CHARLIE WHELAN: Visiting Spurs fans were treated like hooligans at Ibrox
Glasgow is always a lively place to visit this time of year and so with my football team, Tottenham Hotspur, playing Rangers in the Europa league at Ibrox a trip to the second city of the empire was definitely on.
As is usual the train down to the Central Belt from Aviemore was late but so was my mate’s train from London so our visit to the museum was abandoned in favour of a few drams in the Horseshoe Bar.
A pleasant day was had by all except my pals who had tickets in the away end at Ibrox.
It seems that policing in Glasgow hasn’t moved on from the hooligans days of the last century as the Spurs fans were ‘locked in’ for an hour after the game.
I could wave to them from our posh seats that included a free bar but they weren’t allowed out.
When finally they were released they were marched away from the underground and left to find their own way back to the city centre by foot.
The only positive thing to say about their experience is that Tottenham didn’t lose the game.
What still surprises me most about Glasgow is that the car rules okay. Outside of a few shopping streets trying to navigate by foot is downright dangerous.
It reminded my of my last visit to Inverness.
Many of us had hoped that the Highland Council scheme for Academy street which proposed a partial pedestrian friendly zone would get the go ahead.
Alas vested interests have blocked the scheme which has now been abandoned with you and me the taxpayer picking up the £713,000 bill.
It was the owners of the Eastgate shopping centre who paid for the legal challenge to the project. Of course it wasn’t in their interests for the city centre shops to be more accessible to the public but let’s hope the council don’t give up on the idea altogether.
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Any MSP who fancies a freebie day out at the football or rugby just has to get on to Tavish Scott at Scottish Salmon and he’s bound to oblige.
The fish farmers who pollute our seas and are partly responsible for the decline in wild salmon regularly invite SNPs for lavish freebies in return for casting a blind eye to their misdeeds.
The latest Cabinet Minister who not only took lavish hospitality at Murrayfield but failed to register it was the SNP’s Mairi Gordon.
She’s supposed to be in charge of rural affairs but seems to be more interested in junkets than saving wild fish.
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There is undoubtedly a housing crisis in the Highlands but not if you are a multimillionaire landowner.
It’s been revealed that the billionaire ruler of Dubai Sheikh Mohamed plans a tenth house on his 63,000 acre highland estate.
The estate already boasts three very large homes, a couple of lodges and no less than three helipads.
The Sheikh was recently given planning permission for another 11 bedroom mansion and a five bedroom house. Now he wants to erect a 15 bedroom guest lodge for visitors!
It’s about time the Highland Council put a stop to this nonsense.
If these people who for some reason we permit to own so much of the Highlands want to build then make them build affordable houses for local people to live in.
If they won’t the land should be compulsorily purchased so the council can build them.
Charlie Whelan (Labour) is a former spokesman for Gordon Brown.