Westminster move to force GM food crops into Scotland
Moves afoot at Westminster to strip the Scottish Government of its powers over labelling food and content are motivated by the intention to force more genetically modified (GM) food crops into being...
View ArticleMore serious concern on food safety
The UK Government has made a priority of what it calls ‘food security’. Superficially this is a reasonable concern. It is though, in its prioritising, strangely inconsistent as a sole matter for...
View ArticleHerald awards Castle Toward to Bute
In a feel good but unintelligent piece, Friday’s (26th February) edition of The Herald celebrated Castle Toward as ‘saved’ for Actual Reality (its current operators as an outdoor education centre)...
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Scottish Election 2011: what happened and what happens next?
It’s important to look at exactly what did happen behind the standout results of the Scottish parliamentary election on 5th May 2011 – and to use that analysis to sketch in what lies ahead for Scotland...
View ArticleArgyll and Bute’s MP asks Westminster question on coastguard tugs issue
Alan Reid, Argyll and Bute’s LibDem MP, has just (12.20 21st March) asked a robust question of Prime Minister David Cameron on the crucial matter of the Shipping Minister’s withdrawal of the Maritime...
View ArticleDouble edged message in government announcement of new Marine Harvest investment
It is hard not to consider that the political agenda in the drive to create an apparently sustainable economic future for an independent Scotland is moving beyond the danger point of damaging the...
View ArticleArgyll Ferries delighted to assist Cowal Games
An Argyll Ferries spokesman, responding to the successful completion of the company’s special service schedule to support the attraction of the annual Cowal Gathering to visitors, has just said:‘The...
View ArticleScottish Government reshuffle: the media, the strategy, the challenges, the...
The first thing to be noted about yesterday’s modest reshuffle of his ministerial team by Scotland’s First Minister, Alex Salmond, is the sheer selective parochialism of its reporting by BBC...
View ArticleDefence personnel numbers in Scotland down by 35% since 2000
UK Defence Statistics, published today [ in Table 2.2] by the Ministry of Defence, show that the numbers of defence personnel based in Scotland have declined by 35% since 2000,The official statistics...
View ArticleScottish Government in row over removing RET fares from hauliers
For Argyll has seen a powerpoint presentation by Transport Consultants, MVA, retained by Transport Minister, Keith Brown – at a cost said to be around £60,000, to report on the impact of the removal...
View ArticleMagisterial response from Council Leader Robb on Russell ‘Coup Two’ attempt
Council Leader, James Robb, has emailed administration councillors in a magisterial response to the astonishing email they received yesterday from local MSP, Michael Russell. [Our article on this...
View ArticleStruan Lodge: where now?
Following the political antics and absurdities over the council meeting on Thursday 25th April, the Struan Lodge care home in Dunoon has not been reprieved.It has been left in limbo, with no new...
View ArticleSNH publishes new map of Scotland’s wild land
today, 30th April and for the first time in the UK, a map showing the main areas of wild land in Scotland has been published – by Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH).The map shows 43 areas with the...
View ArticleStruan and then some: the revelation of planned elderly care provision in...
It has recently become clear that savings made from the closure of Struan Lodge – or from its passing out of council responsibility – will not, as has been claimed during the campaign to save it, be...
View ArticleHelp to stop Facebook from sharing snuff videos
Yesterday morning, 4th May, BBC Radio 4 broadcast the most disturbing possible piece. It was looking at the outright refusal of social networking site, Facebook, to take down violent videos on or...
View ArticleParty politics on the way back as more confusion reigns in Argyll and Bute...
It appears that the legal rules obtaining on multiple group memberships in Argyll and Bute Council have been confused by an ad hoc decision made by senior officers some years ago – and which appears...
View ArticleGrangemouth: facts, consequences and issues
Today the Unite Union has performed an about turn in conceding to the position of Ineos, owners of the Grangemouth petrochemical plant and its associated oil refinery.This is an admission of an initial...
View ArticleSneddon runs white flag to half mast on council deception of parliamentary...
Cleland Sneddon, Argyll and Bute Council’s Education Director, has found it necessary to ‘clarify’ for the Scottish Parliament’s Education Committee, the written ‘evidence’ he submitted to the...
View ArticleSilly sally into foreign affairs makes Scottish Government look hicksville
Making a misguided attempt to play in a league well above its performance rating, the Scottish Government swelled to a belief that it could bring its influence to bear on the Russian bear.Culture...
View ArticleChilcot must remember that his report on the Iraq war was commissioned in the...
The camp of discredited former Prime Minister, Tony Blair, is continuing to obstruct publication of the report of the Public Inquiry led by Sir John Chilcot into Britain’s involvement in Iraq between...
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