Greenfingers

Is this the future we have to look forward to ? http://www.naturalnews.com/034234_wind_turbines_abandoned.html

Very interesting series started on BBC2 last Friday at 7pm called " Windfarm Wars." Not showing in Scotland though. I wonder why? We have the umpteenth repeat of Dads Army. You can still catch it on iplayer but will have to be quick as episode 1 will become unavailable this Friday. http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00zn463/Windfarm_Wars_Episode_1/ Its about a 7 year battle between objectors and developers over a proposal to build a 9 turbine windfarm. If the first episode is a barometer for future ones then it will be a very interesting watch as it gets right inside the issues involved.

Bonny night. Went for walk around Da Knab. Come back in ta da esplanade fae Da Sooth End. Cut doon between da Queens an da Tollbooth ta whit used ta be Da Sma Boat Harbour. Whit a desecration. There's that much decking that there's hardly any room for boats. Seats that don't look like seats waiting to break kneecaps when walked into. Who wants to sit and look at the traffic passing by the back of the Post Office? And as for that futuristic railing. Might look OK on Canary Wharf or Blackpool promenade but not in a prime conservation area. Planning must have been asleep when they rubber stamped this monstrosity. Walk a 100 meters along the road to have a look at the red T which I'd never noticed before. Cant see what all the fuss is about. But take a look at the cluster of satellite dishes on the side of the building. How did that lot get past the planning Dept.?

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/columnists/christopherbooker/8363643/Transport-Secretary-Philip-Hammond-reveals-his-ignorance-of-wind-power.html The writer of the article linked above states that the Transport Secretary is either being untruthful or is totally ignorant of how windfarms are funded. Personally I think that he knows exactly what he is doing, and is just carrying out orders to plant a seed for the eventual reduction or abolition of subsidies, as is happening in other European countries. I that that Viking Energy should have an urgent review of their business plan, that is assuming that they have one in the first place.

This is supposition. You say that the windfarm " should be able to produce" and "should provide a good financial return" because, like the rest of us you don't know because Viking Energy have never ( to the best of my knowledge) published any figures as to how this thing is going to turn a profit. The only financial projections I have seen were published in a 2003 survey by Strathclyde University which is now wildly out of date based on the latest estimate of the costs. If VE are to start to regain our trust after all the lies,subterfuge & propaganda which they have subjected us to, then they need to " come clean" and show us how this project can benefit our community financially. You cannot base a potential £400 million investment on a wish list.

Getting crosseyed trying to read all the claims & counter claims as to which side has the most support. Time for a reality check ! Is this the mess that we may find ourselves in in a few years if Viking Energy persist with this madness. http://www.americanthinker.com/2010/02/wind_energys_ghosts_1.html

^^^^^^^^ Thanks for your excellent reply Ghostrider. That was my memory of what happened on Up Helly Aa day but when I looked for evidence the first I could find stating that he was on leave again was the following Monday,almost a week later.This conundrum poses more questions. 1. If he really did "clear his desk" on UHA day how did the council keep a lid on it for almost a week? 2. If the desk clearing happened nearer to the date of the first published report then surely Sandy Cluness must have had a conversation with him (post UHA) even if it was only to say "my lawyers will be in touch with your lawyers". I know this seems a bit pedantic but I think that it is important that an accurate timeline of events relating to this matter is established, so that when the truth, or as near the truth as we are permitted, is revealed, the guilty parties in this sorry saga cannot hide behind obfuscation.

I am a bit confused and hope that some of you better informed Shetlinkers can enlighten me. This saga involving David Clark (DC)(former Chief Executive), the Shetland Islands Council, various newspapers(both local and national) police investigations, internet forums, blogs, social networking sites, local gossip. etc. etc.etc...........has become immersed in twisted truths, half truths, untruths and downright lies, although these are still subject to litigation and have yet to join the truth family. Now my problem is a statement Sandy Cluness(SC) made on Radio Shetland on Friday night 26/2/10 when he said that he had neither seen nor spoken to his, now former Chief Executive, David Clark since before Up Helly Aa.(UHA) Now this statement poses some very interesting questions. 1. Was DC at the Town Hall reception for the Jarl Squad on Up Helly Aa day. As the senior council official he would have been expected to be in attendance and SC would certainly have been there in his position as convener. ? If they were both there why did SC at least not see DC. 2. Was the holiday which DC went on immediately after UHA prearranged.? If not, who authorized it at short notice,. 3. If not agreed previously did the person who authorized this holiday discuss the reasons for granting this holiday with DC prior to doing so? If not .Why not? This is normal practice in any organisation. 4. Who was DC's line manager? 5. If as SC states he has not met or spoken to DC since before UHA is this a case of "the tail wagging the dog" ? I hope that some of you out there can explain this to me and drag SC out of the rabbit hole into which he has fallen and been trapped by the Mad Hatter ( guess who).

The quote below is the final paragraph in a bulletin issued by Sandy Cluness to all council employees yesterday in a pathetic attempt to explain why the council had to take the action it did in making the obscene payoff too David Clark. "my emphasis" Why?....They have both managed well enough by themselves without any help from others. On a more serious note, this statement has implications for council employees rights to freedom of expression and has the potential for a Macarthyite witch hunt. What if Jim is suspected of speaking out of turn after a few drinks with his pals on a night out, or Jane gets a letter published which falls foul of the "or may" part of the statement just because someone in her office doesn't like her and lodges a complaint against her. Sandy Cluness for Joe Macarthy. Why not. There will be plenty more twists and turns in this saga before it ends........if it ever does. I don't work for the council so I don't expect that I will be appearing at the hearings.

Sandy Cluness said:- ...and that is exactly what everyone should do. Approaching them could prove difficult. You would have to catch them first. Phoning is probably a fruitless exercise but email should bring a result, providing of course that they know how to access their email. See below for addresses. http://www.shetland.gov.uk/coins/allMembers.asp?sort=0&page=0&rec=23 Click your councillor/councillors name and away you go. It probably won't do much good but it should make you feel better.

Why would we need a Shetlinkers "soap opera" when we have a one going on in real life with the Council,the Chief Executive,Lawyers,Mistresses,The Police,the Gutter Press etc. etc. etc....... All we need now is a murder and then we can have a whodunnit as well.

Come on people !!! Why is everyone beating themselves up over whether or not DC has been bullied on Shetlink. Aaawwww...... who cares. Anyone earning £90K + per annum in a high profile job should be more than capable of dealing with criticism which IMHO has been morphed into bullying. Lets get back to the real issue. Does he deserve a golden goodbye? I think not. He has not been a safe pair of hands.He has been a disaster. If the council has really made a decision to offer him a £250K payoff we can only hope that it is like every other "decision" they have made recently and comes Monday/Tuesday of next week they change their mind.Then we will have the usual protracted period of indecision and hopefully the reopened police investigation into the alleged abusive phonecall will reveal the real truth and DC will get what he really deserves. Nothing.

I don't know if this qualifies as a great performance but it certainly should. This is what life should be like.

What you said was Seems pretty obvious to me what you are really saying. Why not give us some links to help us understand. You do for everything else.

1st post ........and it was a corker. If true can you post links to back up your info ?

This was posted at 8.17pm and has not been removed or edited by the Mods so I am wondering if the contents of the post are true It has been now. We should not be inviting the mods to censor any opinions expressed on this thread. Let the people speak. Personally I have always felt that the smell of sh*te has hung over this affair from day 1. How can anyone get interviewed for a £90K+ per annum prestigious job on a Friday and start work on the following Monday ? ( The timescale is not exact but basically, that is what happened.) It only means one thing DC was unemployed when appointed.The crap about his consultancy business is just that "crap". If that business was functioning he would have had contracts to complete and would have required a negotiated period of grace to fulfill his obligations. I was asking this question when he was appointed ( not on this thread I admit) as I am sure plenty of others were. Are our councilors who interviewed and appointed DC so divorced from reality that their " alarm bells " were not ringing ? No matter. The deed is done. Now they have to sort it out. Hopefully they will not make more stupid mistakes as they try to end this farce. My own personal opinion is that they should not agree to any negotiated settlement. This is not the Nick Reiter affair where the SIC were so obviously in the wrong and had to pay the price. DC is a different "kettle of fish"(whatever that is). If you read his job description http://www.shetlandjobs.co.uk/pdf/ChiefExecutiveJDv2.pdf I think that you will see that he has blotted his copybook, big time, and as such should be shown the door, not with a golden handshake but with a golden boot in the ass. If he takes it further, so be it. It will be money better spent

I hope dat Da Cooncil sort dis wan oot quicker dan joost aboot onything dat dae hiv dealt wi ower da past few years (AHS,Ferries,School Closures etc.) or wir going ta hiv ta wait an aafil lang time fir da mods ta change da title o dis topic fae " New Chief Executive" ta "Old Chief Executive"

Yes, the Himalayan glaciers. Didn't we just discuss this? Yes I think we did. The IPCC got it wrong and they have published a correction. So why are you repeating this? Sorry AT. You are wrong on this one. Yes its from the same IPCC report but from a section about ice on mountain tops, not glaciers. Once again it a "pick and mix" of anecdotal evidence from non peer reviewed publications A couple of guys who don't understand how the science works. And a comprehensive takedown here. Honestly, if you keep getting your scientific information from the US main stream media, you will never get an honest picture of what's going on in climate science. The US MSM is owned by the deniers. I think that you will find that the American MSM have been "banging the drum" in support of AGW for a long time now. Now that they have finally woken up, in the face of overwhelming evidence, that all is not what they were lead to believe it was, is it any wonder that they are now questioning what has really been happening. Calling everyone who does not believe as you do a "denier" does not help your argument. We are "skeptics". All we want is an honest and truthful debate but all we get with each passing week are more revelations of lies and deceits.

Here we go again. More IPCC claims based on non peer reviewed data. This time its the melting mountain tops. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/environment/climatechange/7111525/UN-climate-change-panel-based-claims-on-student-dissertation-and-magazine-article.html and then there are the "rising"? global temperatures. This is how they have manipulated them. http://eclipptv.com/viewVideo.php?video_id=9758 Trust our scientists and politicians............I don't think so.

If the rules which are applied today regarding planning were applied in the 1960's then Lerwick would have stopped at Clickimin. The reasons for refusal of this scheme seem pretty pathetic to me. Others have already been addressed on this topic but the one which made me laugh was that additional pressure would be put on the Scord road with all the additional traffic which this scheme would generate. It's a main road for goodness sake. It can surely handle a few more cars. Dosn't seem to be a problem in Lerwick with nose to tail traffic at least a couple of times a day on the north and south roads. I think that the Planning Dept., and councilors who are part of the decision making process, need to take a step back and consider the needs of the people that they serve instead of "ticking boxes" and serving the non-productive needs of the bureaucracy which the planning process has become.

Well said Njugle. I think that AT is wasting his time on this thread. He should be given a P R job with the IPCC, The Hadley Centre or the Met Office or them all at the same time because, lets face it, their P R is crap and AT's defence of them is very impressive. Then we could all get on with our lives as this thread withers away with its root moved to pastures new. But "new technologies"......surely that should be a new thread. This one is Climate Change & Global Warming."

In the interest of maintaining a balance see below. http://lnxwalt.wordpress.com/2010/01/21/stifling-debate/

Oh dear !! It looks like this " science" just got a whole lot worse. http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/jamesdelingpole/100022694/syed-hasnain-rk-pachauri-and-the-mystery-of-the-non-disappearing-glaciers/ This story begins to look as though it is all about " feathering your own nest" which, with the sums of money being made available to any researcher who claims to support the propaganda of AGW, does not surprise me.

. I may be wrong here but i am getting a strong feeling of deja vu. Did Morgan Goodlad not try the same thing a few years ago after he fell out with the local press ?

In my job I spek to folk fae every part of the UK and beyond on a daily basis on da phone. It niver ceases to amaze me da amount of folk wha want ta blether fir ages when dey hear whar i come fae. I im happy ta oblige an will answer a dir questions. I tell dim da good as weel as da bad(usually da weather) but da wan thing dae always seem ta hiv in common is dat dey wid lik ta visit ( which I always encourage) because we seem ta hiv a quality o life which is being lost elsewhere. Lets be thankful fir whit we hiv. javascript:emoticon(':D')