Latest Highland energy plan ‘demands greater scrutiny’; plus threat to Highland phone kiosks and electoral fears
Telephone kiosks still have a role to play
It is shocking news that BT has proposed removing 110 public pay phones from across the Highlands.
But for the landmark of a telephone kiosk many people in remote communities would be shut off from the world.
Through it they can reach their families, their friends, medical and emergency services and have all the support of a modern society.
It is a service that BT should be constantly improving and one of the ways now and in the future it should continue to help people.
In the out of the way places of a push button world BT should be the power behind the buttons.
When mobile phone networks go down or users are in coverage black-spots, the public are reliant on telephone kiosks.
Leslie Mutch
Dingwall
‘Aping’ Reform is not the answer
As some in the Labour Party consider the party’s policies on Immigration and other topics, after losing the Runcorn and Helsby by-election, there’s no benefit in aping Reform, wallowing in toxicity, prejudice and doomscrolling.
The Labour Party has to reject division, and stand by our values - social justice, respect, and support for communities.
There are many challenges for Government: pressure on local authority services, health and social care, housing, schools, amenities, infrastructure.
But the answer is not Reform, who love to talk up a crisis, and want to take us out of the European Court of Human Rights, and to repeal the 1998 Human Rights Act. Citizens need those Rights, many of which took years of struggle and pain to achieve.
I’m not convinced people want to lose the Right to Life, Freedom from Slavery, Freedom of Expression, the Right to a Fair Trial, Protection from Discrimination, Freedom of Assembly, etc.
And Reform’s hostility to Immigration won’t wash when people migrate for many reasons - to make a better life or because of persecution, conflict, environmental crisis.
And our society gains through immigration, and the mix of creativity, innovation, different festivals and celebrations, religions, ethnicities and languages. Inclusion is better than Division.
We gain from diversity. The Highlands and Islands have a distinctive and important heritage, and a wonderful mix of people. But we need immigration.
Demographic changes mean Scotland’s population is set to fall in the coming decades. The raw truth is that we need more people of working age to support ourselves.
We have staff shortages in the NHS and in teaching. The Care Inspectorate tell us that more than a third of social care services across Scotland have unfilled vacancies. The Construction Industry Training Board say we need 26,000 construction workers by 2028.
And, as HIE’s survey showed, the lack of availability of the skills required is the biggest barrier to businesses flourishing.
We need to welcome those with the skills and motivation to contribute to our society. And we don’t need Labour to become Reform-lite.
Dr Michael Gregson
Labout councillor for Inverness Central
Fanellan plan needs much closer scrutiny
I refer to the article ‘SSEN Transmission’s Fanellan substation plan near Beauly prompts fears and divided views in community’, May 3.
The Fanellan site alone is the size of Glasgow Prestwick airport, in addition the application 17.1 Cumulative Development map shows 8 other sites and 3 pylon lines within a 3km radius feeding into it, with more battery storage facilities, pylons, windfarms and substations being added every day radiating out from this zone.
This grossly disproportionate industrialisation at the expense of residents, visitors, woodlands, wildlife, homes, farms and businesses, reflects what is happening right across the Highlands.
Fanellan and its related sites directly threaten irreplaceable natural, built and heritage assets, recreation and tourism, in the entire Beauly River catchment area from protected areas in Glen Affric to the Beauly Firth and beyond.
Fanellan is the largest development of its kind in Highland region, directly linked to multiple projects.
To date there has been no Environmental Impact Assessment of ALL Fanellan's related sites which must be considered before any informed planning decision can be made.
The scale of this application, its methodology and conclusions of impact, especially when so many critical issues such as human health, accidents and disasters have been scoped out, demands greater scrutiny.
Omissions and inaccuracies in the heritage, tourism and recreation mapping alone render claims of little or no impact highly questionable.
What is being sacrificed across Highland region so that multinational companies can collect government subsidies and pay their shareholders eyewatering profits demands a moratorium and a public enquiry
Georgina Coburn
Beauly
Voting reform needed
The local elections once again showed how damaging and dysfunctional our voting system is.
Across the country, we’ve seen results which don’t reflect how people voted. For example, in the West of England, the mayor was elected despite three out of four voters rejecting her.
This is not a glitch in the system, it’s a feature. Whether in local or in general elections, the First Past the Post voting system (FPTP) distorts public opinion and damages trust in politics. It forces us to choose between voting tactically or being ignored, and leads to millions of votes, particularly those cast for smaller parties, being wasted.
Time and again, it hands full control to parties supported by a minority of the electorate. Last year, Labour won a landslide on just 34% of the vote. With more and more people abandoning the two biggest parties, the proportion of votes needed to win an election would be even smaller. In 2029 (the next national election date) we could get a government that 70% of the public voted against.
I’m very concerned about the future of our democracy if we don’t improve how our elections work. Reform is a hard right, Trump like, organisation that will have no qualms in changing the voter system to it's advantage. Farage has already told his Reform councillors to get rid of any Council staff working on Climate Change - straight out of Trump's song book!! That’s why I support the Make Votes Matter campaign in calling for FPTP to be replaced with a proportional system where seats match votes, and all voices are heard equally.
Allan MacKenzie
Address supplied
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