Talking-up Scotland

In the Press & Journal today: 

‘The boss of North Sea oil producer EnQuest said yesterday he believed the region could yield further discoveries to extend its lifespan. Chief executive Amjad Bseisu highlighted last year’s Glendronach gas find by Total – which could pump out the equivalent of about 180 million barrels of oil – as an example of why the industry should not give up on the search for new reserves.’

https://www.pressandjournal.co.uk/fp/business/scotland-business/1705590/north-sea-could-yield-further-discoveries-says-cheif-oil-producer/

I know many of you would leave the oil where it is and I have sympathy for that view but my focus, as always, is on the case for independence and we need to remind those like Kay Burley only days ago, that if we need it we have it, in abundance and for decades to come.

It’s been some time since we had a flurry of oil and gas reports. Here are a ‘few’ from just the last 12 months:

How much of UK oil bonus is Scotland’s? How much is it worth? How much tax revenue will we get?

Could we, should we, let England have this new oil and gas field as a going-away present?

Those who know are betting on high prices for Scottish oil in 2019

Another Trillion dollars plus in new oil field West of Shetland

Cameron’s Great Scottish Oilfield Cover-up of 2014

$2 trillion in Scottish oil still to be extracted just from North Sea!

Scottish oil heading for $41 billion profit in 2018 alone, BBC Scotland? Yes, yes, BUT, BUT what about rising costs?

Value of Scottish oil surges to $85pb on way to $100pb in 2019

£30 billion value Scottish oil anticipated from one new field as experienced developer gets involved

Scotland’s Oil surging bullishly toward $100 per barrel

As Scottish oil heads for $100pb will the UK Treasury tax this massive revenue?

‘Scottish oil and gas sales saw an 18.2% increase to £20billion in the last financial year.’ but we get diddley!

High oil prices continue to weaken confidence in Scottish economy

North Sea expected to produce much more oil and revenue than expected

‘Wild West 3D Seismic Survey’ to unlock 320 million barrels of Scottish oil

‘Huge swing in North Sea oil revenues’ suggests tax fiddle

Scottish crude oil value surges to record level in more than 3 years

Wood can’t see the green shoots (of oil recovery) for the trees?

Five reasons why shale oil’s challenge to high prices for Scottish oil is only temporary

A fifth prediction of oil rising to $100 per barrel for Scottish oil, suggests pre-tax revenue of around $1 trillion!

Scotland’s oil and gas expertise will aid and earn abroad

Scottish Fiscal Commission’s ‘black hole’ in Scotland’s finances is both wrong and easily washed down the drain with oil

As Scottish oil industry booms, Aberdeen contractors more confident but Scottish media pay little attention.

As oil prices soar and exploration increases, employment in Scotland’s oil industry returns to record levels

A wealthy independent Scotland? Nearly $300 billion in new oil revenue to be unlocked in latest offshore licensing round.

According to Bank of America, oil prices could hit $100 a barrel next year but all of Scotland’s ‘business correspondents’ miss the news again and for the fourth time in a year.

Scottish oil surging back toward £100 per barrel and massive Treasury revenue?

Scottish GDP grows by 10 times UK rate in first quarter of 2018 or could that be 30 times with proper taxation of oil revenue?

 

 

DEATH LINKED TO!

What happened to the crisis back in the 1980s, around youngsters watching images of extreme violence? Thirty to forty years later, the next generation is still watching and perhaps watching even more violent images and violent youth crime has fallen. The social scientists could find no causative link and, bored, the media gaze turned away.

What about the dangerous dogs that were causing such damage? Well, it was a statistically less significant phenomenon that you might have thought given the media frenzy and once more the media gaze has turned away. Likewise, with the images of skinny models apparently causing eating disorders, the researchers found no direct connection and the media gaze, again turned away, looking for stimulation and titillation.

Children are still watching horrific images of violence, dogs are still biting and eating disorders are still with us. All that has changed is the reporting and that in turn has changed what many members of the public think about and what they worry about.  Out of millions of stories they could have told, they, for a time, chose a few reports of violent acts by children and adolescents and made an easy connection between those and the popularity of video nasties. In so doing they chose not to tell many other stories which, had they been told, might have constructed a different reality. As audience interest began to dip, they looked around for new titillation. They did the same with the dogs and ultra-thin models until these too lost their appeal.

In Scotland, in the last few months, hospitals have suddenly become hot-beds of infection and these infections have been linked to patient deaths. Though none have been shown to have been killed by the infections just as none were shown to have been killed by fashion magazines, the stories are told in melodramatic, simplistic terms implying that they were.

You can tell that this is fake news because they were telling no such stories in such a frenzy, before, when infection rates were objectively higher, and because the English media are not telling the same story despite evidence of even greater general problems there.

What is different here, is that the Great Scottish Hospital Health Crisis is driven by a political agenda and not just by the desire to attract an audience.

 

What, expenses?

As the UK Tories starve schoolchildren, drive the disabled to suicide, reward the rich, threaten the Chinese with an empty aircraft carrier, privatise the NHS, titanically and targetless, and then push the economy over a cliff, the Scottish Tories come over all kindly:

https://www.parliament.scot/S5ChamberOffice/WA20190320.pdf

 

Miles Briggs, SCOUP, has disclosed that so far none of the £850 million for improving waiting times has been spent in the private sector. It’s not as yet clear what this information will do for their conflicted and contradictory strategy regarding the privatisation or not of NHS Scotland as the privatisation of NHS England steams, Titanically and targetless, ahead. See these previous reports:

NHS Scotland spends 9% less on private agency locum neurologists as FT staffing rises

Scottish Conservative’s ‘Chief Whip’ confuses colleagues by criticising non-increasing NHS use of private companies

https://www.parliament.scot/S5ChamberOffice/WA20190320.pdf

 

 

Once more, we’re grateful to Kezia for digging this information out through a parliamentary question:

https://www.parliament.scot/S5ChamberOffice/WA20190320.pdf

 

Typically, this RAC maps stops at the border. Don’t they have members up here?

Despite being able to confirm that there are no tolls or charges for using public roads or bridges in Scotland, Michael Matheson could not offer the same to his voters in England and Wales.

https://www.parliament.scot/S5ChamberOffice/WA20190320.pdf

The answer, Michael is:

There are 23 tolls, or toll roads, in the UK; 18 of which are river crossings.

I hope you’re pleased.

https://www.rac.co.uk/drive/advice/legal/a-guide-to-uk-toll-roads-bridges/

 

 Well, actually, it’s 68.706%, but I’ve rounded it up using Revoking Scotland editorial guidelines

https://www.parliament.scot/S5ChamberOffice/WA20190320.pdf

 

In Insider today:

‘Forecasts by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) say growth in Scotland is to drop from 1.4% in 2018 to 1.2% in 2019, but this will still be ahead of the 1.1% forecast for the UK. Out of 12 nations and regions analysed by PwC, only the South East of England is expected to grow at a faster rate than Scotland this year while Scottish growth is expected to match London and the South West. The forecast follows the latest GDP figures which showed a rise of 0.3% in Scotland from October to December – the eighth consecutive quarter of economic growth. The rise was above the 0.2% recorded for the UK as a whole over the period, as the economy slowed.’

https://www.insider.co.uk/news/slowing-scottish-economy-still-outgrow-14166205

One or two earlier reports on aspects of the Scottish economy unknown to Kay Burley:

Yet more objective evidence Scotland’s economy healthy in SNP care
Scottish labour market outperforms UK revealing more evidence of health in economy

Umpteenth post on underlying strength in Scottish economy: Property investment up 19.8%!

Scottish business confidence well above UK average

SNP blamed as private businesses experience too much demand and overcrowding with new staff second only to Labour-mayored London.

Scottish business confidence stays high…Ah but!..Oh shut up Revoking Scotland!

63% fall in large business insolvencies as Scottish economy reveals strength

See this Douglas? Business investment in Scotland up 250%!

Scottish Business Strength No.77: Small Scottish construction firms’ growth up 17%

Scottish small businesses still more confident than those in non-Scottish parts

Business activity soars to four-year high across manufacturing and service

Business confidence in Scotland soars by 24% while it sinks 29% in non-Scottish parts of UK

Scottish businesses more likely to be stable than those in rest of UK: News from a parallel universe unknown to our mainstream media

Scottish Government supports economy with new business rates unique in UK

 

An inside job, I know, as Tom Arthur SNP asks:

https://www.parliament.scot/S5ChamberOffice/WA20190319.pdf

So less tax and despite that, these universal benefits worth thousands:

Senior?

Monica Lennon seems unaware that Scottish GP training already meets its professional body standards:

https://www.parliament.scot/S5ChamberOffice/WA20190319.pdf

Maybe the RCPCH should have a word with the RCGP about the GPST rather than the Labour Branch moaning at the SNP?