Iolaire

Tonight, as 2019 fades into 2020, New Year celebrations in Stornoway will be muted. It is now 101 years ago since HMY Iolaire sank off Holm Point, 1½ miles south of Stornoway, with the loss of 181 island sailors, and twenty other seamen from other places in the United Kingdom. One of the worst losses of life in British waters in peacetime. A major commemoration took place on 1st January 2019, and another event is scheduled for tomorrow afternoon. Several new memorials have been erected in and around Stornoway. The main memorial at Holm Point was upgraded and access improved ahead of last year's event. I shall post a number of pictures of all of these. The most memorable event last year took place at 2 am on 1 January 2019, which I attended.



Sheol an Iolaire


Memorial in the Carn Gardens


New access to the Holm Point memorial


Commemoration at 2 am on 1 January 2019

Christmas 2019

A brilliantly sunny day in Stornoway. It was very quiet, with no wind - and no traffic. Normally, a Wednesday see the usual stream of vehicles up and down the road and up the side streets - but not today. If there was half a dozen cars, it was a lot. Went over to Goat Island to view the marina works, which are currently stopped for the festive period. They'll resume on January 6th. A rainbow spanned the sky for the duration of my visit, and a hoodie crow kept watch over the Keep Out notices, which have been put up around the project.

Election 2019 - post #2

I'm seeing a lot of heartache on-line that Boris Johnson has won the election. I'm not ecstatic myself. Many people will find life becoming even harder than it already was. Nonetheless, there was no viable alternative. One questions I want an answer to, something that BJ will never tackle, is: did you formulate a policy that will enable foodbanks to be closed down, for the reason that they are no longer necessary. Why would that be? Because the social security system would have been improved. The Universal (Dis)Credit system is a disgrace.

I'm reiterating my reproach about Team Corbyn: sitting on a fence gets you nowhere in politics. You have to shout your message and position from the rooftops. Something that Boris Johnson has done consistently and loudly, however unpleasant parts of his message was. As a European citizen in the UK, I am naturally opposed to Brexit. But it has been messed up by every party under the sun, so it's probably better to get it over and done with. Anti-semitism, in spite of protestations to the contrary, was badly dealt with by Mr Corbyn's leadership, and I'll never forget the angry look on JCs face when he had been forced to say he would adhere the internationally accepted definition of anti-semitism. Denying the holocaust, as some extreme voices do, is a criminal offense in some countries in the world. Time it was in the UK.

I just want to say that I am no fan of Jeremy Corbyn. The adulation that many of his supporters have expressed is rather strange. People that disagree with this veneration have tended to get shouted down in debate or conversation. One very good reason that I'm pleased JC did not get into power. He is, however, only a figure head, easily replaced. If John Mcdonnell is taking his place, I shall despair. No lessons will have been learned.

I'm, in a way, sad for Jo Swinson, but her campaign was unrealistic from the outset. Wanted to become Prime Minister, but ended up losing her seat. Ouch. She was also out of touch with the mood in the country, as I outlined above, which was "for goodness sakes, just get it over with". I have found it incomprehensible that the outcome of the 2016 referendum was never properly accepted by any party or their leader, and that right up to last night, they were talking about leavers and remainers.

I have written all I want about the SNP in my previous post on the election. They don't deserve any more keystrokes. 

Election 2019

The General Election has yielded a conclusive result, which has reshaped British politics for some time to come. The Conservative Party has been returned to power with a majority of 80 in the House of Commons, which means that Prime Minister Boris Johnson can carry out his pledge to complete Brexit by the end of January.

The Labour party has lost 60 seats in the Commons, which some put squarely at the door of its leader Jeremy Corbyn and the leadership around him. Not everybody is prepared to accept this assessment, blaming everybody, including the media, apart from Corbyn and the Momentum movement within Labour.

The Scottish National Party have gained a dozen more seats in Scotland, reaching 48 seats in the Commons. A battle royal looms between the SNP and the UK government over a Section 30 Order, which would give the Scottish Government the legal power to hold an independence referendum for Scotland. The Conservative Party is known as the Conservative and Unionist Party in Scotland, which will highlight its opposition to Scottish independence. Ms Sturgeon has pledged that only legal routes will be followed to achieve the SNP aim of independence. Let's hope so.

78 years ago today

On 7th December 1941, the Empire of Japan attacked the United States' Naval Base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. It was to bring the US into the Second World War, after more than two years at the sidelines of the conflict. This move signalled the beginning of the end for the Japanese Empire: one of its leaders observed that we have wakened a giant. Three years and eight months later, an atomic bomb on Hiroshima and another one on Nagasaki prompted the surrender of Japan. The war in the Pacific was brutal, and indescribably atrocities were visited upon those under Japanese occupation, not to mention upon any prisoners, or prisoners of war.

The Japanese emperor was stripped of his status as a deity in exchange for not having to face war crimes charges. Japan has never apologised, for whatever good that would have done, for its actions during WW2; and its neighbours, like Korea and China, still regard the land of the Rising Sun with suspicion.

Thursday 5 December

Today is December 5th, when those so inclined celebrate Sinterklaas / St Nicholas. The original Santa 😉. Over in Holland, Belgium and Germany, kids will be visited by Sinterklaas (the bishop of Myra, having come in from Spain) and regaled with sweeties and prezzies. This evening, Sinterklaas will go riding along the rooftops on his white charger, dropping presents down the chimneys. In return the kids will have put a shoe by the fireside with a carrot for the horse. Sinterklaas is accompanied by Black Peter (a figure of controversy in latter years). However, there is nothing racist about Zwarte Piet. Sinterklaas was St Nicholas, the bishop of Myra (Smyrna) in modern-day Turkey. When the Muselmen came, his bones were spirited away across the Mediterranean to Spain, and that's where
Sinterklaas is now said to come from. This landmass was occupied by the Moors from North Africa during the 8th century, as far north as Poitiers in France. The Moors were swarthy if not black. Although Black Peter is denoted as a servant (which might derogate him to the N-word), I have never seen anything racist in the exercise. Wish people in Holland would come to their senses and just celebrate an innocent children's festival.

Much better (sorry) than the commercial extravaganza that Christmas has become.I'm sorry, but my upbringing has put Christmas as a firmly religious occasion, during which we celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ. Yes, the Three Kings came along with gifts to the newborn King, but does that really mean we have to splash out lavishly on our loved ones - so close after Black Fortnight?

Monday 2 December

A horrible wet and windy day, this Monday. Probably the price worth paying for milder weather, as the thermometer has crept up to 9 degrees Celsius. Went into town to seek some advice on an issue that has been vexing me for a considerable period of time. I have to think extremely carefully on the way forward - I cannot go into details. It's the result that counts, not how I get there.

A weekend news item here in the Outer Hebrides was the stranding of a sperm whale on the beach at Seilebost in Harris. The animal died, and a necropsy was performed to established what the cause of death was. It was not clear what had happened, but everybody was aghast to learn that 100 kilograms of fishing detritus had accumulated in its stomach. This is nonetheless not thought to have been the cause of death.

I usually like to share a photograph or two, but today was not a day for that. Instead, I'll post that gorgeous view you can have on a good day over the beach at Seilebost.

1 December

The first day of December. We're now on the home strait for Christmas and New Year, the darkest days of the year lie ahead. It was a bright day, not very warm, but with only the odd light shower. Sunset at a quarter to four in the afternoon, we have less than seven hours of daylight (sun above horizon) at the moment. Accompanied Mrs B to Lews Castle for a brief stroll. As years advance, her range has become limited. Nonetheless, she was pleased to find the monkey puzzle tree (Araucaria araucana) where she would take her grandchildren when they were wee. Now they are grown up and have children of their own. She was also very impressed with the restauration works going on in the Castle Grounds, to restore to former glory the formal gardens to the south of the Castle. The wee jaunt left me quite sad - it put me in mind of a walk I did with Mrs B 14 years ago virtually to the day. On that day, in 2005, we walked through bog and briar from the Iolaire Memorial back to Stornoway. Nearly 3 miles. This little stroll in the Castle Grounds totted up 350 yards. It was enough. Darkness fell as we returned into town. Dinner was roasted chicken with brussels sprouts and mashed potatoes. We closed the evening by watching a 1938 version of A Christmas Carol which was recorded earlier in the day.