Euthanasia

The Scottish Parliament today started to debate a Bill on Assisted Suicide. It was launched by MSP (Member of Scottish Parliament) Margo Macdonald, who is a passionate believer in what she terms assisted suicide. I think it is a good thing to have a debate on this very difficult issue, and party leaders at Holyrood have promised that members will have a free vote on the issue, once the time for that arrives.

I copy a summary of the Bill's main points from the BBC website:

• Person must be terminally ill or "permanently physically incapacited"
• Request must be made to and approved by doctor and psychiatrist
• Both must be asked twice after 15-days cooling off period
• Assistance must be supervised by the approving doctor
• Close friends and relatives banned from administering drug
• Only over-16s qualify
• Applicants must be registered with Scottish GP for 18 months
• Bill does not apply to those with dementia or other degenerative mental condition

As you may be aware, euthanasia has been practiced in the Netherlands for more than 30 years under a similar legal framework. I should add that once death has occurred, the GP is required to report the event to the public prosecutor, and I understand that same will also apply in Scotland. Once the prosecutor is satisfied that the legal requirements have been met, no prosecution will follow.

In the UK, there have been several high-profile cases, where terminally ill people travelled to Switzerland for euthanasia. Doctors in the UK would face prosecution for manslaughter or murder, and so would anyone else involved in the euthanasia. It is time this issue is sorted out either way. I hope this Bill will start a nationwide debate in the UK on euthanasia - to place it on the statute book as accepted legal practice, or not as the case may be.

I realise that my standpoint may be incompatible with that of several of my readers, and I apologise for any upset or distress caused. However, this is an issue under debate in society and if anyone has any views on this, it would be very good to have them all aired.

Thursday 21 January

Overcast this morning with a strengthening wind. Severe gales could develop later today, keeping up our average of one gale a week. Ferry services up and down the west coast of Scotland are duly disrupted.

Australia is bracing itself for tropical cyclone Magda. This storm formed last night (GMT) and is headed straight for the coast of Western Australia, north of the town of Derby. Magda is expected to strengthen rapidly, with the Australia Bureau of Meteorology anticipating the storm to be at category 4 strength (that is a lower category of strength than the corresponding category in the Saffir Simpson scale) by landfall, late on Friday (GMT).

More later.

Promises

This suggests that spring will one day return. Needed the reminder today, wall to wall wind and rain.

Wednesday 20 January

A wet and breezy day in the Western Isles, and the wind will only increase. Tomorrow, a force 9 severe gale is forecast. Across in Australia, a tropical cyclone is forming off the northwest coast, and this could blow up into a category II system in the next few days. It is hurricane season there (southern hemisphere summer).

I am not apologising for switching my front picture, to a wintry scene from Laxay. I tend to change my front picture every couple of weeks, and as the snow had disappeared I felt a new image was in order. I realise the colours are quite bland, but that's the way it looks. It won't be until April that colours will return to this island.

Twitter just went into an outage, although I managed to put a tweet through using shortening service bit.ly.

Tuesday 19 January

A cold and cloudy day, although some brightness is about. The mercury stands at 7C, but the cold wind makes it feel rather less than that. In spite of the wintry feel, I jumped on the bus to Laxay this morning to take more photographs of wargraves in that village's cemetery. The total was ten.

Laxay lies 12 miles south of Stornoway in the district of Lochs, and it is surrounded by quite a few lochs and rivers. A loch, for those unfamiliar with the regional vocabulary, is a lake or an inlet from the sea. Loch Erisort, which bounds Laxay to the south, stretches for 15 miles from the Minch in the east and causes long travel distances. The village of Cromore, for instance, lies 12 miles from Stornoway as the gull flies, but it's more like 30 miles by road (Cromore is marked on the map below).

Some pictures from the village are shown at the bottom of this post.

Visit to Carloway

As today was nice and sunny, I jumped on the afternoon bus to Carloway with the object of photographing the local war memorial. The bus trip, 45 miles, costs me a mere £4.40 and lasts for 2½ hours. Normally, it is 2 hours, but the bus picks up and drops off school children from two different schools. This allowed me to jump off at Carloway and photograph said memorial and a few village scenes.

On the way along, I noticed that there was quite a bit of snow and ice left in verges and in shaded locations.The first pic in the below gallery shows what was left in the shade of some trees at Garynahine junction. Below that, you'll see five images from Carloway.

Money for not rearing pigs

NIGEL JOHNSON-HILL,
PARKFARM,
MILLAND,
LIPHOOK
GU30 7JT

Rt Hon David Miliband MP
Secretary of State.
Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA),
Nobel House
17 Smith Square
London
SW1P 3JR

16 July 2009

Dear Secretary of State,

My friend, who is in farming at the moment, recently received a cheque for £3,000 from the Rural Payments Agency for not rearing pigs.. I would now like to join the "not rearing pigs" business. In your opinion, what is the best kind of farm not to rear pigs on, and which is the best breed of pigs not to rear? I want to be sure I approach this endeavour in keeping with all government policies, as dictated by the EU under the Common Agricultural Policy.

I would prefer not to rear bacon pigs, but if this is not the type you want not rearing, I will just as gladly not rear porkers. Are there any advantages in not rearing rare breeds such as Saddlebacks or Gloucester Old Spots, or are there too many people already not rearing these?

As I see it, the hardest part of this programme will be keeping an accurate record of how many pigs I haven't reared. Are there any Government or Local Authority courses on this?

My friend is very satisfied with this business. He has been rearing pigs for forty years or so, and the best he ever made on them was £1,422 in 1968. That is - until this year, when he received a cheque for not rearing any.

If I get £3,000 for not rearing 50 pigs, will I get £6,000 for not rearing 100? I plan to operate on a small scale at first, holding myself down to about 4,000 pigs not raised, which will mean about £240,000 for the first year. As I become more expert in not rearing pigs, I plan to be more ambitious, perhaps increasing to, say, 40,000 pigs not reared in my second year, for which I should expect about £2.4 million from your department. Incidentally, I wonder if I would be eligible to receive tradable carbon credits for all these pigs not producing harmful and polluting methane gases?

Another point: These pigs that I plan not to rear will not eat 2,000 tonnes of cereals. I understand that you also pay farmers for not growing crops. Will I qualify for payments for not growing cereals to not feed the pigs I don't rear?

I am also considering the "not milking cows" business, so please send any information you have on that too. Please could you also include the current Defra advice on set aside fields? Can this be done on an e-commerce basis with virtual fields (of which I seem to have several thousand hectares)?

In view of the above you will realise that I will be totally unemployed, and will therefore qualify for unemployment benefits. I shall of course be voting for your party at the next general election.

Yours faithfully,

Nigel Johnson-Hill

Monday 18 January

Another week starts, and it's actually quite a nice if slightly nippy day. Hosed the salt off the windows, facing away from the sea. Those fronting the sea were washed clean by rain. The spray was blown in by Saturday morning's highish winds. Although the weather is calm at present, high winds are expected to return late tomorrow.

Locally, plans have been unveiled to improve Perceval Square, currently in use as a carpark off Stornoway's main shopping street, Cromwell Street. In order to turn Perceval Square into a town square, the toilet block will have to be moved, leading to despairing reactions from those liable to be caught short. Leaving that to one side, the plans look like an improvement to me.

I was somehow surprised to read that every person in Scotland drinks on average 46 bottles of vodka or 550 pints of beer each year. Scots have this unenviable love affair with alcohol, and the results show in society. The Monday morning local news in Lewis tends to be full of the misdeeds of the preceding weekend, mainly drink-fuelled.

Sunday 17 January

Today started sunny, but turned wet mid afternoon. It feels cold, although the mercury has risen to 8C.

Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II is coming to the Western Isles to celebrate her summer hols in North Uist and adjacent Berneray this year. She has requisitioned the small cruiseliner MV Hebridean Princess, the converted ferry MV Columba of yore, to tour the islands. Anyone who had booked a cruise at the same time that HM is going to the islands has been notified that their holiday has been cancelled. 

In Haiti, a small number of survivors are being extricated from the rubble of Port-au-Prince and surrounding towns. The death toll is likely to rise into six digits, whilst the aid effort is grinding along, severely impeded by the collapsed infrastructure of the country.

Sandwick revisited

This afternoon, I returned to Sandwick Cemetery, after a dismally abortive attempt to reach it last Sunday. Today, there was no problem and I covered the distance in the customary 15 minutes. As I was going through the old part of the cemetery, a heavy shower passed by, leaving a fantastic double rainbow in its wake. The sun returned as I went up the new cemetery, which made photography a bit difficult if the gravestone faced north.

Saturday 16 January

The weather today started very windy, with galeforce winds. As the morning progressed, the wind died down and the sun is now beginning to show from behind the clouds. Our ferry did not leave port for its normal 7 am sailing, but should depart as scheduled at 2.30pm.

Another collision on a level crossing today, following a crash in the far north of Scotland earlier this week. Today, two cars were hit by a train in Herefordshire, western England. Three people were hurt, two seriously. The cause of the accident is yet to be investigated, as it only occurred 2 hours ago.

As promised, I've been going through the blogs this morning and caught up with quite a few of you.

Blog reading

I think most of comments in 2010 have been something like "happy new year". My Google Reader section for blogs I read regularly now stands at more than 300 items unread, a sure sign that I need to catch up. There are a handful of you that I do keep up with, whenever you post. Others I should keep up with more diligently, I admit. Anyway, there is a bad forecast for tomorrow, so there's a fair chance you'll see a comment from me.

Community benefit?

Hebrides News has published an article, outlining the benefits to be bestowed on the community of South Lochs through the construction of the Muaitheabhal Project, better known as the Eishken Windfarm. These benefits will leave South Lochs out of pocket to the tune of £6.9m. Let me explain

Initial expenditure
Four turbine sites in the windfarm: £0
Four turbine towers: £18.5m
Contribution to Western Isles Council development fund: £11.5m
Total initial expenditure: £30m

Income
1% of income of main windfarm: £8.75m
Revenue of own turbines: £21.6m

I should clarify that it is unclear whether the above two figures are per annum or over the lifetime of the project
Total income: £30.35m

Contribution
Contribution to Western Isles Council Development Fund: £7.2m (1/3 of revenue, as above)

Net income for Muaitheabhal Community Trust
-£6.9m

Friday 15 January

A very windy night followed by a day with heavy showers and more strong winds. Our ferry did not sail this morning, due to high winds in the Minch and heavy swells. The afternoon sailings are under review as I type.

Aid is beginning to reach Haiti, but the situation is growing dire. Looting of warehouses containing food has taken place as people are desperate for food. BBC TV showed images of people constructing a shelter using branches and a sheet of fabric material. Haiti is not in its rainy season at the moment, but the tropical sun is beating down. If you wish to donate to assist in the relief effort, please only do so through reputable aid organisations like the Red Cross.

Western Isles windfarm approved

The Scottish Government has granted approval for 33 windturbines to be constructed for the Muaitheabhal project. Each turbine will stand 450 feet tall, and their combined output (118 megawatts) is reported sufficient to power 55,000 homes. That is several times the number of homes in the Western Isles.

Objections from the John Muir Trust on account of visual impact of the machines have been sidestepped by reducing the number of turbines from 39 to 33. Reactions on BBC Radio Scotland Highlands and Islands this afternoon varied widely. The Scottish Energy Minister stated that this first major windfarm in the Western Isles would grant the islands their place in the renewable energy sector. Others asserted that the decision made a mockery of the recent Local Public Inquiry.

I have made my position on this issue patently clear, as being opposed. This is founded on the visual impact in combination with the effects on wildlife. It also strikes me that the Scottish Government is prejudiced, bearing in mind that one of its advisors on renewable energy is actually a high-ranking official within one of the power companies that will develop this scheme.

Comhairle nan Eilean Siar has hailed this announcement as a major boost for the Western Isles. In my perspective, they have fallen for the beads and mirrors flashed in front of them by the developers of the Muaitheabhal project. Yes, there will be a few million pounds a year for the Comhairle. But the major winners are the developers and the Eishken landowner.

Anyone who thinks that this will eradicate the islands’ economic woes at a stroke is seriously at variance with reality. Job benefits will only last for the duration of the construction of the windfarm, and I wonder how many islanders will be getting a job out of it. Maintaining the windfarm only requires a handful of people.The islands’ economy could arguably suffer through the windfarm, as it might deter visitors. They come here for an unspoilt wilderness, not to see an industrial estate.

I wonder what the European Union will think of this project, which will have adverse effects on wildlife; on a species of bird that are protected, and any threat to their habitat posed by such a scheme should by default lead to it being turned down. Not so, it would seem.

Once more, big money has spoken. It did so with the Beauly - Denny powerline upgrade, and has done so here. This is not for the benefit of the Western Isles. The Eishken Windfarm is a development to the islands’ detriment.

Thursday 14 January

Thirty-six hours after the Haiti earthquake, stories are coming out that justify the description "unimaginable". I can only refer to news websites like the BBC and others. For once, the Internet does feel quite inadequate for conveying the magnitude of this catastrophe, Haiti's worst earthquake in 150 years. The country, dirt poor at the best of times, is used to being at the receiving end of hurricanes each summer. I can only hope that the aid effort gets its act together in a matter of hours, rather than days. But that's a vain hope, I'm afraid.

More later.

Camera woes

Getting a new digital camera is one of the things on my list. The old one is no longer working, so I was pointed to an auction on eBay. It was for a used camera of the same variety that I've been using for the past four years. I lost it in the last 7 seconds after someone put in a rather higher bid. Never mind, better a new machine than a used one that you don't know anything about. And have no warranty over either. Fortunately, I do have the use of someone else's camera, so I'm not completely stuck.

Wednesday 13 January

Quite a bright day to start with, although the southeasterly breeze detracts a bit. The ice that has been plaguing us for 3 weeks is slowly melting away. Heavy snow is once more causing disruption across parts of England, with airports closed and some motorists finding themselves in their cars overnight. In Yorkshire, gritter lorries are reported as having slid off roads.

Haiti has suffered an earthquake of magnitude 7.3 on the Richter scale, which was centered near the capital Port-au-Prince. It struck at 21.53 GMT last night and the US Geological Survey has reported more than a dozen aftershocks of magnitude 5.0 or higher since. Devastation is reported widespread, and hundreds if not thousands are feared dead, or buried under rubble. Aid agencies are scrambling to get assets to the scene of one of the poorest countries in the world.

When you're on the run from the law, don't go and update your Facebook account, taunting the police. They may come and find you.

Tuesday 12 January

Sunny this morning, but with increasing levels of high cloud. In other words, change is in the offing. The ice on the grass in the backyard is slowly melting, and we no longer need to put out old bread for the birds. The birdfeeders are restocked regularly. For those in the UK, the RSPB is holding a Big Garden Birdwatch on January 30th and 31st, more details here. I participated in that a few years ago, but had a spot of bother when I wanted to report a cormorant around the house. They're not garden birds apparently.

The last surviving member of the group who helped to hide Anne Frank in Amsterdam during the Second World War has died at the age of 100 in a nursing home. Miep Gies had supplied the Frank family with food. After their deportation to a death camp in 1944, she had retrieved Anne's diary.

Don't forget it's Holocaust Memorial Day on January 27th. 

Five years ago today

11 January 2005 is one of those days that everybody who was in the Outer Hebrides at the time will not forget. A deep Atlantic depression moved past our islands, bringing with it winds of force 12 on the Beaufort scale, with gusts in excess of 130 mph. At the time, I was staying in Kershader, 12 miles south of Stornoway as the crow flies - more like 22 miles by road. At 6.22pm, the power went off, not to go back on again for 48 hours. The wind was already howling around the building. Blue flashing lights penetrated the darkness from across Loch Erisort - police cars were stopping traffic on the Stornoway to Tarbert road after a lorry driver reported a sheep flying past his windscreen. The driver of the South Lochs bus that night was mightily relieved to make it home in one piece, he told me later. Trees were downed, roofs taken off, vehicles crushed under trees - and hundreds of them toppled in the Castle Grounds in Stornoway. High tides lapped at the doors of people on Cromwell Street and Bayhead in the town. Boats were torn off their moorings and smashed into the ferry terminal. Slates became like missiles, and pedestrians blown off their feet. Some who sought refuge were denied entry; others were taken inside.

The next morning dawned breezy and bright. Everybody heaved a sigh of relief. That was a bad one, but it's only damage. By 9.20 am however, reports start to emerge from the Southern Isles. Five people are missing in South Uist, after they fled their home the previous evening at around 7pm. Rising tides had started to approach their home, and pebbles were hurled against walls and windows. They enter two cars and drive from their home at Eochdar towards the causeway, linking South Uist and Benbecula. A fatal decision. That road parallels the stretch of sea that separates the two islands. The southeasterly storm, combined with a springtide from the northwest pushed the waters of Loch Bi up; but on account of the floodtide they could not drain into the sea. The loch flooded a small causeway, sweeping the cars into the water. By morning, the five missing people are found dead. They include a mother and father with two young children and a grandfather.

A notice in the Stornoway Gazette of last week commemorated their loss. This entry is in their memory too.