Jan 012014
Dec 242013
Twas the night before Christmas and all through the Deen
Nae een were stirrin, ye ken fit Ah mean?
ACSEF members were nestled all smug in their beds
Visions of brown envelopes danced in their heids
Lady Helen in her kerchief, and Sir Ian in his cap
Had just settled their brains for a long winter’s nap
When out on their lawn there arose such a clatter
Ian sprang from his bed to see what was the matter.
Away to his window, he flew like a flash
Hoping no one would try robbing his cash.
The moon on the breast of the new-fallen snow
Gave the lustre of granite to objects below
When what to Sir Ian’s beady eyes should appear
But a miniature sleigh and eight tiny reindeer:
“There’s no right of access to land near my home
“I’ve got lots of money so you’ve no right to roam!”
Twas a little old man with a red suit and beard
“Could this be a communist?” Ian Wood feared.
Santa approached, getting out of his sled
Turning to Ian, this is what he said:-
“Perhaps greed and age have made you grow thick
“For as any fool knows I am St Nick.
“I’ve come to the Deen to reward the good
“On second thoughts I could skip you, Ian Wood.”
“The thing is, with the greedy things that you do
“I just don’t think that I can believe in you.”
At this Ian faltered – he so wanted presents:
“Hold on now Santa, I’m not one of the peasants.
“Let’s talk for a moment so I can explain
“How you can maximise your capital gain.”
“Pay your elves’ wages from an offshore tax haven
“Hoots Santa – think of the dosh you’d be savin’.
“Perhaps you should start a ‘Claus Family Trust,
“And there’s ‘Venture Philanthropy’ – yes, that’s a must.”
“No taxes to pay and you’ll save lots of money
“Stop giving away gifts for free – it’s not funny,”
“Just because poor people put up a tree
“Doesn’t mean you should give gifties for free.”
Santa sighed, saying “Thank you indeed Ian Wood
“I think though that you just might be up to no good.
“If you paid your taxes, if you weren’t so greedy
“I dare say that others might not be so needy.”
“I’ll bid you good night; I’ll say no more.”
“But do say hello to your close friend, Mrs Craw.”
Donner, the lead deer, was slightly perplexed
“Well Santa, which house will we fly to next?”
“Let’s go to the Milne house since we are quite near.”
And off flew St Nick, the elves and the deer.
“Santa, this heated driveway is quite nice,
“It’s totally clear of all snow and all ice.”
Stewart Milne’s ‘eco’ house had some curious features
This driveway was welcome to Santa’s cold creatures.
“Just one gift for Stew, here, do have a wee look”
St Nick was clutching a nice brand new book
“What is it called?” asked a curious elf
“Football for beginners” – Santa laughed to himself.
“I don’t know that Stewart kens much o the game
“He cares more for money, still all the same
“In the spirit of Christmas and the spirit of Yule
“This book may help him ken the offside rule.”
Away the deer flew with the sled full of gifts
“Hey,” Comet said, “D’ye ken Milne wears lifts?”
All the deer laughed until it was clear
That towards Aileen Malone’s house they were drawing near.
“Don’t be afraid of that witch” Santa said
“Who as we know had your comrades shot dead
“Deer, if anyone needed the loo,
“We’re over Malone’s house. Yes I think this will do.”
Over Malone’s roof they arrived in a twinkling,
And soon every reindeer and elf started tinkling.
“There are those politicians who will tell you, by heck
“that really it’s raining as they pee down your neck.”
“So do your business – relieve yourselves here.
“In memory of 36 Tullos Hill deer.”
The deer did their business and some of them tittered
“With only 5 LibDems she must be embittered.
“At the election her side got quite trounced.
“Change course for the Bates’!” St Nick announced.”
And soon Santa stood on the Malone-Bates roof
“No wonder that these newlyweds were so aloof
“No news in the press of their marriage was blurted
“To ensure their financial interests weren’t hurted.”
Perfect gifts for these lovebirds Santa had found;
Down their chimney Santa jumped with a bound.
But just as our Santa started to speak
He was scared by a monster which started to shriek.
Santa stared at the thing which wore a night gown
Could this be some kind of a beast or a clown?
Its hair was in rollers, its eyes were cucumbers
Its face was green mud: “You interrupted my slumbers!”
“You’ve got ash on my carpet! Turn around and get out!”
The hideous thing did shriek and did shout.
Santa twigged who it was, she normally looked fairer
It was ‘The Face of the Deen’, the lovely bride Sarah:
“In order for my great beauty to keep
“I need many hours of deep beauty sleep.”
“Oh Sorry,” said Santa, “my fair beauty queen
“I ken now why you are the Face of the Deen.”
“From me you will not hear any further peep
“Clearly you’re behind on your beauty sleep
“I’ve just some small gifts for you two then I’ll go
“Back to my sleigh outside in the snow.”
“I’m amazed at the way you two work close together
“Let’s hope that there won’t be any stormy weather
“Like when the course fell into the North Sea last year
“And the cold’s perhaps wrinkled your sweet face my dear.”
Sarah said, “I’ve got an old man and he gives me presents,
“My beautiful face put me above other peasants
“He pays me to run the world’s greatest course”
(Mrs Bates showed not even a sign of remorse).
“Well then Sarah, I’ve two little gifties for you
“A gallon of wrinkle cream, och aye the noo,
“And a book you should read , it’s called ‘Golf can be fun”
(For she hadn’t a clue when all said and done).
“No need to thank me, I’m just here to serve
“And I do think you have got the gifts you deserve.”
As the sleigh left, its bells made a sweet tinkle
Sarah ran to the mirror to check on her wrinkle.
“All these liars and cheats, they do make me cross
“But let’s pay a visit to Sarah Bates’ boss”
The elves were astounded- “Santa don’t be a chump”
Santa answered “I do have one giftie for Trump.”
Donald was home, counting his money
And planning a trip to somewhere quite sunny:
“Where can I go next to get a good thrill
“With lions and tigers and bears I can kill?”
The Donald thought people loved him – the great hunter
But everyone thought: ‘what a horrible c*nt’ – (Er,
sorry ‘bout the language but thinking of him
Makes my blood pressure rise and me head start to spin).
The Don said “I built this course for my auld Scottish Nanny”
St Nick replied “Now just you listen here, mannie
“I’ve got a list of who’s nice and who’s naughty
“Or arrogant, scheming deceptive and haughty.
“No gift for you – no ifs, ands or buts
“But please take a voucher –it’s for ‘Supercuts’.”
Izon Security arrived on the spot
They’d been spying on locals – they do that a lot:
“Get out of that sleigh and let’s see your ID!”
Santa replied: “Are you talking to me?”
“Get stuffed you great b*stards” Santa said with a hiss
“Has the right to roam been reduced to this?
“You’ve no right to spy or to hassle good folk
“And this golf course is really one heck of a joke.”
With a jingle of bells St Nick and his team
Flew over the Great Dunes of North Aberdeen
“Come on deer and elves, there are good folk in need
“The ones who are victims of all this crass greed.
“The ones who are teachers and nurses and such
“They get paid very little yet do very much
“The children who don’t have enough food to eat
“Aberdeen may be rich, but some live on the street.”
“There are people who help the sick and the poor
“Some help animals too, and of this I am sure
“Those who help others with no thought of themselves
“They are the real saints, the real Santas and elves.”
Santa and his team spent the rest of their night
Giving out presents to good folks’ delight.
Ask yourselves this “Am I naughty or nice?”
If you’re a bad one, take some advice.
Flaunting your wealth, and harming others
Ruins the chance that we have to be brothers
If you can help, then you should get stuck in
Greed, don’t you know is a terrible sin.
It’s never too late to fight the good fight
Happy Christmas to all and to all a good night!
– Suzanne Kelly
– . – . – . – . – . – . – . – . – . – . – . – . – . – . – . – . – . – . – . –
Picture – Christmas Tree Baubles
Credit: Ian Britton. Freefoto.com
http://www.freefoto.com/download/90-04-66/Christmas-Tree-Baubles
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Dec 192013
Voice’s Old Susannah takes a look over the past week’s events in the ‘Deen and beyond. By Suzanne Kelly.
Season’s Greetings! No doubt you’ve bought your presents, decked your halls with boughs of holly, sent all your Christmas cards, planned your Boxing Day television viewing, and ordered your turkey.
The holidays are upon us, the pre- pre-Christmas Black Friday sales have turned to pre-Christmas sales which will in turn morph into Boxing Day sales. Hoards of shoppers will claw and elbow each other to get the last Size 14 Per Una black lace dress or the last Barbie’s Dream House from the shelf, all in the spirit of the season of good will.
Happy bargain hunting. No need then for any further lines from me on the true meaning of Christmas.
Of course there are local shops with handmade / unique / different gifts that could be bought to support local traders, but then again, selecting gifts from ma and pa shops requires a bit more time, thought, and sometimes a bit more money.
If you ever worry about who’s made the trainers or clothes you’ve just bought (or how animals were treated in the process), I wouldn’t bother. No less than an RGU lecturer I had some years back explained to his eager class how much better off third world workers are now.
In the old days, they would work for free. Now they can live and work in factory dormitories miles from their families 24/7 and earn a pound or two a week – which is more money than they were used to. Result!
This particular lecturer’s idea seemed to be that this is progress, and we’re doing our bit to help the third world. I was pretty much the only person in the class who asked the question ‘but what about ethics’? It’s best not to question people in a position of power (a lesson that is somewhat lost on me), and much better still to agree with them completely if they have the power of giving you a good grade.
If you’re lucky enough to get rewarded for putting your principles aside during these ‘Business 101’ type lectures from an early age, pretty soon you’ll have lots of good grades, and you won’t be troubled by any nagging doubts about what’s right and wrong, making it easier for those in power to get you to agree to more and more business-friendly, ethic-free dogma.
You’re not allowed to make fois gras in the UK for cruelty reasons
Anyway, back to your Christmas shopping. If your fur trimmed coat was made from cats and dogs kept in unspeakable conditions and skinned alive by veritable slave workers, or if the fur was pulled from a suffering rabbit to make you a nice pink sweater, well, you’re just helping to create a more competitive, capitalist world.
Well done you. (At least I didn’t mention fois gras production. But since you ask)
Fois Gras is produced by force-feeding mature male geese by shoving tubes filled with food down their throats as they spend their last weeks in tiny cages so they can’t even stretch their wings, let alone fly. Their livers and stomachs sometimes burst; they are traumatised beyond words.
You’re not allowed to make fois gras in the UK for cruelty reasons, which is bad for capitalism. Still, a few places still persist in importing the stuff and tout it to the would-be elite.
While you put your presents under the tree, none of which were probably made in the UK let alone locally, you might do well to wonder if there is some connection to you buying £4 jeans and the guy next door losing his job to a foreign company that can produce goods cheaper. It’s almost as if there was a connection of some sort.
The question of ethical goods, working conditions and animal treatment are, of course, the sort of spurious concerns of those who would slow the free market economy. As mentioned, an RGU professor was keen to tell his students how buying cheap Chinese goods was canny, and ethics had nothing to do with it.
Old Susannah recently had a conversation with someone about our entrepreneurial hero, Donald Trump.
I wanted to make sure the business woman in question knew about a few minor details which unfairly make The Don look a bit tarnished. There is the BBC proving his links in the US to organised crime figures. There are the lawsuits, the investors who have lost millions, and of course the small matter of the Trump University leading to charges of racketeering against DT.
The Trumps of this world don’t get where they are just on their good looks alone
I was wondering whether local companies might not look good allying themselves to the Trump course or hotel, if they wanted to stay free of any association to what unkind people are calling sleaze and corruption.
The shocked reaction I got from this woman was:
“well, that’s just how business works. I’ve had to do many things that were not strictly speaking legal, but that’s just how it is”
I wonder if she’d had the same RGU lecturer as I had?
There are those who think that corruption only applies to cases where envelopes of unmarked bills are changing hands. That kind of corruption is largely a thing of the past, except of course in cricket and football. There are far more subtle, inventive ways to operate.
So, is it OK to bend the rules, ignore dishonesty, engage in a bit of friendly racketeering or animal cruelty if there is money to be made? Absolutely. The Trumps of this world don’t get where they are just on their good looks alone. And so, to help the budding entrepreneur, shopper, or business student, here are a few definitions from Christmases past, present and yet to come.
Cronyism: (Eng. Noun) To show favouritism based on relationships such as family, friends, work colleagues.
Cronyism charges were levelled against the BBC; the National Audit Office believes something may be amiss with some of its latest payouts to the most senior departing BEEB execs.
Some of these poor overworked execs have had a tough time; one only lasting a matter of months before going. As you pay your licence fee this month, you might be forgiven for wondering how much of it is going on the £25 million or so in payouts for 150 leaving executives.
Some people were given more than their contracts said they should receive by their colleagues, but that is probably just generosity, not cronyism. Oddly, former Barclays bank supremo Marcus Agius came into the spotlight as well for his role within the BBC doling out taxpayers money.
I guess banks are used to doing what they wish with public funds, since we decided to give them all of our money not so long ago, and that was money well spent.
Obviously this cronyism thing is something that only goes on with left-wing media types
Former BBC deputy director Mark Byford was so traumatised by leaving that he had to be given a token sum of £300k to keep him ‘fully focused’ on his work before he left; his package was worth a million or so. What a brave guy to soldier on.
The Times reports on 16/12 that ‘BBC executives were paid millions of pounds in ‘sweeteners’ because of leadership failures at the highest level and a culture of cronyism’. Well, if friends can’t help each other, what are they for?
Obviously this cronyism thing is something that only goes on with left-wing media types. Thankfully here in the Deen we have the well-balanced ACSEF to be our business and moral compass.
For instance, I’m sure all the work it did to promote the granite web, spending hundreds of thousands of taxpayer pounds in the process, were committed only after completely fair, anonymous tendering processes had taken place, even if they channelled many of the invoices through the Chamber of Commerce which refuses to let us know who did the well-paid work.
It’s not as if, say, a PR company that had ACSEF presence and clients interested in the web going forward would just be given work by ACSEF without any full tender process.
It’s not as if disgraced ex-policeman Ian Paterson was known as ‘patting Patterson’ in the circles he moved in without anyone doing anything to dissuade their colleague from his inappropriate behaviour.
In the bigger Scottish picture, it’s not as if a friendship with the First Ministers past or present would lead to any favouritism. Where would we be, for instance, if the rich and powerful could just befriend and dine with our ministers, and get a little help with planning permission, or get appointments to government posts?
Thank goodness for our transparent, fair, unbiased government on the local and national stages, without a whiff of cronyism.
Amnesia: (Eng. noun) A form of illness, causing temporary or permanent loss of short- and/or long-term memory.
Police Scotland are suffering from a bout of amnesia; they can’t remember where they left a report they wrote on the City Council’s interesting finances.
The police surely didn’t find anything criminal going on
Back in 2008, Audit Scotland looked at how our then city administration seemed unable to make any profit out of selling real estate; we the taxpayer lost out on a few million pounds here and there as Kate Dean and Co. approved sales of land / buildings for a fraction of their real value.
Then Chief Executive Paterson (not to be confused with ex, disgraced policeman Patting Paterson, who is now convicted of sex offences) vowed he would not to resign over the property sales crisis. The next week he suffered a bout of amnesia, and promptly resigned, taking with him only a modest home in Ferryhill, which the city, apparently, sold to him for less than market value.
At least they were consistent.
Audit Scotland investigated, but could not decide if it was incompetence or criminality at work as deal after deal involving the same people (cronyism?) lost thousands upon thousands.
They turned the matter over to the police to investigate, and very little was ever said on the matter again. The police surely didn’t find anything criminal going on (cronyism?) or they would have arrested some of the city mandarins that they would have known from being on different committees and working groups with.
And in a classic case of amnesia, only a few years later, the police can’t find any record of the report they created. Or so they told me.
No wonder the police found no wrong doing. They can’t even find the report.
They might have the prints and DNA of children, people accused but acquitted of crimes, a few dangerous journalists such as Anthony Baxter and Richard Phinney (creators of ‘You’ve Been Trumped’) on file forever; but they cannot find a report into city council transactions worth millions of pounds.
Old Susannah isn’t getting any younger, and can be forgetful sometimes, too. But I have this ingenious method of looking for documents I’ve created on my computer: It’s called ‘search’. If I type details of information I’m looking for from anything I wrote, the computer finds it for me in moments.
The Royal Bank of Scotland has been found guilty of turning healthy businesses into bankruptcies
I wonder if the police are clued up to this amazing way to look for infomation? Are they still writing their reports on vellum with ink? I can even look for items in my email, and some of you out there may be aware of this amazing technological development from the 1980s, too.
So, corruption according to some is only when you have envelopes of money flying around; I guess a little amnesia, washing of hands, selling taxpayer property for less than the real value, be it Aberdeen land or the Royal Mail, can’t be corrupt then. Anyway, I’m sure it’s just one of those things, and no cause for concern.
Words such as ‘scandal,’ ‘coverup’ and incompetence would never occur to me when I think of how the former council sold land. But still, I wonder what the market value was of the house Doug ‘I will not resign over this’ Paterson bought from us when he retired, after presiding over these little property sales.
Fraud: (English noun) The act of committing dishonest acts for personal gain
With professors, like my old RGU don, striving to indoctrinate young (and in this case old) minds that all’s fair in business, perhaps it’s no wonder we have one or two instances of fraud around us locally and nationally.
From Carly Fallon passing off other people’s writing as her own, to restaurants offering bribes to those who give them good Trip Advisor write-ups (you know who you are), from companies using offshore tax dodges, fraud is definitely the new rock and roll.
The Royal Bank of Scotland has been found guilty of turning healthy businesses into bankruptcies, and then magically buying such businesses for a pittance and making profit, while the original owners have lost everything. Again, all’s fair in love, war and business.
More on Christmas next week, but if Father Christmas is making a list of who’s naughty or nice, one or two people in Aberdeen may find themselves on the naughty list.
Right, well it’s Christmas again.
I think by now we’ve established that not everyone looks like a supermodel, can afford hundreds of pounds of food and presents, and not everyone will be having dozens of close, equally-beautiful friends dashing to their homes in open sleighs to sing around 12’ tall, perfectly decked trees.
Don’t buy into a picture that doesn’t exist. But do, if you’re feeling stressed or unhappy about anything at all at this time of year, talk to a friend.
If you can’t talk to a friend or a family member, talk to one of the many services out there that will listen to you without judging you. Stress is particularly bad for people at this time of year, and it’s important to remember that worrying about things outside of your control will never solve anything, but will make you anxious or ill.
If there are things you can change and want to change about your work, life, home, then stop, figure out what you need to do, and start to make a plan for change. Don’t let your problems grow out of all proportion.
If you need a little bit of perspective, do some volunteering, fund-raising, join a group – do something new. You’ll be glad you did. There are people out there far worse off than you or I; be glad for what you’ve got, and don’t be tricked into thinking you need more material things to keep up with some imaginary Jones.
Sorry if this all sounds a bit obvious/preachy/oversimplified – but at the end of the day, it is definitely within your power to take stock, realise what you do have to be thankful for, and to fix what needs fixing. Please be happy, be safe, and have a Happy Christmas or whatever you might be celebrating. – OS
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Nov 212013
From the comfort of the driving seat, taxi driver Fin Hall offers a street level view at issues affecting transport and infrastructure in Aberdeen.
The present incumbents of the council chambers show no sign of letting up in their pursuit of power and control, while making the city look ridiculous.
They started off as soon as they won the election by overturning the result of the UTG referendum, and yes, I know the weighted arguments behind it, and I would have voted “no” if I had been eligible to vote.
Then they continued by overturning almost every decision that the previous city leaders had implemented.
One of these was the building of the replacement stadium for Aberdeen Football Club at Loirston.
Now whether this would have been the ideal place for the ground is an argument for another day, although I suspect the majority of fans think it is the wrong place; but permission had already been given.
Meanwhile, on all the available land beside where the new stadium would have been, there are hundreds of new houses being built and loads of new offices and industrial premises. Considering that the reason given for the final blocking of the stadium plans was access, it borders on the insane that all that other building is going ahead.
It could, and most probably will, cause more congestion and traffic flow problems at least 5 days a week, whereas the football traffic would have been once very two weeks at the most.
The next act of lunacy that our city fathers have pushed through is that, by June 2017, all taxis in Aberdeen will have to be wheelchair accessible.
They are doing this under the banner of the Equality Act. What it will in fact do is make things more difficult for the average taxi passenger. As a taxi driver of more than 36 years’ experience, I can tell you that taxi companies get more requests for saloon cars than they do for wheelchair vehicles.
If you look on taxi ranks at most times, the majority of the cars are of the wheelchair-accessible type anyway.
The problem lies not with the amount of the appropriate type of cars, but with some of the drivers who operate such a motor vehicle.
Make no mistake, they know the rules when they come into this job.
If they are so lazy and selfish that they find any excuse not to get out of their car to assist their wheelchair-bound passenger, then their license to operate should be taken off them.
By having all cars wheelchair-friendly however, more people will be disenfranchised than will be helped. There are more people whose disability does not involve being wheelchair-bound than there are the opposite.
People with short legs, broken legs, back problems and other hindrances are totally unable to get into higher vehicles such as those that will available in a few years’ time. Some customers have already intimated to me that they will most likely be unable to go out when this comes to pass.
The only way then to get a taxi of the lower, saloon type when you come off a train or a plane, or even when you are coming home from shopping, will be to phone up and book a private hire taxi. And at peak times, usually from about 15:00 – 19:00 on weekdays, most offices are already fully booked with account customers, and don’t take in further bookings.
As to getting picked up from the station, well we all know what a farce that already is. The general pickup point from there is in from the Station Hotel, so getting to there for somebody of less mobility, complete with their suitcase is not going to be at all easy, in fact it will sometimes be impossible.
Another downside will be several drivers of an older age, who may just work off the ranks on a part-time basis, having to give up their work. The cost of these vehicles is prohibitive, they can cost as much as £28,000. This is hardly justifiable for those that may just work at the weekends.
That will leave a shortfall of taxis working the ranks at certain times.
So Aberdeen, a city which has a nationwide reputation for having the best and most comfortable taxis, will be overrun with ‘ ice cream van ‘ taxis. Gone will be your comfy ride to the airport or further, in a Mercedes or a CRV or a BMW etcetera, and instead you will rattle about on your own in the rear of an ugly uncomfortable people mover.
Sadly though, the licensing board rarely if ever listens to those with knowledge and experience of the job, and just charges ahead with ludicrous plans to satisfy its members’ already over-inflated egos.
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Nov 212013
With thanks to Stuart Maltman, Secretary, Aberdeen SPSC
On the 29th of November – the United Nation’s International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People – Aberdeen City Council will be flying the Palestinian flag from the Town House.
Palestinians suffer daily due to the ongoing Israeli occupation of the West Bank and east Jerusalem and the siege of the Gaza Strip.
Palestinians within Israel also suffer discrimination and today, according to the UN, some 5 million Palestinian refugees around the world remain unable to return to their homeland.
The flying of the Palestinian flag signals Aberdeen’s solidarity with the Palestinian people who remain steadfast in the face of the denial of their national and human rights.
Dame Anne Begg MP is highly supportive of the Council’s plans, stating that:
“I am proud that Aberdeen City Council are flying the Palestinian flag from the Town House on November 29th to commemorate the UN International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People.
“This day serves as an important reminder of continual hardships Palestinians face on a daily basis and the need for a just and lasting peaceful resolution to the conflict. I am happy to see Aberdeen stand side by side with the Palestinians at this time”
To celebrate this important event Aberdeen Scottish Palestine Solidarity Campaign and the University and College Union are hosting a public reception at the University of Aberdeen’s Macrobert Lecture Theatre on the evening of the 29th November.
A number of excellent speakers will be talking on the night, with the theme of the evening focused on how best to build and strengthen links and solidarity between Aberdeen and Palestine.
There will be an opportunity to hear directly from Gaza, as Rafat Abushaban, a Gazan activist, will speak live through video –link, giving an update on the situation in Gaza. Frank Doran, MP for Aberdeen North, will reflect on his own visit last year to Palestine as part of a Labour delegation.
Poetry of the Palestinian struggle will be provided by Hilda Meers from Scottish Jews for a Just Peace. Mike Arnott, from Dundee Trades Union Council, who was part of the effort which led to Dundee’s twinning with Nablus, a Palestinian city in the West Bank, will tell of this success.
We will also be joined by Aberdeen TUC’s Tommy Campbell who will discuss Aberdeen’s history of solidarity struggle, particularly against South African Apartheid.
Karolin Hijazi, a Palestinian activist, working with Aberdeen UCU and SPSC will then talk about the potential and importance of taking forward Palestine Solidarity in Aberdeen.
It is hoped that as well as marking a historic date for Aberdeen’s solidarity with the people of Palestine, this event will build on and strengthen the struggle for Palestinian rights in Aberdeen. If you would like further information, please contact aberdeen@scottishpsc.org.uk
Flying the Flag for Palestine in Aberdeen
6pm on 29th November,
Macrobert Lecture Theatre,
University of Aberdeen,
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Nov 142013
By Duncan Harley
In the recent “Aberdeen Parking Permits To Hit Garthdee Residents” article Aberdeen Voice looked at how the elected councillors and paid officials of the Granite City have seemingly decided to use the easy option of targeting car parking to make a bit of cash.
Since then more information has emerged to back up this assertion and a further residents meeting has taken place to discus the issues involved.
Aberdeen Council also had a meeting to discuss the matter.
In typical council speak it was called something like “EPI Committee Meeting 12/11/2013.”
If you had been fortunate enough to be there, you might have heard Cllr Mrs Angela Taylor saying that it was “unfortunate” that the previous administration had misled the residents over the fact that they might have to pay for parking permits in the future.
This in many Garthdee and indeed many Kaimhill residents’ eyes, raises some quite serious questions regarding the validity and legality of the proposed CPZ (Controlled Parking Zone) charges.
Said one resident:
“what difference does it make which administration put the parking restrictions in place, if they are wrong then surely that is the important thing.”
“I can understand folk in the centre of town having to put up with this” said another “but in Garthdee? I know we have a student parking issue but to be honest that’s not a huge problem. RGU have been offering to pay to sort it out, why don’t the council just tell the officials to talk to them?”
Parking in Garthdee – Credit: Duncan Harley
The financial implications for the people of Garthdee and Kaimhill are clear. Pay up to £200 each year to park outside your own door of face a fine of £60 per day.
This is an area of mixed fortunes.
Only around 49% of houses in Garthdee are owner occupied.
The rate of car crime is higher than the city average. The rate of vandalism is double the rate for the South of Aberdeen City.
Garthdee has a 2% unemployment total compared to the Aberdeen average rate of 1.6% plus a higher than average claim rate for Severe Disablement Allowance leading to calls from relatives of disabled residents to scrap the unfair charge.
Garthdee is not in the same league as some other Aberdeen inner city deprived areas, but it is certainly not as affluent as the adjoining Morningside where, just 100 metres away across the Old Royal Deeside Railway line residents are, until now, blissfully unaffected by any threat of parking restrictions.
Aberdeen City Council are of course looking to curb expenditure and in these times of economic distress are perhaps understandably looking to take in revenue wherever they can.
It’s no real surprise then that according to EPI Committee Report EPI/13/203 the council makes a hefty surplus (council speak for profit) on parking charges city wide.
Figures suggest that in recent years income from parking fees has totalled around £6.4 per annum with around £3.5m in costs. The resulting surplus of £2.8m has been used seemingly for “various transport projects throughout the city.”
Is this legal? Possibly. Is this moral? Possibly not.
“Who can tell in the absence of a judicial review?” said one resident?
Parking in Morningside – Credit: Duncan Harley
What is certain is that the residents of Garthdee stand to lose a fair chunk of their disposable income due the decision of their elected representatives to impose a parking charge tax which many feel is not only quite unfair but also completely unjust.
The poorer residents of Garthdee will of course be particularly affected and many local folk are angry at the seemingly uncompromising stance of those whom they elected to represent their interests. Many feel that this situation must be rectified and rectified very soon.
RGU (Robert Gordons University) have been blamed for causing the problem due to the expiry of a claimed “10 year agreement” which the council seem reluctant to re-negotiate. RGU has helpfully published a map which advises students where to purchase parking tickets and suggests streets available to park in within the city.
Many residents of Aberdeen will wonder why their elected representatives are seemingly targeting the poor and vulnerable. Many will just shake their heads and say “it doesn’t affect me.”
In situations such as this it is often useful to recall the words of Pastor Martin-Niemöller:
“First they came for the communists, and I didn’t speak out because I wasn’t a communist.
Then they came for the socialists, and I didn’t speak out because I wasn’t a socialist.
Then they came for the trade unionists, and I didn’t speak out because I wasn’t a trade unionist.
Then they came for me, and there was no one left to speak for me.”
If this situation resonates with you then consider contacting your local Aberdeen councillor to ask if they have any views on the issue.
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Nov 012013
Old Susannah, Suzanne Kelly, gets to grips with Grangemouth, Granite Webs and Gardens. The revolution may or may not be televised, but almost everything else is being privatised.
Tally Ho! Well, it’s been a colourful week in the Granite City; plans for the city centre are being drawn up, and that’s something you don’t see every day (unless you get the P&J). Apparently all our problems are solved if we let one Sir Ian Wood give us £50 million, and let him raise (or is that ‘raze’) Union Terrace Gardens.
If only we’d have known that before! All we’ll have to do is hand control of Union Terrace Gardens over to a few committees, stocked with powerful people, Wood’s friends, special friends and relatives, and ignore the fact you and I own this land under common law.
Oh, and we are thinking about trams. No reason to think trams aren’t a good idea; I’m sure the successful tram programme in Edinburgh can be reproduced in the ‘Deen.
I’m sure whatever Ian wants for UTG is just what Robert the Bruce would have wanted when he bequeathed the gardens to you and to me. Bruce famously sat in a cave, feeling defeated when he spied a spider weaving a web. The spider’s perseverance and determination had a profound effect on the heroic Bruce.
He watched that spider, and decided that a web – made of granite – was what we would eventually have the ambition to build over the gardens.
For some reason architects Halliday Fraser Munro continue to make, free of charge, imaginative Escher-esque drawings of the city centre. These can’t actually be built, but they are pretty. Questions like ‘What will happen to the businesses on Belmont Street, which currently have pleasant vistas overlooking the gardens’?, and ‘How will the centre of town suddenly be pedestrianized’? are just minor details we can iron out once we agree to the plans.
Dame Anne Begg opened an exhibition on the history of witchcraft in our city over the centuries at the Tollbooth Museum.
I could have nominated some better candidates for the witchcraft lecture. Aileen Malone (known for sacrificing animals i.e. deer, in the hope of getting £££) and Kate Dean (famous for making vital support services vanish) each seem to have a fair amount of free time on their hands these days, and their undoubted personal knowledge of the dark arts and witchcraft would have been illuminating.
he must be out of touch with the average person, unlike our elected and unelected rulers
Speaking of witches, I saw some graffiti recently which I can’t quite understand. I was in London this past weekend. As my train made its way into the city, very large graffiti on a building caught my eye: “The Witch is Dead, but the Spell Remains”. I wonder who this referred to? No doubt I’ll soon Iron out which Lady the words were about.
People are talking about a recent edition of Newsnight this week.
“[We] shouldn’t destroy the planet, shouldn’t create massive economic disparity, shouldn’t ignore the people” said comedian Russell Brand, “the [political] system .. just administers for large corporations.”
Poor Mr Brand. Clearly he can’t appreciate how lucky we are; he must be out of touch with the average person, unlike our elected and unelected rulers. We’ve never had it so good, or so we’re being told. The Newsnight interview can be found here http://www.treehugger.com/culture/russell-brand-interview-revolution-planet-is-being-destroyed-video.html .
For Brand’s benefit, and to remind us all of our recent economic successes, Old Susannah offers a few timely definitions. So, as you snuggle up in your perfectly heated home, eating your lobster dinner, and lighting your Cuban cigars with 20 Euro notes, directing the maid to clean the second bathroom again, here are this week’s definitions.
Privatisation: (noun) to dispose of a state or publicly-owned institution by sale of shares.
Remember what a huge success the sell-off of British Gas was? Lots of people got to make money on shares when the government sold off British Gas, and that was great. For some reason, we seem to be paying higher prices for gas, but I’m sure there is no connection between this and the privatisation.
The recent sale of the Royal Mail is making us all wealthy beyond our wildest dreams. Result!
So what if the future for postal employees is a bit shaky; they’ve all been given a few shares in the sell-off. I’m sure that in 3 years, when they are allowed to sell their shares, it will more than make up for any job losses or pension devaluations. I’m sure we won’t see any cost increases, layoffs, or change in the quality of service.
The selloff must have been a success, because it was oversubscribed.
This of course helps stimulate the economy, as well as rewarding the long-suffering banking sector
The experts in the banking world who arranged the flotation may have made a teeny error in pricing the shares up, but since this hasn’t cost the taxpayer more than about £750 million in lost potential share sale revenues, it’s no big deal. Shockingly, shares were not sold to anyone who wanted more than £10,000 worth.
This sounds like discrimination against the rich to me. Thankfully, the many banks which were part of the consultation process got lots of money (about £17 million according to the Guardian) for arranging the sale. This of course helps stimulate the economy, as well as rewarding the long-suffering banking sector. Also, the many banks which had put in for shares largely seem to have been successful, to the tune of about £29 million.
This is quite a happy outcome for the banking sector, even if it seems like quite a coincidence they managed to get so many shares and so many individual investors were frozen out.
We’ve sold British Gas, we’ve sold our Royal Mail; we’ve sold off most of our water. These have been huge success stories financially.
Operationally, there are one or two minor issues that crop up after privatisations, but I wouldn’t worry about that kind of thing.
Thames Water for instance, had a few minor teething problems after its sell-off. There are pipelines leaking millions of gallons of water which go unrepaired. The new management choose to pay dividends to shareholders rather than worry about fusty, boring water infrastructure. They may have to pay the odd fine for polluting the UK’s streams and lakes, but this is just an operating expense.
Thames Water has only had a few fines for pumping raw sewage into the environment, with one fine coming in at £204,000. Thames water also cut its workforce; but on the bright side, the chairman’s salary went up by several hundred thousand pounds per year, no doubt he was doing extra work, what with fewer workers on the payroll.
The best part? Thames Water doesn’t pay corporation tax, which is great news for shareholders (if not the Treasury). http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2339282/Thames-Water-pays-corporation-tax-550m-profits
One such successful entrepreneur is the owner of Scotland’s Grangemouth, Jim Ratcliffe
But don’t worry – none of this is gives any reason to think the Royal Mail sell-off will have any negative consequences. A few job losses, a few thousand people out of work and/or with less valuable pensions, a few banks making tens of millions – that’s what keeps this nation great and competitive. There is no reason to fear the new owners of UK Plc. won’t decide to cut the water or gas.
Just keep the candles handy, stock up on fire wood, and get a rain barrel – we’ll be fine.
Union: (noun) A collective of workers organised and empowered to protect workers’ rights, health and benefits from employers who would seek to maximise profit margins at the expense of the workforce.
There is one fly in the ointment for those benefactors who kindly seek to own key British industries and companies – the Unions.
I’m delighted that private companies, often coming down to foreign governments, one family or even just one man, own crucial parts of the country’s essential utilities, resources and infrastructure. To the uneducated, this may just seem like either Imperialism or in the latter case like Feudalism, but remember how much better off we are. One such successful entrepreneur is the owner of Scotland’s Grangemouth, Jim Ratcliffe.
It may not seem like it, but Mr Ratcliffe’s had to make many financial sacrifices to keep Grangemouth and its employees going these past few years. He’s not making as much money as he used to – there are rumours he’s down to only one super yacht, the 257 foot Hampshire II. Ratcliffe was shopping one day, had a spare £9 million to play about with, and bought Grangemouth from BP.
Since then he’s become kind of a father figure to those who work there. Rather than gratitude, these workers want to have pay increases and to keep their final salary pension schemes. Jim can’t afford this. According to the Daily Record, Jim’s not very rich at all anymore, and hardly rates:-
“Manchester-born Ratcliffe owns two-thirds of the company’s shares, giving him a personal fortune of around £3.5billion in 2008, when he was named the 25th richest man in Britain.”
With no choice, Jim announced he’d simply shut the facility, which is fair enough. Putting 800 workers, their families, the area businesses that depend on the custom of those workers in a bit of jeopardy probably just taught them a good lesson.
Such vital services I thought should be run without a thought to making money from them
Ratcliffe showed the unions he was boss. And by the way, we don’t really know how badly off Ratcliffe is, because the owner of arguably Scotland’s most important refinery keeps his businesses largely in Switzerland. If I hear of anyone starting a collection for him, I’ll let you know how to contribute.
Before Old Susannah was old, I naively thought we needed governments to tax us so they could protect our rights, help us when we were too ill to work, and provide services such as schools, hospitals, clean water and energy. Such vital services I thought should be run without a thought to making money from them, and were so vital they should be protected from any form of outside or private control, for the benefit of the taxpayer.
How I laugh now to think on this foolish ideology.
Pay your tax, work hard, and good luck. Where you can afford to live and what you earn will directly impact how your children are schooled, what drugs you’ll be allowed to have if you are seriously ill, and how your granny will be treated in a nursing home. Work for a public sector employer such as Royal Mail or oil refineries at your own risk.
Make sure you buy shares in whatever’s being sold next, and try not to think about the pollution caused by cost-cutting measures designed to improve profits, your spiralling energy costs, and the stealthy privatisation of the NHS.
Forget the train crash victims who died at Hatfield; cutting corners on safety for profit was seen by the privatised management as a ‘cost of doing business’. Forget your library closures, school closures and hospital ER closures. If something starts to nag at you, then Old Susannah suggests getting drunk, getting wasted, or getting some engaging virtual world computer games to while away the hours.
Don’t wonder why you are paying more taxes when you no longer have to support these vital services once privatised, and don’t ask why the uber rich are paying no taxes. I’m sure everything will be just fine.
There we leave it for this week; but if you can suggest any other services that could be sold off, do get in touch. For some reason, I’m thinking of that bit of graffiti I saw again.
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Nov 012013
By Duncan Harley
The old Aberdeen Council office building formally known as St Nicholas House is being torn down piece by piece after less than fifty years.
At today’s prices, the £2m cost of the 1965 project may seem small fry to many Aberdeen residents, who are more used to municipal architectural bills on a far grander scale.
Granite-built projects such as Marischal College, which lies just across the road from the part-demolished 1960s concrete multi-storey office block, often last for hundreds of years at a far lower cost per century.
Of course, in its day, St Nicholas House was seen as the way ahead in terms of municipal architecture. Scottish Secretary Willie Ross officially opened it on the first of May 1970. The retiring city architect, George Keith, was present at the opening. Seemingly St Nicholas House was one of the “outstanding features of the considerable role Mr Keith played in the design of post war Aberdeen.”
Many city residents were looking forward to its demolition. The blowing up of the building was a favoured option, and camera enthusiasts are reported to have been enthusiastically checking out vantage points all around the city in expectation of the event. However the building’s tightly contained position within the city centre precluded destruction by an explosives team, and the current demolition carries on piecemeal.
Aberdonians are this week invited to comment on plans to re-develop the site. Gordon McIntosh, Director of Enterprise and Planning, has described the new proposals by Muse Developments, as “exciting.”
If you care about the future of your city, take a look at the consultation exhibition at Aberdeen Art Gallery. It runs until November 2nd and is free to view. Employees from Muse Developments Ltd and the Aberdeen City Council will be on hand to advise and listen to your comments.
Until 8th November, you can have your say online. Relating to Marischal Square, views are being sought on transport options for Broad Street. An online questionnaire will be open until 22nd november.
A more detailed scheme to re-develop the site is expected to be lodged with the City Planning Department in a few months.
Comments to the Marischal Square Working Group can be sent via Councillor Marie Boulton, Depute Leader of the Council at : mboulton@aberdeencity.gov.uk
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Nov 012013
Parking permits are to be applied to Garthdee residents, a move which Duncan Harley describes as ‘A Scottish Labour disgrace’.
The councillors and officials of the Granite City have seemingly decided to use the easy option of car parking to make a bit of cash.
From 1st August 2013, parking charges apply to Garthdee residents who wish to park outside their own house.
The official line reads:
“Introduction of Charge for Garthdee Resident’s Exemption Parking Permits (Zone Y). From 1st August 2013, residents who are entitled to apply for a Resident’s Exemption Parking Permit will have to pay for a permit. Any existing permits on 1st August 2013 will be honoured.
“Any resident who has an existing permit will be required to pay if they decide to renew their permit(s).
Please note: the council will no longer issue Permit Renewal Reminder letters after 31 July 2013. Permit holders must be aware of the date their permit(s) expires. Permits can be renewed from 20 days prior to its date of expiry.
The cost of a permit is as follows, 1st permit – £80.00, 2nd permit – £120.00.”
The local government regulations attached to lamp posts in the area helpfully inform residents that:
“There are 2 types of permit available. Fixed permits are only valid for one specific vehicle and cannot be transferred to any other vehicle. The vehicle registration number must be declared on the application form. The keeper of the vehicle must be resident in the household. Flexible permits can be used on any vehicle, e.g. a visitor’s vehicle. If applying for only 1 permit, you may choose either type of permit, Fixed or Flexible.
“If applying for 2 permits, only 1 of the permits can be Flexible. Vehicles must be: A passenger or lights goods vehicle weighing less than 3.5 tonnes and designed for less than 8 passengers (driver excluded). Permits must be displayed on the vehicle windscreen and are only valid for use within the designated residents only, on street pay and display, ticket zone and voucher parking bays.
“You are not guaranteed a parking space in your zone. The maximum number of permits that an address is entitled is 2. Permits are not required for motorcycles which may be parked free of charge in any parking bay. We ask that motorcycles are parked perpendicular to the kerb (front of wheel facing the kerb).”
A reading age of at least fifteen is required to make sense of the new rules, and a fine of huge proportions awaits those who fail to comply. If you own a new BMW or a knackered Fiesta the rules are just the same. Pay up or get fined up to £60 a day for parking in your own street.
All well and good of course: if you own a car, you are liable to pay for parking in busy city streets. But outside your own house and in a residential satellite scheme three miles from the city centre?
Dame Anne Begg, who has been the MP for Aberdeen South since 1997, was contacted by a resident. Could she take up the case on behalf of the folk of Garthdee? Could she fight their corner on this issue? Could she empathise with constituents who are being bullied by Aberdeen City Council and forced to use hard-earned funds to buy a licence to park outside their homes? Seemingly she is powerless to fight the issue.
At a recent meeting in Garthdee Community Centre to discuss the issues, one 73-year-old resident pointed out that if she needed her house repaired for any reason she would now require a visitor’s permit to allow a tradesman’s van to park outside her door. If family or carers visit they too would require to use her visitor’s permit.
“Why should I pay £200 to let folk park at my door, I don’t even own a car,” she said
“what if I call the doctor and he won’t come unless I have a parking permit?”
Many residents feel that Garthdee has plenty of kerbside parking. In fact many residents are too deprived to even own a vehicle. What is the council thinking of?
Get in touch with Anne at:
anne.begg.mp@parliament.uk
01224 252704
Dame Anne Begg MP
Admiral Court,
Poynernook Road,
Aberdeen
AB11 5QX
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Nov 012013
On Friday 7 June 2013, Grampian Police surrounded an empty flat on a curious tip-off that someone with a gun was inside. The owner George Copland was arrested elsewhere on Sunday 9 June. The police spent days tearing his place and his possessions to pieces, leaving an impassable mess behind them. Released without charge, he has had absolutely no help with clean-up and no apology.
Having visited the property at the end of October, contacted the police and Aberdeen City Council, Suzanne Kelly reports.
George Coplands property thoroughly searched and left in a heap. This scene is repeated throughout the house.
George Copland is not well; this is no surprise. He was unjustly, as it transpires, arrested after Grampian Police dramatically lay siege to his empty flat, cordoned it off for days while conducting a destructive search that yielded no evidence of gun crime or any other crime.
He was arrested on the following Sunday even though there was no evidence of any crime, held for some 12 hours, and released without charge.
He is also without explanation, apology, any form of clean-up and any compensation.
Freedom of Information requests have been lodged for details of the arrest, siege and search. The police have not given any comment on the situation.
Normally if someone is the subject of a destructive, intensive, intrusive search and no wrongdoing is discovered, they are entitled to compensation and to having the property restored to its former condition.
And what a condition the flat is in. George gave me a tour – as far as was possible. I was not able to fit into parts of the premises for all of the possessions, many broken, strewn throughout.
It seems items were removed from the loft, examined, and left. Items such as CDs lie around an emptied CD rack, many broken. George enjoys playing with remote control toys; some of which are – or rather were – worth a fair amount of money.
“See this car; it was in perfectly good shape,” he tells me, holding a large, clearly intricate radio-controlled car; its front wheels are missing and it seems to have been crushed.
“They must have stood on it to break it.”
“I’ve had to see my doctor; this is really too much.”
George continues;
“I tried to send photographs of the damage to WPC Niki Trower (an officer who seems to be involved with the case), but she says she can’t access the photos I’ve emailed for security reasons.”
I trust WPC Trower will look at these photos. This is how a man with mental health issues has had his flat left for four months after a raid which arguably should never have happened.
When I visit the house, it is clear that anyone claiming a gunman was inside must have gone up close to the windows: what made the witness or witnesses make such a claim? What led them to look into the windows?
The house is attached to another house, but its windows are not exactly on the beaten path.
The part of the house which is visible from a distance over a grassy area near Provost Rust Drive does not even have any windows. The window near one of the two doors to the flat only has small windows, and unless someone specifically went to the back of the house and peered in, there is no way they would see anything there.
Then we come to the other door. The main entrance to the flat is down a short path, and past the other attached house. Unless someone were coming to visit the other house and continued on to George Copland’s front door and peered in the windows, they would not readily see anyone.
No one would have any business going down this path unless they were visiting the neighbour or George; if visiting the neighbour, what would have made them continue past the door of their destination and look into George’s windows?
George tells me:
“I had aeroplanes hanging up in the bathroom; they were taken down and thrown in the bath”
Everywhere is the sight of broken toys and goods, some smashed, some clearly deliberately dissembled – while police apparently looked for an invisible gunman with non-existent guns.
Famously (as reported in The Sun), the police apparently tried to suggest to Copland and get him to agree that a remote control and a feather duster could have been taken for weapons. Who was meant to be brandishing the imaginary weapon or even the feather duster is still a mystery, as we know as the police knew when they arrested Copland the flat they surrounded for 8 hours was empty.
George does not have a copy of the police report yet, but the police are, perhaps unsurprisingly, adamant that the siege was justified and the witnesses were trustworthy.
Aberdeen Voice will report further on the details when they are released.
Turning again to the main entrance door – it had been broken in, and is now bolted into place, unusable. If there were a problem such as a fire (not inconceivable, given the state of the place) there is only one exit now where there would have been two.
The windows are too high to be utilised for the purpose of fire escape.
The Council have been approached about their failure to mend this door; apparently it takes weeks and hundreds of pounds to get a specialist door like this replaced.
This raises some interesting questions about procurement, keeping spares around, and how we wound up with such an expensive item with such a long lead time on the City’s budget. Let’s hope no other vulnerable people need a replacement door in a hurry.
In terms of expense, the siege and search will have cost the taxpayer a considerable sum.
Surely the responsibility for having misjudged the situation so badly sits squarely with the police, and restitution, if not apology, are long overdue.
There seems to be nothing the Council can do about the mess and destruction; this indeed should be resolved by Police Scotland immediately.
Too much time has gone by; too much stress has been caused.
The Police will be put on notice that a formal complaint and legal action will be started if there is no positive development forthcoming.
One anonymous donor has come forward; others who wish to support any legal action are welcome to contact Aberdeen Voice for details.
Some politicians have been trying to help, and it is appreciated, but so far, nothing has changed for George, except that the strain is causing his health to deteriorate.
If we don’t live in a police state, let’s prove that now, and get Copland the help, flat clean-up and restitution he is clearly due: NOW.
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