Precious metal

As long as it is possible to do, as Calton did today, and walk into a Scottish scrapyard with a few bits of copper pipe (which he found in his loft) and get £3 per kg cash with no questions asked, idiots will continue to risk not only their own lives but those of others in pursuit of a quick quid. Calton was under the impression that the Scottish Government was going to bring licensing of scrap metal merchants into line with that of England and Wales but it doesn't seem to have happened yet. "Bring it on" is all he can say, a sentiment probably echoed by the residents of Greenock, not to mention communities across the north of England where metal theft is high due to the ease of shipping the stuff north over the border for conversion into cash. Alex Salmond likes to think that an independent Scotland would attract business but Calton doubts he was thinking of the illegal cross-border scrap metal trade. This is one area where having the same approach as England and Wales would definitely be a good thing.

SNP - listening for once

Calton is pleased to see that automatic early release is to be scrapped for violent/sexual offenders in Scotland. About time too. Nice to see the SNP actually listening to the concerns of the electorate for once. It would be even better if they scrapped the same-sex marriage bill, now that over 50,000 people have signed Scotland for Marriage's petition against it. That's more than the combined membership of all political parties in Scotland. Who said single-issue politics was dead?

As to the rest of the rather uninspiring raft of legislation introduced today: Calton is in favour of scrapping the right to buy for council tenants. It should never have been introduced in the first place. He also hopes that changes to licensing of scrap metal merchants will bring them into line with England and Wales, thus making Scotland less of a safe haven for metal thieves. And he dearly wishes that Alex Salmond would stop blaming Westminster at every opportunity. It's getting boring. And we still have more than a year to go!

Crossbow killer still on the loose

Calton would like to apologise to his regular readers for the lack of posts recently - he has had his beak stuck in a book. The RSPB British Birds of Prey book by Marianne Taylor with photos by Stig Frode Olsen to be precise. You can see how Calton was so riveted - apart from anything else he had to check that Stig had got his best side - although he was somewhat less than impressed with the description of Sea Eagles as "squat-bodied, cumbersome, short-tailed, long-necked, short-legged and big-headed". It went on to describe our expression as "outraged" - so would yours be given that list of epithets! That aside, it is an excellent book which details the struggles (still ongoing) between birds of prey and (some) humans and the attempts by other humans to assist us. Given the enduring popularity of the Mull Sea Eagles and the desire of many people, not just bird-watchers, to see an eagle, it is sad that Golden Eagles are still being killed on some of Scotland's shooting estates. It is downright tragic that Hen Harriers have all but disappeared from grouse moors in the North of England due to persecution and there was a successful initiative on twitter to rename August 12th "Hen Harrier Day" this year.

Unfortunately the persecution does not stop at raptors. News came today that a second gull had been shot with a crossbow in Inverness. Now, gulls are not Calton's favourite birds, however shooting them with a crossbow bolt, leaving them to die a lingering death, is utterly deplorable. Calton hopes that the person or persons responsible will be swiftly brought to justice for causing such unnecessary suffering. If you have any information that could lead to the apprehension of the individual(s) concerned, please contact Police Scotland - you could help prevent an even greater crime.

Protecting our children comes first

Underneath the forbidding exterior, Calton is a bit of a softie when it comes to youngsters and is following the progress of Fingal and Iona's new chick with great interest. On a much sadder note, he grieves every time he sees the photo of April Jones' smiling face and is glad that her killer will never be released. He is also totally incensed that the man responsible for sexually assaulting a 4-year old boy in Asda's toilets has only been given two and a half years - half the sentence passed down to the sewage tanker ram raiders! Have we got our priorities completely and utterly back to front? What sort of disincentive to interfere with children is 30 months? Particularly with the insane policy of automatic early release? More to the point, how long will that little boy continue to be affected by what happened to him? Rehabilitation of offenders is all very well but protection of our children needs to come first. Parents will hardly be reassured to know that Christopher Morrison will only be under supervision for 42 months after his release. Anyone convicted of sexually assaulting a child should be locked up until the risk of them reoffending is zero. If that means they leave prison in a box, so be it. That's still more humane than their crime.

No sympathy for old men

Unlike Barbara Hewson, Calton has no sympathy at all for old men whose "misdemeanors" are finally catching up with them. Why should they get let off the hook just because it happened a long time ago? If there's one thing we have learned from the sorry saga of child abuse, both personal and institutional, that has filled our news in the last few years, is that it often takes years to come to light. Imposing a statute of limitations on this type of crime would be extremely unjust. We also need to remember that there is often a progression of abuse, starting with milder forms of inappropriate behaviour, which paedophiles use to gauge whether or not the victim is likely to complain if the abuse intensifies, and so even what Hewson classes as "low-level misdemeanors" need to be taken seriously. The type of behaviour which Hewson categorises as low-level could still be traumatic for a vulnerable young person. As for lowering the age of consent to 13, Calton is glad to see that this has been almost universally, and quite rightly, criticised.

Tories trump Salmond on crime

Calton is getting fair scunnered with the way Alex Salmond keeps blaming other parties instead of answering the question and taking positive action at FMQs. Today he was blaming the Conservative Government of 1993. Who cares who did what twenty years ago? What we want, and what Ruth Davidson was asking for, is action to stop dangerous criminals being released from prison. Politicians may, rightly, not be able to influence parole board decisions but they can, and should, introduce whole life tariffs in Scotland and end automatic early release which makes a mockery of serious crime sentencing. Calton has commented on this issue not long ago - it would be good if the Scottish Government took the concerns of himself and others seriously instead of using the situation to try and score points off the Conservative leader at FMQs. Safe streets are important and so it was the Tories who came up trumps in today's FMQs. They are also doing a good job highlighting the fact that a third of people prosecuted for domestic abuse are let off with a warning. So much for zero tolerance. It's time the SNP got tough on crime.

Throw away the key

Is Calton the only one who is thoroughly sickened by convicted criminals complaining that their sentences are too long? The latest one is Colin Ross, sentenced to a minimum of 20 years for beating an American woman senseless on the Great Glen Way. She later died of her injuries, inflicted with a metal pipe and a boulder. Ross has been assessed as being a high risk to the public if at liberty and, if Calton had his way, would never see the outside of a prison again. So why is his sentence being reviewed? The answer seems to be because a couple of other criminals, convicted of particularly nasty crimes, have had their sentences reduced. Is our legal system going completely insane? Does public protection not matter any more? Are our appeal court judges totally out of touch with public opinion? It's high time Kenny MacAskill got in there and sorted this out.

Scotland's shame

It's not just India which has a problem with rape. A quick look at the BBC Scotland news headlines tonight reveals that a woman has been raped in Livingston while walking her dog, a 14-year old girl was raped and left so traumatised that it took her over a year to report it and a man has been jailed for raping a 15-year old girl. Such headlines are, sadly, not unusual these days. Perhaps the fact that the Rosslyn rapist was freed after only 6 years and 8 months of a 10-year jail term has something to do with it. Doubtless the residents of Bonnyrigg are happy that he is back behind bars after breaching the terms of his release. If Calton had had anything to do with it, he would never have been back on the streets so soon in the first place. His victim was left so battered that a passer-by thought she had been in a car crash and yet he only got 10 years? What sort of justice is that? Such lenient jail terms for such violent crime is Scotland's shame.

An eggy story for Pancake Day

Egg theft is a heinous crime, but it has taken a new twist recently with the theft of around 60 dozen hens' eggs from a farm in Angus. Now, either the thieves don't realise that egg collectors are not interested in the eggs of the farmyard hen, or they have decided to replace their meat intake with eggs in the wake of the horsemeat scandal, or they are aiming for a place in the Guinness book of records for the largest omelette, or they are planning to stockpile their haul until the next election comes around, or they are holding an enormous pancake party tonight. Whatever the reason, if someone offers you half-a-dozen pre-scrambled eggs that have fallen off the back of a lorry, just say no. And if you happen to see any suspicious characters with egg on their faces, Tayside Police would like to hear from you.

Fowl play

It is sad that, in this day and age in Scotland, a Golden Eagle can apparently be caught and injured in an illegal trap and then deliberately left to die a lingering death. It is also sad that some people not only fail to keep their dogs on a lead when walking in an area signposted as having free range fowl but deliberately set their dogs on the farm birds for sport. Calton is not against organised hunting or shooting however these incidents are not organised and are, as a result, cruel. In the second case they also rob a farmer of his ducks and hens. It makes Calton wonder what sort of country this is where these things go on and, sadly, greater access to the countryside has resulted in a greater incidence of animal cruelty in the countryside. If any of his readers has information which could lead to the apprehension of the person or persons responsible for the injured eagle left in a layby near Aboyne, or other countryside crime, Calton would encourage them to contact the police.

Since when did 10 become 7?

Calton wants to know why a convicted violent rapist, whose victim was left looking like she had been in a car crash and who got a 10-year sentence in 2005, is back in the community where he committed the crime. Such cases make a complete mockery of our justice system. It's understandable that neighbours of Robert Greens are not happy, particularly since it now seems that there is a real possibility of Greens reoffending. Police have applied for a Sexual Offences Protection Order so that they can monitor Greens and protect the public. They wouldn't need to do this if he was still behind bars. Isn't it about time we stopped being soft on serious criminals and, instead, made them serve out the whole of their sentence?

(And don't get Calton started on the report that Greens is opposing the Protection Order on the grounds that it contravenes his human rights. Unless you want a full-scale rant.)

A rare bird

The RSPB has been mapping the decline in numbers of Calton's ancestors in Britain and Ireland since the time of King Arthur using place names with the word 'eagle' in them. Interesting stuff. It just goes to show what a rare specimen Calton is. Gone are the days when we used to hold sway over large parts of the UK. Sea Eagles occupy only a fraction of their former territory while the recovery of the Golden Eagle population has stalled. Last year saw a fall in the number of bird poisoning incidents - hopefully this marks the start of a downward trend. Certainly the introduction of vicarious liability for landowners may help stamp out the practice. No punishment is too severe for those who illegally kill birds in Calton's opinion!