In Insider today:
Almost half a million businesses in the UK are in significant financial distress, with the property, leisure and tourism sectors particularly badly hit, according to research published today.
https://www.insider.co.uk/news/half-million-businesses-significant-distress-18798729
I probably don’t need to remind you of these indicators that ‘UK’ does not include Scotland:
Property:
Umpteenth post on underlying strength in Scottish economy: Property investment up 19.8%!
‘Glasgow’s blistering commercial property market’
Tourism:
5 continuous years of growth for Scottish tourism
As Scottish tourism booms, hotels appear in ‘more places than ever before’
Humungous 45% increase in Scotch Whisky tourism!
Glasgow and Edinburgh push London into third place in tourism hotspots survey
Scottish tourism growth outpaces that in UK
Whisky tourism boom expected to add to record year for Scottish tourism in 2018
Glasgow wins two first places in global tourism awards and comes 4th out of 50!
Talking-up Scotland 
O/T apologies
Call Kaye ” Is Climate Change keeping you up at night ”
Me “is Climate Change going to keep the UK intact”
Greens made big gains in recent EU elections in Germany. Credit was given to school kids going on strikes, (egged on by parents?)
On Radio Scotland Between 7.55am and 9am (excluding the 9am news) there were 3 articles on Climate Change
Have the BBC cottoned on?
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I find the compilation of multiple links to positive ‘stories’ that is becoming a feature of the posts extremely useful. Thanks!
For those interested in more details on today’s topic, the Red Flag Alert report referred to in the link given by the Insider article does in fact INCLUDE Scotland – see https://www.redflagalert.com/files/5353-rfa-statistics-q2.pdf. (It refers to Scotland as a ‘region’ of the UK!!)
The report provides data which on the face of does show a higher percentage increase in the number of businesses in Scotland (and NI) facing ‘distress’ than in the rest of the UK during 2018-19 to date. (Some of the detail in the graphic presentations in the Red Flag Alert are quite hard to read.)
This might seem to contradict the other links which do point to the health of certain sectors in the Scottish economy. However, there is a complex of different metrics being referred to across all those sources. I suspect sorting out any cause and effect relationships between the company ‘distress’ data and the others – if any exist – is likely to be far from straightforward.
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Thanks. Good to know they are useful.
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Hi John – apols for a further early OT – but am noticing further interesting info on the beeb Wales site.
The Welsh tories are showing Davidson’s ‘Scottish’ tories up for the gutless bunch they truly are. Interesting how beeb Scotland hasn’t felt that comparing and contrasting the Welsh and ‘Scottish’ tory reactions might be in the public interest given the appointment of the chap Walker (MP for Bertie Wooster) as depute at the Scotland Office. Link and snippets below:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-politics-49140097
The UK government should stop recruiting English MPs to ministerial roles in the Wales Office if Welsh MPs are unsuitable, a Welsh Tory MP says.
David TC Davies (Welsh tory MP – and Chairman of the Welsh Affairs select committee) said the candidate “should ideally come from Wales”.
“It’s the Welsh Office, not the Welsh and English Office,” Mr Davies told BBC Wales on Sunday.
“If we can’t find someone from Wales who’s acceptable for the deputy position, then just get rid of the deputy position.”
He said the Wales Office “should not be seen as some sort of stepping stone towards another job somewhere else”.
And he added that he had “made it clear” he was interested in the role.
Since Guto Bebb decided to quit over Brexit, the UK government has filled the Wales Office minister job with English MPs.
Under former prime minister Theresa May, Mr Foster’s predecessors were Nigel Adams, who represents Selby and Ainsty in Yorkshire, Eastleigh MP Mims Davies and Welsh speaker Stuart Andrew, who is MP for Pudsey.
Mr Foster (newly appointed Wales Office deputy) has two other jobs – in the cabinet office and as a government whip.
On Friday Tory councillor Richard John said not recruiting Welsh MPs to the Wales Office was “damaging” to his party’s “Welsh credentials”.
Former Welsh Tory leader Andrew RT Davies agreed it was a “missed opportunity”.
The UK government has been asked to comment.
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Noticed this piece in the links offered by the wonderful ‘Nana’ today – interesting to see how both Johnson and ‘spreadsheet Phil’ have altered relative positions since the article was written in 2013. Bit embarrassing for Johnson to be quite so brutally reminded of his oh so flexible beliefs. Link and snippets below:
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/10052646/Quitting-the-EU-wont-solve-our-problems-says-Boris-Johnson.html
Writing for The Daily Telegraph, he (Johnson) says that if Britain left the EU, “we would have to recognise that most of our problems are not caused” by Brussels.
However, the London Mayor claims the “question of EU membership is no longer of key importance to the destiny of this country”. The political row risks overshadowing more important weaknesses in the economy.
In his article today, Mr Johnson… warns that Britain’s problems will not be solved by simply leaving the EU as many of his Conservative colleagues apparently believe.
“If we left the EU, we would end this sterile debate, and we would have to recognise that most of our problems are not caused by “Bwussels”, but by chronic British short-termism, inadequate management, sloth, low skills, a culture of easy gratification and underinvestment in both human and physical capital and infrastructure,” the London Mayor says.
“Why are we still, person for person, so much less productive than the Germans? That is now a question more than a century old, and the answer is nothing to do with the EU. In or out of the EU, we must have a clear vision of how we are going to be competitive in a global economy.”
The London Mayor’s intervention comes after senior serving Government ministers confirmed that they would vote to leave the EU if there was a referendum now.
Mr Hammond, the Defence Secretary, said that he would… support leaving the EU without significant renegotiation of Britain’s membership.
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Thanks Ludo for giving this link from The Telegraph (and yes thanks due too to the truly wonderful ‘Nana’). Read with interest.
I think it is worth giving this additional, direct link to Johnson’s own article rather than only the review of it: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/10052775/We-must-be-ready-to-leave-the-EU-if-we-dont-get-what-we-want.html
In his original article Johnson sets out reasons for the UK to remain as a EU member and counter reasons to leave.
Well worth reading. Again many thanks for the link.
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hey Ludo you don’t have to further apollogise for my initial O/T . . . . My O/T apollogised for it’s self . . . .
If you want you could apollogise for your own O/T . . . .
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Hi Clydebuilt – I suppose I’m apologising for my general tendency to go OT rather early – hence my phrasing it as “apols for a ‘further’ early OT” – awkward phrasing on my part! – Cheers, Ludo
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L T you don’t have to apologise for going O/T rather early. I went O/T straight away. I feel guilty enough for both of us. However I think you have a bit of a brass neck going O/T twice on the same article, and to compound things they were consecutive posts.
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Hi Clydebuilt – You are quite right – it was really very bad form on my part to go OT so very early and in 2 consecutive posts! – I did feel rather bad about it. John, however, seems to have a most forgiving nature and hasn’t yet seen fit to lecture his 2 principal culprits – namely Thee and me. Hopefully we’ll manage to keep on his good side for a while yet. Cheers, Ludo
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