NEWS RELEASE

OUTER HEBRIDES TRANSPORT GROUP DEMAND THAT MINISTER GIVES ACCESS TO ALL

Gail Robertson of DJ Buchanan Haulage in Benbecula and Co-ordinator of the Outer Hebrides Transport Group said: “The Scottish Government should remember that it’s islanders that want the meeting on Tuesday. By denying islanders access to a meeting in Edinburgh, Scottish Transport Minister, Keith Brown is behaving like a football manager who wants to select not only his own team but also his opponents’.
“We will be taking a full squad to St Andrew’s House in the hope and expectation that Mr Brown will reconsider his position”.

One of those denied a chance to make the case for the retention of RET for commercial vehicles, livestock haulier and agricultural supplier, Norman MacAskill of Drimore Farm on South Uist, said: “I can’t believe that the transport minister is so arrogant that he feels he can dictate to the islands who can go and speak with him and I can’t believe how politically impotent our MSP Alasdair Allan is.
“How on earth can Mr Allan not secure a meeting for people involved in crofting, fishing, construction, fish farming and weaving. Regardless of his attitude we will be going to Edinburgh and hope that Mr Brown will let us into the meeting. Islanders are now appreciating the devastating impact the removal of RET will have on every household and business.
“This SNP tax will have a devastating effect on our economy. Mr Brown would do well to remember that the first SNP representative in the islands was Donald Stewart who campaigned for RET and he would be turning in his grave if he were to appreciate what the SNP Government were proposing. People might think that Islanders have heather growing out their ears but we assure Mr Brown that we are not coming with sticks and knives”

David Wood of Woody’s Express said: “The behaviour of the SNP on this issue has been breathtakingly arrogant. We have a simple message for Keith Brown. We want a continuation of RET for commercial vehicles and we want the government to undertake a proper consultation and not to fob islanders off with the sham they are calling a consultation.
“Islanders are amazed that the government is choosing who can lobby them and shutting the door to a representative group – we hope they will see sense before Tuesday afternoon.”

Find out more about Champis on the owners’ blog at : http://gardsbacken.blogspot.com/  If you have the latest version of Google Chrome, for example, it will automatically translate the Swedish bits.

More from the Stornoway fuel meeting from Maciver TV

More footage of how a string of Scottish Fuels flunkies tried in vain to defend their pricing policy in the Western Isles.

Office of Keith Brown
Scottish Transport Minister

Dear XXXXXX

The Outer Hebrides Transport Group will not be accepting as specified, the invitation to meet with Transport Minister Keith Brown MSP.

We are appalled that Keith Brown and our MSP Alasdair Allan are manipulating the list of people who can go and represent more than 90 island based companies who’ve signed up for our campaign, at the meeting scheduled for Edinburgh next Tuesday. And to add further insult Mr Brown is offering us only 45 minutes of his time.

Barmy Brown thinks he and Allan can decide who can complain

As you should know by now, the withdrawal of RET for commercial vehicles is not an issue that solely concerns the hauliers of these islands. This economic folly will impact on every family and business in the Outer Hebrides. And our Group is implacably opposed to the flawed household and haulage tax that the SNP Government is determined to implement in two months’ time.

Sadly, fundamental democratic principles and the conventions of common courtesy have been jettisoned by Mr Allan and the Transport Minister. Can they explain why the names of our MP, Angus Brendan MacNeil, (critical of the policy) and our council leader Angus Campbell (a critic also) have been omitted from the list those of those “approved” to meet the SNP Government next week?

And can they further explain why SNP councillor Donald Manford has been added to the “approved” list without any reference to our Group or indication as to why he should attend and the council leader and others be denied access to the meeting.

When did the Scottish Government begin approving those fit to lobby or meet with SNP Government minister? This type of censorship, control and attempted manipulation should embarrass any democrat.

This RET issue affects every man woman and child in the Hebrides and to that end government must hear the views from across the economic community of the islands. The goods we take to and from the Hebrides sustain our economy, and hauliers are a small but vital part of that process. Our MP and our Council Leader, along with others, must be allowed to make that case in Edinburgh.

As co-ordinator of the Outer Hebrides Transport Group I was asked to bring together a representative group to meet with the minister – but I can assure you that neither I, nor my colleagues, will be bullied or coerced into meeting on the terms dictated by Alasdair Allan MSP or Transport Minister, Keith Brown.

I look forward to hearing from you and hope that they will see sense and allow our Group to determine in the normal manner those who should make the case to protect the interests of the islands economy.

Yours sincerely

Gail Robertson
Co-ordinator
Outer Hebrides Transport Group

Angry scenes at Stornoway fuel meeting by Maciver TV

Here are some exchanges at the public meeting with representatives of Scottish Fuels who turned up to deny they were responsible for high fuel prices in the Western Isles.

The chairman is Reverend Iain D Campbell and to his right is Norman Macleod, who is not only a senior manager of Scottish Fuels but also a local councillor.

Unedited.  More clips to follow.

I am now full of get up and go and brimming with positive thinking to try and get you to buy this newspaper on a Wednesday as well as every other day too. It’s just so handy in its new size. Be honest. These broadsheets really are a waste of time. They’re just too big. You can’t keep an eye on the TV news while reading them because they are just too wide and, far more importantly, when I was reading the broad P&J sheets, I couldn’t also keep an eye on the window to spy on the delightful Joan Stewart who lives up at the top of our road – except on a Monday and a Saturday when we had the handy-sized editions.

Now I can keep tabs on Joan every day of the week – and also see if her husband D A is prowling around without me having to battle with a huge wall of paper that took most of a rainforest to produce. See? Compact newspapers will help you live you enjoy life. Mrs X and I like the new size so much that we were fighting over who is going to read it first. Ony one answer. We have now ordered two copies each day. His and hers.

I’m a worrier. When I know I have a deadline, I can’t relax. When I did venture out on a Saturday eventide, it would be as well if I hadn’t gone past the front door. My head would be full of ideas as I wonderd what to write. Sometimes I would try and think of a theme with the help of some of my dearest friends.
Sitting in an alehouse with George Gawk, who has often been a source of inspiration – and who still speaks to me despite that, he suggested that I should write about positive thinking. I asked him if he had any examples that I could use.

He recounted a tale about how the fabled Angelo Dundee, the boxing manager, second, cut man and sponger offer, used to keep his all his fighters like Cassius Clay really positive by whispering to them as he sponged the streaks of blood out of their eyes. Yes, George. What did he say to them? Tell me. Tell me.
“Don’t worry, champ. I think it must be your round.” Ach, I shouldn’t have asked him. That’s pretty much George’s answer to any question you ask him.

Now, with no weekend deadline to fret over, I can go out carousing at the weekend with a clear conscience. I might still sit there with George nursing a flat iron brew, as I have done for years for the P&J cause.
Then again, I might not.

This column’s change of day means big changes for Mrs X too. Last Sunday, she did not have the pleasure of seeing me get up frightfully early to punch computer keys while she turned over and went back to snooze for a few hours. Nah, that’s not going to happen any more. I’ll lay back and relax too. Bliss.

“I ain’t going nowhere, baby. I’m staying right here with you while we read our compact-sized P&Js together. Now stop hogging that duvet. Oh, pardon me. I think I had too much of that late Saturday night curry. It’s been so long since I had one that it’s causing havoc down there.”

Now I just have to jump out of bed early and worry on a Tuesday. Oh well.
Positive thinking is a good theme. Have there been any other examples? Hmm, let me think. There was the lady here on Lewis who we heard about last week. She claimed she had nowhere to stable her pony. So she moved it into her own living room. I suppose it was positive thinking to hope that the neighbours wouldn’t complain. Sometimes positive thinking isn’t enough.

It has been claimed to help on the sports field too. Take our own local Point Football Club for example. They weren’t doing well in a match a while back, I am told. They were 3-0 down at half-time. The very positive manager was giving them a pep talk with their oranges.

It was all about how the lads had to be better at anticipating where all the other players were going to be in three seconds time, he said. They had to stop thinking of themselves as as individuals and begin working as a team.
To get them thinking about that, the coach came out with that famous inspirational line: “There is no I in team.”

Sadly, the words of encouragement did not get through to one doleful dribbler who was heard to say: “Aye, and there’s no F in Point.”

Click the arrow above to hear my interview with Stephanie Noble.

IMPORTANT NOTE – Just a word to those who have been busy putting it around to anyone daft enough to listen that Ms Noble has made a lot of money from her media interviews. That is not the case. I can say with certainty in the case of the newspapers and broadcasters I was working with that she did not ask for, and was not given, any money – although she admitted keeping a pony was a costly undertaking. Other reporters worked with other press but I understand Ms Noble also did not ask them for any money.
However, I hope that one TV station will pay for a bale of hay – when they get my expenses claim.
While I completely understand that feelings in neighbourhood disputes can run high, it is important to correct misleading impressions put around by certain people who are either badly-informed or downright mischievous.

Below is some of my footage (some unedited) that has been used by TV stations.
All material is copyrighted to Iain Maciver to whom terms for usage may be requested.

Stephanie Noble comes to the door of her home at Broadbay View in Back with Grey Lady Too, the large pony which now resides in her sitting room.

When I was back on that road about three hours later, it had been fixed. Well done, guys.

While a lot of people will moan about potholes, it is also true that very few will actually pick up the phone and call the right department and tell them exactly where it is.

PS – There is now another pothole on North Street, less than a hundred yards from the main road.