Lap dancing comes to Inverness
11 May 2013
Night-life in Inverness is scheduled to take another down turn with the introduction of lap dancing at one of the nightclubs.
Hush Nightclub on Academy Street, in the centre of Inverness, is to introduce lap-dancing as part of its adult entertainment licence. It has come to light through its application to the Highland Licensing Board (HLB) to sell alcohol at such an event.
There is no community council in the town centre, which allows such matters to slip through more easily than usual and without public discussion. The Press and Journal highlighted the Scottish Christian Party protest and the leader of the SCP wrote to local councillors to see what they could to prevent this adult entertainment. There is no adult entertainment licence as such, and the HLB only deals with the license for the sale of alcohol on such occasions. This lowering of the tone of the City Centre was criticised at a recent meeting of the Inverness Area Community Councils Forum during a debate on the way forward for the City Centre.
The SCP has regularly highlighted that the night-time economy is false economy.
Related Stories
Danny Alexander supports adulterating marriage
5 February 2013
Danny Alexander, MP, has supported the Bill to redefine marriage to include homosexual couples.
The Westminster Government alliance of Conservative and Lib Dem parties has introduced its Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Bill to redefine, or rather adulterate, marriage.
The debate and vote took place today, in which 400 MPs supported the Bill’s Second Reading and 175 MPs opposed it.
Among the supporters were Danny Alexander, MP for Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey. He did not speak in the debate.
During the debate, Willie Bain, MP, Glasgow North East, said that the Westminster Bill will affect Scotland.
Other Highlands and Islands MPs who supported the change are:
Alistair Carmichael, Lib Dem MP for Orkney and Shetland
Alan Reid, Lib Dem MP for Argyll and Bute
A number of Highlands and Islands MPs were not present to vote:
Charles Kennedy, Lib Dem MP for Ross, Skye and Lochaber (see note below)
John Thurso, Lib Dem MP for Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross
Angus MacNeil, SNP MP for Na h-Eileanan an Iar (Western Isles)
Angus Robertson, SNP MP for Moray.
Although the Bill will have an impact upon Scotland, there were no SNP MPs present to speak nor vote on it. The three Plaid Cymru MPs all voted in favour of redefining marriage.
Dr Donald Boyd, Leader of the Scottish Christian Party, said: “This means that no MP from the Highlands and Islands spoke to represent nor defend traditional marriage. We have dogs that cannot bark, and it is time that Christians in Scotland voted for a distinctive Christian voice in our Parliaments. The Scottish Christian Party has been warning for years that this change in the law is likely to happen.”
Meanwhile, the Christian Institute reports that 40,000 teachers face the sack over changing marriage.
Christians are encouraged to write to their MPs and MSPs to register their opposition to any legislation along this line, and to write to the Westminster and SNP Government to encourage them to drop this idea.
Polygamy is already recognised by UK legislation.
The SCP response to the SNP Government’s consultation is available for download.
The SCP’s response to “Equal civil marriage”, the Westminster Government’s consultation document, is available here.
Write to your representative politicians
You can easily let your MP, MSP or MEP know your views.
Click here to email them.
You can find your MP here; your MSPs here; and your MEPs here.
Related Stories
- 9 Feb 2012: We have been informed that Charles Kennedy MP had domestic reasons for not being present at the vote, and our sympathies are with him.
Why is Inverness treated like an island?
1 December 2012
Campaign against surcharges on parcel delivery
The Inverness branch of the SCP has begun a campaign against postal surcharges by couriers delivering items to Inverness.
The leader of the Scottish Christian Party lives in Inverness and he suggests that consumers use free text in their online orders to add a note to this effect:
“Some English businesses blame their couriers for their postal charges. Why do you not provide the option of using Royal Mail’s standard parcel service? Inverness is the capital of the Highlands with an international airport. If couriers treat it the same as an island for postage charges, it is a rip-off for businesses and customers. There are couriers who do not surcharge to deliver to Inverness. Some businesses in England offer free delivery to Inverness. If you do not find better couriers, it will affect your business in the fastest growing city in Britain. Consumer Focus Scotland is campaigning for retailers to always offer a choice of delivery by Royal Mail’s standard parcel service. I almost cancelled this order, and I would have done so if I had not committed so much time to it already.”
This is a widespread problem in Scotland, and not only in the Highlands. Consumer Focus Scotland confirmed a few months ago that thousands of people across the country are being penalised by poor parcel delivery services. The Chief Executive of Citizens Advice Scotland said: “Earlier this year we completed a massive survey on this issue. We asked people all over Scotland to tell us about their experiences of this problem. We were completely overwhelmed by the response. Over 2,000 people contacted us – each one telling us of an individual case where they had been over-charged or refused delivery because of their postcode. These cases came from all over Scotland, not just the Highlands and Islands. It’s clearly a massive problem.”
Meanwhile, what can the rest of the Highlands do? Most Highlanders visit Inverness for shopping, Raigmore hospital, travel or friends. If we can encourage couriers to drop surcharges to Inverness, as a first step, you could deliver to an Inverness address and pick up there. Meanwhile the SCP is concentrating on Inverness as the best case for change.
This SCP campaign is in line with our vision for the north of Scotland, to turn around the transport links in Scotland so that business will travel from north to south as readily as from south to north. Our strategic plan for Inverness includes improving the east-west transport links around Inverness instead of the current gridlock inside its growing precincts.
We are beginning a list of online businesses that are currently surcharging to deliver to Inverness. If you would like to add an example here, email us with the details to be added below (your details will not appear).
Add your bad experiences here:
- One Stop Promotions £10 extra delivery from £15>£25 as at 1/12/2012. 18/12/2012 One Stop are reviewing this. A spokesman says: “Over the past 6 months this has become an issue for us and more customers are raising this point.” Currently they do not offer standard Royal Mail service.
- UPS no extra charge, but UPS ‘next day delivery’ from Liverpool took five days. There may be a three day delay in Glasgow. If a package arrives in Glasgow on Saturday morning, it will not leave Glasgow on Monday morning but on Tuesday morning. A two day delay in Inverness was blamed on there being no street name (there is no street name). It seems that UPS does not use Royal Mail’s Address finder to locate the postcode.
- Hermes treats Highlands and Islands differently than UK Mainland, but the prices seem to be competitive and comparable.
- 21/12/2012: Well done Royal Mail. Although this is the busiest week of the year, Royal Mail delivered to Inverness an internet order placed yesterday with JML Direct in Tyne and Wear in less than 24 hours. Interestingly, the order sheet says: “Carrier service: Royal Mail non-Mainland” - so even Royal Mail thinks that Inverness is not on the mainland, but it still pulled out the stops in an impressive manner.
- 11 Feb 2013: £13.95 to Inverness (2-3 day delivery); and £6.95 to Glasgow (next day delivery) from www.cupsdirect.co.uk in Colchester, Essex.
Related Stories
- 10 Aug 2012: Consumer Focus Scotland: “To protect consumers in rural areas from being penalised, it is calling on retailers to always offer the choice of delivery by Royal Mail’s standard parcel service, which delivers to all parts of Scotland for a uniform tariff.” The Trading Standards Manager at The Highland Council said: “We welcome Consumer Focus Scotland’s excellent report which confirms some of our own findings and suspicions about the issue of delivery charges. In particular, we would reiterate the importance of businesses complying with distance selling laws and providing full and early delivery information. Our recent survey uncovered a wide range of problems and we are in the process of dealing with the non-compliant businesses. A number of these online sellers have now made changes and so the situation is improving but much work remains. We will continue to work with Consumer Focus Scotland and other bodies to ensure that consumers get a fair deal on delivery.”
- 14 Dec 2012: Dr Donald Boyd, the leader of the Scottish Christian Party, has written to Danny Alexander, MP, about the delay in UPS service to the Highlands.
- 19 Dec 2012: BBC Scotland news draws attention to the issue.
