Starmer - 2

I'm watching the political machinations in Westminster.
Not impressed.

Because the problem is not Reform UK. The problem is one that the government is failing to address, leaving a huge void that Nigel Farage's outfit are only too happy to fill with a lot of populist guff.

Whilst Keir Starmer is slowly losing power and influence, there is an unedifying spectacle of potential rivals posturing and jostling for position. One wrote a resignation letter with sulphuric acid.
Another is offered the seat of a sitting MP, who is resigning so they can fight a by-election. And
what would be the excoriating supreme irony? If Reform UK were to win the Makerfield by-election. Because they are sensing blood, if not already lapping it up. Yet, the underlying problem causing their popularity - remains unresolved.

Starmer

There is an issue in British society that is not being addressed by the government of the day. It did for the Conservatives, and the fact that Labour is now also tearing itself apart is indicative of this problem. A further pointer are the massive election wins by Reform UK in the local elections last week; also the large numbers of seats they gained at Holyrood and Cardiff Bay.

Reform UK is a single-issue protest party, focused on immigration. And whatever also ails Britain is deflected onto that issue. The matter of the small boats, it would appear, is the result of the actions of *one* individual gangmaster, who has (thus far) eluded capture by European authorities. From my perspective, the French authorities seem to be either powerless or unwilling to make a concerted effort to deal with the migrant camps between the Belgian border and Boulogne-sur-mer.

Throwing Keir Starmer under the bus will not resolve those issues. Any successor will be confronted by the same problems.

May I remind readers of pre-war Germany, where Adolf Hitler promised to deal with all the ills of German society, post-WW1 - by victimising one group in society. 

The flame is a warning from the past. 

Ferry crisis

The ferry crisis is anything but a laugh. It poses a serious threat to the economy of these islands, including tourism. The visitor season is just about starting up again, with Easter only a few days away.

Asking Calmac for an explanation, as our esteemed MSP has done, is like asking why the tap is open that is causing a flood in the pantry. Someone should step up to the plate and close the tap.

Dr Allan is the candidate for the current party of government in Holyrood, which carries a heavy burden of responsibility. I have stated before that it is not possible to open a can of ferry ships, should the existing fleet turn out to be a collection of rusting hulks.

Sealladh na Beinne Mòire

Sealladh na Beinne Mòire is an estate, covering parts of Benbecula, South Uist and Eriskay in the Outer Hebrides. It came into community ownership in 2007, but has been fraught with disputes and strife. 

As it has not submitted annual reports to Companies House, which regulates companies across the United Kingdom, it has been issued to what is termed a First Gazette notice. This is the preamble for the dissolution of a company, usually following two months after the initial notice.  

Last month, the directors of Sealladh na Beinne Mòire agreed to step down, and the three local councillors took over as temporary directors. This was followed by a First Gazette notice on 10th March. Our MSP (Member of Scottish Parliament) has issued a statement. And I'm not impressed. 
  
I am very sorry, but the closing lines of this report displeased me. 

I'd rather refrain from expressing my view of an MSP who does not know the implications of a First Gazette notice, has to ask the Scottish Government (like a good boy) what its views are on the possible implications of that notice - the implications are the dissolution of Sealladh na Beinne Mòire. He should be screeching down the A865 to Dalabrog, bang a few heads together, including those of the three councillors who were appointed interim directors last month, and make sure the notice gets cancelled.

I hold strong views about community ownership, as I have outlined in previous postings on various social media outlets. There are quite a few success stories in the Highlands and Islands, such as Assynt, Eigg and Galson (the latter here in Lewis). Sometimes, achieving community ownership involved hard graft against unwilling landowners, as was the case with the Pairc Trust in South Lochs. Sealladh na Beinne Mòire cannot be allowed to fail.

Changes

Reading back through my notes of yesteryear. Little change, yet so much has changed.
At one point, I found it necessary to struggle through bogs and moorland between the Pentland Road and the hills of Meannan and Beinn Mholach.
All those years later, I can just walk up a well-made track - to windturbines, whirring round on the summits of Meannan and Beinn Mholach.
Oh, should I wish to do so, I can walk past the turbines and head northwest into the moor towards Dalmore. Or east, back towards Stornoway along the shores of Loch Garbhaig


Peatbogs on Meannan, August 2005


Track from Pentland Road windfarm, June 2013


Loch Garbhaig, looking east towards Stornoway, June 2013

Mary Anne Macleod

I live in the island from where Mary Anne Macleod set forth to seek a new existence in the New World. She did return here from time to time, worshipped in the church I attend each Sunday. Mary Anne later became mother to five children, one of whom is now the 47th President of the USA: Donald J. Trump.
We raise our children, and instil in them values we hold dear. When they have grown up, they go forth into the world and make a life for themselves to the best of their abilities. What they do with that upbringing is their responsibility.
People in the island of Lewis do not talk about Donald Trump. His behaviour is not the way things are done in the Western Isles, and are a disgrace to his heritage. His behaviour is not the fault of his late mother, he is responsible, as a man of nearly four score years, for his own actions. I never knew Mary Anne Macleod, she died five years before I came to live in Stornoway. I do know people who met her. When I stand at the gate at the bottom of Cross Street, a quiet back street in Stornoway, I glance over to the row of houses on Ford Terrace in Tong. To the demure dwellings in the village beyond. And wonder what she would have made of her son's career in politics. Isn't it the case that she warned never to let Domhnall Iain anywhere near politics?

Holocaust Memorial Day - 2026

Today it is 81 years ago since the infamous Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp was liberated by Soviet forces. More than a million people, mainly Jews, were killed there during the Second World War. The process was conducted as an industrial process. To date, some of the goods left behind by the victims of the Holocaust remain on display. These include suitcases with name tags, spectacle frames, hair and shoes. I have never visited Auschwitz and am not likely to.

January 27th is Holocaust Memorial Day, remembering all the victims of the Nazi's policy of extermination of all those they considered to be sub-human.

Holocaust Memorial Day remembers all victims of genocide.

We must never forget.