General Election 2017 - Results in Highland Council and Moray Council constituencies

This is a follow-on post from the 'candidates' article I wrote here on 12 May 2017.

For the constituency where I live, these are the results:

Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey
Boyd, Dr Donald MacLeod - 612 votes
Scottish Christian Party "Proclaiming Christ’s Lordship"
Cunningham, Ritchie - 6,477 votes
Scottish Liberal Democrats
Hendry, Drew - 21,042 votes (Elected)
Scottish National Party
Robb, Mike - 8,552 votes
Scottish Labour Party
Tulloch, Nicholas - 16,118 votes
Scottish Conservative and Unionist
- The sitting Scottish National Party MP, Drew Hendry, has been re-elected, but with a significantly reduced share of the vote (down 10.2% at 39.9%). The Conservatives have dramatically increased their vote, switching from 4th position in the 2015 election to take 2nd position from the Liberal Democrats, with 30.5% of the vote (up 24.6%), who themselves now occupy 4th position with a very significantly reduced vote (down 19% at 12.3%), whilst the Labour Party remains in 3rd position, although with a somewhat increased vote at 16.2% (up 8.7%), from a pretty low starting point.

For the other two Highland Council constituencies, the candidates are:

Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross
Bell, Olivia - 3,833
Scottish Labour Party
Mackie, Struan - 6,990 votes
Scottish Conservative and Unionist
Monaghan, Paul - 9,017 votes
Scottish National Party
Stone, Jamie - 11,061 votes (Elected)
Scottish Liberal Democrats
- this ia a Scottish Liberal Democrats gain from the Scottish National Party

Ross, Skye and Lochaber
Blackford, Ian - 15,480 votes (Elected)
Scottish National Party
Campbell, Ronnie the Crofter - 499 votes
Independent
Davis, Jean - 8,042 votes
Scottish Liberal Democrats
Mackenzie, Robert - 9,561
Scottish Conservative and Unionist
Ó Donnghaile, Peter - 4,695 votes
Scottish Labour Party
Sturrock, Stick - 177 votes
Something New
- The sitting Scottish National Party MP has been re-elected

For the Moray Council constituency, the candidates are:

Moray
Glen, Anne Betty - 204 votes
Independent
Kirby, Jo - 5,208 votes
Scottish Labour Party
Linklater, Alex - 1,078 votes
Scottish Liberal Democrats
Robertson, Angus - 18,478 votes
Scottish National Party
Ross, Douglas - 22,637 votes (Elected)
Scottish Conservative and Unionist
- this ia a Scottish Conservative and Unionist gain from the Scottish National Party

The source for all the results information here is in the BBC Election 2017 'micro-site' here - click on the 'Constituencies' link near the top of the page and from there you can find full results information for all constituencies - you can also scroll down any constituency page to find the results at the previous General Election in 2015.

General Election 2017 - Candidates in Highland Council and Moray Council constituencies

There is to be a General Election across the whole of the UK on 8th June 2017.

There are three parliamentary constituencies for Westminster elections (i.e. the UK Parliament) in the Highland Council area, and these are:
- Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey (INBS/INBandS);
- Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross (CSER/CSandER);
- Ross, Skye and Lochaber (RSL).

Because of the low population densities in most parts of the extremely large Highland Council area, the three parliamentary constituencies each cover quite large geographic areas too.

In addition and because of its proximity to the east of the Highland Council area, I have decided to cover the Moray Council area for this election, which has one parliamentary constituency for Westminster elections, namely Moray, nice and simple.

This article indicates no particular political preference for any candidate - it is intended to be purely factual and "neutral" and is published for my own reference over the coming weeks and in the hope it may be useful for others; because of the unexpected nature of this election, some relevant websites have not [yet] been updated to show important information, but one can expect the larger media outlets to "catch up" in coming days, meantime I have relied solely upon the official websites of the two council areas where the four constituencies I refer to here are located. In other articles I am likely to publish in coming days, my own political leanings, and recommendations for voting, will be made clear. Those who are familiar with my blog, or who happen to know me personally, will already know what my own views most probably are of course.

Because I live in the Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey constituency, I will cover it first and in a little more detail because, as well as listing the candidates, I include links to websites where available (or at least those I have identified so far), shown as national (UK), dedicated Scottish (SC), whilst some have a local Party website (LPW), and some candidates have their own personal websites:

Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey
Boyd, Dr Donald MacLeod
Scottish Christian Party "Proclaiming Christ’s Lordship" - UK - SC - his website
Cunningham, Ritchie
Scottish Liberal Democrats - UK - SC - LPW
Hendry, Drew
Scottish National Party - UK/SC - his SNP page
Robb, Mike
Scottish Labour Party - UK - SC - his Labour page
Tulloch, Nicholas
Scottish Conservative and Unionist - UK - SC - LPW

For the other two Highland Council constituencies, the candidates are:

Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross
Bell, Olivia
Scottish Labour Party
Mackie, Struan
Scottish Conservative and Unionist
Monaghan, Paul
Scottish National Party
Stone, Jamie
Scottish Liberal Democrats

Ross, Skye and Lochaber
Blackford, Ian
Scottish National Party
Campbell, Ronnie the Crofter
Independent
Davis, Jean
Scottish Liberal Democrats
Mackenzie, Robert
Scottish Conservative and Unionist
Ó Donnghaile, Peter
Scottish Labour Party
Sturrock, Stick
Something New

For the Moray Council constituency, the candidates are:

Moray
Glen, Anne Betty
Independent
Kirby, Jo
Scottish Labour Party
Linklater, Alex
Scottish Liberal Democrats
Robertson, Angus
Scottish National Party
Ross, Douglas
Scottish Conservative and Unionist

Sources used:
- The website of Highland Council is here and its election page can be viewed here, and all details are either in that page, or in linked pages from there.
- The website of Moray Council is here and its election page can be viewed here, and all details are in various linked pages from there, for candidates in the .pdf page here.

Local Government election - Highland Council - 4th May 2017 - results

( please see the ADDENDUM at the end)

Overall an excellent result for the Conservatives throughout Scotland and in my local government area - Highland Region - a pretty good result too, in fact an amazingly good outcome from a very low starting position for the party in Scotland.

In Scotland overall, though, let's not kid ourselves, the SNP retains the largest number of seats, albeit suffering a small loss in numbers of seats (-7). However, and pleasingly, it is Labour that has lost the most (-133), as have "Independent" (-26) and the Liberal Democrat (-3). Two groups have gained seats - Conservatives (+164) and Green (+5). The Conservatives have gone from 4th place to 2nd place in numbers of seats, overtaking both Labour, quite extraordinarily, and "Independent". You can see full results for Scotland here.

As for Highland Council, where I live, there are 74 seats in all, and the Conservatives have increased from a standing start of "zero", to take 10 seats, really very good indeed. You can see summary details with changes in the BBC website here.

In the Highland Council website you can see full summary seat holdings after all results have been declared, plus details for each Council Ward of which candidates have been elected - visit its website here.

In my own Council Ward (Ward 18 - Nairn and Cawdor), which has 4 of the 74 seats, the four councillors who have been elected are:
- FRASER, Laurie ("Independent")
- HEGGIE, Tom ("Independent")
- MACDONALD, Liz (Scottish National Party [SNP])
- SAGGERS, Peter (Scottish Conservative and Unionist)

With the remainder being unelected and eliminated:
- CUNNINGHAM, Ritchie (Scottish Liberal Democrats)
- FULLER, Stephen (Scottish National Party [SNP])
- GREEN, Michael ("Independent")
- MACKINTOSH, Andrew (Scottish Labour Party)
- MCINTOSH, Louis (Scottish Socialist Party)
- MCIVOR, Paul ("Independent")

More detailed voting information for Ward 18 - Nairn and Cawdor is available in the Highland Council website here, from which two .PDF files may be downloaded, yielding what to me is the extraordinary and pleasing result that, looking at 1st Preference Votes alone, the Conservative councillor Peter Saggers was second only to one of the Independent councillors Tom Heggie, both newly-elected at this election. The other two councillors elected were both re-elected, having been councillors in several previous councils. What is even more extraordinary, and pleasing to me, is that the re-elected SNP councillor Liz MacDonald in fact came 4th in 1st preference votes, whereas the other re-elected Independent councillor Laurie Fraser came 3rd in 1st preference votes. The two councillors who were not re-elected, but had been councillors upto now were Stephen Fuller and Michael Green.

Turning to the way in which the preference votes worked out in Ward 18, only one councillor was elected at Stage 1 and that is Tom Heggie who received 1,144 at this stage, because he exceeded the required quota of 1,061 votes. One councillor was elected at Stage 7, Liz MacDonald (647 1st pref votes). The remaining two elected councillors were elected at Stage 9, namely Peter Saggers (816 1st pref votes) and Laurie Fraser (694 1st pref votes). (Please also see the ADDENDUM at the end.)

Finally, for the parts of the UK which had local elections yesterday (much of England, all of Scotland and Wales), you can see full results here, but although all results have already been declared in England, Scotland and Wales, there are parts of England for which there are different procedures so are not incorporated into the linked BBC page because they now have Mayoral elections instead, and you can find those results here, however results in two Council Mayoral elections are shown separately in two separate pages - these are Doncaster (result here) and North Tyneside (result here). NB/ Please remember that there are parts of England where the election-cycle did not fall this time, as is the case with the whole of Northern Ireland.

ADDENDUM (Friday 5MAY2017 23.56 BST) I have now re-visited the Highland Council page already linked to above, but for the sake of convenience I repeat it here, where there is now another very interesting document in .PDF format to download, entitled "Candidate Votes Per Stage Report" which details how eligible votes evolved stage by stage until the quota of four elected councillors was arrived at. There is a further report also in .PDF format called "Transfers Report" which analyses in detail how this process evolved. Finally there is another report in 'raw' .CSV format called "Preference Profile Report Ward 18 Nairn and Cawdor" which provides further detail for those interested in a further level of analysis (if you haven't already thrown away your "Poll Card" you can see how your own votes were recorded in the system by checking against your own "Number on Register" by scrolling down the 4-digit reference in the left-most column of this .CSV report, although I suspect that the digits which follow have been further 'randomised' for added security, after re-examination of my own preference votes).

A week today vote "Anyone but SNP" in the 4th May Scottish Local Government Elections

Just a wee reminder:

When voting in the Local Government Elections on Thursday 4th May 2017, if you are in Scotland, please use your voting choices by voting for "Anyone but SNP", whilst avoiding voting for the Greens, or any "Independent" council candidate who has a record of supporting the SNP/Green "Scottish separation/indpendence" agenda, preferably using at least one of your preference votes (as high up in your list of preferences as possible), by voting Conservative .

Wherever else you are in the UK (if not in Scotland), I similarly urge you to vote Conservative in next week's Local Government Elections too.

After the final push for next week's Local Government Elections, we voters have a few weeks of respite before returning to the voting booths again on Thursday 8th June to vote in the General Election, when it is doubly important, for those of us in Scotland, to reduce the representation of the SNP at Westminster as much as possible, either by voting for the political party you favour personally (Conservatives in my case, or Labour, LibDems or even, at a pinch, UKIP), or by voting "tactically" for another political party which seems likely to do well in your own constituency - all to maximise the chances of defeating and ejecting sitting SNP MPs. The Spectator magazine has a useful article here to assist you in how best to deploy your "tactical vote" in Scottish constituencies for the Westminster election on 8th June to have the maximum anti-SNP value. The Scottish Greens are allied with the SNP in aiming to split the UK asunder too, so wherever you are please don't vote for them either.

If you are elsewhere in the UK, in England or Wales, I urge you to vote vote Conservative, to unseat as many Labour and LibDem sitting MPs as possible; in Northern Ireland please show your support by voting for a political party which supports the UK.

Keep Scotland British!
Help to re-elect a Conservative Government!
You know it makes sense!

If you're in Scotland vote "Anyone but SNP" in the 4th May and 8th June elections

Local Government Elections are being held throughout the UK (except NI) on 4th May and a General Election is being called for 8th June throughout the whole of the UK.

Wherever you are in the UK, I urge you to vote Conservative in the General Election and if you are in Scotland, when voting in the Local Government Elections please use your voting choices by voting for "Anyone but SNP", whilst avoiding voting for the Greens, or any "Independent" council candidate who has a record of supporting the SNP/Green "Scottish separation/indpendence" agenda.

Keep Scotland British! You know it makes sense!

Local Government election - Highland Council - 4th May 2017 - candidates list

On 4th May 2017, elections will be held for Local Government throughout the UK (except for Northern Ireland, where I understand the next local government elections will be held in 2019, the last having been held in 2014). You can find information about these elections, and links to fuller information about them via the following links:

- The Electoral Commission;
- General information in the BBC website about Local Government elections in 2017;
- Information in the BBC website about Scottish local elections 2017 (incl. links to all Scottish Council official websites).

I live in the Highland Council local government area, and its website is here, from which there are links to the dedicated Local Government Elections Thursday 4 May 2017 'microsite' here. Various relevant documents are downloadable (in .pdf and other formats) from there.

Highland Council has 21 "Wards" and a list of all candidates (ward by ward) in the forthcoming local government elections is downloadable (in .pdf format) here.

I live in Ward 18 - Nairn and Cawdor, where the candidates (in alphabetic name order) are, with their political party affiliations, if any:

- CUNNINGHAM, Ritchie (Scottish Liberal Democrats)
- FRASER, Laurie ("Independent")
- FULLER, Stephen (Scottish National Party [SNP])
- GREEN, Michael ("Independent")
- HEGGIE, Tom ("Independent")
- MACDONALD, Liz (Scottish National Party [SNP])
- MACKINTOSH, Andrew (Scottish Labour Party)
- MCINTOSH, Louis (Scottish Socialist Party)
- MCIVOR, Paul ("Independent")
- SAGGERS, Peter (Scottish Conservative and Unionist)

Rules for voting
You can vote for as many or as few candidates as you wish, placing your choices in order of preference by putting 1, 2, 3 and so on in the boxes to the right of each candidate's name on your ballot paper.

Final Comments
This article is entirely apolitical and makes no comments, one way or the other, about any of the candidates - it is intended to be entirely factual only. I will probably be writing other articles in which my own preferences will be mentioned, although those who know me or who have read my blog in the past may well be aware of my general preferences already.

Brodie Castle near Nairn and the daffodils in Spring

I visited Brodie Castle near Nairn yesterday, as it was a reasonably pleasant Spring afternoon, with no rain forecast, mainly to see the Spring display of daffodils there, which as usual were rather nice, although perhaps not so good as in some previous years.

After concluding most of my walk around the grounds, I repaired to the cafe/tea-room in the Castle for coffee and cake, with a little shopping later on in the afternoon. I had an enjoyable day.

Here's a short video I took yesterday, which includes clips talen during my visit to Brodie Castle, as well as some clips taken at home before and after my little outing:

Murder in Nairn - 12 years ago today - police still "absolutely committed" to solving crime

(Please see UPDATE at end)

Today is the 12th anniversary of the murder of Nairn resident Mr Alistair Wilson. The crime remains unsolved and no motive for the killing, even if one is known or suspected, has been revealed. However, Police Scotland state that they remain absolutely committed to finding his murderer and that the case remains "active".

It is to be hoped that the perpetrator of this crime will be identified and made to pay for it, sooner rather than later.

You can visit the page for this unsolved crime in the Police Scotland website here:

Alistair Wilson Anyone with any information in connection with the murder of 30-year-old banker Alistair Wilson should contact Police Scotland on 101, or Crimestoppers in confidence and complete anonymity on 0800 555 111. Contact Us Contact Police Scotland on 101, or Crimestoppers in confidence and complete anonymity on 0800 555 111

My most recent previous article on the murder is here. There are links to all my posts on this murder, so close to where I live, in the right-hand column under the heading 'Murder in Nairn' articles.

UPDATE (Friday 02DEC2016 20.20 GMT) - To mark the 12th anniversary of the murder, according to this article in the Daily Record published on 30th November 2016, apparently a radio call-in was held on the John Beattie show on BBC Radio Scotland during which an "anonymous caller phoned the John Beattie show as it discussed the case" and provided information, which was not broadcast but has been passed by the BBC to Police Scotland, who in turn have stated that the information provided will be "thoroughly investigated". Perhaps we will learn in due course that this information is significant and will allow the investigation to make progress, but as yet no-one not privy to the investigation can make any inferences and I for one certainly do not do so, although I am obviously extremely intrigued by and interested in this development.

John Gordon Macintyre, Nairn - Obituary

J Gordon Macintyre 5 October 1931 - 25 September 2016 Rest in Peace

Always known as "J Gordon Macintyre", Gordon Macintyre was a flamboyant and eccentric, but hugely likeable fixture of Nairn (and beyond in certain circles) for many decades. I first met Gordon soon after I came to live in Nairn in September 2000, as I was invited by one of my new neighbours to join her as a guest at a chamber music concert at Clifton House, which it so happens is just around the corner from where I now live, and immediately joined the Nairn Performing Arts Guild (NPAG), a registered charity run by him and which organised chamber music recitals, plays and readings of various kinds. I remained a member until NPAG was succeeded by Music Nairn, when Gordon and his wife, Muriel, decided to move from their long-term home and business at Clifton House (run for many years as a quirky and wonderful small hotel and restaurant, until a few years before they moved), as they now wished to 'retire', to a new home just outside Nairn at Geddes.

From the word go I seemed to 'click' with Gordon - I liked him a lot and I think that feeling was reciprocated. He was an unusual and rather eccentric man, specially when compared with his rather more down-to-earth, fiercely intelligent and occasionally 'waspish' wife Muriel. But Gordon was of course in his own way a practical businessman too, running their hotel and restaurant business very successfuly in his own inimitable and flamboyant way. Muriel sadly passed away some years ago, in June 2009. Gordon was always immaculately and often colourfully attired, often sporting one of his extensive collection of bow-ties or cravates; even in his later declining years, though his attention to the detail of his wardrobe perhaps had slipped a little, he still managed to look smart and certainly always stood out from the crowd in whichever gathering he found himself. I count myself fortunate to have known Gordon, albeit only in the later stages of his life - it made settling in to my new home in Nairn so much more pleasurable.

It so happens I was away at my holiday home in Spain for a month from toward the end of September, as it turns out just a few days after his demise, which I had not heard about when I left for Spain. However, he had telephoned me about a week prior to this (I think therefore only three or four days before before his death) to ask me to postpone a visit to his home that we had been talking about, as he was feeling 'off-colour', saying that he would contact me when he was feeling a bit better. In the light of his death so soon after the call, I now think he was probably telephoning, consciously or unconsciously, to say 'goodbye'. It so happens his obituary was in our local weekly newspaper, The Nairnshire Telegraph (no online presence) only this week, in the issue dated Tuesday 25th October, a month after his death, whereas his obituary in The Scotsman was published only a few days before that on 20th October (read it here), to which it bears a certain similarity, so it is possible his family had deliberately kept his death low-key for the first month, it being inconceivable to me that it would not have been written about sooner, specially in our local newspaper, otherwise.

In any case, I am very saddened to learn of Gordon's death. I am just grateful that I had the pleasure of knowing him and for his friendship.

First review - new Sun Dancer restaurant and bar in Nairn

(Please see UPDATE at end)

The new Sun Dancer restaurant and bar in Nairn finally opened a week ago yesterday (i.e. Sunday 14th August); I do not think it has yet been advertised in any way, certainly it was not in last week's Nairnshire on Tuesday 16th, so it seems to have undertaken what is usually known as a "soft opening". Rumours locally are that it was originally scheduled to open in May, presumably in order to catch the late-Spring and early-Summer trade, but local rumours are that its opening was delayed for various reasons; I will not repeat any of the reasons I heard about though, as this is mere hearsay and the important point, as I see it, is that it has now opened.

I visited with my partner yesterday Sunday 21st August around lunchtime and we had ice cream milkshakes in the ground floor cafe - very nice they were too and the interior is bright, cheerful and modern in feel and the young lady serving us was pleasant and friendly. We asked if we could visit upstairs to see the bar/restaurant and being told "yes" went up to take a look.

It was much more spacious than I imagined it would be (I live close by so have followed its progress over the months). It is well laid out and the tables are not too crowded together. There is a bar area in one corner, with comfortable and quite smart furniture in that part of the floor. The tables and chairs of the main restaurant part are also quite smart and the balcony at the front has some tables and chairs, pleasant for a drink on a nice day or evening. We asked to book a table for the same evening and returned for our meal later with time for pre-dinner drinks.

The staff are friendly and pleasant, although still obviously learning their jobs and getting comfortable with their work environment, drinks and menus, etc. We had a very nice meal indeed, broadly comparable with the two other what I consider decent eateries in Nairn (The Classroom and The Bandstand) and the cost was broadly similar too; the Sunny Brae is lovely too of course, but is rather more refined in many ways than those three (including the Sun Dancer), only being a bit more expensive.

There was a Sunday menu on offer, 2 courses for £15.95, with 3 courses being a few pounds more; there was a small but sufficient range of options for starters, mains and puddings/desserts, although we understand there may be a more extensive menu in due course, but that they are trialling a slighlty more restricted menu, at least at the beginning, not to over-complicate matters. The food as mentioned was pretty good, so this represents good value I think, specially for an evening meal, with drinks (campari/soda, guinness [2 pints in all], a large glass of white and a small glass of red, for the cheese we had for dessert), the total bill was about £66-, rounded up to £71- (for 2 persons) with tip, a bit less than we would normally have added, for the reasons mentioned later in this review.

The table settings are nice (white quality table cloths, decent cutlery and crockery, high quality cloth-like paper napkins) and the dining table seats are quite comfortable and smart. It is obvious considerable care has been taken with designing a very pleasant venue to take full advantage of the lovely views out over the Firth; we had a corner window table just inside the outdoor balcony so the views were excellent, but most tables (even those not directly adjacent to the large windows) will have good views of the Firth.

The only criticism I would have is that the service was very slow and somewhat disjointed, but always pleasant and friendly, although it did require us on several occasions to try and attract the staff's attention after we had been waiting for lengthy periods, both to place our orders and to receive each course, requiring us to query the delays throughout the evening. For example we had to wait 15 minutes after finishing our main course before managing to attract the attention of someone to take our dessert order (the cheese board for both of us, which was excellent when it came, but obviously required no "cooking"), then after 25 minutes of waiting for it to be delivered, we managed to attract the attention of a waitress returning to the kitchen with used crockery from another table, when it was delivered rapidly; probably it had been waiting for delivery to us in the kitchen for some time, I suspect.

Getting the bill took another while, a pattern throughout the whole evening. However, I think this will become a great place to eat in Nairn, assuming they maintain their initial food standards (which are quite high in local terms I'd say), once they become rather slicker in the service area. I put the delays down to the staff still becoming familiar with their roles, so expect and hope this is merely a "teething" problem. I think they have been quite busy during their first week of operation, from what the lady who appeared to be in charge indicated to us, and it was certainly pretty busy on Sunday evening when we were there, so everyone there was flung into the deep end whilst still learning their jobs. We shall certainly visit again in a month or so (rotating it in with the other places already mentioned, which we will undoubtedly visit again in the intervening period), and hope we will have an equally enjoyable meal, but experience somewhat slicker service, once the staff have become more comfortable in their jobs. However, first impressions are that it is a very welcome addition to Nairn's dining scene.

NB/ This review is a slightly more detailed version of one I have already placed in the restaurant's own recently-created Facebook page here.

My aim here, as with all reviews of restaurants and hotels which I add in various places (my own blog or 'social media' or specialised review sites), is to be honest and completely fair. I do not think the Sun Dancer yet has a listing in Tripadvisor, but perhaps that will come in due course.

UPDATE (Sunday 19FEB17 16.50 RST [GMT+1]) A rather tardy comment, but my partner and I, together with a friend, visited the Sun Dancer for a second time on Tuesday 10th January 2017, this time for lunch. The lunch menu offered a reasonable range of choices and all three of us had enjoyable meals, nicely presented. The cost was again pretty reasonable too. Happily, the service on this second visit was much slicker than on our earlier visit, whilst still retaining a friendly atmosphere, without being "over familiar" in any way. The restaurant was fairly busy too, for a Tuesday in the middle of winter, with roughly two thirds of the tables being occupied in the main part of the restaurant (the smaller end part was screened off that day). We again occupied a very nice table by the windows at the front of the restaurant so had excellent views out over the Firth. In summary, I'd say we all three were quite happy with our meal and will certainly return in due course, rotating this newish restaurant with the two or three other pretty good eating places in Nairn.

Nairn - Highland Council refuse collection schedules - 2016 to 2018

You can download a calendar of the refuse collection schedule for your street/area within Highland Council by visiting its website here. Enter your area/town by clicking on the drop-down menu in the "category" box and your town and/or street name (leave out 'street', 'avenue', 'terrace' etc, insert only the actual name) in the "keywords” box. Once you find your area, you can download the collection schedule, which will be in .pdf format. Currently available are refuse collection schedules for the period April 2016 to March 2018.

NB/ For information, my earlier articles in July 2011 and November 2014 (respective links links here and here), in particular the first linked article, has somewhat more detail about what may be put in the various bins/'wheelie bins', although of course the refuse collection schedules embedded there are now out of date. Since then, Highland Council has reorganised its website considerably and the way this information may be found has changed, as described above.

Inverness (INV) gets back flights to Heathrow (LHR) after a gap of almost 20 years

Whilst I think the existing flights from Inverness to London airports such as Gatwick and Luton are good, there is no getting away from the fact that flying into London or via London through Heathrow opens up huge additional possibilities, particularly as Heathrow is the UK's major international 'hub' airport. So the news that British Airways is to reinstate flights from Inverness to Heathrow after a gap of almost 20 years is unequivocally a "good thing" in my view.

I've taken a look in the British Airways website at the flights available currently (one a day in each direction) and these appear to be at pretty convenient times during the day, to suit both the business and leisure traveller. In particular, those arriving off of long-haul flights into Heathrow early in the morning will probably be able to catch the flight upto Inverness, whereas those who are leaving on a long-haul flight from Heathrow in the late-afternoon or early evening should be able to make the connection on the lunch-time flight out of Inverness in many cases. This will undoubtedly be very convenient for business travellers, but also to long-haul leisure travellers, whether travelling East or West from or to Heathrow.

The convenience for many buisness or leisure travellers of flying through Heathrow however comes at a price, so if one is not going further than London by air, or coming further, there may be little advantage in using this new service from a cost perspective, but for those coming from or going to long-haul destinations using flights via Heathrow, then the convenience of not having to transfer to/from Gatwick will be a major advantage, because it adds to be safe at least a couple of hours when a trip between the two airports is required, not to mention the additional cost, whether you travel via one of the regular scheduled coach services or take a taxi - going around a part of the M25 during working hours is unlikely to be a fast or particularly comfortable experience.

Of course some long-haul flights do go through Gatwick too, so for some travellers it may still be more convenient to take flights to/from Inverness there, but the reinstated link with Heathrow will provide much greater convenience and flexibility for many travellers to/from the Highlands of Scotland.

Dredging planned at Nairn Harbour - Dredging News Online

I am sure many boat-owners will be anxious about this. In the long run I think it can only help matters, although I do wonder if more dredging of the harbour mouth is not required too, no doubt a very costly and probably only temporary solution, given the shifting sands over this part of the coast. I don't recall having seen dredging of the harbour mouth having been undertaken since soon after I first came to live in Nairn almost sixteen years ago. Read more here

Scottish Parliament election 2016 - more election literature received

Further to my article last Saturday (click here to view) I received this morning some additional election literature from three of those standing in the forthcoming Scottish Parliament election. As I had not already received anything from the 'Independent' Regional candidate I am linking to it in the image below.

Click on the image to see a larger version plus an additional image James Wilson STOCKAN (Independent) Click on the image to see a larger version plus an additional image

The other two leaflets were from candidates from whom I had already received literature, but you can see the most-recently received material from them at the top of the linked pages below:
- Scottish Conservative and Unionist
- Scottish Liberal Democrats

For the sake of equity, I am also including links below for election literature already received from the other candidates too:
- Scottish Green Party
- Scottish Labour Party
- Scottish National Party
- Solidarity ("Solidarity Scotland's Socialist Movement")
- UKIP

If additional 'election messages' arrive in coming days I'll endeavour to put them online too.

A final message - If you have a vote, please use it, however you plan to vote.

Nairn - cricket and sailing on a cool but bright Spring Sunday afternoon

Nairn on a cool but bright and intermittently sunny afternoon in the Spring - what could be nicer? Sunday, 24th April 2016 Click here to see enlargements. Click here to see enlargements.

Scottish Parliament election 2016 - election literature received

(Please see UPDATE at end)

As in some of the previous elections when I have had the time, I have found it fascinating this time to compare the different messages and ideas that the various political parties try to persuade electors to vote for. I'm also interested in their different presentational styles; some of the messages are not to my taste at all, of course, but even where this is the case some of the messages seem to me to be well presented given the limited resources they probably have available. Isn't there some saying about the Devil having all the best tunes?

The images below are of election literature which I have received through my letterbox, listed in alphabetic order. I have not received literature from all the political parties or groups standing at the election on 5th May, but if I do receive any of these in the next few days I will endeavour to include them in this, or a later, posting before the election. However I will only include literature which I receive through my own letterbox. Please note that I have 'edited' some of the images so that multi-fold leaflets show all sections the right way up. None of these modifications alters the basic message in any way I hope.

Click on any image to see a larger version plus additional images Scottish Conservative and Unionist Scottish Green Party Scottish Labour Party Scottish Liberal Democrats Scottish National Party Solidarity ("Solidarity Scotland's Socialist Movement") UKIP Material from 'Independent' Regional candidate James Wilson STOCKAN (Independent) Click on any image to see a larger version plus additional images

For full details of all candidates and parties standing in Highland Region or its three constituencies, please read my earlier article published in early April by clicking here.

PS/ I have already cast my 'FPTP' and 'List' votes postally; those who know me would have little difficulty in divining how these have been cast, but so far as I am concerned it is not a secret either, so I am quite content to acknowledge that both votes were for the Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party or in the case of the 'FPTP' vote, its candidate. Little surprise there, then.

UPDATE (Monday 25APR2016 20.15 BST) I received three additional items of election literature this morning, so have published an article about that here. As one of the items received was from a candidate from whom no literature had previously been received, I have updated the table above to include it, as well as including it in the later article. The other two items were from candidates that I had already received other material from and this too has been updated into the pages linked to in the table above. The later linked article gives complete details.

Scottish Parliament election 2016 - constituency and regional candidates in Highland Region

The next Scottish Parliament election will take place on Thursday 5th May 2016.

All of the information about the individuals and political parties standing for election in the Scottish Parliament election has been taken from the official lists of nominations published in the Highland Council website, with pertinent data available in its website here. See also the 'News' page here.

There are 3 constituencies in the area, where the vote is 'first past the post'; the first shown below is the constituency in which I can vote and the other two are shown here for information:

Inverness and Nairn
- CADDICK, Carolyn Ann (Scottish Liberal Democrats)
- EWING, Fergus Stewart (Scottish National Party [SNP])
- MOUNTAIN, Edward (Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party)
- STEWART, David (Scottish Labour Party)

Caithness, Sutherland and Ross
- FRANCHETTI, Leah Esther (Scottish Labour Party)
- MACKIE, Struan (Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party)
- ROSS, Gail Elizabeth (Scottish National Party [SNP])
- STONE, Jamie (Scottish Liberal Democrats)

Skye, Lochaber and Badenoch
- CAMPBELL, Ronnie (Independent)
- FORBES, Kate (Scottish National Party [SNP])
- MACLEAN, Angela Margaret (Scottish Liberal Democrats)
- MUNRO, Robbie (Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party)
- STEWART, Linda (Scottish Labour Party)

Voting also takes place in a regional 'List' system under a form of proportional representation, for me this region is:

Highlands and Islands Region ('List' candidates - using the d'Hondt method of voting, the Additional Member System)
listed in alphabetic order by political party or individual name
Details of registered parties and party list candidates
RISE – Respect, Independence, Socialism and Environmentalism
"Scotland’s Left Alliance"
(Jean Urquhart / Conor Cheyne / Suzanne Nicola Wright / Louis McIntosh)
Scottish Christian Party “Proclaiming Christ’s Lordship”
"Christians Together"
(Donald MacLeod Boyd / Andrew Henderson Shearer / Isobel Ann MacLeod / John Cranston Lister)
Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party
"Ruth Davidson for a Strong Opposition"
(Douglas Ross / Edward Mountain / Donald Cameron / Jamie Halcro Johnston / Struan Mackie / Cameron Smith /
 Robbie Munro)
Scottish Green Party
"Re-elect John Finnie"
(John Finnie / Isla O’Reilly / Fabio Villani / Ariane Burgess / Steve Sankey / Anne Katherine Thomas / Donnie Macleod /
Michèle Rhodius / Topher Dawson)
Scottish Labour Party
"Choose kids, not cuts"
(Rhoda Grant / David Stewart / Leah Franchetti / Sean Morton / Sarah Atkin / John Erskine / Robina Barton / Gerard McGarvey)
Scottish Liberal Democrats
(Jamie Stone / Carolyn Caddick / James Patterson / David Green / Alan Reid / Angela MacLean / Jean Davis / Ken MacLeod)
Scottish National Party (SNP)
"Nicola Sturgeon for First Minister"
(Maree Todd / Laura Mitchell / Mike Mackenzie / Liz MacDonald / Richard Laird / Danus Skene / Angus MacLeod /
 Hugh Moodie / Ken Gowans / Donna Heddle / Antony Harrison / Muriel Cockburn)
Solidarity - Scotland's Socialist Movement
"Tommy Sheridan - IndyRef2"
(Liz Walker / Ryan Malcolm McGuinness / William Robertson Henderson / Findlay Robert Walker)
UK Independence Party (UKIP)
"UKIP"
(David Adam Coburn / Arthur Leslie Durance / George King / Philip Andrew Anderson)
Details of individual regional candidates
STOCKAN, James Wilson
Independent

I will refrain from making any partisan political comment in this article, although most who have read my blog over the years will know well where my own political leanings tend to lie. I will however permit myself one observation about the ways that most of the registered political parties describe themselves by using a "slogan", described in the Highland Council official list as "Description of party (if any)"; I find these descriptions are mostly meaningless and all are fatuous and add nothing at all of value - only one political party has had the good sense and intellectual integrity to eschew this particular 'grandstanding' technique and even although that party is not one I have ever supported I wanted to record this observation.

The only other thing I wish to say here is that I hope that everyone eligible to vote will use that right so that the result reflects as closely as possible the wishes of the whole electorate. If you couldn't be bothered to vote, but could have done so had you bothered, please don't carp. Whilst it is entirely possible, if not absolutely certain, that I will be very unhappy with the result, I certainly plan to use my own right to vote - and so should you if you possibly can.

PS/ You can see the election literature I have received in a later article dated 23APR2016 here.

Murder in Nairn 11+ years ago - police reiterate it remains an active case

There is a very interesting and lengthy interview and article published yesterday in The Press & Journal, the main regional newspaper in this part of Scotland - you can read it here. Some quotes from the article:

The interview was with Julian Innes, who was a detective inspector in Inverness at the time of the murder of Alistair Wilson the murder victim, and is today chief superintendent and area commander for the north in what is now "Police Scotland" “I was a detective inspector at the time of the Alistair Wilson murder, so I feel this one quite painfully that we haven’t brought his murderer to justice. “I would expect the public and the communities of the Highlands and islands to keep challenging Police Scotland to get this solved. That’s a reasonable expectation. “I can tell you there’s lots of police officers in Scotland that would love to get this solved as well. “So when we get criticised for not solving it, my position as divisional commander is to accept that criticism absolutely. “But they can be assured that if we have any information that would lead to the murderer of Alistair Wilson being caught, we would be all over it. “The police as well as the communities, particularly of Nairn, are keen to make sure this person is caught.”

So much has been known for some time and apart from mentioning that as a result of a Freedom of Information request that "close to £15,000" has been spent since April last year (i.e. during this financial year) specifically on efforts to identify the murderer and that "close to 2,700 people have been interviewed" with the aim of taking the inquiry forward, the article contains nothing "new". The article ends with a quote from Police Scotland Specialist Crime Division major investigation team, which insists it “remains active and ongoing”.

So far as I was aware, there was no real doubt about this. Which begs the question , in my mind at least, why this interview and article has been felt necessary now. In principle it is good of course for this serious crime to be kept in the forefront of people's minds, specially those in the area where it happened. However, I wonder if it may be something more than this. Has there been some kind of criticism of Police Scotland for insufficient rigour in their efforts, or do the police themselves feel under more than usual pressure to justify themselves? For myself, I cannot imagine that anyone would be more anxious to find the culprit than the family of Alistair Wilson and the police. One imagines the only person not keen on the murderer being identified is the murderer.

The only other comment I would make is that I have no idea whether to spend "close to £15,000" is about right, too much or too little. However, I would be somewhat sceptical about any organisation's "cost centre analysis" mechanisms being sufficiently robust to come up with such a figure in the first place. Yes, it's easy enough to quantify hotel, food, overtime costs etc. for those specifically allocated to this case, but what about the odd telephone call or memo written by those not directly involved, not to mention a portion of the salaries of those on this case team? The real spend is probably therefore significantly greater I suspect. However, to try and quantify this - the declared spend of about £15,000 represents probably only somewhere between a fifth and a half of one police personnel's annual remuneration and as I imagine the person most closely involved and 'responsible' for the case is probably a fairly senior individual with annual remuneration to match, quite apart from the others in the team for this case, that would give a more accurate impression of the targeted effort being made to this one case, albeit a very serious one. This is in no way a criticism of the police, whose resources are obviously finite, simply my desire to place the figure quoted in context.

Like most others, I continue to hope the murderer will be caught sooner rather than later. I hope some member of the public who has new and relevant information to offer will come forward to help the police and everyone else solve this crime and lead to the conviction of the person who committed it.

You can visit the page for this unsolved crime in the Police Scotland website here:

Alistair Wilson Anyone with any information in connection with the murder of 30-year-old banker Alistair Wilson should contact Police Scotland on 101, or Crimestoppers in confidence and complete anonymity on 0800 555 111. Contact Us Contact Police Scotland on 101, or Crimestoppers in confidence and complete anonymity on 0800 555 111

My most recent previous article on the murder is here. There are links to all my posts on this murder, so close to where I live, in the right-hand column under the heading 'Murder in Nairn' articles.

Murder in Nairn - almost 11 years and fears hope may be fading of finding the killer, or even a motive?

In advance of the 11th anniversary of the murder of Mr Alistair Wilson, which will be tomorrow, regional newspaper The Press and Journal has published today a very interesting and detailed article, which apart from a detailed timeline of events since the murder, reiterates the belief of Police Scotland that they have "enough data and evidence" to find the shooter, and that they were just awaiting the "final piece", also that the "investigation remains active and ongoing". Police Scotland state "We will consider all forensic and investigative opportunities. We remain absolutely committed to tracing the person responsible for Alistair’s death and continue to ask the public for any information which might assist us."

On the other hand, former Highland Council Convener, and Nairn Councillor for more than two decades and a former Provost of Nairn, Sandy Park, is quoted as saying that that he was "very doubtful" that the banker’s killer would be found. He is also quoted as saying: "Obviously there have been cases that have been solved 20 or 30 years later with the modern DNA, and I’d like to think the police case is not closed and that there are on-going investigations. I would like to think it would be solved but it is 11 years so you would think it would be less and less likely. I’m still living in hope that they will get the culprit eventually, but I’m very doubtful. As far as the community is concerned I think it has moved on quite a bit since then. It’s just when the anniversary comes along that it makes you think about it again." That sums up pretty well how I feel about this sad matter, too.

On the other hand another Nairn Councillor and the current Provost of Nairn, Laurie Fraser, is quoted as saying: "I don’t think the community will ever forget about it. I think eventually there will be a resolution of some kind in the future but we may have to wait 10 years. It has always been a very difficult case for the police. They must have exhausted every single line of inquiry and they must just be waiting for something to happen. I think technological advances will be difficult. We’ve pretty much seen all the advances."

Ms Mary Scanlon, a Conservative MSP, has apparently criticised the failure to trace the murderer: "This was a deeply tragic case and despite years of searching for answers it is disappointing that Police Scotland have not came close to catching Alistair Wilson’s killer. Nairn is such a close-knit community and his murder has affected everyone. After 10 years, the police should be stepping up their operations rather than scaling down to solve this crime once and for all. I had hoped that the forming of Police Scotland would allow expertise from the force across Scotland to be drawn in to fully investigate this tragic death of a young man and father. It is very disappointing that Alastair Wilson’s name is now added to the list of unsolved murders in the Highlands." Whilst I share her frustration, it seems to me that Northern Police and its successor Police Scotland have been working diligently on this case and cannot be criticised for not being open to examine all lines of investigation they become aware of and for continuing to solicit the assistance of the public to try and find further clues and/or evidence about why this crime happened and who carried it out. Unfortunately the crime sleuths of fiction, whether Sherlock Holmes, Hercule Poirot or Inspector Morse are just that, creatures of fiction.

One can only hope that one day, hopefully soon, progress will be made so that a suspect can be identified, taken to court and if found guilty, convicted.

You can visit the page for this unsolved crime in the Police Scotland website here:

Alistair Wilson Anyone with any information in connection with the murder of 30-year-old banker Alistair Wilson should contact Police Scotland on 101, or Crimestoppers in confidence and complete anonymity on 0800 555 111. Contact Us Contact Police Scotland on 101, or Crimestoppers in confidence and complete anonymity on 0800 555 111

My most recent previous article on the murder is here. There are links to all my posts on this murder, so close to where I live, in the right-hand column under the heading 'Murder in Nairn' articles.

Murder in Nairn - 10 years on and still no resolution

Later this week, on 28th November 2014, will mark the the 10 year anniversary of the murder of banker Alistair Wilson on his doorstep in Nairn; to date the murder remains unsolved and, at least publicly, there is no information about what the motive may have been, far less who may have committed the murder.

Police Scotland, according to this BBC News report, are expected to make a further appeal for information from anyone who may be able to provide it, with a view to making material progress in apprehending the murderer.

You can visit the page for this unsolved crime in the Police Scotland website here:

Alistair Wilson Anyone with any information in connection with the murder of 30-year-old banker Alistair Wilson should contact Police Scotland on 101, or Crimestoppers in confidence and complete anonymity on 0800 555 111.

My most recent previous article on the murder is here. There are links to all my posts on this murder, so close to where I live, in the right-hand column under the heading 'Murder in Nairn' articles.