Murdoch’s press led the charge to new lows
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AS many parents whose children attend small primary schools may know, the SNP Government has recently established a commission on rural education on Scotland. Headed by North sheriff David Sutherland, the commission will look at how small rural schools enrich communities like ours here in Caithness.
Rural schools are what bind our small communities together. From Reay to Thrumster, these schools act as the beating heart of our villages, and are a focal point for activity.
My views on rural schools are well documented, and I am pleased to see the SNP Government taking action on this, and choosing a North man to lead the effort.
I’m confident David Sutherland will do an excellent job as a man who lives in this area and knows the challenges our schools have faced, and continue to face.
I well remember meeting parents and campaigners in Thrumster during the campaign. They were rightly angry at the threat to the local school under the Lib Dem-led Highland Council’s estates review, and I share their anger. Small schools – precisely the schools the SNP Government is looking to protect – are facing merger and closure due to the council’s inability to balance its books and manage its money properly.
Caithness families have to sit round a table and plan their budget regularly. They manage their funds sensibly to ensure their children get the best start in life – it’s time the council did the same. As the Scottish Government sets out measures to protect rural schools, the council is drawing up plans to sack every classroom assistant in the Highlands. Sacking teaching staff and closing small schools is completely out of step with the aims of the Government – I sincerely hope the council listens to David Sutherland’s commission when it reports soon.
THE publication of the energy white paper at Westminster this week is long overdue. The SNP in Scotland and via our Westminster MPs has called for root-and-branch reform of the outdated and discriminatory system of transmission charges.
Time will tell if energy secretary Chris Huhne is “in the same place” on the issue of transmission charges as the SNP. Ofgem must now hear the message loud and clear that it is high time it abandons its ideological attachment to the current charges for connecting new sources of power and accepts the need for a postage-stamp model to encourage renewables in the very areas where wind, wave and tidal power are feasible.
The existing regime belongs to a past world of large-scale power stations near to population centres not the much more decentralised system of renewable energy. Scotland has an ambitious target of generating 100 per cent renewable electricity by 2020 and it would be utterly criminal for this to be threatened by a pig-headed adherence to an outdated system by the regulator.
Does the London coalition realise every new source of renewable power from Scotland cuts UK carbon emissions and adds considerably to UK commitments to meet EU targets on time?
THE depths to which the red-top press has sunk to get “stories” is summed up by the demise of the News of the World. The Murdoch press has led the charge to new lows in ethics.
Meanwhile, the case for Scottish Parliament supervision of the media has to be made.
The SNP’s wish to see the BBC do a far better job in reporting Scottish affairs was never more urgent.
The devolution of broadcasting and a digital network for Scotland is urgent after the BBC’s Audience Council for Scotland reported continued failings by the BBC to adequately represent Scottish issues or Scottish perspectives on national and international coverage.
The report from the ACS criticises Radio 4 for presenting the news through “a world view rooted in the south of England”, states there is an appetite for more Scottish news in national (UK) coverage, and raises concerns the transition to HD is cutting access to Scottish programming.
I believe many of you will agree devolution of broadcasting powers and the establishment of a Scottish digital network will offer a great opportunity for Scots viewers to receive the coverage, programming and perspective on the world this report shows they desire.
Scottish audiences should not have to get all their national news read through a London-based agenda. Coverage may have increased recently but we should not be in a position of every year having to tell the BBC that it isn’t doing enough and viewers continue to feel disenfranchised.
The BBC’s failure to provide Scottish services on HD, including Scottish news, shows how little thought the BBC in London has given to the nations it should represent.
Even during the recent Scottish elections anyone watching on HD in Scotland would not have seen any Scottish coverage.
Devolving broadcasting would put more pressure on the BBC to meet Scottish needs and a Scottish digital network would finally allow Scottish audiences to receive the programming and perspective they clearly want.
OVER 10 million people in East Africa are currently suffering as a result of the worst drought in the region for 60 years. Coupled with widespread conflict, the Disasters Emergency Committee has launched a high-profile appeal for donations to those affected. It is reported refugee camps in Kenya, Somalia and Ethiopia are receiving well over 10,000 new refugees every day.
Essential medical supplies are fast running out, and a refugee camp is no guarantee of aid. I would urge as many folk as possible to donate anything they can to DEC’s appeal. For more information, visit www.dec.org.uk
www.robgibson.org
