Judging by the letters and columns in the newspapers, I am not the the only one who is watching the ever unfolding Trump saga with growing disbelief.

First Aberdeenshire Council get themselves into a total guddle, because a minority committee rejects a planning application. The majority of the councillors are apparently in favour, but the council is unable to refer the decision for ratification by the full council. Now when the £1 billion plan looks like it has been saved by the Scottish Government, other politicians now pop out of the woodwork desperate to stick more spokes in the wheel and, potentially, derail the plan. Read More...

Tags: government, councils, politics, trump

The removal of Councillor Martin Ford from the chairmanship of the Infrastructure Services Committee and the decision that major projects must be capable of consideration by the full council go some way to sorting out the Trump mess at Aberdeenshire Council. We can also take heart from the support demonstrated by the full council for the Trump International Golf Links Scotland development. Read More...

Tags: trump, politics, councils

It is no exaggeration to say that the credibility of Aberdeenshire Council is on the line as a result of the Trump International Golf Links Scotland debacle. How on earth can a council allow seven councillors to halt a £1.5 million project? That's only around 10% of the councillors on Aberdeenshire Council! Read More...

Tags: trump, politics, councils

Donald Trump has confirmed that he will not appeal Aberdeenshire Council's extraordinary decision of just seven councillors to refuse planning permission for the Trump International Golf Links Scotland development. Reports say he is already talking to landowners at an alternative site in Northern Ireland. Read More...

Tags: trump, councils, politics

Why would you turn down the potential of a £1 billion investment to create a prestigious development that would not only draw thousands of visitors to Aberdeen City and Shire, but also focus international attention on the quality of the environment and services here in the North East? Read More...

Tags: trump, councils, politics

The Herald has come up with the answers to blast Kelvin MacKenzie's outrageous anti-Scots outburst on the BBC Question Time programme. Read More...

Tags: economy, scotland

The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA) is urging people to take special care following the changing of the clocks early on Sunday morning. Indeed RoSPA goes further and is calling for the Government to keep the clocks one hour forward. RoSPA claim this would save 450 lives and serious injuries each year.

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Tags: roads, safety

Kelvin McKenzie's outburst on the BBC Question Time programme where he said that the Scots love to spend (Britain's) money but don't like to earn it, is the sort of racist comment that fuels the drive towards Scottish independence. Read More...

Tags: scotland, economy

The Offshore Europe conference and exhibition opens in Aberdeen today, with delegates from a hundred countries converging on the city for the biggest oil exhibition outside the USA. True to form, if you are not in Aberdeen you probably don't know it is happening. That's a shame, because the role of North Sea Oil in underpinning the UK economy is something that is all too easily forgotten. Read More...

Tags: oil, economy, politics

Scottish Ministers have formally adopted the title Scottish Government to replace the term Scottish Executive as an expression of corporate identity. Read More...

Tags: scotland, government

At the time when the Offshore Europe Exhibition is about to open its doors, the news that Aberdeen will finally have a direct air link with Houston, Texas, starting in January is excellent news. Read More...

Tags: transport, airtravel

An expert group that will advise the government on road safety issues was announced yesterday by Transport Minister Stewart Stevenson. Read More...

Tags: safety, roads

Transport seems to be constantly in the headlines in Aberdeen. Perhaps it is no wonder considering how our transport infrastructure was largely ignored during the period when the North Sea Oil industry baled out UK plc. Read More...

Tags: transport, roads, environment

The Scottish Government has put forward its proposals for a referendum on independence, with the launch of what it calls Scotland's Future: A National Conversation. Read More...

Tags: scotland, politics

Well done to all the lads and lassies at Newton Dee Bakery which has been nominated for Local Hero 2007 in celebrity chef Gary Rhodes' UKTV award scheme. Read More...

Tags: social, charity

The First Minister's decision to set up a Scottish Broadcasting Commission has to be a step in the right direction. Read More...

Tags: broadcasting, scotland

Being involved in a near miss involving four cars at the Kingswells roundabout this morning highlights the risks that impatient drivers are taking with their safety and others... and with endorsements on their licences. Read More...

Tags: roads

The news that Glasgow is likely to be the Scottish centre for the UK Government's proposed Energy Technologies Institute is completely illogical. It is like establishing an institute of crofting research in Swindon, or putting a financial services institute in Barra. Read More...

Tags: energy, oil

The announcement by the Minister for Transport, Stewart Stevenson, that the completion of the Aberdeen Western Peripheral Route (AWPR) would not now be until 2012 is extremely disappointing. But it is not surprising.
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Tags: roads, transport

Some of us in Aberdeen City and Shire wonder whether people in London and the Home Counties ever bother to stop and think what it was that built our current strong economy? Do they ever wonder where most of this country's energy comes from? Read More...

Tags: oil, economy, broadcasting

I simply cannot understand this controversy about Scottish Prime Ministers, which seems to have been whipped up at the time of Gordon Brown's elevation to the Premiership.
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Tags: politics, scotland

Do you remember summer 2007? Wasn't it great? Long hot days of constant sunshine.
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Tags: weather

The £1 billion Trump International Golf Links Scotland plan for Menie Park, just north of Aberdeen, goes before Aberdeenshire Councillors in a few weeks time. So now is the chance to have your say on whether it should be approved - and you can do so in just a few seconds online! Read More...

Tags: trump, economy

Remember when Scottish strawberries were a mouth-watering taste of the best soft fruit in the world? Now, if you buy them in supermarkets strawberries are tasteless and unexciting. Why? Read More...

Tags: shopping

The SNH objection to Donald Trump's proposed Trump International Golf Links must not be allowed to stop the £1 billion development. As Aberdeen City and Shire looks to build on its role as a global centre for energy, what better boost could we have for our economy than the best golf complex in the world? Read More...

Tags: economy, trump

The suggestions (probably mischievous) that the Scottish Government is planning to ditch the massively expensive plans for trams and a rail link to Edinburgh Airport in favour of dualling the A9 road to Inverness have been orchestrated to try and create conflict. The schemes should be looked at on their merit. Read More...

Tags: scotland, transport

The news that Aberdeen is to have a teenager as deputy Lord Provost and that two other councillors in their early 20s will take control of powerful committees on Aberdeen City Council has produced a froth of coverage in the media.
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Tags: councils, politics

As Scotland looks forward to the appointment of a new Government, following one of the most exciting election battles for years, the Lib Dem spokesman this morning took a swipe at the SNP. Basically he was sounding remarkably like Gordon Brown, in effect saying that they wouldn't work with anyone who wanted independence. Read More...

Tags: politics, scotland, government

The UK North Sea oil and gas industry, which is predominantly controlled and operated out of Aberdeen, provides the UK with 75% of its prime energy needs. By 2020 it is estimated that figure will rise to a staggering 80%. It also sustains something like 400,000 jobs in the UK. Read More...

Tags: economy, politics, oil

The news that Esslemont & Macintosh is to close with the loss of more than 100 jobs is sad news for Aberdeen. E&Ms has been a local institution for more than a century and was Aberdeen's last remaining department store with real local roots - albeit that it had been bought out of local ownership by Owen & Owen, only for that company to crash into administration.
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Tags: shopping, economy, citycentre

Aberdeen City & Shire was the hot spot of the UK and one of the hottest spots in Europe today with temperatures in the city topping 20C and going even higher in some places. Read More...

Tags: weather

Remember when getting a loaf of bread or a pint of milk meant just a short walk if you lived in any North East town (or a short drive in Aberdeenshire) to the local corner shop? Now you probably make a family excursion to your nearest Tesco, ASDA, Sainsbury's or Morrisons. Now think about refuelling your car. Remember when refuelling the car was something you did when the fuel light came on? Oh, fuel light on, there's a station... fill up. Read More...

Tags: shopping

In response to the Evening Express transport survey in which 55% of all respondents identified the Haudagain roundabout (junction of the A90 south, A90 north and A96) as the worst traffic blackspot in Aberdeen and the call by 75% of respondents for a flyover or underpass, the paper reports Transport Minister Tavish Scott as saying that the option is being considered. Read More...

Tags: roads, transport

News that a new underground automated parking system is being proposed for Golden Square has to be good news. It potentially solves the problem of the unsightly clutter of parked cars in one of Aberdeen's most magnificent squares, while also providing much-needed additional parking to help re-vitalise our city centre. Read More...

Tags: citycentre, roads

As someone who will usually take roads like the Lecht over to Tomintoul rather than brave the dreaded A96, it was good to hear the First Minister Jack McConnell say that he believed the A96 should "probably" be the next priority for upgrading. (Of course, one has to recognise the timing of his comments, just weeks before a parliamentary election at which he hopes Labour will have enough support for him to serve a new term as First Minister.) Read More...

Tags: roads, transport

In something of a U-turn (hope he checked U-turns were allowed before carrying out the manoeuvre) Tavish Scott, the Scottish Transport Minister, has apparently said that the toll tax will not fall on Scotland's road users for at least four years. Read More...

Tags: transport, roads

If, like me, you recall a fanfare at Christmas time about the road works on Market Street being completed, you may also have found out how much of a false dawn that was Read More...

Tags: roads, transport