David and Goliath

The RSPB is one of the most powerful political organisations in this country. It is well-financed; it has many more members than any of the mainstream political parties; and it commands the goodwill of millions. Perhaps that is why neither The Herald nor The Scotsman nor the BBC carries any mention of this story. Instead, it is left to The Guardian.

A feud has broken out on a Scottish island with accusations of dirty tricks involving one of the country's largest charities, an energy adviser to Tony Blair and some of the biggest wind power developers. At the centre of the row is the RSPB, which is accused of taking a tough line against wind farms, except for one proposed by Scottish & Southern Energy (SSE), a company with which it has a commercial relationship.
The West Highland Free Press (WHFP) newspaper highlighted the issue in a furious broadside against the bird protection charity. It accuses the charity of strongly opposing a major wind farm proposed by Amec on the Isle of Lewis while supporting an even bigger one on Shetland to be operated by SSE.
"Plans for the world's biggest wind farm in the Shetland Islands have been met with a deafening silence from the RSPB who are the arch critics of smaller west coast projects, which many see as being in direct competition to Shetland's 600 megawatt mega-scheme," argues the paper under the headline "Money talks: RSPB silent on Shetland wind farm".
The paper points out that the charity and the SSE are partners in RSPB Energy under which the bird group receives payments of £20 for every customer who switches to the RSPB Energy brand. The RSPB's silence on Shetland is all the more curious - it argues - given how its website talks about Shetland's "outstanding bird life" being a main attraction for visitors.

I have no comment on the rights and wrongs of the situation. But I do think that the West Highland Free Press is brave to take on the RSPB behemoth.