US tycoon Donald Trump has warned that wind farms could “completely end” tourism in Scotland and the country is “in effect committing financial suicide”.
Mr Trump said he would not have built his golf course in the north east of Scotland if he had known about plans to install turbines off the coast there. He also claimed there was “not a shred of evidence” that the devices benefit the environment, claiming their construction used “massive amounts of fossil fuels”.
Mr Trump, a vocal opponent of wind farms, launched his latest attack in a submission to Holyrood’s Economy, Energy and Tourism Committee. He is due to appear before MSPs next week as the committee considers how achievable the Scottish Government’s renewable energy targets for 2020 are…
In his submission, Mr Trump said that he “strongly” disagreed with First Minister Alex Salmond on the issue of wind power.
The American entrepreneur said: “I do not share his optimism about a future based on wind, especially when such plans have failed and caused so much damage in Europe, North America and so many other parts of the world.”
Mr Trump has already spoken out about a proposed offshore wind farm near the luxury golf resort he is building in Aberdeenshire and has halted work on the development until a decision is made by the Scottish Government.
He said that the course there – which has already been built – was “perhaps my greatest contribution to the sport of golf”. But Mr Trump said: “If I had known about the current wind turbine proposals, I would never have built in Scotland.”
The trouble is Donald, you say that like it’s a BAD thing…
25 Comments
Where have all our commenters gone? Did everyone go back to work to an exploding in-tray?
In my case, it’s due to (a) food poisoning via dodgy salmon and (b) resumption of work. Yes, I still managed to teach yesterday despite feeling like something the cat dragged in…
NEVER eat the salmon mousse…
Oh DEM, you make me laugh… No, I don’t think I will be touching ANY salmon products for a while. Ergh. In fact, talking about salmon products is making my stomach protest!
SL:
“Where have all our commenters gone? Did everyone go back to work to an exploding in-tray?”
Naaah, I’ve been busy writing a new song, this time to the tune of “Don’t Worry, Be Happy”. You’ll be pleased to know it’ll première on this here bloggy, subject to a reasonable fee agreement of course
But on a more serious note, a worry about the impact of wind farms on microbats and birds. On the other hand, I reckon they can be aesthetically pleasing.
Sorry, i caught wind farm syndrome and haven’t been able to post.
I see Mr Trump is of the Trump MacLeods, whose Crest is “A bull’s head cabossed Sable, horned Or, between two flags Gales, staved of the First Mott Hold fast ”
Seems about right, although it doesn’t mention wigs or hair transplants. And I’m not going to look up what a ‘horned Or’ is…
Lorenzo speaks heraldry… Paging Lorenzo.
I love microbats.
I think wind power is environmental vandalism. I hate it.
It is a bias and it is not reasonable, yet I detest Trump. For no real reasonable reason the chap just gives me the creeps.
Thus although I have reservations about wind power in regards to the generation verses construction energy calculations I will tend to fall on the side that tells Mr Trump that if the wind is absorbed by the wind farm that’s less wind for his toupee to deal with.
Silly but that’s just my day today
Ripples, I tend to agree with you. For some reason Trump just gets my goat.
Heraldic blazon use Norman colours – Or is gold. So while the head is black (sable), its horns are gold. Presumably the flags are actually ‘Gules’ (red).
Thank you Jonathan D – although I thought the ‘between two flags Gales‘ was much more appropriate for DEM’s post. (That description was lifted from The Donald’s golf course website btw)
LE just to be consistently off-topic, I see that the lady of the lamp fitting has won her right to compensation for a job related injury.
Hah, KVD, there you go. I wonder if they’ll appeal?
I only speak basic heraldry. Folk seem to be managing
Thanks not Lorenzo! Failing further explanation I shall therefore translate ‘staved of the First Mott Hold fast’ to mean NEVER eat the salmon mousse
Since this appears to have turned into an open thread by default, I can confess to going to see The Hunger Games yesterday.
This marked something of an event for me: it is the first time in my life I have watched a film before reading the book on which it was based. I’ll read the book after my conversion exams and see what the effect will be. My impressions:
1. Very clever use of ancient Rome, especially Juvenal’s 10th satire, from which not only the country’s name, but several of the set-pieces (including Romans banqueting while people kill each other for their entertainment) were nicked. Collins’ story is very Roman, but those who compare it with Battle Royale are not completely off-beam – the setting for that was an alt-hist Japan victorious in WWII, and the similarities between pagan Rome and Japan + State Shinto pre-1945 are striking in the extreme.
2. Very clever use of a lot of other literary references, from Shirley Jackson’s short story ‘The Lottery’ to William Golding’s Lord of the Flies to George Orwell’s telescreens-that-must-never-be-turned-off-and-present-in-every-household to the myth of the Minotaur.
3. The Eagle Fetish, as Lorenzo calls it. Intelligently used.
4. Too long. About 30 mins of stomping through scrub and not terribly useful establishment could have been cut. Film is visual; films should be shorter than novels because you have pictures. Many directors do not seem to have got the memo on this.
5. As for the Nazis, now for the Romans. We are going to have to stop sanitizing these societies in order to get a child-friendly censorship rating. And some of the cuts the BBFC made to what violence there was produced continuity errors. Apparently the MPAA left more of the violence in; I’ll have to wait and see.
But, but, but – did you actually enjoy it?
Funny you mention the book/film order; I’m tossing up as to if I ever should watch Salmon Fishing which I’m informed doesn’t do one of my favourite books anywhere near justice.
Yes I did, although I did find the extra length a bit wearing; I don’t like having to attend to an urgent call of nature immediately on leaving the cinema.
Another thing: beautiful sets and costumes, ancient Rome goes steampunk + art deco.
kvd, it seems much more fun when you don’t see that Gales is a typo, but unfortunately most of the bizarreness of the rest of the blazon is down to a typo, too.
That flagstaffs are the first mentioned colour (black) and the Motto is ‘Hold Fast’.
J@22 thanks again! I must say I find the shoddiness of the source quite intriguing. My copy was taken from here . You’d think Mr Trump and his researcher would get ‘important stuff’ like that nearer to the mark.
SL @ 19 – now I want you to read the books! I want to know what you think.
KVD @ 18: my new motto is: never eat salmon again. I hope this will wear off eventually – I really liked salmon before the Listeria incident. Particularly smoked salmon (which was fortunately not involved in our illness – maybe I can still stomach it as a result – although my appetite for the last week has been non-existent.)