Trump Golf Course Doc BBC2 Sunday, 21st Oct

[DracoM]

I do hope many forum members saw, or will make a point of seeing, this extraordinary documentary by Anthony Baxter on the behaviour of the American billionaire Donald Trump, the Scottish Govt, and the Grampian / Aberdeen Police over the colossal golf course he is destroying many hundreds of hectares of an area of SSI north of Aberdeen for. What it reveals about the synergy between Trump, the Scottish Govt and the local police is shaming, amounts to a concerted attempt to bully, intimidate, and destroy the livelihood of those who live and have lived on this wild and beautiful coastline for many years.

[gingerjon]

I couldn't bring myself to watch it because I knew just how angry it would make me.

I'd like to make a comment that it must be a Scottish problem but then I see that HS2 is still going to plough through vast swathes of the Chilterns so empty trains can get to Birmingham ten minutes faster than normal trains manage now.

[teamsaint]

Scottish folk musician Karine Polwart has been highlighting this also. here is her take on it, in case anybody is interested.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dSfw4oUhjnU

And I have to say, I agree with Gingerjon's sentiments.....and I think train travel is a great way to get about...but not like that.

[aeolium]

What it reveals about the synergy between Trump, the Scottish Govt and the local police is shaming, amounts to a concerted attempt to bully, intimidate, and destroy the livelihood of those who live and have lived on this wild and beautiful coastline for many years.

I quite agree, Draco - and you could also mention the fawning attitude of the local university in awarding Trump an honorary degree. It was as you say an extraordinary documentary, unashamedly partisan but none the worse for that, with some eloquent and beautiful imagery among the grotesque story of the rape of the wild landscape and the persecution of the local residents. It was the kind of film I did not expect to see again on the BBC.

Well worth catching either on the iplayer or it is repeated on BBC2 tonight at 12.20 a.m.

I'd be interested in hearing some views from those living in Scotland where presumably the story was more widely reported.

[MrGongGong]

I seem to remember mentioning this a while back
and being slapped down for suggesting that golf courses were damaging to the environment

It's important to not that there was a huge protest at Robert Gordon University against his "degree"
and that it's not the same institution as Aberdeen University .............

[aeolium]

It's important to not that there was a huge protest at Robert Gordon University against his "degree"
and that it's not the same institution as Aberdeen University .............

Yes, there was footage of the protest in the documentary.

I should have said "a local university" (didn't realise there were two in Aberdeen)

[french frank]

Yes, there was footage of the protest in the documentary.

I should have said "a local university" (didn't realise there were two in Aberdeen)

Some might say there aren't ...

The University of Aberdeen is one of the four ancient universities of Scotland - much older than all others in the UK, bar Oxf'd and Cambridge.

[Actually, there were two many centuries ago, until King's College and Marischal College (the younger, being 16th-century) were united.]

[DracoM]

I sat watching muttering to myself how utterly unbelievable it all was, how could ANY town council, city council, national government, aided and abetted by a supine police force in these days of heightened environmental awareness and resistance to the depredations of capitalist greed have sanctioned this horrendous development. Reminded me of the forcible evictions of the poor to make way for China's trampling mega rich's smash and grab for loot.

AND this is Alex Salmond's own constituency!! I hope he saw this and blushed / winced [ bit late now - the massive environmental catastrophe is already done], OR feared, because my guess is that if Scottish voters think that if this is indeed what a Salmond referendum implies, then maybe he doesn't win the vote. Or maybe he will just tough it out in a barefaced way.

[Flosshilde]

And, of course, Trump is now throwing his toys out of the pram & has had a massive falling-out (to the extent of threatening to sue - the recourse of bullies) with Salmond & the Scottish Government over plans for an off-shore wind farm, which will be visible from the golf course & proposed hotel.

Another rather distasteful aspect to the Salmond/Trump affair is that Salmond asked Trump to give expressions of support for the decision to release Megrahi. Trump declined. When it came out Salmond said that it was perfectly normal for governments to canvas prominent people for support for their actions/policies.

[aeolium]

Salmond of course has form in toadying up to rich businessmen, backing Fred Goodwin's disastrous decision to engineer RBS's takeover of ABN Amro in 2007 and supporting Murdoch's bid to take full control of BSkyB. Like Blair, he is star-struck by the appearance of businessmen with gold. And like Blair, and Blair's successors, he is just as happy to take decisions away from local authorities as in the Trump case where the local authority had ruled to reject the application.

[Flosshilde]

the Trump case where the local authority had ruled to reject the application.

That's another can of worms - in my (not perfect) memory the planning sub-committee turned it down - possibly on the casting vote of the chair, but I'm not certain. The chair was promptly sacked & the decision referred back to the full council. I really can't remember the next stage in the process, but, yes, Salmond took hold of the decision making.

He's quite keen on Souter, too.

The local authority is Aberdeenshire County Council. But Aberdeen City Council isn't above toadying to rich business men - try Googling 'Aberdeen City Gardens project'.

[DracoM]

This chicanery is meticulously and carefully mapped in this documentary.

I really do urge as many as poss to see it.

[aeolium]

That's another can of worms - in my (not perfect) memory the planning sub-committee turned it down - possibly on the casting vote of the chair, but I'm not certain. The chair was promptly sacked & the decision referred back to the full council. I really can't remember the next stage in the process, but, yes, Salmond took hold of the decision making.

It wasn't entirely clear in the documentary, except for the bit about the planning sub-committee turning it down by one vote but this article suggests that at that point the Scottish government interfered and set up an inquiry which found that the economic advantages outweighed the environmental disadvantages.

[gingerjon]

Googling 'Aberdeen City Gardens project'.

See Eyes Passim

[An_Inspector_Calls]

Well I'd rather have Trump's golf course than all those bloody windmills.