Lesley Riddoch

High time for a rethink on daylight saving hours

Welcome to winter. The days are shorter, the geese have arrived, leaves are turning and seasonal change is clearly under way.

But does today really feel like the first day of winter? There’s no early snow. In fact London is basking in 18 degrees of sunshine.

Nonetheless, this weekend the clocks went back as part of a bizarre annual ritual in which light-craving Britons shut the sun out of their spare time and afternoon lives. Thanks to this unfathomable act of collective masochism, it will indeed feel like winter tonight because the end of the working day will (roughly) coincide with the end of available daylight – seven weeks ahead of the winter solstice. Not as mad as March though, when it’s dark at 5pm but light at a sleep-destroying 5am. All that early evening gloom in the name of what – child safety?

Why Scots’ nature is just unnatural

Are Scots the unhealthiest herd in Europe? The Office for National Statistics says Scots die younger than those in any other part of the UK. The 2010 Scottish Health Survey reports two-thirds of Scots are overweight, the majority don’t take exercise or eat enough fruit and vegetables and more than one in ten Scots takes antidepressants. It’s a vicious circle.

Overweight people become sedentary. Sedentary people eat more. Indoor, inactive, sedentary people use the world’s cheapest depressant – alcohol – to cope with the negative impacts of their lifestyle. Children watch and learn.

Exploration should begin at home

Scotland is living through a decade of significant anniversaries –some more fulsomely celebrated than others.

2007 marked the 300th anniversary of the Act of Union. 2009 was the 250th anniversary of the birth of Robert Burns. 2010 was the 450th anniversary of the Scottish Reformation and 2014 will mark the 800th anniversary of the Battle of Bannockburn.

There is at least one more date to slot into that list. 2013, the 200th anniversary of the birth of Orcadian John Rae, the only Victorian Arctic explorer not to receive a Knighthood, despite discovering the final link in the North West Passage.

Three-year degrees may suit Scots too

Last week Dundee University announced art and design and life sciences will be offered as three-year courses from 2012 - the first higher education institution to formally "undercut" the traditional four-year Scottish degree.

Dundee's move is unashamedly money-based and England-focused.

"These new programmes will allow students to gain an honours degree in the same length of time as the rest of the UK, reducing the total cost once living costs like accommodation are factored in." But three-year degrees may also appeal to Scottish sixth year students whose brilliant university careers currently start with a repeat.

How many Scottish students are in this situation? Precise numbers are not easy to find. Between 2006-9, 20,580 pupils took Advanced Highers and 39,105 took HNC or HND courses in 2008-9. Of course not all went on to university. But they must make up a sizeable proportion of the 46,775 students who began degree level courses in 2008-9 (a total which also included UK and foreign students).

The four-year degree was designed for youngsters entering university after Highers at the tender age of 17. The world has evidently changed. Scottish universities have not. In theory, "advanced" learners can move directly into second year - in practice most don't.

One woman, one vision, one future

Professor Wangari Maathai died last week at the age of 71. You probably don't recognise her name. You may not remember she won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2004. You may not know she was beaten unconscious by Kenyan police during a rally on her 60th birthday. You could not have heard her speak at the G8 Summit at Gleneagles in 2005 - the event designed to tackle all of Africa's ills. She wasn't invited.

Politicians failing to focus on now

Twenty two years ago, I tried to walk to Rhenigidale - the last village on Harris without a road. The postie used to walk in twice a week to deliver mail. Hardy is too short a word.

The day I chose to walk in from Maaruig, change was afoot. Quite literally. Work on a new road had finally begun and muddy, churned, bulldozed earth, torn banks of heather and large, peaty holes combined to give walkers the worst of all worlds. Without an old path or a new road, the journey was almost impossible. The construction of something new had obliterated something old. In the meantime, there was one just almighty impasse.

Time Osborne bit the bullet on banking reform

British bankers finally face the day of reckoning. But don't break the bottles of bubbly open yet. Today, the Vickers Commission is expected to back Vince Cable's "get tough" call for a complete and immediate legal separation of retail and investment banking.

The commission's relatively limp interim report suggested the experts might pull their punches, but yesterday, the Business Secretary predicted that its recommendations would stop bankers "using the deposits of British savers to play the banking equivalent of the roulette wheel". Clearly, Sir John's resolve has stiffened. Hooray then - isn't it? Well, several big questions remain.

Scots' love of fast food is becoming a weighty issue

Now that the Scottish Government is set to bring back minimum pricing for alcohol, will a McFat tax be next? After all, if booze is seen as the modern hammer of the Scots, our poor diet is surely the chisel - drilling into longevity, chipping away at vitality and hacking away at family budgets.

General hostility to Philip Morris' Freedom of Information demands from Stirling University researchers shows how far the public smoking ban has tipped the scales of public perception against the tobacco industry.

The SNP's whopping majority means public approval is assumed for its manifesto commitment to reintroduce minimum alcohol pricing. Why has fatty food not attracted a ban or price hike mechanism, when the health effects of a bad diet are just as negative, tangible and growing?

Last week, articles in the Lancet predicted 23 million people (40 per cent of the British population) would be obese by 2030. Some will suggest indicators like Body Mass Index exaggerate the problem. That won't get away from the terrible truth. Scottish society is becoming more sedentary, fatter and older - obesity is fast making homes a prison, mobility a nightmare and old age a misery.

So the Lancet scientists called on the government to tackle obesity by taxing unhealthy foods and banning junk food advertising.

To read the whole article click here.

 

Time to tackle this tram disgrace

It's time for the Scottish Government to take over the chaotic Edinburgh tram scheme and fund its completion to St Andrew Square.

 

Labour's transport spokesman Councillor Andrew Burns says he's sorry for the appalling mismanagement of the scheme. Alex Salmond says he's keen to have an inquiry. Both offers are mere distractions while Edinburgh's rudderless ship sails on.

Clans must rise and demand a reason to be cheerful

Should Scots take a greater interest in Clans? Speaking to The Scotsman last week, Sir Malcolm MacGregor of MacGregor - new convenor of the Standing Scottish Council of Chiefs - said he thought young Scots should investigate their cultural heritage and join Clan societies. Please. I'm sure Sir Malcolm is well motivated and will devote time and energy to modernising the historic Clan Council. But can that possibly be time well spent?

Clan chiefs are generally fortunate that modern Scots draw a veil over the wholesale eviction and forced emigration of Clan members carried out by many of their forefathers. That inconvenient truth stops many Scots from viewing clan history as part of their own cultural heritage. With good reason.