FIRST, the good news. According to Scottish Renewables, the trade association for the renewable power industry, the Executive is on course to meet its target for electricity consumed from clean sources three years early. The Executive wants to see 18 per cent of Scotland's domestic electricity needs coming from renewable sources, such as hydro and wind power, by the year 2010. But at the current rate of bringing new wind farms on stream, that target will be met next year.

The spread of wind farms in Scotland has been explosive, thanks to a combination of public subsidy, faster planning approvals and the skyrocketing cost of gas-fired generation, which has made expensive wind power more cost effective. For instance, earlier this year, planning permission was granted for Europe's largest wind farm at Eaglesham Moor, to the south of Glasgow, which will be able to generate enough electricity to power nearly every home in Glasgow itself.

However, this success - while very welcome - is not all it seems. The target is for energy consumed. In fact, Scotland already produces a third more electricity than it consumes: the surplus is exported. About a tenth of all electricity production is from hydro power, which has been with us since the Fifties. Raising the amount consumed in Scotland from renewable electricity therefore required only a modest effort and, in fact, the new capacity had already been granted planning permission by last year.

The real trick will be to meet the 40 per cent target for electricity consumption from renewables, which the Executive has slated for 2020 (when today's politicians will be long retired). Taking into account the likely growth in demand, plus the possible loss of the two existing nuclear plants, the sheer number of wind farms required to fill the gap would certainly provoke massive public resistance.

The alternative is even more expensive off-shore wind and wave technology, which will require oil and gas prices to remain high in order to be anywhere near competitive. Either that or it will need a determined effort to reduce domestic consumption - heating needs account for half of power demand - while encouraging householders to produce more of their own power through microgeneration. Tax incentives for the latter would be useful.

Increasing the contribution of renewable energy is an important goal, but it must not become an end in itself. Scotland needs a mixture of power sources, including the refurbishment and continued operation of the two existing nuclear stations to provide base-load capacity and security from imports of foreign gas. Pinning the nation's energy needs to an abstract target 16 years in the future is a hostage to fortune.

Legal-aid crisis must be sorted

THE escalating dispute between the Scottish legal profession and the Executive over the level of fees paid for legal-aid work has now begun to impact on family cases involving divorce and child custody. Today, The Scotsman reveals that many law firms are deliberately cutting back on the amount of publicly-funded family work they are prepared to carry out because of the low fees they claim are involved. In Edinburgh, it is virtually impossible to get a lawyer to take on a family law case funded by legal aid.

The major bar associations have also decided to boycott criminal legal-aid cases involving allegations of serious sexual crime such as rape. The defendants in such indictments are banned from representing themselves or conducting cross- examinations, which means the cases will have to be postponed, opening the possibility that the defendants will be let out on bail.

Clearly, there is a crisis in the functioning of the new hourly payments system for funding legal aid. But the legal profession was wrong to threaten the boycott of sex cases. Now it risks further alienating ordinary Scots by shying away from family law cases. For its part, the Executive is also wrong not to agree to review the fee scale for more complex and lengthy cases. Meanwhile, justice for ordinary Scots is at a premium.

Can the Skye terrier survive?

IT IS the stuff of legends and Hollywood movies: a faithful dog which keeps silent vigil over its dead master's grave for 14 long years. We all know the story of Greyfriars Bobby, the little Skye terrier who refused to leave his master's side, in life or death, as told to generations of tourists. Bred on Skye to hunt foxes and badgers, the Skye terrier was first popularised as a domestic pet by Queen Victoria in the 1840s. Bobby did the rest.

Sadly comes news that the Skye terrier is an endangered species. Exotic new Asian breeds such as the Shih Tzu and the Lhasa Apso have captured the public imagination. Fortunately, a campaign has been launched to save Bobby from extinction. One hope is that the recent new film about Greyfriars Bobby, with Christopher Lee and Ian Richardson, might help revive public interest in the breed. Alas, in the new movie - unlike the original Disney film of 1961 - Bobby inexplicably has become a West Highland terrier.

Murdo Fraser, the deputy leader of the Scottish Tories, has proposed that the native Scottish red squirrel should be protected by offering a bounty for the tail of every grey squirrel that appears north of the Border. Perhaps Mr Fraser has a plan for protecting the Skye terrier?