Issue 70

I share Alan Bellamy’s anguish at the expressions of racism, homophobia and misogyny in the wake of a Trump victory and the Brexit vote, though I voted for Brexit on grounds of the democratic deficit just as I voted Yes in the Indyref, but he is right to pose the question ‘what do the rest of us do’. I hoped for a Bernie Sanders victory in the American election since a Clinton victory seemed to promise the continuation of a huge, failed, political elite who have led the world into chaos including an unprecedented media and political offensive against Russia. In the West, Blair, Brown, Cameron, Merkel, Hollande, Obama offered hope and delivered war, insecurity and poverty while, in the same period, the upper echelons of our society engorged themselves with wealth.

The educated , Guardianised middle class, among whom I include myself, have provided well intentioned support from a position of good salaries, security and comfortable superannuation in retirement but have failed to offer hope to the half of our society who are paying for leadership failure through austerity, low wages, benefit cuts, housing shortage and a restoking of the Cold War. The’ new imaginative ways’ that the editor referred to must address these issues but go further by controlling huge,globalised, tax- avoiding, corporate capital institutions who are able to blackmail us and erode our democracy with the connivance of our political elites. It requires a degree of radicalism that we are slow to consider but it is a discussion we should be having for the sake of children and grandchildren.

John Inglis

“The handprints of thirteen of my women friends encircle a jeweled world whose labyrinthine forms are mythical female figures woven by Kayabi Indians of Mato Grosso, Brazil. The title is from the song “Prayer of the Children,” composed by Kurt Bestor during the war in Bosnia. “Reaching hands with nothing to hold on to, but hope for a better day, a better day.”

Janaia Donaldson is an artist and host/producer of Peak Moment Television online series on locally reliant living for challenging times. She lives with her partner Robin in the Yuba watershed of the Sierra Nevada mountains in the USA.

We have had a fantastic year here on the Community Land above Whiting Bay. Here are some of the things achieved in 2016:

• Orchard of 30 apple trees planted by youth groups
• 20 Arran Whitebeam planted in our developing woodland area
• Demonstration allotment constructed and full of growing food!
• 12 rental allotment plots got up & running
• 2 huge polytunnels put up (one for allotment holders to share, one for the community growing)
• Community garden set out & developing
• Improved tracks and pathways to enable better access
• Pathway loops set up and marked with way markers for walkers
• Compass course set up, with orienteering to follow very soon
• More horse grazing made available to local people
• Apiary in place in collaboration with Arran Bee Group
• More local contractors used and local people employed than last year, helping the Arran economy
• Collaboration with other local groups and charities
• Over 400 people of all ages have enjoyed the community land through volunteering, growing, coming with their schools and the Arran Outdoor Education Centre, doing workshops to learn new skills and benefitting from new social and outdoor opportunities.
• All funded with grants and local donations and made possible by the amazing effort of all those involved. Many thanks to everyone.

Coming soon in 2017 we have to tempt you:

• A brass rubbing trail to encourage youngsters out for a walk
• Orienteering course for the fit & keen out there
• More native trees planted in our woodland area
• Picnic area for relaxing in the orchard
• A hub building to use for education and when it rains!
• And lots more!

Come along to any of our activities or just have a wander around to see what is new on site! If you would like to keep in touch with what is happening, send your email address to development@arranland.org and we will put you on the mailing list for our monthly newsletters.

Carbon Conversations is a 6 week friendly and supportive evening discussion group, backed by well-researched resources including the book In Time for Tomorrow and a workbook. The course offers up-to-date information on our various options around energy at home and at work, food and water, transport and consumption and waste.

We start with a welcome meeting on 14th January, at 11.00 am in Lamlash Fire Station. Those who wish to take part in the group will be asked to contribute £5 towards the cost of materials, with Arran Community Land Initiative supporting the balance with funding from the Climate Challenge Fund. For more information please go to: carbonconversations.org.

Regional Screen Scotland, which operates the Screen Machine, has raised the necessary funds to carry out a major refit of the cinema vehicle, which will add a minimum of six more years to its operational life. The Screen Machine is the UK’s only full-time self-contained mobile cinema, bringing the latest cinema releases to communities across the North and West of Scotland.

The Screen Machine service was originally launched in 1998, and the current Screen Machine has been on the road since 2005, spending up to 48 weeks a year bringing the big screen experience to communities from Barra to Bettyhill and from Brodick to the Outer Isles of Orkney.

Now Regional Screen Scotland has secured funding from the National Lottery through Creative Scotland’s Open Project Fund and Highlands and Islands Enterprise, and sponsorship from the Royal Bank of Scotland, to meet the costs of a full and thorough refit, to be carried out by the Screen Machine’s original builders, French-based Toutenkamion, world leaders in mobile cinema design and construction.

Robert Livingston, Director of Regional Screen Scotland, said;

“The aim is to carry out the refit at Toutenkamion’s French workshop in April/May 2017, and relaunch the fully renewed Screen Machine in June. It will then resume its normal touring circuit and audiences will be able to enjoy the customary wide choice of new films, as well as extras such as photography exhibitions and archive screenings, knowing that the Screen Machine will be fit to continue full operation well into the next decade.”

The Screen Machine is an articulated tractor and trailer, which uses hydraulic systems to expand the trailer to be able to accommodate an audience of 80 in multiplex-style comfort. These hydraulic systems are subject to considerable wear and tear, as the cinema is set up and dismantled three or four times every week. The Screen Machine also travels regularly on ferries, and is often set up on sites fully exposed to salt and sea air. Without this refit, the Machine would become subject to an increasing number of breakdowns, and would be unlikely to be able to continue full operation for more than another year or two at best.

The refit will thoroughly overhaul all the operating systems, replacing all worn parts, treating any areas of corrosion, and giving the entire exterior fresh coats of paint. This will also allow for a smart new livery to be applied, thanks to sponsorship from the Royal Bank of Scotland. The Screen Machine is also supported by Highland Fuels and Caledonian MacBrayne.

Jennifer Armitage, Screen Officer at Creative Scotland said:

“This timely refurbishment will extend the Screen Machine service so that cinemagoers in some of the most remote parts of Scotland continue to enjoy a high quality cinema experience as well as an ever expanding programme of film.”

Regional Screen Scotland will also be drawing on its own reserves to replace the Screen Machine’s digital projector. Like many ‘first generation’ digital projectors, this is nearing the end of its useful life—an issue which many cinemas across the UK are now facing. In the case of the Screen Machine, it’s been a credit to the robustness of the projector that it has withstood eight years of being driven around some of the most winding and bumpy roads in Scotland! But the new projector will also provide audiences with an even sharper and clearer viewing experience.

2016 saw the celebration of the 10th birthday of this highly popular and successful Mountain Festival. The Festival committee have just opened the booking lines for 2017 with a programme of new walks added to old favourites and classic mountain walks and scrambles. The full programme can be viewed at www.arranmountainfestival.co.uk, but to whet appetites here are a few of the activities on offer in our wonderful Arran hills over 19-22 May 2017.

The Pigeon Tunnel by John le Carre, Viking.

'Out of the secret world I once knew, I have tried to make a theatre for the larger worlds we inhabit. First comes the imagining, then the search for reality. Then back to the imagining, and to the desk where I'm sitting now.'

David Cornwall, better known as John le Carre, is a master storyteller. But as a number of reviewers of this new memoir have pointed out, “look behind the smoke and mirrors and you will find a more reflective and slightly chastened figure, all passion spent, and perhaps less comfortable than hitherto in the world of cross and double-cross he has created around himself.”

In The Pigeon Tunnel le Carre, perhaps for the first time, discusses his father Ronnie at some length, and also his mother Olive, absent for much of his life. Ronnie was a con artist who could sometimes seem to lead a life of glamour and luxury, but was also a violent and cruel man who left devastation in his wake wherever he went. Lies and deceit were the norm in le Carre’s childhood, and it is not hard to see the link to the later intelligence officer and later still writer of The Spy Who Came in from the Cold and Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy. What these memoirs also demonstrate is the enormous amount of research that lies behind these gripping stories, the adventures involved in doing that research, often in dangerous places and amongst dangerous people, and le Carre’s evolving social conscience, clearly seen in The Constant Gardener and The Night Manager amongst his other titles.

Alan Bellamy

The 'Arran Economic Group' are preparing a Development Strategy for Brodick Harbour and the surrounding area to encourage its transformational development. As far as we know this survey hasn't been announced in the media, but it is of great interest to Arran residents and we would encourage you to take part. In particular the future of the existing CalMac terminal building is being discussed. In our opinion this would be an ideal location for the Tourist Office and Visit Arran, but your view may be different. However, if you don't take part in the survey, you will have no right to complain when another use is found for the building.

The Development Strategy will help coordinate public sector agencies, the local business community and other community groups, maximising the economic benefits of the following projects:

• Reuse and potential redevelopment of the Brodick Pier and former pier facilities.
• Reuse of the existing Terminal Building.
• Redevelopment potential of the Market Road Industrial area.

Consultation with local business and interest groups is critical to the success of preparing this Development Strategy. Please click on this link to participate: Brodick Harbour Development

Survey responses must be received by Monday the 9th January 2017.

from John Kinsman, Coastwatch St Monans

Fisherman rescued

A creel fisherman was rescued off Shetland after his creel fishing boat ran onto rocks at Sandwick.

The Cornucopia hit the rocks around 12.15 pm on Saturday December 17th after becoming entangled in fishing gear. Another fishing boat the Osprey was nearby and was able to tow the stricken boat off the rocks into deeper water.

Coastguards called out Lerwick lifeboat which towed the fishing boat to safety.

Do you wear NHS hearing aids? Come to our FREE walk-in hearing aid clinic for:

• new batteries and new earmould tubing
• advice on how to use and clean your hearing aids
• information on services that can help you

Your local service is at:

Arran War Memorial Hospital, Lamlash,
Isle of Arran KA27 8LF

• Tuesday 24th January 11am – 1pm
• Tuesday 28th February 11am – 1pm
• Tuesday 28th March 11am – 1pm

If you require further information contact:

Donna McSwiggan,
Project Coordinator on 01563 539900
donna.mcswiggan@hearingloss.org.uk

Selected by David Underdown who also writes the commentary.

Thinking of booking a cruise in the coming year? Consider it a good thing if Arran attracts more cruise ships to visit? Then it might be worth looking at the environmental credentials of the industry in the light of a recent court judgement in America.

Princess Cruise Lines will pay a $40m penalty after pleading guilty to seven federal charges in an illegal ocean pollution case that involved one ship’s use of a so-called magic pipe to divert oily waste into the waters.

Miami US attorney Wifredo Ferrer told a news conference the penalty was the largest ever of its kind. A plea agreement filed in federal court also requires Carnival, the UK and US-listed parent company of the Princess line, to submit 78 cruise ships across its eight brands to a five-year environmental compliance programme overseen by a judge.

Ferrer said the illegal practices came to light when an engineer aboard the Caribbean Princess discovered the “magic pipe” in 2013 off the coast of Britain and told investigators about it. Authorities later learned the 952ft ship had been illegally discharging oily water into the ocean since 2005.

“Our open seas are not dumping grounds for waste,” Ferrer said. “One thing we must never do is take our clear blue oceans for granted.”

A single illegal discharge dumped 4,227 gallons of oil-contaminated waste about 20 miles off the coast of England on 26 August 2013, according to court documents.

The documents also show illegal practices were found on four other Princess ships, including use of clean ocean water to fool onboard sensors that would otherwise detect dumping of improperly contaminated bilge water. Authorities say cost savings was the motive and that the ship’s officers and crew conspired to cover up what was going on.

John Cruden, assistant attorney general for the US justice department’s environmental division, said the Caribbean Princess “violated the law, they covered it up and then they lied about it”.

John Kaltenstein, senior policy analyst for Friends of the Earth, said in a statement that Princess’ behavior proves the industry’s “claims of environmental responsibility” can’t be taken at face value.

“Systems can be avoided or deactivated so that untreated waste flows right into the sea,” Kaltenstein said. “The discharge of oil into our oceans is extremely harmful to marine life and can have long-lasting environmental and economic repercussions. For years, Friends of the Earth has been saying that this sector is not as green as it claims to be.”

As an island wide organisation, with our hub in Whiting Bay at our re-use community shop, our members travel from all the villages around the island. We are delighted they do this, but many have wished we were nearer to their village. We try hard to respond to our members’ requests, so Eco has found a solution.

We have just submitted our first funding application and if successful, we will be creating an Eco Savvy micro-hub in each village. Each hub will be located in an existing community space, providing a useful income. We hope to collaborate with established Arran groups and identify a local person to be employed part-time to act as a hub coordinator. Hub coordinators will be supported by local volunteers. Micro-hubs will deliver skill sharing workshops and operate in the same way that the Whiting Bay Eco Savvy hub works, but at a micro level, evolving to suit each specific location and village needs. If we are not successful with funding, we will continue to work towards our goals.

Eco’s big plan has not changed and an application to purchase forestry land for Green Waste Composting and the first phase of our eco park will be made in February.

Finally all our usual Zero Waste Arran activities will continue and grow, with a series of workshops beginning early in the year for all those looking to learn a new skill.

It is a sad goodbye to 2016 after the loss of Tom Vella-Boyle (pictured right receiving COAST's Observer Ethical Award from Annie Lennox in 2008). Tom was a key member of COAST's original "dream team", whose passion and skills were key to the success of the Lamlash Bay community No Take Zone campaign. COAST co-founders Don McNeish and Howard Wood said "Tom’s generosity epitomised the spirit of community volunteering and marine activism on Arran".

We have a tribute to Tom Vella-Boyle, Community Marine Environmentalist, here.

There has been good news too. This year we have seen the legal enforcement of our hard-fought South Arran Marine Protected Area, followed by encouraging findings from our research - with lobsters more numerous and larger in the No Take Zone. Following local protests, Cabinet Secretary Roseanna Cunningham has called in an application for an expansion to the existing salmon fish farm in Lamlash Bay. We are hopeful that the application will be rejected in the New Year. We have also worked with dozens of island and mainland schools and become part of a Scotland-wide network of coastal communities demanding fairer and more sustainable management of our seas.

This video is a snapshot of COASTs 2016 highlights. Thank you to everyone who has supported us over the last year. We look forward to seeing everyone in 2017 for our new exciting venture, the Marine Discovery Centre.

We are thrilled to announce that COAST are now the proud owners of the Lamlash tennis courts and pavilion. We will be inviting you to join us in the New Year as we begin to imagine and make plans for Arran's new Marine Discovery Centre on part of the site (the existing pavilion will become COAST's MPA HQ and tennis will continue!). This community project will attract more tourists, encourage marine recreation and engage many more people with our amazing marine wildlife. We will begin fundraising in 2017.

I was greatly encouraged to see the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) introduce new rules on payday lending, ensuring that interest rates and fees on all short-term credit loans are capped. Following this ruling, people who take out this type of credit do not pay back more than twice the amount borrowed.

The FCA has also tightened the supervision of payday lenders, restricting how often loans can be rolled over and ensuring that lenders can no longer take money directly from a customer’s account. As a result, the number of approved loans of this kind has shrunk from 800,000 per month to 300,000 per month. All this is good news. However, the level of interest charged for payday loans remains exorbitant.

Well-publicised problems with regards to payday and short-term lending are always brought into sharp focus in the run-up to Christmas. In austere times, many people understandably turn to this type of credit to make purchases. Indeed, the Money Advice Service commented that 1.4 million people across the UK are expected to take out some form of short-term credit to help fund Christmas.

Recognising that more action is needed, following a Payday Lending Summit in Glasgow, the SNP Government published a 12 step action plan, to tackle the clustering of Pay Day lenders and gambling shops in Scotland’s town centres.

The majority of this plan has since been implemented, including a new online advice service – The Financial Health Service – and proactive promotion of Credit Unions as alternative lenders. Provisions have also been made in Scottish planning policy to counteract the over-proliferation of payday lending in our town centres.

There is clearly more to do on this issue however. I recently worked with StepChange, a debt charity which informed me that 12% of people contacting them from my North Ayrshire and Arran constituency had a payday loan debt, with an average debt balance of £1,326.

Despite action by government, not everyone gets a fair deal, even under the terms of such loans. Moreover, there is not nearly enough emphasis on lenders to ensure they identify vulnerable customers and refer them to seek advice. Without this, people can become trapped in a cycle of repeated borrowing and as their debt increases, so does the stress and anxiety that goes with severe money problems.

Whilst payday lending can be a legitimate and useful source of short-term finance, people confronted with spiralling debts that they cannot manage should not be targeted. Customers who cannot quickly repay debt could pay more in interest in one month than with a credit card in a year.

The FCA is currently undertaking a review of the high-cost credit market, including payday loans, pawn-broking, home-collected and catalogue credit and logbook loans, to address the key areas of customer disadvantage, with their findings to be published next summer. We must ensure that lending practices unfit for purpose are discontinued and that best practice is shared for the benefit of consumers, so that the burden of debt is minimised wherever possible.

Our compiler, Episteme was unable to give us a crossword for January, but here are the answers for the December puzzle.

Across:
8 Glyceria, 9 Abhors, 10 Kiwi, 11 Nanosecond, 12 Thank You, 14 Iodise, 16 Idea, 18 Socks, 19 Wine, 20 Turkey,
21 Excuse Me, 24 Champagnes, 27 Aunt, 28 Pegged, 29 Enlarged.

Down:
1 Sleigh, 2 Action Pack, 3 Brandy, 4 Yawn, 5 Parsnips, 6 Choc, 7 Grandson, 13 Uncle, 15 Downstairs, 17 Daughter,
18 Skywards, 22 Castle, 23 Manger, 25 Magi, 26 Noel.

Mashua, or Tropaeolum tuberosum, in flower in an Arran garden in mid-December. A vigorous climber, it produces edible tubers that are said to be good roasted.