[Destro]

"My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?"

Putin, fix Russia quick cause the West is dead and I may need to move.

[1tin_soldier]

"It's a simpler way of giving crofting communities the right to buy land. But the heavens aren't going to fall in."

Are we to assume that these "communities" lacked the "right to buy land" before? Or did they perhaps simply lack the means.....?

[graycamel]

It's their country. Let them run it the way they seem fit. Remember, we did the same thing to Japan after WWII. If the "ordinary citizens" are given an easier path to purchase land, fine. But if they are given more rights just because their ancestors were mistreated, hey we do that here with the American Indians, then it's a bad idea. Socialism exists primarily because capitalists don't do a good job and are often too selfish. If we did better, no one would be attracted to the garbage called "socialism".

[jimtorr]

The owners, he said, want to hold on to the property for its mineral rights. He hopes to buy it and turn parts into a heritage trail, maybe set up a shellfish processing plant or a wind farm to produce electricity.

Better that the current owners continue to do nothing with the land. The only minerals there, I think, are coal, and nobody is going to be stupid enough to open a new coal mine.

Bozo wants to make a heritage trail that nobody will walk, a shellfish plant to pollute the air and water and cause local overfishing or a windfarm that is not economically viable.

And remember, the money to buy this land would come from the already overused lottery funds.

[happygrl]

Actually God had some very interesting ideas on land ownership when land was designated for the twelve tribes. Those included that inability to disenfranchise a family permanently through forgiveness of debt every fifty years, letting the land lie fallow every seven years, provision for the poor to glean the corners of the fields. God was not a capitalist, not in the sense that we understand it it. His justice was far beyond ours.

[Winniesboy]

I think your addition to the headline is a wee bit over the top. There has long been a widespread recognition, even among most landowners, that the archaic and feudal land ownership laws in the Scottish Highlands needed reform. It's a complex and arcane subject, and I won't bore Freepers by going into it in great detail: but one point worth noting is that it was these same laws, virtually unchanged since, which made possible the notorious Highland clearances of the 18th and 19th centuries, the consequent large-scale forced emigration, and thus the enrichment of the USA by many fine people of Scots Highland descent. And jimtorr, it may indeed be true that some (very few) estates have been in the same family for many centuries: but a lot of recent problems
have been caused by the purchase of large Highland shooting estates by Arab, Dutch and other incomers who have little understanding or care for what it takes to look after the unique wild land of the Highlands.

As for the other part of the new Act, that concerned with access, this simply enshrines in statute what has always been a common law right. As a climber, hillwalker and wilderness skier in the Highlands for many years, this is a subject close to my heart. For the most part the common law right has been well respected by all parties, with hillwalkers staying off the hill during the stalking season, for instance. But the behaviour of a small minority of landowners during the Foot and Mouth crisis two years ago finally made a statue law necessary. There were a number of examples of arbritrary and illegal attempts to 'close' large areas of wild land long after the infection risk had passed, with considerable consequent damage to a local economy much dependent on outdoor activity tourism.

[CIApilot]

...said Andy Wightman, author of "Who Owns Scotland."

During the Clearances, my family was burned out of Sutherland, then shoved off of Barra, and landed in Nova Scotia.

I highly recommend "Who Owns Scotland." It's an eye-opener, and very depressing to see how much of the Highlands and Islands land has been taken over by rich Arabs, Middle Easterners, and others.

[dodger]

No fan here of Scottish socialism, but these 'large estates' actually were clan-communal property that was stolen 200 years ago when the English 'gave' them to friendly Lairds who literally sold out their own kith and kin. Most of the crofters thereabouts actually are clan descendants, so some of this actually makes some sense ....

[rmvh]

Now is the time for Scotland to "pull the plug" on being a member of the British Commonwealth....which many, many good Scots have wanted to do for years.

[LoneRangerMassachusetts]

Supporters of the bill, which passed by a vote of 101 to 19 with only 2 abstentions, shrug off the criticism, saying change was overdue in Scotland, where half of private land is in the hands of just 343 landowners and only half of Scotland's land has gone on the market in the past century.

They should first get rid of the Monarchy, Lords, and anything that give a privilaged royal class a leg up. The rest will take care of itself in a free market. The Scots intent is good but the means rot.