More Unnecessary Deaths

Twenty- two year old James Wright from Weymouth in Dorset, died in Camp Bastion's field hospital on Friday after a grenade was thrown into his patrol's checkpoint in the Nad-e Ali district of Helmand province.  Last night his family and colleagues praised his courage and bravery.


James was a member of 42 Commando Royal Marines and his Commanding Officer stated he had spent the past four months in an 'austere combat outpost' in Afghanistan.  His death brings the total number of British military killed to 378 since the war began in 2001.


Yesterday thirty-one US and seven Afghan special forces died in the biggest single loss yet for foreign troops in the 10-year war. Taliban insurgents claimed they shot down the helicopter which contained the military personnel.  I watch Barack Obama act the sorrowful politician when he acknowledged the incident.


Surely this will cause Americans to stand up and shout 'enough' then US politicians will be forced to take notice of their protests.  There is little chance any British politicians will listen to those of us who feel this war completely futile.  We rely upon the Americans to drive the message home to their representatives, who in turn, influence our shallow, misinformed and self-absorbed government.

Take Your Pick

Apologies for the lack of posting, but I installed Snow Leopard on this computer on Thursday and found I couldn't adjust some fonts which were too small, so I decided to revert to my previous OS system. That worked but Apple's superb Time Machine didn't. After many hours, courtesy of a visit to the Apple Store in Aberdeen today, my backup was manually installed by a whiz kid sporting wonderful facial piercings. I was too overcome by his click, click, clicking to ask much.


Now I'm back to my old OS system and the fonts are still all over the place however I have my computer back.


One lesson I've learned is that I must update my iPad more frequently because I should have been able to post from that source.


For some months I've been trying to widen the blog and can't find a way without delving deep into the HTML world which is, to me, the equivalent of computer hell.  However, I had these links saved earlier and do hope they're of interest, albeit controversial, to you.

Norway - Inside Job

Future Army Structure

What length o' graith will ser'e a woman duly?

Panorama's half-hour temperance commercial

The 'Forward March' of Scottish Nationalism and the End of Britain As We Know It

Report Your Local Anarchist

Libdem Infighting Goes Public

Sir Ming, that stalwart North East Fife Libdem MP, has launched an unprecedented attack on his party colleague Danny Alexander over the closure of Leuchars RAF base.

He has even suggested Mr Alexander interfered in the basing review to save his parliamentary seat. Surely Danny Alexander wouldn't use his position as chief secretary to the Treasury to influence vital decisions relating to the defence of the UK?

Sir Ming thinks otherwise and has accused the whipper-snapper of lobbying for the retention of Lossiemouth, which borders his Inverness, Badenoch and Strathspey constituency, to 'assist his political credibility'. Tensions are so bad within the Libdems that party bosses were forced to bring them together for a clear-the-air-meeting, but that appears to be unsuccessful and now Sir Ming has chosen to vent his anger publicly.

"It's a remarkable coincidence that these decisions should have been thought to assist the political credibility of the chief secretary to the Treasury. Or is it?

"The result of the closure of Leuchars is that the RAF has been banished to the north of Scotland. The army's preferences have been met at the expense of proper strategic analysis."

Of course Sir Ming's outburst is to assist his own credibility as he wants to be seen as fighting to the bitter end to keep the RAF in his constituency, but such infighting by senior government members forces me to consider whether anyone in the Westminster government has a clue about military strategy and to suggest that today's policies are being made on a wing and a prayer.

Alex Salmond welcomed the change of use at Leuchars from RAF to Army as 'a substantial consolation prize' for Fife and I can only agree it will benefit the area as much as the RAF's presence.

One important aspect of the changeover which hasn't been mentioned by Liam Fox, Sir Ming or Danny Alexander is the airstrip.  A couple of months ago Ryanair visited the base to check out the new £27m runway but nothing more has been said about its future - until now.

Alex Salmond is to ask the MoD to examine the possibility of the air strip being used for commercial airline flights and he hopes to convince the MoD to make it an 'embarkation point' for troops across Scotland.  If Scotland is to have a major increase is Army personnel, Leuchars would be the most sensible aviation base for them; thus avoiding the costs of using commercial airports such as Edinburgh and Prestwick.

The Scottish government also wants to investigate the base being used for commercial flights and this must be encouraged.  Leuchars is currently used for private flights - mainly for those visiting St Andrews - but it would be an act of folly to allow the newly refurbished air strip to lie unused.

Such a shame Sir Ming and the manny Danny couldn't put their energies into ensuring the MoD and Westminster government give this issue a high priority, rather than conduct an argument in public which is of little, or any, interest to the public.

source

'Very Good For The Local Economy'

Occasionally I wish myth-busters didn't exists since it can be more comforting to believe the fable.

It must have been nearly 50 years ago since I first saw the statue of the Skye terrier Greyfriars Bobby atop his pedestal near the main entrance to Greyfriars Kirkyard in Edinburgh. I've always been slightly disappointed when I see it because it lacks some of the character and features of a terrier, but the memorial, with its accompanying fountain, is a lasting tribute to the loyalty of man's best friend.

In my childhood every wee one knew the story of how the policeman's wee dug sat on his master's grave for many years, before submitting to old age himself.

Now, after five years of research, a British historian Jan Bondeson has published a book in which he dispels the story as traditionally told. Bobby was a stray and there were two of them according to Mr Bondeson.  He says his research shows the first dog died in 1867 and was replaced with another by Mr Brown, the cemetery curator and Mr Traill, a local restauranteur. These two men were responsible for spreading the story and visitors to the churchyard increased 100-fold, with many donating money to Mr Brown and refreshing themselves at Mr Traill's establishment.

Locals supported the fable as they had no desire to cause upset and they too were aware that Bobby ! and 2 were very good for the local economy.

Although Mr Brown and Mr Traill were entrepreneurs they were not in the same league as Disney who produced, in 1961, a sickly sentimental film starring a dog named Bobby and a fictional farmer as his owner. It was a box office success. Even today, having seen it several times, I still think it's one of the many films which had a little too much of the Hollywood treatment, although, for me, that enhances its entertainment value.

Mr Bondeson admits it won't be possible to debunk the story of Greyfriars Bobby but his research sounds as intriguing as the original story. Maybe it's time I removed my rose-tinted glasses and had a read of his book.

source (Wiki)

Council Corruption And The Commissioner's Office

Although it has its drawbacks, I like where I live.  In fact I feel quite privileged to live in an area which is in, what some would call, a time warp.  We don't like sudden change. Local councillors over the years are fully aware of their electorate's attitudes and never push the boundaries excessively. Incomers - like myself - initially want to see 'modern', but within a short time realise modern isn't necessarily better.

Most people abide by the rules of the local authority's planning department where alterations to their homes are concerned, but occasionally some have been confused about particular projects being granted planning permission when the completed project is nothing like the original plan.

The local community isn't into meetings at the drop of a hat, but one local building development - one of the biggest undertaken for some years - has integrated the community without exception.  Taking on the 'big boys' is a fruitless task, yet it was hoped that local councillors could put forward a good enough case (compiled by a small group) for radical changes to the plan.  Unfortunately, the majority of the councillors on the Planning Committee involved in this development live at least 20 miles from the area and had no interest in it whatsoever.  Their concerns were with the financial benefits to the council coffers and their disdain for hundreds affected by a development built on a green field site was obvious.

I am not suggesting there was any corruption whatsoever between councillors and council officials - quite the contrary, because I know the effort my own councillors put in to this particular planning application and they whole-heartedly supported the objectors.

Some of us, no matter where we live in the UK, will have - through legislation - been beholden to a council planning department.  I have and it wasn't a pleasant experience, but that's another story, dimmed very slightly by the passage of 20 years.

Some time ago my local paper, The Courier, reported misdemeanors within the council's planning department and I've been following its efforts to acquire the names, via the Freedom of Information Act, of those in Perth and Kinross's planning department who were involved in a 'cash for warrants' scandal.

It's alleged that certain planning officials took bribes in the form of cash for drawing up and approving building warrants. A building warrant is the 'sign off' for those planning applications which have been completed.  Last year, after the FOI request from my local paper, the council began an investigation into three members of staff, which resulted on one being sacked, another resigned with the third being given a warning and moved to another post.  The council refused to name those involved in their response to The Courier's FOI.

Two of the staff involved were officers from my own area and people ought to be told the names of those who undertook these corrupt practices. How often have applications been refused and when questioned the answer is it was the Chief Planning Officer's decision? This must happen all over the UK and allows the electorate, regardless of the thousands of complaints we must put in writing, no influence whatsoever.

The Courier as been tenacious in their efforts to have those responsible named - a plausible stance, particularly when it would appear some planning department officials entertained the corrupt practise for some years.

In response to the Courier's appeal against the council's excuse of the Data Protection Act forbidding them supplying the information requested, the Information Commissioner said:

"The commissioner considers that there is a general public interest, where complaints have been raised about the service and conduct of front-line staff in a public authority to understand what action, if any, has been taken to address these complaints.

"This interest also ties in with the general public interest in ensuring that public authorities which receive and spend public money are both transparent and accountable. The commissioner also accepts that (a journalist's) role leads him to write about matters of local and national interest regarding the workings of public authorities, which affect the public.

All very positive so far but the Commisioner further stated:

"... recognises that the investigations into the conduct of certain staff raised matters of serious and genuine concern, relating to the conduct of council employees" but the right to privacy outweighed even that."(my emphasis)

There's something seriously awry in the Information Commissioner's office when investigative journalists, through FOI requests, can't discover the names of public employees who have committed serious offences, particularly since staff were warned to have no input into the preparation of building warrants as early as 2008.

Why should public employees be shielded by 'the right to privacy' when they've committed a serious offence? Over-riding public interest leaves more questions than answers.

This decision by the Information Commissioner can only encourage corruption in councils and not deter it, plus cause people to have even less faith in systems which are supposedly there to protect their interests. Someone has had success though.

source

Old Labour, Nu Labour, Nu Trendies

From a political point of view my family only went one way, Labour. There were very good reasons for that and history played no small part. The family lived in a large town, which had grown up around mining, a harbour and chemicals. An old place with strong links into the steam revolution and heritage steeped in strong community ties.

My Great-Grandfather on the male side of the family was a miner, a dangerous job without a doubt. The mine owner owned the town including all the shops. For reasons lost in history my Great Grandfather decided to try to organise the men to form or join a union. The result of course was that he lost his job and was black listed by all the employers in the area. To get by and provide for his family he sold vegetables from a cart in summer and wood in the winter. He got by and the family survived.

My Grandfather was a member of the local Labour Party when things changed after WW2. He became a Labour town and county councillor and went on to sit on various committees of which Housing was his preference.

People were always coming up to him or coming to his house to ask for his help with some council issue. I’m not aware of him ever turning anyone away although there must have been times when he felt like it. In turn my Dad was also a member of the Labour Party for all of his adult life. He helped out with canvassing, running fund raising events and supported the candidates as best he could.

These three men were proud to be known as socialists and of being Labour Party members. They had simple aims, which were based in trying to improve the lot of the workingman and to try to ensure that each generation had a better quality of life than the one before. Towards the end of my Dads life it became more difficult for him to support Labour as they changed to become Nu-Labour. He still defended them and believed the working mans vote could only go to Labour but he knew the writing was on the wall. The need to be elected at almost any cost regardless of political manifestos was replacing the need to serve the communities which candidates were elected to do in the first place.

My own views had changed over the years also. I felt that in Scotland at least, the Labour Party thought it was their country and it would remain that way forever. I felt that they weren’t trying as hard as they should have been to deliver the best for the Scottish people.

Then there was the Poll Tax incident. One morning I was accosted by a chap with a clipboard, he stuck it in front of me and asked me to sign, what was, an anti Poll tax petition. I declined. As I walked away he shouted after me “You must be doing alright” in an accusatory manner.

At that moment my support for Labour died. For all the problems with the Poll Tax I liked, and still do to this day, that everyone in the community paid something no matter how small it was. Sure there were many issues not least the scale of charge per person depending on wealth which seemed rather unfair to those with less and perhaps more generous to those who had more. At that point in my life I’d worked hard to build a decent life and provide for my family. I’d done so by working long hours and creating a viable business from nothing and it provided jobs in the local area, I paid good salaries and looked after my employees who were for the most part loyal and honest. I was just an ordinary man doing his best. I wasn’t trying to be better than anyone, have more money or more or better things than anyone, I was just living my life as I saw fit without exploiting my fellow man. I was doing well and I was playing my part in the local economy, paying taxes being a positive contributor. How dare anyone accuse me of “doing well” when I believed that doing well in a fair way and improving you and your families lot was a fundamental human aim.

My Dad liked a debate he believed that everyone’s opinion was important and that their individual views should be protected and encouraged as would be his. In the past few years, and more so recently, I wonder what my Grandfather and my Dad would make of the way things have become. I honestly doubt that they would recognise some Labour voters, activists and MPs as being socialists or even being true to Labour core aims such as they were.

Most of all though, I wonder how they would have reacted to the lecturing, meddling and sneering which seems to be such a popular part of politics. In my Grandfather and my Fathers day they took personal responsibility seriously but they also felt that they had earned the right to self-determination. The constant whining daily messages from the government based on the views of un-elected do-gooder activists would have been instantly dismissed as propaganda and pretty poor propaganda at that.

For some reason, which escapes me, left leaning politics has become fashionable. Obviously not trendy enough for them to actually get out there and do anything meaningful and worthy to improve peoples lives. No it’s more of an ethereal understanding that people need to be saved from themselves and regularly prodded in the direction depicted by the trendy left as being the correct place to be. These people also seem particularly good at saying one thing and doing another. It’s not their fault however, it’s just they have such important lives and such an important message to deliver that they have to make the best use of time which means they don’t have time to follow their own dictates.

No time for five a day. An extra wee drink to help them sleep. And a jet to save time rather than a train, which is slow and full of those, well those “people”.

If we voters get what we deserve, and it looks very, very, very likely that we do, we will have a lot of pain ahead of us. The trendy lefties will of course have moved on by then to some other cause, which will restrict our lives even further.

Contributed by Petem

Hootsmon Headlines

click to enlarge

from the ever-talented Conan

So What's The Real Story Of The Crown Estate?

Recently I wrote about the Crown Estate argument between Westminster and the Scottish government.

The best analysis of the situation has been undertaken by an Argyll blog. You can read it here.

A wee quote to whet your interest:

The notion of a partnership with Scotland has never been in the DNA of the Crown Estate Commissioners. These are the grab-it-all merchants who are only appearing to sing a slightly different tune now that they are fighting for their own continuation.

We say that they are singing only ‘a slightly different tune’ because the reality of their vaunted increased investment is not what it seems.


Update:  Apologies for not including a link to Andy Wightman's post where he discusses the Crown Estate.

Justice?

(A)  At Arbroath Sheriff Court last week a 32-year-old man, appearing from custody, admitted behaving in a threatening and abusive manner and threatening a custodial services officer at the court's holding cells. The individual had knocked over his cup of tea and reportedly turned abusive when he was told it would not be replaced. He also admitted the offence was committed while on bail.

(B)  Hundreds of miles away in Colwyn Bay, Wales, a pub landlady displayed handmade 'No Smoking' notices in her premises. Maybe they weren't as smart as the one above - which is acceptable in the US and sold on US websites - but the message would have been clear.

Which event created a large fine - A or B?

A - The offender was admonished as the Sheriff stated it 'was a storm in a teacup'.

B -  The landlady was fined nearly £300 because her notices did not comply with regulations.

Is it any wonder the public have such little faith in the justice systems, both in England and Scotland.

source

Now You See Them...

Yesterday, in an area of Dundee called the Hilltown, four multi-storey blocks were demolished in a series of controlled explosions.  The demolition is particularly amazing because these blocks were in a residential/business area which gave no leeway for the demolition company.  As you can see, all was well.

I remember the area back in the 50s when it was a bustling community with housing desperately in need of maintenance and many of the tenements still shared toilet facilities.  My school friend's mother had a draper's shop - which would be called a women's boutique today - and we both helped out on Saturdays.  She would offer tea and biscuits at 4pm and women from the surrounding homes would squeeze into the shop for the last two hours of the week, not to drink tea, but to catch up on local affairs in a warm environment. Often we would be there washing up until at least 7pm while Mrs Clarke counted her takings.  Being an astute business woman I'm sure she made a few pounds from her Saturday soirees.

When I returned to visit my school friend in the 60s, she had been allocated a house in one of these multis.  Not being a lover of lifts, I trudged to the 11th floor to visit her brand-new daughter and gaze at the exceptional view she had over the junction of the Tay and the North Sea. A year or so later my friend and her husband had saved enough to buy their own small home and I was never subjected to the climb of a multi again.

Were these concrete blocks built to give local people a better home or were they built for financial gain?  Probably a bit of both. The old homes could have been modernised but that would have been an expensive project, so the city fathers saw these concrete towers as a way to resolve the housing issue and make money at the same time.  Sadly, much of old Dundee's Hilltown community vanished when these towering structures rose out of the ground.

Will they be missed?  Perhaps by some but not by me. Dundee's council leaders have been fond of destroying the heritage of the city over the years and the 60s produced some monstrous architecture, most of which has already been demolished and replaced by more aesthetically pleasing buildings. Yesterday the landscape was enhanced by their disappearance.

video via Tris