The wheels of SBC turn slowly

Following on from the condescending communication by SBC concerning misaddressing three months ago and our collective follow-up via the community council, The Community Council at the seeming behest of SBC's Duns Office has asked us all for the same information once more ahead of a public meeting - date and venue to be arranged.

The more interaction I have with SBC, the more convinced I become that there are too many amateurs involved at too many levels.

Berwickshire News September 28th

Coldstream Hospital prepares for closure - the fight fought and lost to retain the cottage hospital in Coldstream. On October 12th after 118 years of providing healthcare in the town, the hospital will close. Staff have all been redeployed or have taken retirement effective October 13th. The function of Coldstream Hospital will now be provided in Kelso Hospital, the Knoll in Duns or in the community. It is hoped, though by no means certain, that the hospital buildings will be converted into a dental facility for Berwickshire to help the 8500 people without dental care. This will take at least a year to happen though. A Reston man who has survived breast cancer (one of 300 men diagnosed each year in the UK) is now working as a volunteer at the Cancer Research UK shop in Berwick. The Dry Dock in Eyemouth is partially closed after funding ran short - the Dry Dock in quiestion is a youth project rather than a boat building facility.

SBC is urging all to fill in their electoral registration forms - especially important this year as we are to have both a Scottish General Election and Local Government elections. SBC is also promoting wokshops aimed at home composters rather than devotees of Ken Hom on October 1st and 8th at Woodside Walled Gardens, Harestanes. Kick off 2pm.

Eyemouth marked the 125th anniversary of the greatest fishing disaster to hit the east coast in general and Eyemouth in particular when the fleet was caught in a hurricane at sea. Over half of the fleet was lost and it took almost a century for Eyemouth to recover in population terms. SBC have backtracked on last week's revelation that they may be fined for missing recycling targets - the director of Technical Services at SBC said the £20k figure is the worst case in his opinion and they may avoid the fine altogether and anyway it's all the fault of the Scottish Executive for not ponying up the cash for the scheme sooner and other authorities will also miss their targets & get fined and anyway they can always appeal to the Environment Minister's discretion to get the fine waived. So that's ok then - they may get fined but they'll try and talk their way out of it.

Three Borders butchers have scooped prizes at this year's Meat to Go awards. Prentice of Duns won a silver for spicy italian meatballs; Halliwells of Selkirk picked up a gold & two silvers for their lasagne, meat loaf and shepherd's pie; Thomas A Shaw of Lauder won two silvers for Carribean pork pockets and smoked pork loin with honey.

The average councillor in Scotland is male and 55 revealed the Minister for Finance and Public Service Reform in launching a bid to attract more younger candidates and candidates from under-represented communities.

At Sheriff Kevin's courthouse in Duns, the man himself is back presumably suntanned and suitably refreshed after a short break. A Wooler man up for breaching bail after turning up at the wrong house in Eyemouth to threaten someone whilst on bail with a condition that he wasn't to enter Eyemouth. Whilst at the wrong door, he scratched "You scottie prick, bring your axe". Ordered to pay £100 compensation for the door, fined £50 for criminal damage and a further £265 for breach of bail. Sheriff K clearly back on form "any further breaches and you'll find yourself in custody". An Oxford man pleaded guilty to assault, committing a breach of the peace and assaulting a police officer after a celebration turned sour in the White Swan Hotel, Duns. Sheriff Kev told him he should be "thoroughly ashamed", admonished him on the assault charge and fined him £400 for the others. An Eyemouth youth "narrowly avoided" custody (how one narrowly avoids it I don't know - either you do or you don't - it's not like he got his leg trapped and managed to hop home without it) after breaching curfew. Actually he was sentenced to 30 days detention which he'd already served on remand..... so he didn't avoid it (narrowly or otherwise). Another Eyemouth man caught in possession of heroin (2 occasions) and cannabis. Already doing porridge on a serious assault rap, Sheriff K slapped another 7 months on so the earliest he can be released is March 2008. A St. Abb's man drove while disqualified to attempt to take his partner's child to school less than a month after the initial disqualification. Sir K not amused and upped his disqualification to two years, fined him £225 for breaking the initial disqualification and a further £100 for driving without insurance.


Picture of Duns Sheriff Court courtesy of the Scottish Courts website

SBC Leader considers standing down in May 2007

BBC News website reports that the erstwhile ex-SNP-turned-independent leader of SBC is considering standing down at the May 2007 elections. One consideration is that he wants to start a family but leading SBC is a 100% commitment others mentioned are "private sector job offers" and electoral ward changes. As part of the electorate, one hopes (optimistically rather than realistically) that there is no nepotism involved.

For those not versed in Scottish politics - the SNP is a party that is campaigning for Scottish independence, the Conservatives (full title the Conservative and Unionist Party) are pro-Unionist or alternatively anti-independence. Strangely the leader of the SBC resigned the SNP whip to become independent and lead a coalition with the Conservatives.

And they say "Power Corrupts"....

Blog on Demand

Here is the letter alluded to by Huttonian, a local author, former diplomat and fellow bloggee.

SIR, - While on holiday this summer I at last found time to read the fiction of 'The Da Vinci Code'. Last Saturday evening I happened by chance on a two hour Channel 4 documentary 'The Doomsday Code' presented by Tony Robinson. The difference was that the latter contained video evidence to demonstrate it was based on fact.

Tony took viewers to meet 'end timers' in the US, Israel and Uganda. Viewers heard an American 'end timer' preaching "The answer is not economics, the answer is not politics, the answer is getting back to the Bible".

Seems reasonable but American 'end timer' evangelists in Uganda were shown encouraging people to pray for the end of the world rather than helping them to improve the quality of their lives.

'End timers' believe in 'The Rapture'. From a website called 'Rapture Christ' I quote "The major bible prophecy yet to be fulfilled is the rescue of Abraham's children from this Earth. Some people call this event 'The Rapture'. God will rescue/rapture us before people are forced to accept an implant referred in the Bible as 'the mark of the beast'."

'End timers' believe the end of the world is near, when everyone will go either to heaven or to hell. From a web search on 'End timers' here is one quote "America has blundered into a needless and dangerous war, and fully half of the country's population is enthusiastic. Many Christians think that war in the Middle East signals "end times" and that they are about to be wafted up to heaven."

The most disturbing claim in the programme was from a leading 'end timer' who said that Bush’s advisers were coming to them for advice.
That may or may not be true but 'end timers' welcome global warming and Bush has resolutely refused to lead any US action on global warming.

As 'end timers' wish for the early destruction of the planet they encourage greater pollution. They are as much extremists as those in al-Qaeda, the difference being that they believe in Christ and their base is America.

www.channel4.com/believe is a website which enables anyone to find out more but as I have indicated Channel 4 is not alone in making these claims.

One American website claims "End Timers Now Control Government - The Rapture Now Steers The Ship Of State".

It is time to end our 'special relationship' with the US because America appears to be on a Crusade.

It follows that it is time for Tony Blair to go since he has aligned himself with Bush. He should not be granted the dignity of choosing his time but should be forced out.

COUNCILLOR JOHN ELLIOT,
2 Duns Law,
Duns.

More than one thing struck me odd about this letter - It seems to serve no apparent purpose on the surface other than jumping on the coat tails of the campaign to get Tony Blair to resign - but in all probability Tony Blair doesn't read the Berwickshire News....

Having a recollection of a previous letter from the same councillor just in the last week or two (Sept 7th or 14th issue) I'm left wondering if the "point" is to get Councillor Elliot's name in to the minds of the wider Mid-Berwickshire electorate ahead of the new superward council elections next spring - in which the use of single transferrable vote PR must be a concern for the non-affiliated "independent" councillors (many of whom are currently in the administration of SBC in coalition with the Conservatives). Above all the use of the word "while" in the first sentence when the correct construction would be "whilst" in that context, this from a retired teacher of many years standing (hopefully next to the blackboard or whatever we have to refer to them as these days).

You can read more about the Councillor himself here. A rather natty waistcoat he's sporting in the photo if I may say so.

Now I'm left wondering why Huttonian wanted to draw wider world attention to the megalomania of local councillors.....

Berwickshire News September 21st

SBC are facing a £20000 fine for failing to meet recycling targets this year. Green Party MSP is unimpressed at the state of affairs which comes a week after SBC were trumpeting a welcome threefold increase in recycling figures. It's also mentioned that community recycling centres are being built in Peebles, Eyemouth and Duns - I suppose most people would recognise these as rubbish tips (or their heirs and successors), the nearest of which to the Paper Shop is currently in Wooler or Berwick (neither SBC-provided - nearest SBC facility is in Langlee, Galashiels - a 6-day bus ride away). HRH Princess Anne, the Princess Royal has been in Berwickshire at the International Sheepdog Trials amongst other engagements. Possibly indicative of a lack of news but the fact that a Grantshouse resident has been without a phoneline for 10 weeks makes it to the front page too - she's more concerned by the treatment meted out by BT's "contact" centre staff than the fact it took them 10 weeks to fix her line. She has achieved £20 compensation in excess of the standard though, which these days is hard work. SBC are also mentioned having changed their plans for home care services - originally intended to farm all out to the private sector in October, they've decided to have mainstream and specialist care divisions - mainstream will be farmed out as intended, specialist retained in house for the time being.

A glowing report for Borders College - hopefully not indicative of a radioactive leak or a fire - in fact reading beyond the headline it seems that they have achieved the best ever HMIE report by a Scottish Further Education College. Migrants are to benefit from a new NHS Borders health project costing £138000 - aimed at the travelling community of whom there are estimated to be 120 in the Borders. The wind turbines for the project between Duns & Longformacus have arrived in the UK at the Port of Blyth (Northumberland's Premier Port - their words not mine) and are due to be transported to site via the A1 & A6105 and because some of the loads will be long, disruption can be expected (although in GNER fashion it's regretted).

The Borders Party is to be launched in October - a kind of UKIP on a smaller scale - the proponents of the party are fed up of the Borders being an easy target for developers, supermarkets (ed: No easy target for a supermarket within 20 miles of here, a decently stocked one is no nearer than Dalkeith currently - 44 miles each way) and outsiders - all are welcome at a launch meeting in Galashiels on October 16th. Cloth cap, pipe and slippers optional.

A Greenlaw farmer up before a substitute Sir Kevin, after a second visitation by the Spanish InquisitionTrading Standards following complaints about his animal husbandry standards. The results within the report were positive and a report by a vet also positive. Sentence deferred for a further 12 months, with a request for Trading Standards to report once more. A Dodge CityEyemouth youth fired an air rifle at a bus shelter knowing his friends were inside. Found guilty and sentence deferred pending social enquiry reports. A driver from St. Boswells disqualified for a provisional licence holder who drove alone, with no insurance or L-plates. Unbelievably he was caught by a static police roadside check (I didn't think in these days of cameras that such things still existed) after making a U-turn to avoid the checkpoint. Given 9 points, already had 6 - so disqualified for six months (I thought you got 12 months for 12 points - so seemingly a 50% discount applied for getting 25% more points than required by the law)

Picture of Duns Sheriff Court courtesy of the Scottish Courts website

Greenlaw Town Hall misses out on second chance at BBC Restoration

On Friday last, the Restoration finalists were announced - 7 regional heat winners and a mystery best runner up from all seven heats, meaning in theory at least Greenlaw Town Hall was in with a 1 in 14 chance of slipping into the final. Sadly it wasn't to be and to rub salt in the wound (or further damp in the building) the other non-winning contender from Scotland (Cromarty church) won through to the final indicating that Greenlaw Town Hall limped in last in it's heat.

However - all not lost - they're still here if you wish to donate.

Berwickshire News September 14th

Overall (recorded) crime levels in the Borders are shown to be dropping by official statistics released by the Scottish Executive. LBP Divisional Commander (based in Hawick) welcomed the news and added that "solvency rates" are also up - presumably means solution rates or what the rest of the law enforcement world refer to as detection rate. Despite this LBP are still looking for 100 additional special constables. As reported here previously SBC released figures showing that the recycling rate for April to June 2006 is 29.93%, up from 10.4% for the same quarter last year. In that quarter 2377 tonnes of paper & card, 145 tonnes of plastics (type 1 & 2 only) and 62 tonnes of cans were sent for recycling. Seaweed managed to shut down Torness Nuclear Power Station - blamed on strong wind and a rising tide. Also a picture of the new Flodden Memorial being unveiled, piped at and having a Saltire (hopefully of the correct official blue Saltire colour) waved over it.

GNER is offering it's lowest ever fares on their website, so you to can experience the joys of travel by train for as little as £22.30 from Edinburgh to London (return). The fact that there's currently no station in the Borders is a mere administrative oversight. The sampling for Anthrax spores at the home of the man who died of anthrax-induced septecaemia is complete but a local MSP is not happy that the government agency overseeing the operation hasn't released any detail of when the results will be returned. No information available under the Freedom of Information Act either as the Procurator Fiscal's Office is currently considering criminal procedings.

Red tape may kill off or severely curtail common ridings - the Police, Public Order and Criminal Justice Bill (Scotland) imposes a number of conditions on any march or procession that is not a funeral. The aim of the bill is mainly to counteract sectarianism which is prevalent in other areas of Scotland but not so here in the Borders - it's mentioned that in the last 37 years only two Orange-related marches had taken place, both in Hawick and both had most of the participants bussed in. The article mentions that the Borders is by common consent relatively free of religious intolerance. The News then gives equal prominence to a row that has broken out within SBC regarding the funding of school travel for Catholics to a Catholic primary school, which it points out for those living in the east of Berwickshire could be an 80-mile round trip to Hawick, Galashiels, Selkirk or Peebles - whilst those in Hutton are forced to pay to send their children to school in Swinton - of course if one removed religious apartheid from the educational system the problem would also vanish.....

The Flodden 1513 Club unveiled their new memorial on the alleged anniversary of the battle (see previous post for why it isn't the anniversary) on Tweed Green in Coldstream. The memorial commemorates the role of the nuns of Coldstream Priory under Abbess Hoppringle (is an abbess not the leader of an abbey and a prioress leader of a priory?). There is a corresponding project underway in Branxton to improve the experience for visitors to Flodden Field - which the last time the Paper Boy was there was in fact a rather muddy field near Branxton, the field nearest Flodden in fact, with no interpretation boards to tell the visitor what they were looking at (a field).

Snakes in the lane! would have been an apt title for the article seeking local help in spotting grass snakes. They are officially resident in England & Wales only but they are believed to have sneaked over the border and be lurking in Berwickshire and district. Walkers & anglers are particularly requested to keep their eyes peeled and to report to Froglife if they see one.

Alan Beith, MP for Berwick-upon-Tweed, is concerned by the order managing the River Tweed under the Tweed Fisheries Act 1857 which is giving sole control to the Scottish Executive. His prime concern is that to date the management has been subject to scrutiny in both parliaments, now solely in Holyrood. Particularly mentioned is the River Till which is the sole wholly English tributary to the Tweed where people could find themselves charged under a parliamentary instrument passed by a parliament in which they have no representation - although which Police force is going to make the charge is not mentioned, one might reasonably assume that Northumbria Police (England) will not actively investigate under Scottish legislation and that LBP (Scottish) would not act in England outside their jurisdiction.... so perhaps it's a great deal for the Tillsiders after all.....

It's all change for next May's council elections - out goes the tie of local councillor to his seat (it is handy to be able to nab him in the street in passing if you need to) and in comes a system of proportional representation where crudely 3 existing seats are joined together and 3 councillors are elected for that super-seat. So Berwickshire will be covered by two super-seats - Mid-Berwickshire covering an area encompassing Hume, Gordon, Coldstream, Duns, Ladykirk, Swinton, Preston & Cranshaws - East Berwickshire covering Cockburnspath, Eyemouth, Lamberton, Paxton, Fishwick, Hutton, Whitsome, Edrom & Auchencrow. Whether it's a good thing or not, it's happening and we'll see what effect it has (if noticable next May).

Local MP Michael Moore is backing the campaign of the South of Scotland branch of the National Federation of Subpostmasters to halt any more Post Offices in the Borders. Tony Blair has previously said that Post Offices are important to local communities and should be preserved but according to the campaigners has failed to halt the decline in the number of offices. The Paper Boy has experience of being tutted at in the Post Office queue for daring to send several packages at once and being defended vociferously by the subpostmaster "if it wasn't for all the packages he's sending you'd be travelling 10 miles or more for your pensions". Use it or lose it is the watch word.

Over in Duns a quiet time after last week's bumper report - A Duns man back in the dock for sentencing after making several hoax 999 calls, abusing the operator. Some interloper called Sheriff Colin McClorey gave him 3 months porridge for his troubles described the behaviour as intolerable and made reference to his criminal record. An East Ord (near Berwick, England) man got a £375 fine and an £80 compensation order for breach of the peace in the Commercial Inn, Coldstream and breaking the wing mirror of an LBP vehicle after being told by the licensee of the pub to "engage his brain before speaking". Sheriff McClorey unimpressed. A Reston woman was banned by an uncredited sheriff for driving with excess alcohol (78μg against a legal limit of 35μg) and crashing into a bridge. 18 months ban and £400 fine. A Tweedmouth youth was convicted of wilful fireraising after setting light to a grassed area by Eyemouth (Petrol) Filling Station, a wooded area near Coldingham Road Ind. Est. (Eyemouth), six packs of wooden posts at Eyemouth Freezers and a dog waste bin - sentence deferred pending reports.

On the Letters page, a Duns councillor is of the same opinion as the Paper Boy - keep religion out of the education system and keep the arguments over whether the right religious practices are followed by the pupils outside the school gates. He goes on to outline the places in the world where segregation (not necessarily or exclusively on the grounds of religion) has proved explosive, namely the Southern USA, South Africa & Northern Ireland. He makes the point that education should not be segregated along ethnic, religious, cultural or class lines - research indicates that he is not representing the Berwickshire Bolshevik Committee, though he could be.

On page 9, if you're called Doug you're the top exhibitor at Greenlaw. Who Doug is or what he exhibited is reserved for the interested reader within the story. The story then goes on to list all of the prize-taking exhibits at Greenlaw and District Amateur Hoticultural Society's annual show, where Doug Smith's name pops up as winner or runner-up in just about every competition for growing flowers or vegetables. So yes, Doug - you da man veg crew.

Picture of Duns Sheriff Court courtesy of the Scottish Courts website

Recycling rate trebles

BBC News reports that the quarterly recycling rate in the SBC area has reached 29.93% - up from 10.4% last year.

No room for complacency though because to reach this year's annual target of 25% a higher recycling rate needs to be sustained until summer.

As previously mentioned here those in charge at St. Boswell's need to look at offering more kerbside recycling - because ultimately making it easier increases the recycling rate.

Flodden Memorial Revealed

The BBC reports that a memorial to the fallen of Flodden and the mercy shown by the Prioress of Coldstream Priory to the dead and injured has been unveiled on the 493rd anniversary of the battle, September 9th.

Bloggees of an Irish persuasion will note that we should all be celebrating 11 days later given the 'stealing of 11 days' when moving from Julian to Gregorian calendar in the middle of the 18th century (the Battle of the Boyne was on July 1st 1690, not 12th as is commemorated today).

In today's post

Something liable to warm the cockles of Huttonian's Heart (or possibly raise the collective hackles of the Campaign for a Real Berwickshire Postcode or whatever the group of trans-border TD15ers is called).... an A-Z of council services. "So what?" I hear you say, well it's an A-Z of council services provided by Northumberland County Council - to an address in Scotland that's not been in England since the Kingdom of Bernicia existed (which became absorbed into England long before the Battle of Hastings).

Also Euan Robson MSP has graciously sent a copy of his report card to every household in his constituency - and possibly those over the border in Cornhill where he doesn't hold any power at all. The leaflet features Mr Robson in a variety of poses in the course of his work as a constituency MSP for Roxburgh & Berwickshire, along with some boring stuff in words....

Beware of the MSP!


Euan leans on German machinery digging trenches across rural Berwickshire to lay electricity cables out of harms way - until an overzealous farmer ploughs one up and breaks his plough and the cable in one fell swoop.


Euan demonstrates that he can find bus timetables at the bus stop - although this being the Borders he's probably missed the bus by 1 or 2 days.


I really can't comment on the expression in this picture - Euan you is da Lib Dem crew ;-)



Finally, Euan displays a penchant for playing freestyle Twister™ not even bothering with a mat.

Berwickshire News September 7th

Last week SBC were welcoming eastern european migrant workers with open arms, now they're scaring them off with massive council tax bills and summary warrants for non-payment. It all stems from adjudication that a flat let by a pub landlord is being considered as separate dwellings because the bedrooms have locks on the doors so each one becomes liable to council tax. Faced with the demands for band A council tax, the migrants are choosing to do a flit instead so the council gets no money at all, whereas previously the landlord paid the council tax for the whole flat from the rent.....

East Lothian Council is stopping litter picking patrols from Saturday in a bid to highlight to the residents and users of it's commercial centres how much litter is being dropped. In the first week only broken glass will be removed and bins emptied. The next week a high-profile patrol by litter wardens will start re-educating and carrying out various activities aimed at enforcing litter legislation. The PaperBoy believes that the current £50 fixed penalty system is not enough - hit them hard - £250 for starters and move on up with each subsequent offence.

The SBC community bus hire charges are being reduced after the previous rise of 250% lead to a massive drop off in usage. Originally £13.66, subsequently £47.08 and now around £30, it's hoped that the usage will rise once more. The charges won't be revisited until August 2007.

The official unveiling by the 1513 Club (no original members surviving one assumes) of the new Flodden monument is to be held on Saturday September 9th at the Royal British Legion Club. Members of the public are welcome but must remain behind the cordoned off area.

The imminent construction of Dalkeith bypass has been welcomed by Borders MSPs. The bypass will pass to the east of Dalkeith town and involves a new junction on the A720 City of Edinburgh bypass between Sheriffhall and Newcraighall. It ought to be complete by summer 2008 and will remove 1.35 million vehicle movements from Dalkeith each year. The Paperboy is of the opinion that serious consideration needs to be made of the roundabout at Sheriffhall because everytime he passes by it there are long queues and the traffic lights, whilst helpful, do not disguise the fact that the junction is woefully inadequate.

A busy week at Sir Kevin's this week - nine cases reported from Duns, one from Jedburgh - and the magic number seems to be either £225 or £150:

• Breach of the peace through drink at Chirnside Civic Week. Sentence deferred for nine months to allow for good behaviour after the accused acknowledged he'd done wrong.
• a 58 year old man from Stirling pleaded guilty to a charge of meeting a girl aged under 16 with the intention of engaging in unlawful sexual activity - remanded in custody and sentence deferred 3 weeks pending reports.
• Two youths appearing on charges of assault and breach of the peace at Beachcomber Amusements, Eyemouth. Both pleaded guilty. One fined £275 (no assault) the other released from custody pending reports.
• 80 year old driver from Haddington on a careless driving charge having pulled out in front of someone in Co'path. Fined £225 and slapped with 6 points.
• Apprentice brickie from Duns who called the police after being in a single vehicle accident fined £225 and banned for 12 months for being over the drink drive limit.
• A 9th time offence for the Eyemouth man who was growing a cannabis plant in his window which attracted the attention of HM Constabulary. Fined £150
• An Eyemouth man spotted by abovementioned HM Constabulary leaving a hostelry and hopping in his car - fined £225 and banned for a year.
• A fine of £150 for a Duns man who damaged his own property causing distress to his family.
• A pair of Lithuanians appeared on a charge of contravening the Children and Young Persons (Scotland) Act - they left their child 'home alone' for 30 minutes whilst the mother went to the Post Office and the father was out at work. Sentence deferred for six months to allow for good behaviour.
• An offshore worker from Dundee, making his 44th court appearance, appeared at Jedburgh Sheriff Court on a charge of breaking into the White Swan Hotel in Duns and stealing alcohol. 60 days porridge from Sir Kev who told him that "the public are entitled to protection and, having regard to the fact that you were on bail for a similar offence and this is your 44th court appearance, you will go to prison for 60 days" (you will not pass "Go" and you will not collect £200)

Picture of Duns Sheriff Court courtesy of the Scottish Courts website