RET, Wind turbines and the economy of the Islands, and Dennis Bhradhagair
Posted: Monday, 13 August 2007 |
The news that the SNP administration is to launch a study and pilot project for the introduction of road eqivalent tariff (RET) on the ferries to the Western Isles is possibly one of the most significant announcements for the economic future of these islands in many a long day.
Now, The Peatstack is by no means a supporter of the Nationalist cause, or the SNP as a political entity, so I'll leave the sadly inevitable political point-scoring to those who enjoy indulging in such stuff. This blog is to welcome the development, call for joined-up goverment, and to make some observations about the impact this could have on other pressing issues.
The facts and figures being promoted in support of RET suggest that hundreds of jobs could be created as a consequence of its introduction, along with a multi-million pound boost to the local economy.
Time for an anecdote - The Peatstack was on Skye last week, spending a delightful night en-route at the excellent Sligachen Hotel - with a special mention for the quality of its home-brewed beer! - and the almost surreal fact that seated at the bar was none other than Robbie The Pict. Robbie is a campaigner that this blogger greatly admires, and it was an almost Brigadoon-like moment to enter the hallowed halls of the Seamus's Bar and see the great man seated there! (Sorry for that digression within a digression.)
However, back to the primary digression...the campsite on the blar adjacent to the hotel not only housed the usual array of tents but a large number of motorhomes. In the days of yore when the island was dependent first on high ferry fares and then a toll bridge, this would not have happened. But today Skye is clearly a kind of destination point for those enjoying the open and free - road, and is evidence - surely - of the impact removing the bridge toll has had (can and will have) on the economy of Skye.
It can only be imagined what impact a drastic reduction in the cost of the ferry fare to Stornoway would have on the local economy and tourism business - espcially if coupled with the introduction of a faster boat.
But this potential benefit will only be realised if the vision of the SNP in making this move is matched by a similar vision in joined-up government. The economic benefits of RET will be great for local businesses, hopefully the local population (will our shops pass on the freight savings to their customers? Will the freight companies pass on the freight savings to their customers?), if we remove the profound threat to our tourism business that is the huge, wind-based power station planned for the westside of the island of Lewis.
Sure, RET will benefit the local population, but the economic boost - and jobs - associated with a rejuvenated tourism sector will only be realised if the planned string of mega-turbines is blocked by the SNP administration. Doubtless one or two geeks will travel to look at mile after of mile of wind turbine, but not many.
It is The Peatstack's assertion that in balance the better long-term economic plan for these islands resides with the mix of lowering the cost of living, having low ferry fares and a greater tourism sector (with the jobs these will generate), as opposed to the current 'only alternative' - an economy based on power generation.
This blogger is also concerned that the power generation economy is essentially an undynamic, passive economy based not on longterm job creation but knock-on benefits and profit-sharing from privately (and often foreign) owned companies who will have little other interest or investment in the social, community and cultural well-being of the land and people surrounding their power station. (Let's drop the absurd word 'farm' from this debate once and for all). The great advantage of tourism and culture-based economic investment is that it is likely to be a dynamic investment in terms of new small business creation, self-employment and sustainability geared around the vested and shared interest of the landscape, culture, language etc.
Of equal importance is the fact that ferry travel is by far the more environmentally acceptable mode of transport when compared with the plane. I'd say, if necessary, ditch the ADS in favour of the RET project and encourage more people to go by ferry and car. Yes, more traffic, driving to and fro' from Inverness etc., but that's better than the environmental dead-end of more and more, cheaper and cheaper, airfares.
A final query to 'jumblue from Taigh an Albhain ' and many thanks for your very entertaining comment to my last blog...A nuil a' bheil e' comasach toirt na taidhrichean a tha mun chuarit mo mheadhan gu Dennis Bhradhagair ?
Now, The Peatstack is by no means a supporter of the Nationalist cause, or the SNP as a political entity, so I'll leave the sadly inevitable political point-scoring to those who enjoy indulging in such stuff. This blog is to welcome the development, call for joined-up goverment, and to make some observations about the impact this could have on other pressing issues.
The facts and figures being promoted in support of RET suggest that hundreds of jobs could be created as a consequence of its introduction, along with a multi-million pound boost to the local economy.
Time for an anecdote - The Peatstack was on Skye last week, spending a delightful night en-route at the excellent Sligachen Hotel - with a special mention for the quality of its home-brewed beer! - and the almost surreal fact that seated at the bar was none other than Robbie The Pict. Robbie is a campaigner that this blogger greatly admires, and it was an almost Brigadoon-like moment to enter the hallowed halls of the Seamus's Bar and see the great man seated there! (Sorry for that digression within a digression.)
However, back to the primary digression...the campsite on the blar adjacent to the hotel not only housed the usual array of tents but a large number of motorhomes. In the days of yore when the island was dependent first on high ferry fares and then a toll bridge, this would not have happened. But today Skye is clearly a kind of destination point for those enjoying the open and free - road, and is evidence - surely - of the impact removing the bridge toll has had (can and will have) on the economy of Skye.
It can only be imagined what impact a drastic reduction in the cost of the ferry fare to Stornoway would have on the local economy and tourism business - espcially if coupled with the introduction of a faster boat.
But this potential benefit will only be realised if the vision of the SNP in making this move is matched by a similar vision in joined-up government. The economic benefits of RET will be great for local businesses, hopefully the local population (will our shops pass on the freight savings to their customers? Will the freight companies pass on the freight savings to their customers?), if we remove the profound threat to our tourism business that is the huge, wind-based power station planned for the westside of the island of Lewis.
Sure, RET will benefit the local population, but the economic boost - and jobs - associated with a rejuvenated tourism sector will only be realised if the planned string of mega-turbines is blocked by the SNP administration. Doubtless one or two geeks will travel to look at mile after of mile of wind turbine, but not many.
It is The Peatstack's assertion that in balance the better long-term economic plan for these islands resides with the mix of lowering the cost of living, having low ferry fares and a greater tourism sector (with the jobs these will generate), as opposed to the current 'only alternative' - an economy based on power generation.
This blogger is also concerned that the power generation economy is essentially an undynamic, passive economy based not on longterm job creation but knock-on benefits and profit-sharing from privately (and often foreign) owned companies who will have little other interest or investment in the social, community and cultural well-being of the land and people surrounding their power station. (Let's drop the absurd word 'farm' from this debate once and for all). The great advantage of tourism and culture-based economic investment is that it is likely to be a dynamic investment in terms of new small business creation, self-employment and sustainability geared around the vested and shared interest of the landscape, culture, language etc.
Of equal importance is the fact that ferry travel is by far the more environmentally acceptable mode of transport when compared with the plane. I'd say, if necessary, ditch the ADS in favour of the RET project and encourage more people to go by ferry and car. Yes, more traffic, driving to and fro' from Inverness etc., but that's better than the environmental dead-end of more and more, cheaper and cheaper, airfares.
A final query to 'jumblue from Taigh an Albhain ' and many thanks for your very entertaining comment to my last blog...A nuil a' bheil e' comasach toirt na taidhrichean a tha mun chuarit mo mheadhan gu Dennis Bhradhagair ?
Posted on Peatstack at 15:07
Riddoch-ule
Posted: Friday, 17 August 2007 |
Martin Martin, Samuel Johnson, and yes now please welcome to the stage of great opinionated outsiders from across the centuries none other than that colossus of contemporary thought, Lesley Riddoch.
Why the flambouyant rage and outspoken opinions about a mediocre broadcaster? Well, The Peatstack has just stumbled across a press release for the new Lesley Riddoch book and associated promotional tour dates, and can safely say that the book is the least anticipated potential addition to these shelves in a long time. If the promo blurb - stuffed full as it is with tasty snapshots from the mind of the great Riddoch - is any thing to go by it is clear that her bike is not the only thing LR has been peddling about these islands. This surely has to be the example of the cult of personality gone mad, and on our shores.
The book is blandly titled 'Riddoch on the Outer Hebrides' and comes with the sort of 'feisty' blurb and in-your-face opinions one has come to expect from this journalist who clearly and frequently mistakes 'feist' for anything of real value in her broadcasting and journalism. It is also a shame (or is it?) that LR can only find time for one date in her tour actually in the Hebrides.
But that's the rub, isn't it? For here's yet another outsider telling island people how to live and what they should do with their futures. Riddoch on Gaidhlig, Riddoch on incomers, why oh why do publishing houses think it a good idea to gather and publish the thoughts of broadcast journalists? And have you been to the Riddoch website? The sound clips from the programme begger belief - one has the journalist cycling with two Gaidhlig storytellers (uncertain and for no obvious reason on their bikes) to Uig beach and en-route learning a choice phrase or two of the Gaidhlig tongue. Its gripping stuff.
Anyway, that's enough of that. I'd like to promote a competition on behalf of publishers to marry broadcast journalists with diverse archipelagoes (achipelagi?) - how about a new book from Tam Cowan on the future of St Kilda, or Robbie Shepperd on the way ahead for Ibiza? And of course, what about Kenny T-Y-G on the future of the Cook Islands? Now you're talking.
Why the flambouyant rage and outspoken opinions about a mediocre broadcaster? Well, The Peatstack has just stumbled across a press release for the new Lesley Riddoch book and associated promotional tour dates, and can safely say that the book is the least anticipated potential addition to these shelves in a long time. If the promo blurb - stuffed full as it is with tasty snapshots from the mind of the great Riddoch - is any thing to go by it is clear that her bike is not the only thing LR has been peddling about these islands. This surely has to be the example of the cult of personality gone mad, and on our shores.
The book is blandly titled 'Riddoch on the Outer Hebrides' and comes with the sort of 'feisty' blurb and in-your-face opinions one has come to expect from this journalist who clearly and frequently mistakes 'feist' for anything of real value in her broadcasting and journalism. It is also a shame (or is it?) that LR can only find time for one date in her tour actually in the Hebrides.
But that's the rub, isn't it? For here's yet another outsider telling island people how to live and what they should do with their futures. Riddoch on Gaidhlig, Riddoch on incomers, why oh why do publishing houses think it a good idea to gather and publish the thoughts of broadcast journalists? And have you been to the Riddoch website? The sound clips from the programme begger belief - one has the journalist cycling with two Gaidhlig storytellers (uncertain and for no obvious reason on their bikes) to Uig beach and en-route learning a choice phrase or two of the Gaidhlig tongue. Its gripping stuff.
Anyway, that's enough of that. I'd like to promote a competition on behalf of publishers to marry broadcast journalists with diverse archipelagoes (achipelagi?) - how about a new book from Tam Cowan on the future of St Kilda, or Robbie Shepperd on the way ahead for Ibiza? And of course, what about Kenny T-Y-G on the future of the Cook Islands? Now you're talking.
Posted on Peatstack at 14:35
School Closures - Why We Must Say No.
Posted: Wednesday, 29 August 2007 |
The Peatstack has been away from the beloved Isle of Lewis for a week or so, and returns to find that the issue of school closures has returned to the news agenda. The schools in question are the handful of S1 & S2 units attached to local primary schools, which, according to some members of the Comhairle, are incapable of adequately delivering the national curriculum. The newly appointed Minister For Education does not agree and can find no reason to support the Comhairle's position on these closures.
One example of this supposed educational deficit quoted in the press came from a long standing local councillor. She thinks that what our 11, 12 &13 year-old children are missing out on in being a part of these rural senior schools rather than going to the Nicolson Institute straight from P7, is lessons in such important areas as business studies.
As a parent with a child currently attending one of the threatened schools, I very strongly disagree with the Comhairle and feel very relaxed about my child missing out on a session of business studies every week in favour of the many superior educational, social and community benefits these schools deliver.
Before turning to those educational benefits in more detail, I think the debate on this issue should be as holistic a debate as possible, including in the equation all aspects of the economic and social impact of the closure of these schools on local communities.
The Peatstack feels very strongly that apart from there being no universally accepted or sustained educational reason for these closures, attacks on these schools are nothing short of an outright attack on community cohesion, cultural identity and local democracy. It appears that it is the Comhairle's plan to really deliver on the meaning of the old Gaidhlig name for the Isle of Lewis, and turn this island truly into an island of strangers.
In this closure process we can see how the Comhairle is now actively promoting the rapid centralisation of services and of our island communities into Stornoway, and thus undermining the strength of the villages. Surely these closures will only hasten the drift of families into the greater Stornoway area; will lead to children spending a very much longer time away from home each day in travel; will add to the traffic chaos that is a drive to Stornoway at school opening times, and will undermine the sense of community in the threatened localities.
Into this mix I would like to add to threat to the future of Gaidhlig that these closures represent, and a real sense of a lost opportunity. The Peatstack is a very strong believer in the broad values of Gaidhlig medium education both in terms of the children concerned as a way of supporting and promoting the unique and beautiful language and culture of the Gael. These schools provide a Gaidhlig language bridge between Gaidhlig speaking parents and the education of their children. They are strong parts of our community in a much greater way than simply being another council service. They encourage a sense of place and culture that is still, happily, in The Peatstack's experience, centered on the Gaidhlig language.
And choice is a key word in this debate. With the closure of the Lews School a few years ago, choices in education were slashed in half. And was there any educational benefit to this? No. The children who wanted and suited a more practical route are now in the same place as those with a more academic leaning, and it is not clear that any or all of these children have in anyway benefited by this change. And that's because it came as the result of a financial rather than an educational decision. We are at that same point again, let's make the right decision this time.
As to the educational benefits of these small secondary units, there are many. Far from being unable to deliver on the full range of educational and curriculum requirements, The Peatstack maintains that these units deliver an enhanced education that far exceeds minimum requirements, and which is diverse and rich not narrow and under-resourced.
The children (in most cases, of course there are exceptions as there are in any educational system) receive their educational in an environment that engenders self-esteem and security; that has a back-drop of continuity and is in-touch with strong communities and culture; that encourages strong friendships and parental involvement. In short, the children of these schools have an education that greatly enhances their ability to engage with the issues and subjects of the curriculum and the challenges of adult life - that will give them a rooted sense of self and that they will use when they study the great debates of war, peace, love, history, geography, law, the arts, and yes, I'm sure business as well.
The end result will be a further institutional undermining of strength in our rural, village communities and their vestige cultures and language. This will happen for financial reasons not for educational gain, and with so many of these decisions that our weak leaders decree, will be another small steep in our ceaseless march into a future in which we will have secured only our own small insignificant slice of global, uniform culture, our villages (and maybe our islands) bereft of people, and one central town that will be Anywhere Scotland. I don't think our children will thank us for that, but maybe we will get a slap on the back from a generation of faceless, Comhairle accountants and the share holders who set to benefit from PPPs in education.
One example of this supposed educational deficit quoted in the press came from a long standing local councillor. She thinks that what our 11, 12 &13 year-old children are missing out on in being a part of these rural senior schools rather than going to the Nicolson Institute straight from P7, is lessons in such important areas as business studies.
As a parent with a child currently attending one of the threatened schools, I very strongly disagree with the Comhairle and feel very relaxed about my child missing out on a session of business studies every week in favour of the many superior educational, social and community benefits these schools deliver.
Before turning to those educational benefits in more detail, I think the debate on this issue should be as holistic a debate as possible, including in the equation all aspects of the economic and social impact of the closure of these schools on local communities.
The Peatstack feels very strongly that apart from there being no universally accepted or sustained educational reason for these closures, attacks on these schools are nothing short of an outright attack on community cohesion, cultural identity and local democracy. It appears that it is the Comhairle's plan to really deliver on the meaning of the old Gaidhlig name for the Isle of Lewis, and turn this island truly into an island of strangers.
In this closure process we can see how the Comhairle is now actively promoting the rapid centralisation of services and of our island communities into Stornoway, and thus undermining the strength of the villages. Surely these closures will only hasten the drift of families into the greater Stornoway area; will lead to children spending a very much longer time away from home each day in travel; will add to the traffic chaos that is a drive to Stornoway at school opening times, and will undermine the sense of community in the threatened localities.
Into this mix I would like to add to threat to the future of Gaidhlig that these closures represent, and a real sense of a lost opportunity. The Peatstack is a very strong believer in the broad values of Gaidhlig medium education both in terms of the children concerned as a way of supporting and promoting the unique and beautiful language and culture of the Gael. These schools provide a Gaidhlig language bridge between Gaidhlig speaking parents and the education of their children. They are strong parts of our community in a much greater way than simply being another council service. They encourage a sense of place and culture that is still, happily, in The Peatstack's experience, centered on the Gaidhlig language.
And choice is a key word in this debate. With the closure of the Lews School a few years ago, choices in education were slashed in half. And was there any educational benefit to this? No. The children who wanted and suited a more practical route are now in the same place as those with a more academic leaning, and it is not clear that any or all of these children have in anyway benefited by this change. And that's because it came as the result of a financial rather than an educational decision. We are at that same point again, let's make the right decision this time.
As to the educational benefits of these small secondary units, there are many. Far from being unable to deliver on the full range of educational and curriculum requirements, The Peatstack maintains that these units deliver an enhanced education that far exceeds minimum requirements, and which is diverse and rich not narrow and under-resourced.
The children (in most cases, of course there are exceptions as there are in any educational system) receive their educational in an environment that engenders self-esteem and security; that has a back-drop of continuity and is in-touch with strong communities and culture; that encourages strong friendships and parental involvement. In short, the children of these schools have an education that greatly enhances their ability to engage with the issues and subjects of the curriculum and the challenges of adult life - that will give them a rooted sense of self and that they will use when they study the great debates of war, peace, love, history, geography, law, the arts, and yes, I'm sure business as well.
The end result will be a further institutional undermining of strength in our rural, village communities and their vestige cultures and language. This will happen for financial reasons not for educational gain, and with so many of these decisions that our weak leaders decree, will be another small steep in our ceaseless march into a future in which we will have secured only our own small insignificant slice of global, uniform culture, our villages (and maybe our islands) bereft of people, and one central town that will be Anywhere Scotland. I don't think our children will thank us for that, but maybe we will get a slap on the back from a generation of faceless, Comhairle accountants and the share holders who set to benefit from PPPs in education.
Posted on Peatstack at 10:17
School Cuts Hidden In A Smoke Screen
Posted: Friday, 31 August 2007 |
School closures to be justified through a smoke screen of educational benefit - News reaches The PeatStack of a meeting for parents on Tuesday 4 September at 8pm in Back School. The letter comes from our local councillors - Catriona Stewart, Kenneth A Maciver and John A Maciver - urging us to 'engage as we search for the best way forward for Education in our area'.
Attached to the councillors' letter is another from CNES Director of Education, Murdo Macleod, headed 'Review of Educational Provision And The Proposed New 3-18 Curriculum'.
Whilst Murdo Maclean does emphasise in his letter that no decisions have been taken and won't until after consultations with parents and other interested parties have taken place, he refers to 'multiple influences which necessitate such a wide-ranging review of educational provision.'
He states these as being:
- The proposed new 3-18 curriculum and its implications
- The need to release and redirect the financial resources required to fund the proportion of the cost of the Western Isles Schools Projects which falls to the Comhairle.
- The continuing decline in the school rolls
- The generally tightening financial settlements. As rolls fall total funding falls in proportion. Consequently, the operation of a large number fo schools relative to the very limited, and reducing, total roll puts education expenditure excessively beyond the Authority's level of Government Rate Support Funding.
The letter continues with a descriptor of the situation for the new curriculum, but no additional information about the other financial aspects of this proposed closure.
But The PeatStack holds that a decision to combine both of these issues (finance and curriculum development) in one meeting is nothing short of an attempt to dress-up the real financial reasons for the proposed closures in the clothes of an educational benefit.
The PeatStack is very suspicious as to whether a meeting with three councillors and CNES director of education on the new curriculum was already proposed for this coming Tuesday night in Back, or whether this is a sudden and politically expedient adjuctant to a debate on school closures designed to blind or scare the parents and other 'interested parties' into going along with potentially one of the most destructive and ill-informed decisions our local councillors have made in recent years?
There is wide-spread acceptance of the new curriculum and its benefits. But how are these small secondary units incompatible with its aims?
So let's be clear in advance of this meeting - there is absolutley nothing in the so-called 'Curriculum for Excellence' that in anyway suggests the need for a closure of these secondary units, in fact, quite the oppostie.
The new curriculum places an emphasis on education being the foundation stone of confident, expressive adults - its titles include Responsible Citizens, Effective Contributors, Successful Learners, Confident Individuals.
In my blog of yesterday I argue that these are the precise benefits of education in the small secondary units.
The curriculum document also places an emphasis on addressing overcrowding and choice, see my blog of yesterday for a view on that! These closures will reduce parental choice to zero.
And what of the national aspirations of the curriculum - 'Partnerships: between sectors and services, with parents, employers, sport and culture organisations, community.'
These closures will drastically undermine community and parent involvement in secondary level education, will remove children from their communities for their education and undermine the importnant sense of community, culture and place that has for so long been such a unique and important facit of the education offered in the units. In fact, it is clear that the centralisation of secondary education into a single urban school may well run entirely contrary to many of the educational aims of the New Curriculum.
So where is the justification for combining consultation on the new curriculum with consultation on a damaging financial cut?
There is none. Don't be fooled, and The PeatStack here demands that these issues be uncoupled and Tuesday night's meeting be a straight chance for the Comhairle to justify to this community its ill-conceived and damaging financial decisions.
When it comes to finance for education - I thought we elected councillors and other politicians to fight our corner not at the first whiff of a difficulty to back down - why is there, therefore, no mention in their weak letter of what they are planning to do to campaign for a better and increased financial settlement with central government that realistically acknoweldges the extra costs of education in remote areas with small populations and works to ensure the long term viability of remote communities? Why are no alternative financial measures being presented in equal detail? Is this the only solution to the suggested financial difficulties, I doubt it.
See you on Tuesday. This is our chance to really let politicans and bureaucrats alike know what we as parents feel about this damaging proposal, and good luck and solidarity to the parents and communities in Bayble, Daliburgh, Sgoil nan Loch, Paible, Shawbost and Lionel who are likewise confronted with this disfiguring crime against their community.
Attached to the councillors' letter is another from CNES Director of Education, Murdo Macleod, headed 'Review of Educational Provision And The Proposed New 3-18 Curriculum'.
Whilst Murdo Maclean does emphasise in his letter that no decisions have been taken and won't until after consultations with parents and other interested parties have taken place, he refers to 'multiple influences which necessitate such a wide-ranging review of educational provision.'
He states these as being:
- The proposed new 3-18 curriculum and its implications
- The need to release and redirect the financial resources required to fund the proportion of the cost of the Western Isles Schools Projects which falls to the Comhairle.
- The continuing decline in the school rolls
- The generally tightening financial settlements. As rolls fall total funding falls in proportion. Consequently, the operation of a large number fo schools relative to the very limited, and reducing, total roll puts education expenditure excessively beyond the Authority's level of Government Rate Support Funding.
The letter continues with a descriptor of the situation for the new curriculum, but no additional information about the other financial aspects of this proposed closure.
But The PeatStack holds that a decision to combine both of these issues (finance and curriculum development) in one meeting is nothing short of an attempt to dress-up the real financial reasons for the proposed closures in the clothes of an educational benefit.
The PeatStack is very suspicious as to whether a meeting with three councillors and CNES director of education on the new curriculum was already proposed for this coming Tuesday night in Back, or whether this is a sudden and politically expedient adjuctant to a debate on school closures designed to blind or scare the parents and other 'interested parties' into going along with potentially one of the most destructive and ill-informed decisions our local councillors have made in recent years?
There is wide-spread acceptance of the new curriculum and its benefits. But how are these small secondary units incompatible with its aims?
So let's be clear in advance of this meeting - there is absolutley nothing in the so-called 'Curriculum for Excellence' that in anyway suggests the need for a closure of these secondary units, in fact, quite the oppostie.
The new curriculum places an emphasis on education being the foundation stone of confident, expressive adults - its titles include Responsible Citizens, Effective Contributors, Successful Learners, Confident Individuals.
In my blog of yesterday I argue that these are the precise benefits of education in the small secondary units.
The curriculum document also places an emphasis on addressing overcrowding and choice, see my blog of yesterday for a view on that! These closures will reduce parental choice to zero.
And what of the national aspirations of the curriculum - 'Partnerships: between sectors and services, with parents, employers, sport and culture organisations, community.'
These closures will drastically undermine community and parent involvement in secondary level education, will remove children from their communities for their education and undermine the importnant sense of community, culture and place that has for so long been such a unique and important facit of the education offered in the units. In fact, it is clear that the centralisation of secondary education into a single urban school may well run entirely contrary to many of the educational aims of the New Curriculum.
So where is the justification for combining consultation on the new curriculum with consultation on a damaging financial cut?
There is none. Don't be fooled, and The PeatStack here demands that these issues be uncoupled and Tuesday night's meeting be a straight chance for the Comhairle to justify to this community its ill-conceived and damaging financial decisions.
When it comes to finance for education - I thought we elected councillors and other politicians to fight our corner not at the first whiff of a difficulty to back down - why is there, therefore, no mention in their weak letter of what they are planning to do to campaign for a better and increased financial settlement with central government that realistically acknoweldges the extra costs of education in remote areas with small populations and works to ensure the long term viability of remote communities? Why are no alternative financial measures being presented in equal detail? Is this the only solution to the suggested financial difficulties, I doubt it.
See you on Tuesday. This is our chance to really let politicans and bureaucrats alike know what we as parents feel about this damaging proposal, and good luck and solidarity to the parents and communities in Bayble, Daliburgh, Sgoil nan Loch, Paible, Shawbost and Lionel who are likewise confronted with this disfiguring crime against their community.
Posted on Peatstack at 15:56
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