YOUR VIEWS: Solar panels are inappropriate for Inverallan Church’s roof
The very thought of having solar panels on the roof of Grantown’s Inverallan Church makes me cringe.
This is a building of charter and holiness and should not be tampered with to provide a modern day structure.
I keep my religious and political views close to my heart.
I did go to the Sunday School, read the bible at the school assembly and kept safe the Caberfied Bible given to me at Fort George.
Did the elders of Inverallan Church consult the Good Lord, the true custodian of this prestigious building if he would consent to any alterations and the removal of pews which had been put in position by the family who built it and gave it to the good folk of Grantown?
Carrying out religious ceremonies, where a congregation is in mourning, with a modern day cafe and children’s play area close by is not, in my opinion, something I would feel comfortable with.
I am all in favour of having a separate building which will cater for all needs, such as the one many of us saw in Boat of Garten when we went to have our Covid-19 vaccinations.
They enjoy the benefits of their well thought-out community hall.
But the Inverallan Church proposal puts me in mind of that story told by Grantown worthy Jimmy Murray, who recalled one of the townsfolk making his way to Heaven on passing away.
He climbed the steep stairway to the Pearly Gates only to find them locked.
On pulling the rope, to hear ‘Abide with me’ ringing out, he was met by the Good Lord, who asked: “Who’s there?”
“It’s Jock Mackay from Grantown-on-Spey, in Bonnie Scotland.”
“Oh. Well you’re not coming in,” the Lord replied. “I’m not making porridge for one!”
They should leave the church building the way it was built, as a place of worship.
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Closure of the building is not an option either.
The good folks of Grantown realise the importance of Inverallan Church and I know they will join forces to safeguard the place, watched over as ever by their Heavenly Father.
Leonard Grassick
Coppice Court
Grantown.
* * *
‘Climate change deniers are not well-respected’
I REFER to the letter from Clark Cross (Strathy, 12th January) concerning an article by Net Zero Watch (NZW) about China.
Mr Cross starts his letter by describing NZW as a ‘well-respected organisation’.
Hmmm, really?
NZW is the campaigning arm of the Global Warming Policy Foundation (GWPF), which was founded by ex-Tory Chancellor Nigel Lawson.
According to sourcewatch.org, the GWPF ‘is the UK’s most high-profile climate denier group.
It opposes action to mitigate climate change’.
Last year, Britain’s charity watchdog received a complaint backed by MPs calling for the GWPF to be stripped of its charitable status following an openDemocracy investigation.
The investigation alleged that the GWPF ‘had received donations from a foundation with millions of dollars’ worth of shares in oil, gas and coal companies – despite claiming it would not take cash from anyone with a fossil fuel interest’.
Two MPs, three Lords members and more than 70 scientists, writers, and campaign groups allege that ‘the GWPF is not a charity but a fossil fuel lobby group’.
NZW’s Science Editor is Dr David Whitehouse, and one can judge whether his work for NZW is ‘well-respected’ by scientists by their reaction to his writings.
Late last year Whitehouse made claims about a paper by several scientists with the title ‘Is Anthropogenic Global Warming Accelerating?’.
Whitehouse’s article was described by one of the authors, Andrew Gettleman as ‘totally misleading and climate misinformation’.
Another author, Professor Myles Allen of Oxford University, commented: “It would be funny if it wasn’t so sad”.
No, Mr Cross, do not delude yourself.
Net Zero Watch is not a ‘well-respected organisation’.
As for the misleading headings from NZW about China, and Mr Cross’ conclusion that China ‘has no intention of reducing its emissions’, the BP Statistical Review of World Energy 2022 states, ‘China remained the main driver of solar and wind capacity growth last year, accounting for about 36 per cent and 40 per cent of the global capacity additions, respectively’.
China still has a long way to go, as do we all, but its present per capita emissions of CO2, at 7.38 tons per year, are still less than half those of the United States, whilst producing much of the world’s consumer goods.
Roy Turnbull
Torniscar
Nethy Bridge.
* * *
Long courier delay for medications delivery
I HAD a letter in the Strathy a while ago regarding firms not delivering to this area because they think we are in the Islands.
This time I have an even bigger moan. In December, I had a phone call from Inverness’ Raigmore Hospital suggesting certain medication would be beneficial to help build up my bones after a nasty thigh fracture.
A few days later, I had a call from a pharmacy in Somerset, telling me the medication would be delivered in a cold-storage van on 12th January and that they had to go straight into the fridge.
The 12th of January came and went, with no sign of the medication. Nor was there on the 13th.
I phoned the pharmacy in Somerset and told them the medication hadn’t arrived.
The lady made enquiries and called me back. She said that the delivery company they used to use had become unreliable and the one they now use does not deliver to this area. As a result, they will use the old company to make the delivery.
So now, instead of the medication being delivered on the 12th of January, by a reliable company, in a cold-storage van.
It will be delivered, who knows when, by an unreliable company, after two days on the road, in only a cool box rather than a cold-storage van.
It was the pharmacy that arranged the delivery in the first place. Surely they would have known about all this before they made the arrangements? I’m lost for words and that doesn’t happen often. The doctor said the medication would be beneficial. Thank goodness they’re not urgent.
I wish delivery companies would look at a map from time to time and they would realise we are very much on the mainland.
Sandra Irvine
MacKenzie Crescent
Nethy Bridge.
* * *
Anglo-British political leaders out of touch
Last week Scotland’s prominent and long serving First Minister, surprisingly entertained her fifth Prime Minister and heard promises of thousands of unspecified jobs for two, so called green Freeports.
Rishi Sunak is the most articulate of a very poor bunch but failed miserably to answer several pertinent questions, especially on independence; refusing to even discuss a possible democratic route to holding Indyref 2. With public bodies virtually in revolt, including the NHS at breaking point and millions of people facing food and fuel poverty, the ever smiling Mr Sunak recently delivered a ludicrous speech, issuing promises that 13 years of Tory rule had already broken!
The earnest but ineffectual Labour leader, Sir Keir Starmer, then followed with an even more ludicrous speech promising a bill giving sweeping devolved powers to communities across the UK, where people could control ‘their own future’.
All this while still denying a referendum to Scotland.
It’s truly unbelievable. These out of touch spineless Anglo-British leaders, in this broken Brexit Britain, bring to mind the words of John McEnroe: “You cannot be serious”!
Grant Frazer
Newtonmore.
* * *
Name is a red herring
This remote and beautifully renovated bothy at Whitebridge on Deeside certainly looks good! (Strathy, 5th January).
Although I am not a Gaelic scholar, can I humbly point out that Ruighe Ealasaid is Gaelic for Sheiling Elizabeth or Sheiling of Elizabeth, not Red House although Mar Lodge Estate may well call it that. And who was Elizabeth? The shepherd’s wife? Or the shepherd?
Surely not the recently mourned much loved Queen Lilibet the First (of Scotland) , a neighbour from a few miles away down the road ?
Hazel Campbell,
Insh.
* * *
More productive use of land will generate funds for the Highlands
Reading the comment of Strathy columnist Charlie Whelan and subsequent correspondents it might be thought that the extraction of water from the upper Spey and its diverting westwards was a recent event.
In fact the relevant works were carried out around a century ago when, following the First World War, government played a key role in the strategic development of the already nascent aluminium industry .
Correspondent Jamie Williamson ascribes a wide range of failure to the action or inaction of current governments and related institutions but perhaps it would only be fair to reflect on the relative limitations of the power of our present democratic institutions compared to in the days of British Aluminium.
Reportedly we are about to see savage cuts in the provision of services by the Highland Council.
We surely cannot blame our elected representatives, our local government for once again having to face difficult choices.
Highland Council has an obligation to spend a high proportion of its budget towards ring fenced priorities. Our local authority does what it can with the remaining available resource.
And so Highland Council blames Holyrood.
Holyrood blames Westminster.
Westminster struggles even now to blame Europe.
A lack of cash at all levels is surely the problem limiting good governance.
Might it not be possible though, for the Highland Council to raise far more of its income from the Highlands rather than depending so overwhelmingly on the block grant from Holyrood.
I remember reading in the Strathy and being amazed that Macdonald Hotels of Aviemore contributed via the business rates around £500,000 per annum to our council’s coffers.
Does this not suggest that business development is the way to go to allow financing of the public realm, not least in supporting well paid jobs?
Currently Mr Williamson’s own Alvie and Dalraddy encourages opportunities for a diversity of businesses. Rothiemurchus Estate is also entrepreneurial.
Unfortunately our Highlands are overwhelmingly owned by those who have no need nor desire to consider how best our land might be used for the wider public.
But Government can in different spheres regulate economic activity.
Might it not be possible to develop a framework of land use advantageous to landowners and other investors that simultaneously engages with the much talked about and much needed green revolution.
A substantial development of first class eco homes whose market attractiveness is limited could enable a diversification of our communities.
Perhaps the conditions of ownership or tenancy of such homes might be made dependant on good environmental stewardship.
There was in Mr Williamson’s recent correspondence criticism of government’s focus on matters of perhaps lesser priority. Whilst agreeing that the decline of salmon stocks is concerning, is there not here a similar case of myopia.
In the 1970s I well remember hearing tales of successful salmon poaching on the upper Feshie. I seem to remember too the king of fish leaping up the linn by Kingussie Golf Club.
Most recent research suggests that salmons’ decline is predominantly due to climate change affecting conditions in the Atlantic Ocean.
Might Mr Whelan in his columns occasionally widen his focus beyond matters of self-interest?
The necessity for a ‘green’ and ‘just’ transition?
A concern perhaps for the many, not the few?
Dick Webster
Campbell Crescent
Kingussie.
