Trumpadoon

These are not the best days for Scotland: the price of North Sea oil is sliding and its huge banking sector had to be bailed out by London.

But it will soon have "the greatest golf course in the world."

Yes, Donald Trump has finally won his long battle to build a sprawling golf resort on the Scottish coast north of Aberdeen. The development includes two 18-hole courses, a 450-bedroom hotel with conference centre and spa, 950 apartment units, and 500 houses.

The Scottish government, ruled by the Scottish National Party, agreed to review the development plan after it had been rejected by an Aberdeenshire Council committee. The $2 billion project had support from many in the region, including business leaders, but a number of environmentalists, and as Franz Lidz wrote for Portfolio.com, one angry potential neighbor, Michael Forbes, were --and are-- very much opposed to the development.

Trump, Forbes told Lidz at the time, "will have a giant red T flashing atop his hotel. On the roof of my shack, I intend to have my own flashing red letter: F, followed by a dash and O-F-F."

Today, Forbes' wife told the Guardian, "We're staying put, and that's it."

John Swinney, the Cabinet secretary for finance and sustainable growth, said that the Scottish government "found there was significant economic and social benefit to be gained from this project."

In a statement, Trump said of the project: "It will be a tremendous asset and source of pride for both Aberdeenshire and Scotland for many generations.

"I would like to personally thank the thousands of people and organizations who have supported us throughout this process. As I have often said, because of the quality of the land we are given to work with, we will build the greatest golf course in the world."

The clash between the Donald and some of the locals was, as Lidz wrote in February, reminiscent of Local Hero.

In that movie, an American tycoon wants to buy a Scottish fishing village to build a refinery. In the end, the tycoon, played by Burt Lancaster, becomes entranced by the beauty and mystery of place, and builds the refinery somewhere else.

No romantic he, Trump is playing right through to the green.

Fore, laddie!