Land Reform fantasies
There’s a conference in Inverness today about the community right to buy. I should probably be there but I can’t afford to take a day off work, the train ticket is over £40 and I’m kinda skint right now. The
Continue readingScotland Rules the Waves – er, no it doesn’t!
Forgive me for continuing this thread on Scotland’s seabed but I’ve just caught sight of an interview on 16th March with Alex Salmond about Scotland’s marine renewables potential. Now I think that the progress made with marine renewables is very
Continue readingMore inaccuracies over the Crown Estate
In an article about marine energey in the Sunday Times business section titled “Alex Salmond’s bid to rule the waves”, Jane Bradley writes the following. According to Alex Salmond, Scotland’s first minister, this is the first step in a plan
Continue readingThe Crown – reserved or not
A comment on Joan McAlpine’s blog (1) about the Crown Estate asks a good question – are crown estate matters not reserved? This is the source of much confusion. The Crown Estate Commission is reserved as are most Crown revenues.
Continue readingIt’s Scotland’s Seabed
The Crown Estate Commission plays a strange role in the administration of parts of Scotland. I recently submitted evidence to the House of Commons Treasury Select Committee on the topic and today, had a letter published in the Herald newspaper
Continue readingWho is David Beckham anyway?
I habitually waken up to the BBC World Service in the morning. Since returning from a spell abroad in Ethiopia, I have been struck by the massive dumbing down in the output of both BBC television and radio. There seemed
Continue readingAccess to Academic publications paid for by our taxes
I am a scientist by training. I believe that science holds out great promise for a better future. I believe all research dedicated to making the world a safer, healthier and more equitable place for us all to live is
Continue readingScotland’s world class winter athletes
On holiday in Spean Bridge. Caught the train to Corrour and skied up Carn Dearg and down again through two feet of fresh powder snow – awesome. Scotland is laid out before us like a vast wedding cake. Forgot my
Continue readingScotland’s Young Musicians
Yesterday evening, students from Scotland’s four Centres of Excellence in Music gathered in the City of Edinburgh Music School in Broughton High School to share some fine performances. This was one of the highlights – the young Craig Paton from
Continue readingOrdnance Survey Data to be made available free of charge
Interesting news from Downing Street. It has announced that it intends to make most Ordnance Survey maps free for use online from April 2010. Tim Berners-Lee, the inventor of the world wide web appears to have convinced Number 10 that
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