Come and hear
Chris Huhne MP
Shadow Home Secretary and Lib Dem Leadership contender at the
Friday 11th September
Pitfirrane Arms Hotel, Crossford
Tickets at £25 are available from the Lib Dem office on 01383 841700 or email info@dunfermlinelibdems.org.uk
“A former financial journalist, who went on to make a fortune in the City, Chris Huhne has made much of the experience he gained before becoming an MP in 2005. He has certainly never lacked ambition.”
BBC website
One of the first groups of Ukrainian children from Chernobyl to visit the UK in years was hosted in Dunfermline over the summer.
I've paid a visit to the car scrapyard in Inverkeithing - UPULLIT which is owned by Copart
In the last budget the government sneaked out a proposal to increase landfill tax on PFA (power station ash) from £2.50 a tonne to £40 a tonne (up to £72 by 2012/13). The industry is very concerned that this may have an impact on the financial viability of coal power generation at a time when another arm of government is seeking to make the sums add up on carbon capture technology. It is estimated that the proposal alone could increase electricity generation from coal by 5-10%.
The Treasury say that there are now alternative/commercial uses for PFA but the market has been extensively exploited (see Scotash) and it is doubtful there is more capacity.
The consultation is available at
See document page 19 and 20 and paragraph 3.8 in particular.
In addition indigenous coal is higher ash than imported thereby incentivising power generators to import more coal to save on landfill.
Therefore, the UK coal industry will be disadvantaged by
Rather than helping the environment this tax could damage if it.
It seems to be a simple case of the left hand not knowing what the right hand is doing.
The Ministry of Defence is seriously considering turning its back on Rosyth dockyard and awarding the contract for the refit of our new super carriers to yards in 
A letter I received from the Armed Forces Minister Bill Rammell confirms other confidential reports I have received. It reads as follows:“As part of the development work, a range of options to establish the best value for money solution are being examined; these naturally include undertaking the work in 
Only “include”!
To even consider foreign yards when we have top notch facilities and a highly skilled workforce that is perfectly capable of doing the work on our doorstep only confirms that the MOD has lost its marbles.
We’ve already invested £50million in Rosyth Dockyard so that it can take the carriers, which will be the biggest ships in the Royal Navy.
The MOD number crunchers seem to think that by no longer supporting a yard they will cut their costs but whilst this may look good on a balance sheet it will not be good value for money.
This is the MOD that thought it was good value for money to spend an extra £1billion on the carriers without creating one extra job or any additional capability just to stay within the treasury’s annual spending limits.
Rosyth is the logical place, in fact the only place in the
(Pics: Top is Nazaire in France; 2nd is Rosyth; 3rd is Navantia Ferrol in Spain and 4th is Cherbourg in France. The letter is below.)
I'm puzzled as to the ASDA definition of 24 hour opening.
One of the highlights of our successful Stockton on Tees holiday was the ASDA which was a stone's throw away from our camp site (the one with the top notch showers). It proclaimed 24 hour opening but as we battled our way with the kids through the bucketing rain we couldn't work out why the masses of Stockton we not taking advantage of this fantastic opportunity. The car park was empty - not a sole to be seen.
The answer? 24 hours didn't really mean 24 but only 14 and on a Sunday only 6. Or did it only apply to the cash machines? Do ASDA work on constantly switching time zones?
I can tell you we are only just recovering from the unfulfilled expectations. ASDA - we need answers.
After a week camping in beautiful Northumberland I dragged my young
family to Stockton on Tees to a camp site that received an enthusiastic
review from Dom Jolly. For a couple of days we planned to use this site
as a central location for day trips to North Yorks, Hartlepool Maritime
Museum, the cinema and bowling.
The Caravan Club camp site was pristine with first class showers. The
cooling towers, sewage works, overhead flight path and motorway didn't
put us off too much (!) although it was quite a contrast with Hadrian's
Wall country.
What was truly disappointing was how millions of pounds of investment in
the development of the Tees barrage and riverfront had been wasted.
There were new bridges, walkways and the creation of a permanent high
tide for the full gamut of water sports.
This was a real opportunity to turn a depressed town into a bright
attraction. Yet when we visited there few boats and canoes in the water,
walkers on the bridges and walkways or foodies in the few pubs and
restaurants.
Instead the river was full of rubbish, the walkways were full of weeds
and the only wildlife I saw was a rat.
The investment had been a fine one but come on Stockton get your act
together.
If admitting mistakes is a crucial step in the healing and learning process then the Financial Services Authority will never heal nor learn. They are supposed to be the guardians of our financial sector but have failed to admit their part in the demise of Scotland oldest and biggest building society - the Dunfermline.There are strongly competing claims about whether the Society could have been saved earlier this year.
The advocates for survival claimed that the over stringent capital adequacy requirements combined with the short sited Treasury which didn't recognise the society's importance to confidence in the 'safe' mutual sector meant it was sacrificed. They point to the recent West Bromwich solution as the model that could have been adopted for the Dunfermline.
The Treasury believed that the society would not have been able to service any injection of capital and was not sufficiently important to the financial sector to warrant an investment of public funds to keep it an independent Scottish mutual. They also point to the partially failed IT system which cost the society dear with millions being written off.
To me it's quite clear that the damage was done between 2005 and 2007 when the society diversified into more risky ventures including commercial lending, buy to let mortgages and second hand mortgages. Yet all this was done with the knowledge and acceptance of the Financial Services Authority.
In fact the FSA recommended the services of an independent expert to review their commercial lending portfolio. I assume, because it is not said, that the FSA were satisfied with outcome of that experts report because no action/recommendations were made following the report. That's when the damage was done - and yet the FSA was just a blind observer and mute commentator.
The society's management admitted their mistakes, not just as some means to deflect any further criticism but because they truly cared for the institution that they devoted many years of their lives to and wanted to explain what went wrong.
The Scottish Affairs Select Committee report into the break up of the society is a good report. It would have been even better if it had also taken evidence from members and staff from the society and senior executives like Peter Weanie who was a driving force behind the more risky strategy. But it was a good report none the less and should help members, staff and the wider community understand what happened so we can learn and move on with the Nationwide.
