November Column

Written by Writen by Malcolm Bruce for the website on Wed 1st Nov 2006

****************************Climate change looms **************************

I had to cut the grass last weekend, which is the first time I can remember having to get the lawnmower out so late in the year. We have yet to have an air frost and although the temperature has dropped enough now for the leaves to fall and summer annuals to die back the garden is still greener and lusher than I can ever remember at this time of year.

Of course by itself this is not conclusive proof of the effects of climate change but taken alongside a whole range of other statistics from across the world there can be little doubt that temperatures are rising and extreme weather is occurring much more frequently.

The Liberal Democrats have been campaigning on environment and climate change issues for a long time but there now appears to be genuine all-party consensus emerging about the need for action.

Some people argue that the UK's contribution to global emissions is small compared with North America and, increasingly, China and, therefore, we should not take the lead.

I would counter that by saying we can influence others and helping to develop the technology will provide opportunities for British companies. This is a view shared by the Scottish Executive (under Liberal Democrat influence) who have set ambitious targets for Scotland and sent Enterprise Minister Nicol Stephen to Beijing last week to promote renewable technology to the Chinese, who are keen to buy in.

Until July I was Chair of Globe which is running a climate change dialogue involving policy makers, business and academics from G8 plus 7 countries. Our intention is to come up with practical policies, which will help reduce emissions in ways that politicians, scientists and the business community agree will work.

****************************Clocks won't change daylight hours*******************************

Another hardy perennial that comes up at this time of the year is a call to extend summer time throughout the year. The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA) actually wants summertime through the winter and double summertime in the summer.

This is as wearily predictable as hearings of the first cuckoo in spring and comes with claims that it would reduce accidents on the roads.

There are good arguements against changing the clocks

This is not conclusive as, in reality, the rise in road deaths in winter has more to do with less daylight and poorer conditions due to fog, wet and icy roads, which changing the clocks won't alter. It also doesn't look at the effect of such changes across the whole of society - such as the distribution of depression caused by shorter hours of daylight.

More fundamentally, because the UK is tilted from south-east to north-west these proposals fly in the face of geography. The Greenwich meridian leaves 90 per cent of the UK to the west of the central point of GMT. So, although the effects of changing the clocks are more exaggerated the further north and west you go it is fundamentally an east-west issue.

The UK is in the right time zone but on the western side of it. RoSPA's proposals are the equivalent of relocating Britain into eastern Europe. It is France, Spain and the Benelux countries that are in the wrong time zone. Portugal tried to align itself with Spain a few years ago and was forced to revert to our time zone.

By all means let's have a campaign to reduce accidents at a time of short winter days but don't try and turn the world on its axis.

********************************North East has Olympic swimming medals in view*****************************

I was delighted to hear that the prospects for a 50metre Olympic size swimming pool for the North East has come a step closer with the City Council earmarking £5million towards it and a promise form the Scottish Executive that it will provide support.

I have been supporting calls for this for some time now and from an original indication that funding would not be forthcoming for the estimated £22 million cost of such a pool real progress has now been made.

The success of North East swimmers in the Commonwealth games must have helped plus calls from many of us that if the 2012 Olympics are to be genuinely British Olympics then all parts of the UK must share in the investment.

Alex Salmond received a justifiable raspberry for suggesting that Scotland should have its own Olympic team. Even for the Commonwealth Games all British athletes trained together and the camaraderie was apparent. An Olympic pool in the North East will give our international class swimmers the facilities they deserve.

*******************************Palestinian poverty grows*************************************

The International Development Committee, which I chair, is visiting Israel and the Occupied Territories to see for ourselves the impact on the local population of cuts in funding to the Palestinian Authority since the election of Hamas.

Last week we took evidence from officials at DFID and the Foreign Office who were clearly uncomfortable with the position in which they found themselves.

Nobody anticipated the election of Hamas including Hamas themselves. Following the election Israel has withheld around $55-$65 million a month of tax revenues collected on behalf of the Palestinian Authority. The international community also cut direct aid and diverted lesser sums to the Temporary International Mechanism for emergency relief.

Public servants are not being paid and it appears the economy of the occupied territories is on the verge of collapse.

The extended bombardment of Lebanon and Gaza in August after the unprovoked abduction of Israeli soldiers has added further to the plight of the people of Gaza, which sadly we will not be able to visit because border crossings are insecure and closed most of the time.

All of this suggests that any peace process has retreated into the distance. The question for our committee is how much of UK taxpayers' money is being diverted from poor people in other parts of the world to make up for the consequences of the man-made deteriorating situation in the region

***************************Joy and sadness for Sparrows Offshore******************************

The release of the four north east men who had been taken hostage in Nigeria came as a great relief to the men and their families not least because one of them had been reported dead and their was concern for the condition of the others.

I was in touch with their employers, Sparrows Offshore, based in the Bridge of Don, also in the Gordon constituency, from the outset and made contact with the junior minister for Africa, Lord Triesman.

There was only a limited amount that could be done but the company and the Foreign Office were represented at top level meetings with the Nigerian authorities focusing on securing the men's release.

In the end it seems the matter was resolved by the Nigerian Authorities and the company and I know the families are grateful to all those concerned.

It was therefore sad to learn of the death of Ken Scott, the driving force behind Sparrows, whose home was in Keig.

I first met Ken in the 1970s and met him regularly casually and by arrangement over the years. He invited me as his guest when he won a series of prestigious Scottish Offshore Achievement awards only last March.

He was the driving force behind the success of Sparrows, which built up from small beginnings to a work force of 1,500.

Ken was just beginning to enjoy a more relaxed work-life balance and it is cruel that he did not live to enjoy it.

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