IT'S AN ILL WIND

         I have been thinking about wind farms lately;  this has been sparked off by letters in the Glasgow Herald between various nationalists, and the Labour candidate for Perth and North Perthshire.   I  laughed aloud at a comment in the Labour chap's letter, when he wrote "There are currently only three proven technologies for the bulk generation of electricity:  wind, nuclear and burning fossil fuels."  Perth is the Headquarters of Scottish Hydro Electric, Pitlochry (North Perthshire?) contains the Loch Tummel Dam, and there are a few other Hydro Electric schemes around, Loch Awe in Argyll springs to mind.   The man is not very knowledgable about Scotland, or electricity;  last November, I visited the Hoover Dam in Nevada/Arizona while on holiday, and boy, do they generate electricity..............

         So, what of wind farms and their effect on the environment?  I have to confess that I am somewhat puzzled by this development;  on the one hand it would seem to be a fact that global warming, significantly influenced by the burning of fossil fuels, is going to present mankind with a lot of problems in the future.  From this point of view, then wind farms producing electricity from natural sources, with no ongoing "air" pollution side effects, would seem to be a winner.  On the other hand,  energy is consumed mainly where the population is at its densest, while the wind farms are situated out in the country.

         A few years back, while on a trip to Strasbourg, I noticed wind farms surrounding the port of Zeebrugge;   the area was one where there was an intensive use of  space, both water and land, and quite frankly, the substitution of wind turbines for warehouses and container parks was somewhat of an aesthetic benefit.   In this case, image pollution, as distinct from air pollution, was happening where the power was required, so killing two birds with one stone;  perhaps that is an unfortunate allusion, as birds are very much threatened by wind turbines.

       A few thoughts, somewhat random:  Scotland, to my understanding, is a net exporter of electricity;  one proposal, to build a massive wind farm in the Western Isles, with an undersea cable to bring the power to the mainland and thence to the south of England, does not appear to be in our best interests.   Also the fact that turbines only work at wind speeds of between 9 and 50 miles per hour is also a hazard;  in the last few weeks alone, howling gales would have meant no electricity at the times when it was most needed.   We are also hearing of a plan to have a wind farm in Edinburgh, on Salisbury Crags, beside the new Scottish Parliament, and this brings a further aspect;  the biggest industry in Scotland is tourism, and to put it bluntly, tourists come to see our mountains, rivers and lochs, and our fine buildings  -  not forests of turbines.

           I remember one of the SNP policies from some years ago;  we had a large number of unemployed youths, and no jobs for them.  The plan was to employ them on insulating homes;  they would be trained, and paid, and the general health of the population would improve, with damp unhealthy housing becoming a thing of the past, there would be more money, as people would not be spending as much on heat, and there would be a natural energy conservation.   Whatever happened to that noble, and practical vision?

THAT BLOWS NO GOOD?

Here is the SNP policy on Renewable Energy, to round this subject off.

Remote areas are among the best locations for renewable energy generation, but under the Government's plans remote energy generators will have to pay much more to connect to the National Grid than those around more populous areas. Scottish generators would therefore be penalised and their viability threatened, while generators - such as those around London - would actually receive subsidies.
 

• Independence would give Scotland control over energy policy and the opportunity to harness our renewable energy potential.

• Renewable energy could become a profitable and environmentally sustainable industry for Scotland, creating jobs and contributing to economic prosperity.

• Only the SNP can be trusted to develop Scotland's renewable energy potential - to benefit our economy and our environment.

THE RENEWABLE MONARCHY

         It seems to have been generally received wisdom that Prince Charles  was, if not quite a wimp, at least a woolly-minded do-gooder;  this view looks certain to be revised as Members of the Westminster Parliament start to scrutinise the financial affairs of the Duchy of Cornwall, according to an article in the Observer. 

             Charlie was given the 700 year old estate as a 21st birthday present from his maw, Queen Elizabeth, in 1969;  this was because he did not get any cash from the Civil List, and he needed a source of income. (I am a bit sceptical of that comment).   According to reports, the estate includes 70,000 acres in Devon, 18,000 acres in Cornwall, 15,000 acres in Somerset, and the Isles of Scilly.   It also includes land mark properties, such as the Oval cricket ground.    In 1993, he had an income of almost £3 million from the estate, but last year he collected £12 million;  the estate is now very conservatively valued at £463 million, because Charlie has been buying up office blocks, retail outlets and a string of businesses.  The duchy pays no corporation tax or capital gains tax.

          He is not allowed to sell any part of the estate, but he came up with a shrewd move, that awed creative accountants;  he needed money in 1999 after his very expensive divorce settlement, but he could not sell anything.  He decided that the trees on the estate belonged to him personally, and not to the estate;  he then sold them to the estate, which he owned, and pocketed £2.3 million.  So he effectively sold what he claimed he owned to himself;  it will be interesting to see what the Westminster MPs, no strangers to convoluted transactions themselves, will make of that little lot.
          
             And while Charlie is doing very nicely, ostensibly without public money,  his younger brother, Andrew, Duke of York,  is getting through wads of public cash travelling up and down the country;  he spent £3,600 of our money travelling by an RAF jet on a 96 mile trip to a military base in Somerset, and £32,000 flying back and forward to St Andrews during his year as captain of the Royal and Ancient Golf Club.  In all, he spent £325,000 on one year on travel, mainly because he wanted to get places in a hurry and thought public transport was beneath his dignity;  one wonders what important things he did with the time saved?

             And to round off this little tale, a totally unconnected letter in the Herald from Ian Hamilton QC (No Stone Unturned): 
         
              "In 1943, while still a schoolboy, I volunteered for the armed forces.  I was converted from a socialist conscientious objector by reading of the Holocaust.  I have now achieved consultant rank and am a Queen's Counsel.   Why must my success force me to advertise a monarchy I detest and an odious family whose behaviour negates everything I fought for then and still fight for now?"

         For a number of years, my wife and I, like countless other Scots, have been holidaying abroad;  we don't go for the scenery, or the history, but for the weather.  The scenario was usually taxi to Edinburgh Airport (hopefully), flight to, mainly Majorca, and relaxation, knowing that every day will be sunny.  A couple of years back, we went with friends on a Mediterranean cruise;  the same scenario, except that we were on a ship instead of in a hotel.

             What I found fascinating was the activity in every port we visited;   there were big ships, wee ships, car ferries, passenger ferries, yachts, cruisers and people and goods going off and on ships all the time.  It is only when you watch the vast number of containers being loaded on to the ferries that you realise that virtually everything going to islands goes by sea, and it is normally only people coming in by air, or to put it another way, when the bus meets you coming off the plane in Majorca, you never wonder how the bus got there in the first place!

            And so to shipbuilding;  this week, the Chief Executive of Ferguson Shipbuilders on the Clyde has gone public with the fact that in the last 6 months his company has lost £80 million worth of government contracts to Poland.  He pointed out that Fergusons is the last shipyard in the UK competing for new build commercial work, and that while they might expect to get Caledonian MacBrayne and the Northern Lighthouse Board ships, these were being built in Poland.   While the government claims that price is king, he thinks it very odd that Poland is not building ships for other EU members;  Germany, France and the Netherlands all manage to award their government contracts to their own shipbuilders, so why is the UK different?  Or do these countries classify more ships as "grey ships", meaning Navy ships which can be exempted from the EU rules?    (Only heard that expression on Newsnight!)

            The row rumbles on, with the Polish shipbuilder saying everything is fair and square, and that the subsidies given are in accordance with EU regulations;  the comment on Newsnight by Fergusons that the Poles were quoting less for the ships that the cost of the material came after the Poles had responded, so there is a muddying of the waters somewhere.   Interesting too, that Western Ferries, who run the Gourock - Hunter's Quay crossing on the Clyde, bought their last two ferries from Fergusons and they were delivered on budget and on time.  As a private company they can go where they want, but obviously they made the best commercial decision;  they take a somewhat gleeful view that they, as a private company, are investing in Scotland, while their rivals, Caledonian MacBrayne, using taxpayers money, are exporting jobs to Poland.   The decision on the CalMac ferries is in the hands of civil servants and politicians, and their handling of the Scottish Parliament fiasco did not fill us with confidence.

            Britain is an island;  take a look around any supermarket, and try to estimate how much of the goods on display originate in Britain.  Bread, probably, depending on where the flour came from, milk - certainly, potatoes -  Egypt, Cyprus?   Beef probably, pork perhaps, bacon - tasting of fish as the Danes feed the pigs on fish meal coming from their quotas in the North Sea.    The list in endless;  we do not notice that a great shipbuilding tradition and an industry has been allowed to die, and that other countries are now making money over the provision of essential services.    The late Aneurin Bevin said "This island is made mainly of coal and surrounded by fish.  Only an organising genius could produce a shortage of coal and fish at the same time."  Coal for power stations is imported, by ships built elsewhere, fishing  has been all but wiped out, and the rest of Europe is laughing at what Britain has become, and Westminster squanders the next great natural resource - oil.    Time to get shot of London.

        Former Liberal MSP, and former Tory MP, Keith Raffan, is being investigated by the Scottish Parliament's auditors for his extremely high expense claims, which showed him driving hundreds of miles, even on days when he was attending functions morning, noon and night in Edinburgh.

          Mr Raffan resigned his seat due to ill health;  probably suffering from car sickness.

      Dr Christopher Clayson died in January at the age of 101; he was the Chairman of the Committee which examined Scotland's licensing laws in the early 1970s,  and was credited with transforming Scotland's male-dominated drinking culture.

       Serious concerns are now being raised at binge drinking by Scottish women.

        It was widely alleged that when Mark Thatcher was making a living as an arms dealer he used the words "It's time to pay up for Mumsie".

         Reciprocation is the name of the game; when he was fined over a quarter of a million pounds by the South African authorities for financing the leasing of a helicopter to be used as an "air ambulance" in Equatorial Guinea, Mumsie paid it.  (One of Sir Mark's associates, Nick du Toit, a South African arms dealer, was sentenced to 34 years imprisonment in Equitorial Guinea; he obviously didn't have a Mumsie.)

        
        Keep getting bumph from The New Party, whose head office is in Northumberland Avenue in London;  they now seem to have an office in Livingston.

        They obviously don't know much about the Scottish political scene, as their literature is sent to me as a Director of the Scots Independent.

        A bit mixter maxter this week, as my software refuses to paste Party Press Releases, so I have had to re-write them;  since updating my Norton Anti Virus and Outlook Express I have had nothing but problems.

         Mike Weir  MP, Scottish Shadow Minister for Work and Pensions , has expressed concern at the government's intentions over incapacity benefit, after a speech by the Prime Minister.

         Mr Weir said "Clearly, the government have incapacity in their sights as a cost cutting measure, and the Prime Minister's comments will cause a great deal of concern.
        
          "Whilst anyone who is able to work should be given every incentive and help to get back into work it is simply unacceptable to pile pressure on vulnerable people who are sick or incapacitated.   Suggested reductions in benefit would cause misery to many families who already exist on low incomes.

            "Any changes in these benefits should be handled sensibly and compassionately and those on incapacity benefit should not become the latest victims of the government's spin machine."

           SNP MP, Annabelle Ewing, has challenged the government over its plans for the introduction of a Supreme Court.  In particular, the Bill fails to return final appellate jurisdiction over civil cases to Scotland.

          She said "These proposals are a huge missed opportunity by the government.  At long last we had the chance to the 18th century anomaly that placed final appellate jurisdiction over civil legal cases south of the border.   Scots Law is devolved, and we should have used this opportunity to bring final civil court appeals into line with criminal cases where final appeal lies in Scotland.

   "As they stand, these plans also fail to respect the integrity of Scots Law.  The new Supreme Court will not be distinct in all its aspects from English Law as is required under the Treaty of Union.  This is yet another attack on the very fabric of the Scottish nation and the SNP will continue to fight these plans."

                Shadow Health Minister, Ms Shona Robison, MSP, has called on the Scottish Executive to urgently tackle the crisis in dental services across Scotland.  A report to the Health Committee has revealed :

       There are only 5.57 dentists per 10,000 people in Scotland compared with 12.75 in Norway.

        91.1% of dentists said they did not intend to increase time spent treating NHS patients over the next two years.

        Only 37% of dentists are accepting all categories of adult patients on the NHS and 42% of dentists currently treating children are not accepting children on to their lists.

        The Executive are unlikely to meet their pledge to make free dental check-ups available to all by 2007 unless there is a significant increase in NHS provision.

         Executive incentives have so far failed to increase the number of dentists carrying out NHS work.

             SNP Holyrood Leader, Ms Nicola Sturgeon MSP, has written to the First Minister calling on him to withdraw the comments he made to schoolchildren about "getting drunk once in a while."

             Ms Sturgeon has labelled the comments as ill-judged, especially as alcohol abuse lies behind many cases of violent crime, ill health and domestic abuse.

            She said "Mr McConnell must recognise that his comments were ill judged and inappropriate.  As First Minister, he has a duty to promote responsible drinking, especially when talking to a group of young people."

        Shadow Justice Minister, Kenny MacAskill MSP has reacted to the latest figures on cases of domestic abuse in Scotland;   the cases show an increase of 10% over the last year.

     He said "The increase of 10% in reported abuse cases is cause for increasing alarm in Scotland.   No one deserves to live in fear in their own home.  This is not only a criminal matter, it is a social and cultural crisis.   We need to address both the criminality of this matter but also the other underlying causes of domestic abuse in order to eradicate this scourge from our society."