YOUR VIEWS: Casting your vote could help make change for better
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The headline in Strathy of March 28 has to be commended for noting the good work of VABS and the Aviemore Community Council.
It is good to keep a finger on the pulse of local issues and to hear from local
residents. It is clear from the article that there are many community concerns.
However we have to ask ourselves if anyone is listening. As I look through previous issues of the Strathy at the many fact-filled, interesting articles regarding community concerns I have to ask myself that same question.
From the dualling of the A9, beavers in the Cairngorm National Park, to wind farms every where, half-built community health centres and the real cost of Net Zero polices...
Then we also have ‘Let’s Just Do It’ to make efficiencies, that’s political speak for saving money: police stations that close, banks that close, Post Offices that close, service points that close. It goes on and on…..
I am an advocate of community consultations and engagement, where those we have placed in positions of authority listen.
The year 2024 is a global first where most of the democratic countries in the world go to the polls and elect new local and national government representatives, so let’s make them listen to us, The People.
A couple of years ago I spoke with a young but wise friend from Grantown and I asked if he voted.
He replied “No”, with the explanation that “If your vote really mattered, they wouldn’t give you one”.
Let’s make a “change” this year and get out and vote for change. Then they will have to listen.
Mark Duncan
Aviemore.
* * *
Accusation of ‘lazy finger-pointing’ on re-wilding
Charlie Whelan's latest musings - how green is rewilding? (Strathy, April 4) - fail to capture much of the detail and nuance that lies behind ecological recovery in the Cairngorms.
Charlie may be correct in that often, the funding for large landholdings, comes from businesses that deliver a significant carbon footprint, but this is not unique to land undergoing rewilding.
Almost all grouse moors and deer forests are underpinned by the same financial model, and have been for much of recent history.
Charlie alludes to the tired and unsubstantiated claim that so-called green lairds are complicit in a modern-day Clearances. Where is the evidence?
He implies that since Wildland Ltd took ownership of Glenfeshie, communities have been 'forced off the land' - this simply isn't true.
The notion that rewilding equates to de-peopling is inaccurate and unhelpful.
It should be noted that rewilding isn't the exclusive preserve of wealthy philanthropists and large NGOs. The Northwoods Rewilding Network, led by SCOTLAND: The Big Picture, comprises 70 landholdings across Scotland - farms, crofts, small estates and crucially, community-owned lands.
These are individuals and local communities rolling up their sleeves and playing their part in Scotland's response to climate breakdown and global nature loss.
None of them are billionaires; none of them have vast business empires and none of them are evicting people from their land - quite the opposite.
This lazy finger-pointing that is so dominant across the popular media, does little to address the shared challenges for which we need shared solutions.
Charlie is entitled to his view on what Scotland's landscape 'should' look like - everyone has one - but if he's to express that view in a local newspaper, the least we should expect is for it to be properly informed.
Peter Cairns
Executive Director
SCOTLAND: The Big Picture
Glenfeshie.
* * *
Overwhelmed by the kindness shown at retirement celebration
May I, through your letters page, thank the BSCX Directors, volunteers, clients, work colleagues, friends, family and staff at Landmark Forest Adventure Park for the kindness I received on my retirement from Badenoch & Strathspey Community ConnXions.
I am totally overwhelmed by the number of people who came along to my surprise celebration, the people who sent messages, gifts, cards, flowers and have surprised me with visits or messages since.
Working with the charity over the last 25 plus years has been so rewarding for me, I have met so many wonderful people and made lifelong friends too.
Living and working in such a lovely area is a privilege. Now, I’m looking forward to enjoying my retirement, I will have more time to participate in all the wonderful activities we have on our doorstep.
Thanks again everyone and I wish the charity all the very best for the future!
Maggie Lawson
Aviemore.
* * *
Get the message in prose
Following your headline last week, "Minister gets the message" I have written the attached poem.
Now the good folks of Grantown,
Have been let down once again,
By some really bad decisions,
Which are causing grievous pain.
Alas we lost our hospital,
Which provided so much care,
Locals too ill to be at home,
Were happy to be there.
When they condemned the Ian Charles,
Many promises were made,
The Health Centre would be extended,
It would have a great upgrade.
Health care workers and their patients,
Would benefit from the change,
It would be a brand new beginning,
With more services in range.
The moving of the health centre,
Must have been a gargantuan task,
But in anticipation of improvements,
It was not too much to ask.
After many months of chaos,
The major works almost complete,
When suddenly the powers that be,
Dropped a bombshell at our feet.
Capital projects to be embargoed,
The builders asked to leave, post haste,
An immediate decision is essential,
Or there may be financial waste.
If the contractors move their stuff,
Then take off down the road,
It's possible they won't return,
And their costs might well explode.
The job must be continued,
Until the promised work completed,
Grantown folk will never let it go,
They will never be defeated.
The medics have been magnificent,
Battling through the building stress,
Then, told the project will be delayed,
What a sad and tragic mess.
Politicians have united,
To fight this urgent cause,
With their support so badly needed,
They've stalled their other wars.
The Strathy has been brilliant,
And kept us all updated,
Advising us who to contact,
While the decision is awaited.
So NHS please honour us,
The work's well on it's way,
Please let the job be finished,
And please, please agree to pay.
Barbie Miller
Grantown.
Note - Poem was submitted prior to approval of funding from the Scottish Government for completion of the works.
* * *
Is there support for the drive to net zero?
Messrs Roy and Andrew Turnbull (Strathy, respectively many past references and 4th April, 2024), are champions of the hotly disputed hypotheses that manmade carbon dioxide (CO2) is the principal ‘villain’ provoking adverse climate changes which, they believe, might be preventable by decarbonisation.
They do not offer opinions as to how the UK's national authorities should be reacting to these still unproven propositions.
Do Strathy readers support the UK and Scottish governments' present ‘net zero’ policy due to cost us at least £3 trillion by 2050?
Our share of the world's output of manmade CO2 is negligible at one per cent.
We have been committed by the Climate Change Acts (2008 & 2009) to the predictably futile spending of vast sums of our borrowed money to a wildgoose chase which cannot possibly help make the global or local climate safer.
Our resources would surely be better used for predictably vital purposes like defence, education, health and the national infrastructure than spent on the still unproven perils of global or local climate changes.
Repeal of the Climate Change Acts is an urgent necessity.
Charles Wardrop,
Viewlands Rd West
Perth.
* * *
Ethiopia is on the brink of another catastrophe
Having lived through the atrocities of war, millions of Ethiopians are now facing emergency levels of food insecurity and hunger.
The charity Mary’s Meals serves school meals to children in the Tigray region of the country, but sadly the stories we are hearing from Tigray are shocking.
After the two-year civil war, so many children are still out of school, and many of those who are in school can’t learn due to debilitating hunger.
Before the conflict Selemon and his parents lived a happy life. Now his father has suffered a mental breakdown and is unable to support the family.
With no food at home, nine-year-old Selemon comes to school without eating anything and sits in class feeling hungry, instead of being able to focus on the lessons.
He used to be bold and active in class, whereas now, he often seems to get confused when he’s asked a question. His teacher says: “He always gets sick.
He even has a skin disease, which I think is a symptom of hunger. His family is one of the poorest.”
The past few years have stolen so much from Selemon.
Mary’s Meals is striving to reach his community and start serving meals to the children in his primary school.
Alongside our local partner, we are ready to expand our school feeding programme to more schools like Selemon’s but we urgently need more funds to do so.
With your help we can reach these desperately hungry children with food and boost their chances of engaging with education again.
You can provide them with hope of a brighter future. Please visit marysmeals.org.uk to give what you can to our Crisis In Ethiopia appeal – at just 10p a meal no donation is too small.
Matt Barlow,
Executive Director
Mary’s Meals.
