I started writing this newsletter once a week in January 2023. Since then, the audience has grown, and I now get several thousand readers a month. Thank you very much for your interest and support.
Here are the most read posts from 2023 - which includes my own favourite which was this essay about the mystery of whether the Stone of Destiny that was taken to London for the coronation of King Charles is real or fake. The top ten list is below. But first, a couple of updates.
Mast Christmas
Last month I wrote about plans to put a phone mast in Coire Mhic Nobhuil in the Torridon mountains. There is some good news to share as that application has now been withdrawn, resulting in a lot of jubilation in our area (read the 96 responses to the application here).
However, hundreds more applications are sitting with Highland and Argyll and Bute council planning departments. If you go to Highland Council’s planning site and search ‘lattice’ you will see 260 applications, many in special (special -don’t say remote!) areas of conservation like Kintail, Knoydart, Arisaig, the Cairngorm National Park. Some are as much as 8km from the nearest road.
The case for these masts does not concern whether or not there is any public benefit - they are made necessary simply by the UK government's target of covering 95% of the UK with terrestrial phone signal.
Fishy Business
Another piece of news from Wester Ross that made the most-read list was one entitled “If you care about Scotland’s marine environment don’t eat battery-farmed salmon” - on the threat posed by salmon farms to the seabed and to the spawning grounds for many other fish and crustaceans.
Since I wrote that, we have formed a group called Maerl Friends of Loch Torridon. Another update is that the Mowi fish farm in Loch Torridon has withdrawn from organic certification - which means the owners can use more chemicals to get rid of sea lice - which may also be harmful to other sea creatures.
So long Sturgeon
The most read column I wrote in the year - by a long way - was after Nicola Sturgeon’s surprise resignation back in February. The piece I wrote then was a riposte to some pretty ill-informed comment from London-based journalists that had a sort of ‘ding-dong the witch is dead’ feel.
The achievements of Sturgeon’s government are undervalued. For example, as a report from UNICEF revealed last month, the UK has surpassed every other OECD/EU country with its exceptional growth of child poverty. But Scotland has been able to mitigate that to a significant degree and the Joseph Rowntree Trust Poverty 2023 report found that child poverty in Scotland is 18% compared to 22% in England.
The main policy to address child poverty - which Nicola Sturgeon's administration introduced - is the Scottish Child Payment. But there are others - Scottish primary pupils get universal free school meals and under 22s get free bus travel. On a long bus trip across town one sunny Sunday recently, I saw a couple of families with three kids getting on - outings are made more affordable with one fare to pay, and so is commuting to college or work. Earlier this month, Scotland marked 100 million free journeys by under 22s.
Operation over-run
Nicola Sturgeon’s resignation was followed by the police forensically examining items from the home she shares with Peter Murrell - I wrote about that in April in a piece entitled “What’s Going On?”. We have not yet had a conclusion to this probe, called Operation Branchform, but recently a group of lawyers urged the authorities to explain why the investigation, which started nearly three years ago, is taking so long.
The big question in Scottish politics this year has been to what extent soft independence-supporting voters will lend their votes to Keir Starmer to get the Tories out. Many will, and that an understandable electoral choice - but it would be a mistake to read those as votes against independence (I wrote in May). The most recent Ipsos Mori poll at the end of November showed 54% support for independence. If it gets to a consistent 60%, that will probably be a tipping point.
Roll back, Colombia
Another column I wrote this year was this long read about Oregon’s experiment of legalising all drugs for personal use, after we spent a month or so there in the spring. Combined with homelessness, the decriminalisation measure has seen a growing army of poor souls taking over the centre of Portland. As we walked to a restaurant in the city centre our American friend warned us, surprisingly cheerfully, “not only are they mentally unstable, they are also armed to the teeth.”
So it was not surprising to read last week that Oregon Governor Tina Kotek plans to roll back the legislation with a ban on public drug use. The Scottish government has said it also wants to decriminalise drugs - although it doesn’t have the powers to do so at the moment, so Oregon has some interesting lessons.
Culture Wars
In a lighter piece, I reviewed the National Galleries long-awaited new Scottish galleries opening in After 30 years finally it’s safe to go back in the National Gallery of Scotland again
And I tried to take a sympathetic look at the plight of transgender people caught up in a culture wars mindset by considering the history of the “wedge issue”. This way of thinking seems to be spreading to many areas of life. I listened to Gardener’s Question Time the other day and some presenters were getting very exorcised about what they perceived as a rewilding plot to abandon private gardens to weeds - that’s not what I understand by rewilding but it seems this is now a divisive term. I enjoyed the Dr Who pre-Xmas special that had the human race seized with a plague of righteous anger. Very apposite.
Thanks for reading and all the best for a peaceful Christmas and a guid New Year
1 Nicola Sturgeon's resignation has revealed a yawning chasm of ignorance about Scotland, February 20, 2023
2 The SNP - what's going on?, April 21, 2023
3 Will Scots switch to Labour in a big way at the next general election? May 7, 2023
4 If you care about Scotland’s marine environment don’t eat battery-farmed salmon
Oct 20, 2023
5 After 30 years, finally it’s safe to go back in the National Gallery of Scotland again, October 3, 2023
6 Don’t dare use the word ‘remote’ when talking about the Highlands!, Nov 14, 2023
7 On the Trail of the Stone of Destiny, April 28, 2023
8 The UK gov's £1-billion plus roaming charge, Nov 21, 2023
9 My thoughts on the transgender issue, Feb 4, 2023
10 What can Scotland learn from Oregon’s experiment with decriminalising drugs? May 29, 2023
A lovely round up thank you.