New Statesman Scotland
A group of Scots are trying to lease airships from Germany to run tourist trips over the west Highlands, as well as a commuter shuttle between Glasgow and Edinburgh. The new generation of German dirigibles are lifted by helium. This means they cannot burn or explode, as folk memory still regards all airships as doing. These modern Zeppelins can drift with the wind or hover on one spot, but they can easily achieve 100mph, linking the two city centres faster than train or bus or car.
The charm of airships is that they take off and land without needing any of the heavy infrastructure of airports. "Our ideal would be St Andrew Square in Edinburgh to George Square in Glasgow. We could maintain a shuttle carrying 90 people completing the journey in 15 minutes. We are reconciled to officialdom using every trick to impede us, though," says David Gillies, one of the promoters.
"Seeing Argyll from 600ft at a gentle pace is by far the best way to see the scenery. All of Scotland looks quite different from above, but floating in a gondola is much more placid than the view from a plane.
"Many critics, having been persuaded that the new generation of airships cannot burn then invent the problem of brisk winds defeating them. But an airship can navigate winds with ease," insists Gillies.
Airships emerged in Germany as the Treaty of Versailles banned German military aeroplanes altogether. Airships got around the rules. They served freight as well as passenger roles, but they were abandoned after hydrogen fires.
Carolyn Lowe has a highly subversive idea. She observes that even the most enlightened companies in Scotland operate an unstated but iron rule: nobody over 45 can be offered a job. Lowe, from Boston, Massachusetts, has decided to take her own steps to resolve this ageist tyranny.
She is setting up a recruitment consultancy that will specialise in finding jobs only for those with greying hair. "We haven't agreed a company name yet, but we have rejected 'The Crumblies' firmly," says Lowe.
"I cannot understand this prejudice against those in middle age. Yet the market is broadly a rational device. If it really is true, though I doubt it, that those over 45 are less nimble-witted, then they will have to lower their price or contribute more.
"I can see that if an executive has minimal modern skills - keyboard and online - it may dilute his or her marketability, but all our candidates are competent. I thought the threshold of 60 was severe and rigid, but it has tumbled to 45 now. Soon it may be 40."
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