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Watched this documentary on BBC2 at 10pm last night.

Excellent programme about the experience of locals living on the coast, north of Aberdeen as they try to take on billionaire Donald Trump's building of two golf courses on their homeland.

It was Alex "Braveheart" Salmond who for the first time ever by a Scottish parliament, called in Trump's planning application which had been refused by the local council and gave it the green light.

The documentary does a good job juxtaposing the simple life of one of the main protagonists, a salmon fisherman and the lying, bullying tactics of Trump, supported by the local police.

It's on the iplayer if anyone wants to watch.

Very well reviewed in the Guardian today.

When this was initially rejected, I remember thinking that Trump would get his way eventually, and that it was just a matter of time.

Politicians and tycoons are all mates together after all. And of course money talks. Perish the thought that such mundane things as nature conservation and local communities should be allowed to stand in the way of such "progress".

- Eric

When this was initially rejected, I remember thinking that Trump would get his way eventually, and that it was just a matter of time.

Politicians and tycoons are all mates together after all. And of course money talks. Perish the thought that such mundane things as nature conservation and local communities should be allowed to stand in the way of such "progress".

- Eric

I watched this and found it interesting. He wasn't as pushy as he could have been, the locals who didn't want to sell up didn't have to and the plan for the building of the hotel was eventually dropped too. I thought it very bad the way he vilified that local man though, and said he lived in a 'pig sty', he even said it on an American talk show in front of millions of people.

One thing worth remembering though is that a mega golf course would turn an ordinary area of greenery into a spectacular area of greenery. Once the golf course has been built it will be one of the most amazing green spaces a person could visit. It will not be a fenced-in area either but one anybody can walk around under the 'right to roam' scheme. It's not as if he's turning this rural spot into a 20,000 capacity car park.

Did you notice in some of the shots you could see tower blocks in the distance? Think how much 'environmental damage' was done when building those - turning a nice green spot into a concrete housing estate. Nothing was said about that on the programme, the impression was given that nothing like what Trump proposed (in terms of its impact) had ever happened there before. The damage to the local dune system was mentioned a lot - what about the 'damage to the local dune system' that would have been caused by building the docks at nearby Aberdeen or the suburbs of that city?

It's a shame the locals were put out and they were inconvenienced by what was happening. I didn't like Trump's bully boys and the fact the Police seemed to be on their side. The programme didn't mention whether the locals were being compensated or offered money to relocate (unless this was said at the start - I missed the first few minutes). Also, as I said, the locals were not forced to sell up.

Once the thing is built it will be an incredible place full of wild life and will be amazing to visit. They should do this to a few more rural spots around the country.

I really enjoyed this programme. I was not surprised to see that DOnald Trump is a spiteful bullying bastard, I think that's pretty much his job description, but it was instructive to see it at first hand. It was also instructive to see how the Scottish political establishment, including Alec Salmond, was pathetically willing to bend over and take it up the arse for the prospect of a few Yankee dollars, and to hell with a site of special scientific interest, and a few local serfs. If that is what Scotland will be like if it votes for independence, it will rapidly turn into a classic banana republic, complete with thuggish police goons who obey they local Mr Big.

I watched this last night by accident, not knowing what it was. It made me very angry, Alec Salmond should be ashamed of himself together with the other toadies in the Scottish government that allowed and helped this to happen. Now, of course, they are getting a taste of what a deal with Trump amounts to as he is trying to stop them building wind farms while the hotel complex he promised them is on hold.

I am not Scottish, my daughter is married to a Scot and lives in Glasgow. I think the Scottish people need to think very carefully about the independence issue if this is how Salmond and the Scottish government conduct business.

I think you are missing the point on this one re. the site itself.

The site where they are building the course(s) is a Site of Special Scientific Interest

Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) are those areas of land and water (to the seaward limits of local authority areas) that Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH) considers to best represent our natural heritage - its diversity of plants, animals and habitats, rocks and landforms, or a combinations of such natural features.

So in short it was one of the most valuable natural sites that Scotland has.

The development plan for Trump International Golf Links, included two 18-hole courses, a 5-star hotel, golf villas, holiday homes, and a golf academy.

The plans were/are destroying the natural beauty of the area.

If this can happen to a SSI it means that Scotland has virtually no land which is protectable from development.

As usual the reasons given for providing planning permission were huge numbers of jobs for locals etc. At the moment all we have is a golf course. The hotel idea has been shelved and Trump has blamed Salmond for that because of the offshore wind farms.

The most revealing part of this was the financial analysis done by a London financial firm of the Trump proposal. They felt the prediction of how many jobs would be provided is hopelessly over-egged and that basically Salmond had been taken for a ride.

Trump now has an immensely valuable planning permission which he can potentially sell on at a huge profit. ANd the locals continue to be harassed and intimidated.

In case you don't know Alex Salmond is a very keen Golfer. And guess which well known Scottish player he chose in this year's Scottish Open? Err that will be Mr Luke Donald, who is ever so slightly English.
Trump's course has now opened to rave reviews (there's a shock) and has the bargain green fee of ?150 or even ?30 less if you live in the Aberdeen area. Next year he has put this up to ?195 a round.
Will be watching tonight if my TV can cope with Trump's ego.

And here are some details of the opening including some heart warming quotes from that wonderful man, Trump. The campaign of intimidation of the locals continues unabated.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/ju ... olf-course

Mind you, it must be the first world class golf course (according to Trump) which only has a small, temporary clubhouse.

The second golf course and everything else, ugly, large clubhouse, hotels, holiday homes etc etc has been shelved until previous best mate Alex Salmond gives in and stops an offshore wind farm project that Trump doesn't like.

I suspect that there could well be a bit of, "we realise this project is not economically viable so let's blame it on....."