On:
In: Stephen Bird

Over recent months the siren of voices who claim that they have the simple route to Independence has become a clamour to see who can shout the loudest, sadly not a debate about who has one which is actually workable and achievable. From withdrawing the SNP MPs from Westminster to declaring “UDI” we’re bombarded with sound, and not a little fury. The SNP should get their own policy house in order is followed by the SNP should open up to the rest of the YES movement. As is frequently the case, the calls are mutually exclusive. Everyone, it seems, has a plan to get usRead More →

On:
In: Maureen MacGregor

Wick Is built around the mouth of Wick Bay, an inlet in the coastline in the far north of Scotland.  At the central point of this bay is the harbour and from there the town rises along both cliff tops leading out to neighbouring villages north and south of the town.  Originally Wick was a small village on the north side of the bay but the  creation of a new harbour on the south side in the 19th century led to the beginnings of Pulteneytown – with all its various spellings – and the two merged together and turned Wick into one of the largestRead More →

On:
In: Michael Hance

Our neighbours across the sea in the Nordic countries will be heading en masse to their summer cottages over the next couple of weeks. If you visit Helsinki round about midsummer you’ll find a city as quiet as Christmas. Shops are shut, cafes and restaurants are closed or empty, and in the streets almost no one is about. The vast majority of Helsinkilaiset are off to the country to celebrate the long summer days.  Like us, Nordic people endure long dark winters. Months of mirk, days which don’t stretch much further than 3.30, and enforced detention in the house. Their response to that is to make the most of theRead More →

On:
In: Aileen Orr

When doctors differ patients die, much can be compared when those fighting for independence do the same.  We now have more keyboard warriors than activists in the field it seems and it’s become a feeding frenzy for the media and our detractors in Westminster.  We may be a broad church, but we only have one aim, so why is all this catastrophe happening, and what will galvanise the troops? The first consideration is if this is truly about Alba trying to destroy the SNP, as we are reading in the media, then it’s time to talk.  There are many in both camps reasonable and passionateRead More →

On:
In: Maureen Forbes

Over the winter we took part in the PeakSave session trials that were running to try to limit energy usage at peak times of the day during a possible energy crisis. By changing your habits during a specified hour, sometimes two, of the day you would receive a credit onto your electricity bill. I was interested to see the results and just how much electricity we could save but when the times were released, I realized I would be out of the house for the majority of them and the effect would be negligible. Determined to try however, before I left the house I madeRead More →