Monthly Archives: November 2012

Statement from comhairle SNP group ahead of budget choices public meeting in Stornoway

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In advance of Thursday nights public meeting in Stornoway the SNP Group on Comhairle nan Eilean Siar calls on the administration to use a recently received BCCI dividend payment – and its own contingency fund – to mitigate the worst of the cuts being presented to the public.

While we accept it is the responsibility of the Labour / Independent administration to set the budget, we strongly recommend that the recent £1.1 million dividend from the BCCI debacle be used over the next two years rather than spread over the remaining four years of the present Comhairle as is being currently proposed.

We also call for at least £1 million of the Comhairle’s contingency fund to be used to reduce the level of cuts being proposed.

Taking £2.1 million out of the cuts currently being proposed will go some way to addressing the concerns being voiced at the various public meetings leading up to the one tomorrow night in Stornoway.

SNH statement on Sound of Barra SAC

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SNH statement on Sound of Barra SAC

20-NOV-2012

“We have recommended that Ministers submit the Sound of Barra to the European Commission as a candidate Special Area of Conservation (cSAC).

“Our recommendation follows a public consultation, at the request of Government (see Note 2), and is based on the scientific case for the SAC. This is in keeping with our statutory remit.

“During the consultation we revised the site boundary to exclude the intertidal sands and the Traigh Mhor (landing strip). Excluding these areas does not affect the integrity of the proposed site.

“The consultation raised a number of scientific and non-scientific objections to the SAC and there has been some strong opposition to the proposals from within the local community.

“We advise on the scientific case for designation, and have provided a robust report that will meet the concerns raised in the European Commission’s moderation process (see Note 3).

“We fully accept the wider concerns that exist about the proposal, and are pleased that Marine Scotland has agreed to include them in the review of the Business and Regulatory Impact Assessment (BRIA) (see Note 4). Meanwhile we have included details of all consultation responses in our report to Ministers.

“We are aware that there are a range of management issues that will need to be addressed to ensure the economic future of local communities as well as maintaining the features of conservation importance. If the site is to progress, we would be keen to participate in the development of a management plan that helps to protect the site features and local economic requirements.”

NOTES

1. Qualifying features of the proposed SAC

The Sound of Barra has been proposed by the Scottish Government as a possible SAC (pSAC) for harbour seals, sandbanks and reef habitat. The pSAC comprises an area of 128.71 km2 of sea which encloses the Sound of Barra. This includes 79 km2 of subtidal sandbanks representing between 0.1 and 0.4% of the UK resource; 38 km2 of reefs representing 0.05% of the UK resource; and an average of 166 seals per year (taken from the last 5 counts between 2002 – 2011) which is 0.7% of the UK resource (2010 figure). Whilst there are other sites which contain subtidal sandbanks, reefs and harbour seals our advice is that the Sound of Barra pSAC is one of the best sites for these features in the Outer Hebrides. It qualifies against the criteria for selection and would satisfy EC moderation’ requirements as we understand them. On the basis of currently available data we do not think that any alternative sites would present better options.

2. Public Consultation

Stewart Stevenson MSP, Minister for Environment, announced the public consultation regarding the Sound of Barra as a possible SAC on the 19th August 2011. Formal consultations took place over a twelve-week period from 9th September to 9th December 2011, with an extension to 16th January 2012 for the local council and others who requested it. The process included public meetings in Castlebay, Barra (3rd Oct 2011); and on Eriskay (4th Oct 2011). A further consultation surgery was held on Barra on the evening of the 17th Nov 2011 and the following morning. There were 81 written responses to the formal consultation. Forty-three objected to, or raised concerns about, the proposal. Most of the objections mentioned both scientific and socio-economic concerns. Concerns were raised regarding the consultation process and some called for an inquiry. Both the MSP and MP objected as did the local authority, all 31 local councillors, several community organisations, one fishermen’s association, and two individual businesses. Thirty responses supported the proposal, but 25 of these asked for bottlenose dolphins to be included as a qualifying feature. Eight responses were neutral.

3. European Commission Moderation Process

The EC held meetings (moderation’ meetings) in 1999 and 2004 to assess each member state’s progress with designating sites for habitats and species listed under the Habitats Directive. Other meetings were held between the Atlantic Biogeographical Region states in 2002, 2007 and 2009 to discuss progress between moderation meetings. At all of these meetings reefs, subtidal sandbanks and harbour seals (along with a list of other features) were identified as requiring additional sites terms for this include deficiency, insufficiency, scientific reserve and marine review. The Scottish Government was involved in these meetings in terms of providing information and being told the outcome of the meetings and being asked to identify and assess possible sites that may address the deficiency’. Following on from the 2004 moderation meeting, SNH (on behalf of SG) undertook a review in 2005. This considered which habitats and species (listed under the Directive) were represented within the Scottish territorial waters SAC site series and identified deficiencies in the network. As part of the conclusions of that review, the Outer Hebrides was identified as an area which could provide a potential site for subtidal sandbanks, reefs and harbour seals.

4. Business and Regulatory Impact Assessment (BRIA)

Marine Scotland carried out a draft Business and Regulatory Impact Assessment (BRIA) for the Sound of Barra proposed SAC during the summer of 2010. They then ran a consultation exercise on the BRIA simultaneously to the Sound of Barra pSAC consultation.

5. Natura network

Special Areas of Conservation (SACs) form part of the Natura network of conservation sites across the European Union, established under the EC Habitats Directive. The Directive is a major contribution by the EC to the Biodiversity Convention agreed by more than 150 countries at the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio. The Convention aims to protect the variety of wildlife which exists globally by focusing on Habitats and Species. There are 239 SACs in Scotland (40 are marine SACs). Together they cover an area of approximately 963,000 hectares, (3,717 sq. miles). They range in size from wee burns, important for freshwater pearl mussel to the 150,000 hectare Moray Firth marine SAC for bottlenose dolphins and sandbanks. Other large sites include the blanket bogs of Caithness and Sutherland, and the Lewis peatlands. Mountains, woodlands, coasts and freshwaters are also well represented in sites such as the Cairngorms, the River Tweed and Sleibhtean agus Cladach Thiriodh (Tiree Machair).

The full report can be viewed here: http://www.snh.gov.uk/protecting-scotlands-nature/protected-areas/site-consultations/sound-of-barra/

Millionaire fugitive wanted in connection with murder in Belize rings up Iain X for a wee chat

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Statement recorded for me by John McAfee

A computer software millionaire who police want to talk to about a murder has called a journalist in the Western Isles and asked him to help publicise his plight. Belize-based John McAfee is thought to be in hiding there since April after the authorities said he had been manufacturing methamphetamine while he claims he is a victim of corruption by police and authorities.

John McAfee                                  Photo credit: The Belizean

While those allegations have since been dropped, police now want to interview the 67-year-old boss of the antivirus software company McAfee in connection with the death of a neighbour, Gregor Faull, 52, who was found shot dead after an alleged argument with McAfee.

On Monday, John McAfee phoned Stornoway-based journalist Iain X Maciver and recorded a radio statement with him protesting his innocence. English-born McAfee claims he is being set up by the Belizean government and has launched an appeal for the international community to put pressure on the authorities there to explain what actual evidence they have for these allegations.

He is reported to have hid in the sand when he saw police coming to his house a week last Sunday and had put a cardboard box over his head to breathe. He also told a technology magazine that in his desperation to avoid detection he spent Monday night on a mattress infested with lice. McAfee said he was afraid of police planting incriminating evidence like guns or ‘four tons of cocaine.’

He maintains that he heard Faull had been shot but believes it was a case of mistaken identity. It was McAfee himself the gunman wanted to kill, he reckons. There have been claims online and in some newspapers that McAfee had bought drugs on the internet and was working in a makeshift laboratory to purify them. He strongly denies those claims.

On his blog, McAfee has been claiming he is still in Belize and has become a master of disguise walking around and watching the police hunting him. A spokesman for Belize’s Ministry of National Security told the Associated Press news agency that they want McAfee to talk to the authorities. He said: “If he feels threatened, we need to tell him,’Get someone to go along with you, but come in. Let’s solve this crime and you can free yourself’.”

A week on Sunday, Gregor Faull was found with a gunshot wound to his head inside his two-storey home north of San Pedro, a small town on the island of Ambergris Caye. A housekeeper found his body.

Yesterday afternoon (Monday) McAfee phoned Western Isles freelance journalist Iain Maciver and sent him a recorded statement in which he proclaimed his innocence. In it, he said he was completely innocent of the charges which the international press had accused him of. In the recorded statement, McAfee said: “I live in a country, Belize, which has devolved politically into a near-dictatorship where justice does not exist.” He said he had set up a blog and was telling his side of the story through it. The software pioneer concluded: “Please, all people of conscience, if you have an interest in the murder of Gregor Faull and the injustices in Belize, go to my blog.”

Iain Maciver, who is based in Stornoway on the Isle of Lewis, said: “An American journalist friend suggested that some reports about McAfee were not very impartial, that he might appreciate an unbiased radio interview and that perhaps I should drop him an email. I did that and was a bit surprised when the millionaire fugitive himself phoned me at lunchtime on Monday. He said he was in Belize but I cannot verify that.
“As he is only wanted for questioning and has been charged with no actual offences, I decided I should do it. In the event, we were unable to do a full interview because of technical difficulties, but John McAfee did record the statement (above) which I have sent to the broadcast media.
“It’s not every day that a multi-millionaire phones up asking for my help – never mind one who is wanted in connection with a murder.”

Isles fuel campaigners ask Chancellor to abandon plan to raise fuel tax

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Fair Fuel Solutions

15 November 2012

Rt Hon George Osborne MP
Chancellor of the Exchequer
HM Treasury
Horse Guards Road
London SW1A 2HQ

Dear Chancellor of the Exchequer

AUTUMN STATEMENT – FUEL

I write on behalf of the Fair Fuel Solutions campaign in the Scottish Islands. We are a community group set up with the sole aim of achieving fair fuel solutions for islanders. Our initial focus has been on profiteering in the supply chain and our campaign has led to an Office of Fair Trading survey and to recent substantial cuts in pump prices as a result of pressure brought on by Fair Fuel Solutions, a brave fuel retailer who parted company with the dominant distributor and the many local people who have supported the campaign.

While our campaign has been successful, albeit in the short-term as we have yet to see whether the OFT will provide adequate safeguards for the future, the gains we have made will be partially negated by your government’s proposed fuel duty increase scheduled for January 1.

We note from the press comments by Conservative backbenchers that you are reconsidering this increase. We would urge you to listen to their representations, and those from many other parties, because we simply cannot afford it. At a time when inflation is forecast by the Bank of England to continue to increase and disposable income is already under severe pressure the people of our islands could not cope with a further increase without cutting back on what is a necessity in remote island communities i.e. fuel.

Any increase at this time would be punitive for the poorest in the country as we have among the lowest average incomes in the country and also the highest levels of fuel poverty. The impact on islanders would be disproportionately serious.

On this basis and the fact that a tax increase will probably not generate any more in income to the Treasury, due to the inevitable consequent reduction in car use, the Fair Fuel Solutions campaign strongly urges you not to proceed with the duty increase in January on the basis of fairness to all citizens. Only by not implementing the increase can you ensure that the weakest in the country are not punished in a disproportionate manner for using a resource that is an absolute necessity, particularly in remoter communities such as ours.

Yours faithfully

Callum Ian Macmillan

Correspondence address:
c/o 8 Lewis Street
Stornoway
Isle of Lewis
HS1 2JF

Inverness cops target man for offence in city while he was at home on Lewis

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A FORMER oil rig boss is furious at cops who tried to impose a fine on him for an alleged street incident in Inverness.

However, Morris Macleod claimed he knew nothing about the incident in September and it was only when he produced telephone records to prove he wasn’t even in the city that day that proceedings against him were dropped.

They still haven’t told me what I was supposed to have done in Inverness – Morris Macleod

Now he is fighting for a proper explanation of how he was wrongly targeted and says he will take his case to the Scottish Parliament to stop it happening to anyone else.

The recently-retired North Sea offshore installation manager, from Newmarket near Stornoway, says he came up against a wall of bureaucracy put up by intransigent officials when he told them they had the wrong man.

He said: “This has been a catalogue of mistakes by the forces of law and order from start to finish. At first, the court office did not want to know about my complaints. Eventually, they said it was just a “computer error”. I did not accept that and kept on at them.
“Then they washed their hands off it and said it was all the fault of Northern Constabulary. For six days, I was not being taken seriously as everyone involved denied responsibility. It was really getting to me. I couldn’t sleep because of the stress.
“However, once I got the press involved, these agencies began to examine my complaints properly and Northern Constabulary seems to have put their hands up.”

After returning home a week ago, Morris, 66, found a demand for £60 on his mat for failing to pay a fixed penalty for an incident on Chapel Street, Inverness, on September 29. When he complained, he was told he had to pay it.

He said: “I realised I was at home here on the Isle of Lewis that day. I printed out the phone calls I made that day from home from the BT website and took the list to Stornoway police station. They checked and told me the penalty had actually been paid by a man from Elgin.”
“So not only was I wrongly pursued, as I was not involved, but the penalty had actually been paid. At least two serious errors which I was firstly told was down to some dodgy computer.”

Morris said he has now been contacted by an acting chief inspector who agreed what had happened to him was “unacceptable” and he had taken necessary steps to prevent a repetition. The officer also gave him an assurance his personal details relating to the offence were being expunged from their database.

He said: “They still haven’t told me what I was supposed to have done in Inverness.”

Northern Constabulary yesterday (THU) confirmed it was a case of mistaken identity but did not explain how it came about. It said: “The error was an administrative one and we have apologised for any inconvenience. The person who made the error has been given suitable advice.”

The spokesman added that Morris’s data had been removed from their systems.

However, Morris is still far from happy at what he says was a complete lack of urgency by the police and said he may yet take the matter up with Justice Secretary Kenny Macaskill.

He said: “Why did they take six days to reply to me? First of all, the court office said it was a computer error. If they are in charge of computers which are making errors, that is a serious matter. Who else is a victim?
“Now the police are blaming an individual who has been given “advice”. Which is the true story?”

Alasdair Allan, the islands’ MSP, whose help had been enlisted by Morris, said: “I can understand why he was upset about this case of mistaken identity and hope the police have now taken steps to avoid any future recurrence.”

Security alert on Sauchiehall Street as the girls from Barra take to the floor

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Sore but happy, I am now back in Stornoway after a quick trip to Glasgow with Mrs X for what may be the last ever Charley Pride concert in Scotland. It was tremendous although a severe wardrobe malfunction nearly left me singing soprano and my wife learned that some hotels no longer have Ladies written on the toilet doors.

It was a sort of early present for her big birthday next year, or perhaps a late present for one I forgot nine and a half years ago. So I booked a swish hotel. They are not paying me to plug it so let’s just say it was very grand and very central. When we arrived, who did we meet at reception but Ian Mitchell. A former motor dealer of some renown, the Mitchell name was also synonymous with Lewis bus travel for many years. Ian’s forgotten more about that industry than latter-day upstarts like Brian Souter will ever know.

A keen country fan, Ian immediately decided he too was coming to see the legend Charley. What a star. Not a lot of people know this but Ian is one of the few Scots to have seen Elvis performing live. On April 3, 1957 he was in Ottawa visiting relatives. They had tickets to see the rocker from Tupelo, Mississippi, with the shoogly legs. It was just after his hit Teddy Bear and all the fans had teddies with them.

Ian told us that to stop the eager young girls rampaging around to find Elvis and paw him after his performance, it was indeed announced: “Elvis has left the building.” I forgot to ask him if any of these disappointed lassies pawed Ian’s teddy bear instead. Uh-huh.

Then I had to endure the interminable shopping. Yuck. It was time for the annual Buying Of The Pants. We travelled light to Glasgow because we knew we would be buying clothes. When we took the first bundle back to the hotel, I put on some of my new clobber. Big mistake.

There is nothing worse than tramping round St Enoch Centre in a new pair of those underpants with the heavy-duty elastic. A pair of drawers is like a pair of shoes. They should be broken in gently. They should also be washed before you do any serious tramping in them. It’s the chafing, you see. Agony. I was red raw in places I didn’t know I had. I still am.

Many islanders were down for Charley including council officials, fishermen, ambulance staff – even a ferryman. Near the front row in the Glasgow Concert Hall, we were surrounded by Barrachs. I’ll tell you something, they know how to have a good time. They bopped and whooped on the road to San Antone and along the streets of Baltimore. If you don’t know the great man’s songs you’ll now be wondering what the heck I’m on about.

Charley on stage in Glasgow

They were all there. Donald MacIsaac, who works on the Leverburgh ferry, as well as a bevvy of Castlebay lassies like Mairi Tinan, Christine Binnie, Anne Campbell, Mary Flora Marat, and even some from Eriskay. Imagine.Charley is 74 now but the voice is as rich as ever. Maybe better. At one point, the girls from the southern isles left their seats, as did Mrs X, and they boogied and bobbed in the corner by the stage. Charley himself was eyeing them fearfully in case they came after his teddy bear.
Security were summoned to disperse them and ordered them to sit on their behinds. Appalling behaviour – at their ages. Donald and I were mortified. Mo naire.Oh, I must say hullo to Katie Ann Thomson in Inverness. She’s a much better behaved Hearach. Nice to meet you, a’ Cheit Anna.

Staying in a hotel by a railway station brought back many memories for me. On Sunday evening, I was telling herself that, after a good night out, I was going off to England early one morning but got on the wrong choo-choo and I ended up in a place called Crossmyloof. Hardly the hub of the universe.
On Monday morning, I was awake early and soon afterwards she turned over, grumbled and asked why I was making all that noise. That wasn’t me, I said, it must be the train to Crossmyloof. Without even opening an eye, she said: “I’m too tired for any of that. Just cross your own loof.”

She gave me a proper red face the night before. After a glass or two of fizz, she went off to look for a hotel loo. However, the toilets are all now designed in keeping with this age of equality and don’t have old-fashioned terms like Gents and Ladies on the doors. Instead, you’ll find just one word on all of them. Unisex.

She was taking a long time so I went to look for her. She was round the corner moaning to the concierge and telling him: “That unisex thing is all very well, you know, but what about me? I went to Sandwickhill Academy of Lower Education so I didn’t go to university.”

FFS home heating oil survey

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Fair Fuel Solutions is looking for help from everyone in the islands who use home heating oil. Please fill in the survey below and consider registering for membership of a heating oil club. Membership is free, they work well elsewhere and there are significant benefits.

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/FDJHSV5

Honest councillors claim they have been ordered to shut up about fuel prices

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Stung by a torrent of criticism for doing and saying nothing about fuel prices, Western Isles Council finally managed to get out a statement today.  In it, Councillor Kenny Murray, chairman of the Comhairle’s Fuel Action Group (FAG), issued a bizarre missive claiming the Comhairle has “long been in the fight” to get lower fuel prices for consumers in the Western Isles.

Er, excuse me, when? Not recently, they haven’t. In a most untypical lapse, he completely fails to list a single thing that the comhairle leadership has actually done in the last year or two to bring down prices. Yes, we know about the hosting of cosy chats with Sam Chambers, from which – to their eternal shame – the public who elected them and who pay for their building were disgracefully excluded.

Mr Murray goes on: “It is very welcome that recent developments have seen prices come down and I commend all those who have worked to bring this about – including retailers, campaigners, our MP and MSP and my colleagues on the Comhairle. This is a complex issue but I hope sustainable supplies at lower prices, with a reduced differential between island and mainland prices, will continue.”

The cohort of pliable councillors who do the bidding of the unseen leadership sprang into action soon afterwards. One of them sent a secret memo to all councillors saying that Kenny Murray had spoken about the council’s position therefore the ordinary councillors had to “consider the merits” of speaking out as individuals. It was, many councillors reckon, a shabby attempt to gag them.

There are councillors who are honourable and who don’t fall for these veiled threats. One said: “I did not stand for the council to do what Angus McCormack wants me to do. I will do what my constituents want me to do – and that is not to listen to the likes of him.”

Another said: “People should know that very powerful people are trying to gag us. They are feeling the heat. We all know who this is coming from. So do most islanders now, thank God.”

Meanwhile, behind the scenes, Scottish Fuels has called a secret meeting of all island retailers. There, they will be told in no uncertain terms how much they stand to lose by going for spot price fuel.

If the filling stations decide to completely part company with Scottish Fuels and tear up the contract, they can expect to be warned there will be no more cash for renovating their forecourts, none of the unspecified “support” that the Irish crooks have given them for so long and no more of the notorious sweeteners that their most vicious operatives doled out as a bonus when the annual festival to celebrate the birth of the baby Jesus draws near.

Make no mistake – the fightback by Scottish Fuels has begun. They are unscrupulous people and they don’t like losing. That has been proven in courts of law. They will do whatever it takes.

Judging by the noises today from the leadership of our own council, Scottish Fuels has nothing to worry about.