The new Wolf of Badenoch plans to plunder all our oil and gas

Support Talking-up Scotland’s work to counter the lies and get you the facts, daily, at: https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/checkout/help-talking-up-scotland-tell-truth-about-scotland/payment/nBQxjVzq/details Professor John Robertson OBA Today in BBC Politics: Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch has said her party will remove all net zero requirements on oil and gas companies drilling in the North Sea if elected. Badenoch is to formally announce the plan to focus solely on “maximising extraction” and to get “all our [sic] oil and gas out of the North Sea” in a speech in Aberdeen on Tuesday. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cp890n51684o I’ve often wondered if Badenoch knows of her ancestor through marriage, the Wolf of Badenoch (above), a … Continue reading The new Wolf of Badenoch plans to plunder all our oil and gas

As energy price rises loom, a reminder of why Michael Shanks will not protect us and why Scots would pay far less after independence

Support Talking-up Scotland’s work to counter the lies and get you the facts, daily, at: https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/checkout/help-talking-up-scotland-tell-truth-about-scotland/payment/nBQxjVzq/details Professor John Robertson OBA As energy price rises loom, a reminder of why Scots would pay far less once independent. From stewartb in June 2025: I fear that a majority of the electorate in Scotland still have NO IDEA of – (perhaps even conditioned to have no interest in?) – Scotland’s indigenous energy assets and their potential significance for their own lives and those of their children and grandchildren. Little or no awareness of the scale of value of offshore oil & gas assets in the … Continue reading As energy price rises loom, a reminder of why Michael Shanks will not protect us and why Scots would pay far less after independence

‘Huge pools of mystery sludge, leaking silos’ and shocking complacency only a few miles from Stranraer and the highest cancer level in Europe – Does Scottish Labour need a ‘cancer panic’ to wake it up to the horrific risks of pursuing even more nuclear projects?

Professor John Robertson OBA In the Daily Mail today: Atomic bomb waste discovered beneath six homes in St Louis has sparked panic and renewed concern in other US cities still haunted by Manhattan Project contamination. St Louis is far from the only city still dealing with Manhattan Project fallout. Across the country, sites such as Hanford in Washington, Oak Ridge in Tennessee, and Los Alamos in New Mexico remain dangerously contaminated. A 2003 study surveyed 801 individuals who lived downwind of the Hanford plutonium production facility, finding greater-than-expected numbers of central nervous system tumors and cancers of the female reproductive system. High incidences … Continue reading ‘Huge pools of mystery sludge, leaking silos’ and shocking complacency only a few miles from Stranraer and the highest cancer level in Europe – Does Scottish Labour need a ‘cancer panic’ to wake it up to the horrific risks of pursuing even more nuclear projects?

Herald frontpages highest level nuclear leak incident but avoids mentioning how it might ‘smash into your DNA’

Support Talking-up Scotland’s work to counter the lies and get you the facts, daily, at: https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/checkout/help-talking-up-scotland-tell-truth-about-scotland/payment/nBQxjVzq/detailsor, if you prefer, a bank transfer, at sort code 089300 account 1421 7339 Professor John Robertson OBA The Herald today does get round to sharing with us details of the recent Ferret factfinder freedom of information release, on accidents at the nuclear base on the Clyde estuary, at Faslane in the Gare Loch, but do not investigate just what the resultant leaks might mean for those living nearby or those who swim in the Gare Loch or the Clyde estuary. Here is the fuller … Continue reading Herald frontpages highest level nuclear leak incident but avoids mentioning how it might ‘smash into your DNA’

Reluctantly reported then sanitised falsely by ‘your’ media the radioactive tritium emissions leaking from 1 500 badly maintained pipes in Clyde nuclear sub base which ‘smash into’ your DNA, DOUBLE as cancer cases surge yet smoking rates plummet

Professor John Robertson OBA Today, from BBC Scotland, the above and: Radioactive water from a Royal Navy nuclear weapons base leaked into a loch after old pipes repeatedly burst, according to official files. The Guardian, external and The Ferret, external found the material was released into Loch Long, Argyll and Bute, after a six-year battle to access documents which involved Scotland’s Information Commissioner, external. The Scottish Environment Protection Agency (Sepa) said its assessments found the risk to the environment from effluent discharges was “of no regulatory concern”. The Ministry of Defence (MoD) also said there had been “no unsafe releases of radioactive material” into the environment. The … Continue reading Reluctantly reported then sanitised falsely by ‘your’ media the radioactive tritium emissions leaking from 1 500 badly maintained pipes in Clyde nuclear sub base which ‘smash into’ your DNA, DOUBLE as cancer cases surge yet smoking rates plummet

So, we’ve to pay more for electricity pylons and cables to ‘shift’ the ‘excess’ electricity we don’t need, over the border, because you will have produced 10 times what we need in our waters?

Professor John Robertson OBA In BBC Scotland TV reports this morning and on their website, the above headline and a report based on an interview with Scottish Power Energy Networks‘ chief executive Nicola Connelly. Her thinking is entirely, but I think unconsciously, based on the unquestionable nature of the Union. It’s by no means propagandistic as she makes no case for the Union, just takes it for granted and so, for the discriminating reader, like you, it offers a shocking insight into just how exploitative and pointless that union is for Scotland. First: A £34bn investment in Scotland’s electricity network … Continue reading So, we’ve to pay more for electricity pylons and cables to ‘shift’ the ‘excess’ electricity we don’t need, over the border, because you will have produced 10 times what we need in our waters?

10 countries already routinely issue iodine tablets to those near nuclear facilities but with the highest cancer rates in world, Scotland, dependent on Westminster, does not

Professor John Robertson OBA Sky News in September 2019, reported: France is to give free iodine tablets to more people living near the country’s 19 nuclear plants. Around 2.2 million people living within 20km (12.4 miles) of a nuclear plant will be given the tablets to protect their bodies from the effects of radiation in the event of an accident. In 2016, five years after the nuclear accident in the Japanese city of Fukushima, France gave iodine to those living within 10km (6.2 miles) of a nuclear plant. Thyroid cancer incidence in France has increased dramatically over recent decades, particularly … Continue reading 10 countries already routinely issue iodine tablets to those near nuclear facilities but with the highest cancer rates in world, Scotland, dependent on Westminster, does not

Does Scotland really need SMRs for a resilient energy system?

By stewartb ‘At the time of writing there are only two SMRs actually operating – one in Russia and one in China. For this reason alone, we must question reliance on a technology not yet fully tested, as the basis for a national programme of work.’ So it’s a novel technology. The OECD in 2024 recognised three SMRs as operational, with over 50 SMR technologies currently still under development. (https://www.ansto.gov.au/news/small-modular-reactors-an-overview) If a company or nation state has relevant indigenous technological capability, an energy need AND national ambition to develop and then sell as exports SMRs, one might see the sense of being … Continue reading Does Scotland really need SMRs for a resilient energy system?

The Nuclear Decommissioning Authority on existing UK nuclear sites: ‘all land dedesignated or reused’ by 2380 – but sooner at Dounreay, by 2334!

By stewartb It’s clear from statements made, if Anglo-British political parties gain power in Holyrood after the 2026 election, Scotland in Union will see a new generation of nuclear power plants (large ‘conventional’ and/or small modular reactors) built here. Ian Murray MP, Secretary of State for Scotland, July 4, 2025 stated: “In other parts of the UK, the UK Government is driving forward nuclear power, as are countries across Europe and indeed the world. But in Scotland the Scottish Government clings to its ideological objection to new nuclear sites. That means that Scotland is being left behind, missing out on … Continue reading The Nuclear Decommissioning Authority on existing UK nuclear sites: ‘all land dedesignated or reused’ by 2380 – but sooner at Dounreay, by 2334!

Michael Shanks – ‘[Scottish] Oil and gas has played a critical role in our energy story for the past 60 years. It will continue to play a critical role for decades to come’

stewartb The recent session of the Scottish Affairs Committee of the Commons gained quite a few ‘insights’ from oral evidence given by Michael Shanks MP, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Minister for Energy) at the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) See transcript of the oral evidence at https://committees.parliament.uk/oralevidence/16235/pdf/ Shanks – ‘Oil and gas has played a critical role in our energy story for the past 60 years. It will continue to play a critical role for decades to come, …’ (my emphasis) Later, Committee Chair (Patricia Ferguson MP, Labour): ‘Do you think it is necessary to reduce North Sea oil and gas … Continue reading Michael Shanks – ‘[Scottish] Oil and gas has played a critical role in our energy story for the past 60 years. It will continue to play a critical role for decades to come’