Talking-up Scotland

When small claims are made against businesses it means they’re in trouble in some way. It means according to the Registry Trust, that they’re failing to manage debt. So, this massive fall means that Scottish business ‘can take heart’ and that if they do need to borrow to expand they can.

As you may know from previous pieces here, the Scottish economy grew at 4 times the rate of rUK over the last quarter and:

‘Fewer Scottish businesses failing in 2017’

Scottish businesses showing signs of greater health than those in the rest of the UK

Ruth and Kezia sob as they hear Scotland is ranked as the best place in the UK to start a business. Will this good news never end?

Can Edinburgh’s high-tech expertise steal some of London’s financial business post-Brexit?

The total value of claims fell by 55% to £7.6 million, a record low. Put it all together with the other good news you can see if you scroll down my blog over the last few months and somebody is doing something right in Scotland. Who could it be? Surely not the SNP-led administration in any way?

Scottish Government invests a further £1.5 million in offshore wind technology as our renewables energy generation booms.

Scottish Government awards 13 firms £3.5m in new grants to maintain push for growth in food and drink sales

Scottish Government invests in Glasgow’s second new distillery as Scottish Whisky sales climb toward £1 billion and Scotland produces 28% of all UK food and drink exports

Scottish Government to help create 21 000 new jobs for Edinburgh and South-East Scotland

Scottish Government to help build over 1000 low cost homes at Western Harbour in Edinburgh with £76 million loan

Scottish Government invests £9.4 million in affordable housing for the Western Isles

Scottish Government plan to approve more than 10 000 affordable new homes this year

Scottish Government grants to further boost Scotland’s food and drink industry which already produces 28% of all UK exports

I stopped looking back at 22^nd June 2017. I could’ve gone on.

Hopefully, you’ve already seen that the Scottish unemployment rate was down again last month for the third time in a row and that the gap with the rest of UK is getting wider at 3.8% as opposed to 4.5%. In May, the Scottish rate was 4.4% compared to the UK rate of 4.6%. In June, it was 4.0% while the UK rate was still 4.6%.

There’s always the worry that many of the new jobs are temporary or casual in some way. However, research by the Recruitment & Employment Confederation, reported in insider.co.uk, indicated a ‘steep’ increase in permanent jobs as well as temporary appointments.

http://www.insider.co.uk/news/steep-increases-permanent-jobs-starting-10949189

These increases clearly relate to growth in the overall economy. The Scottish economy grew by four times as much as the UK as-a-whole in the last quarter and an earlier survey reported Scottish businesses to be more confident than those in England.

Scottish businesses showing signs of greater health than those in the rest of the UK

There’s further good news, in the same report, which again must relate to the above factors in that starting salaries rose at the fastest rate in ten months. None of the companies surveyed reported a fall in starting salaries and 25% reported sometimes steep increases to get the people they wanted.

I haven’t mentioned Kezia or Ruth in the headline. It only worked once to draw a big readership. I’ve been seen through.

Though many young Scots enter Higher Education via articulation programmes run in partnership with local colleges and universities and so do not appear in the UCAS figures, there has been a surge this year in such students going straight into universities.

The latest figures show acceptances up 13% adding to the 7% in the previous year to produce a 20% increase since 2015.

https://news.gov.scot/news/record-number-of-students-from-deprived-areas-get-in-to-university

In England, the increase in acceptances by those from disadvantaged areas has only been 9% since 2007.

https://epi.org.uk/analysis/path-higher-education-obstacles-remain-disadvantaged/

Returning to my opening point, access from disadvantaged areas to HE, including via the articulation courses, might actually suggest a much higher level overall in Scotland. See this quote from last year’s UCAS report:

‘In Scotland, there is a substantial section of provision that is not included in UCAS figures. This is mostly full-time higher education provided in further education colleges which represents around one third of young full-time undergraduate study in Scotland. Consequently, for Scotland, this report reflects the trends in applications that are recruited through UCAS and not, as elsewhere in the UK, full-time undergraduate study in general. ’ (UCAS, 2016)

https://www.ucas.com/sites/default/files/jan-16-deadline-application-rates-report.pdf

 

 

 

Here’s the detail:

‘In the four weeks to 23 July 2017, 93.7 per cent of trains ran within the public performance measure (PPM). This compares to 91.1 per cent for the same period last year. Recent performance means the ScotRail Alliance’s moving annual average (MAA) – the annual performance standard – is now at 90.7 per cent. This performance is:

• Ahead of the improvement plan target of 90.5 per cent.
• 0.7 per cent higher than this time last year.
• 1.1 per cent higher than when the performance improvement plan was first introduced.
• Ahead of the annual performance standard of 87.9 per cent in England and Wales.’

https://www.scotrail.co.uk/about-scotrail/news/scotrail-alliance-outperforms-improvement-plan

It’s right across the board, in our NHS, our significantly lower unemployment figures, our higher level of policing, our good relations between police and minority groups, our building of affordable housing at twice the English level, our economic growth at 8 times the UK level, our booming renewable energy supply stimulated by Scottish Government grants and our progressive social policies – no tuition fees, free prescriptions, free care for the elderly, compensation for the bedroom tax. The SNP government have made this a better place to live in than Theresa May’s brutal Austerityland.

Those were the words yesterday of Mark J. Thomas, North Sea regional president for the oil giant BP. Last week BP posted profits of $144 million after a loss of $1.4 billion in the previous year. When a BP exec says that kind of thing, you know the real situation is probably even more optimistic. Obviously, he wouldn’t want politicians thinking they could starting taxing them a bit. See these:

Oil companies making more at $50 per barrel than they did at £100 per barrel yet the UK Government is not taxing them. Is this a ploy to undermine the case for Scottish independence or just interlocking elite corruption?

Refiners begin scramble for crude oil supplies. Now who do we know with lots of that? Oh yes, we do.

Apologies if this is getting repetitive but we need to keep reminding Unionists that the North Sea has a longer term future of profitability for a hopefully independent Scotland.

https://www.oilandgaspeople.com/news/14826/price-battered-north-sea-oil-producers-rise-from-grave/

Does Ross Greer of the Green Party really think the Rev Campbell of Wings whom he fears naming, is killing the independence movement by his attacks on Cat Boyd for voting Labour? Really?

I’d say his Wings over Scotland website, his Wee Blue Book and his Wee Black Book will have garnered far, far, far more support for the Yes campaign than the lack of solidarity shown by people like him, like Common Space, like the National and like the Sunday Herald in their pretentious, ‘professionally journalistic [no such fuckin thing]’ pronouncements on the supposed ‘totalitarian’ tendencies in the SNP (Kevin McKenna). I’ve begun to see these two newspapers as Trojan horses in their promotion of soft [not shock] troops like McKenna, Fry and McWhitter? How better to kill a movement by having its own too posh-to-push members attack it from within?

If anybody is going to lose it again, it will be those oh-so sophisticated ‘democrats’ who should be concentrating their fire on the opponents of independence and not the only group who can lead us there – the SNP. I once attacked Nicola’s increasingly presidential style but I regret it now.

I think Cat Boyd voting for Kezia Dugdale’s Scottish Labour was bloody stupid to say the least. Discipline is all now. You can vote Labour again after we get independence. I don’t mind saying my vote will be going further left than the supposedly radical Boyd’s choice.

Here’s the link to the Greer piece in the Unionist Herrod – says it all.

‘Time to show the door to the lunatic fringe killing the independence movement with its bile’

http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/15456336.Ross_Greer__Time_to_show_the_door_to_the_lunatic_fringe_killing_the_independence_movement_with_its_bile/

© woodpellets2u.co.uk

As part of a four-year scheme to install energy-efficient heating in thirty of Highland Council’s schools, £6.9 million will be spent on 10 new biomass boilers. Here’s what a biomass boiler is:

‘Wood-fuelled heating systems, also called biomass systems, burn wood pellets, chips or logs to provide warmth in a single room or to power central heating and hot water boilers. A stove burns logs or pellets to heat a single room – and may be fitted with a back boiler to provide water heating as well. A boiler burns logs, pellets or chips, and is connected to a central heating and hot water system.’

http://www.energysavingtrust.org.uk/renewable-energy/heat/biomass

http://www.energylivenews.com/2017/08/06/scottish-green-boiler-project-reaches-graduation/

There’s no mention where the funding comes from and I can’t see it in this huge list of Scottish Government granted projects [Yes I’m suspicious]:

Scottish Biomass Support Scheme – List of projects being offered grant

Lead organisation	Project Title
3G Energi Limited	3G Energi Limited – Biomass Heating Scotland
Aberdeen Heat and Power Limited	Seaton CHP District Heating Scheme – Wood Chip Gasification System
Aithrie Estates	Hopetoun Estate Sustainable Heating Project
Aithrie Estates	Hopetoun Estate Sustainable Heating Project
Albamuir Limited	Eco Heat (Angus)
Almac Chipping Ltd	Almac Chipping Ltd – CHAP Wood Chip Supply Chain
Altyre Estate	Altyre Estate
Arbuthnott Wood Pellets Ltd	Arbuthnott Wood Pellets Ltd
Arniston Energy Limited	Arniston Energy Limited
Arniston Energy Ltd	Arniston Energy Ltd
Ayrshire Biomass Group	Ayrshire Biomass Group Installations
Ayrshire Biomass Group	Ayrshire Biomass Group
Bruichladdich Distillery	Port Charlotte Distillery
Caithness Heat and Power Limited	Caithness Heat and Power Limited – 2nd Gasifier
Cawdor Castle Ltd	Cawdor Castle and Gardens
Dick Bros Chipping Limited	EON – Wood Chip Supply Chain
Dundee City Council	Dundee City Council – Biomass Heating Portfolio
Dundee University Utility Supply Company (DUUSCo)	Biomass Boiler Installation at University of Dundee Main Boiler House Park Place
Earl of Stairs 1970 Trust Forestry	The Earl of Stairs 1970 Trust Forestry Wood Fuel Supply
Eilean Shona	Eilean Shona Log Boiler
Falkirk Council	Limerigg (Falkirk)
Fife Council	Kinghorn Primary School – Woodfired Boiler
Forestry Commission Scotland	FCS David Marshall Lodge Visitor Centre
Forth Health Limited	Forth Valley Acute Hospital, Larbert
Galgael Trust	Galgael Trust
Gelston Castle Holiday Cottages	Gelston Castle Holiday Cottages Biomass Boiler Installation
Glenfeochan Estate	Glenfeochan Estate Wood Chip Boiler Heating System
Haddo Estate	Haddo Estate District Heating Scheme
Harvwest Ltd	Specialist Biomass Production System (SBPS)
Heat and Power Limited	Grass as an Energy Crop
Heat and Power Limited	Growers Group for ‘Grass as an energy crop project’
Here We Are	Here We Are: Our Power Chipping Plant
Highland Birchwoods	Northern Woodheat Woodfuel Training
Highland Grain Ltd	Installation of Grain Fuelled Biomass Boiler for Drying Malting Barley
Hutchensons of Portsoy	Ritchie Hall, Strichen
Islay Bio-fuels plc	Port Charlotte Distillery Wood Chip Supply Project
J B & J A Hudson, Farmers	Dalfling Biomass Heating Plant
J Nicholson & Sons	J Nicholson & Sons Biomass Boiler for Grain Drying
James Jones & Sons Ltd	Burnroot Sawmill Wood Burning Boiler
Jas P Wilson	Jas P Wilson Wood Fuel Supply
Lakeland Cairndow	Installation of Biomass Boiler at Lakeland Smolts Fisheries Ltd, Cairndow
Langside	Woodchip Fired Central Heating Boiler and Associated Systems at Langside Farm
Lochalsh and Skye Housing Association	Home Farm, Portree – Phase II-V: Biomass District Heating Scheme
Lochinch Heritage Estate	Lochinch Heritage Estate Wood Chip Heat Supply
M & M Hay	Edinglassie Community Heating Scheme
Macphie of Glenbervie Limited	Macphie Biomass Plant
Marcassie Farm Partnership	District Heating System for Marcassie Farmhouse and Steading
May-Tag Limited	Woodland Biomass Social Enterprise
Ministry of Defence, Estates Director Clyde	Replacement Boilers within General Purpose Store at HMNB Clyde
Mount Stuart Trust	Mount Stuart Woodfuel Heating System
NHS Dumfries & Galloway	NHS Dumfries and Galloway – Biomass Boiler Installation
Oran Recycling Limited	The Commercial Demonstration of a Multi-site, Biomass Heat Project
Pentland Plants Limited	Pentland Plants Biomass Production and Distribution
Perthshire Biofuels Ltd	Perthshire Biofuels Commercial Installations 2007
Perthshire Housing Association Limited	Muirtown Energy Project
Portree Partnership Limited	The Old Inn and Gairloch Highland Lodge Renewable Energy Project
R Pollok & Son	Nether Benholm Straw Burning Grain Dryer
Reith Partners (Woodfuel) Limited	Blairmore
Rosebery Estates	Dalmeny Estate (SME)
Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh	The Gateway Centre
Rural Development Initiatives Limited	IGNITE: Scotland 07
Rural Generation Limited	Rural Generation Ltd – Lambhill Wood Heat Project
Rural Generation Limited	Rural Generation Ltd Fuel Processing Centre
Sabhal Mor Ostaig	Sabhal Mor Ostaig Biomass Heating Scheme
Scottish BioHeat Limited	Installation of a biomass boiler at Castlebridge Business Park
South Ayrshire Council	South Ayrshire Schools Biomass Project
Tait Harper Energy Partnership	Tait Harper Energy: Wood Pellet Company
Talbotts Heating Limited	Biomass Energy Project
The University of Edinburgh	University of Edinburgh: Biomass Group Heating at Easter Bush Veterinary Centre
Touch Business Centre	Touch Business Centre Biomass Project
Treelogic	Treelogic – Biomass Suppliers
W Watson Farm	Angus Biofuels
West Contract Services	WCS Wood Fuels
Woodtherm Fuels Ltd	Purchase by Woodtherm Fuels of a specialised woodchip delivery vehicle with integral blower system

http://www.gov.scot/Topics/Business-Industry/Energy/Energy-sources/19185/20805/BioSupport/SBSSAnnouncement

© olivermundell.com

Here’s what Scottish Labour Leader Kezia Dugdale wrote in her Daily Record column:

‘The remark that I am referring to was posted on Twitter by Stuart Campbell, who writes for the website Wings Over Scotland. In the Daily Record, I called out Mr Campbell for his homophobic comments.’

Here’s what blogger Stuart Campbell (Rev?) tweeted:

‘Oliver Mundell is the sort of public speaker that makes you wish his dad had embraced his homosexuality sooner.’

Campbell is now pursuing Dugdale at Edinburgh Sheriff Court for defamation and demanding £25 000 in compensation. Oliver’s dad, MP David Mundell ‘came out’ last year. Dugdale is also gay.

I’m definitely not a homophobe; my uncle lives next to people who have a friend who knows a same-sex couple and invites them over. Seriously though, do you think Campbell’s comments were homophobic or just funny. It’s difficult for an old guy to know what’s correct these days.

© greenpeace.org

The boom in US shale production has been helping to keep North Sea prices down but as I’ve pointed out more than once before, shale’s future is built on fast disappearing sand. See:

The Scottish Third Wave of Oil Productivity is built on solid foundations but those of the Shale Oil Industry are built on sand and on sand that is disappearing fast

Further, increasing fears over safety and insurance costs are keeping investors back. Fracking kills workers and people living near the pipelines or wells. See this most recent example:
‘Two months after a Colorado home exploded near an Anadarko Petroleum Corp. well, the reverberations are still rattling the oil industry, driving down driller shares and raising fears of a regulatory backlash. The April 17 blast, which killed two people and injured a third, was followed a month later by a second deadly explosion at an Anadarko oil tank in the state.

https://www.oilandgaspeople.com/news/14435/blast-backlash-hangs-over-drillers-as-fractivists-seek-limits/

See also:

Expert Opinion on Fracking Health Risks from New York Medical Professionals

Now it looks likely that fracking has further concerns of longer-term viability. See this from Bloomberg.com:

‘Unlike offshore wells in the GOM [Gulf of Mexico], which can produce for decades, shale wells can peak within months and sometimes cease after two years. Eager explorers may undercut the life of wells by over-drilling, said Russell Clark, investment manager at Horseman Capital Management. So-called frack hits occur when drilling in one well interferes with another, causing a pressure transfer that can disrupt or stop production…. As production from wells rapidly declines, drillers are rushing to add new ones at a faster pace in order to keep increasing output. The problem is that drilling multiple wells closer together is contributing to the drop in established ones, and sometimes causing harm that can’t be fixed…..Output from legacy wells — a term that in the fast-pace shale world includes those that are just a month old — is dropping by 350,000 bpd and has fallen steeply since 2012, according to data from the U.S. EIA.’

A ‘legacy’ well can be just one-month-old? Once more, the mid to longer-term future of revenue from the North Sea seems secure.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-08-03/how-the-wild-shale-race-may-be-harming-the-permian-s-oil-trove

© en.wikipedia.org

My initial prediction that access to Scottish fishing waters would be given as part of a Brexit deal to save greater priorities for the Tory government – Nissan’s sales in the EU, London’s Financial sector, the soft border for Ireland and whatever for Gibraltar – seemed to be contradicted, at first, in statements like:

‘Theresa May to announce UK will reclaim its waters for British fishermen’

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/03/24/theresa-may-announce-uk-will-reclaim-waters-british-fishermen/

However, my initial reaction looks more plausible after UK Environment Secretary, Michael Gove’s recent turnaround:

‘Michael Gove has reportedly told European fishermen they will still be able to catch “large amounts” in British waters after Brexit. The Environment Secretary, is said to have told fishermen during a trip to Denmark that Britain’s fish industry is too small to process all the fish itself. According to those present at a meeting with Mr Gove, he said: “Britain has no fish cutters [employed to clean, trim and bone fish] or the production facilities enough to catch all the fish in British waters.” The unexpected comment, made as the first round of withdrawal talks between Britain and EU continue, has delighted the European fishing industry but alarmed British fishermen.’

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/08/03/michael-gove-says-european-fishermen-can-cast-nets-wide-uk-waters/

Who’d have thought we couldn’t trust the Tories’ promises or knowledge, for that matter? Remember this?

‘Michael Gove faced ridicule today after he accused the EU of ruining British fishing – and then blundered over the names of two major fishing ports. The Justice Secretary and leading Brexit campaigner declared that fishing was “very close to my heart” as he blamed the EU Common Fisheries policy for destroying the industry in the UK. Gove said that his father’s business as a fish merchant in Aberdeen had collapsed, partly because of strict catch quotas set in Brussels. But within seconds he seemed to have kippered himself after mixing up the names of two Scottish ports – referring to Peterborough and Fraserhead rather than Fraserburgh and Peterhead.’

http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/michael-gove_uk_57164021e4b0dc55ceeb1884

It is probably true that Peterborough’s fish processing facility is too small. As for Gove’s heart, who thinks he has one?