“If all parties were to take this opportunity to try to de-polarise public debate just a bit, to focus more on issues, and to reset the tone and tenor of our discourse.” Nicola Sturgeon
“It is clear that a law that doesn’t allow Scotland to choose our own future without Westminster consent has blown out of the water any notion of the United Kingdom as a voluntary union.”
Producing over 100% of its own energy needs through renewables, mostly wind, in Orkney we pay the most to buy back our own electricity. Why? And is there a solution?
“One of the key policy changes for me was the move to raise the formal school age to six, with the introduction of a statutory play-based kindergarten stage for three to six year olds, similar to early years education in Nordic countries.” Robert Leslie
“we feel it is important to explore how things could be done differently, and in a way that is fairer for all, making Orkney’s energy work for Orkney’s people, not private energy companies and their shareholders” Robert Leslie
“Before Alistair Carmichael can join the long-running campaign for fair energy prices for folk in Orkney and Shetland – and indeed all off-gas areas across the Highlands and Islands – I think he needs to apologise to his constituents.”
In Quebec “fuel poverty is at 7%, compared to an estimated 44% in Orkney after the April 2022 price cap rise” Robert Leslie
The UK is heading towards a winter public health disaster as millions are unable to heat their homes and eat healthy meals.
ROBERT LESLIE looks back at how electricity developed in Orkney and wonders, after almost a century, if we have now come full circle to a point where local ownership could secure a brighter future for the islands
“Orkney folk, along with our Highlands and Islands neighbours, continue to pay more for electricity than anywhere else in the UK despite the fact we are net exporters of clean, green electricity.”
