Highland patient’s terrifying wait for vital operation - plus Inverness private hire changes and how to deal with renewables growth
Reform needed to better control renewables
I’m sure we would all like to thank Angus MacDonald MP for taking time out of his busy schedule to let us common folk know about his energy bills.
MacDonald is quick to hit out at the fact that, “most of the turbines are built and owned by foreign companies, offering little for the residents left to live alongside them.”
I find myself in total agreement. I, for example, would love to know why Angus - who holds a sizeable share in a turbine building business, (imaginatively named, Renewable Parts), has offices in Renfrew, Lochgilphead and Houston but nothing in either his constituency or in Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross where most of the development is taking place?
Of course, much of this could have been fixed if MacDonald had shelved his partisan blindness and got on board with his predecessor Drew Hendry's Highland Energy Rebate Bill, now being piloted by Argyll and Bute MP, Brendan O’Hara.
This bill was, incidentally, backed by MP Jamie Stone and his fellow Lib Dem Alistair Carmichael in a spirit of collegial, cross-party working during the last parliament before being roundly ignored by the Conservative government of the day.
Likewise, Liam MacArthur MSP, a Liberal Democrat and spokesman for his party on energy for 14 years, was saying on January 22, at the Electricity Infrastructure Consenting Meeting of the Scottish Parliament, that, only two weeks earlier, 580mW had been left on the National Grid.
He pointed out that some “1920s infrastructure was still in use, that upgrades had not kept pace with the changing nature of energy generation demand.”
So, MacDonald can’t bring himself to help out his SNP colleagues in Parliament to do what is right for his constituents and he doesn’t agree with his own party.
And so, we are left with nothing but patronising populism, perpetrated by this cuckoo in the Lib Dem nest, contributing nothing but a garnish of guano on the reputation of a once ‘great’ party as their Tory takeover continues - Angus is a LINO: Liberal in Name Only.
We don’t need multi-millionaire landowners telling us what we already know.
What we need is further land reform. The new wind farms are not being built on public sector land. They are being built on ground, owned by landowners (433 of whom own 50 per cent of privately owned rural land in Scotland).
Have these landowners looked at the feasibility of burying the cables to allay the concerns of locals? Have the energy companies offered dynamic regional pricing to lower affected communities’ bills?
Of course not, because that might cost money.
Peter Newman
Edderton
Surgery patient ‘left in limbo’ for 2 months waiting for life-and-death operation
‘Shambolic’ staffing shortages at Raigmore Hospital left a Highland man traumatised after waiting two months for urgent surgery to tackle a life-and-death medical condition. Daniel Rennie, a dialysis patient, said he was left in limbo after nowhere could be found to carry out the vital vascular surgery he needed. NHS Highland was unable to carry out the procedure and other health boards initially refused to take him until a place was eventually found in Glasgow.
“I can’t imagine being staff there and reading this. Morale is low enough as it is. The management of the hospital, like management of most services, is the issue. The staff at the front line do their utmost with what they have available. I had reason to go in at 3am last Thursday, to A&E, and thankfully was out by 8am, but I could not fault a single second of care. They were busy, tired, and overstretched, but made everyone feel like they were the only one being looked after. What’s the answer? More money. I’d be happy to pay more in my national insurance to help fund it, even a couple of quid a month. Less top management. The staff know what they need and what they’re doing, so give them more power and less bureaucracy. The NHS is in crisis all over the UK, and all governments, Westminster and devolved, need to act now!” - Mar Jar
“Hospital is too small now to cope with the amount of people due to the speedy expansion of the population of the Highlands.” - Steve S Morris
“Shambolic is the word and it’s got nothing to do with the staff, they’re doing their very best in very difficult circumstances, but everything to do with the government and the people who are supposed to be in charge of running our hospital.” - Morag MacDonald
“This is what happens when the NHS hasn’t the money or resources to do the jobs they would like to do. Consider this when you force politicians to refuse to put up taxes. Labour wouldn’t have got into power if they had been honest and said that taxes would have to go up to pay for services.” - Alan Roberts
Knowledge test for private hire drivers?
Private hire car drivers in the Highlands could soon undergo the same local knowledge test as taxi drivers. It comes after councillors were told some new private hire drivers could not navigate “simple” trips. Private hire cars operate slightly differently to taxis in that trips have to be pre-booked and cannot be hailed or picked up from a taxi rank. Councillors have now asked for a public consultation on the matter.
“Teaching them to drive might be a better start. All too often they drive how they see fit, doing illegal U turns etc. In this day and age in a world of sat nav it’s hardly essential to have the knowledge.” - Jimmy Hendry
“Not before time, some of them don't know where Milburn Road is never mind anywhere else. It's time they all sat a test for every road in Inverness. Those who do not sit or fail the test should lose their licences.” - Janet Robertson
“About time, too many private hire drivers come here to work from further south just to get an easy license and haven’t a clue where they are going, hopefully existing private hires will have to sit it as well.” - Laurien Irvine
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