The media is not full of Christmas cheer at the moment:
"IMF head Christine Lagarde has said the world economic outlook is "gloomy" and no country is immune from rising risks.She said all nations, starting with Europe, needed to head off a crisis with risks of a global depression.
"There is no economy in the world immune from the crisis that we not only see unfolding but escalating," she said.
"It is going to be hopefully resolved by all countries, all regions actually taking action." More from the French wifie on the BBC site.
If the proverbial has to hit the fan, then hopefully it can be postponed until at least after Christmas. The Highlands and Nairn will not escape it if it happens but what steps could we take to look out for each other if the worst case scenario came to be? How could we maximise what would be left of Nairn's economic potential? Are there ways we could ensure that money spent in Nairn continues to revolve around the local economy?
This observer thinks a weekly street market might help with stalls only for residents of Nairnshire that make or grow things within the County boundaries. Obviously the more you could support local businesses the better. Maybe local supermarkets could be persuaded to take more local produce or even tell us what they would like to see grown locally? Would a local currency be of some use in promoting trade amongst ourselves? Here's the Stroud Pound site, an example of a succesful local currency. Is it time we had a Credit Union in Nairn to finance people with the small scale loans that banks are not interested in? They have one in Forres. Could we create some community businesses to employ people? Even if that work were only on a voluntary basis at least it would have a constructive effect.
Events of recent years have demonstrated that we cannot rely on an "Invercentric" local authority to take the lead for us. The interests of Highland Council do not always dovetail with the interests of our community. If we are to mitigate the effects of the gathering economic storm then we have to rely on each other. We are lucky that we have many active groups in the town that have a history of working together for the benefit of the community. We have three active community councils in Nairn and more in the County that could, perhaps, initiate projects that might harness the expertise in our community for the benefit of all. Perhaps they could do it individually or together through the Royal Burgh Community Council Forum. Then there's NICE, could that group now really rise to the occasion and become a force for the "Common Good", that could utilise assets the town owns to create wealth and employment for the community? We really are all in this together. Can we be daring enough to swim against the current and make Nairn an even stronger community? Do any Gurnites have thoughts on how we might endure what possibly/probably is before us?
