Talking-up Scotland

Credit: PA Images

I’m creating a ‘Ruth & Kezia’ theme which I hope will lead to a novel and a TV series about two very unhappy politicians.

Based on a new UK Tech Innovation Index Edinburgh has the most active tech innovation community outside of London, closely followed by Glasgow in fourth place. 36 UK cities were surveyed and Edinburgh’s appearance in second place with such a small population compared to London is a real sign of things going well. The research will help businesses make decisions about investment so can only be good for Edinburgh and Scotland.

See this quote from the report in Scottish Business News Network yesterday:

‘Scotland already has around 150 data innovation and exploitation companies with a combined turnover of £1 billion. We also have world-class academic excellence and data assets such as Edinburgh University’s School of Informatics, a collaborative culture between industry, public sector and academia to breed further innovation which includes DataLab – our dedicated data innovation centre – and a growing number of investors choosing Scotland as a location for their data-driven businesses.’

This could hardly come at a worse time for Ruth and Kezia on top of Scotland being ranked the best place in the UK to start a business and far fewer of them failing than 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?

Oh no, not more good news about the Scottish economy! Quick get more tissues for Ruth and Kezia. Far Less [Fewer] businesses failing in Scotland for the second quarter in a row

https://sbnn.co.uk/2017/08/01/new-innovation-index-shows-edinburgh-active-uk-city-innovation-outside-london/

The signs of oil shortages have been appearing for months now. The OPEC cut-backs, increased demand from Asia, the shrinking US reserves and now increased refinery consumption especially in the US. US refineries currently process a massive 17.3 million barrels a day. That figure is up 620 000 on 2016. We’ve already heard dramatic predictions like these:

Independent Scotland’s oil wealth is assured as Aramco chief predicts huge shortages

Scotland’s Treasury to benefit from ‘Oil Price Shock In 2020’

See this from Reuters in Oil and Gas People:

‘The prospective reductions have left refiners scrambling to find replacement crude which is tightening the physical market for all grades…..The physical crude market now looks significantly tighter than it did in the first half of June, which has coincided with a renewed rise in bullish hedge fund positions and a modest rise in spot prices.’

Reuters were predicting this as early as last December:

‘Brent curve signals oil tanks will start emptying in second half of 2017’.

https://www.oilandgaspeople.com/news/14772/physical-oil-market-tightens-as-refiners-scramble-for-crude/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ajd4R-9BEIw

I hope this doesn’t seem vain. I just thought it was time for a wee reminder of how the media will distort the news in the run-up to Indyref2. I’m not watching Revolting Scotland for health reasons so I don’t really know how things are.

114 375 seems a lot but it still leaves millions of voters who haven’t seen it and might get some insight from it. Please share it if you think somebody might do so.

This was one of the very first posts in my blog back in 2014.

© insider.co.uk

You’ve already seen, I hope:

Unemployment at record low, employment up, economy growing, youth unemployment amongst lowest in Europe, business confidence increasing, oil jobs returning, health indicators improving to world’s best: That’ll be Norway? No? Scotland!? SNP baaaad!

Oh no, not more good news about the Scottish economy! Quick get more tissues for Ruth and Kezia. Far Less [Fewer] businesses failing in Scotland for the second quarter in a row

Even Kevin McKenna joined in with:

‘There is much good news about the country, so why the endless denigration?’

I especially liked his attack on the right-wing Fraser of Allander Institute:

‘I don’t know if anyone has ever asked the Fraser of Allander Institute, the Scottish right’s favourite economic thinktank, if it is able to quantify how much business has been lost to Scotland owing to the Tory/Lab onslaught against Scotland. The picture painted of Scotland by Davidson and Dugdale over the years as an economic wasteland full of people who might assault you at any given time must have cost this country billions in investment and tourism. Following events last week, however, some of the economists of the Fraser of Allander Institute might have been seeking refuge in a darkened room. For it was revealed that the Scottish economy grew by 0.8% in the first quarter of 2017, a rate four times more than that of the UK as a whole. The news came just a few days after the Fraser of Allander had predicted that Scotland’s economy might be teetering on the brink of a recession.’

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/jul/09/labour-and-tories-revel-in-trashing-scotland

So here is just one more piece of evidence that the Scottish economy is in good and increasingly good health. See this from the Scottish Business News Network:

‘Three of the biggest city centre deals in the UK helped deliver a record-breaking quarter in commercial property take-up in Edinburgh. Figures from real estate advisory business GVA reveal the capital saw a staggering 175% increase in take-up over the five year quarterly average, with a total of 432,350 sq. ft. This was driven by the Government Property Unit’s agreement to let 189,000 sq. ft. at New Waverley and investment manager State Street’s decision to pre-let 65,600 sq. ft. at Quartermile 3.’

Please share with any Nosayers you’re still speaking to.

https://sbnn.co.uk/2017/07/31/huge-office-deals-deliver-record-breaking-activity-edinburgh/

 

© comedy.co.uk, the national.scot, telegraph.co.uk

I know I’m repeating myself by mentioning that Scotland’s A&E service surpassed the 95% treated in 4 hours or less target this month but I thought this story of admittedly dubious provenance (professorial talk eh?) made it worth the repetition.

Only 191 read my report on the target in:

Kezia to Nicola: ’94.7%? That’s disgraceful, 0.3% below target. Resign!’

Yet, 13 754 read:

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?

I clearly have something to learn about headline writing.

Back to the main story. Allegedly, Ruth nearly knocked Alex over as she barged, typically, past him muttering that he sounds like Gary Tank Commander’s dad. NOW let me be absolutely clear, that I like both Alex Rowley and Gary Tank Commander. I’m frae the East coast myself, like, but they do sound a bit alike, like, and they look a bit like father and son, like. I think Alex is also not that opposed to independence, aye?

Here they are so you can compare yourself:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FyssUjw5U3s

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mm36yBGs4Iw

Anyhoo, Alex allegedly suggested that Ruth looked a bit like a wrestler. She then challenged him to a fight. Realising her alleged advantages of youth and nastiness, he declined the offer, suggested she stick to wrestling buffaloes, see above, and then Kezia made the valid point in the headline.

Just in passing Kezia’s voice reminds me of my days as a teacher. I’d come back in after lunch-break to find the boys in their seats, bloodied, hair tousled and ties squint but a queue of girls at my desk with complaints delivered in whiny voices like Kezia:

‘Mr Robertson, Jennifer said my mum is a tart!’

Some of this may be untrue. I’m just reporting what I heard.

The £850 000 grant just announced to Douglas Laing & Co. for their Pacific Quay distillery is just part of a much larger amount being invested in food and drink producers. Thirteen companies will receive between them, £3.5 million as part of the Scottish Government’s push to further develop this lucrative part of our economy. You’ll know from previous pieces that we already produce 28% of UK food and drink exports with only 8% of the population. After independence with exports to rUK included, our food and drink exports will be huge. This is new, extra funding on top of the £5.8 million already announced in June.

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

Manufacturers included are Kettle Produce (not the crisps but vegetables from Cupar), the delightfully-named Kat Roger’s Artisan Dairy, Kelburn Brewing Company and Glenrath Egg Products.

One thing’s for certain, we’ll no starve.

http://www.insider.co.uk/news/scottish-government-awards-13-firms-10889424

It makes you laugh. No, not the whisky, the notion that Scotland’s economy is in any way too weak for independence. I’ve covered this several times already including:

With only 8% of the population, Scotland accounts for more than 28% of UK food and drink exports. Too wee to survive on our own?

The Scottish Government is now part-funding with Douglas Laing & co., a new distillery at Pacific Quay. That’ll be handy for the BBC News team as they drown their sorrows after another piece of good news about Scotland they’ve had to qualify in some mean-spirited (good eh?) way. Here are the UK’s top 10 food and drink exports:

Whisky £895m

Salmon £186m

Chocolate £155m

Cheese £145m

Beer £139m

Wine £133m

Pork £109m

Gin £108m

Beef £106m

Vegetables £97m

Source H&M Customs and Excise

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-40090366

You’ll notice the top two are almost entirely Scottish produce, further investment in whisky distilling means confidence is high and we might expect that top figure to hit £1 billion before long. Most of the gin is produced here too.

The new distillery will also create 38 new jobs more than doubling the Douglas Laing workforce. Douglas Laing currently exports to more than 50 countries around the world.

The water will be piped from Loch Katrine and the barley will, of course, all come from Scottish farms.

Slàinte!

http://www.insider.co.uk/news/douglas-laing–co-announces-10888615

© paceinvestmentclub.com

US reserves of oil and petrol are now down to the lowest level since January and the Brent settlement for September is $51.71. This is well above minimum profitability levels as the major companies adjust. Scottish North Sea oil thus remains a safe bet for future profitability after only one year (2016) of losses in forty years of wealth flowing to London.

This was the biggest weekly increase this year with ever increasing signs of increasing demand. US Demand for June was the highest that month for a decade. Add to this the ever-growing demand for the developing world and prices can only rise further as demand outstrips supply. I mentioned these as evidence yesterday:

Scottish oil in new and much increased demand from Asia ‘like never before!’

Will Scotland’s oil hit $100 (or more?) a barrel again after 2020?

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-07-27/oil-holds-advance-above-49-amid-growing-u-s-consumption