It's fast becoming a social media cliche, but the Random List still pulls in the page-hitters. My last one on the Papal Visit was well read, and the biog bullet points proved strangely popular. In that spirit I give you Day Two of the SNP Conference in Perth. It's a particularly attractive blogging option because (a) there's a lot of material to get through and this is a fun way to summarise the best bits, and (b) The time is now 2am.
Viral video. The new SNP viral video features a young rock band - Jakil - playing a version of the old Canned Heat number Let's Work Together. It shows Scots from all walks of life doing just that. Someone suggested I might wish to share it on my social media networks "if you like it". I do, and so here it is. I'm particularly looking forward to the classic soul version featuring my hero Al Green....
Smouldering John Swinney no, really.... I don't want to damage his reputation for frugal moderaton, but John Swinney's speech was - whisper it - somewhat passionate. At the end he suggested that Scotland could no longer afford to remain in the UK Union. We have been in surplus for four years while UK was in deficit. You can read the whole speech here.http://www.snp.org/node/17386
I always thought the Fair Maid of Perth was invented by Sir Walter Scott to add romantic interest to an extremely complicated plot line in his novel. But I see that her house is being restored right opposite the multi-storey car park I am using. Historical dramatisation is all the rage again so who cares if Sir Walter took a few liberties with the fair maid? Cultural tourists don't..
While waiting for coffee I meet the leading soprano Alicia Hayes, who has just started working for Bruce Crawford MSP, the parliamentary business manager. Alicia has sung with opera companies all over the world, often playing the romantic lead. She's staying closer to home on account of her baby daughter these days, we will surely see her on the political stage before too long.
Good debate on PFI this morning. For more on the ever mounting price tag go to Jim and Margaret Cuthbert
I meet Liberal Democrat Andy Myles, a facebook friend who's fair scunnered with some of the compromises made by his party leaders in coalition at Westminster. He's here in his professional capacity as a lobbyist for Scottish Environment Link which represents dozens of individual groups. I am particularly interested in the human ecology of the countryside - eg preserving its people as well as flora and fauna. Turns out he is very keen on repopulating the highlands and breaking up sporting estates. He offers examples of mixed use tenure. Environmentalists encourage cattle being wintered outside when possible, especially in woodland. Would love to taste some of the beef that spends months grazing in pine forests around Abernethy. Is it aromatic?
Lunchtime fringe meeting. But which one? The SNP conference has grown considerably in recent years with lots of groups like the charity mentioned above keen to influence policy makers. One of the downsides is that a lot of interesting fringe meetings are scheduled for the same time. At 12.30 today you could chose to learn more about Victim Support, Scotland's Colleges, the challenges of Foster Care, the difficulties older women have in accessing the right breast cancer care and a Scottish Social Enterprise seminar on how communities can buy their assets. I was tempted by a Reform Scotland/NESTA discussion on reforming public services but went instead for...
Dragons' Den. Sponsored by the Centre for Public Policy Research, Stewart Stevenson the Transport, Infrastructure and Climate Change Minister lead a team of dragons listening to pitches for a new Forth Crossing, upgrading the Glasgow Subway and introducing a smartcard for all public transport. All three had merit. Was particularly impressed with Jonathan Findlay the Labour councillor who chairs SPT, who was brave enough to come before the nationalist audience. He was applauded too. It is surely something of a scandal that the Glasgow Subway (rebuilt in 1970) and the Forth Road Bridge, are major postwar engineering projects that have scandalously failed to pass the test of time. If we must invest billions to replace or renew, let's take a tip from those sustainable Victorians and make our bridges and tunnels last longer than a few decades.
Angus Brendan MacNeil, the MP for the Western Isles and hard-working Barra crofter, has sacrificed the Mod to attend conference. He directs me to this funny exchange from Hansard on the Arc of Prosperity. How many times do you hear that Ireland and Iceland still enjoy standards of living far higher than our own...?
Fantastic fringe meeting on the creative industries with Jim Mather, minister for Enterprise, Andrew Dixon, of Creative Scotland, Jackie MacKenzie, Head of Innovation Programmes Scotland at NESTA and Rob Woodward at STV. One of these meetings that you really wish had been webcast. Andrew Dixon has had a few knocks but I was very heartened by his presentation. He seems genuinely enthused by what he has found here - and keen to grow audiences for artists in Scotland. The more local something is, the more compelling it can be to a global audience. Is the word glocal? He has identified music as a vibrant cultural resource that doesn't get enough attention. Jackie had interesting things to say on education - the divide between art and science, in both school and university, is damaging our competitiveness in computer games. Artistic kids need the maths skills to programme as well, say developers. Breadth is supposed to be the rock on which our educational system stands, so Scotland should be able to find a way around this. On a positive note it's a shame Jim Mather is retiring, though he will be 68 at the close of the next parliament and has many other plans. Until next May we should celebrate having as Enterprise Minister a highly successful entreprenuer who quotes Hugh Macdiarmid And Richard Florida. It doesn't get better really...
Chat to representatives of The Police Federation who say they have more access to government since the SNP took power than under any previous Scottish administration. They are not the first group to say this. I wonder why previous ministers were so remote - did they fear contradicting London policy by accidently promising what they could not deliver?
Media reception in the evening, hosted by Scottish Power. Deputy First Minister Nicola Sturgeon is in good humour. She gives the diarists a nice story about her own social networking slip. Recently married, she tried to change her relationship status to reflect this and link to her husband Peter Murrell. Unfortunately the predictive language married her off the party press officer Paul Togneri. It took a few desperate phone calls to undo her cyber-bigamy, without a puzzling broken heart appearing on the profile...
Alex Salmond arrives at conference today (Saturday) fresh from Dehli where he joined Glasgow Provost for the "handover" ceremony fo the Commonwealth Games. The question on everyone's lips is: "Will he bring the hat?"
Will supermarkets eventually own the countryside as well as the towns? This was the fear of some activists at a rural policy fringe meeting I attended at the party's Perth conference. As a prospective candidate for the South of Scotland it's a subject that clearly interests me. It's also difficult to take your journalist's hat off - "Supermarket Scotland" is a good headline...but what lies behind it?
There is a real problem attracting new entrants to farming, not just in Scotland. However the agri-industrial complex was not a dominating feature here - something that gave us an advantage in the marketplace, and which sustains our very varied - and culturally rich - rural areas. Farmers have smaller families these days and often their offspring prefer to pursue different careers. But primary production of food is very capital intensive, so who can afford to buy? Getting credit/mortgages is a problem for all businesses. This report from one of the biggest rural estate agents says neighbouring farmers tend to snap up the land and so you get consolidation. Agricultural land is also seen as a safe investment in difficult times. All this tends to mean that individuals, such as local people keen to enter farming, have no chance. One Perthshire famer pointed out that Austria, with its small population, supports 190,000 farms, so could we have a cap on farms getting too big? Then there are specific problems such as those faced by dairy farmers who are suffering because supermarkets use milk as a loss leader - you can now buy 2 litres for what you paid for a litre 6 months ago...this needs to be tackled at UK level so we might wait a while...
Supermarkets directly owning the land does not - phew - seem to be happening. But some argue the power of mass retailers over farmers means they are owners in all but title. This vertical integration is evident in both the UK and America, and is outlined in some detail in this article in Corporatewatch
This issue isn't just about farmers, but everyone who lives and works in the country. It's all about keeping young people and families in rural areas - depopulation is a big issue in Southern Scotland for example. There was constructive discussion at the meeting about how smallholders were like crofters without the title - how could they access similar help? Just finding a place to live is a challenge for people in the countryside, where wages are below the average. There are some innovative organisations building affordable rural housing - often just five or six social rented homes can ensure a community's survival. The Dumfries & Galloway Small Communities Housing Trust was cited as a good example and the Scottish government is keen. But some local authorities are better than others in encouraging it. There was discussion about renewables and the government's determination to stop The Crown Estate revenues going straight to London - but that deserves a separate blog.
Rural Scotland has its problems but there's lots to be optimistic about too, particularly in developing our natural advantages. We hear much about green power in that respect, but traditional land use also presents exciting possibilities. Richard Lochhead, the rural affairs ministers who spoke at the meeting, has focussed land use back onto food production, which is fortuitous given the world food shortage. He has also just put Scotland's first ever Land Use Strategy out to consultation. While we might worry about the Tescoshire threat, the good news is more small businesses based on land use are being born. Since 2007, there's been a fresh emphasis on adding value to natural produce - another reason dairy is suffering is that there were traditionally few outlets other than liquid milk. Given that the Scottish landscape is perceived as pristine across the world, there is a lot of scope in developing more food products. It's already well underway. Artisan-style businesses selling everything from tweed bags to whisky laced mustard are sprouting, if you pardon the pun, all over the country. Customers continue to be concerned about the provenance of their food, despite the recession. Sales of Scottish branded food and drink are up by a third since 2007, demand for our salmon and venison outstrips supply and whisky is by far the UK's biggest food export.
Of course independence would help rural Scotland enormously. Europe will review the Common Agriculture Policy in 2013 and only independent member states have a voice in shaping that.
ADD
The ideas raised in the meeting were serious and some will, I'm sure, help shape the manifesto. On the subject of local produce, one of the more light-hearted suggestions will strike a chord with many an ethical-but-weary Scottish shopper. It's all very well having lovely local goodies on display at the Farmers' Market. But why do we have to get drookit looking round the stalls, which are nearly always open air? It's a fair point. Even Glasgow's famous Barras market is mainly indoors these days, so why not produce markets? It's surely enought to know that the beasts had fresh air and lots of water. But it would be nice if we were a bit more comfortable, it might wean some of us off supermarkets too...
Delighted to see that the Scottish government intend to look at ways to stop the revenue from Scotland's seabed going directly to The Treasury in London via The Crown Estate. For more on this aspect of Alex Salmond's statement go to Andy Wightman's blog here. It should put the Liberal Democrats in a spot because their Highland and Island MPs and MSPs have long campaigned for this reform. Andy is the author of Who Owns Scotland and a relentless and influential campaigner on land issues for 20 years. His forth-coming book, The Poor had no Lawyers is a history of Scotland from the perspective of land struggles. It promises to be a fascinating - and controversial - read. The First Minister seems to agree with Andy that Scottish communities should have a say in, and benefit from, renewable resources such as wind and tide energy in their waters. See this piece by David Ross in The Herald
I wrote a column on the subject earlier this summer in The Scotsman, reproduced below:
"If I told you an absentee laird controls half of Scotland’s sovereign territory you would be surprised. If you learned this individual collects rents from those using the land, but expects Scots to fund its maintenance, surprise might turn to anger. Assets worth billions of pounds have recently been discovered on this vast estate. The Scottish people will subsidise the extraction of those assets. But our fabulously wealthy laird, who resides in splendour just off London’s Regent Street, will pocket the proceeds.
Only one journalistic liberty has been taken in the paragraph above. The laird is not an individual. Rather he is a faceless quango known as the Crown Estate. While laws passed by the Scottish parliament limited the rights of private landowners – even the good ones - the Crown Estate, which is really a glorified factor, continues to operate like a robber baron of old.
If you are a small boat owner, you will be familiar with the Crown Estate, which manages a £6billion property portfolio including half of Scotland’s foreshore and the seabed out to the 12 mile nautical limit. Many coastal residents, who have historically moored small craft near their homes, were shocked when the Crown Estate began demanding rent in the 1980s for what was considered a community asset. Only this year the Crown Estate fought small boat owners on Bute in the Court of Session using public funds. The islanders insisted the seabed was granted to them by royal charted centuries ago, but had no funds to defend the case.
In future many more Scots, urban and well as rural, are going to have their lives touched by the Crown Estate. The potential of offshore wind, wave and tidal energy change the game plan entirely. It belongs to us all and we should all feel the benefits. But the Crown Estate website claims, erroneously, that this treasure is all theirs. It is worth considerably more than mooring rents. In 2008-9 the UK marine estate was valued at £409.5million and generated revenue of almost £50m, a rise of 18% on the previous year. A substantial part of that comes from Scotland.
What the Crown Estate does to earn this income is unclear. It is the Scottish government which invests in attracting and supporting renewable energy companies with initiatives such as The Saltire Prize. It is Marine Scotland, also funded by Holyrood, which maintains the seabed.
But the Crown Estate gets the loot. Money from renewable wind, wave and tidal licences goes to its elegant offices in Burlington Place, W1, and then the Treasury just along the road. It is not earmarked to develop the industry, or benefit the Scottish people by easing the impact of public spending cuts. Our seabed revenue is not factored into Scotland’s block grant.
It is surprising that the Scottish government has not challenged the power of the Crown Estate. It is a subject close to the heart of SNP activists, and it fits perfectly with the current campaign for fiscal responsibility. My understanding is that senior civil servants in the rural affairs department are a cautious bunch who dislike change.
Also, a minority government doesn’t want to pick fights unnecessarily, particularly not with an organisation it needs to partner in the development of an important green industry.
But this caution is misplaced. There is the chance to build a cross-party consensus. The Liberal Party in the highlands has spoken out against Crown Estate excesses for years. The West Highland Free Press, the radical newspaper founded by the former Labour minister Brian Wilson, has conducted a long-running campaign questioning its authority.
Andy Wightman, the land reform campaigner, has done a considerable amount of work on the issue. Wightman says the Crown Estate has pursued a successful strategy of confusion. Many people think the land belongs to The Queen. In fact it is a public asset. In 2006, the Crown Estate Review Working Group, formed by local authorities in the highlands and islands, urged Westminster to review the organisation’s post-devolution role and ensure revenues benefited the people of Scotland.
This March, the Treasury Select Committee at Westminster published its own, devastating report. It concluded that Scotland’s territorial seabed and continental shelf area are defined and governed by Scots Law and stated: “As a result of the Scotland Act of 1998, the Scottish parliament can legislate over the extent and nature of Crown property rights in Scotland.”
Effectively it means we can pass a law ensuring the revenue stays in Scotland. This is what happened until 1832 when an Act of Parliament diverted the money south. Northern Ireland and the Isle of Man were affected by similar centralising laws, but have succeeded in getting their cash back. Only Scotland fails to reap the benefits of its long and lucrative coastline.
The election of coalition government in Westminster means we could repatriate the revenue without a Holyrood bill however. A one line change in the Scotland Act is all it takes. A simple matter, since the government has already promised to re-open the Scotland Act post-Calman. And remember the coalition’s Scottish representation comprises mainly Liberals from rural constituencies.
Wightman suggest Marine Scotland should administer and collect the revenues. These could be invested in coastal communities and a national common good fund – similar to the oil fund proposed by the SNP. The Crown Estate, which has a tiny staff in Scotland, is determined not to let go. “Scotland is a goldmine for them,” says Wightman, “they are desperate to keep hold of it.”
The gold plated quango is nervous as well as desperate. Dermot Grimson, its head of external affairs, warned this week that any questioning of its role in Scotland will threaten renewable energy jobs by causing “uncertainty”. It sounds familiar, doesn’t it? Vested interests cited “uncertainty” as a reason why Scotland should not have its own devolved parliament.
Grimson, who once headed Rural Forum, a campaigning group which collapsed owing more than half a million to creditors, is particularly nervous because Tavish Scott, the Liberal Democrat leader in Holyrood, is pushing for change. Scott has promised to write to his colleague Michael Moore, the Scottish Secretary, calling for marine revenues to be devolved.
Scott should be commended for doing so, though it would be an outrage if he failed to act. The Liberals who hold highland and island seats today benefit from their party’s long association with the land reform movement dating right back to the Crofters War of the 19th century.
The Crown Estate is trying to undermine Scott’s efforts by offering the Scottish government a “memorandum of understanding” on the whole issue. That must not happen as it would pin us to an organisation whose interests are at odds with those of Scotland’s people. When Alex Salmond said that we could become the Saudi Arabian of renewable energy, he didn’t mean we should emulate that country’s feudal system."
Why do we talk about
“Scottish industry” but “UK oil?” or “Scottish banks” but “UK oil”? Is this a
form of internal censorship, and if so, why do we do it to ourselves? If you use the term Scottish oil you
immediately reveal your political affiliation. Yet it does lie within our
waters, so the phrase shouldn’t be controversial. You
might be forgiven for thinking that the ownership of North Sea oil is something
of a tired old story. But recent discoveries in the waters off northern
Scotland demonstrate otherwise. Just last month a consortium of companies announced the
most significant new find in the North Sea for almost a decade. The Catcher
field, which lies about 180 miles East of Aberdeen, is estimated to contain 350 million barrels. To put that in perspective, the average new find is 20-30 million barrels.
The above is an extract from my Scotsman column today. I felt moved to write it after listening to the ludicrous suggestions from US senators that Scotland did a deal over Libyan oil when we don't even control our own oil. I have always been of the belief that more needs to be made of the injustice that sees massive revenues leave Scotland for the Treasury. If this was happening in a developing country there would be cries of exploitation. But we are told we are subsidised by London. And many of us believe it. Talk about psychological colonialism. The money Scotland sends south MUST inform the forthcoming debate about the suggested cuts in The Beveridge report. If the British economy is relying on oil revenues to stay afloat in the next few years imagine the difference these revenues could make to Scotland. Yet we still get conned by the suggestion, included in the Calman report, that our oil wealth is somehow bad luck, that it gives us an lob-sided petro-economy which needs England to "balance it". Are we really so gullible as to fall for this suggestion we'd be better off WITHOUT the oil?
Here are some useful links to the factual articles that back up my arguments.
I should also briefly address the concerns of a friend who rightly points out that the column ignores the carbon issue. He is correct, but the topic requires a blog/column of its own. I would say that the fossil fuel levy can help us develop renewables using a tax on oil, gas and coal, but the coalition government are still withholding Scotland's share - £188 million. Carbon capture would go a long way to deal with the issue of burning oil, but again we can only really develop this properly with the tax and decision making powers of independence. The engineering expertise developing renewables is often an oil industry spin off. The revenues we gain from having access to our own oil will allow us to give further encouragement to this kind of engineering. It would enable us to establish an unrivaled renewables sector and build the grid to transport the surplus green energy. Does anyone honestly believe that's how Westminster will spend the £50 billion North Sea bonanza flowing its way over the next few years?
From my column in The Scotsman today.
"IF I told you an absentee laird controls half of Scotland's sovereign territory you would be surprised. If you learned this individual collects rents from those using the land, but expects Scots to fund its maintenance, surprise might turn to anger..."
It is, of course, the Crown Estate, which claims to own half Scotland's sovereign territory (it doesn't, the land is public) including the seabed. A House of Commons Select Committee has ruled that the Crown Estate lands are the responsibility of the Scottish Parliament and we could pass a law repatriating the revenue they earn. The money stayed here up until 1832, and Northern Ireland and the Isle of Man have got their's back. It is not insubstantial, given the cash likely to be generated by marine energy. The land reform campaigner Andy Wightman says the coalition government could insert a line into The Scotland Act ensuring the revenue is repatriated. But will those highland and island Liberal Democrats live up to their radical heritage?
There's more in the column, so read on here
Took my dog to the groomer along the road in Portknockie the other day and came across this view from the cliff tops. Portknockie isn't the most famous of the villages on the Moray/Banff/Buchan coastline: Cullen, home of the skink, Pennan, set for local hero, and Portsoy with its Traditional Boat Festival all more familiar. But every village is a gem. This is the Bow Fiddle rock, whose name is self-explanatory. Along the road there is a sea cave called The Devil's Lum, which is terrifying and exhilirating all at once. It really is like standing at the gates of Hades.
Unexpectedly interesting blog of the month is Floorcrunch from Richard McKay whose Scottish company specialises in bespoke underfoot solutions. Particularly like his whisky barrel flooring, made from oak casks, presumably flattened and de-odorised...not that the whiff of a sweet malt is entirely out of place in the domestic environment. Beats the reek of lino or arcylic carpets any day. For those of you interested in recycled but stylish interiors, Floorcrunch also features flooring made of old wine bottle corks and rugs fashioned from disused bicycle tyres.
Depending on the outcome of the election next week, some of you may feel the need to hide away. If so I can recommend going underground on the island of South Uist. If you still have a job that offers paid holidays...