Tag Archives: Marquis and Marchioness of Stafford

Crofting Law whilst in Milan

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Crofting Law whilst in Milan

The dome in the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II, Milan, Italy

It is over a week since my last blog post. Not because it has been quiet in the world of crofting law but because I’ve been away in Milan. I didn’t quite escape crofting law whilst there as I had a meeting where a translator turned my crofting law advice into Italian. I hope nothing was lost in translation. Not sure what the Italian is for souming!

Last time I was away from the UK I commented that there was ‘no let up on the common grazings crisis whilst on holiday‘. Much the same this time around. Especially due to the fact that the ‘twa Colins’ (as they have become known in the comments section of this blog) are, somewhat incredulously, still in post.

Colin Souter, the Grazings ‘Constable‘ of Upper Coll, still seems to hold that ‘position’ despite the Crofting Commission announcing over three weeks ago that he would be stepping down “as soon as possible“. Why has he not stepped down or been stepped down?

Colin Souter has been uncharacteristically quiet during that period. Whereas Colin Kennedy, Convener of the Crofting Commission, has been uncharacteristically vocal. My last blog post looked at his  crofting ‘crusade‘ as revealed in The Scottish Farmer. A week later and The Scottish Farmer have published a letter from Colin Kennedy which starts with an attack on the Scottish Crofting Federation, rambles on a bit and is cryptic in places but seems to be blaming the  former Chief Executive of the Crofting Commission, Catriona Maclean, for everything that everyone else has been blaming him for. I will look at that, and the further breaches of the code of conduct by Mr Kennedy arising therefrom, in a future blog post.

Kennedy is the renegade commissioner who is breaking almost all, if not every, ethical standard expected of public office holders. The Editor of the West Highland Free Press wondered a couple of weeks ago how Kennedy had still not received his P45. Patrick Krause, Chief Executive of the Scottish Crofting Federation, writing in the Press & Journal around the same time expected this “Ozymandias with delusions of grandeur” to have been toppled by now.

The First Minister, Nicola Sturgeon, referred to Kennedy’s behaviour as “disappointing” and hinted at the powers the Scottish Ministers had to remove him. Since then he has gone on a personal tirade against those very ministers, his commissioner colleagues and commission staff. How has he been allowed to go on like this? Who is in control? What message does this send out to crofters and the general electorate? Where and how will it all end?

I referred earlier to “former” Chief Executive, Catriona Maclean, because her replacement on an interim basis, Bill Barron, started work at Great Glen House on Monday. I will also look at that in more detail in a future blog post.

However, how can this new interim Chief Executive be expected to effectively operate an organisation where the Convener has gone renegade? Where that convener does not have the support of the other commissioners, the Scottish Ministers, any of the crofting representative bodies or the vast majority of crofters? Could the role be any more of a poisoned chalice?

What else happened over the past week? Well:-

  • The closing date came and went for applications for the two appointed Crofting Commissioner posts.
  • Top search terms leading people to this blog were “Colin Kennedy Crofting Commission” and “the Marquis & Marchioness of Stafford”. I have previously drawn comparisons.
  • Comments on the blog took on a Star Trek theme making a change from Star Wars analogies. The Dark Side have become the Klingons it would appear 😉
  • Revelations of baboon-a-grams being advertised on the Isle of Coll emerged. We are searching the News of the World archives for more on this story which just might eclipse the Convener’s Throne for amusement value.
  • It would appear that back issues of the News of the World, Press & Journal and Oban Times also hold other interesting stories about the Isle of Coll. We will see what our research turns up.
  • Crofting road shows will be taking place to inform crofters about the Crofting Commission  elections and other crofting issues.
  • The Rural Economy and Connectivity Committee has launched a call for written evidence to help inform its short, focussed review of priorities for crofting law reform.
  • Crofting Election Regulations have been put before the Scottish Parliament but these make no changes, as previously mooted, to the six constituency boundaries.

A week is clearly a long time in crofting law!

More detail on some of these stories  will appear in future blog posts. Do subscribe to this blog by inserting your e-mail address in the box in the top right of this page and press ‘Subscribe’. You will then receive the latest blog posts directly into your mail box as soon as they are published. You don’t want to miss that baboon-a-gram story 😉

Brian Inkster

Book Review: Set Adrift Upon the World – The Sutherland Clearances

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Set Adrift Upon the World - The Sutherland ClearancesIn ‘Set Adrift Upon the World’ James Hunter masterly weaves together a fascinating account of the Sutherland Clearances. One that takes you from the Strath of Kildonan and other parts of Sutherland to battles in New Orleans via South Africa and onto the foundation of what is now the Canadian city of Winnipeg.

Along the way you are introduced to characters from the early 1800s that have a familiarity about them as their names remain in use today throughout the Highlands & Islands of Scotland. Heart wrenching accounts are given of the barbarity of evictions that left people homeless and often resulted in the death of the young or infirm shortly on the back thereof. Journeys by foot across frozen Canada conjure up images like those from the Oscar winning film ‘The Revenant’. On a lighter note the intricacies of malt whisky making are explained and we learn what Alison Watt’s favourite painting is in the collection of the National Galleries of Scotland.

The clearances were at the behest of the Marquis and Marchioness of Stafford (later to become the Duke and Duchess of Sutherland) to make way for large scale sheep farming. Those removed from the land would have the option of much smaller crofts on the fringes of the Sutherland Estate that would be unsustainable on their own without other income streams. Much indeed as crofting has become today. Many of those evicted instead moved to Caithness or further afield to Canada for the prospect of larger holdings on which to make a living.

The henchmen in the tale are James Loch, Commissioner to the Marquis of Stafford, and Patrick Sellar, Factor of the Sutherland Estate. The chapter on the trial of Patrick Sellar in the High Court on culpable homicide charges is an infuriating read for anyone concerned with the rule of law. Indeed that is a theme throughout the book where wealth and status invariably lead to injustice for others.

The book often feels more like a fictional novel rather than a factual historical account. That is the beauty of James Hunter’s approach to history and one he himself refers to as storytelling. This makes it a real page turner with you eager to know what happens next even though you know what the ending must be.

It was impossible for me to read this book without unfortunately seeing parallels to ‘The Common Clearances’ of today. That is the removal from office of Common Grazings Committees by the Crofting Commission. A body whose remit is supposedly to regulate not decimate crofting. This is currently happening with unusual regularity, in haste and on what appears to be completely unreasonable and unnecessary grounds. The Crofting Commission are today’s Marquis and Marchioness of Inverness and their henchmen are easily identifiable. Kangaroo courts, ignorance of the law, conflicts of interest, self-interest, corruption, nepotism, historical revisionism, intimidation and bullying have all been referred to as tactics used by the Crofting Commission as part of ‘The Common Clearances’. About the only difference with the Sutherland Clearances so far is the absence of fire. To think these comparisons are being made 200 years after the Sutherland Clearances is hard to fathom. Equally hard to believe is the fact that the Scottish Government of today has so far not intervened in what the Scottish Crofting Federation has referred to as a “calamity”.

As James Hunter points out, Beriah Botfield, a Tory MP, commented in 1830, that no “pursuit of prospective advantage” made it legitimate “to transgress the laws of humanity”.

Brian Inkster

N.B. This book review was written for and first appeared in Scottish Legal News and Irish Legal News.

Buy ‘Set Adrift Upon the World – The Sutherland Clearances’ at Amazon