Inside the Commons

Posted on January 30, 2015 by davidsberry

Reblog of John Plunkett’s review in The Guardian, January 29th 2015, of Michael Cockerel’s documentary of the same name to be broadcast on BBC2 on February 3rd.

There is precious little in Michael Cockerell’s documentary about the House of Commons to encourage Russell Brand, should he watch it, to cast his vote after all.

Cockerell portrays a “mother of all parliaments” in which MPs vote against their instincts to avoid ending up in their whips’ black books, and where Tory MPs use a precious opportunity at Prime Minister’s Questions to ask a question emailed to them by Conservative high command.

Granted unprecedented access, the cameras on the floor of the Commons make the bear pit of PMQs feel louder and more raucous than it does from the bird’s-eye view we see on the news. Up close and personal, they look almost human.

“The behaviour in there is just disgusting, really embarrassingly juvenile, screaming,” is the verdict of Labour MP Sarah Champion, who is still adjusting to her surroundings three years after taking office. “The fact it’s men in their 50s and 60s doing it – it’s just distasteful.”

But while much of Cockerell’s film focuses on Champion and another of the newcomers, Tory MP Charlotte Leslie, as they attempt to get to grips with the “bewildering codes and customs” of Westminster (including, until recently, free snuff for all members), it’s the big beasts we want to hear from.

Neither David Cameron nor Ed Miliband display the sort of enthusiasm for PMQs that you might hope – or expect – to see.

“Once you’re in it, you forget about the nerves and it’s ‘Try and do the best you can,’” says Miliband. “The anticipation, I find, is worse than the reality.”

“There isn’t a Wednesday that you don’t feel total fear and trepidation about what is about to happen,” adds Cameron. No wonder he’s not keen on the TV debates.

George Osborne also appears, but he isn’t interviewed in this first episode. Maybe it’s just the music, but there’s something about the chancellor’s pre-budget prep talk – “We’ve got a good budget, we’re going to go out there and sell it” – that feels like a scene out of The Apprentice.

Cockerell, who has previously cast his all-seeing eye over Whitehall and Tony Blair’s 10 years in power, has more affection for the building than the people who work in it.

But the palace of Westminster is falling apart, including the famous tower that houses Big Ben, and requires repairs that could run into millions of pounds. It’s not just the facade that’s crumbling.

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Beware the Greeks When Baring Teeth

Posted on January 25, 2015 by davidsberry

All results are not yet in but it’s pretty clear that the Greek people have thrown a wobbly after five years of austerity and voted en masse for Συριζα and its leader Tsipras who said:

“Today the Greek people has written history, Hope has written history … Greece is turning a page. Greece is leaving the austerity of catastrophe and fear … there are no losers and winners. Those who have been defeated are the elite and oligarchs … we are regaining our dignity, our sovereignty again.”

That the Greek people have chosen an alternative to austerity is hardly surprising. The economy has slumped by 25%. Rising unemployment (in a country where health insurance is linked to work status) has led to an estimated 800,000 people lacking either state welfare or access to health services. Nobody doubts that the Greeks are suffering. But is ever-tighter austerity the road to recovery and prosperity?

Greece was forced to make massive cutbacks to meet the terms of twin bailout packages, totaling €240 billion, largely from the EU. Unemployment is rife and youth unemployment may have improved in the last year—but only from 58% to 51%. You may think Osborne’s austerity has been tough in Scotland but it is nothing compared to what the Greeks have suffered.

On January 20th 35 economists and professors wrote a joint letter to the Guardian arguing for “cancellation of a large part of the debt and new terms of payment which support the rebuilding of a sustainable economy.” Their argument is that a more expansive fiscal policy setting, targeting immediate relief from poverty, would stimulate further domestic demand and lead to economic recovery.

Reports from across Greek society—including middle-class but especially the poor—are full of hardship and declining standards so humanity argues for another solution. Yet, the Greeks largely brought this upon themselves. Their relative profligacy earlier on was made possible by their joining the Euro for its launch in 2002.

Prior to that, the Greek drachma had been a minor and relatively volatile currency. Greek governments wishing to fund ambitious programmes were rather limited in the amount of debt that they could accrue without the drachma sliding on world markets and repayments becoming onerous. Although as wedded to popular (if expensive) policies as any other government, this kept their ambitions in check.

But 13 years ago, that changed. Being part of the bigger currency meant that Greek borrowing had little impact on interest rates for the Euro and, rates being low, it was a serious temptation for governments to borrow at low rates and settle above-inflation wage demands. Once parties get elected on such economic drugs, it was hard to wean themselves off it again.

So, ten years of such policies and Greek National Debt stood at a whopping 175% of GDP. For comparison, deep-in-debt Britain stands at 90% and prudent Germany at 78%. What is not coming out in this whole discussion—and certainly was not being admitted by any of the parties engaged in the Greek election—is that, for years, Greece has been living well beyond its means.

And—lest any of us get smug about it—so has the UK. From the Thatcher buyout of mines and steel mills to the present day, Britain has avoided paying the cost of many programmes through taxation by squandering the income from North Sea oil. Now that some £8bn has disappeared from that honey pot through oil dropping to $50, Osborne has yet to explain how he will compensate for such a glaring shortfall in straitened times.

But we digress.

The point is that the Greeks are putting Συριζα in charge because they’ve had a bellyful—their fault or not. And the first act of whatever administration Tsipras cobbles together will be to go to Brussels and tell those malakas where to get off. It will amost certainly result in a restructuring of Greek debt and (if they get lucky) forgiveness of some of it. Which is good news if you happen to be Greek and even better if you happen to be Greek and unemployed. If the professors are right, the Greek economy will recover.

Had Greece been the only profligate country who surfed the stability gift that was the Euro, all might be well. But now you’ve just handed the European Central Bank a ticking time bomb. Italy, Spain and Portugal were also not slow off the mark milking this nation-sized credit card and will soon be at their door demanding similar leniency.

Which leaves the EU with a pretty stark choice: throw Greece out of the Euro, making their repayments all the harder; or abandon the entire Euro project altogether. While there are more than a few stolid German businessmen who would resurrect the Deutschmark in the time it takes to say “Wirtschaftswunder”, that letter will not seem a plausible option.

So spend all your Euros while you’re on holiday on Mykonos this summer because, by 2016, they’ll be back to drachmas—and probably at a more favourable exchange rate.

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Canute’s Kingdom

Posted on January 23, 2015 by davidsberry

Most people agree that whatever Gordon Brown’s virtues or failings, his memorable contribution to political debate since 2010 was his impassioned plea for the union just before September’s referendum. The Huffington Post described the result as “a personal triumph for the former Labour prime minister, whose thundering eve-of polling day rallying cry was praised as the speech of his life.”

Lost in the hubbub was the fact that he had neither the authority nor the position to make some of the statements he did. Coupled with last-minute pledges for improved devolution from the union from the three big UK parties, the echoes of Alec Douglas Home’s similar promise from 1979 did not prevent significant numbers of switherers taking it at face value and decide to vote ‘no’.

But, unlike 1979, this Damascene conversion by both UK government and opposition did find expression in the Smith Commission which engaged the five Holyrood parties in debate as to what shape that devolution should take. The promise came from Westminster to convert the Commission’s findings (based on over 18,000 submissions from the public and more than 400 from civic groups) into concrete proposals before Burns Day. As Cameron said on September 19th:

“To those in Scotland sceptical of the constitutional promises made, let me say this we have delivered on devolution under this Government, and we will do so again in the next Parliament. The three pro-union parties have made commitments, clear commitments, on further powers for the Scottish Parliament.”

On Thursday 22nd, they delivered. Cameron made his first foray into Scotland for months to make the announcement on the heels of FMQs yesterday. (When Willie Rennie posed his stock opening question of when the First Minister would next meet the Prime Minister, Nicola stood up and, consulting her watch, shot back “In an hour”.)

So the Prime Minister comes to Edinburgh, and announces what he calls a “great day for Scotland, and a great day for the United Kingdom too.” and went on to promise “if I am your Prime Minister after 7 May, you will get in full these measures set out in this document, in a bill in the first Queen’s Speech of a government I lead.” There indeed many substantive measures and an incomplete list includes:

  • The Scottish Parliament will have all powers in relation to elections to the Scottish Parliament and local government elections in Scotland
  • Scottish budget to benefit in full from policy decisions by the Scottish Government that increase revenues or reduce expenditure, and bear the full costs of policy decisions that reduce revenues or increase expenditure.
  • Scottish income tax revenues will be retained by the Scottish Government to be spent in Scotland rather than these taxes being pooled and redistributed by the UK.
  • Scotland’s fiscal framework should receive additional borrowing powers to ensure budgetary stability and provide safeguards to smooth Scottish public spending.
  • The power to charge tax on air passengers leaving Scottish airports and on the commercial exploitation of aggregate in Scotland will be devolved.
  • Scottish Ministers will be given the power to make alternative payment arrangements in relation to Universal Credit.
  • Benefits for carers, disabled people and those who are ill: Attendance Allowance, Carer’s Allowance, Disability Living Allowance (DLA), Personal Independence Payment (PIP), Industrial Injuries Disablement Allowance and Severe Disablement Allowance will be devolved.
  • Discretionary Housing Payments and benefits which currently comprise the Regulated Social Fund: Cold Weather Payment, Funeral Payment, Sure Start Maternity Grant and Winter Fuel Payment will be devolved.

That may seem a pretty meaty chunk of responsibility and even the SNP agrees that this represents real progress, having been party to the Smith discussions. However, there has been no outbreak of harmony following the announcement. This revolves around a phrase used to which the SNP object and are regarding as a form of veto.

The phrase is “Whitehall ministers would have to be consulted and give his or her agreement” even though it goes on to say “…such agreement not to be reasonably withheld”. Danny Alexander the Treasury Chief Secretary maintains this means: “No ifs, no buts; there is no veto. If they can pay for it, a Scottish government can do what it wants with the new benefit powers it is getting.”

So, is the Scottish Government girning unjustifiably? Certainly the practical effect of all this is for considerable powers to devolve to Holyrood and the SNP at least can be exoected to seize the opportunities this offers to beat a different path for Scotland—as they have done since 2007 but Labour was leery of doing 1999-2007.

But they do have a point. As a last resort, Westminsier could intervene if it chose. There is a “no detriment” rule – which implies no decision made by a devolved government should actually put Scotland at a financial advantage, or vice versa. The interpretation when “agreement may not be reasonably withheld” looks like a bonanza for QCs, should it ever come to that.

But the SNP is being partisan and more than a little disingenuous. The Constitutional Commission has argued that the present setup at Holyrood does not and cannot embody the sovereign rights of the Scottish people as it stands—independence or no. Were all power to be transferred from Westminster to Holyrood, there would be inadequate checks and balances—no second chamber; no presidential office; no separation of justice.

For all its flaws, the American constitution was originally crafted and frequently defended as the arbiter when executive and legislative elements are at loggerheads. In the absence of such checks, it seems sensible to retain such options at Westminster. But that begs the question of the supportiveness (or otherwise) of a given UK Government for whoever happened to be in power in Scotland.

Some seasoned and knowledgeable commentators, such as Joyce McMillan in Friday’s Hootsmon regard the proposals as something of a mess. Others like Tom Peterkin in the same issue see this as merely the first step to resolving the West Lothian Question and implementing Cameron’s quid-pro-quo of EVEL (English votes for English laws).

But what is NOT being talked about is the apparent failure of Westminster in general and Cameron’s government in particular to read the mood of the Scottish people and what it is likely to take to take the steam out of their present lively bolshyness. Conservative Central Office clearly doesn’t ‘get’ Scotland, having just issued this poster:

Alex Massie in the Statesman thinks the Tories are working for the SNP

Alex Massie in the New Statesman thinks the Tories are working for the SNP

As he sees it, “it frames the election as a battle between Scotland and England in which the latter is menaced by the former. It pits the two largest parts of the Union against one another.” And here, he puts his finger on the problem Westminster seems to have.

As Joyce McMillan puts it “the British establishment seems unable to get beyond the idea that the Scottish Yes campaign represented some kind of explosion of rash and unthinking patriotic sentiment.” The Queen’s admonishment to “think very carefully” and Jim Murphy’s frantic attempts to belatedly wrap Scottish Labour in a saltire also seem to derive from the same thinking.

After centuries of regarding “England” and “Britain” as interchangeable, the UK establishment sees Scotland as a kind of frostbitten surly Midlands whose occasional strops require some raw constitutional meat to be thrown to them to stay onside.

But here in Caledonia, sterrrn and wild, the whole thing is not about constitutional change. What Scots are fired up about—and this includes significant numbers of those who voted ‘no’—is to protect social justice, to support public services, to secure and develop a more cohesive society against an economic consensus at Westminster that appears alien to most.

So King Cameron can sit with his eyes fixed on the horizon of another term in government while minions scoop up shovelfuls of “An Enduring Settlement” to keep back the waves. But the floodgates are creaking in Scotland, the tide of dissatisfaction not yet at full flood.

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Ailment or Oil Mint?

Posted on January 19, 2015 by davidsberry

Fate has not been kind to Scottish Labour over the last few years. Under first Iain Gray and then Johann Lamont, they seemed to get stuck in a dreich cycle of politics-as-moanfest. That led to a drubbing in 2011 that exceeded even their worst performace-to-date in 2007, losing seats by the boatload, including several ministers and (almost) their leader. Iain had not had a good time of it, getting confused at FMQ who created Norway’s massive oil fund and being publicly slapped down by Dundee’s Joe Fitzpatrick:

“The money for Norway’s oil fund doesn’t come from Statoil – it comes from tax revenues from all the oil companies that work in the Norwegian oil sector. Norway’s oil fund is now worth around £300 billion, and simply underlines why – in the face of savage London cuts – it is essential that Scotland similarly benefits from its own resources, with a Scottish oil fund to secure the nation’s wealth for future generations.

As former Finance Minister, he should have been up on such basics. His successor did little better, appearing to avoid the subject altogether. Johann managed to get through her last speech to a Labour Conference as Scottish Leader without mentioning oil once. She had managed it the previous year but only by saying “Let others speak of an oil boom“.

Perhaps this is because when she did once try at FMQs to decry the SNP proposal to set up an oil fund as ‘dishonest’ she had to back down. The Presiding Officer stepped in after Ms Lamont claimed the First Minister was “simply dishonest“. The Labour leader went on to state that “honesty is not something this government deals in“.

So far, Jim Murphy has steered clear of such banana skins but his troops at Holyrood have not learned their lesson. Jackie Baillie in particular has been lambasting the SNP Government for not cutting taxes on North Sea oil, now that the price has halved to below $50 a barrel. Her recent demand for a ‘Scottish OBR’ begs the question of whether she has been paying attention for the last two years. John Swinney’s riposte was withering:

“Ms Baillie seems completely unaware that Labour supported our establishment of the Scottish Fiscal Commission, and indeed, our Programme for Government makes clear our intention to put the commission on a statutory footing.

“But frankly, it takes some brass neck for a Labour politician to accuse others of making over-optimistic fiscal forecasts. In just six years, Gordon Brown managed to get his borrowing predictions wrong by over £400 billion. During Labour’s time in office, national debt almost trebled. In contrast the SNP Government has balanced the budget every year.”

Bottom line: recent Labour leaders have shown little interest and no leadership on the most important business in Scotland. Worse, when they have opened their mouths, it has be embarrassing. It;s the epitome of the old adage “Rather keep your mouth closed and be thought a fool than open it and remove all doubt.”

When Energy Minister Fergus Ewing argued in Parliament that the UK Government makes the changes in the Budget in March, saying “it is crystal clear that it is the fiscal regime that needs to change“, Ms Baillie was quick to denounce this, saying his statement had not included “one action that has changed or appeared since the dramatic fall in oil prices in the last few months“.

Lost among this ‘debate’ is the fact that oil tax revenue from North Sea oil has been jacked up by successive UK governments—mostly Labour. Petroleum revenue tax (PRT) was introduced under the Oil Taxation Act of 1975, soon after Wilson’s Labour government returned to power. It was intended to ensure “fairer share of profits for the nation” from the exploitation of UK  (mostly Scottish) waters.

In theory PRT was abolished in 1993…but only for all fields given development consent on or after then. It continues for (many large) fields established before then. And, although the rate was reduced from 75% to 50%, various reliefs were withdrawn. All this is separate from Corporation Tax (CT), normally paid at 30%. Gordon Brown tapped oil producers for an extra 10% in 2002, upped to 20% in 2006. And, as if that weren’t greed enough, Osborne made it 32% in 2011.

Net result: oil producers pay at least 62% tax and often as much (with PRT) as 82%.

So for anyone in Holyrood associated with UK governments of the last 40 years have a rare cheek to pillory the present Scottish Government for threatening jobs in the oil industry when: a) SG have no control of either PRT or CT and b) Labour under Irn Broon was especially adept at wheezes funded by squeezing easy targets most voters thought were rolling in it anyway, such as pension funds and oil producers.

SO, if I were on the Labour payroll and looking down the barrel of this election 15 weeks away, I would haud ma wheesht—and try not to look too sheepish in the process.

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Operation Puffin Update

Posted on January 14, 2015 by davidsberry

I have reported on the terrific work that 100+ volunteers have done on the Forth Islands to protect the indigenous puffin population from being crowded out of house and home by an invasive plant. What follows is the latest report from John Hunt, redoubtable organiser of expeditions in all seasons and all weathers to deal with the threat.

SOS Puffin is a volunteer project sponsored by the Scottish Seabird Centre which started in 2007. It aims to bring under control the invasive plant tree mallow which has taken over the islands of Craigleith and Fidra near North Berwick and threatens the important populations of nesting puffins and other seabirds.

The last summary report was sent to volunteers in May 2014 and this report summarises what has happened since then. Any comments or queries are very welcome.

Precision mallow cutting on Craigleith in September

Precision mallow cutting on Craigleith in September

The following tables show the number of work parties to Craigleith and Fidra each month (with the number of man/woman days shown in brackets) since the project started. Note that the gaps between April and August are because this is the nesting season.

Operation Puffin Expeditions to Craigleith

Operation Puffin Expeditions to Craigleith

Operation Puffin Expeditions to Fidra

Operation Puffin Expeditions to Fidra

Note: The trips during the months starred above were organised by the RSPB but most of these also involved volunteers from SOS Puffin. In addition to the above, the RSPB organised three other work parties during the autumn of 2014. During one of these some of the tree mallow on the cliffs (hazardous to access) was cut.

As can be seen, significantly fewer work parties have taken place in the last 3-4 years. This is mainly because the task has got less but also because a high proportion of planned work parties have been cancelled because of the weather and other factors.

We hoped to fit in a trip to the Lamb where there is a small amount of tree mallow but in the event suitably calm conditions for landing did not arise at times when a boat was available.

It is pleasing that new volunteers continue to come forward and there are now over 650 people on the volunteer data base. However work parties are heavily dependent on a small group of enthusiasts who come regularly – six of whom have now helped on more than 50 occasions. David Ross reached the remarkable number of 100 work parties in September. It would have been a close-run thing between David and Margaret Wight as to who reached this milestone first if Margaret (who has done 90 work parties) had not been unwell during the autumn. I am glad to say that Margaret is now recovered and was back in action again on Fidra in December.

Howard Andrew, Bill Bruce and David Ross relaxing on Fidra after a hearty lunch of tree mallow.

Howard Andrew, Bill Bruce and David Ross relaxing on Fidra after a hearty lunch of tree mallow.

From August until October we were able to use the Seabird Centre’s large inflatable and our thanks to Colin Aston and his skippers for taking us out. This boat came out of the water at the end of October and will not be available again until March.

 

Local boatman Dougie Ferguson conveyed the RSPB work parties to Fidra in his launch Braveheart. He is not willing to land on Craigleith because of the risk of damage to his boat.

What has happened on Craigleith?

Throughout the summer there was very little tree mallow to be seen and puffins and other seabirds will not have been troubled at all during what appeared to be a successful breeding season. Tree mallow was later than ever making an appearance and it was not until August that small seedlings became apparent; by September there were extensive seedlings on the south side of the island and locally elsewhere.

This meant that seedlings being cut during the autumn were quite small with none more than one metre high. Only five work parties were possible during the autumn and considerable areas of seedlings still remained after the last visit in early October—most on the south side of the island. It will be interesting to see if the rabbits deal with these during the winter and there are signs at the time of writing that they are already making an impact.

On the Summit of Craigleith, October 2014

On the Summit of Craigleith, October 2014

During a dry summer the rabbit grazing created extensive bare areas of soil in those areas with a high rabbit density such as the Glen on the south side while their digging led to some localised erosion and soil collapse.

An Area of the Glen Laid Bare by a Dry Summer & Hungry Rabbits

An Area of the Glen Laid Bare by a Dry Summer & Hungry Rabbits

Nettles of both species continue to increase into areas previously covered by tree mallow – this helped by the rabbits which do not normally eat nettles. The Annual (or Small) Nettle was very noticeable over large areas during the summer but being an annual plant may not become a problem. However there are a number of large permanent patches of the perennial Stinging Nettle which are clearly spreading and can pose a problem for young eiders and puffins trying to reach the sea. These patches of nettles contain almost no other plants or puffin burrows. In total they extend to 0.4 ha which is significant on an island only 7 ha in extent.

Stinging Nettles on Craigleith. Elder Bushes in the Foreground and Background.

Stinging Nettles on Craigleith. Elder Bushes in the Foreground and Background.

What has happened on Fidra?

When the first work party visited on 9th August, it was noted that tree mallow had returned to the usual places with some seedlings up to two metres in height (though most were smaller than this) but seedling densities were again a little lower in most locations than in the previous year. Two areas which we did not manage to cut last Spring flowered and seeded which was unfortunate though these were not areas used by puffins.

 

The four work parties in August and September plus those organised by the RSPB ensured a reasonably thorough cut of the whole island including some of the cliffs. However there were plenty of mallow seedlings evident for the final work party to tackle in December and it is expected there will be no shortage of plants needing to be cut in the Spring.

Extreme Mallow Bashing by an RSPB Volunteer on Fidra

Extreme Mallow Bashing by an RSPB Volunteer on Fidra

The annual meeting of the Craigleith (and Fidra) Management Group was held in October. Rene van der Wal from Aberdeen University who carries out the ecological monitoring on Craigleith reported on his work as follows:

  • Conditions for nesting puffins were again excellent in 2014 with tree mallow cover in the summer the lowest yet recorded.
  • In the Glen on the south side of the island, grasses are not able to cope with the high level of rabbit grazing and it is hard to imagine what perennial species could colonise this heavily disturbed area.
  • Rabbits are helpful in eating tree mallow but have a negative impact in preventing the desired restoration of native maritime vegetation – other than nettles.
  • Investigation of the bare areas showed that tree mallow seedlings mainly colonised the transition between vegetated and bare ground where moisture conditions are most favourable.
  • The experiment set up to assess the value of sowing Fescue grass seed has been of limited value, the plots being too small and proving to be a magnet for rabbits with some also being smothered by Chickweed. A larger scale seed sowing experiment using Yorkshire Fog and Fescue grasses combined should be considered.
  • Vegetation mapping showed that the island is moving in the right direction in terms of less tree mallow cover and increasing target vegetation (ie perennial grasses).

It was agreed that further spread of the perennial Common Nettle was likely and undesirable and that a trial control programme should be devised which might incorporate sowing of grass seeds.

It was agreed that a volunteer engagement project looking at SOS Puffin should be carried out by a PhD student Marie Pages. Marie would like to understand why people decide to take part, what sustains their involvement and how to enhance their experience. A Questionnaire was sent out to all volunteers in late 2014 and the findings will be made available to everyone in due course. Over 70 responses have been received to date and thanks to those who took the trouble to do this.

The management plan for Craigleith has been updated and anyone is welcome to have a copy by email.

Looking Ahead

A programme of work parties for March and April will be circulated to all volunteers in February. It is likely that less work parties will be planned than previously since it is anticipated that there will be comparatively little to do on Craigleith. The aim will as usual be to ensure that both islands are effectively clear of tree mallow by the time the puffins return in April.

We expect to carry out a trial control of Stinging Nettles on Craigleith during the summer subject to the details being agreed by the Craigleith Management Group. This would be a small operation and it is not intended that the project should switch from controlling tree mallow to nettles!

We are not planning to do a puffin burrow count on the islands this year but may do so in 2016.

Fidra in November from Castle Tarbet— largely empty of seabirds and tree mallow

Fidra in November from Castle Tarbet— largely empty of seabirds and tree mallow

Conclusion

It does seem that a turning point has been reached in the project. Less work parties are now required to keep the tree mallow under control on Craigleith thanks to our efforts over the last eight years combined with the more recent impact of rabbits. On Fidra a considerable control effort is still needed but the extent and density of tree mallow is slowly reducing. With the RSPB increasing its own contribution to the project, less SOS Puffin work parties may be needed on Fidra in future.   We shall continue to monitor what is happening and react accordingly.

SOS Puffin has been running now for eight years with almost a thousand volunteers helping on 213 work parties to date – 145 to Craigleith, 66 to Fidra and two to the Lamb.

Very many thanks to everyone who has helped – as volunteers and in other ways. Our thanks also go to Viridor Credits, SNH and others for their generous funding of the project. I look forward to seeing many of you during 2015.

John Hunt, Craigleith Management Group, January 2015

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Senate Intelligence Committee “Torture Report” Findings

Posted on December 19, 2014 by davidsberry

This is not for the squeamish. But if you want details just how egregiously cavalier the CIA was in pursuit of ‘terrorism’, this is a digestible synopsis. Fan though I am of the American people this is enough to question why any country would wish for a ‘special relationship’ with such self-justifying barbarians.

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Getting Your Feet Wet

Posted on December 17, 2014 by davidsberry

Just recently, I was asked to give a presentation to a civic group so lively it refused to accept defeat after a decade of bureaucratic foot-dragging by the local council: the Friends of the CC Museum. Founded in a century-old school in the 1950’s by the formidable Dr James Richardson LLD FSSA, Inspector of Ancient Monuments, “bespectacled, 6 feet tall, big-boned but very slim, and slightly stooped in conversation with those of lesser height” North Berwick museum was long a popular seasonal attraction to locals and visitors alike.

That is, until ELC pencilnecks got around to inspecting the building and decided that it had been neglected too long, heating wasn’t up to code, didn’t meet prevailing fire regulations, blah, blah, blah and locked the building two weeks before its Easter 2002 opening with the exhibits already installed and ready.

What was then the Friends of N. Berwick Museum (FNBM) had organised regular talks raised funds and generally lobbied against a council museum service in Haddington who seemed more keen on nationally touring exhibits than anything celebrating the town and its culture. The also seemed singularly indifferent to the museum’s closure, declined to slim down staff so that a budget for re-opening might be accumulated, focusing instead on the Mining Museum and their new plaything in the John Gray Centre.

Not so the Friends, who closed ranks, kept up their lecture series and fundraising against the day when something substantial might be done to re-open. The first glimmer was when a new ELC administration slotted capital into a budget year to start the process so that actual work began in 2011 and the building re-opened in Spring of 2013. Chalk one up to the community for having both vision and perseverance.

Perhaps best of all, both remit and name were changed into the Coastal Communities Museum (CCM) so that the whole catchment area of NB High School from Whitekirk to Gosford was included. The Friends changed accordingly into FCCM but kept up their excellent work of spreading the word among local residents and helping recruit volunteers to provide staff to keep it open.

So, when asked to make a presentation, it seemed only fair to examine the much wider territory the CCM represents. Searching for a way that was not simply a compendium of packet histories of the town and various villages that comprise the council’s “North Berwick Coastal ward” (or, as I prefer to describe it with a nod to our maritime neighbours across in Fife, “the North Neuk”), it seemed that maritime theme might give a new slant on some very old stories.

And so it was. Cramming what should have been at least an hour’s material into less than 45 minutes, we swam our way from Kilspindie to Belhaven, looking at this 20km of spectacular and varied coastline from the sea—as people living here when it first became a part of Scotland 1,000 years ago must have done. The joy of such an expedition is novelty and feeling of exploration. While there are books about the land, very little describes the shore or the sea itself.

So we visited the once-magnificent but now gone castles of Kilspindie and Luffness, splashed across a much more extensive Aberlady Bay to find the X-craft submarines half-buried in the sand, explored Jovie’s Neuk and its long-gone iron workings as Nigel Tranter once did and imagined the disaster that covered the original Gullane with sand so that the parish church moved to Dirleton.

Were the Brigs of Fidra once an actual wooden bridge from the shore? Was there a stave fort atop Castle Tarbet? What other ancient buildings beside the solitary wall remaining of St Nicholas chapel did Fidra have? Then, detouring to the 3,000-ton wreck of Sein Majestäts Kreuzer München just a few miles north, we then visit thousands of guillemots crowded on the Lamb and ponder if there might indeed be treasure that Uri Geller sought when he bought the island and spent the night there in search three years ago.

Admiralty Chart of Eyebroughy tpo Broadsands

Admiralty Chart of Eyebroughy tpo Broadsands

Past the piece of Philadelphia on Broadsands (USS Stockton a.k.a. HMS Ludlow) expended there as a target for shipping strike training Beaufighters out of RAF East Fortune and on to the Bull—closest wreck to NB, lying in 25m of water only 200m to the north of Craiganteuch. Inland of that is the beautiful red/green/ochre seaweed garden off Swinie Craig that leads over boulders to the swaying kelp forests of the Maiden’s Foot and The Sisters where our fishermen are forever finding lobsters.

Out at Craigleith, the seals have finished pupping and there are few other residents besides gulls, shags and cormorants. This is the time of year John Hunt and his ‘mallow bashing’ squads are out there hacking down the Bass Mallow invaders so that puffins can easily get to their burrows to bring up their young next season. As a result, their numbers are up—as are the rabbits who also help by snacking on the seedlings.

Loading the RIB at the Fish Stairs. The Two Colins at the helm and John Hunt (nearest camera) Main Organiser

Loading Mallow Bashers at the Fish Stairs. John Hunt (nearest camera) Main Organiser

East past the Red Leck, once quarried because its thermal properties make it the perfect over lining there is a wilderness of skerries and kelp to bring you to the long jagged lava flow of the Leithies and the fractured coast beyond where sandy bottoms favour crabs and more kelp makes it another target area for fishermen.

Past the hidden and almost forgotten village of Canty Bay, round Gin Head are the remains of a bustling port beneath the beetling battlements of Tantallon and the smallest harbour in Scotland carved out of the massive red lump of the Gegan. We are now at our favourite secret beach of Seacliff with its acres of curved sand, fine views, caves, ruined 15th and 18th centry mansions andgrey seals hauled out on St Baldred’s Boat.

Tantallon Castle from Seacliff Harbour at the Gegan

Tantallon Castle from Seacliff Harbour at the Gegan

Then round into the wreckers’ paradise of Scoughall Rocks—many wrecks from ships turning into the Forth too early or caught against a lee shore by a raw Nor’easterly. Most famous among them is our own Whisky Galore—the Louise, out of Bordeaux bound for Leith with 110 tons of brandy aboard. Driven ashore by a storm in October 1864, would-be rescuers found the shore littered with casks and apparently:

…”were not slow in being acquainted with the fine taste of Cognac. Scores of them sat beside the barrels in a state of helpless toxication. The scene witnessed on the Sunday afternoon on the wreck-strewn beach was utterly disgraceful to the character of the people.”

—Haddingtonshire Courier

After the long and usually deserted beach of Peffer Sands, you round Whitberry Point into the calm of Belhaven Bay, separated from the wide expanse of the beach by the huge sweep of the Tyne entering the sea. Although Aberlady is rightly favoured by birdwatchers, those who find Sandy Hirst and its long empty stretch of shoreline are seldom disappointed.

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Beyond the Beach

Posted on December 15, 2014 by davidsberry

And, just in time for your last-minute Christmas scramble—a shopping experience much more pleasant than crowded malls lost amidst acres of tarmac…

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Home from School

Posted on December 7, 2014 by davidsberry

I may need to sit down, take a powder or do something radical: it seems I agree with Jim Murphy—something that has real rarity value. Now, unlike many Labour timeservers, Jim is not someone I dismiss. He packs an impressive array of awareness, shrewd evaluation, populist understanding, machiavellian diplomacy, nuanced articulation and sinewy ambition into an above-average political brain. My problem is I can’t get over an intense personal dislike of the Deus-ex-machina that results.

Nonetheless, the piece in today’s Sunday Hootsmon (aka SoS) announcing his taking on the SNP over education underscores how necessary a leader of his calibre is for Scottish Labour if they are ever to slough off the seven-year sleepwalk-to-oblivion in which they appear doggedly engaged.

Jim is clear, far-reaching and ambitious in his proposals for Scottish schools in particular. He wants to:

  • target the 20% of pupils who achieve the least—wherever they study
  • transform the 20 poorest performing schools into community learning centres
  • encourage parents with literacy issues of their own to learn alongside their children
  • ensure the Chartered Teachers scheme makes a comeback.

And, for me, perhaps the most laudable ambition I have heard from him to date:

“One of the things I am going to make an enormous effort on is the fact that too many kids from working class communities get locked out and it has happened for far too long.”

So far, so positive—gaun yersel’, Jim. But this is not the first time that a shrewd politician on the cusp of an election has thrown out some vibrant ideas as window dressing—without have thought through the feasibility and what it would take to achieve lofty goals.

Now I confess to being one of many who have scorned such lofty Labour pronouncements in the past because, having had 50 years dominating Scottish politics, how come they still preside over kids from Glasgow to Gorgie who underperform worst of all mostly in traditionally Labour-voting areas.

But, seven years of the SNP running the Scottish Government and many councils, we are no further on and Jim is quite right to argue something more radical is needed. And this is the first flaw in his ambition. Although theoretically part of the Labour movement, Scottish teaching unions from EIS on down will object: they are overworked; Curriculum for Excellence is not yet bedded in; teacher numbers are down; etc. It is a Pavlovian reaction they deploy—but it has worked like a charm for decades—especially on Labour. (See “Mining the Chalk Face“)

Take Chartered Teachers. A laudable idea to promote and reward those better suited to the classroom than layers of management, they could have been magnet teachers inspiring the best pupils. Instead it decayed through strict interpretation of McCrone-based clock-watching into a fiscal salary top-up scheme. It was abolished by the SNP two years ago.

A second element that Jim skips lightly over with his inclusion of parents’ role in the social context of failing pupils. Jim is likely to resort to Labour’s eternal solution: more money to alleviate poverty so kids don’t grow up poor and deprived. Problem is that Scots already enjoy £18bn in welfare (£3,600 per head per year) and that’s likely to drop—not rise—with the Smith Commission settlement and/or a Labour government for the UK.

The third—and probably most decisive element entirely absent from Jim’s ideas are what can be learned from elsewhere. The Scots a century ago boasted an egalitarian and effective education system whose superiority has, unfortunately, continued in the minds of pedagogues and union spokespeople into this century.

Over-protectiveness and fears of child abuse tend to make Scots overlook how Swedish toddlers get wrapped up and thrown out into the snow to learn social skills before they ever touch a pencil. Teachers balk at the lower salaries, huge autonomy but sky-high social status that Finnish teachers enjoy (See Long Way to the Finnish Line). Parents, teachers and officials conspire to revere academic exams as the sole measure of education while Germans accord the skilled artisan as much respect as the bookish kid headed towards teaching Greek. Their manufacturing prowess speaks for itself.

But perhaps the worst aspect is that parents—especially middle-class parents—send kids to school as if they were putting the Lexus in for a tune-up. They expect results, yet seldom grasp the active role that they—and all parents—have to play. Unlike any other public facility, the local school is an extension of the home; it is where children will make friends, form their character, learn most and coalesce the journey they will make the reast of their lives.

Any parent who sees it as cheap childcare needs an attitude adjustment before they damage the child they profess to love. They should care about the ethos of the school, take time to know teachers so they will better know their own children and become part of the team that is preparing the next generation to take over the world and shape it once the rest of us are past caring.

Although modern car-based society makes it difficult, the Yoruba saying “It takes a whole village to educate a child” is prescient. Neighbours, shopkeepers, clubs, local police, sports all add to experience, social balance and perspective—which is why private schools should be abolished (or at least taxed) because of the rarified atmosphere the pupils breathe—not just because of their socially divisive nature. They are like the big brother who scorns his sibling’s ineptitude, rather than taking him under his wing.

So, in that sense, school should be an extension of the home—a place where kids feel they are wanted, are acknowledged, feel comfortable. That takes both parent participation and teacher engagement; just marching into a classroom and delivering lectures is what happens at university but has no place in schools. And if the pupil shines only at sports or at wood shop or art or music but can’t ‘get’ logarithms to save his/her life, it is time for the graduate factory to shift gear and hone those gifts they have been given, rather than censure them for not grasping what is (let’s face it) marginal as a life skill.

So, if Jim gets round to thinking that raising the bar for all is great (provided it isn’t always the same ‘identikit’ bar), if he takes on the smug self-referential greed merchants of EIS and most other unions, if he modifies Labour’s narrow, pork-barrel priorities in communities and instead cracks how to inspire deprived kids so they never have deprived kids of their own, who knows what might happen?

I might even get to like the guy. I’d certainly like the kind of Scotland the brave, radical thinking extending these initial steps of his could create.

See also:

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Market, not Manure

Posted on December 5, 2014 by davidsberry

“The most beautiful, if not the most romantic village in Scotland” is how Sir Walter Scott described the town of Kelso. Indeed, a visit there is always a pleasure; the town is a friendly streetscape of historic building gathered around a spacious square and full of the kind of unique shops that makes Peebles or North Berwick such a popular destination.

Like those towns and many others, it suffers from the inexorable pull of Edinburgh for well paying jobs and counts many commuters in its population. But, unlike other councils around Edinburgh, Scottish Borders is fighting back with an imaginative business complex near the Square, right in the heart of Kelso. Having heard about this initiative, I arranged a visit with East Lothian’s EDU manager and its Economic Development spokesman

Location is in Central Kelso within 100m of the Square

Location is in Central Kelso within 100m of the Square

All felt the visit well worthwhile. SBC’s new £800,000 Horsemarket Business Centre incorporates five business units between 44 and 63 sq.m. It was built on the site of decrepit public toilets and the innovative design provides new public toilets and two bus shelters on the ground floor with bright offices offering views of Kelso’s streetscape on three floors above. The centre was funded by SBC, Heritage Lottery Fund and European Regional Development Fund.

All offices have mains electricity, water and drainage and superb heat/noise insulation. Heating is provided by a highly efficient system of solar panels on the roof and an electric air-source heat pump—even in an empty office where heating has never been on it was cosy, despite it being 2deg outside. The arrival of super-fast broadband is expected year. And, despite being so central, parking appears easy because of the number of hidden medium-stay lots near the town centre.

South Aspect from Woodmarket: Bus Shelter below and Unit 5 Balcony above

South Aspect from Woodmarket: Bus Shelter below and Unit 5 Balcony above

We spoke with the first tenant to move in: Border Marketing Company. They had moved from considerably older premises in Galasheils and were delighted with the move. They found the new premises delighted their creative staff and management were now proud to show clients their offices, many of whom found Kelso a more convenient location to meet, with its wide variety of restaurants for lunchtime meetings.

Quite apart from its quality finish and its convenient location, it seems that most small towns who have significant professional commuters would benefit from such a development. Start-up businesses are often launched from second bedrooms and before they grow into medium enterprises able to invest in their own premises, such quality premises allow the entrepreneur to stay local, enjoy the local quality of life 24/7 and especially the shorter commute.

East Lothian Council is now in the process of refurbishing one of its buildings in Brewery Park along similar lines. But it would appear that each of East Lothian’s six towns would each benefit from such a development, especially as the transport links with Edinburgh are easier and the attractions by way of quality food and restaurants at least as good. Providing local SMEs with such facilities would lure many professionals to stay closer to home. This, in turn would cut commuting and provide extra business for local retail and town centre regeneration so vital to keeping communities vibrant.

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