'Sinking ship' warning over county economy

[haggiseater19]

Writtenby Gordon Calder
http://www.johnogroat-journal.co.uk/...y-15082013.htm

Havingread this article in the John O’Groat Journal, it amazes me that both Mr Milnesand Mr Sinclair were “surprised” and “disappointed and puzzled” by this pressrelease. I have read the ‘Groat‘ for many years and seen Mr Milnes name appearwithin its pages on numerous
occasions decrying the efforts of officialdom to attract new business to Caithnessalong with improving its infrastructure. It really must be hard for Mr Milnesto remain critical of the establishment now that he sits inside it on the CSRPAdvisory Board.

Mr Sinclair (CNSRP) always has a positive story within his on-line blog; I justwant to know how many of these positives actually turn into jobs? Gents, I think it is time to wake up andsmell the coffee, Caithness is teetering on the brink and we need some clarityof where we are.

I am not a union member and have no political affiliation either, I do have onenagging question though, if the GMB are ‘out on a limb’ with their efforts tobring everyone together for the good of the community – where does that leaveall the other unions and their memberships within Caithness
(Unite, Unison, Prospect, NFU, CWU, NASUWT, NUT, ACCORD, EIS and probably more)?Are they content to say nothing, do they agree or disagree with the GMB’s callfor action?

Iagree there has been money spent in the county in places such as Scrabster,Wick Harbour, Engineering Technology and Energy Centre and Centre for Energy andthe Environment and John O’Groats – but how many jobs has been created and atwhat cost? Make the Right Connectionsskills transition project is probably good if you can get funding, there aremany who have tried and can’t, this is tax payers money and someone should beclearly accountable for how it is spent and the benefits published for all tosee.

700created or retained full-time jobs – where and with whom? I haven’t heard of many jobs being createdbut we’ve all seen them being lost.

[hopper.65]

There is no question Caithness is in a pretty bad way as far as it's economy goes, and no way have 700 jobs been created, it's plain and simple when Dounreay really enters the final years, if substantial new employer is not attracted we as a community will be left in tatters and it's getting closer and closer.
I have felt Caithness has been really struggling now for many years with many shops really struggling to make a living from hen's pickings.
During the 80's and 90s the towns had much more going for it, the pubs would be packed at weekends with punters , look at them now they may get a couple of hours on a Saturday night then the rest is pretty quiet.
Now i am pretty sure this is not down to people reducing their alcohol intake but more the fact they don't have disposable income anymore and that is key to most successful towns to prosper.
There seems to be an air of doom and gloom about Caithness people these days and seldom do they support local events or businesses, choosing to save extra cash then spend it elsewhere.
The Gala is getting less of a turnout each year and only today i read of the B fest being scrapped of which i was not in the least bit surprised to hear!
I think you need to be mad to consider starting a retail business in Caithness as it stands you only need to study the amount of people on the streets to realise you are going to struggle, that's why we don't see any multiples on our high st, they have no question had people look at it for possibilities to open up shop but their findings will without doubt make the vast majority remain uninterested.
Tourism in Caithness is nothing short of a joke with less and less people choosing to stop here and most don't think it's worth the effort to make the the other 100 miles north from Inverness and we all know why, you can't rely on attracting tourists on wild endless sky Caithness and unless you have family attractions you will only see it get worse.
What i say may seem harsh but it's the reality of the situation we are in and only way it will ever change is by some big employers setting up shop in the county and does anyone think this is about to happen as i don't, and if there is it is high time they gave some sort of indication of whats in order to give people some kind of hope of an improvement , instead of fobbing us of with claims that are not in the slightest way how it seems to the people of Caithness.

[Birons]

We sell razor blades and other sharp implements for anyone wishing to end it all before its too late. Jesus, talk about doom and gloom mongers .

[Kodiak]

haggiseater, I can see that you are going to be a real FUN type of poster here at the org. NOT, but thanks to Birons for making me smile.

[Gronnuck]

If there are no jobs who's going to fill all that accommodation that's been built next to the B876 just south-east of Bower?

[hopper.65]

We sell razor blades and other sharp implements for anyone wishing to end it all before its too late. Jesus, talk about doom and gloom mongers .

Doom and gloom in life is up to the individual to change, i am pretty happy with mine but it doesn't change the fact there is a huge problem looming on the horizon and if it isn't taken seriously and those who think it is live for today and wait to see what tomorrow holds will find this county with an ever decreasing quality of life.
With no jobs people have to go elsewhere and a greatly reduced population means public amenities start to be withdrawn, like swimming pools, cinema, schools close, hospitals, shops the list goes on.
There are places that this has happened to before and we look to be heading for the same.
It shouldn't be a surprise that some don't want this to happen and voice their concerns on what is being done about it!

[Big Gaz]

We sell razor blades and other sharp implements for anyone wishing to end it all before its too late. Jesus, talk about doom and gloom mongers .

Now now Kevin, you know it's illegal to sell sharp blades to children!

[mi16]

Now now Kevin, you know it's illegal to sell sharp blades to children!

bit of flatbar and a file would be ok theough

[Alice in Blunderland]

We sell razor blades and other sharp implements for anyone wishing to end it all before its too late. Jesus, talk about doom and gloom mongers .

Now if you can just persuade enough people to go out and slash their wrists because of the doom and gloom outlook the knock on effect will be brilliant. The undertakers trade will go up thus employing more joiners to make the coffins. The hotels will be able to charge an arm and a leg for the wake.People will go out fall down drunk and rip their clothes McAllans can then sell them more. taxis will have to ferry the folks home as they are not supposed to drink and drive......hm but this is Caithness since when have we listened to advice. See the knock on effect from Birons selling razor blades will be immense Kevin will be crowned King all hail King Kev.

[Birons]

That's a much more optimistic view of the situation Alice, I knew I would come good eventually.

[Moira]

We sell razor blades and other sharp implements for anyone wishing to end it all before its too late. Jesus, talk about doom and gloom mongers .

Ah, the gloom mongers are always present.

They just don't "do upbeat" and open a shop on the high street or believe that Wick and/or Caithness has a future.

Love the humour in your post btw.....

[mi16]

Ah, the gloom mongers are always present.They just don't "do upbeat" and open a shop on the high street or believe that Wick and/or Caithness has a future.Love the humour in your post btw.....

Well at the moment the future looks bleak?Where is the work in the area?

[Alice in Blunderland]

We sell razor blades and other sharp implements for anyone wishing to end it all before its too late. Jesus, talk about doom and gloom mongers .

Now if you can just persuade enough people to go out and slash their wrists because of the doom and gloom outlook the knock on effect will be brilliant. The undertakers trade will go up thus employing more joiners to make the coffins. The hotels will be able to charge an arm and a leg for the wake.People will go out fall down drunk and rip their clothes McAllans can then sell them more. taxis will have to ferry the folks home as they are not supposed to drink and drive......hm but this is Caithness since when have we listened to advice. See the knock on effect from Birons selling razor blades will be immense Kevin will be crowned King all hail King Kev.

Well at the moment the future looks bleak?Where is the work in the area?

See above posts that's just the tip of the iceberg

[Oddquine]

Well at the moment the future looks bleak?Where is the work in the area?

The work will come when the UK Govenment wants somewhere well out of the highly populated areas to set up a prototype for something which might be dangerous but they don't quite know if it will be yet. It's why Caithness got Dounreay......because there wouldn't be (tens of) thousands of UK citizens in the Thurso area in Caithness to be affected if their probability calculations were utter crap..so it didn't really matter.

What do you fancy? The repository for all the UK nuclear trash for storage for the next x-number of years.....or maybe the ability to glass the worlds nuclear waste so they can get it out of their countries and will accept it back from us as something they can store safely despite the effects on us?

Let's be honest...as far as the UK is concerned, Caithness (in fact the Highlands north of Inverness) are the arse-end of beyond and don't have enough votes to make any impact on what passes for democracy in the UK, so can safely be ignored, despite the fact that our constituency MP is part of the "ruling" coalition.