On:
In: Margaret Hamilton, Uncategorized

Silly old me. I thought that this month the trial being heard in Edinburgh (of which we will not comment during the course of) would be the smokescreen that would hide what Westminster was up to. How wrong could I be? Sadly, something that has a much more profound effect on people has been spreading around the world and arrived here in each of the home countries. The Coronavirus has given the media in each of the UK countries an excuse to go into overdrive. We get a full 15 to 20 minutes on the main British news programmes followed by a further 15 minutesRead More →

On:
In: Maureen MacGregor, Uncategorized

Myself and the youngest were to go off to London for a few days and had been researching things to do when we were down.  One of the trips was to be either the Dungeons or the Tower of London with its tombs, the latter being my preferred choice as I thought it might be more meaningful.  The bairn preferred the theatre and location of the Dungeons however and neither of us were for giving in. Parental responsibility took over and I decided that it would be the Tower and so went to the website to book tickets.  I got no further than the firstRead More →

On:
In: Jim Lynch, Uncategorized

I wish you all a Happy and Prosperous New Year;  who knows what this year will bring forth, but we start with 48 seats in Westminster, something we must learn to live with.  The Unionist camp, whose name is legion, mutters and grumbles at us only getting 45% of the votes cast as we did get 80% of the seats.  However these are their rules, not ours, or to phrase it correctly a win is a win is a win. I had an odd experience this morning; I was renewing my car insurance.  I did this at the weekend but had to telephone the currentRead More →

On:
In: Stephen Bird, Uncategorized

Pretty much all General Elections are described as “historic” and “the most important of our lives” etc at various points in their individual campaigns. Every once in a while, it’s actually true! December 12 2019 will undoubtedly be one of them for a number of reasons. Firstly, it will undoubtedly lead to the UK leaving the European Union for a number of years. There is no doubt in my mind that Johnson and his tories will pass the Withdrawal Act within weeks and we will “get Brexit done” by January 31. Whatever that most vacuous of phrases actually means. The hard work of trade dealsRead More →

On:
In: Margaret Hamilton, Uncategorized

I remember my father being involved in an earlier renovation of the doocot. He drew up plans (being an architect) that were presumably required for planning permission. My father in law was a supporter of this charity as are my husband and I. This has all been made possible for us by the volunteers who had the vision for the initial project and the stamina to keep it all going over the years. I would therefore like to share with you the press release details released last week for the latest refurbishment of the site. If you have never visited the site you should tryRead More →

On:
In: Margaret Hamilton, Uncategorized

The ability to open mouth and not engage brain when dealing with Scotland and the SNP continues to amaze me. Today, Sky broadcasting’s reaction to the SNP’s complaint about not being included in tv debates was to say Scotland is not Britain (according to circulation on social media). The Conservatives seem to be doing a grand job at upsetting ordinary people. Everytime their leaders open their mouth they show a profound inability to understand the majority of people who don’t live in their privileged bubble world. I see the latest thing with the Scottish conservatives is to plaster their literature with their name, photos andRead More →

On:
In: Stephen Bird, Uncategorized

Brexit n The undefined being negotiated by the unprepared in order to get the unspecified. When I first started to print this on shirts, mugs etc way back in 2017 little did I realise just how apt the words were. Sure, we knew that the Government had no strategy, vision, plan or destination in mind but most of us assumed that there were enough adults in the Civil Service to ensure that something semi sensible would emerge and be accepted by the Government. Oh how wrong we were! It’s perhaps worth recalling that in 2016 one of the aims of the Leave campaign was toRead More →

On:
In: Margaret Hamilton, Uncategorized

Watching the lunchtime news, Ian commented ‘Is there a massive sand pit down at Westminster where they have all stuck their heads?’ I have become detached and terrified in equal measure. Boris and his team are definitely in the lead over ‘the Donald’ in the lying stakes. How the hell did the elected members down there allow such a deluded, bumbling, arrogant person to be running our affairs? Yes I do blame the other MPs. They were all elected by their constituents to do the best they could to defend and support them. Too many of them have only been concerned about their own payRead More →

On:
In: Jim Lynch, Uncategorized

I did not know if I would be able to do The Flag this week as I was in hospital, kept longer than I anticipated, but everything went well. Do not believe all the criticisms you read from the Unionists, I get great service from my surgery and this week it was the Western General Hospital in Edinburgh as well. So nothing but admiration for the NHS. When in hospital I was able to keep up with the news through the Herald and the National, my wife brought the papers in each day; so where are we? Latest comment about the Nationalising of Ferguson Engineering;Read More →

On:
In: Maureen Forbes, Uncategorized

In one of my earlier blog pieces I wrote about the offshore wind farm being built south of Wick. At the time of writing the first turbine had been installed and immediately connected to the grid thereby paying for itself from the very first turn of the blades, transmitting energy throughout the country. The same weekend, the first “Dounreay” flight departed with its load of uranium and nuclear waste bound for the USA and flew over the windmill; an emotive vista of the departure of outdated technology whilst the new clean renewable energy sprung up around it. To me it also contrasted the backward lookingRead More →