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Inhabited west coast Scottish islands - The Outer Hebrides - Eriskay

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At just 2.75 square miles (1760 acres), Eriskay is one of the smaller islands in the Outer Hebrides. A bit like Vatersay, it has a larger northern section and a smaller southern section with a narrow strip of land connecting both bits. The northern section is mainly Beinn Sgritheann (at 185 metres or 606 feet), with the southern section being mainly Beinn nan Stac (at only 125 metres or 410 feet). Unlike Vatersay, the ridge connecting both sections is raised well above sea level and also hosts a third, even smaller hill (Beinn Cracabhaig at only 73 metres or 239 feet). Also unlike Vatersay, Eriskay does not host a beautiful sandy beach on both sides of this connecting isthmus - although there is a very fine, white sandy beach on the western side (Tràigh Leis), which stretches northwards until it almost joins with a scattering of sandy beaches (some very small) reaching towards where the causeway to South Uist starts. This more northern string of beaches are separated by rocky outcropp...
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Scottish politics - The 2026 Holyrood elections and the SNP

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Over the weekend following the Holyrood elections, a friend sent me a text saying that the word he had heard most, regarding the low turnout, was "scunnered". I've since heard/read that the turnout was only low compared to the 2021 election but, at the same time, I definitely get a sense that many people, particularly previous Labour and SNP voters, were indeed scunnered. I think that those scunnered with the SNP were not scunnered for the same reasons as those who were scunnered with Labour. Those feeling that way towards Labour, I'd guess, felt this way because of the performance of Starmer and Reeves over the past two years (after thinking they'd reached the promised land politically speaking). Those previous SNP voters (who maybe didn’t vote or voted for another party) were, I think, scunnered for a range of reasons. I’ve listed as many of those reasons as I can think of at the foot of this post (just so no-one feels forced to read all of it here). However,...
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World affairs and politics - the bombing of Iran 2026

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We are now a couple of months into the US and Israeli bombing attacks on Iran (leaving aside for now Israel's attacks on Lebanon and the various Palestinian armed groups) - and there is still no resolution. Every day or so, Trump indicates that the war is going according to plan and that Iran is about to submit to all the US demands. This is quickly followed by Iran denying that they are even considering the US proposals as they cross various red lines that are not possible to accept. Meanwhile the economies of just about all countries around the world continue to suffer with oil prices through the roof along with other products like fertilisers. A couple of things to say, here. Firstly, I think the attacks on Iran were wrong - but, from their point of view, I do understand why the US and Israel decided to go down that road. It is quite clear that Iran has been bankrolling various armed groups like Hamas and Hezbollah - and Israel would clearly like that to stop. In addition to th...
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Inhabited west coast Scottish islands - The Outer Hebrides - Barra

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  General Description Barra, as noted in the previous post, lies immediately to the north of Vatersay, across the Vatersay causeway. Although larger than Vatersay, Barra is still one of the smaller Hebridean islands, of a similar size to, say, Tiree or Coll. It is roughly 23 sq miles in size, about 9 miles north to south and 7 miles east to west. However, the main part of the island is roughly 7 by 7 miles. South of this main section is a small lump of a hill (Beinn Tangabhal at 332 feet). This hill lies between Vatersay to the south and the main part of Barra to the north. At the northern end of the island there is the Eoligarry peninsula (pronounced, I believe, something like Owl-E-Garry), which snakes northwards towards Eriskay and South Uist. In my view Barra is one of the most attractive Hebridean islands, Inner or Outer. It is hard to explain why but I think this is due to the scenic variety available within such a small area. It is mainly a hill (Heabhal at 384 feet) ...
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Inhabited, west coast Scottish islands - The Outer Hebrides - Vatersay

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  Having been forced to leave my final few inhabited, inner and coastal Islands until another year (hopefully 2026), I decided to skip ahead and start to cover the Outer Hebrides (otherwise known as The Long Isle).  As with the inner Islands, I'm going to travel from South to North but, since it is a long string of islands, forget about east and west (although some are further west than others due to the line The Long Isle lies along). I had also originally thought to lump islands of simiular appearance, and located next to each other, into single posts but I’ve now decided against that as the post for the small island of Vatersay was extensive enough to be given it’s own write up (when I had originally intended to deal with it along with Barra and Eriskay). Having said that, there are some very small islands close to either South or North Uist and Benbecula, which I will include with it’s adjascient large island. In truth, some of those islands are so small that you might n...
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