COLIN CAMPBELL: Much of ‘worst rated’ Highlands is really Scotland at its best
A widely publicised survey which put the Highland region at rock bottom of a "league table" in Scotland for public services gave an inescapably bleak impression of life in this area.
It involved an annual compilation of data by the Sunday Times newspaper, which attracted a lot of attention, and if the Highlands had been just off the top of the table or hovering somewhere in the middle it might have been accepted without controversy. But it was anchored at the very bottom, and suggested the area invited unflattering comparisons with Siberia.
Such a dismal rating is at odds with the reality of life in communities across the vast northern landscape. And it proved the validity of only one thing: the old adage that there are lies, damned lies and statistics.
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No one underestimates the need for good public services. But the depiction of the Highlands as being so woefully deprived in comparison with the rest of Scotland seemed jarringly misleading. There are factors influencing quality of life that can't be compiled on a spreadsheet, and the Highlands has them in abundance, in a way that many other parts of Scotland do not.
Open countryside, a lack of congestion, easy access to nature, a low crime rate and in many places a community spirit which is alien to sprawling cities, to name but a few.
Ultimately it comes down to the question: would you prefer to live in the Highlands - anywhere in the Highlands - rather than in swathes of Glasgow or Edinburgh or Dundee, which have some areas with very grim reputations. That's a low bar to set but it could be raised much higher. Many of us would choose to live here rather than in any other part of Scotland, or the UK. We wouldn't want to live anywhere else.
And so many people want to join us. The popularity of the Highlands has led to an influx causing severe housing difficulties in some areas and in Inverness in particular. That's a problem in itself, but it still has positive signals.
I'm ready and willing to be as critical of Highland Council as anyone, but any reasonable person will recognise, on transport for example, the challenges imposed by the vast roads network it has to cover. And in education, the number of schools of all sizes in scattered communities across a vast area that have to be financed, staffed and maintained. We look for improvements and an effort to reduce failings when and where they occur, but there are limits to what can be done. Highland Council isn't perfect, that we well know, but to suggest it's the worst performing council in Scotland is excessively harsh.
And it's easy to take for granted the fact that people can walk the streets in the Highlands at any time of the day or night without having to look over their shoulder or have a sense of unease. What wouldn't many law-abiding folk in Glasgow or Edinburgh give for that feeling of safety and security?
Council convener Bill Lobban said: "I simply do not recognise the place the Sunday Times claims to portray." His inability to do so is fully understandable.
To suggest that life in Inverness, Aviemore, Dingwall, Ullapool, Wick and all points in between is blighted and tainted in a way that invites people in the rest of the country to take pity on us is so misleading as to be bizarre.
Of course we would want better public services, as would people everywhere. But they are not wholly decisive when it comes to the quality of life. They need to improve, that we know, but even taking all flaws into account we are still fortunate to live in this region. Far from being dumped at the bottom of any league table, much of the Highlands is Scotland at its best.
