A Resolution Budget Solution?

Just Read It

One of the great disappointments of Starmer's Labour Government is the way it has tackled its budget. If growth were the prime objective, then there have been too many ill-conceived decisions by the Chancellor. Rachel Reeves has a tendency to follow treasury orthodoxy and an unwillingness to devolve decisions to departments or localities, who have a far better knowledge of what works. The chancellor, like Gordon Brown, seems to believe that leadership is about making decisions herself. She has an autocratic leadership style that is inflexible and has resulted in heavy criticism from not only the right-wing press but also businesses and many Labour MPs. Too many decisions are constraining other key objectives of the government, such as child poverty, climate action, international aid and employment growth. 

Existing taxation regimes are made ever more complex when what is needed is simplification. A decluttering of the stupidity of many VAT rules and the regressive outcome of the dual impact of income tax and national insurance systems, which should be integrated. Thousands of accountancy firms exist to find loopholes for the better off in a taxation system that is far from progressive even before the annual dance off between HMRC and the said accountancy firms. 

So I was greatly encouraged when Torsten Bell was recruited to work with the Treasury team on economic policy. Torsten Bell had worked with Alistair Darling during the last Labour Government when he made significant progress on firing up the economy after the 2008 Financial Crisis. His initiatives were scrapped by George Osborne when he introduced his austerity measures. Bell subsequently worked successfully as the CEO of the Resolution Foundation until being elected as an MP for Swansea. He published a book last year, Great Britain? How we get our Future back. that set out his views on what we needed to do to get Broken Britain moving again. His chapters on taxation, housing, benefits, decentralising power and increasing public investment are particularly apposite, but not aligned with Rachel Reeves' playlist of actions. It will be a real boost for Labour's so-called agenda for 'change' if Torsten Bell can convince the inflexible chancellor to do just that.

Fisherfield: Gregor's Big Adventure

Shenavall Bothy on arrival at sunset 

Beinn Dearg Mhor, my favourite Corbett

Fisherfield Five(Six) Route

Monday, 18 August 2025

I received a phone call at 7am. Gregor had spent the night in the Shenaval Bothy, in Fisherfield, after driving up on Sunday afternoon. He had run the Scottish Half Marathon in Musselburgh, coming third in a respectable 1 hour 9 minutes, and then driven 225 miles to Dundonnell, where he walked into Shenavall. He wanted to know the best way up Beinn a' Chlaidheimh, the recently deleted Munro that was the first of the six Fisherfield Mountains to be climbed today. I had told him that it was a better route than the direct slog up to Am Briseadh. Beinn a' Chlaidheimh is a wonderful viewpoint, although it requires navigating some crags first. He had got that far but had not downloaded a route for the Fisherfield round. Could I send him one? Nowhere entices me more than Fisherfield, so I plotted a route from my memory of five previous rounds of these spectacular mountains and sent it via WhatsApp.

I had hoped to reprise the walk earlier this year with John, but the aches in my hips and legs had made even my daily local hills a struggle, so I had to pass. Fisherfield had been the first two-day expedition during my first Munro round in 1990. On a glorious May Bank holiday, we had driven up, climbed An Teallach, slept in the Shenavall Bothy and then climbed the six hills that Gregor was doing today. They took 12 hours, including the walk out to Corrie Hallie and on to  Dundonnell. All food had been sold in the hotel, but they made some sandwiches for us whilst we rehydrated with some beers. We camped on the way to Braemore in my old Good Companions Tent, and climbed A' Chailleach and Sgurr Breac the next morning before heading north.

John and I repeated the jaunt in May 1995, along with Keith for the first day. We climbed An Teallach from Dundonnell and dropped down to Shenavall. I had met W.H. Murray, the celebrated mountaineer and author, the night before at the premiere of the film Rob Roy that he had scripted. He signed his book for me and, on hearing I was going to Fisherfield, urged me to climb Beinn Dearg Mhor as the finest of the Corbetts. We did, along with Beinn Dearg Beag, topping out at 10 pm on a glorious May evening.  We camped on the descent by Loch Beinn Dearg and then climbed the Fisherfield Six in an anti-clockwise round on another perfect day.

In 2001, Gregor was nearing the end of his Munro round, and the two of us went up in August, climbed An Teallach on a dull, windy day. We started the Fisherfield round, getting as far as the bealach between A' Mhaighdean and Ruadh Stac Mor, where we slept in a cave; the wind was too strong to erect the tent. It rained all night and most of the next day; we thought of bailing out, but after climbing A' A'Mhaighdean and Ruadh Stac Mor the next morning, we decided to give it a go and managed to complete the round in dire conditions before going to the Sail Mor bunkhouse to recover.

gI was with Mark and John in May 2005 on a week when we climbed 28 Munros. We drove up and climbed An Teallach in the afternoon and camped by Lochan na Brathan below Sail Liath. We started the Fisherfield round at 6 am, the next morning, in sparkling conditions that continued until we were on the ascent towards A' Mhaighdean. We arrived at the summit as the heavens opened, and it continued nonstop as we went over Ruadh Stac Mor and took the excellent stalker's path back to Shenavall in a thunderstorm.  The tents had been washed out by the fierce rain, and our sleeping bags had operated like blotting paper. We bundled them up and retreated to the Sail Mor bunkhouse, where a group of French walkers kindly shared their pasta with us.

My most recent foray was in 2013 from Poolewe. I had wanted to climb three corbetts as well, so Keith and I started late afternoon, climbed Beinn Airigh Charr on the way to a camp at Carnmore and then made a clockwise circuit of the Fisherfield Munros and Beinn a' Chaisgein Mor in conditions that were better than perfect. A' Mhaighdean was absolutely stunning in the early morning and late evening light, and Beinn Dearg Mhor looked magnificent, a peak to remember for W.H. Murray.  Beinn Lair was in the spotlight of the setting sun and sorely tempting, but it was 10 pm by the time I arrived back at the tent. We had planned to climb it the next day, but heavy rain and low cloud made it seem a sacrilege to climb. We spent the morning walking out in a downpour,  and my desire to revisit these magnificent mountains was undiminished. Gregor's adventure today became my virtual round of Fisherfield as I plotted the route and raided my memory bank.

Shenavall

Beinn Dearg Mor and An Teallach from Am Briseadh

Slioch

Fionn Loch from A'Mhaighdean

Dubh Loch and Fionn Loch

Fuar Loch Mor from Ruadh Stac Mor

Ptarmigan on Ruadh Stac Mor