The Minister for Bikesheds

Scathing headline in the Gazette today. The Minister for bikesheds has visited Lewis. Now, bikesheds, and particularly perambulations to the rear of such, have this strange connotation. Also, bikesheds tend to be rather open and draughty affairs, which has a particular relevance in the policies of improving home insulation, which has ground to a halt. Current Scottish Government policies do not take into account the particular circumstances in this "àite gaoithach" (windy place) with its many stonebuilt houses. C'mon Pat, post us a more constructive message.

Uvalde TX

Another shooting. Nineteen children are killed, as well as two teachers. An outpouring of grief and outrage in the US and around the world. Which will peter out in due course and nothing will change. What is required to make a change? Not another shooting. Not another election. Hearts and minds need changing in America. Move from the 18th into the 21st century. It is the people using guns that kill. The fact is that guns are too readily available to everybody, including those that are unfit to hold a firearm. Speak to us in Europe, where the ownership and sales of guns &c is heavily regulated. Use us as a template for legislation, and ditch the gun lobby. But I've written this all before, and nothing will change.

Ferries galore

There has been a lot of discussion, including in the Scottish Parliament, about the crisis surrounding our ferry service. Calmac, our local operator, own a fleet of vessels which are up to 35 years old. The Scottish Government, made up by the SNP, have done very little to replace these old girls over the 15 years they've been in power. Two vessels were ordered, but are now a breathtaking FIVE years overdue in delivery. The contract was botched by the Scottish Government, meaning that the shipyard which building the craft, does not have to stump up for the overrun. It has now taken up a lot of First Minister's Questions - and here are senior SNP politicians complaining that FMQ is all about ferries. 'Scuse me, government is about the whole country, including far-flung places like Lochboisdale, Stornoway and Port Ellen. Take your responsibility seriously, forget about the blessed independence referendum for a change, or quit.

Our local Member of the Scottish Parliament does not feel it is necessary to raise a public inquiry into the overrun ferry fiasco. It's taxpayers' money we're talking about, and those responsible should be held to account. It is like drawing blood out of a stone to get the Scottish Government to release all the requisite documents, and our MSP is not convinced that such is required. Methinks Dr Allan is more concerned about keeping in with her nibs, the First Minister and leader of his party, than doing his job as representing the people of Na h-Eileanan Siar. Their interests are actively harmed by not having an adequate ferry service - because the boats are old and continually breaking down. And their interests matter more than the position of the MSP within the SNP. If it requires him to lose favour with the FM in order to achieve a good, lifeline ferry service, then he should stand up and demand a public inquiry. Does someone have something to hide?

April 30

Today is April 30th, the end of the Celtic winter. Tomorrow, May 1st, is Bealltain Bhuidhe, the Yellow Beltane, after the colour of some of the flowers that are out at this time of year. In certain parts of Europe, this day is referred to as St Walpurgis Night, the night that the ghosts and spectres of winter are exorcised and banished. It marks the start, particularly in the north, of the long evenings when darkness never really falls.

Back in 1945, this was the day that Adolf Hitler took his own life. An evil spirit banished from this earth. We must never forget, and never forget that although Hitler was evil, his reign was enabled by political decisions made in preceding decades.

The same applies to Vladimir Putin today, as lessons from the 1930s and 40s were patently forgotten. What he can get away with, he will get away with. And that is something that was not properly recognised, something that we will be paying a price for.

For the children

для детей. For the children.

Remember Mariupol, Ukraine, where the word дітей (children) was painted outside the theatre? The Russians put a bomb into it. Precisely for that reason. Remember the remains of the rocket in Kramatorsk, which had the words для детей painted on it? An expression of extreme cynicism, lost on most observers, who seem to live by the day.

Look at the bigger picture, folks. Sorry to be callous, but all those atrocities show that Russia is indeed intent to not only wipe Ukraine off the map, but to subjugate the entire European continent under its double eagle. In Putin's doctrine, the Americans can go back to their own continent. If Ukraine falls, so will we, in Europe. We can see how ruthless Putin's forces are. This war is existential. As I wrote on February 24th,

War For Our Time.

Coronavirus - two years on

 On Thursday, 24 March, it will be two years since the United Kingdom was placed under lockdown on account of the coronavirus pandemic. I vividly remember the sunsplashed but empty streets of Stornoway, a total absence of visitors and no cruiseliners - whereas in previous years, up to 40 liners would call through the summer. Having to wait in a queue outside Tesco for up to 45 minutes on one occasion, and having to take an hour to go through the store. I recall shuffling through Tesco, 7 feet apart from the previous and the next customer, having to write up the shopping list in exact sequence - because if I forgot to pick up the mayonnaise in aisle 4, and did not think about it until aisle 6, I'd have to ask a member of staff to please go and pick it up for me. Having to wait at aisle 12 to be called to a checkout. Hardly any shops open, public transport severely limited - but hardly any cases here in the Western Isles. The horror stories from the mainland, with up to 1500 deaths each day, and heartrending accounts of people dying by the dozen in carehomes - like the one in Portree, 50 miles south of Stornoway in Skye - without any loved ones to hold their hand in their final moments.

The year 2021 brought hope in the shape of vaccinations, and the restrictions gradually eased. Visitors started to return to the isles, mostly in motorhomes (much to the aggravation of many locals), but no cruiseliners. The deathtoll continued to rise, and currently stands at 150,000 across the UK. Although the numbers of deaths or severe cases of Covid have gone down substantially, thanks to the vaccinations, here in the isles, we have been hitting high numbers in recent days, up to 155 on one day last week. The demographics have shifted to children, with many new cases among primary school age pupils. 

The war in Ukraine, with a potential for becoming a world-war conflagration, has eclipsed coronavirus from the headlines. The pandemic has not gone away, and a new round of vaccinations is starting across the country. In Scotland, we are still required to wear facemasks in an indoor, public setting. 

I started 2020 with trepidation. This, the third decade of the 21st century, is fulfilling that promise of being a period of concern, and I'll go so far as to say - we ain't seen nothing yet.

Putin - isolated

I'm looking past the images of destruction, atrocities, suffering, displacement and horror. I see the man, who started a war - although his people are not allowed to call it that - on spurious grounds. Vladimir Putin (69), president of Russia. He is used to deploying tactics of "let's see what I can get away with". Forgetting that starting a war is ruled by the Laws of Unintended Consequences, the enterprise has blown up in his face in a breathtaking fashion. He will probably end up achieving his goals militarily. But at what cost. The human cost will be beyond imagination. However, my point is more the political and economic cost. Apart from half a dozen crackpot dictatorships, such as North Korea, Syria, Venezuela, Myanmar and the like, no nation on this earth overtly supports him. That leaves a very lonely, isolated man, perhaps cut off from reality. A very dangerous situation, also because he commands thousands of nuclear warheads. Unlikely to be used, but still. He has, after 8 days of fighting, not abandoned his vision for Europe, as being his fiefdom, his backyard. Cut off from NATO and the Americans, and the Russian Empire restored to its glory, as existed until 1989. And Ukraine coalesced into Russia. 

Putin is isolated, and has been since the pandemic kicked off two years ago. He will be surrounded by Yes Men, and his security apparatus is busy suppressing dissent. But this is 2022, not 1939. His economy is being asphyxiated, his sports men and women are now pariahs, and shipping and aircraft are not welcome anywhere anymore. 

How will this end? That is a question that those in power and authority around the world should be contemplating. Preferably by negotiation. But with a dogmatic individual like Vladimir Vladimirovich, that will be well-nigh impossible. He, like most Russians, does not like being compared to Hitler. Putin claims to be denazifying Ukraine - not realising he is behaving the way Hitler did between 1933 and 1945.  The parallels are disconcerting.

• Georgia 2008 - the Rhineland in 1936.
• Crimea 2014 - the Anschluß of Austria with Germany in March 1938 .
• Donetsk and Luhansk 2014 - the Sudetenland, spring 1939.
• Ukraine 2022 - Poland, September 1939. 

But that is where the parallels end abruptly. Poland was a walkover in 1939. Ukraine is resisting valiantly and the Russian campaign is lagging well behind schedule. Worse than that, from Putin's perspective, the world has rallied behind Ukraine within days, and he is left completely isolated. I will not look into the future, because wars are notoriously unpredictable. Hitler committed suicide on 30 April 1945, ten days after his 56th birthday. Putin will have his 70th birthday on October 7th. I wonder if there will be anything to celebrate for him by then.