The Spike Bar: Anti-Donald Trump movement gathers force

Donald Trump's apparent victory in getting compulsory purchase orders against four home and land owners owners should he want to use them to progress his £1bn resort and its accompanying houses at Menie near Aberdeen may yet be a pyrrhic one. And whether it is or not, Trump, like many before him, must have learned one thing in the past months: down the years the Scots have demonstrated time and again that they don't like being pushed around, particularly by outsiders, and even more particularly by rich outsiders who patronise them.

"There is a degree of support for his project in the area because of the good it could bring by way of investment end employment," one Scotsman who lives near Aberdeen, said. "But there is no support for the way he has gone about it. We also are not sure about the clubhouse's design. All those turrets and towers!

"And does he know that in this part of Scotland we have more haars than at St Andrews. Between May and the end of July we have a lot of them and that would be his most lucrative time, presumably. Haars can be very obstructive to play in - if you can play at all.

"There is concern too that the locals may not get as much out of it as might be expected. I can't see many if any of them becoming members because of the cost and I wonder how many of them will get work there? Might Mr Trump not bring a planeload of Filipinos in and put them to work in the hotel?"

Trump, never one to miss an opportunity to blow his own, er, trumpet, must have been surprised to see the brilliant campaign by the Menie Liberation Front conducted in Edinburgh last month prior to Thursday's decision by the Aberdeenshire County Council not to rule out compulsory purchase orders on the homes and land of four people who are proving to be thorns in Trump's plans for his resort.

Any number of landmarks in Scotland's capital had likenesses of Trump plastered over them - Greyfriars Bobby, the famous Sky terrier who is held in such esteem in that country, was one, the monument to David Hume, the philosopher, was another and the Queen Victoria figure in Queen's Cross was a third.

In case anyone was left in any doubt that feelings were running high about this matter, a full-page advertisement was taken out in The Scotsman by an organisation known as Tripping Up Trump, or TUT for short.

"If you know about the housing complex and golf course Donald Trump wants to build on Menie Dunes you might know that Trump wants Compulsory Purchase Orders issued, to clear local families from their homes," went the text on the advertisement. "We don't have millions of pounds or dozens of lawyers to fight for us but we appeal to you to help us stop these forced evictions."

Full Story: Times Online