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

Today’s twitter post from the Scottish Cons, as the latest poll predicts their extinction in Scotland, fails to survive a collision with the facts: Statistics from the Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA) show that for pupils in the 20 per cent most deprived areas of Scotland, the Higher pass rate was 70.2per cent this year, down from 83.2 per cent last year The SQA said the attainment gap between the most and least deprived areas of Scotland was 15 percentage points in 2022, up from 7.8 percentage points in 2021. However the gap is narrower than in 2019, when it was 16.9 … Continue reading Scottish Cons tweet on Educational Attainment fails to survive collision with the facts

From the Scottish government this morning but not the kind of story that BBC Reporting Scotland down or ‘our’ other MSM will be headlining: More families will benefit from funded school age childcare as part of a national mission to tackle child poverty. The Scottish Government is investing £1 million to expand services in parts of Dundee, Glasgow, Clackmannanshire and Inverclyde, with a roll-out of similar provision in other parts of Scotland from April 2023. Eligible low income families in the four targeted areas will be helped with the cost of childcare for primary school aged children. Families in most … Continue reading £1 million to support low-income families but BBC Scotland prefers ‘My son ate rat poison’

Jackie Baillie getting all self-righteous with the Scottish Government over a possible delay in the Scottish Covid 19 Inquiry after resignations. Meanwhile in Wales [A line you’ll hear a few times hya] from Labour Leader Mark Drakeford: “I’ve told you time and time again, there will be no inquiry of that sort here in Wales. They are moving on to put their energies and their efforts into making sure, as I want to see, that their questions are properly rehearsed, and the best answers provided in front of the Baroness Hallett [UK] inquiry.” https://nation.cymru/news/call-for-mark-drakeford-to-withdraw-comments-about-covid-bereaved-families-for-justice/ So no deals with SNP except … Continue reading “There will be no inquiry of that sort [Covid] here in Wales!”

In the Guardian today: King Charles has been allowed to vet and potentially lobby for changes to emergency legislation to freeze rents in Scotland because the measures could affect tenants on his private Highland estate at Balmoral. A bill to stop landlords unjustifiably raising rents for the next six months because of the cost of living crisis is being rushed through the Scottish parliament this week. The King’s involvement, under rules known in Scotland as crown consent, can be revealed after the rules at Holyrood were changed following a Guardian investigation into the monarch’s power to influence and amend the UK’s laws. https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2022/oct/04/king-charles-allowed-to-vet-proposed-scottish-rent-freeze-law Like … Continue reading Why King Charles can ignore SNP rent freeze for his peasant tenants

After they had reported that rugby can be very bad for your health, Reporting Scotland catch some of us off-guard with this: are ‘likely’ to have caused more deaths than the coronavirus pandemic. Researchers at the Glasgow Centre for Population Health say statistics show 335 000 more deaths than expected were recorded across Scotland, England and Wales, between 2012 and 2019. They identified almost 20 000 excess deaths in Scotland. Over a decade [of Tory rule] researchers said was characterised by austerity. What is BBC Scotland doing attacking the record of the UK Government? Well, it happens. If you have … Continue reading BBC Reporting Scotland confirms Conservative governments are bad, very bad, for your health!