Rob Edwards

Faslane poses risk of “societal contamination”, says MoD

from Sunday Herald, 30 August 2009

A huge and virtually unknown crane poses the biggest risk of a nuclear disaster at the Faslane naval base on the Clyde, according to newly released safety assessments by the Ministry of Defence (MoD).

Plutonium from up to 48 nuclear warheads could escape and cause widespread contamination and cancers if there was an accident while a Trident submarine was in the shiplift, the reports say.

But the MoD has been accused by experts and anti-nuclear campaigners of playing down the real dangers. The amounts and risks of the radioactivity that could be released have been underestimated, they say.

The shiplift at Faslane is a unique facility with a chequered history. Opened in 1993, it uses nearly 100 winches to hoist 16,000-tonne Vanguard-class submarines into the air for maintenance while they remain loaded with up to 48 Trident nuclear warheads.

The shiplift had to be modified in 1997, and in 2003 a report by consultants suggested that accident risks had been underestimated. Regarded by some as Faslane’s most hazardous operation, there have been hints that it may end up being replaced by the kind of dry dock used elsewhere.

But for now, it is still in regular use, for example lifting up the damaged HMS Vanguard after its collision with a French nuclear submarine in the Atlantic in February. And its use remains highly controversial.

Fiji Water: not so cool after all

from Sunday Herald, 23 August 2009

The walls are all lime green and glass, the clientele all lip gloss and tan, and the waiters’ smiles sometimes seem like sneers. But the world’s most expensive water is off.

Ask for Fiji Water at the restaurant in Edinburgh’s most upmarket store, Harvey Nichols, and you’ll be met with incomprehension. Walk across the shop floor, buy a bottle of the hugely-hyped drink from the cooler for £2, and you’ll be told that you can’t consume it on the premises.

Such an ambiguous attitude towards the bottled water that is meant to be the epitome of chic may not be deliberate, but it is understandable. The water comes, after all, half way across the globe clad in plastic from a country ruled by one of the world’s most repressive regimes.

The elected government of the Fiji islands in the South Pacific was overthrown by a military coup in 2006, led by the armed forces commander, Frank Bainimarama. His rule was declared illegal by the Fiji court of appeal in April this year, since when he has abolished the judiciary, banned public gatherings and delayed elections until 2014.

In the circumstances, how Fiji Water has managed to maintain its image as the water celebrities like to be seen drinking is a marvel of the marketing age. But now, the cracks are beginning to show.

Managers of Scotland's green watchdog mistrusted by staff

from Sunday Herald, 23 August 2009

Senior managers at the Scottish government’s green watchdog are not trusted by nearly half their staff, according to an internal survey leaked to the Sunday Herald.

A detailed assessment of staff attitudes at the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (Sepa) also reveals that more than a third regard the behaviour of senior management as inconsistent with the organisation’s values.

The agency’s bosses are strongly criticised for lacking effective leadership, poor communication and failing to manage change. Most staff say that their jobs are “hindered by unnecessary bureaucracy”.

Sepa’s 1,375 staff were surveyed in May by consultants, ORC International, and its final report was circulated to employees earlier this month. It comes after a series of bitter disputes over the introduction of a new pay and grading system.

The report concluded that 44% of staff did not accept that “senior management are open and honest in their communication”. As many as 38% disagreed that “the decisions and behaviours of the senior management team are consistent with the organisation’s values”.

Ramblers bid for independence

from Sunday Herald, 23 August 2009

One of Scotland’s most effective campaign groups, Ramblers Scotland, is planning a bold bid for independence in an attempt to recover from the draconian cuts imposed by its London headquarters.

The organisation has had its budget slashed by 79%, its staff reduced from seven to two and salaries cut. The threat of closure still hangs over its office at Milnathort in Perth and Kinross.

But now the Ramblers Scottish executive has decided to seek more autonomy from its British masters. And it has completely lost faith in the organisation’s senior managers south of the border.

The madness of filleting Scottish fish in China

from Sunday Herald, 23 August 2009

by Mike Merritt and Rob Edwards

Cod caught off Scotland is being sent on a 10,000-mile round trip to China and back again to be filleted for supermarkets, shops and chip suppers.

The fish is caught in the North Atlantic, deep frozen, shipped to China for processing by workers earning less than £1-a-day before being refrozen and returned to Scotland.

The globe-trotting trek made by cod has been condemned as “madness” and “ridiculous” by Scottish fish producers, fishermen and environmentalists. And it happens despite pledges by supermarkets and food producers to reduce their climate pollution and food miles.

The revelation also raises questions about the environmental and social impact of the globalisation of the Scottish food industry. “Surely it would make more sense to process the fish here,” said Hugh Raven, director of Soil Association Scotland, which backs organic food.

“Something's wrong with a food system in which cod caught off Scotland is transported to China and then back to be eaten.”

Trump eviction plan to be thwarted by council

from Sunday Herald, 16 August 2009

Plans by the US billionaire tycoon, Donald Trump, for a highly controversial hotel and golf resort on Scotland’s north east coast look likely to be blocked by the local council.

An investigation by the Sunday Herald has discovered that a majority of Aberdeenshire’s councillors are currently opposed to moves to force four families from their homes on the Menie estate near Balmedie in order to make way for the development.

Trump has said that without acquiring these properties, his £1 billion “world-class” leisure complex - for which he already has planning permission - will not be viable. This suggests that the development might now be doomed.

The Trump organisation has been trying to persuade the four families to sell their homes for the last four years, so far without success. Two of them have repeatedly said that they are determined not to move.

So Trump has asked Aberdeenshire Council to slap compulsory purchase orders on the properties to evict the families. This has provoked widespread anger, and is due to be discussed by the full council on 1 October.

But the Sunday Herald has been told that most of the 68 councillors are deeply unhappy about compulsory purchase, including the controlling LibDem/Conservative coalition and independent councillors. At the moment, there is a clear majority against the move.

Revealed: the ancient fish that could stymie resort for super-rich

from Sunday Herald, 16 August 2009

For 15,000 years their bright red bellies have lit up the dark waters of the loch. They have outlived mammoths, and are giving us unique insights into the evolution of life on earth.

But now the arctic charr in Loch Rannoch are facing the biggest danger of their existence. A property developer is planning to plonk a luxury seven-storey restaurant for the super-rich on their spawning grounds.

The building, billed as an “iconic broch” by the developer, could sever one of Scotland’s few remaining links to the ice age, experts say. And it is likely to be opposed by the government’s conservation agency, Scottish Natural Heritage.

Malcolm James, who made millions developing property in Cornwall, has applied for planning permission to turn his Dall Estate in Perthshire into Scotland’s most exclusive holiday resort. His £1.3 billion plans over 430 hectares include a luxury hotel, two golf courses, a concert hall, an upmarket shopping centre and a plastic surgery clinic.

Huge new quarry is ‘environmental madness’

from Sunday Herald, 09 August 2009

It will be almost as big as Biggar, extract nearly five million tonnes of gravel and generate over 400,000 extra lorry journeys. And it’s kicking up a storm in South Lanarkshire.

Plans for a massive new quarry on the banks of the Clyde near Lamington, south west of Biggar, are running into fierce opposition. Local people fear that fishing, farming, wildlife and tourism will be ruined in one of Scotland’s forgotten beauty spots.

“It’s environmental madness,” said Arthur Bell, the president of Biggar and District Civic Society. “It will make this landscape of outstanding natural beauty look like that of the Western Front in 1916.”

The landfill and quarrying company, Patersons of Greenoakhill in Glasgow, has applied for planning permission for a 37-hectare sand and gravel quarry at Overburns farm, below Tinto hill. The materials are needed, the company says, for roads, railways, houses, schools and hospitals.

According to the application, 4.6 million tonnes of sand and gravel will be dug out to an average depth of nine metres over 11-15 years. It will be transported along the A702, one of the main routes to and from Edinburgh, causing 112 extra journeys a day by heavy goods vehicles.

Patersons insists that the environmental damage caused by the quarry will be reduced to “acceptable levels” by good design and practice. But the company’s critics point out that its track record is not encouraging.

The Sunday Herald revealed in June that Patersons had been named and shamed for one of the worst pollution performances in Scotland. Its landfill site at Greenoakhill was guilty of “repeated non-compliance with a number of permit conditions”, according to the government’s Scottish Environment Protection Agency.

The world on the edge as disasters beckon

from Sunday Herald, 02 August 2009

The world is facing a series of interlinked crises which threaten billions of people and could cause the collapse of civilisation, according to an authoritative international report to be unveiled this week.

Climate pollution, food shortages, diseases, wars, disasters, crime and the recession are all conspiring to ravage the globe and threaten the future of humanity, experts are warning. Democracy, human rights and press freedom are also suffering.

“Half the world appears vulnerable to social instability and violence,” the report says. This is due to rising unemployment and decreasing food, water and energy supplies, coupled with the disruptions caused by global warming and mass migrations.

The report, called ‘2009 State of the Future’, has been compiled by the Millennium Project, a major international think-tank based in Washington DC. It has involved 2,700 experts from 30 countries, and runs to more than 6,700 pages.

The project has been backed by a diverse range of organisations, including United Nations agencies, the Rockefeller Foundation, private companies and governments. It provides “invaluable insights into the future for the United Nations, its member states, and civil society,” according to the UN Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon.

Revealed: half of our food is contaminated with pesticides

from Sunday Herald, 02 August 2009

Almost half of the food sold in supermarkets and shops across the UK last year was contaminated with toxic pesticides, according to the latest scientific surveys for the government.

Almost every orange, 94% of pineapples and 90% of pears sampled were laced with traces of chemicals used to kill bugs. HIgh proportions of apples grapes and tomatoes were also tainted, as were parsnips, melons and cucumbers.

Alarmingly, as much as a quarter of the food on sale in 2008 was found to contain multiple pesticides. In some cases residues of up to ten different artificial chemicals were detected in a single sample.

Experts warn that the “cocktail effect” of so many different chemicals could endanger health. They also point out that some of the pesticides are suspected of causing cancer and of being “gender-benders” that disrupt human sexuality.

The revelations about the widespread contamination of conventionally produced food have also prompted renewed attacks the government’s Food Standards Agency. It published a report last week casting doubt on the health benefits of eating organic food, which is mostly produced without pesticides.

Call for inquiry into 165 nuclear accidents

for Sunday Herald, 02 August 2009

The Scottish National Party is calling for an investigation after it was revealed that there have been 165 leaks and fires at the UK’s nuclear plants over the last eight years.

According to a parliamentary answer from the House of Commons, there have been 83  escapes of coolant from reactors and 82 fires since 2001. Six fires and nine leaks have happened in the last six months.

One of the nuclear sites with the most incidents was Hunterston in North Ayrshire, which recorded 24. There were also eight fires or leaks at Torness in East Lothian, seven at Dounreay in Caithness and one at the Rosyth naval dockyard in Fife.