Let me see if I have got this right, writes G M Lindsay in a letter to The Scotsman (no link). In February 2010, the UK Carbon Trust awarded a £4m grant to Norway's Hammerfest Strom to build and test a 1MW tidal power device off Orkney. In August 2010, Alex Salmond visits Norway and announces that Hammerfest Strom plans to "invest £4m in Scottish businesses" to build a tidal power device off Orkney and claims this is "a massive vote of confidence in the talent, expertise and infrastructure in Scotland".

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The people who are actually fooling themselves are those who write letters to the papers warning that one day politicians will get their just desserts. The average citizen is as thick as pig shit and capable of little more by way of protest than shouting at the 'telly' and complaining that his beer is flat, and the cynical trough grubbing bastards who make it into the political class to deceive us and squander our money know that. If the last general election proved anything it is that 'the sheeple' are incapable of thinking for themselves and terrified of fending for themselves.

Please, give them their independence-now!

He really is an odious little twerp.

Yes but ... great movements are always triggered by very small numbers of people. Thus, while I take your points entirely, my point is that, even if your electorate comprises a majority of fools, it is unwise to treat them thus. Not all of them are. A fool treated as a sage will never complain - a sage treated as a fool becomes your mortal enemy.

As Charles the Second was wont to put it, one must keep the mob happy. Treating the people like fools is what got his father in such a pickle.

bennyboy, as I've pointed out before, Salmond doesn't want independence. His party advocates full EU membership, with Schengen and EMU. I leave you to figure out the consequences for a rump UK of that arrangement.

I knew something was wrong when BBC Scotland produced a fawning report of Salmond's “state vist” the other day.The SNP holds Norway as a model for Scotland, yet refuses to heed any of its lessons. All politicians take the electorate for fools, but none more so than Salmond.

Hi there Richard, great blog enjoying the "Battle of Britain" postings.

As for propelled power both under and over water, its practially dead in Norway. Nobody wants our fjords full of inefficient 100 meter masts that dumps birds and totally spoil both views and the character of our landscapes.

Recently the socialist government in power had to backtrack and embarrass themselves (again) when trying to force 55 meter powermast cuttings trough some of our protected fjord- and mountain landscapes due to local chapters of the coalition in power starting to mass-quit and media pounding on the arrogant ministers.

Its ofcourse the powerful western Norway region does not suffer fools when the suits try to "regulate" them, using the same spirit I might assume that occationally took them on some innocent boattrips across the sea to visit friends in Britain a "few years" ago ;)

Rgds
Torstein

Indeed. Salmond is, at times, an amusing little fellow, with his reassurances, for instance, that Scotland could opt back into the 'union' if the Scotch should decide that standing on their own feet is not for them, or that Scots won't need visa's to live and work in England but if he really believes what he says he's seriously deluded. Devolution is just the start of the long overdue break-up of the 'United' Kingdom and when the process is complete there can be no more supping at the English table for Scots.


The BBC is institutionally Anglophobic and needs serious attention, and soon, but BBC Scotland and BBC Wales should be funded entirely from receipts obtained in those countries. Why should the people of England have to fund those services?

Just so long as the government don't decide to slap a huge duty on single malts. I'm quite fond of my Glen Turret...

The link to the comment thread on the Pachauri 'apology' piece is broken.

Sorted ... thanks

http://bishophill.squarespace.com/blog/ ... ghton.html

This is interesting.

Half the AGW business is just trading apologies.