View Full Version : Rail and Hospital services to mention just a couple.
Despite the protestations of Abiello and MP Monaghan it seems that there is a feeling that once again despite the fact that there are thousands living within the county we are the forgotten.
I have tried to get some authoritive information on what is happening but so far no success despite having contacted my MSP and MP the latter having made no effort to reply to my questions.
Whilst recently talking to an old acquaintance who was born here and has lived here all his life the comment was made, "We plebs up here don't matter."
It's a sad reflection on the times that our elected representatives are happy to turn a blind eye or even worse condone the run down of services.
Makes one wonder is any one is running the country let alone the county.
a) who in their right mind wants to use the train to get to and from here ? Why would you want to give up a day of your life to sit weaving through grouse moors and shooting lodges on a route originally built for Victorian toffs when you can nip down the A9 by car or bus ? Rail here is an irrelevance.
b) clinical excellence is directly linked to centralisation of expertise. Trying to deliver specialist medical services via amateurish little facilities doesn't work. I'd rather be operated on by someone who does a similar procedure 100 times a year than by someone who does 100 procedures just the once.
If you want to live next door to everything, then move. There's far too many spongers living up here now anyway, who think it's wonderful to 'get away from it all' but then expect the working taxpayer to provide everything for them.
Onespace, it's because I don't want to live next door to everything that I moved here.
Nipping down The A9 is not to be recommended as the road does not lend it's self to fast drivers and although there are those who drive with a death wish, I don't wish to be taken with them ! Besides I don't drive so have to rely on my husband or use the railway and despite it being a winding track it suits me and obviously quite a few others.
Clinical excellence is not directly linked to centres of expertise but to the individual practitioner and their knowledge and skill.
Your final statement I find insulting, I worked all my life, have paid my taxes and NHS contributions, I do not collect any benefit other than my state pension and made provision when working to supplement my income.
Hear hear LIZZ! Super response. :)
Onespace, it's because I don't want to live next door to everything that I moved here.
Then stop moaning. Accept the life balance and compromises that you sought.
Nipping down The A9 is not to be recommended as the road does not lend it's self to fast drivers and although there are those who drive with a death wish, I don't wish to be taken with them ! Besides I don't drive so have to rely on my husband or use the railway and despite it being a winding track it suits me and obviously quite a few others.
Oh come off it. That's a feeble excuse. That road is no worse than any others and statistically a heck of a lot better.
And what happened to that thing called a bus? We have (and have had for decades by various operators going back to Dunnet's and Newton's) an excellent express bus service which is way quicker than the train. And safe - when has a Caithness to Inverness bus been involved in a serious road accident (or any accident for that matter).
Your final statement I find insulting, I worked all my life, have paid my taxes and NHS contributions, I do not collect any benefit other than my state pension and made provision when working to supplement my income.
Then what are you moaning for? You look to be in a pretty cozy situation then. Be thankful. And I bet the services are no better in the birthplace that you chose to abandon to live among the simple people in the north.
Lizz I think it's unforgivable that our elected representatives cannot reply to correspondence. Our MP is well paid (did I read 66K per year) and I assume he has a big fat expenses account that should more than cover the cost of a stamp! Perhaps he thinks he can sit back for the next 4 years and ignore us all until re-election looms? Ah well!
I have to say I rather enjoy the train journey down but I do it in a slightly different way to some. I have been known to drive to Georgemas and park there which shaves some time off the journey. My usual plan though is to drive to Helmsdale where I have a friend I like to visit. My girls and I stop off there for a chin-wag and a cuppa before we jump on the train and head south from there. We make sure we have plenty to do and the time flies. It's just over 2 hours to Inverness and no parking issues to worry about when you get there. I'm with you Lizz I think the less time you spend on the A9 the better especially when there are brainless drivers with a death wish trying to do the length of the A9 in 2 hours.
As for the lack of services in the north don't we pay the same income tax and national insurance rates as those in the cities? Maybe it would be fairer if we only paid 2p in the pound up here?
Now as for the one with the space where the brain should be.....do I want to hear his piffle anymore? No...No...and No again. So he has become the first person put on my 'ignore' list. Wonderful. It feels soooo good. Liz I recommend it.
Love
Janey
I love the train journey, get violently sick on the bus, even just a couple of miles.
Our MP is not interested in local issues.....he made that perfectly clear when the sheltered housing warden was an issue at the end of last year.
Ignore lists are wonderful. There are a number whose obnoxious utterances I never need to see again. The troll on this thread has not joined my list yet but he's completed the membership form and is being considered by the ignore list committee.
Great post janeyj. :)
Not content with insulting me, you have now insulted all the folk of Caithness. They are far from simple.
Not content with insulting me, you have now insulted all the folk of Caithness. They are far from simple.
A sense of irony is something else you left behind then.
Since I don't believe in life after death I'm sure onespace isn't the reincarnation of former Orger Flynn. But onespace's writing style reminds me uncannily of my old friend Flynn. So much that it's almost scary.
Sadly it's almost three years since Flynn left us. He was one of the most intense members this forum has ever seen and although we disagreed on so many things I still miss him. :(
Our MP is I am afraid a total waste of space. He still hasn't died his hair and he never answers my emails.
My usual plan though is to drive to Helmsdale where I have a friend I like to visit.....I think the less time you spend on the A9 the better especially when there are brainless drivers with a death wish trying to do the length of the A9 in 2 hours.
Now there's a stunning contradiction. You DO choose to drive on the A9 when going to Inverness. And you choose to drive on the 40miles of unimproved road - if there's a dangerous bit, then that's it.
Oh, but hold on a moment - this isn't quite true either. In an earlier post you told us that your regular stopping off point when you DRIVE to Inverness is Golspie!
I think you just make this up as you go along.
Green_not_greed
17-Oct-16, 13:00
Despite the protestations of Abiello and MP Monaghan it seems that there is a feeling that once again despite the fact that there are thousands living within the county we are the forgotten.
I have tried to get some authoritive information on what is happening but so far no success despite having contacted my MSP and MP the latter having made no effort to reply to my questions.
Whilst recently talking to an old acquaintance who was born here and has lived here all his life the comment was made, "We plebs up here don't matter."
It's a sad reflection on the times that our elected representatives are happy to turn a blind eye or even worse condone the run down of services.
Makes one wonder is any one is running the country let alone the county.
A good thread Lizz and very pertinent points.
Caithness residents should not have to settle for a second rate health service. Choosing to live in a rural community does have its disadvantages, but health shouldn't be one of them. As you mention, transport is an issue too, but there's not much that can be done with the rail time, without prohibitive investment which will never come. Bus travel can shave an hour off the train time, so perhaps an improved bus service is something to campaign for ?
Transport is devolved so your MP couldn't do much about it even if they were behind a campaign. What we need are good local councillors and MSPs who are prepared to take a real active part and challenge being told what to do by those in Inverness and Edinburgh. They are elected by the people of Caithness and are supposed to represent our viewpoints and issues. If the current ones are not willing or able to do they then they need to go !
sock puppets abound this last couple of months i see. same old vitriol spouting from them as per usual too.
A good thread Lizz and very pertinent points.
Caithness residents should not have to settle for a second rate health service. Choosing to live in a rural community does have its disadvantages, but health shouldn't be one of them. As you mention, transport is an issue too, but there's not much that can be done with the rail time, without prohibitive investment which will never come. Bus travel can shave an hour off the train time, so perhaps an improved bus service is something to campaign for ?
Transport is devolved so your MP couldn't do much about it even if they were behind a campaign. What we need are good local councillors and MSPs who are prepared to take a real active part and challenge being told what to do by those in Inverness and Edinburgh. They are elected by the people of Caithness and are supposed to represent our viewpoints and issues. If the current ones are not willing or able to do they then they need to go !
Good post.
I believe ABSOLUTELY that we should have a high level of health service. Yes, we know we're never going to have a first class cardio unit in the county, and that we might have to travel to Raigmore for specialist treatment, but to reduce emergency surgical and maternity services would be a crime by the Scottish government and NHS highland.
For me, as much as I'd hate to see the railway go, it is now under used and heavily reliant on subsidy. Add to the near 4 hour journey it takes to get to Inverness and I'd say the money would be better spent upgrading the road.
The bus journey could also be made much more pleasant if Stagecoach invested in quality coaches for the Inverness-Scrabster route as opposed to giving us the 10 year old hand-me-downs from Aberdeenshire and the central belt.
If this UK government gets its way then everything that it isn't interested in will be sold off as a private enterprise and the people who use that enterprise will pay for its viability and investment. That is how capitialism works and that is why so many smaller lines subject to the conservative-backed Beeching Report simply closed down. In my view the Caithness line is teetering on closure because it is underused because of geographics. Not because the service is bad but because there isn't enough people using it.
What i am saying is that if you want the Caithness line to continue to operate or even prosper then you need a form of governance over the railways that seeks to keep the line open. I do not see that governance being connected with the UK governance that we are seeing just now. I see the Caithness line being kept open by governance that believes in nationalisation for the railways, you only get that with the SNP and the Scottish Greens. Don't chuck out the baby with the bath water is my motto.
Why blame the Uk government Rheghead, the NHS Scotland and Railways Scotland are all under the remit of the SNP at Holyrood , two more of their failed exercises in my opinion, add the broken Police Scotland who now owe the HMRC millions in unpaid Vat, is another example of SNP and their inaptitude .
the conservative-backed Beeching Report
The Labour Government-implemented Beeching Report.
The Labour Government-implemented Beeching Report.
The conservatives backed it, and it was their baby. Don't try to reinvent the past.
The conservatives backed it, and it was their baby. Don't try to reinvent the past.
There were two major political parties. Both of them had turns in Government and presided over large scale cuts to the railways.
To say anything else would be a reinvention of the past.
There were two major political parties. Both of them had turns in Government and presided over large scale cuts to the railways.
To say anything else would be a reinvention of the past.
That is a tad disingenuous. There was no political impetus to reform the rail network from Labour during the 1959-1964 period. The groundwork for the Beeching Report was drawn and the closures were implemented well before Labour came to power in 1964. Lines closures came to a peak in 1964 and the rate of closures declined after that when Labour came to power.
That is a tad disingenuous. There was no political impetus to reform the rail network from Labour during the 1959-1964 period. The groundwork for the Beeching Report was drawn and the closures were implemented well before Labour came to power in 1964. Lines closures came to a peak in 1964 and the rate of closures declined after that when Labour came to power.
Oh you should have linked to it!
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beeching_cuts#Closures_by_year
Year Total length closed
1950 150 miles (240 km)
1951 275 miles (443 km)
1952 300 miles (480 km)
1953 275 miles (443 km)
1954 to 1957 500 miles (800 km)
1958 150 miles (240 km)
1959 350 miles (560 km)
1960 175 miles (282 km)
1961 150 miles (240 km)
1962 780 miles (1,260 km)
Beeching report published
1963 324 miles (521 km)
1964 1,058 miles (1,703 km)
1965 600 miles (970 km)
1966 750 miles (1,210 km)
1967 300 miles (480 km)
1968 400 miles (640 km)
1969 250 miles (400 km)
1970 275 miles (443 km)
1971 23 miles (37 km)
1972 50 miles (80 km)
1973 35 miles (56 km)
There were enormous cuts during Labour's 1964-on tenure.
Were there any reopenings, or did Harold Wilson adopt the Conservatives' baby?
Edinburgh to Bathgate line was reopened, the borders line was reopened.....many more are under consideration
Reopening railways must be the Tories' new baby.
Oh you should have linked to it!
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beeching_cuts#Closures_by_year
Year Total length closed
1950 150 miles (240 km)
1951 275 miles (443 km)
1952 300 miles (480 km)
1953 275 miles (443 km)
1954 to 1957 500 miles (800 km)
1958 150 miles (240 km)
1959 350 miles (560 km)
1960 175 miles (282 km)
1961 150 miles (240 km)
1962 780 miles (1,260 km)
Beeching report published
1963 324 miles (521 km)
1964 1,058 miles (1,703 km)
1965 600 miles (970 km)
1966 750 miles (1,210 km)
1967 300 miles (480 km)
1968 400 miles (640 km)
1969 250 miles (400 km)
1970 275 miles (443 km)
1971 23 miles (37 km)
1972 50 miles (80 km)
1973 35 miles (56 km)
There were enormous cuts during Labour's 1964-on tenure.
Were there any reopenings, or did Harold Wilson adopt the Conservatives' baby?
There are only 5 closures under Labour.
There are only 5 closures under Labour.
Labour government shut down around 3,000 miles of railway lines. That's a lot of railway in such a small island as ours no matter how you look at it.
Labour government shut down around 3,000 miles of railway lines. That's a lot of railway in such a small island as ours no matter how you look at it.
And it never would have happened if the tories hadn't had an ideological compulsion about closing down things that have more value than what can be explained in terms of profit.
But there was absolutely nothing to stop Wilson's Labour government of 1964 pulling the plug on any further line closures. They must have had the same Tory ideology then if they continued to close another 3,000 miles of track over the next 5-6 years.
It has been suggested to me privately that onespace is in fact our MP! Now although I do not believe that accusation it does bring forth an element of amusement. And anyway he makes good points about the 1960s Labour government that we should keep in mind when the ignore list committee next meets. My opinion is that he shall survive without banishment. Although the jury is still out in the pub on that issue.
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