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!

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:

Over-spending and Debt at Christmas - please try and resist the temptation

I rarely touch on personal domestic matters, but at this time of year many people will become increasingly "excited" over the coming few weeks in the run-up to Christmas or the Festive Season or the Holiday Season or however you choose to describe it. I have little or no religious faith (I hover between Agnosticism and Atheism), but I have felt since I was becoming a teenager and then young adult that the idea that there was some "power" overseeing humanity was so much superstitious nonsense. I try to be "nice" in my personal dealings, so I hope that not too many are offended by my cavalier viewpoint, but ultimately if you are offended I'm afraid you will have to live with it, because in reality I don't much care. You have your views and I have mine.

In any case, however you view the coming few weeks, many people including me look upon the forthcoming Christmas holidays/festival/celebrations as an opportunity to get together with friends and family, eating and drinking rather more than is usual during the rest of the year, also offering hospitality and gifts to various family, friends and acquaintances and receiving similar in return. However, the simplest thing I can urge upon you is to not overdo it, and remember that if you are incurring debts, or your friends and family are, to fund this annual extravanganza, that booms generally are followed by busts. Debts incurred to fund this period will fairly soon have to be repaid, somehow or other. I realise that for younger families with young children that they will want to provide their children with a happy and exciting Christmas and certainly will not wish their own children to feel they are less fortunate than some of their classmate contemporaries, who receive the latest "must have" toys, games, clothes and gadgetry generally at this time of year. I understand the pressures that people face in a "consumer" society. Most of us have budgetary limits in what we can do; some of us have more "discretionary" income, beyond the absolute essentials, than others. Some amongst us have almost no such "discretionary" income at all and whatever "joy" (if any) they can look forward to over the coming weeks will be dependent on the help of others, which I hope will be as generous as others' means will allow.

But for everyone, I would like to urge some level of moderation, both in the desire to "give" and expectation of what you may wish or expect to "receive"; we all want to enjoy oursleves, but not at the expense (surely) of subsequent weeks or months of actual or near penury to pay for it. I volunteered for some years, quite some years ago now, with a charity organisation that sought to help people in various personal struggles and I always remember that another volunteer, when we were both "on duty" around this time of year, tried to explain to me the pressures she was under not to disappoint her own children in their expectations, which she was barely able (if at all) to satisfy. I am not "wealthy", but I suppose I am "comfortable" in comparison to many others, so it's possible that I don't always understand fully the pressures that face some others, I don't deny it, but I am very aware that not everyone is so fortunate as me.

In Nairn we have a weekly newspaper, published every Tuesday, as I have mentioned a few times before - The Nairnshire Telegraph does not have any online presence, so it is not possible to link to their articles, but one item they carry every week is a sort of 'moral homily' from some religious bloke signing himself 'Sandy Shaw - Nairn Christian Fellowship' and they are usually pretty trite, apart from being poorly written and full of logical non sequiturs. I read them, or at least glance at them, every week when I am in Nairn, and usually indulge in a little derisive chuckle and have at least once before written about something I read in the column - for example, in November/December 2011 when I wrote this. The article today (Tuesday, 6th December 2016) is the usual mix of religious mumbo-jumbo mixed in with practical advice, so whilst I find the former risible I am happy to acknowledge that that there is considerable "common sense" in the latter. The article this weeks is pithily entitled "Debt" and I reproduce it below:

The Nairnshire Telepgraph Tuesday, December 6, 2016 - page 8

Whatever your views on "religion" (and I have already expressed my own scepticism and indeed scorn for these "notions" and "beliefs" as they are what I regard as fiction), there is I think a good deal of common sense in the linked article. Do with my article what you will. In any case, enjoy yourselves over the coming weeks, but don't overdo it in any sense.

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.

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

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.

Bill gets married

Friends on Facebook and Twitter already know this, but I recently got married (to a man, lest there be any smidgen of a doubt); we are very happy. Our wedding took place at the Registry Office in the Court House, Nairn on 29th February 2016; our very nice cake was made by Asher's and lunch followed at a nearby Chinese restaurant, The Dragon Pearl, all in the presence and company of friends, neighbours and relatives. Later that day we had a lovely dinner with family and friends at another local restaurant, The Classroom. Our quasi-honeymoon began the following day with a couple of days spent in Edinburgh, although we plan a somewhat longer vacation sometime later in the year.

Those who may be interested can view an online gallery of some of our wedding photographs in my personal website here.

Restaurants and coffee places in Nairn & Elgin - places visited very recently

Reviews of a few places I ate in or had coffee this past weekend:

The Classroom, Nairn: (for dinner on Saturday evening)
I've eaten in this restaurant many times before, as has my partner on a few occasions. We booked late in the afternoon for a dinner booking that evening (Saturday 26th March), half expecting to be told it was fully booked as it was during the Easter weekend, but they were able to take a late-ish booking for 8.45pm; we turned up at about 8.30pm and as predicted it was "hoaching", but they were able to seat us at our table for two immediately, which was a relief as the bar area was really busy and almost every other table was fully occupied. Our orders for food and wine were taken reasonably quickly. We both ended up ordering starters and mains from the 'daily specials'. We both had the crab croquettes with a small salad and a sweet-and-sour dip, which was excellent - the croquettes had nice crunchy outer layers but very tasty creamy potato and crab-filled interiors, nicely set-off with the dips and the salads. For the mains, we both had the venison haunch steaks with black puddings, etc; I've had this particular dish here before so remembered it being pretty good. Vension steaks can sometimes be a bit dry, but previously and on Satturday both our steaks were delicious - cooked quite rare as we both like them, juicy and tender and with a lovely sauce. The accompanying black pudding slices atop disks of very smooth creamy mashed potato and the accompanying veggies were all excellent. We had a very nice bottle of Rioja (red) from the 3rd wine on their list of reds, which was pretty good value I'd say. For pudding one of us wished to have one of the 'daily menu' specials - a variety of panna cotta - which sounded delicious (but was already sold out unfortunately), so we both had the triple Belgian chocolate dessert - it was nicely served and in fact included about 6 separate elements, all delicious and of course quite rich and sinful. In local terms this is one of the more expensive places to eat, but not outrageously so for the quality offered. Despite it being very busy on Saturday, the service was efficient and reasonably prompt whilst remaining friendly and professional. Undoubtedly we shall be back in due course.

The Links TeaRoom, Nairn (for Sunday morning refreshments)
I live very close to this place so very occasionally pop in for a bite to eat, or a coffee if I'm too lazy to do it at home. On Sunday (27th March) we popped in for coffee and hot chocolate after a walk along the beach. The service was very slow, but reasonably friendly and both the decaffeinated latte (for me) and the hot chocolate (for my partner) were excellent. The Tea Room only re-opened a few days ago, just before Easter, after having been closed as usual over the winter, but I expect it will do a roaring trade over coming months. I/we will probably pop in a few times in coming months and recommend it, provided you are not in a rushing hurry.

Brewers Fayre, Linkwood Lodge, Elgin (for Sunday lunch)
This is not one of the best meals I have ever had (by a long way), but it did represent extremely good value, with pretty slick service from friendly, attentive personnel. The food was modest in cost, but perfectly nice and acceptable. I've eaten in a few Brewers Fayre outlets before and this was similar. My partner had seen them, but never eaten in one before, so we decided to visit yesterday (Sunday 27th March) for lunch. The restaurant was quite busy, but we found a table easily enough, the ordering system is straightforward and the person who took our order was friendly and efficient, as was the person who delivered our food and drinks. Our orders took a little while to arrive, but on the other hand that indicated that the food was likely freshly prepared, which it was. A 14oz rib-eye for my partner, which given the very modest cost was quite good and cooked 'rare' as requested; it represents amazing value in my view (I had a few small mouthfuls of it). My Thai chicken curry was not brilliant, but still very nice and the spicy crackers and sweet/sour dip were nice too. You don't go to a Brewers Fayre for gourmet food, but they do serve decent food, fairly quickly, and the staff are generally friendly and attentive. I can certainly see a return visit in due course. NB/ Brewers Fayre restaurants are often close to Premier Inn hotels, as both are owned by the same company; this one is located in a small commercial area just off the main A96 road on the eastern edge of Elgin.

So there we have it, quite a lot of food over a very enjoyable couple of days. In fact I eat out fairly frequently, usually at least once a week, so I may start including brief reviews here in future. I hope others visiting or living in this part of Scotland may find this useful.

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.

Nairn - Highland Council refuse collection schedules - 2014 to 2016

(Please see UPDATE at end)

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 2014 to March 2016.

NB/ My earlier article in July 2011 (link here) has somewhat more detail, 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.

UPDATE (Wednesday 25MAY2016 13.35 CEST/BST+1) - Refuse collection schedules for the period April 2016 to March 2018 are now available, link as shown above, or you can visit my later article written today here.

Hateful bigotry from Nairn's SNP Councillor on Highland Council

(Please see UPDATES at end)

Nairn has four Councillors on Highland Council and one of these is Councillor Liz MacDonald, who represents the SNP. The article below appeared in our local [weekly] newspaper yesterday:

Councillor MacDonald (SNP) stands by her "butcher's apron" remark to Labour man - article appearing in "Nairnshire Telegraph" 19th August 2014 (Unfortunately our local weekly newspaper in Nairn does not have an on-line presence.) - Hateful bigotry from Nairn SNP Councillor Liz MacDonald - Click here to see an enlargement. Click here to see an enlargement.

Whilst I find her "chip-on-shoulder" and plain nasty views deplorable, it is at least good that these have been exposed in our local newspaper. I think that all her comments deserve a good 'fisking', but I think this particular extract from the article above of one of her quoted remarks illustrates perfectly the kind of person she is:

"I was surprised that he had gone to the press about it because it was a tweet between us."

How naïve does someone have to be to make such a comment? Presumably if she had wished it to remain private she would not have tweeted publicly about it (but see below), but perhaps sent a 'direct message' instead, nor would she then have spoken about it to a reporter from "The Nairnshire". However, this particular remark says something more about Councillor Liz; this person, an elected Councillor, has a habit of blocking people from viewing her Twitter feed who have criticised anything she has tweeted in support of the SNP. For example, I am myself blocked from viewing her tweets because a couple of months ago I responded to a tweet from her suggesting, in response to one of my tweets, that I should get a copy of "Scotland's Future" to enable me to comment knowledgeably. This is a document put out by the Scottish Government (which currently is SNP led). I responded that I had indeed ordered this document soon after it was published and that I had subsequently read it cover to cover. I also commented that I found it merely a propaganda document (a 'manifesto' if you will) for the SNP and that it is vague on detail and provides no real factual information to allow people to make an educated and considered decision on how to vote in the forthcoming referendum. It is really just a very lengthy list of forecasts and wishful thinking. I realised some time later that Councillor Liz had blocked me as a result and I am aware that others locally have been blocked by her too, for having had the temerity to dissent from SNP 'dogma'. To be clear, I was never rude to her, but it is equally clear that she is unwilling to engage in meaningful debate and frankly doubt she merits holding public office with such a closed-minded attitude toward free debate. Our local newspaper "The Nairnshire" has performed a valuable public service by revealing the attitudes of our SNP Councillor when it comes to open debate.

Finally, it is unsurprising to me that the "The Nairnshire" article has gone unmentioned so far in another well-known Nairn blog; the writer is a supporter of the SNP cause and is usually very quick to comment on important articles appearing in our local 'rag'. Perhaps realising the devastating 'own goal' which the remarks and tweets made by Councillor Liz represent, he has preferred to draw a veil over it? She may regret that someone has decided to publicise her noisome tweets, but Twitter is part of social media and she will have to get used to it - or alternatively she might care to go into a sound-proofed room where she would be able to spew out her hateful rhetoric to her heart's content and not risk others becoming aware of her bigotry.

This article expands upon my tweet on this topic earlier today, here.

UPDATE (Wednesday 20AUG2014 16.45 BST) I have just noticed that our local councillor Liz MacDonald has unblocked me on Twitter; I can't say precisely when or why this has happened, but perhaps it is as a result of this blog article and my tweet earlier today. In any case I wanted to record this fact and that I am pleased about it.

2nd UPDATE (Tuesday 30DEC2014 21.18 GMT) As a result of visits to this article over the past couple of days and the last few weeks from some major media organisations (e.g. BBC and BSkyB amongst others), I decided to [try and] visit Ms MacDonald's twitter feed (@Liz_Nairn) this evening and discovered that I have once more been blocked from viewing it or following it; I have no idea how soon after I mentioned above that I had been 'unblocked' I was 'reblocked' as I don't follow her tweets and have not attempted to visit her Twitter feed since I last wrote here about it. Undoubtedly my article, entirely accurate and factual as it is of course, is acutely embarrassing to this person, but quite frankly it was/is no more than she deserved/deserves. I read a few days ago that it is now SNP policy to block 'dissenters' from their 'dogma' systematically and although I have no idea of the accuracy of the comment I read about this (in Facebook, as it so happens, in one of the pages I follow there) it does seem to have the ring of truth, for the SNP does seem to be a deeply 'paranoid' and closed-minded organisation.

Flying of St Andrew Saltire at Nairn cricket pitch

(Please see UPDATES at end)

I have earlier this evening written a message to the Highland Council (whose website is here) on the above-mentioned subject. I repeat the text below:

QUOTE
I have noticed for the past few years that a St Andrew Saltire flag has been flown permanently from a flagpole at the southern side of Nairn cricket pitch. By my recollection this practice started [only] a few years ago, during the period an SNP councillor was briefly Provost of Nairn, until “ousted” from this role by "Independent" colleagues; my home overlooks this venue, so I have been observing it closely for many years. Again by my recollection, prior to this time, no flag was flown over the cricket pitch except during the weeks immediately prior to the Nairn Highland Games (held during mid-Agusut), when it was a Union Flag. Please clarify why this policy has changed in very recent years?

In the run up to the referendum on Scottish "independence"/separation from the rest of the UK, to be held on 18th September 2014, I am sure that Highland Council would wish to appear strictly non-partisan in this important decision affecting all our futures. Or am I wrong? Is Highland Council strictly non-Partisan?

Or is it some other body that has authorised this change of flag-flying practice at Nairn cricket pitch in very recent years? Who might that be? I think I and some other Nairn residents would be interested to know.

(Note: as a proud Scot, I like to see our St Andrew Saltire flying from time to time and if year-round raising of this flag had been the normal practice at Nairn cricket pitch over the past several decades I probably would not have even remarked on it, but the fact is that its year-round flying is a very recent change.)

I am not even going to pretend I am neutral on this topic; I want Scotland to remain a part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (UK for short), but probably even now would not raise a query had the new practice of flying a St Andrew Saltire year-round been restricted only to the immediate weeks around the Nairn Highland Games. But it is obvious that this recent change of practice represents something different; why is our national flag the Union flag not also being flown?

I am posting this message simultaneously in my personal weblog:
http://billcameron.blogspot.com/ (i.e. this blog)
UNQUOTE

I shall be interested to observe what response I may receive, if any; naturally I will report on this here.

UPDATE (Wednesday 30JUL14 14.30 BST) I just had an email acknowledgement of my query, from Highland Council, allocating a case reference number and advising "We aim to deal with this case within 10 working days". Developments awaited.

2nd UPDATE (Monday 18AUG14 12.30 BST) As I have not heard further from Highland Council within the 10 days they mentioned in their acknowledgement to me, I have today emailed them asking them to expedite their response.

Ashers of Nairn in bakery tie-up with Co-op Scotmid

Scottish Co-operative Scotmid has just opened its 100th in-store bakery, this time in partnership with Ashers Bakery of Nairn, with the opening of a new in-store bakery facility at its Scotmid Balloan store in Inverness. Read more here.

According to Alister Asher, joint managing director of Ashers: "Ashers is delighted to be working in partnership with Scotmid as they expand their bakery sector. Customers appreciate local fresh bakery suppliers in a convenient location. We’re proud to be Scotmid’s 100th in-store bakery."

Scotmid's project began in April 2012 and now has partnerships with seven Scottish craft bakers (Ashers Bakery of Nairn; Aulds of Greenock; The Breadwinner Bakery of Edinburgh; Goodfellow & Steven of Dundee; J G Ross of Inverurie; Stephens Bakery of Dunfermline; and Stuart’s of Buckhaven) and in England with Bryson’s of Keswick, for its Lakes and Dales Co-operative stores in Cumbria.

Although I rarely eat bread products myself any longer (for dietary reasons), I was formerly a regular customer of Ashers here in Nairn (now only when I have guests staying with me) and can thoroughly recommend their products, from various breads to the most 'sinful' of treats and I have used their custom cake-making service on several occasions for special celebrations.

For more information about Ashers of Nairn and the location of all their other shops, you can visit their website here.

Graham's to "continue development of value added products at its Nairn facility"

It is pleasing to be able to write of more positive developments at Graham's (Scotland’s leading independent milk processor) and in particular as these affect its Nairn facility (formerly Claymore Dairies). The Courier (published in Dundee) carried the story a couple of days ago, when it reported that turnover had increased 21% in the year to end-March 2013, with sales reaching £68 million.

I've written before about the firm's focus on turnover at the expense of margins (and ultimately profits), but the Courier article reports that pre-tax profits doubled to more than £1 million during the year. Managing Director Robert Graham is reported as saying that the firm would "would continue its development of added-value products at its base in Nairn", the investment in which is being part-funded by a 'marketing and cooperation' grant announced in June of £482,000 from the Scottish Government, estimated to be about 20% of the capital expenditure.

However, other salient reported comments by Mr Graham included:
- 'Graham’s was "really pleased" with a result which continued a long-standing pattern of 20% per annum revenue growth(*)'
- 'But he warned that margins would have to come under pressure if the company’s continued investment was to generate appropriate levels of profit.'

(*) As I have mentioned before when writing about Claymore/Graham's, the eliding of turnover with profit, and even more so the assumption that growth in turnover, accompanied by pressure on margins will necessarily lead to increased profits is a dangerous one.

Of course, Mr Graham is the man actually running the business and if pre-tax profits have more than doubled in the year as reported, then that is certainly a good result, although perhaps more important would be to know the level of net after-tax profits, upon which the linked article is silent. However, the latest investment in Nairn is likely to lead to more jobs in the town, very positive news. It is clear that the dairy and dairy processing sectors are highly-competitive, operating generally on very low margins for both producers (dairy farmers) and dairy processors such as Graham's, as a result of the pressure from the main buyers, supermarkets, to keep their costs as low as possible to maintain their own margins, not forgetting the consumer (such as me, but more importantly the average family trying to make ends meet) anxious to pay as little as possible whilst still expecting the products bought to be safe, wholesome and attractive to eat. All this is undoubtedly a delicate balancing act for firms such Graham's.