Oh, oh. Just as our local community was thinking about the possibilities of buying-out Carloway Estates Ltd, we hear of some serious dissatisfaction in South Uist about the community-owned and run Storas Uibhist which purchased the interests of South Uist Estates Ltd some six years ago.
While we cannot comment on the specifics of Storas Uibhist, simply because we don't know, we cannot say that we are surprised. We are far from being admiring fans of those buy-outs for the simple reason that they have never made much sense to our rather hard heads and even harder hearts. The legislation giving the right to buy came one hundred and fifty years too late. That's politics for you - everything is always too late - and the stable door is bolted long after the horse has gone.
An additional problem in small communities, where everyone knows everyone else, is that old scores run deep and require to be settled and it takes very mature personalities to deal with such matters properly. Then there is the problem of political persuasion in the Western Isles of socialist versus nationalist. Add to that the ordinary, everyday clashes of personality that are found in every community and such buy-outs always have the potential to be a very potent mix.
An additional problem in small communities, where everyone knows everyone else, is that old scores run deep and require to be settled and it takes very mature personalities to deal with such matters properly. Then there is the problem of political persuasion in the Western Isles of socialist versus nationalist. Add to that the ordinary, everyday clashes of personality that are found in every community and such buy-outs always have the potential to be a very potent mix.
As they say in TC, caveat emptor!
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