Feudal Landlord System Swept Aside
After a long debate, the Scottish Parliament this week finally approved the Land Reform Bill which will sweep away centuries of the feudal landlord system and allow public access to large areas of privately owned land. Many people in Scotland already believe that they can walk in open land anywhere in Scotland as there is no law against trespass (though landowners or farmers were able to ask intruders to leave and damage to property was always a crime). The new law will define the current vagueness, however. Under the new law, access to front and back gardens (even large ones) will be off limits and local authorities can agree to restricted access in special cases - Skibo Castle is one often used as an example. Farmer's crops are also protected, though there is still some debate over grassland where damage to hay and silage is involved. The full access code is still subject to consultation and could take another year to produce. Other provisions in the new law will mean that when an owner puts land on the market, local communities, as a group, can be given the right of first refusal at market values. But crofters (a special category of tenant in Highland areas) have the right to buy at any time, not just when it comes on the market. But they must show that they can produce sustainable development and must pay a fair price.
£450 Million to Improve Transport Links
Although many of the projects have been announced previously, an estimated £450 million package of roads and public transport improvements in central Scotland was unveiled this week by Enterprise and Transport Minister Iain Gray. More than 45% of the investment has been earmarked for public transport and will improve transport links for those living between Edinburgh and Glasgow. A number of projects that will be supported include:
~ A rail link between Airdrie and Bathgate, providing new services between the towns on the outskirts of Edinburgh and Glasgow and the city centres.
~ Improvements to the Glasgow to Cumbernauld rail service including a new park and ride site at a new Castlecary station
~ Improved bus services on the M8 and A8 between Edinburgh, Livingston and Glasgow.
~ Improving the A80 to motorway standard with a new two lane bypass at Moodiesburn.
~ Upgrading of the A8 corridor between Baillieston and Newhouse to provide the capacity of a dual three lane motorway - work on this has started already.
~ Improving the junction between the A725 (from East Kilbride) and M74
Increased Spending on Glasgow Underground
It is now 23 years since the last major overhaul of the underground train service in Glasgow. In recent years there have been increased problems with signalling faults and recurring problems with flooding. Strathclyde Passenger Transport, who are responsible for the subway, announced this week that they are to spend nearly a million pounds on upgrading the network (which runs a circular route from the centre of the city through a number of intermediate stations to Partick, then under the river Clyde to Govan before returning through other stopping points to the city centre again).
OECD Hails Glasgow's "Urban Renaissance"
A study of Glasgow by the influential Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) which lasted for a full year, has said that the city will become the "largest construction site in Europe" and the "Berlin of the next decade." It hails the giant strides taken by the agencies responsible for urban regeneration and identifies the proper planned development of the river Clyde as one of the keys to future prosperity. According to the report, the regenerated waterfront offers new opportunities for changing the economic environment - but at a cost. The developments so far announced will require capital expenditure of over £1 billion in a mixture of private and publicly financed projects.
Job Cuts in Clyde Shipyards
A gap between current orders and the start of work on the navy's new Type 45 destroyers and aircraft carriers has resulted in BAE Systems announcing the redundancy of 1,000 shipyard workers, 265 of them on Clydeside. The job losses in Scotland will mainly be at Scotstoun, where 1,550 men are currently employed. BAE had originally planned to cut 250 staff last June but had held off in the hope of landing an interim order, which did not materialise. If the yard is successful in obtaining some of the work associated with the aircraft carrier order, men will have to be recruited again. Despite the setback - one of many, over the years - there is still confidence about the long term future of shipbuilding on Clydeside.
Ambitious Extension for Monorail?
Glasgow City Council has revealed that it is looking at options to extend the future mono-rail transport system, currently planned for the city centre to Partick, to further down the river Clyde with a crossing to the south side of the river and looping back to the city. While such a system is estimated to be able to be able to cover its running costs, the capital expenditure (estimated at £120 million) would need to be provided from central government funds.
Fishermen to Contest Parliamentary Election?
Members of the Scottish White Fish Producers' Association (SWFPA) have decided to create a political party to contest seats in the Scottish parliamentary elections in May 1. They are furious at the way ministers caved in to the draconian cuts in fish quotas imposed by the European Union. They say that they have been let down by the politicians and the SWFPA candidates will concentrate on the fishing-dependent communities of north-east Scotland. Although a good showing in the election might send a powerful message to Scottish Executive ministers in Edinburgh, it would not change the decisions taken in Brussels - or increase the number of fish in the North Sea.
Scots Shop Drink and Drive Culprits
Last year, as part of the campaign to reduce the number of people drinking alcohol and driving their cars, the government introduced a scheme which paid up to £500 to people who reported anyone driving over the legal limit and who was subsequently convicted of the offence. Shopping friends or relatives might not be attractive to some people, but over the Christmas and New Year period 1,700 people took up the offer. Of these, 25% were in Scotland (which has 8% of the UK population). In the previous year, when no reward was offered in a similar scheme, only 112 Scots responded. However, the higher response in Scotland was not due to people looking for the cash reward - all but two of the callers refused to take the £500 on offer.
National Trust Seeks Traffic Ban
The National Trust for Scotland has called for a ban on traffic in Edinburgh's Charlotte Square - where the conservation agency has its HQ. The Trust claims that the Georgian Square is being spoilt by the thousands of cars passing through each day. Traffic is largely confined to only two sides at the moment and Edinburgh City Council is currently reviewing traffic management in the capital. The local Chamber of Commerce poured scorn on the Trust's proposals commenting "They do a fine job preserving the nation's heritage but it needs to understand the difference between a city centre and a museum."
Royal Jet Used in Mercy Flight
A specialist unit at the Sick Children's Hospital at Yorkhill Hospital in Glasgow has pioneered a breathing system for babies which takes over the function of the lungs, to give them a rest where certain medical conditions makes this advisable. The Yorkhill Hospital is now a UK centre of excellence in the technique. So when a sick baby at St George's Hospital in London needed the specialist treatment in an emergency, arrangements were made to send a medical team by helicopter to RAF Northolt near London. But an RAF Hercules, assigned to fly the team and the baby back to Glasgow burst a tyre on landing at Northolt airport. The RAF looked round for a replacement - and the most readily available aircraft was a BAe 146 jet of the Queen's Flight, which is normally assigned to transporting the royal family. The aircraft was immediately pressed into service for the emergency flight to Glasgow where it arrived late in the evening.
Mobile Phone Companies Ordered to Reduce Charges
All the mobile phone companies have been ordered by the government telecommunications watchdog to reduce the charges they make when users call mobile phones on other networks or to the ground-based telephone system. He says that consumers are paying far too much for these calls, compared to how much it costs the companies to provide these services. It is estimated that the reductions will save the average mobile user about £150 a year. The phone companies described the order as "harsher regulation on top of increased competition" and may appeal to the courts for a review.
Broadband Revolution for Highlands
Highlands and Islands Enterprise have unveiled a £750,000 investment in promoting broadband data communications in the area. They claim that it could produce the biggest shake-up in communications there for 50 years. The aim is to achieve broadband coverage in 95% of the Highlands and Islands, either via land-lines or by wireless or satellite. Of course, take-up will depend on users registering an interest - take-up of broadband services in the populated central areas of Scotland is very low, particularly amongst British Telecom users, despite a massive advertising campaign.
Air Scotland Apologises
The new budget airline, Air-Scotland, sold just seven budget price tickets to Spanish resorts before its Web site collapsed within minutes of its launch ten days ago. The Web site is still down but the company is now taking reservations over the telephone for the £25 flights from Glasgow to Spain. The company, a subsidiary of Greek-registered Electra Airlines, has apologised to potential customers and says that it is installing a more powerful server. The airline is planning to fly its maiden flight on March 29 from Glasgow to Palma in the Spanish Mediterranean island of Majorca.
Artist Pays His Debts
When best-selling Scottish artist Jack Vettriano was a youngster, he used to sneak into the football ground of East Fife to see the team playing its home matches. He was only plain Jack Hogan then but he has calculated that he "stole" the cost of 22 home games for about five years. At 25p a game, it would have come to a tidy sum at the time. Now that he is a popular painter whose works are bought by such figures as Jack Nicholson, Robbie Coltrane and Sir Terrence Conran, he has decided to pay back - with interest - the money he should have paid 40 years ago. So he has donated one of his paintings to the Methil club. It has not yet been decided what the club will do with the valuable painting, but an auction to raise funds is certainly a possibility. Although Vettriano's prints outsell reprinted works by Monet and Van Gogh, the self-taught artist has been shunned by the art world. None of his paintings are on show in any of Scotland's main art galleries. In 1999, when his work was first shown in New York, 20 of his paintings were sold within an hour.
Stretched Limo Company Drives for Edinburgh
The Platinum Limo Company was established three years ago in Glasgow. It buys custom-made Ford limousines at a cost of £60,000 from New Jersey, USA. They are 31 feet long - and are painted platinum instead of the more usual white or black. The cars are used for special occasions such as weddings, small groups on a night out (the cars can cater for eight passengers in supreme comfort) and corporate customers. There are telephone points for lap-top computers, TV, a quadrophonic sound system and bars serving alcohol and soft drinks. Now the company is set to expand - with an outlet in Edinburgh as a first target.
Choc Full of Surprises
Even though tap water is free (if you ignore the water tax) there has been an increasing consumption of bottled water over the years. A number of company's in Scotland have catered for this demand and one of the major suppliers is Strathmore. Of course, supplying plain water in a competitive market is not enough and fizzy, carbonated water outsells the plain variety. Now Strathmore are introducing a chocolate-flavoured mineral water - claiming that it is "guilt-free" as it contains only one calorie, despite it's definite chocolate taste. Now, if they could only produce a whisky version, with no alcoholic content, but the flavour of a Highland malt, they would be onto a real winner.
A North American Source of Haggis - and Irn Bru
Following an item in a recent edition of the "Scottish Snippets" Caledonian Kitchen got in touch to say that they can supply award-winning traditional haggis in North America, particularly for catering and Burns Suppers. While it may be too late for this year's Burns Suppers (though the "season" goes on into February) they also supply Irn-Bru and many other Scottish food items. See www.escot.net/haggis.html.
Fall in Number of Gaelic Speakers
Figures based on the recent Census, which will be published shortly by the General Registrar of Scotland, are said to show that the number of people speaking Gaelic in Scotland has fallen below 60,000 for the first time (out of a total Scottish population of around 5 million). The number of speakers has dropped by 15% in the last ten years, despite £13.5 million a year of government funding spent to boost the use of the language. £8.5 million is spent on producing Gaelic TV programmes, some of which are broadcast at prime viewing time. Language experts say that when the number of speakers falls below 50,000 there is a danger that it will become extinct. However, Gaelic speakers are up-beat and say that there has been a recent renaissance in the language - it certainly gets a fair amount of publicity and exposure. Nevertheless, Gaelic supporters complain that larger sums are spent keeping wildlife species alive than are spent on Gaelic.
McTavish Chief Corrects Unjust Link to the Campbells
Dugald MacTavish became the first chief of his clan in 210 years when he established in 1997 that he was the great-great-great-great grandson of Lachlan MacTavish, the last chief. Dugald McTavish, originally from Montreal in Canada but now living in Florida, has been trying since then to correct the "injustice" of the clan coat of arms showing that they were a branch of the Campbells. The original coat of arms were designed with the Campbell symbols more prominent than those of the McTavish clan. Now the Lord Lyon has agreed to a new coat of arms which places the MacTavish elements in the most prominent sections. There has been a long running dispute over whether the MacTavish clan is a sept (sub-branch) of the Campbells - with some MacTavishes saying that they were established before their Campbell cousins. The illustration here is the MacTavish clan crest, not the full coat of arms of the clan chief. The graphic of the crest shown above is by courtesy of Oor Wullie who creates sand carved glassware decorated with clan crests.
Hoots Mon! Dangerous Canadians on the Loose
One of the casualties of the storms in the north-east of Scotland last week was the destruction of some aviaries in Coull, north of Aboyne (west of Aberdeen). A pair of Canadian great horned owls, named Zak and Zelda and a Magellan eagle owl have been missing ever since. Five other owls which were left homeless by the storm were retrieved. Although the public have been asked to keep an eye open for the errant owls, police have warned that they are potentially aggressive. A representative of the Scottish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals says that great horned owls "are some of the most aggressive birds of prey that can be kept in captivity."
Fall in Shark Numbers
Basking sharks used to be a common sight off the west coast of Scotland but a recent study has shown that the 30ft long creatures have almost disappeared. There are now calls for the government to implement more conservation measures. Full protection within 12 miles of the coast was recently implemented but this only protects the fish within UK waters. Countries such as Norway, Japan and China still catch sharks as their fins are regarded as a delicacy and the main ingredient in shark fin soup. Their livers are also used to produce oil squalene which is used as an engine lubricant.
December's Weather Figures
The Scottish Meteorological Office has published the aggregate weather statistics for last month and they show that most parts of Scotland had temperatures above the seasonal norm, especially in the east, where some areas were 1.5C above average. Sunshine, however, was at a premium in the east, with some areas receiving only 50% of the usual amount of bright sun. There was another east-west split on rainfall, with the west being much drier than usual (the north-west coast had only 25% of the usual precipitation) while the east had up to 150% of the normal amount. The lowest temperature in December was recorded at Pollok Park in Glasgow on the night of the 19th, when the thermometer fell to -9C (15.8F) and the highest daytime temperature was 15C (59F) at Glenelg in Lochaber.
Weather Data for 2002
The weather statistics for 2002 in Scotland highlight the continuing trend to a warmer climate. It was one of the warmest years on record, 0.9C (1.6F) above the average for 1961-90. Over the last six years the mean temperature in Scotland has been 0.8C (1.4F) above the 1961-90 average. It was also a very wet year - Aberdeen and Leuchars (in Fife) had their wettest years since records began in the 1920s and Eskdalemuir, one of the wettest parts of the country even in normal times, had its wettest year since 1928. In southern Scotland, despite the higher temperatures, sunshine was below average but the north of Scotland had above the normal levels of clear skies.
Weather in Scotland This Week
Temperatures declined from around 7/8C (45/46F) at the start of the week to a chillier 5/6C (41/43F) later in the week but then bounced back up to a milder 10/12C (53/54F) on Friday. It was generally another dull, dreich week, with a lot of cloud cover, showers and little sunshine. Glasgow had a total of around one hour's sunshine all week. Aberdeen, however, fared better, recording 4.4 hours on Thursday.
This week's illustration of current flowers in Scotland is of a sloe bush - also known as blackthorn or "prunus spinosa". The gardening books describe this as a plant which flowers in March and I certainly saw some in April last year. Certainly, this one was near the centre of Edinburgh - in Princes Street Gardens, sheltering under the castle rock.
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