Tag: climate-change

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‘The Scottish Government can be proud …’ of its record in modernising Scotland’s infrastructure – Centre for Cities compares rail electrification in Scotland and the rUK.

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By stewartb A new Centre for Cities’ report provides welcome relief from sustained – and contrived – Unionist and especially Labour Party leadership negativity about governance and strategic economic development in Scotland. The Centre for Cities (CfC), founded in 2007, has long been a notable think tank with a distinctive mission ‘to help the UK’s largest cities and towns realise their economic potential.’ Given the current attention at Westminster on English devolution and on economic growth within city regions, the CfC’s research output is especially relevant. Moreover, its body of work has the potential to provide a much needed objective … Continue reading ‘The Scottish Government can be proud …’ of its record in modernising Scotland’s infrastructure – Centre for Cities compares rail electrification in Scotland and the rUK.

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STV accuse Stephen Flynn of paving over storm drains in Largs five years earlier when he should have been in Westminster. Experts say such storms cannot be fully defended against

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Did the young STV reporter with the Ulster accent think she was speaking to a local councillor tonight in Largs when prompted by a chocolate shop owner, she accused Stephen Flynn, Transport Minister, personally and directly of having paved over storm drains. The shop owner, left, with her party leader: The resurfacing of the road outside the shop was resurfaced by Amey in 2021 with further work after more flooding in 2025. Might the flooding this time be due to the intensity of this storm? Yes — the intensity of Storm Boelo was almost certainly a major factor in the … Continue reading STV accuse Stephen Flynn of paving over storm drains in Largs five years earlier when he should have been in Westminster. Experts say such storms cannot be fully defended against

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This weekend’s storms seem to confirm that few Scottish homes will have to be abandoned as climate crisis reshapes UK’s flood risk

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In the Guardian 31 January 2026: ‘Homes may have to be abandoned’: how climate crisis has reshaped Britain’s flood risk https://www.theguardian.com/news/ng-interactive/2026/jan/31/climate-crisis-flood-risk-britain There’s only one mention of Scotland: But it is not just the south-west facing ever more floods as the climate crisis bites. Environment Agency data estimates 6.3m properties in England are at risk of flooding, rising to 8m by 2050, with Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland also hit hard. Wow, impressive ‘hard-hitting’ research there…not. In the Guardian 14 October 2025, the above maps showing only two wee bits of Scotland with a 25% risk and the Highland and Borders … Continue reading This weekend’s storms seem to confirm that few Scottish homes will have to be abandoned as climate crisis reshapes UK’s flood risk

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Not even one one report of a flooded home for the second year in a row – I wonder why? Surely not Scottish Government investment in flood defences?

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BBC Scotland has not one report of a family flooded out of their home this morning, despite the severity of storms this last three days. A year ago, something similar happened: STV News, 14 December 2025: Scots homes ‘likely to be flooded’ as amber weather warning for ‘very heavy rain’ issued – The alert comes into effect from midnight on Sunday and remains in place until 11.59pm. The same hopeful claims were everywhere in Scotland’s media with the same optimism, on their part, we see when such NHS waiting times or drug deaths figures are anticipated. As of now (Sunday … Continue reading Not even one one report of a flooded home for the second year in a row – I wonder why? Surely not Scottish Government investment in flood defences?

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Red Letter Days and Red Reminders – More gas, more electricity, more promises and still the bills arrive

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By Mark E. Saunders of “The Scottish Minuteman” https://www.facebook.com/profile.php/?id=61575625542197 Politicians announce new energy projects, celebrate investment and promise jobs, energy security and economic growth. Then the red reminders arrive. The electricity bill. The rising direct debit. The shrinking household budget. For people struggling to heat their homes, the question isn’t how many announcements smiling politicians can make. It’s how those smiles translate into a tangible difference to the bills people pay. The UK Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Local Energy and Jobs has recently been promoting a community-owned energy project in Argyll expected to power 800 homes. And only yesterday, the same minister welcomed … Continue reading Red Letter Days and Red Reminders – More gas, more electricity, more promises and still the bills arrive

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‘I believe that the UK (sic) is decades behind other countries’: Unlike in Scotland, UK Government quietly dropped plan to prepare England for wildfires

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Typically the above expert on BBC Breakfast this morning knows nothing of Scotland. Scotland already has a published Strategic Action Plan for Wildfires (5 March 2026), produced with the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS), land managers and the Scottish Wildfire Forum. More below. Above, a lightly-clad firefighter working in Dunwich heat next to a nuclear power station. In the Guardian today: The government quietly scrapped plans to prepare the countryside in England for wildfires, it has been revealed. This was despite new data showing fire crews do not have the proper protective gear to tackle them. This summer has … Continue reading ‘I believe that the UK (sic) is decades behind other countries’: Unlike in Scotland, UK Government quietly dropped plan to prepare England for wildfires

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How the middle-class activists of Newton Mearns avoided Govan’s fate as Glasgow Labour’s new giant incinerator is built upwind of the QEUH and associated with congenital anomalies, infant death and miscarriage

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From Ends Waste & Bioenergy in January 2015: Plans to build the UK’s largest waste management complex [image at top] and energy-from-waste plant have come to an end, it has emerged. Lifetime Recycling Village Ltd, which had planned to build the £640m plant 12 kilometres south of Glasgow, was officially wound up in February, according to government records. Proposal to build the facility were first unveiled in 2010 by three waste and construction entrepreneurs. Its three gasification lines would have processed a total of 900,000 tonnes of waste per year – over 100,000t more than London’s Riverside, the UK’s largest … Continue reading How the middle-class activists of Newton Mearns avoided Govan’s fate as Glasgow Labour’s new giant incinerator is built upwind of the QEUH and associated with congenital anomalies, infant death and miscarriage

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It’s a giant incinerator just upwind of a giant hospital full of immuno-compromised patients – only in Labour Glasgow and too late for the SNP Government to stop

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From STV yesterday, the above and, in the whole report, zero mentions of the word ‘incinerator‘ as the launch by end 2026 looms. We had a lot to say about this last month: The massive incinerator, called the South Clyde Energy Centre, positioned deliberately directly upwind and a short distance from Glasgow’s biggest hospital. The above facility is, of course, an incinerator. Located directly upwind of the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital to add to the current concerns regarding raw sewage ponds close to it. The new South Clyde Energy Centre due west of the QEUH to get the very most of the … Continue reading It’s a giant incinerator just upwind of a giant hospital full of immuno-compromised patients – only in Labour Glasgow and too late for the SNP Government to stop

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Agricultural support payments – 81% paid in Scotland and ‘extreme cashflow difficulties’ in England

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Help Talking-up Scotland keep goingCrowdfunder at: https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/help-talking-up-scotland-keep-goingOr by direct bank transfer to: JOHN WATSON ROBERTSON Sort Code – 08-91-04 Account – 12266421 From the Scottish Government today at 10.30am but getting no coverage even on the BBC Business site. More than £296 million in agricultural support has been paid out to Scottish farmers and crofters since the start of September. As of 11 September, Basic Payment Scheme (BPS) and Greening funding has been paid to 81% of anticipated eligible businesses, with the payment window closing in July next year. The Scottish Government’s BPS supplements agriculture income, while Greening payments encourage agricultural practices that benefit the environment and climate. and notably this … Continue reading Agricultural support payments – 81% paid in Scotland and ‘extreme cashflow difficulties’ in England

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E-bike crime – Another ‘Scottish’ Westminster Labour MP educated in England tries to transfer e-bike crime 6 times more common there, north to help his bosses criticise Scottish Government

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Help Talking-up Scotland keep goin Crowdfunder at: https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/help-talking-up-scotland-keep-going Or by direct bank transfer to: JOHN WATSON ROBERTSON Sort Code – 08-91-04 Account – 12266421 From the Daily Record two days ago, the above scare story with Labour MP Richard Baker trying to get an attack on the SNP Government going, based on the experience of only one of his constituents (94), with an e-bike rider. Richard went to fee-paying St Bees School in Cumbria. They claim: This situation has led to an explosion of e-bike gangs roaming around without a care for their own safety or that of the pedestrians they crash into. Police are often unable to chase them … Continue reading E-bike crime – Another ‘Scottish’ Westminster Labour MP educated in England tries to transfer e-bike crime 6 times more common there, north to help his bosses criticise Scottish Government