Author Archives: davidsberry

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About davidsberry

Local ex-councillor, tour guide and database designer. Keen on wildlife, history, boats and music. Retired in 2017.

Ehhhh: What’s Up, Doc?

Posted on June 22, 2012 by davidsberry

Yesterday saw the first UK-wide doctors’ strike in decades. It was over proposed changes to their pensions and, although the government tried to play it down and a fair number of doctors showed up for work anyway, there were still … Continue reading →

Posted in Commerce, Community | Leave a comment

Lost in Translation

Posted on June 21, 2012 by davidsberry

Recently, SNP Westminster leader Angus Robertson, a fluent German speaker, was interviewed in Wiener Zeitung (The Vienna Newspaper). In it, he urges caution in allowing himself to be described as a ‘nationalist’ because of continuing strong right-wing overtones in that … Continue reading →

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Looking a Sea Horse in the Mouth

Posted on June 20, 2012 by davidsberry

Yesterday, Marine Scotland published a controversial report on fish stocks in the Firth of Clyde as the Clyde Ecosystem Review. Whereas two years ago, a similar report had predicted that the estuary was “about to become a marine desert” this … Continue reading →

Posted in Commerce, Environment | Leave a comment

Who You Calling ‘Foreign’?

Posted on June 19, 2012 by davidsberry

I often wonder at the genuineness of unionist ‘confusion’ at what Scotland being a normal country would involve. Every other day another academic is dragged out from some ivory tower to furrow his distinguished brow over whether the sun could … Continue reading →

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Stranger Scotland; Untied Kingdom: It SSUKs

Posted on June 18, 2012 by davidsberry

I am encouraged by rumours of an imminent ‘No’ campaign launch. It is high time that those who claim the present Union is the best of all possible worlds for the Scottish people extended their campaign beyond procedural quibbles and … Continue reading →

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Can’t Get There from Here

Posted on June 15, 2012 by davidsberry

Readers of a gentle disposition in no mood for a rant—much less an anorak rant—are advised to point their browsers elsewhere. Yesterday I spent the day trying to pull together a coherent picture of public transport in the North Berwick … Continue reading →

Posted in Commerce, Transport | Tagged | 2 Comments

In Deep Guano

Posted on June 14, 2012 by davidsberry

After years of biting my tongue, I have put myself on our major local charity’s ‘shit list’. This week, East Lothian Council’s new Cabinet approved a paper several years in the making, setting up an arm’s-length North Berwick Harbour Trust … Continue reading →

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CoSLA Gets Grumpy

Posted on June 13, 2012 by davidsberry

The Convention of Scottish Local Authorities is, even by its own admission, something of an anorak organisation. Tucked away in the monolithic glass-and-concrete office blocks trapped between the endless tram works on Haymarket Terrace and the endless trains streaming through … Continue reading →

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A Gorgon for Me; A Gorgon for Me

Posted on June 10, 2012 by davidsberry

Ed Milliband’s speech on “Defending the Union” given at the South Bank’s Royal Festival Hall on June 7th was, in many ways, long overdue. Despite Tory protestations at being the prime defenders of the United Kingdom (although the ‘Unionist’ part … Continue reading →

Posted in Politics | Tagged , | 1 Comment

EIS empty vessels making a lot of noise

Posted on June 9, 2012 by davidsberry

EIS empty vessels making a lot of noise.

Posted in Education | Leave a comment