September 6th – September 12th, 2025
SSEN Consultation a Sham? Wolves Wandering the Highlands? Should Greyhound Racing be Outlawed? but first ….
Stonehaven Disaster Recommendations Still Not Complete
Drainage systems surrounding Scotland’s railways have still not been completed, five years after the Stonehaven rail disaster. The Rail Accident Investigation Branch (RAIB) made 20 recommendations for action following the crash, where the train derailed because it struck debris washed out of a faulty drainage system installed by Carillion from 2011-1012. Network Rail and the drain designers were not aware that Carillion did not build the system to specification, and it was not entered onto Network Rail’s infrastructure maintenance database. Some of their high-speed trains are 40 years old, which they have bought, not built. Route inspection and control rooms are still to be improved, and there is still no adequate way to deal with ‘extreme rainfall events’.
More Royal Opposition than we thought
We are all aware that the Queen ‘purred’ with satisfaction when Scotland voted to reject independence. Now a new book entitled ‘Power and the Palace’ suggests that Prince William also ‘urged the Queen to intervene’ in Scotland’s referendum. He, the Queen and Prince Charles were all present at a ‘choreographed’ service at Crathie Church near Balmoral the Sunday before the referendum, with the Queen famously telling a member of the public that Scotland should think very carefully.
Prime Minister David Cameron is said to have wanted the Queen to make a public statement against independence. Prince William is also said to have urged the Queen’s private secretary, Sir Christopher Geidt, to get her to intervene, whereupon Geidt and Cabinet Secretary Sir Jeremy Heywood are said to have settled on the ‘impromptu’ intervention of the chat with the public. Former SNP MP Tommy Sheppard has demanded a probe into exactly what happened.
When Will Scottish government act on Single-Sex Ruling?
Now that the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) has finally updated and shared its guidance with the UK government, will Scotland finally implement it? It does not seem like. They are now saying they must wait for the EHRC Code of Practice before updating guidance to public bodies, even though the EHRC says service providers, associations and public functions should not be waiting but should comply with the law.
Such was their dithering that For Women Scotland (FWS) lodged a summons against the Scottish government, giving it 21 days to withdraw policies particularly on trans pupils in schools and trans people in custody. FWS accused John Swinney of ‘wilful ignorance’, saying if nothing was done before the 21-day deadline, they would lodge a summons for calling and the government would have to defend it in court. The 21-day limit has now expired and a case will be called.
John Swinney still claims his government is taking forward ‘detailed work’ in response to the Supreme Court ruling. They do seem very keen on wasting money on doomed court cases.
National Library U-turn
Without admitting they were wrong, the National Library of Scotland has quietly readmitted The Women Who Wouldn’t Wheesht to its centenary exhibition, following its earlier relegation after an outburst by staff, who said the book ‘posed a risk of severe harm’ to staff. Well, only if it fell off the shelf onto them. And since when do staff get to tell their employers what to do?
Greyhound Racing on the Way Out
Green MSP Mark Ruskell’s proposal to ban greyhound racing in Scotland has just got the backing of the SNP. Ruskell has run a long-running campaign to outlaw the sport after rescuing an injured greyhound, and finding out that in 2023, 109 greyhounds died trackside in the UK, with 4238 injured. He says it is always unsafe for greyhounds to run round a curved track at 40 mph, and wants Scotland to follow the example of Wales and New Zealand in banning greyhound racing. There is only one remaining greyhound racing track, at Thornton Stadium in Fife.
Wild Boar Out of Control
… but the Scottish government calls them feral pigs. Paul Lister, heir to the MFI fortune, is very keen on all sorts of rewilding initiatives, so much so that he wants to reintroduce wolves into the Highlands, and wild boar onto his Alladale Estate in Sutherland, saying it would be nice to have ‘another beastie back in the forest’. But many disagree. Stalkers cite the savaging of days-old lambs; NFU Scotland say the proximity of boar to pig farms can end up infecting the pigs, or even spread African swine fever, as happened on pig farms in China and western Europe.
Wild boar currently rampage through several European cities, and Berlin has licensed culls; in Italy, wild boar caused a fatal pile-up. The Scottish government does not even officially recognise the term ‘wild boar’, instead calling them feral pigs.
Yet this downplays the animals’ sheer power. They can measure up to 8ft in length, have deadly tusks and can weigh up to 30-stone, posing a potentially deadly problem to people. This year, a pack roaming free in the Cairngorms National Park were caught and culled. They roam in the Great Glen between Inverness and Fort William, and it is thought there are at least three other breeding populations in Lochaber, Dumfries and Galloway and Ross-shire, but the government says vaguely numbers are in the ‘low thousands’.
Landowners report regular fence and land damage costing up to £2000 to repair, and 30 boar were found digging up fencing and land near Urquhart Castle. Boar can run up to 30 mph and some fear a human death may result, particularly as boar run near to holiday walking spots.
Howling at the Moon
Is that the wolves or the people who want them to roam free in Sutherland, one of whom is said Paul Lister, fan of wild boar? Not such a fan of deer, though, which he has firmly culled, but who has an answer to the danger posed by wolves – high-wire fences, which would cut right across Scotland’s right to roam.
The EU is also losing its rosy-tinted specs after EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen’s beloved pony Dolly was killed by a wolf in Lower Saxony. Wolves are not to be trifled with, can run up to 38 mph, have a bite force of up to 1200 pounds per square inch, and large canine teeth suited to ripping flesh and crunching bones.
Concern over ‘Glasgow Council Pay-Offs’
The Accounts Commission is ‘deeply concerned’ at Glasgow City Council pay-offs worth over £1 million to officials who seem to have themselves approved them. Decisions were not recorded despite potential conflicts of interest, keeping ordinary councillors in the dark. Later on, former chief executive Annemarie O’Donnell voluntarily repaid £317,000.
The pay-offs involved five officials who benefitted from a restructuring plan from 2021 which allowed them to leave over the next 3 years with £1.035 million, including pension enhancements. Although there is no suggestion of any illegality, councillors seem to have been in the dark about the arrangements, with a lack of appropriate documentation or any analysis on value-for-money’. The council has since ‘improved oversight and transparency’.
Pylon Plan ‘Destroying’ the Highlands
The Scottish government has launched a consultation on the plans of the Scottish and Southern Electricity Network (SSEN) to build a major pylon line between Spittal and Beauly, but it has a very short deadline for submissions of October 6th. Campaigners say this is too short a deadline to respond and is proof that neither the Scottish government’s Energy Consents Unit (ECU) nor SSEN itself have any interest in what the public thinks, and are calling for a public inquiry.
For this to happen, Highland Council would have to lodge an immediate holding objection to activate the statutory Public Local Inquiry process. Dan Bailey of Strathpeffer and Contin Better Cable Route group said SSEN have had years to prepare their case, while local people have a month.
Do We Need so many Student Flats?
Following an Edinburgh City Council motion in June to explore a possible moratorium on new purpose-built student accommodation (PBSA), it has now abandoned both the moratorium and a total ban, despite that some of the flats are being built on sites which could be used for permanent housing for local residents. Tenants’ union Living Rent says the student blocks are too expensive anyway and often sit empty. Edinburgh has 21,632 student bed spaces, up by 14,282 since 2005, with just over half being private developments, and 11,309 university-owned.
Glasgow used temporary planning guidance between 2019 and 2021 to pause large-scale student blocks, later resisting new PBSA developments in two specific over-concentrated areas. But Edinburgh councillors said Glasgow’s approach caused a shortage of student accommodation, with new developments put away from the university campuses, adding that Edinburgh already has a long- term housing strategy which addresses the management of new PBSAs.
SNIB Mixed Fortunes
The Scottish National Investment Bank is under scrutiny once more following the August 27th collapse of the first company they invested in, M Squared Lasers, leading to questions over how much the SNIB will get back of its £34 million investment, if any. The bank recently reported a loss of £77 million on the re-evaluation of its investments, one of which was £8 million lost in the aborted Deposit Return Scheme, and an overall loss of £14.6 million in 2023-24.
On the positive side, SNIB’s contribution of over £785 million to 42 businesses and projects led to £34.5m income last year, double its operating expenses of £16.2 million.
Finally,
You will get your chance to see The Golden Spurtle at cinemas from September 12th. Filmed in Carrbridge, Inverness-shire, it showcases local people and competitors at the World Porridge Making Championship, which has run for over 30 years. It was filmed by Australian filmmaker Constantine Costi, who travelled to Carrbridge after a chance meeting with a friend who told him about it. Charlie Miller, the Golden Spurtle Chieftain, happened to be overseeing the competition for the last time.
Carrbridge has had to fend off attempts from Ireland, Sweden and Denmark to buy the registered trademarks for the competition and the Golden Spurtle title itself. The film had its world premiere at Copenhagen’s annual documentary festival in spring, then at the Sydney Film Festival in June, before returning nearer home to its UK premiere at the Edinburgh International Film Festival last month.