IT was the first big land buyout in Scotland where wealthy owners were forced to sell to the community. The Assynt Foundation used £4 million of taxpayer, charity and lottery cash to buy the vast Glencanisp and Drumrunie estates, and refurbish Glencanisp Lodge, but there have been questions about how great the return on the investment has been ever since the 2005 buyout. Now, after 15 years of effort, the foundation has decided to call in private cash and a high-powered entrepreneur to give it the boost it needs to achieve its goals. Hotelier Nick Dent is to lease the stunning Glencanisp Lodge, centrepiece of the Assynt Foundation’s 44,000 acres, and turn it into a boutique hotel.
Mike Yardley: Coasting it in South Taranaki newstalkzb.co.nz - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from newstalkzb.co.nz Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
I WAS surprised and not a little irritated that the sad demise of Prince Philip inspired some Conservative MPs to propose that a new royal yacht should be commissioned and named after the late prince. The estimated cost would be £190 million. Scotland would be asked to pay a share. I seem to recall that an almost bankrupted Great Britain acquiesced to a new royal yacht being built in the early 1950s. Any adverse opinion, and there was some, was soon silenced by the fact that the proposed ship was designed so that it could be almost instantly converted to a hospital ship to support our military servicemen should the need for one ever arise.
IT’S always interesting to read Pat Kane’s articles and his ideas on democracy and his piece in Saturday’s National was no exception (Progressive policy ideas are now more necessary because of Covid, April 17). He argues that building security and individual resilience is not just about “alleviating economic need”. To put this another way, it is more than just putting our marks on a ballot paper and then sitting back for the next four or five years while professional politicians and governments get on with the day job, or don’t, depending on your viewpoint. Kane argues that we need to develop our capacity for learning, relationships, exploration of what it is to be human in the wider world, and then says that “this won’t happen overnight”. I couldn’t agree more, but how do you create a system in which all people do engage. Darren McGarvey has said that if you believed a system was rigged against you, why would you engage?
Arran Banner letters - week 16 - Arran Banner arranbanner.co.uk - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from arranbanner.co.uk Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.