Kyles Flodda
Isle of Benbecula
Dear Editor
Yes, boats and planes are controversial topics of conversation in the most recent round of cuts to public services here in the Western Isles, and there is nothing plain or straightforward about the shenanigans and neat footwork now being witnessed. There is genuine anxiety in the southern isles.
The Comhairle claim that NHS Western Isles take up about 30% of seats on the air services now under threat of closure, or reduced service, on the Barra/Benbecula/Stornoway routes. The subsidy carried wholly by the Comhairle is about £630,000 pa. Our MSP has written to the respective Chief Executives of the Comhairle and NHS, concerned in particular about the impact on patient services and accessing planned hospital appointments (especially from Barra).
Barra patients and GP’s are more likely to favour the single and more convenient journey to Glasgow on one plane journey, rather than two often disruptive ferry crossings and long overland distance to Stornoway. This may prove to be more costly to the NHS.
Andrew Walker
NHS Western Isles are undertaking their own appraisal of proposed changes, to report on the day the Full Council makes its decision on substantive cuts (82 options presently under consideration), on 14th February – colloquially being referred to as the St Valentine’s Day Massacre! An additional near £5m of cuts, on top of £10m of cuts already implemented in two previous years.The Scottish Government are overly optimistic, and are reported to have said, rather naively: “The Scottish Government is aware of the ongoing discussions between NHS Western Isles and the local authority and expects that the situation will be resolved between the two organisations.” (Hebrides News, 28th Jan)
Too bad we don’t have trains! Yes, as taxpayers to the UK Treasury, our good citizens will be contributing towards the generous subsidy of 8.1p per passenger mile being paid by the UK government to the various rail franchise holders on the mainland.
Resolving this unfortunate local difficulty being faced by our life-line inter-island air services demands an urgent meeting with the Scottish Government Cabinet Secretaries for (i) Finance, (ii) Transport and (iii) Health and Social Care. Our MSP is best placed to organise such a meeting. RET for ferry services to our islands is subsidised by central government (also soon to include inter-island ferries too), so why not our vulnerable air services?
What is the difference, and why should the Comhairle alone be saddled with this hefty subsidy cost? Many other public service agencies, and quangos (eg SNH, SEPA, HIE) in addition to NHS and the Comhairle use these air services on a regular basis. They are in essence life-line services, and ferry travel is often not an option.
The SNP government and local representatives are presently out of favour here in the islands, for a number of controversial and disadvantageous decisions recently made – including an inflation-busting increase in ferry fares from April this year. They need to redeem themselves. This proposed solution, i.e. assume responsibility for this subsidy for this vital inter-island air service, on a five day per week basis, is surely within their powers?
Yours sincerely
Andrew Walker
Me thinks Mr Walker is both a lumberjack and a well balanced individual – he has a chip on both shoulders with an axe to grind.
£630,000, probably a fraction of the amount the Comhairle has given away in compensation and bungled contracts.
Some of what he says is true. He was saying a different thing last year so what has changed. Why did he leave the SNP and was he pushed towards the door before he jumped. When I asked about him last year no one said anything good about him. Has he seen the light about the SNP.
Typical of the SNP to attack the messanger and disregard the substance of the message, which is that the SNP are pursuing policies that are deeply damaging to the islands and that their elected representatives, SNP group, the MP and the MSP are more interested in defending the SNP than defending their constituents. Mr. Walker is to be congratulated on his stand and his disregard for the personal attacks from his former friends. I wish our representative in the deep South had his courage in the face of the sustained stupidy of the SNP.
I am always very suspicious about someone who jacks a group and then starts slagging them off.
The labour/independent Labour in the Comhairle created this plauge, which of course has gushed down from the numpties in the Labour Party who ran the last government, and now they howl to the SNP to fix it?
It is totally clear who is damaging the islands and it aint the SNP
Mud slinging aside,this is a very serious issue for those living on the southern islands and sensible solutions need to be kept in place.If our council feels it cannot continue to shoulder the entire burden,then government and NHS must step forward to share these costs and responsibilities.
I am always suspicious of those who try to defend the indefensible, and of the blind faith some Nationalists have in their party. It reinforces my fear of Nationalism in all its many manifestations.
,
Monkey what is the storm like in Shetland. If the Labour people on the council can’t run our affairs they should stand down and let those who can get on with it. Remember who caused all the money shortage. We all forget it was LABOUR. Monkey you must agree your party made a big mess which we are left with. I suppose you forget that.. If Labour were running things in Edinburgh these islands would be in a real mess. They let us down when we had a Labour MSP. Remember the health board problems. We will be paying for the new schools for the next 30 years. Monkey you are a nothing but a tory.
Roddy Dan, you have a point there. The New Blue London Labour Party (Scottish Branch) are, indeed, Tories. Just ask Jo-Ruthie Lament.
Indeed GugaDan it was blowing a storm here last night, almost as bad as your decibel levels when you defend the indefensible, but not as bad as the storm brewing up against the SNP and SACs. You can continue the blame game as long as you like, old habits die hard, but people here in Barra are angry about the continuing lack of representation from the MP, the MSP and the councillor, who refuse to do anything to protect us from these SNP attacks. Andrew Walker is a brave man who is not afraid to speak out in our defence.
The Shetland Monkey Nut has lost the plot again because he supports a lost cause. Time to wake up Monkey Nut. It was your Labour Party who caused the deficit in the money given to Holyrood. Nearly two billion pounds less because Labour gave it to the banks. If Labour told you to jump in the North Sea you would do it. We cannot afford to vote Labour because they are just another Tory Party.
Steady on, GugaDan, this Monkey lives on Barra, as you well know, all I ask is that our SNP MP, MSP and councillor do something to help our hard pressed community. I have never asked you or anyone else to vote any particular way. []
If any other party were in power I would also be asking their representatives to get off their well padded backsides and do something.
Monkey Nut last month you told us you lived on South Uist, this month you live on Barra. We all know you live on Shetland. You never complained about the previous MP and MSP and they were a massive liability.
What about the nearly two bikkion pound cut in the money given to Scotland. The money your Labour Party gave to the wealthy bankers. Qh! you just want to forget. What about your party becoming the new Tory Party. Oh! you just want to forget again.
RoddyGugaDan, as regular readers of this blog , including you in all your guises, know I live in Barra and frequently comment on local issues. I have never lived in or visited Shetland. I have no desire to defend any party, but I do have a strong desire to speak out against policies which are damaging to Barra, South Uist or indeed any other island. Since 2007 these policies are being imposed by the SNP government in Edinburgh, or have I missed something and Labour and the Lib Dems are still in power? I know from my daily work, from occasional visits to the Castlebay and the Co-op, and from my friends in South Uist that an increasing number of us feel the same. We are being badly let down by our representatives, in Stornoway, Edinburgh and London. Why? Just ask Andrew Walker.
Yes Monkey Nut we all know you live on Shetland and that you are sound Labour. What about the the deficit for Scotland caused by your beloved Labour Party and that they are true Tory.
Well put GugaDanRoddy, what an towering intellect, what an able explanation of SNP policies for Barra, what a spokesperson for the SNP! And despite all your efforts and poor geography, Barra is still nowhere near Shetland.
Monkey Nut I know Barra is no where near Shetland and I find it hard how you can say you live on Barra when you live on Shetland. Is the name of your house Barra ? What about your beloved Labour Party causing all the problems at Sandwick Road because they bust the economy. Miliband said sorry so why can’t you admit it. It is the Labour Councillors who are also making a mess of our local economy. All these independents councillors who are Labour members. You must feel embarassed by them.
Splendid stuff GugaRoddyDan, I refer you to the top of the page, re-read the posting from Andrew Walker, which says it all. It is obviously beyond the capacity of your bird brain to comprehend the very serious issues he raises about the inadequacies of the present MP and MSP and their lack of support for local people on local issues. Now go find another alias.
Whatever, the only people wanting to keep the flights to the southern isles are funnily enough, the SNP guys in the council
Go back under your bridge, Troll, and cook up another alias.
Shetland Monkey Nut you can’t face the truth it was Labour who created this economic mess. Every service which has been cut, every job which is lost is all down to the last LABOUR Government.
Everything is in a mess and all you want to do is shout about individuals. When the only thing you have to offer is calling people sad names and telling them where to go. This reflects a very sad person who is only interested in settling personal scores at the expense off innocent people becoming homeless without food.
DanGugaRoddy, can I ask you to get someone to read Andrew’s letter to you, it’s at the top of this page, where he explains succinctly enough for anyone except you to understand, what normal constituents expect their MSP and MP to do for them. I do not think it is reasonable for you to attempt to pass the blame onto anyone else for their woeful inability to do the job for which they were elected. But then it is becoming plainer by the day that they have no intention of protecting their constituents, and they will continue, like you, to defend SNP policies which are deeply damaging to the Islands.
Shetland Monkey Nut I have read the piece you refer to. What you need to do is learn to think beyond what you read. Why are these islands faced with cuts, simple, the Labour Party gave the money to the bankers. The money given to Scotland has been reduced by nearly two Billion pounds. Now I’m sure that the SNP can answer for themselves on this matter. What gets me is that Labour Die Hards like yourself are trying to blame others for the mess which Labour created. We would not have these cuts if the Labour Party hadn’t given our money to the bankers. Had the Labour Party were in power in Scotland we would be in a bigger mess. They have no policies for Scotland.
Resolving this unfortunate local difficulty being faced by our life-line inter-island air services demands an urgent meeting with the Scottish Government Cabinet Secretaries for (i) Finance, (ii) Transport and (iii) Health and Social Care. Our MSP is best placed to organise such a meeting. RET for ferry services to our islands is subsidised by central government (also soon to include inter-island ferries too), so why not our vulnerable air services?
What is the difference, and why should the Comhairle alone be saddled with this hefty subsidy cost? Many other public service agencies, and quangos (eg SNH, SEPA, HIE) in addition to NHS and the Comhairle use these air services on a regular basis. They are in essence life-line services, and ferry travel is often not an option.
The SNP government and local representatives are presently out of favour here in the islands, for a number of controversial and disadvantageous decisions recently made – including an inflation-busting increase in ferry fares from April this year. They need to redeem themselves. This proposed solution, i.e. assume responsibility for this subsidy for this vital inter-island air service, on a five day per week basis, is surely within their powers?
A
The above comment is a direct quotation, for the benefit of GugaDanRoddy, from the letter written by Andrew Walker, former Secretary of the Uist and Barra branch of the SNP and former SNP council candidate. He speaks the truth. He demands action from our elected representatives. He is not getting any meaningful response. Are our MP, MSP and councillor still collecting their handsome salaries while they do nothing? Why do we keep paying for them?
Shetland Monkey Nut what do you mean OUR elected members. They don’t cover Shetland. As for the issue raised, it is about lack of money for servicrs. The reason we don’t get extra cash is that there is none. The reason there is none, is that your beloved Labour Party gave our money to the bankers.
John Swinney is managing and disbursing a budget for Scotland in excess of £30bn, ie 30,000 million pounds. The Comhairle budget is about £117m. My plea is for another £630,000 to be found from central govt to ease the pressure on the Comhairle, and to help ensure essential front line services are not jeopardised any further, eg propoosed cut of £100k to Home Care services and cuts to mobile overnight support services (a service not even provided in Barra/South Uist), and £60k cuts to Community Transport.
Central Govt money can be found instantaneously for eg CAB Scotland (£5m), a worthwhile cause with poverty and welfare reform hitting families where it hurts, so there is money still held in reserve which can be made available if a good case is made. This is the task of our SNP MSP. I note Dr Allan has a meeting with all Comhairle c’llors soon to discuss budgets, so hopefully this will be on the agenda.
My final point I wished to make was to emphasise the very fact that withdrawing or reducing the inter-island air services will impact severely on NHS W Isles services to patients in remote locations (Barra & Benbecula), and likely lead to higher costs being incurred by the NHS, eg having to access health services in other jurisdictions (Highland/Glasgow), and much more frequent useage of Air Ambulance service (this is an inevitable consequence). What is the cost of calling out an Air Ambulance?
I’m enjoying this blog and like the accurate reference to chips on both my shoulders, and axe wielding – I should have been at Shetland for their Up Hellya celebrations! Good therapy, building a fine speciman of a Viking warriior ship, then celebrating its destruction by setting it alight (or not?). I’m trying to be more constructive!
Spot on Andrew, the SNP are in power and they have the money, but they choose not to help, and our MSP chooses not to act on our behalf. The MP seems to have gone AWOL somewhere.
Shetland Monkey Nut there are many communities across Scotland in a worse economic situation than these islands. The settlement which Shetland got had a larger deficit from previous years. The UK settlement was much less than previous years. There is going to be another massive cut in the next sttlement, all resulting from the poor way the Labour Party managed the UK economy. I can’t understand why you go on about more money when there is no money left. Do you want to increase the council tax, they are doing that in England and hundreds of thousands of people being thrown into the poverty trap created by Labour and the coalition. If the UK society decides to cut public spending I don’t know where you expect additional money to come from.
Obviously you have not given the problem much thought, you can’t give what you don’t have. As for our council if they not waste money through contractual errors and other such things we would not be faced by as big a problem. What you don’t appear to understand is that the money available has been greatly reduced because the Labour Party gave it to the Bankers.
Again, GugaRoddyDan, I refer you to Andrew Walker, a sensible pragmatist, who has put the case for our community succinctly. He has asked, as all sensible people do, that the MSP and MP carry out their duty to our community. Obsessing about Shetland, as you do, does not help. Perhaps its your fishy diet?
Why does the council have less money, Labour gave it to the bankers. As for Shetland you know the answer.
For information, I note from the Comhairle web page that our MSP is meeting with all C’llors in the Council Chamber on Tues 12th Feb at 4.00pm. I hope he will have some time before this meeting to speak with John Swinney, Keith Brown and Nicola Sturgeon re my proposal that Central Govt subsidise our vital inter-island air services. The Full Council meets on 14th Feb to agree the budget, and decide where the axe will fall.
This Comhairle session on 12th Feb follows an interesting item at 2.00pm (Timetable of Meetings) headed “Community Meals Tasting Session” – this will relate to another attempt to introduce a “Frozen Meals Service” for our frail, elderly housebound. I hope they have more success this time
than previously, when nearly all service users withdrew from the service. This will save CnES money, primarily in time spent by Home Carers in (i) shopping and (ii) preparing and cooking meals (Free Personal Care). However, delivering a frozen meal, as the post-man delivers your mail, negates the need for service users to have personal time and contact with their carers. Loneliness and isolation is also a major problem for many. Perhaps the Voluntary Sector, Befriending Service, can help fill this gap. Great service provided here in Benbecula by Sheena Stewart and her team of volunteers.
That could be good news Mr.Walker, and as you say the MSP has plenty of time to put pressure on John Swinney and the other ministers to take forward your sensible suggestions . He should do this out of duty as our MSP, and the councillors should hold him to task when he meets them on the 12th of February. The MSP would win respect if he came to that meeting with some extra funding and solutions, not more letters that go unanswered, more feeble hand wringing, and more passing the buck.
What a fool Monkey is making of himself, the SNP group is the only group in the council wanting to keep the flights, the people you are defending are wanting to cut them.
LAR If you lived on Shetland like Monkey Nut you would have difficulty understanding what’s going on here. His political bias makes his view a further mockery. I have never heard of Andrew Walker up until last week. Obviously he was not very active. The SNP activists are well known across the islands. I can’t recall having ever heard his name mentioned.
GugaDanRoddy, the LARfs on you, you must be really ignorant if you don’t know that Mr Walker was the secretary, no less, of the Uist and Barra branch of the SNP. You may also have come across him at meetings for SNP council candidates before he stood for the SNP last May. He has recently resigned ,very publicly, from the SNP and he has challenged the MSP and MP to defend their constituents from the anti island policies of his former party. The LARDanRoddyGuga is very deluded if he thinks that relocating me from Barra to Shetland is helping his cause, the severe weather on Sula Sgeir must be really getting to him.
Read your comment, but it does not change anything as I never heard of him up until last week. Just think, you’ve a new hero to worship from Shetland.
You struggle to remember that the country in the state it is in because of your beloved Labour Party. They gave our money to the bankers.
Pleased you read my comment, shame you did not understand it though. I think you are going to hear a lot more of Andrew Walker in the months ahead. He is from Uist, not Shetland.
Shetland Monkey Nut I did understand your comment but it does not change that you live on Shetland. Mind you, your political understanding is not very good. Remember it was the Labour Party who created this economic mess. Why don’t you write to Mr Miliband and ask for the Scottish Grant to be increased.
Here we are in the last quarter of the lunar phase and the GugaDodderyDan still does not get it. Your party has been in power in Scotland since 2007, the Tories/ Lib Dems have been in power in the UK since 2010, and the SNP form the largest party on the Comhairle, despite your attempts to smear those independents who are genuinely so- some of them are or were SNP supporters but they would not support the current SNP crew under any circumstances I am told. I hear they have dumped the fellow from down here who used to be their leader under very mysterious circumstances. I don’t suppose you know him either. Ronnie, Donnie and David do a good job for us, and they speak out against SACs, the haulage tax, pathetic ferry services and other local issues without fear or favour. The winter service to Castlebay is atrocious, even without weather disruptions, Mallaig – Lochboisdale ruled out despite promises, and no sign of any representation from the ones who are paid handsomely from the public purse- the MP, MSP and the invisible councillor.
How would you know, the Shetland ferry does not pass Castlebay. Silly me, you already know that as a user of the Shetland ferry. I’m quite sure that God will punish people like Blair and Brown and their supporters. Unfortunately Labour are not God fearing people , just like yourself. Labour did not even want to consult the church on same sex mariage. They just wanted to make it happen without consultation. Shame on people like you, God will remind you of your evilness.
DodderyDanGuga, your latest post makes me pity you even more. You should seek urgent help for your condition- seriously. May I refer you to the KJV, St. Matthew, chapter 7, verses1-5, especially verse 5 which is very relevant toyou, you poor deluded soul.
PS, God knows I have never been to Shetland- truthfully.
Now get on your knees.
I’m informed by a reliable paramedic that the cost of calling out an Air Ambulance is in excess of £6,000 + Scot Govt subsidy. NHS W Isles don’t seem too concerned that any reduction/cessation to inter-island air services on Barra/Benbecula/Stornoway routes will lead to increased demand for the Air Ambulance (an inevitable consequence). Some heads need knocking together here, and this will only happen if the Scot Govt intervene. This action should be initiated by our MSP Dr Allan, as I pleaded in my original letter.
Absolutely bang on the button Mr. Walker. So why is the our MSP, Dr. Allan, not taking any action?
This is another fine example of our Labour Council playing with peoples lives. No other council in the land would make this decision. It is another example of the mindless councillors in the southern isles selling the people they represent short. Monkey Nut when will you accept that it was your party who caused this mess and it is your party who will endanger lives. Again the poor are to pay for the rich.
GugaDanDoddery, you must be the only cybernat in the Western Isles who keeps punting the falsehood that it is a Labour Council. The largest group is the SNP, now reduced to six, and a Labour group of three, with the rest made up of independents, some of whom vote SNP, some of whom vote Labour, but the vast majority of them are truly independents. All of them, with the exception of the SNP group, put the needs of the islands first. So why is the SNP MSP doing nothing to state the case for the Western Isles, as outlined by Mr. Walker? Is he incapable, or is he always going to put his party first?
What about Docus, McCormack, Crighton, Nicolson, Macleod etc. Do they not count ? Do they not side with the official Labour directives. Why do they try to deceive the people. Truly independent my backside. Only a true Labour person like yourself would tell that lie. What about your party who made this mess, shows how independent you are when you can’t admit it, Miliband can.
DanGugaDoddery, no amount of blameshifting can hide what more and more people in the islands believe, and that is that the MSP and MP do nothing to protect us from disastrous SNP policies as ably articulated by Andrew Walker, the former SNP activist.
Monkey Nut that might be what the people in Shetland think but not the Western Isles. As for our Labour Council they are acting irresponsibly just the way Labour behaves across Scotland. I see you no longer contest it is a Labour Council. Tou still have to admit to yourself that Labour caused the mess and that every council is having to make cuts. The Scottish Government can’t borrow money so where do you expect the extra cash to come from. The Red Hot Labour in Glasgow Council would not behave as badly as our council.
Clearly my previous posts have not made it past your limited understanding. I suppose Andrew Walker is also from Shetland. Did you have a bad experience there a few years ago, or was that Orkney?..
What about you accepting your party caused the the economic mess and that the Western Isles Labour Party’s irresponsible behaviour towards the council budget. I wonder why someone living in Shetland worries about another council area.
Once again, my dear dumb friend, I do not, and have never lived on Shetland, I have never even been there, not even to mine Shetland Gold!
The irresponsibility within the local council comes entirely from the SNP group, who have buried their heads in the sand and refused to participate in the budget setting process. No doubt they will showboat when the budget is set and make ridiculous unworkable proposals. I hear the group are still excluding our man from the South from their meetings, as well as their press releases. Why has this happened and what on earth is going on?
Can you tell us GugaDanRoddy or is it all the fault of the Shetlanders?
See that you are losing the debate when you have resorted to name calling. As for the Labour council budget, you obviously believe in stopping the inter-island subsidy putting lives at risk. Just the same as school buses, people don’t matter. Typical, Labour minded people prepared to put their party before the lives of people. The SNP Councillors are the only ones showing any sense. Why is the BCCI money not being used, when peoples lives are at risk that’s an emergency. Why can’t your your beloved friends on the Council do the right thing. How’s your weather in Shetland, has the wind abated yet.
I have no idea about the weather in Shetland, RoderickGugaDonald, but here in Barra we have been waiting for days for a ferry and supplies are running low, hardly a “Gold” service, eh?
I have no friends on the council and the person who should represent me there has let me, and a lot of others, deeply disappointed.
All the wind seems to come from your direction, RGD, as usual.