Tis the season to be merry …… or maybe not. An incompetent and corrupt government in London is leading us towards the likely disaster that is Brexit. A paranoid narcissist in Washington has control of the nuclear trigger. Climate change and environmental destruction are looming ever larger. But at least here in Scotland we have an ethical and responsible government, don’t we? Not a government that would give £518,595 of public funds to companies involved in the arms trade, surely? That would support the manufacturers of the missiles used by Saudi Arabia in Yemen, or the radio equipment used by the Assad regime in Syria, or the CS gas used against civilians in Egypt and in Hong Kong? Well unfortunately this is exactly what a Freedom of Infomation request from the Scottish Greens has revealed. Ross Greer, Scottish Green MSP, said “Innocent people are being killed around the world by an arms industry that we should have no part of. Most Scots will be sickened to hear that their government and its agencies are supporting this vile trade with public money.”
When we contacted Kenneth Gibson SNP MSP about this, he said “No public money is used to support the manufacture or export of munitions from Scotland. Our enterprise agencies support businesses across Scotland, including those operating in the aerospace and defence industries, in areas such as innovation, workplace efficiencies and training, involving projects which show significant economic return, particularly in the safeguarding and creation of new jobs. Scottish Enterprise has been clear that their support is focused on non-military developments and ranges from innovation and efficiency improvements to internationalisation and identification of new markets. The SNP Government has made clear their expectation that the UK Government properly police the export of arms and investigate where concerns are raised. Both Patricia Gibson MP and I have raised the Saudi attacks on Yemen in our respective parliaments. We believe that military force should only be sanctioned where it is lawful to do so and in accordance with the principles of the UN Charter and that any such action must always seek to avoid civilian casualties.”
Now that is fine as far as it goes – but it does not go far enough. How can it be thought ethical to support with public money one part of a company knowing full well that another part of the same organisation manufactures and sells arms to regimes that have no truck with human rights?
So have another mince pie and another glass of sherry, but let’s not pretend all is well. Ethical governance is not to be taken for granted. It is something we need to continually demand of our representatives.
Sir Kenneth Calman, ex-Chief Medical Officer of Scotland, England and Wales, Chancellor of the University of Glasgow, and from 2008 to 2009, convener of the Calman Commission on Scottish devolution, was at Brodick Library on the 22nd November with his wife Ann, to read some selections from his new book of poetry, Afterthoughts.
The history of this industrialised farming of the sea started as small units run by local businesses. Gradually competition and overproduction resulted in buy-outs by larger companies so that today the industry is run by multinationals. It is a similar story to chickens, egg production and other intensive food sectors, which are running into trouble meeting food and safety standards.
We all know of the spread of disease. The more crowded the environment, be they chickens, salmon or pigs, the more likely they are to exhibit a catalogue of disease, waterborne or airborne. Crowded conditions encourage both the populations of disease organisms and transmissivity of diseases. Think of Glasgow and TB in the early 20th century, chickenpox epidemics in primary schools, malaria and standing water etc. But often the control of vectors or invasive organisms by chemical spraying or by in-feed chemicals gives rise to serious knock-on events. Silent Spring by Rachel Carson showed the downside of insecticides DDT and dieldrln because they contaminated the environment, affecting birds that ate the insects, the target of the chemicals, and raptors, which ate the songbirds. But more disastrous was the long-term effect of these chemicals in the environment, soil, gravels etc affecting entire food chains. The use of tributyl tin as an antifouling agent banned 30 years ago in inshore waters and small vessels is still present and active in seabeds. The recent concern about bees and neonicotinoids, which are a relatively new class of insecticides that share a common mode of action, that affects the central nervous system of insects, resulting in paralysis and death. They include imidacloprid, acetamiprid, clothianidin, dinotefuran, nithiazine, thiacloprid and thiamethoxam. How quickly the international chemical companies have evolved these chemical warfare agents with intractable names.
Like many beaches on Arran and elsewhere Kildonan beach suffers from large amounts of litter - the majority of which are plastic. It is a staggering fact that not a single piece of plastic that has been made has fully degraded in the environment. Each and every piece of plastic will remain in the environment and pollute for centuries to come. All that happens is that the pieces of plastic get smaller and smaller and smaller but never disappear. Critically they are still there and worse enter the food chain. On a purely local level this is very unsightly and more widely deleterious to the environment. We can not go on like this. Thanks to the help of a local Councillor Ellen McMaster Kildonan beach will be less blighted with litter and although a tiny step there will be less plastic in the environment.
On the 10th December at 6.30pm Corrie Film Club has its special Christmas programme. This will begin with Dinner For One (1963, Germany, directed by Heinz Dunkhase, 18mins), a traditional Christmas short comedy.
Then there will be two critically acclaimed animated feature films, starting withThe Red Turtle (Japan, Ghibli Studios 2017. Director: Michael Dudock De Wit. Cert. PG. 80mins). Through the story of a man shipwrecked on a tropical island inhabited by turtles, crabs and birds, The Red Turtle recounts the milestones in the life of a human being.
The Arran Singers and Friends are having a Christmas Concert in Whiting Bay Hall on Sunday 10th December at 2.30pm.
Arran Singers also plan two concerts next year. The first is on Saturday 26th May 2018 at 7.30pm in the Lamlash Community Theatre, and then the same concert
will be repeated at Lochranza hall on Saturday 2nd June also at 7.30pm.
The price for tickets for all these concerts is £8.00 for adults and £3.00 for children.
From ‘The Pied Piper of Hamelin’by Robert Browning
At the first shrill notes of the pipe,
I heard a noise as of scraping tripe,
And putting apples, wondrous ripe,
Into a cider-press’s gripe;
And a moving away of pickle-tub boards,
And a leaving ajar of conserve-cupboards,
And a drawing of corks of train-oil-flasks,
And a breaking the hoops of butter-casks;
And it seemed as if a voice
(Sweeter far than by harp or by psaltery
Is breathed) called out: ‘Oh rats, rejoice!
The world is grown to one vast drysaltery!
So munch on, crunch on, take your nuncheon,
Breakfast, supper, dinner, luncheon!’
And just as a bulky sugar puncheon,
All ready staved, like a great sun shone
Glorious scarce an inch before me,
Just as methought it said, ‘Come, bore me!’
— I found the Weser rolling o’er me.’
The prospect of the Earth overheating dangerously has come closer, with scientists warning that worse climate change will soon affect the planet, according to Alex Kirby of the Climate News Network.
The world has been given a stark warning by some of its leading scientists: there is much worse climate change on the way.
The UN climate summit meeting in Bonn has been told: “There is no room for complacency. Climate change is here. It is dangerous. And it is about to get much worse.
I had thought for December a decadent suitable for non-vegan dessert would be appropriate but then perhaps there are too many dessert recipes doing the rounds at this time of year. So, lets go to the front of a menu and have a winter soup instead. Besides you can’t serve a dessert with crusty bread but you can with soup!
The Scots are great soup makers but it is perhaps not so well known that the Italians are too and this recipe is one of my favourites. Substantial, filling, tastes great and easy to make. In Italy it is known as ribolitta - literally reboiled as the soup is traditionally made a day in advance and reboiled. It is a Tuscan speciality. Not only great soup but an outstanding place to holiday!
Axel Munthe: The Road to San Michele by Bengt Jangfeldt, reviewed by Alan Bellamy Arran residents, like the residents of all Scottish islands, know that you need to be a bit different, perhaps a bit of a 'character', to move to and live on a small and hilly island. "Axel Munthe: The Road to San Michele" tells the riveting life-story…
Arranites who enjoy eating out in Glasgow will all have their favourite restaurants, and there are plenty of fine eating places to choose from, but for this reviewer there is no finer than Cail Bruich, a few doors down from the Oran Mor along the Great Western Road.
I first met chef Chris Charalambous when we were both on a wild food foraging course here on Arran several years ago, and Chris and his team have maintained a focus on creating a modern style of Scottish Cuisine, using the finest ingredients and produce from Scotland's outstanding natural larder.
Perhaps like me you were aware of your regional MSPs but were actually quite sure what they were for? Now that I have written to them all on a very contentious issue here on Arran I am even less clear as to what they are for.
Paraphrasing the Scottish Parliament website we have 1 constituency MSP and 7 regional MSPs. Furthermore, constituency and regional MSPs have equal status in the Parliament. The terms used to differentiate between the size and geographical areas they represent and the way in whic they were elected.
Following last month's Book Review, we received this letter which is published in full.
Re: Book Review: Bart D. Ehrman: Whose Word Is It?
A rather remarkable review appeared in the November 'Voice'. It is remarkable for proclaiming, as if it has only just been discovered, a view of the Bible that goes back to the early 19th century and beyond. Every theological student at UK universities (and at most other universities throughout the world) for decades past has learnt about this view and it is simply taken for granted as part of their undergraduate courses! This does not mean that one is led to rubbish the wonderful contents of the Bible as 'second-hand' or worse. It does mean that one can be perfectly open to detailed critical analysis of the biblical texts. It does not mean that we can, with a little learning, put ourselves in a position of easy superiority to the Bible, far less to the man Jesus who in His Love has come to this cruel and vastly confused world.
