Another side of Lesley Riddoch

The Sunday Post and Eigg

The Sunday Post called me to ask about Eigg and the 'switch on'. I sat down and tried to recall what I remember about generators and how things used to be - not so long ago. Click on the image to read the article.

For my Sunday Post readers

eigg pix

Yo ho ho

I spent Monday in the Morar Hotel near Mallaig chairing the Rum summit. Nope -- not that kinda rum and no drink was taken. But with luck and hard work, a shift of control from SNH to the community should be a cause for minor celebration in a year's time.

Rum has been owned and managed by Government conservation agencies since 1957, with SNH hands on the tiller since 1992. Rum is the mountainous "Small Isle" neighbour of Eigg (where I was a Trustee during their campaign to buy the island a decade ago.) It has only 31 inhabitants -- the majority are SNH staff who've only been there for a couple of years. SNH control the land, housing and employment on Rum and that's made it hard for an independent island community to develop. Meantime the cost of renewing facilities (including Kinloch Castle made famous by the BBC's Restoration programme) has strained SNH budgets. So the nature agency has taken a bold decision. It'll concentrate on what it does best -- nature conservation -- and allow the community to take over control and day to day management of the village and glen around Kinloch. That will not be an overnight shift. There are no vacant houses for new folk to move into, the current power supply is iffy and arrangements for secondary age children so awkward, families have left rather than send their teenage kids to Mallaig. Happily that last problem is getting ironed out -- a new hostel will open in Mallaig early in the New Year so the island kids can stick together and have one place to call home. Kinloch Castle needs millions spent soon -- and its not clear if the Princes Regenration Trust's ambitious plans will attract enough government cash.So figuring out how to transfer land and management responsibilities from SNH control will not be a doddle. Thats why Environment Minister, Mike Russell, and 20 folk from SNH, the Scottish government, local agencies and the Small Isles communities pitched up in the hotel on Monday, to plan a better future for Rum.

Mike was hugely upbeat about the island's future: "Rum has tremendous potential. It is unique in its geology and nature conservation interest and has untapped potential for sympathetic economic development, especially around tourism and land management. So how could I refuse his invitation to chair a taskforce to push these good intentions forward with a view to standing in some new community owned housing on Rum next year? This Minister doesn't mess about! The day ended with SNH heid bummers Ian Jardine and Andrew Thin in agreement with the Rum community reps about the urgent things to tackle. And that's a brilliant start. I dont say this often, but it's an honour to be helping direct the effort of people who've been faced change squarely. And after almost 8- trips to Eigg in the 1990's during the buyout, I look forward to sailing with Ronnie and the Sheerwater again!

Mum, liggers and late night Radio 4

I’m indebted to my insomniac mum for reminding me “The Jobseekers Guide to Parliament” was on Radio Four late on Sunday night. Happily – if you want to hear me discover which parliament is best for lounge lizards and slackers -- you can hear the programme (produced by my old pal Dave Batchelor) again at 20.45 on Weds Nov 21^st.

The 15 minutes features Alan Cochrane from the Telegraph, suggesting Scotland offers the easiest life because List MSPs have no specific responsibilities or constituents while Quentin Letts of the Daily Mail nominates Westminster with its bonzer pensions, massive allowances and all party committees with fact-finding trips to Mediterranean islands. But I’m more impressed with BBC Wales Political Editor Vaughan Roderick, who reveals the incredible second home allowance system operating in Cariff where AMs or assembly members can claim allowances for two homes just 15 minutes apart! The members also have 37 pubs just outside the parliament building as well as the chance of appearing in Dr Who. But the whole cynical conceit of the programme founders when I’m confronted with the boyish enthusiasm of Guardian columnist Malachi O’Doherty, describing the wide-eyed wonderment of witnessing the “Chuckle Brothers” Paisley and McGuinness burying the hatchet after years trying to bury one another – politically speaking of course. For sheer spectacle that does take some beating.

It was great fun making the programme – though Dave and I have enough material for a six part series. Hey ho.

A lecture ends with a call to action

On Monday night , I delivered the Naomi Mitchison lecture on Women in Rural Society at Glasgow University. Earlier that day, I had written an opinion piece for the Scotsman, reproduced below, calling for the establishment of a celebration of women in Scottish national life. The lecture was well received and the audience comments were very articulate and robust in supporting the vital role of women in developing rural life. Never one to miss an opportunity, later that evening, with members of the Scottish Pen group in the Left Bank, a wee plan was hatched. Could we get a national holiday to celebrate one of 'the big Women'; Bride.The call to action is read the article and  join the Facebook Group - Bride Day Action Group.

The Scotsman opinion piece;

Am I the only Scot who doesn’t want a holiday on Saint Andrews Day?
Papers and politicians are aghast that only 22 per cent of Scots could name the day Scotland’s patron saint is celebrated. 
Actually this percentage makes sense – it roughly coincides with the proportion of Scots who regularly attend Christian worship. For this minority, saints may be accorded automatic status.  For the rest of us, Saint Andrew is a big unknown. 
So the question must be asked. With a history as rich and varied as that of Scotland, and with the values of 2007 not 1207, should St Andrew be celebrated above all other possible candidates as the figurehead of modern Scotland?
According to the National Archives, “Andrew was a fisherman from Galilee and the first disciple of Christ believed to have been martyred by crucifixion in Patras (now part of Greece) on 30 November in the year AD 60.”
The Scottish connection rests on the claim that the monastery of Kilrymont (later St Andrews) acquired three fingers of the saint's right hand, a part of one of his arms, one kneecap, and one of his teeth when the Bishop of Patras fled Greece with the relics in AD345, and was shipwrecked off Fife.
Is this a good enough reason to set up St Andrew as the embodiment of the modern Scottish state?
Admittedly the saint’s Scottish connection helped Scottish kings, nobles and churchmen ward off English challenges to Scotland’s independence since medieval times. Thanks to the alleged possession of St Andrew’s relics, the Scots acquired a top-rank patron saint, a separate identity from England, and a Scottish Church founded centuries before the English converted to Christianity. The connection persuaded Pope Boniface to demand that Edward I end war against Scotland in 1299, and decades later the saint was referred to in the Declaration of Arbroath.
Clearly St Andrew has been helpful to Scotland in the past – and the 'saltire' of our national flag derives from the diagonal cross used to crucify him.
But if nationalists question the continuing tradition of the monarchy in a modern Scotland, surely the continuing tradition of St Andrew merits re-consideration too? Devolution of power gives Scots the ability to choose what’s right for Scotland in 2007 – not the requirement to rubberstamp what seemed right a thousand years ago.
There’s no doubt Scots have been irritated at the relative obscurity of all things Scottish compared with all things Irish. St Patrick’s Day is a worldwide source of fun and pride for the Irish diaspora – surely Scotland could have the same fun and profile with St Andrew? 
Probably not. 
Just as the Irish with their impressive array of celebrated writers have not managed to create an equivalent of Burns’ Night, so the Scots will struggle to create more than a pale imitation of Paddy’s Day for a whole host of reasons. 
The Irish have loved, pilloried and employed St Patrick in their culture for centuries. His myth is embedded in the Irish psyche because it embodies the country’s transition from a Catholic to a secular state. Is that true of St Andrew in Scotland?
Some will say the choice of saint is largely symbolic – the aim is to have a national day that celebrates Scottish not British history.
And that’s fine, because it means Scotland’s glorious mythical canon can be examined in its entirety before a figure-head is selected.
Someone, perhaps, whose choice would say something new about Scotland. Someone like Brigid or St Bride.
Yip, a woman whose festival day on February 1, heralds the return of the life-giving forces of spring.
Free Church going gaels will doubtless cavil but the Hebrides were named after the pre-Christian fire goddess Brigid -- adapted by early Christians to St Bride, the midwife of Christ.
The choice of such a powerful female figurehead would remind Scots that the absence of women from public life is neither “natural” nor “traditional.” And it would be timely. Without a resurgence of girl power, rural areas like the Outer Hebrides face depopulation and stagnation. Twice as many young women as young men are peeling away from traditional crofting areas and 71% of Hebridean incomers are men. Without native women, more schools will close, fewer caring jobs will be filled and fewer island children will speak Gaelic. The same fears of a mass exodus were voiced last week by the Shetland Islands Council.
It’s time to embrace the discovery made by the Norwegian government a decade ago that the departure of women not men hastens the depopulation of an island, county or country.
So if it’s time for Scotland to embrace a “Big Woman”, Bride -- whose name means “The Exalted One” – is the Mummy of them all. Kilbride and Brechin bear her name, as does Bregenz in Austria -- once the capital of the Brigantii, the most powerful tribe and political unit in Celtic Britain. But Bride was no warrior – she was revered for powers of poetry, healing, and smithcraft. The celebrated Gaelic folklorist Alexander Carmichael wrote of her:
Bride with her white wand is said to breathe life into the mouth of the dead Winter and to bring him to open his eyes to the tears and the smiles, the sighs and the laughter of Spring. The venom of the cold is said to tremble for its safety on Bride’s Day.
Scotland needs a radical change in the status of women and an empowering figurehead from our own past – not an artificial holiday celebrating a character from another time and place.
The final choice might belong to “our national conversation.” But then history is written by the winners. Not the people, poets, feminists or folklorists.
Shame.

Alexander and the Groove Armada

I’ve been having Alexander Technique lessons for the past month – and the effect has been low key and yet quite amazing. Like most folk who’ve reached 47 after a fairly active and perhaps careless physical existence, I've a gammy knee, dodgy back and a right foot that someone stood on with stiletto heels when I was 19. It hurts! But after the gentlest of repeated re-direction – so undemanding you can hardly believe there could be a benefit – I’ve started carrying myself differently and had the most wonderful moments of tweak/crick/painfree movement.

It’s also just very interesting – my teacher gave me a book by Pedro de Alcantara on the technique. And keen to find out more, I hit Glasgow Borders trying to find more on AT.  5 books were apparently available but I couldn’t find any of them in the un-staffed Health and Sports department. Hey ho. Off to Amazon.  Meantime Chris and I were the oldest swingers at the Groove Armada gig in the Barrowlands on Saturday night. And the grumpiest! I know their music relies heavily on machines and sampling etc but why didn’t the singers -- who were present -- do live versions of “I see you baby”? The lightshow was great but I was left a bit unmoved. Which is a famous first cos the Barrowlands has got to be Scotland’s best live venue

You want to say something ?

I am a fairly approachable person and  I am always interested in what people have to say. When I am out and about, it is always amazing to  meet people who say "I was going to  write or ring" but didn't.  On this blog and my main website, I have made sure there is a facility for everyone  to be able to leave a comment or pose a question. The wee graphic to the left, my husband put together, subtlety itself,  should reveal the location of the  wee comment button. Please feel free to use it...I do read all comments.

The Prison Commission ...the real deal.

After the Sunday Times piece, the Scottish Government issued a press release. It gives details of who is on the panel and a few more details.

Beyond Faslane

What might Scotland look like without Trident on the Clyde? I was chairing this part of Alex Salmond's National Conversation at the Oran Mor in Glasgow Monday, but to be honest I had no idea what to expect. Like many of the folk present, I've been anti Trident for years. But I've never been in an"official" environment where that was taken as read. Perhaps it's my BBC training, but it seemed odd to be focusing on just one side. Four hours later, though, we'd gone through every imaginable "side" of the nuclear debate -- except that well rehearsed status quo. Should Faslane remain a naval base post Trident? What about the non-Trident submarines based there? Local councillors want to keep a naval base but some pacifists want the MOD out of the Clyde altogether. Could tourism fill the jobs gap, or could a highly trained work force attract some kind of construction industry -- like renewable energy turbine manufacture? I'm sure the Arnish yard in Lewis (amongst others) would be mildly peeved to see"their" work waltzing south. But perhaps there is enough work to go round. Should "anti-Trident" planning authorities throw spanners in the works of Westminster's work to renew Trident? Is it sufficient to invoke public opinion polls and anti-Trident Holyrood votes when the Commons voted solidly to go ahead with a new generation of Trident missiles? And what are the chances for a new bill at Holyrood that seeks to argue Trident is a weapon of mass destruction and a breach of the nuclear non-proliferation treaty? It's amazing. As soon as the dull business of cliché is pushed aside there's still a world of argument over Trident.                                                                                                                                                             Bruce Crawford (the SNP Minister who promised this summit during a June debate on nuclear weapons) and John Mayer the lawyer who drafted the Holyrood bill look mightily relieved at the end!

The Sunday Times

According to the Sunday Times Ecosse section of 21 October , I am “one of the main outsiders at the court of King Alex,” – one of a “coterie of advisors drawn from outwith politics,” to “help keep Alex Salmond on his Holyrood throne.”

The article asks why “civilians” like me are on such commissions – after all, what on earth do I know about prisons?

Well apologies to Richard Wilson who wrote the piece. He left a message I didn’t get because my mobile phone was winging its way from the Hebridean island of Islay where I left it in a hired car on the Book Tour -- part 23, ably organised by Stuart and Celia Todd. We stayed in Portnahaven, home to a noisy colony of harbour seals, and a thriving colony of chatty, colourful Ileachs.

Jackie at Ardbeg Distillery opened specially on Saturday night, and though I don’t drink, I could’ve “nosed” the drams all night. Is that sad? I could also have kissed Maureen from MacKenzie Car Hire who matter of factly parcelled the wee blighter and sent it guaranteed next day delivery without asking for anything other than the address. This is why people come back over and over to Islay.

Anyway, why do Scots go back over and over again to prison?

And how can I help find out why? My impression from the civil servants who asked me to join the Prisons Commission was that explanations and solutions favoured by experts are often not favoured by the public or by parts of the media who insist politicians and judges must be “tough on crime.” The government’s figured that the public’s apparent hostility to prison reform is part of the problem. And having taken the measure of Scottish public opinion for the last ten to fifteen years on radio shows nearly every day – they think I might have some expertise there.

I have served on a previous commission – a two year epic that asked why poor people don’t participate in public life. Properly known as the Commission on People, Power, and Participation we met every month and took evidence from visits all around the UK. It brought me a lifelong friend – Ann Soutar from Easterhouse – and some great contacts around the UK, including Jim Deery who runs the Star Neighbourhood Centre in Belfast and the then Bishop of London, now Archbishop of York, John Sentamu.

I’m also on the Board of Encounter, a group set up by the British and Irish governments in the 1980’s to keep civic dialogue going even when they weren’t officially speaking to one another. There are board members from all five jurisdictions (Ireland, Northern Ireland, Scotland, Wales and England) and the meetings with top people in the relevant field are eye-opening and hugely entertaining.

So who knows what I can contribute to this Commission experience. It’s straining the language somewhat to describe Commission members as “advisors to Alex Salmond.” And flattering but wide of the mark to suggest “civilians” on commissions have the power to make or break a government.

But my mum liked the Ecosse picture – so that’s a start.

When I’ve attend the first Commission meeting on Wednesday I’ll find out how the public can register views on why we jail so many Scots. And you will be the first to know.