‘Ferry fiasco’ has been a favourite for the delayed Calmac ferries, expected now to cost £240 million. The media and opposition frenzy has positively frothed and SNP ministers have been told to resign. The two new Royal Navy aircraft carriers costing, so far, £7.7 billion, are in deep trouble too. HMS Prince of Wales, the NATO flagship, is in dock now for the third time, as NATO confronts threats in the Black and South China Seas. Speaking personally, I’m quite happy with this situation but surely our current UK Government, keen to project English, sorry British, power beyond Portsmouth must … Continue reading Flagship Fiasco!

stewartb Sometimes one can juxtapose economic forecasts that should convince voters to take such judgements when expressed with certainty with a large pinch of salt. Forecasts associated with oil & gas especially fall into this category. For interest – and ‘amusement’ – here are quotes from two articles published in the online magazine, oilprice.com . Headline, 7 September 2017: ‘The North Sea Oil Recovery Is Dead In The Water’. Firstly, the positives about the North Sea: ‘The oil majors say they have overhauled their cost structures in the region, making production profitable in today’s $50 market, even when the region … Continue reading North Sea Oil: A significant ‘boon’ perhaps?

stewartb I’d like to share a recent article published by the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS – see below). Reading it triggered the thought that it must be a horrendously difficult ongoing task for a Scottish Government to keep abreast of – and ensure appropriate modelling of – the impact of Westminster’s tax and benefit changes. These changes not only affect the Scottish Government’s budget but also, crucially they affect the household incomes of the least well-off in Scotland. In a detailed assessment of what is happening to the UK’s complex personal tax and benefit systems, the IFS identifies significant … Continue reading A horrendously difficult task

There is a Labour surge in England, with their lead over the Cons averaging at 27% in the last 5 Westminster polls, in October 2022. This compares with an average of around only 10% in mid-September and some polls as low as only 1 or 2% in that same month. In the same period, Scottish Labour have climbed to average 27% with only one at a newsworthy 30% but in the only recent Holyrood polls before that, from June to August 2022, they had been averaging 23%. So, a 4% climb rather than a surge? Where has that climb come … Continue reading In Scotland, Labour support surge would barely wet your ankles

Don’t expect our MSM to make a comparison on this kind of thing where we seem to do better by our vulnerable and needy: The Scottish Government has legislated to ensure that adults of any age, no matter their condition, capital or income, who are assessed by their local authority as needing personal care, are entitled to receive this without charge. https://www.gov.scot/news/more-help-with-free-personal-and-nursing-care/ A few other differences: Scotland IS a different place as its universities offer guaranteed places to care leavers Abuse of women and the disabled far higher in England than in Scotland Less homicide, less knife crime, less domestic violence, safer cities … Continue reading Dementia care in Scotland is different, it’s free

In September 2007(!), Alex Salmond was attributed with the Saudi Arabia of Wind claim. In fact, according to the FT: Scotland has been estimated to have 25 per cent of all Europe’s wind; it is the “Saudi Arabia of wind”, as Scottish Renewables, the industry association, has described it. https://www.ft.com/content/7e5fe546-653a-11dc-bf89-0000779fd2ac Of course the MSM at the time and more recently, such as the Herald only 2 years ago, ignored the source and used the claim to attack the SNP. Today, as Scotland’s MSM focus on the environmental threats posed by the new North Sea oil and gas exploration licences announced … Continue reading ‘Alex Salmond’s Saudi Arabia of Wind’ not so funny now

In the Guardian today: Full-time nursery for children under the age of two costs almost two-thirds of a parent’s weekly take-home pay in England, according to new analysis. Parents in Scotland fare slightly [sic] better, paying half (51%) of one salary for childcare, while in Wales the figure is 63%, and in England 65%, according to analysis by Business in the Community (BITC), the Prince’s Responsible Business Network. https://www.theguardian.com/money/2022/oct/07/nursery-under-twos-costs-parents-england-65-percent-wage Fare slightly better? Slightly? 65% is 27% higher than 51%. Higher wages in England? Nope. At £26,007, Scotland has the third highest median gross annual salary [after only London and South … Continue reading Nursery costs in England 27% higher than in Scotland

stewartb So Tories trying to deceive again! Surely even BBC Scotland and STV won’t run with this? (It occurs to me that the measure of failure in Scotland of an opposition party’s public statement is that EVEN the BBC won’t run with it!) Anyway, this from Universities Scotland dated 9 August 2022 provides further support for the points made in today’s blog post. ‘Today, statistical data released by UCAS show that as of 9 August: …‘2,110 young people from the 20 % most deprived areas of Scotland (SIMD20) have accepted a place to go to university in 2022, AN INCREASE … Continue reading 25% increase in University acceptances for those from deprived areas

stewartb The concept of ‘oil running out’ is an elusive one!– how much money do you want to spend exploring for more oil in new/different areas?– how much money do you want to spend exploring for more oil in existing oil provinces?– how much money do you want to spend (how much energy do you want to expend) increasing the ‘recovery factor’ in existing oil fields? On the latter, the UK Oil & Gas Authority in 2017 published a report entitled ‘Recovery Factor Benchmarking – UK Continental Shelf (UKCS) Oilfields’. It reported: ‘Expected UKCS recovery factor has consistently been around … Continue reading The concept of ‘oil running out’ is an elusive one!

To be fair to Sir Ian, there’s still 6 or 7 years left in his prediction that oil supplies will dwindle but it’s not looking good for him as prices surge again toward $100 dollars per barrel and revenues flows into the Treasury. How much might be left? There are still substantial known oil and gas reserves in the North Sea left to be exploited. According to a report produced by the Oil and Gas Authority last September, known reserves of oil and gas in the North Sea at the end of 2020 amounted to 4.4 billion barrels of oil equivalent (BOE). … Continue reading SNP discover oil hasn’t run out and is surging 400% to $100 per barrel again