Dash for gas is waste of energy north of the border
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TACKLING climate change and developing renewable energy are two sides of the same coin.
That truism makes it hard to give any credit to the range of comments in the Groat on the Flow Country from critics in Caithness who don’t seem to understand the connection.
Do we want a recognisable landscape to bequeath to our grandchildren? Do we want more jobs to employ many more Caithness folk?
Do we want future energy revenues from onshore and offshore projects which will benefit our communities and Scotland as a whole from clean power? Do we want a world-class environmental hub to match the world class peatlands of the Flows?
As your MSP, I value all the opinions expressed. I do like discussing the issues in person in terms of up-to-date science. So I will invite people to discuss these issues in the New Year around the county and other parts of the constituency. Given the dash for gas agreed by the UK Tory and Lib Dem Government last week, I’m perfectly sure that London’s carbon emission plans are inappropriate for this county, this country or the planet while renewables will pave the way to clean energy security for us long-term.
This week we at the most local level in our windswept northern land should welcome the outcome of the UN climate talks in Doha, capital of sun-baked, oil-rich Qatar. A total of 195 nations agreed that richer countries will help the developing ones for loss and damage due to climate change.
In the UK, the approach of the Tory/Lib Dem coalition to future energy needs is ignoring the warning from Nicholas Stern (author of the economics of climate change report) that reduction of carbon emissions is “recklessly slow”.
THE Chancellor’s autumn statement offered fairly mean Christmas presents to the unemployed, disabled and those close to the poverty trap.
The rise in the basic state pension is welcome news but will be cold comfort given the combined impact of the UK Government’s austerity programme. The basic pension will rise by 2.5 per cent next April (from £107.45 per week to £110.15).
The Institute of Fiscal Studies calculated (in a report for SAGA) that pensioner households in the UK will be £451 worse off next year as a result of tax and benefit changes made by the coalition government.
Working-age benefits will rise by a paltry 1 per cent next April – below the expected rate of inflation and far below the rising cost of living.
Those affected are in work, i.e. child benefit, maternity allowance, maternity pay, sick pay and tax credits; and out of work, i.e. benefits that include income support, job seekers allowance and employment support allowance, but it excludes disability or carers benefit.
To put this in context, there was a 2.7 per cent consumer price Index increase in October and the Joseph Rowntree Foundation found recently that between 2008 and 2012 the minimum standard of living for a family with two children rose by 16 per cent above inflation.
Only by bringing all powers home to Scotland can we build a fairer welfare system and a better nation. These real-term cuts to the incomes of working families are yet another example of the UK Government’s policies undermining the work of the Scottish Government to improve the lives of Scots.
We need to be more like Norway and others who have a smaller gap between the lowest and highest paid.
Two thousand young families will benefit from the national roll-out of the Scottish Government’s family nurse partnership programme; the UK Government is making a real-terms cut to maternity and paternity pay. The SNP would plan to increase free child care provision while the UK Government continues to make real-term cuts to child benefit.
LAST Saturday evening we celebrated a milestone for Scots Traditional Music Awards – its first 10 years.
With a packed hall in the Nevis Centre, Fort William, the number of venues capable of hosting this annual event dwindles as the Trad Awards grows and grows. Edinburgh, Perth, Dumfries and Glasgow have provided past venues but even Inverness is in doubt. That’s why Aberdeen is to be the December 2013 host.
MSPs have congratulated these Scots Trad Music Awards 2012, which we consider to be a superb showcase for Scotland’s traditional music. The winners come from a poll that was conducted by Hands Up for Trad and included both a public vote and an expert judging panel.
We should thank BBC Alba which has raised the public profile of “Na Trads”, as they style the Trad Music Awards in Gaelic, through the first live transmission of the ceremony this year.
While some in Caithness dislike Gaelic road signs, the station has built new viewers thanks to football and rugby coverage that other BBC channels ignore. But it does much more.
The top-class entertainment included musicians from all over Scotland. I was delighted to spot Addie Harper jnr playing his banjo with the legendary Fergie Macdonald and his band in a tribute to the National Association of Accordion and Fiddle clubs.
We remembered with gratitude those many departed friends of traditional music who passed on in 2012, such as fiddler Ian Hardie and Dundee’s Michael Marra.
We welcomed new inductees to the Hall of Fame, and wished the organisers, the musicians and everyone involved with the vibrant Scottish traditional music scene many successful years to come.
WHEN I received the best politician prize at the Scottish Green Energy Awards in Edinburgh a week ago, there were over 1000 members of the industry present and the Highlands took four of the 10 prizes.
I’d say that bodes well for our future as we lead Scotland to a new prosperity that should sustain life hereabouts. Green power and green sphagnum moss both have their place. A happy Christmas to all our readers.
Rob.gibson.msp@scottish.parliament.uk
