FERGUS EWING: Ignoring the advice from those who know best on saving the capercaillie
Last week in Holyrood I asked the Rural Secretary Mairi Gougeon if we can reduce the massive public spending on re-wilding, peat restoration and on the continued futile attempts to ‘save’ capercaillie from extinction.
She declined the invitation to do so - and use the money for more productive purposes.
This follows a report from the Cairngorms National Park Authority that they are to spend yet more money trying to save the caper which they predict may become extinct.
However, their ‘plan’ fails to do anything to control predators for whom the caper eggs - and chicks - are a tasty snack.
That failure goes against the advice of every single gamekeeper and land manager I have ever spoken to.
And yet neither the Scottish Government nor NatureScot seem to do anything at all to intervene.
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This week in Holyrood I shall question the Education Secretary Jenny Gilruth about the continued teaching of so called ‘gender identity’ in schools.
Dr Hilary Cass in her report recommended that the practice of prescribing puberty blockers be stopped because there is no evidence, she found, that they have any benefit.
This recommendation has thankfully been accepted.
Given that is so why is gender identity still taught in schools and presented as a kind of choice for young people?
A constituent asked me to raise this matter in Holyrood and I have done so before.
Dr Cass said that social transition is not a neutral act. Yet teachers, with no expertise in this area allow pupils to socially transition and indeed are encouraged to do so by the Scottish Government guidance called ‘supporting transgender young people’.
Surely it is morally wrong to teach our children that they could be ‘born in the wrong body’ and also wrong that it is possible to change one’s sex.
So I will ask the Cabinet Secretary why, despite the Cass Report findings, is the Government continuing to allow and encourage gender ideology in schools?
One group that is pulling all evidence together is ScotPAG and readers can access this on https://www.scotpag.com
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This week in Holyrood the petitions committee will look to finalise the report on the dualling of the A9.
The petition, raised by Kincraig campaigner Laura Hansler, seeks answers about what went so wrong and how to proceed now.
The committee report will be published in due course, and then, I hope, debated in full parliament possibly next month.
It will be the first time ever that the A9 has been debated in Parliament other than in previous Members Debates which I led.
It will I hope bring all parties (except the Greens who are opposed) together in renewed support of the dualling programme and I am working to try to persuade the Government to accelerate the plans to complete the work, which were announced last December.
These plans envisage that it will take a further 10 years to finish. Surely it can and must be done more quickly than that?
The debate and report will I hope add to the pressure for that to happen.
Fergus Ewing (SNP) is MSP for Inverness and Nairn (including Strathspey).