, how much more will the final price of the house go up by? Young Roy, put your hand up when you have worked out the answer.

Officially, of course, the invitation to the less-than-bright SNP mandarin is in order that he can get a proper understanding of the positive impact that RET has had on homes and businesses across these islands, and of the very serious implications that surround its removal.

Campbell muttered: “It’s possible that he may feel less relaxed about the issue when confronted with the reality that face these islands if RET for commercials is removed. The thought of jobs being lost and a further rise in the cost of living leaves many in the Western Isles, including myself, feeling distinctly uncomfortable.”

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Posted in ferries, Government, Highland Council, RET, transport, Western Isles

Fair Fuel Solutions update

Posted on February 27, 2012 | Leave a comment

An update on the work of Fair Fuel Solutions, the Western Isles campaign group. The speakers (in order of appearance) are Iain Macphail, Kyle Smith, Frank Burns and organiser Callum Ian Macmillan.

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Posted in fuel rip-off, Western Isles

SNP-influenced council will shake up the current fiasco of a tendering process

Posted on February 25, 2012 | 54 Comments

The band of SNP hopefuls for Comhairle nan Eilean Siar have announced plans to improve the tendering process for public sector contracts amid mounting public concern that the current crop of councillors are clueless and being badly advised over what they are actually allowed to do to help island companies.

Rae Mackenzie

Now reduced in number due to the furore over the rollback of RET, the SNP wannabes say they will level the playing field by giving island building firms the chance to compete.

They believe current construction projects and tenders coming from the Comhairle seem to favour very large companies, with the result that the smaller local ones, who are just as capable, are missing out.

As part of their local manifesto, the SNP candidates promise:

  • A commitment to splitting up contracts, where possible, into smaller tenders;
  • A commitment to increase apprenticeships wherever resources can be identified;
  • A commitment to support back-to -work schemes;
  • A commitment to provide training and construction workshops.

Rae Mackenzie, a nationalist candidate for Stornoway South, said: “It’s a terrible shame that while there has never been so much construction work in the islands, with millions of pounds worth of tenders having been issued in recent years, but today local tradesmen are being made redundant and local construction firms are worried about their future, all due to work being handed to big external companies.

“Despite the noises coming from certain councillors about how successful recent projects have been for local contractors, we all know that the reality for many building contractors in the islands is shaky. The SNP want to help turn this around and contribute towards a more stable future for our local building companies and their employees.”

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Posted in council, SNP, Western Isles

“Curly is innocent and a very nice man” campaign launched by rapacious oil baron

Posted on February 23, 2012 | 17 Comments

In the most extraordinary development, the chairman of one of the British Isles’ largest and richest companies (yes, we all know it’s owned by Irish crooks) has written to the Stornoway Gazette to plead with people to be nice to him and a certain underling who many feel betrayed the people of the Western Isles by his behaviour at a recent public meeting.

He also goes out of his way, in a really uncondescending way of course, to tell us what political party our MP and MSP belong to. That was kind of him and had nothing to do with anyone associated with his company who is Labour when it suits him and independent when it doesn’t.

As his letter was being prepared for publication, the oil tanker that Mr Chambers claimed could never deliver to Stornoway was tied up here and delivering fuel under cover of darkness. So why is Sam Chambers suddenly this worried about what we all think of him and his staff? Read his bizarre letter (below) closely and let me know what you think.

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Posted in fuel rip-off, Western Isles

RET issue will not go away, says council leader

Posted on February 23, 2012 | 38 Comments

The Leader of Comhairle nan Eilean Siar has said the RET issue is too important to be treated as a party political football.

Speaking after a debate in the Scottish Parliament on the withdrawal of RET for commercial vehicles, Cllr Angus Campbell, Leader of Comhairle nan Eilean Siar, said: “Everybody in the Western Isles welcomed RET when it was brought in and everybody will be affected if it is withdrawn for commercial vehicles.

“Prices across the range will go up and at the meeting we had with the Outer Hebrides Transport Group (OHTG) last week an example was given of a young couple trying to build a house in the Islands facing an increase in price of £5,000 if the Scottish Government’s proposals go ahead.

“I and my colleagues are disappointed that there was no positive outcome from today’s debate. I must also reiterate that the suggested 50% deferral for one year does little to address the fundamental issue of damage to our very fragile economy.

“As the OHTG has stressed, this issue will not go away. This is too important an issue to be treated as a party political football and I would ask that all political representatives should put the Islands first. We must work together to persuade the Scottish Government to alter its position – and soon.”

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Posted in council, RET

MSP spoke at the debate

Posted on February 23, 2012 | 2 Comments

From Alasdair Allan MSP
THURSDAY 23 FEBRUARY 2012
ALLAN SPEAKS IN DEBATE ON LORRY FARES FOR ISLANDS

Na h-Eileanan an Iar SNP MSP, Alasdair Allan, today attended a debate in the Scottish Parliament about the future of ferry fares for larger commercial vehicles in the Western Isles and raised the issue of fuel prices for hauliers after the revelation that the 5p fuel derogation won’t apply to those who bulk buy.

The motion being debated in the Parliament today does not affect the actual decisions taken around ferry fares, and has had an amendment tabled to it by the Scottish Government recognising the importance of the £2.5 million Transitional Relief Fund and other measures introduced following discussions between hauliers and Transport Minister, Keith Brown.

Alasdair Allan commented: “Today’s debate in Parliament was a chance for MSPs of all parties to discuss this important issue for islanders. I intervened on the Transport Minister’s speech asking for information about whether the proposed study into fares for commercial vehicles will address all problems they face, not least fuel costs. This is of articular importance given the news today that not all hauliers may benefit from the 5p discount on fuel duty in the islands put forward by the UK Government.

“The amendment which the Scottish Government has tabled recognises that a number of important measures are now being taken following on from the meeting, which I arranged, between island companies and Transport Minister, Keith Brown over concerns about the fare increases initially proposed.

“These measures include £2.5 million of transition relief to bring down fare increases for hauliers and an agreement to increase the definition of vans from a maximum of 5 to 6 metres, in order to allow them to qualify for RET fares from April.

“There has been much blatantly party-political posturing in the chamber today from parties which failed to implement RET in any shape or form during their long years in government. Tonight’s motion now reflects the reality that the Scottish Government has invested substantial new money in trying to address hauliers concerns, and is expanding RET to new routes including the Sound of Barra and Sound of Harris.”

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Posted in ferries, Government, RET, SNP, Western Isles