Employing Drunks To Clean Windows + A Thug

Hard drinking, drug taking... how they’re trying to stop staggering in the isles: In the acclaimed novel The Stornoway Way, the Outer Hebridean subculture of hard drinking is laid bare – islanders do nothing but get drunk, and even the cover for the book is a whisky bottle with its label showing a man literally drowning his sorrows in the Minch. Tomorrow, councillors will try to get a grip on what they believe is a culture of abusing alcohol on the island by issuing tough new by-laws. Ironically, last night, the author of The Stornoway Way, Kevin MacNeil returned to his native town to talk about his work, which explores the darker side of island life.

At the same time, hordes of islanders were hitting the surrounding pubs. Saturday is the “big night out” in the Western Isles capital. Also on the streets were Christian outreach workers trying to save the souls of partying islanders – as well as their livers. The isles have a shocking health record when it comes to alcohol – even in a nation that is constantly battling its relationship to the bottle. However, when it comes to crime it seems the isles are drying out. New figures for the three years to 2010 show a drop from 1367 incidents to 1039, the head of the islands’ police, Chief Inspector Gordon Macleod, has revealed.

In the past six years, only one anti-social behaviour order has been issued – and that was academic as the culprit was already in jail. Nevertheless, Stornoway, where nearly half of Lewis’ 20,000 population live, also has its own Asbo Tsar. Nobody at Western Isles Council can even remember what the Asbo was issued for. “We have forgotten,” admitted spokesman Nigel Scott. He added: “It is recognised that there is a problem with drinking in the Western Isles, as there is in Scotland as a nation.

“But strides are being made. This new public drinking order will help tighten up regulations and make it harder to drink in public.” With this background, islanders are questioning why the new by-laws aim to tackle public nuisance rather than public health. It was Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill who gave the Western Isles Council permission to introduce more stringent powers to ban the public consumption of alcohol in Stornoway. Just having a bottle or a can open in public from now on will be deemed a breach of the law. The Western Isles is proportionately the second-worst area among all Scottish health boards for alcohol hospitalisations and significantly worse for alcohol-related deaths than the Scottish average.



Robert Sinclair, who runs Hebrides Alpha, a window cleaning and recycling service that gives jobs to recovering alcoholics and drug users, says drink problems are getting worse. “The reasons people drink here are complex but culture is definitely a factor. It is getting worse because of the pressures people are facing in their jobs, relationships and lives generally,” said Sinclair, 43, whose project has helped 35 people in its first three years. “It is all right educating people to make informed choices but young people do play around. It is the norm and a rite of passage.

“There is a significant problem with alcohol and other drugs here. A lot of it is hidden because people now entertain themselves at home and there is the issue of cheap booze from the supermarkets.” Another islander also warned that crime figures did not reflect the health issues. Student accommodation manager Marion Macleod said there had been a huge drop in recent years of people gathering in the town centre to drink. She says the reason is simple – CCTV. Residents in the Outer Hebrides are now the most monitored people in the UK, with an average of 8.3 council-controlled CCTV cameras for every 1000 islanders.

“It used to be quite a ritual. There could be hundreds of people on some weekends all gathered around and spilling out after the pubs shut,” said Macleod, 35. “But since CCTV was introduced, and pubs’ opening times extended, the numbers congregating have dramatically dropped. Nobody wanted to be caught drinking on CCTV. “The town centre is definitely safe enough to walk about, but alcohol is still a big problem here, especially under-age drinking. “People either drink, and I mean drink, or not all. There is little sensible, moderate drinking in between. I have seen the results in my job. It is an issue and always has been here.”

Health chiefs are particularly worried about the rising numbers of problem women drinkers in the Outer Hebrides. There was an incredible 60% rise in the number of alcohol-related hospital discharges involving women in the islands over the past five years – and in one year the isles had the highest female death rate from drink in Scotland. The islands have some of the worst headline figures for alcohol misuse in the country, including the second highest percentage of male deaths from alcohol.

The islands also have – conversely – significantly higher percentages of non-drinkers, reflecting the still strong influence of the church and the many alcoholics who have turned their back on the bottle. Dr Sheila Scott, the isles’ director of public health, said that analysis of the local and national figures showed that alcohol-related discharges from hospitals in the Western Isles were generally higher than for Scotland as a whole. “Western Isles death rates are also high compared with the national figures,” she said.

Elderly Cumbernauld woman attacked in her own home: An elderly Cumbernauld woman is recovering in hospital after she was attacked in her own home. At around 9pm on Friday, the 77-year-old woman was in her home in Smithyends in Cumbernauld Village when a man called at her door asking if she already had a window cleaner.

The man then pushed her aside, causing her to fall to the ground as he forced his way into her home. He grabbed her purse from the living room and ran out of the house leaving the woman lying injured on the ground. The elderly woman managed to phone for help and was taken by ambulance to Monklands Hospital (pictured) where she underwent surgery for a broken thigh. She is still recovering in hospital and hospital staff describe her condition as stable.

The suspect is described as being white, six feet tall and aged in his 30s, and with a thin build with dark brown hair. He was wearing a dark coloured jacket. Police investigating the attack want to speak to anyone who may have seen the suspect in the area before the incident took place or anyone who saw him leaving the house afterwards. They are also wanting to speak to anyone who has been approached by this man and asked about window cleaning.