16
beachd ᔡ comment
BRIAN WILSON
writes
Last Thursday, I attended the
annual Celtic charity dinner
which was raising money for the
Teenage Cancer Fund. Its
founder in Scotland spoke mov-
ingly about the experience of his
own son when he was diagnosed
with terminal cancer.
There were no facilities for that
age-group in Yorkhill and eventually
his parents took him home so that he
was surrounded by friends in his last
days. The boy was a Celtic supporter
and his dad spoke about how impor-
tant that had been in sustaining his
spirits as he faced death, the cama-
raderie of a shared interest, the visits
from players that went far beyond
the call of duty.
As ever, the event was presided
over by Andy Cameron who I regard
as a great Scottish peacemaker, as
well as a very funny man. Andy’s
football allegiances are not in doubt
but he is as welcome in one place as
in the other. He knows every nuance
of the nonsense that surrounds Scot-
tish football, and exactly how to place
them all in perspective.
Looking at the hysterical, hyper-
bolic coverage of the past week, it
would be difficult to deduce that any
of this existed. In Scotland, Britain,
the world, football is overwhelmingly
a force for good. It enriches and en-
livens the lives of millions, allows
dreams to be dreamt and occasionally
fulfilled, creates common bonds be-
tween peoples of all nationalities,
classes and creeds. Football is the es-
peranto of the common man — a lan-
guage that transcends boundaries.
Yet in Scotland, as every self-
important commentator and band-
wagon-jumping politician has been
anxious to inform us over the past
week, football is a curse, an embar-
rassment to our otherwise great wee
society, a social blight, the source of
wife-beating and disorder. Frankly,
while not under-estimating problems
or prejudices, I find most of this a
load of patronising nonsense which
serves only to cover up for less
convenient realities.
What actually happened at Celtic
Park last Wednesday night? Celtic
won a Scottish Cup tie and had three
players cautioned. Rangers lost a
Scottish Cup tie and had three players
red-carded with a further seven see-
ing yellow. Two fiery personalities,
immature in managerial terms,
squared up to one another at the end
and no blows were struck. Sixty-five
thousand people observed the spec-
tacle, of whom 34 were detained by
the constabulary.
In any other society, such a
sequence of events would be filed
under: “Small earthquake. Not many
dead”. But this is Scotland. So by
morning, these dramas had become
mayhem and madness. Headline-
seekers were demanding that future
fixtures should be played, if at all,
behind closed doors. Hey, great idea
— 65,000 people in the streets in-
stead of in a stadium. And the Great
Panjandrum in Edinburgh was de-
manding a “summit”, to be presided
over by his goodself.
Well, there are many aspects of
Scottish society which might benefit
from a “summit”. Knife crime, which
kills innocent young people, springs
to mind. But file that one away under
“too difficult” or maybe “too few
headlines”. Football, in contrast, al-
ways guarantees headlines. Front
pages, back pages and most in
between. ‘Stars and Bosses Face
Arrest’, screamed Wednesday’s
papers. Great result, Mr Salmond?
Great image of Scotland to the world?
Yet most of this rampant oppor-
tunism is aimed at the wrong target.
The disfiguring characteristics that
attach themselves to Scottish football
are products of our society, rather
than the other way round. One of
these is sectarianism which, on the
fringes, finds expression through
football. That is the only reason for
the relatively unremarkable events,
by any less parochial standards, of
last Wednesday night being translated
into a crisis of national significance.
Scotland’s shame, and all that.
However, the logic is to confront
sectarianism — not football. Put
Andy Cameron in charge of a summit
and he might actually make a differ-
ence. But spare us the hand-wringing
and pious expressions of shock and
horror. Pseudo-religious prejudice still
flourishes in Scotland because it was
regarded as acceptable for so long —
in the work-place,the churches, the
media and in the upper echelons of
Scottish society. The prejudices of fa-
thers are handed down to sons and
while there has been progress, don’t
expect the foot-soldiers to follow all
at once. I remember Billy Connolly
saying that he liked seeing Orange
Walks, because they reminded him of
how much smaller they are than when
he was a boy!
In this respect, football is a good
case study. We are all products of our
conditioning and I had little choice
but to be a Celtic supporter, not that
I have ever complained. I could recite
the teams that won the Exhibition
Cup and the Coronation Cup before
I knew the two times table. I learned
of Celtic as a club which played at-
tacking football, had won every tro-
phy they ever played for, came from
proud charitable origins and —
crucially — was open to all.
Like tens of thousands of Celtic sup-
porters, I did not come from a Catholic
background. But it was part of our
credo that this did not matter. Was not,
and is not, the club’s history littered
with heroes who were never asked by
some skulking scout what school they
went to? From John Thomson to Jock
Stein to Kenny Dalglish. But while
non-Catholics could revel effortlessly
in Celtic’s achievements, there was no
reciprocal arrangement.
Until a mere 25 years ago, it would
have required a peculiar form of
masochism for a Catholic to support
Rangers who operated a sectarian em-
ployment policy that was indeed Scot-
land’s shame. Decade after decade,
Scotland — and particularly the Scot-
tish media — preferred to look the
other way. I saw the Church of Scot-
land Moderator clambering aboard
the bandwagon this week. Even Mod-
erators seem younger these days, so
maybe he does not recall when min-
isters like Rev DN MacDonald were
shouted down by the Fathers and
Brethren when they tried to raise the
issue at General Assemblies.
At a club level, all that is past his-
tory. Rangers is run by pleasant and
sophisticated individuals. Their pol-
icy of inclusiveness is comprehensive
and genuine. But the idea that atti-
tudes ingrained over a century will
evaporate within a generation is over-
optimistic. Much as they would like
to, Rangers cannot simply switch off
the anti-Catholic, anti-Irish poison
that has followed them all over
Europe, any more than Celtic can
stop every misguided individual from
bawling about the IRA, though not
through lack of effort.
The other home truth is that Scotland
is simply too small an arena in which,
for footballing purposes, we appear to
be trapped. Every season revolves
around a few gladiatorial tussles be-
tween Celtic and Rangers. If these two
clubs played each other twice a season
while we awaited mouth-watering fix-
tures against Arsenal, Chelsea, Liver-
pool and the rest, as part of our staple
diet, the poison would soon be diluted.
Not overnight but pretty soon. What
we really need is not a summit but an
escape committee.
naidheachdan ᔡ news
River Carron restoration project
records re-stocking success
The River Carron Restoration
Project, one of Inverness
College UHI’s most high-profile
research projects, has enjoyed its
first success as new figures
reveal the project is making a
positive impact on the river.
In a bid to enhance the
investigation further, the River
Carron Project has recently recruited
new freshwater fisheries biologist,
Jonah Tosney, who will assist with
the ongoing research into the salmon
and trout populations in the river.
Established in August 2009, the
River Carron Restoration Project is
investigating the reasons for the
decline and subsequent recovery of
Atlantic salmon and sea trout in the
River Carron in Wester Ross.
The project is focused on the
long-standing work of freshwater
fisheries expert Bob Kindness, who,
in 1995, began working on a salmon
and sea trout reintroduction
programme aimed at increasing the
population of North Atlantic salmon
and sea trout in the river.
Already, the project has seen five
million salmon and sea trout at
various life stages released into the
river. As part of the initiative a strict
Community power is
theme for Co-op event
The Co-operative is supporting
an event in Fortrose this
weekend to show how local
communities can empower
themselves to make changes for
the better.
The Co-operative Membership is
among the organisations that will be
at the Highland Environmental
Network’s “Greening at Grass
Roots” conference on Saturday 12th
March at Fortrose Academy.
The event features workshops and
speakers, including representatives
from Highland Council the Isle of
Eigg and Inverness College UHI.
SNP and Lib Dems
in Crown Estate row
An SNP councillor has accused
the Liberal Democrat-
Conservative Government of
refusing to act on devolving the
Crown Estate in Scotland to the
Scottish Parliament.
However, this has been denied by
Ross, Skye and Lochaber MP
Charles Kennedy.
SNP Councillor George Farlow
said: “Once again the Liberal
Democrats refuse to allow a Scottish
solution to a UK problem.
Centralisation of the profits of The
Crown Estate will remain with HM
Treasury in London together with
Fossil Fuel Levy millions and the
Highland Council Housing Debt
millions.
All of this on top of the disgraceful
moves over the Coastguard facilities,
RAF bases and Emergency Towing
Vessels. What makes this astounding
is that, locally the Lib Dems are
calling for action on all of these, but
Scots based Lib Dems in
Westminster are doing the opposite.
That’s why I have written today
(Monday) to Lib Dem leader
Councillor Michael Foxley
challenging him to speak out against
this dangerous continuing trend of
catch and release policy is in
operation, allowing inspection and
measurement of all caught fish. The
team have tracked the progress of
over 100,000 fish, with 25,000
spring smolts tagged and fin-clipped
in order to determine their success.
Thus far, the team have
discovered a series of benefits to the
restocking programme, including a
great increase in rod catches of both
salmon and sea trout, which have
improved significantly since 2001
when only six fish were caught
throughout the season. Other
findings show a significant increase
in the number of fish spawning in
the river itself.
Mr Tosney, who is employed
jointly by Inverness College UHI
and project partner Wester Ross
Fisheries Trust, arrived in December
and immediately began work
keeping the fish hatcheries free of
ice during the big freeze. Assisting
Mr Kindness with the stocking of
salmon and trout into the river,
Jonah will also work with Dr
Melanie Smith and other project
partners on the recovery of fish stock
research.
Mr Tosney said: “Working on the
River Carron project in conjunction
Stephen Kelly, the Co-operative’s
Membership Officer in Scotland,
said: “The Co-operative operates
at the heart of many communities
across the north of Scotland,
and it is a natural fit for us to
support an event like this, which
aims to help empower those
communities.”
The conference, which precedes
the Highland Environmental
Network’s AGM, is from 9.30am
until 4pm in the Community Theatre
at Fortrose Academy.
To book places, or for more
information,
hen@highlandenvironment.org.uk
email
centralisation and lack of care over
Highland’s concerns and to point out
that these issues are vital to the
Highland economy.”
Mr Kennedy replied that Lib
Dems do want to see the Crown
Estate Commission “reformed”
because the party wants to see local
communities derive long term
benefits from development off-shore.
He added: “I am confident that Lib
Dem Ministers are working within
the UK Government to advance that
objective – and I hope we will not
have too much longer to wait for
progress.
“Very little will be achieved if
centralised control is simply
transferred wholesale from the
Treasury to the SNP Government in
Edinburgh. The direction of SNP
Government policy across a whole
range of issues would suggest that
their commitment to local control is
very weak indeed when there is an
opportunity to derive political capital
in the Central Belt.
“If they are genuinely worried
about centralisation, they could start
by abandoning their harmful plans
for single Scottish police and fire
services.”
West Highland Free Press | Friday 11 March 2011
with Inverness College UHI was a
dream job for me. I feel really lucky
to be involved.
“Since I got involved with the
project, I have been involved in
various parts of the project,
including stocking fish in the river
and the research element which
looks at why the river has revived.
“I thoroughly enjoy working with
Bob, it’s an absolute privilege. I am
learning a lot from him and am
Fisheries biologist Jonah Tosney with the fruits of his labour
Peacock urges action
on food funding
Highlands and Islands MSP
Peter Peacock is urging the
Scottish Government to make
sure funding in support of bids
to achieve protected status for
iconic Scottish food products is
not lost.
He is concerned that the
Intellectual Asset Centre may be
unable to lever funding from Europe
if support funding from Scottish
Enterprise and Highlands and
Islands Enterprise is to be stopped
from March 2012. This will mean
that bids for Protected Food Status
will not get support in applying.
Mr Peacock said: “One of the
great recent developments to help
give local communities a marketing
advantage and secure income and
jobs, is through the movement to
obtain protected food status – the
current campaign for Stornoway
Black Pudding to get protected
status is a good illustration.
“Funding is available from the
EU to help undertake the work as it
can be complex and time
consuming. The Intellectual Asset
Centre has secured a commitment to
funding from the EU, but it looks
like SE and HIE will not provide the
match funding necessary to get the
support from the EU. That would be
a real shame as we have many
distinct products that need all the
help and protection they can get to
picking up tips and information from
him all the time.”
The re-stocking project has also
benefitted the area, with an increase
in the number of visitors to the river
courtesy of reduced rate day tickets,
while the biodiversity of the
catchment is benefitting both in and
out of the water.
It is hoped the project can provide
a model for action on similarly
affected rivers.
sell more and produce a market
advantage.
“The sustained cuts by the
Scottish Government to the HIE
budget, now in their fourth
successive year of significant
reductions, have a real effect on the
ability of our area to compete. The
Highlands and Islands deserves
better.”
Western Isles
patient survey
A random selection of patients
who received care in the Western
Isles over the last 12 months is
being asked about individual
experiences of services to help
target improvements.
The second Better Together
Inpatient Patient Experience Survey
was launched on 27th January and
785 individuals have been sent a
questionnaire, which asks for details
of the quality of care they received
whilst in hospital. Individuals who
have received questionnaires are
being encouraged to ensure that
completed questionnaires are
returned in the pre-paid envelope
provided by the deadline of 25th
April.
Any patients who would like
further information can contact PFPI
Development Officer Denise
Symington on 01851 708041.