We’re paying for bankers’ folly... but there is good news
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WHAT a momentous year it has been. Looking back on 2011 we can see that the bank crash of 2008 has ballooned into years of money problems across the globe.
The London Government has voted huge tax cuts to balance the books, but it is the innocent who are paying for the guilty and reckless bankers’ folly.
Last week SNP, Labour and Green MSPs voted to turn down Westminster’s consent request on swingeing welfare cuts in favour of making the necessary legal changes themselves.
Scottish health secretary Nicola Sturgeon said the changes to welfare proposed by the Tory Lib Dem coalition at Westminster would result in damaging cuts to benefits for some of the most vulnerable people in Scotland.
It is the first time Holyrood has refused Westminster legislative consent and a sign of the times when the Scotland Bill is voted on.
Out in the communities it has been hard to get mortgages, many suffer pay freezes, others are made redundant, it’s hard for the young to get into work and yet...
The number of those seeking work has risen in the past year with Wick worse hit than Thurso – yet these areas have lower rates than many parts of central Scotland. Apprenticeships for all who need them are a Scottish promise.
This year has seen work on port upgrades at Scrabster and new premises in North Highland College in use. Just in the last month two international energy companies – Repsol and EDPR behind the Moray Firth Development Zone – revealed more details of the huge development of around 250 turbines, which is proposed for a site 13 miles off the Caithness coast. This should undoubtedly benefit Wick harbour.
Forever Fuels has unveiled plans for a £7 million biomass plant near Thurso powered by local wood, which could create 15 full-time jobs.
The Nuclear Decommissioning Authority announced that Babcock Dounreay Partnership, a consortium of UK and US companies, is the preferred bidder to take ownership of Dounreay Site Restoration Limited from next April, after a two-year public procurement process.
Unfortunately, fire destroyed Caithness Cheese, the family-run cheese factory at Occumster. Fire crews were unable to save the building and contents.
However, Wick Airport passenger numbers in November totalled 2507, which was up 13.9 per cent on the same month of last year. That is the highest increase of all 10 HIAL airports.
These are snapshots of Caithness making big strides towards new jobs to be gained from the age-old energy resources on land and sea and in the air.
In May voters gave a decisive vote to re-elect the competent Scottish Government of Alex Salmond in contrast to swingeing cuts from the London Tories and Lib Dems that are deeper and tougher than those of Margaret Thatcher.
A month before, Gail Ross’s success in the by-election as a Highland councillor for Wick followed by my own election as your MSP four weeks later swept away any doubts that a positive mood was alive in the Far North.
All over Scotland a similar spirit projected the widespread belief that full powers over the Scottish economy and other policies is now possible and needed by Holyrood to take Scotland on to recovery and full employment like our northern European neighbours.
WE can all do our bit to help the environment this Christmas and New Year. I’m taking simple, easy steps to help the environment and support our local economies this festive season.
When people are nipping out to the shops for the last bits of food for stocking up for Hogmanay, I hope you shop local and buy Scottish.
We have some of the best locally produced food in the world and some Scottish salmon, beef, local turkeys, some of our great-tasting local cheese or even a few locally brewed beers or a drop of whisky all make a great festive meal and help our local economy.
Shopping locally is a good way to beat the added costs of transportation that comes from the many gifts that are shipped from halfway around the world. This significantly impacts on greenhouse gases, but by shopping locally you can combat that and help your local economy.
Another way to help the environment is to recycle all the wrapping paper and Christmas cards that often end up in the bin.
Local shops and supermarkets often have special bins dedicated to recycling cards.
If every household in Scotland made an effort to ensure these are recycled, we can help cut the amount sent to landfill.
LAST week my colleague, Jean Urquhart MSP, hosted the last reception of the Holyrood session to flag up the Year of Creative Scotland in 2012.
I had a chat with Andrew Dixon, who has been chief executive of Creative Scotland since May 2010, to ask him how Creative Scotland is going to reach every part of the country.
He referred to his scoping visit to Caithness and how the Creative Place Awards could be a key to unlock CS support for our area.
The first round of awards in communities large and small stretch from Creetown to Huntly, yet Wick and Thurso could get in a future round, should they choose.
Mr Dixon explained that these Creative Place Awards aim to celebrate the value of creativity to the social and economic wellbeing of smaller communities across Scotland, and to reward the hard work and imagination of such places.
Nominees were chosen for the wide involvement of the whole community, as well as the creativity of their existing plans. Category winners will receive a cash prize which will allow them to enhance their activity further.
Perhaps the trenchant criticisms of playwright George Gunn can begin to be answered by a Creative Place Award. It’s a good New Year resolution.
To one and all in Caithness, Sutherland and Ross, I would like to wish you a continued happy Christmas, and a prosperous, peaceful and healthy New Year.
www.robgibson.org
