Orkney Islands
Latest news from the Orkney Islands
On-line only Rural Priorities discriminates against remote crofters in rural development subsidies
A new Scottish Rural Development Programme (SRDP) 2007-2013 backed by a nearly £800m subsidy scheme, is in one key part, only accessible online. It has been dubbed as “a recognised strategy†to make it difficult for small operators to bid for funding, (as it is much easier to administer a smaller number of large bids from farming businesses.) Ironically of the critical 32 Rural Priorities, Priority 25 is Public Access Priorities. "These priorities focus on public access provision with a particular emphasis on creation, improvement and promotion through various means. "
But not apparently for the SRDP.
Orkney and the Western Isles set the record for worker hospitality
The Western Isles has followed in the footsteps of the Orkney Islands by building a special website for local migrant workers. In Orkney, an office cleaner worker Malgorzata Walter at Voluntary Action Orkney undertook the text translation into Polish. In the Outer Hebrides, Russian Ludmila Macleod who lives in Achmore recently establish a consultancy business Europlan Britain, after being involved voluntarily in assisting the growing number of Eastern Europeans adjust to their new environment in the Outer Hebrides.
Orkney and Shetland's museums are shortlisted for art prize
The Pier Arts Centre, Stromness, Orkney which won a major architecture prize last year and the Shetland Museum and Archives in Lerwick are two museums on Scottish islands in the running for one the UK's most prestigious art prizes being among ten museums shortlisted. Formerly known as the Gulbenkian Prize, the winner of the £100,000 award is due to be announced in May. Both of the Scottish museums were commended for housing collections in interesting locations.
Orkney offers information in Polish and English
The team building a special website for migrant workers in Orkney didn't look far when they needed the skills to translate the text into Polish. Ready and willing to lend a hand was Malgorzata Walter, who works as the office cleaner at Voluntary Action Orkney.
BT leases share in 720km fibre optic cable
BT has reached agreement with Faroese Telecom (FT) to share part of a new fibre optic submarine cable being laid between the Faroe Islands, Orkney and Shetland and the Scottish mainland.
Calling Orkney to register for Broadband
Last call for Orkney residents to register, especially remote clusters.
Pelamis ruffles political waters?
As with any world-wide energy commodity, political forces beneath the surface are, according to author Mary Anne Simpson writing in Physics.org.com rife with debate on the technology in Scotland. The abundant oil deposits, fishing waters and ever present UK taxation weighs heavily in the mind of average Scots. The backers of the new wave energy technology while in agreement on the importance of the renewable energy development, differ on the significance of it to reduce the strings that bind Scotland to the UK.
RSS feeds reduce email overload
An increasing amount of work-related material, has some companies turning to RSS (Really Simple Syndication) technology to improve productivity. At the U.K. National Health Service (NHS) division in Orkney, Scotland, the IT department has significantly cut down on e-mail overload with a NewsGator enterprise RSS system, says David Rendall, a computer programmer involved in the project writes IDG News Service's Juan Carlos Perez,
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