SCOT goes POP!: UK government proposes military occupation of an i...

SCOT goes POP!: UK government proposes military occupation of an i...: One of the best teachers I ever had was a history teacher at Anniesland College. When he was explaining for us the significance of the West...

Does everyone have a car in Aberdeen? I think not!

As someone from the central belt of Scotland who doesn’t know Aberdeen well I found the coverage of the Aberdeen Donside by-election virtually non-existent, and as usual STV did better than the BBC (until its results coverage that is which was very poor indeed). Hopefully it was much better locally to the granite city.

I found the campaign very odd. It seemed to consist of everyone sitting in TV studios talking about a roundabout, roads and being left out in the cold by the Scottish Government investment wise.

The transport question was particularly odd as not one participant talked about anything other than roads. Does everyone have a car in Aberdeen? I think not!

As someone looking in the priorities for transport in Aberdeen and Inverness would be as follows…

1. Aberdeen road bypass. 
2. Extending the dual carriageway sections of the A9 to make it continuous from Perth to Inverness. 
3. Improvement of train services to every half hour between Aberdeen and Inverness and reopening of stations to improve rates of usage. 1 train per hour to be express, second to be stopping. 
4. Doubling of single train line between Stirling and Aberdeen, and/or reopening of Angus link from Perth via Forfar to Aberdeen with resultant improvements to train services which are badly needed so there are half hourly services from both Glasgow and Edinburgh. 
5. Replacement of semaphore signals with coloured light signalling equipment north of Perth and Dundee at least as far as Inverness. 
6. Reopening of Deeside railway line at least as far as Banchory, with a view to reopening remaining line to Aboyne and then Ballater. 
7. Reopening of rail line to Peterhead.
8. Reopening of rail line to Fraserburgh. 

As far as I am aware 1 and 2 and at least part of 3 is all ready planned, but I would strongly agree that is odd that Aberdeen as Europe’s oil capital city has been left out of major transport projects until now.

Perhaps however this is partly due to the preoccupation of the local political parties with roads that seemed to come across from the recent media coverage (what there was of it anyway).

If the Scottish Government was permitted by its own people to gain control of all the economic levers available to it I believe the above would become of greater importance than they are now. Vote Yes in next years independence referendum!

FIRST GLASGOW SIMPLICITY MAKES JOURNEYS MORE COMPLEX

My response to the recent alterations in bus services across Glasgow has been to try to avoid using the bus at all.

Avoid using the bus at all

As someone who is ill and therefore cannot walk far, the main reason for using the bus before was that it went closest to my final destination without the need to change routes in the city centre.

This for the majority of my journeys is now not available and therefore First Glasgow Simplicity has made journeys more COMPLEX not simpler!

COMPLEXITY NOT SIMPLICITY

I have therefore been getting the train instead. Although it does involve a longer walk at one end at least I know that I will get there, and I know the time of arrival which was not always the case with the bus. And I do not need to try to coordinate two buses at different bus stops in the city centre which is virtually impossible.

Coordination of two routes in city centre virtually impossible

It has also proved to be slightly cheaper overall although I no longer have the freedom of having my bus pass at hand for additional journeys.

First Glasgow have removed two of the main reasons to use their services in this latest gimmick to save money i.e. the comprehensive coverage of their route network, and the simplicity and ease with which you can use it.

Re-regulate the bus services

It is a far cry from the bus services pre-deregulation. These were there to serve the public not provide profits for the companies which provide them. Perhaps under independence if the Scots vote for it we may have the chance to re-regulate our bus services once more. Vote Yes!

ELECTRICITY SHORTAGE

Following the news on 27^th June 2013 via the BBC that the UK may well have electricity black outs in the future, I cannot see how anyone is surprised.

Black out

There are a number of reasons why this has come to pass…

1.      Green and CO2 emission regulations. These are required as we want the world still be around for our children to live on.

2.      Increasing use of electricity although this has stalled since 2008.

3.      The privatisation of the electricity industry in the late 1980s led to a lack of coordination and future planning within the system. The result is we are now very dependent on gas for electricity generation within the UK, a source of fuel we no longer have enough of and therefore require to import from countries who are not necessarily our allies. At the time the ‘dash for gas’ occurred in the early 1990s the UK had large gas fields, it was cheap and plentiful and the country was self sufficient in gas production. This made gas irresistible to private companies whose motivation was profit but not long term energy security.

Cause can be laid squarely at the Conservative Party’s door

The original cause of the energy black hole within the UK can therefore be laid squarely at the Conservative Party’s door and Mrs Thatcher. However the subsequent UK Labour Governments did little or nothing about it (as they were in love too with the Thatcher doctrines).

Perfect Storm

Add to this the extortionate bills consumers now have to suffer (so badly in many cases many people require to stay in cold houses and suffer badly each winter) and we have a perfect storm.

Re-nationalisation

I would recommend the immediate re-nationalisation of the electricity and gas companies within the UK. This would ensure energy security comes way before profit. However the likelihood of that happening is virtually zero as all the main London political parties are now no longer interested in anything other than big business. At least in Scotland we have the hope that things may be different if the country becomes independent. Vote Yes!