Talking-up Scotland

© Mike Brookes/Aquamarine Power

In Energy Voice today:

‘A “nice little industry” is emerging in the north of Scotland tidal energy sector, a top renewables analyst has said. Adam Forsyth, director of renewables and infrastructure at financial services firm Cantor Fitzgerald, said last night that the continued success of Scottish tidal firms such as Simec Atlantis Energy (SAE) has created a “rising tide” in the sector. Cantor Fitzgerald’s financial forecast for SAE said the firm’s “growing experience in marine interventions” meant it was viewed as much less of a risk than “during original deployment”. He said: “The Andritz Hammerfest Hydro (AHH) turbines being taken out of the water and serviced on a vessel then put back in, all in 30 hours without the vessel going back to the port, that seems to me quite a major development. If they can do that every time, and cut down some of their interventions, in that manner that itself is improvement.’

https://www.energyvoice.com/otherenergy/185549/nice-little-industry-emerging-in-scottish-tidal-sector-top-analyst-says/

Two earlier reports on this

More signs of a tidal surge in Scotland’s renewables industry

World’s largest tidal power array comes on line in Pentland Firth and is ‘a triumph of public policy’ due to Scottish Government support

 

In Energy Voice yesterday:

‘Demand for decommissioning services in Aberdeen Harbour have been steadily growing for several years now – but in 2018 the port has been a hive of decom activity. Nearly 2,000 tonnes of material have crossed the quayside from high-profile projects, such as the Maersk Leadon and Janice, and Shell’s Brent Alpha projects. The Harbour has also accommodated materials inbound from Nexen’s Plug and Abandonment Programme. In September, the impressive Maersk Inventor made the first of six port calls into Aberdeen Harbour, carrying materials from decommissioning projects across the North Sea. Since then, the near-15,000 tonne, 137m-long vessel has safely offloaded a range of structures including 48 tonne subsea Christmas Trees, 32 tonne manifolds and ballast blocks, weighing 136 tonnes.’

https://www.energyvoice.com/promoted/185404/aberdeen-harbour-in-demand-for-decommissioning/

Earlier reports on decommissioning in Scotland:

Hunterston to challenge Norway’s deep quaysides for decommissioning work

Aberdeen-based oil rig decommissioning firm creates 200 new jobs and pioneers more economical technique

 

From dark and mysterious reader, Ludo Thierry:

This story contains plenty of ghastly ghouls and anti-social behaviour and ‘dark money’ but is only carried on beeb N. Ireland page (not seeing it anywhere on beeb Scotland – yet again – despite the heavy Scottish involvement). Link and snippets below:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-46118463

DUP’s pro-Brexit advertising money was ‘permissible’

The Electoral Commission has told MPs that it is satisfied that a £435,000 donation to the DUP was permissible under UK law.

Some £425,000 of the money from the Constitutional Research Council (CRC) was spent on pro-Brexit advertising throughout the UK.

The CRC is thought to be a group of pro-union business people chaired by Richard Cook.

Mr Cook is a former vice chairman of the Scottish Conservatives.

The commission’s chief executive, Claire Bassett, and head of regulation, Louise Edwards, gave evidence to the Commons’ Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee on Tuesday as part of the committee’s inquiry into disinformation and fake news.

Ms Edwards told MPs that during the referendum period when the DUP received the controversial donation from the Scottish-based Constitutional Research Council the commission had received quarterly reports from the party about the donations they had received.

Under the rules which applied to donations to Northern Ireland parties at that time, the commission is not allowed to publish the identities of donors.

Questioned by SNP MP Brendan O’Hara about whether the Electoral Commission had done everything it could to check the money which went to the DUP was not of foreign origin and was permissible under UK law, Ms Bassett replied “we were satisfied that the donors were permissible”.

Mr O’Hara questioned the Electoral Commission about allegations made in a recent BBC NI Spotlight programme regarding whether there was a common plan between the DUP and the referendum campaign group, Vote Leave.

Ms Edwards said the Commission had taken the view there was insufficient evidence to warrant an investigation into the matter.

Now, now – move along there – nothing to see here – move along, move along.

You’d never know it from our Nomedia, but Hallowe’en and Bonfire nights in 2018 saw reductions in calls to the police including a massive 87% reduction for crimes involving fireworks.

My house was ‘egged’, just the one, at Hallowe’en, so naturally I assumed there had been a massive increase in threats to older citizens.

From Police Scotland:

Police in Edinburgh have praised the support of the public and partner organisations following a successful Halloween and Bonfire Night policing operation.

Between Wednesday 31st October and Monday 5th November, reported antisocial behaviour in the city fell from 747 incidents in 2017, to 552 incidents in 2018. This equates to 195 fewer calls and a reduction of 26%.

In the North East, a 53% reduction in calls relating to Bonfire Night offences were received on Monday 5th November, with the North West recording a 35% fall in antisocial behaviour during this evening, in comparison with Bonfire Night 2017.

While there were a number of reported incidents where attempts were made to target police and other emergency service personnel, no officers were injured, and no police vehicles were damaged during the evening.

Comparitively, Sunday 4th November 2018 saw 56 reported ASB incidents and 19 fireworks offences, compared to 157 and 146 respectively for Sunday 5th November 2017. This equates to a 64% reduction for antisocial behaviour and an almost 87% reduction for crimes involving fireworks.

http://www.scotland.police.uk/whats-happening/news/2018/November/public-thanked-after-edinburgh-bonfire-night-policing-operation

 

 

Despite massive ongoing increases in demand for inpatient appointments requiring beds, and subsequent social care arrangements, NHS Scotland has been able to keep the use of beds due to delayed discharges relatively static with inevitable increases at manageable levels.

There was an 8% increase on the September 2017 figure, in September 2018. The increase in demand for inpatient appointments rose 11.9% in the same period and had risen 34.9% in three years.

https://www.isdscotland.org/Health-Topics/Health-and-Social-Community-Care/Publications/2018-11-06/2018-11-06-DelayedDischarges-Summary.pdf?80590456725

 

Operations cancelled due to non-clinical/capacity reasons are an indicator of performance by NHS Scotland. Operations cancelled by patients themselves of for a clinical reason by doctors tend to remain constant and are, of course, not due to, for example, any shortages in beds, operating theatres or of staff. The former, always a small percentage of overall planned operations, less than 5% at a peak time, and typically less than 2%, have been falling for the last three months.

From ISD:

‘2,259 operations (8.6% of all planned operations) were cancelled in September 2018, ranging from 4.6% to 12.8% across individual NHS Boards. This compares to 2,560 (9.2%) in September 2017. In September 2018, of all 26,246 planned operations: 871 (3.3%) were cancelled by the patient; 878 (3.3%) were cancelled by the hospital based on clinical reasons; 429 (1.6%) were cancelled by the hospital due to capacity or non-clinical reasons; 81 (0.3%) were cancelled due to other reasons.’

https://www.isdscotland.org/Health-Topics/Waiting-Times/Publications/2018-11-06/2018-11-06-Cancellations-Summary.pdf?19982546568

 

 

Insincere apologies for the above outbreak of pundamentalism.

In the Independent today:

‘Exclusive: Ministers admit half of local authorities stand to miss out on billions of pounds of funding for new low-cost homes. Theresa May’s flagship policy for sparking a revival in council housebuilding will not deliver a single new home in more than half of the local authorities in England, The Independent can reveal. Some of the most deprived towns and cities with the greatest need for new homes, including Liverpool, Bolton and Wakefield, are among areas that will miss out as a result of changes that will only benefit some councils.’

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/theresa-may-housing-policy-local-councils-rents-revenue-borrowing-half-england-a8617201.html

Meanwhile, the SNP administration in Scotland ploughs ahead with its day job. The headlines from these previous posts give the gist with the evidence available inside if you need it.

‘Social housing: One of Scotland’s best kept secrets?’ Tell our Nomedia

SNP Government builds affordable/social housing at almost twice the rate of Tories in England

Scotland increasingly ‘streets ahead’ of England on affordable housing delivery

Scottish social housing more accessible and cheaper than in rest of UK

 

  

In the Herald today:

It’s labelled as an Online article. Does that mean it did not make the print version’s different audience? It has no author credited. Does that mean no one wanted to be associated with good news for Scotland? It’s behind the paywall but you can read the content at the Halstead Gazette from deep in Tory Essex. Here are the key points:

Workers in Scotland are less likely to earn under the Living Wage than those anywhere else in the UK outside the south east of England, new research indicates.

The real Living Wage currently sits at £8.75 per hour outside London, where it is £10.20 per hour.

A study conducted by IHS Markit for professional services firm KPMG, found 19% of employees in Scotland earned under the Living Wage, compared to 22% across the UK as a whole.

The area where workers were most likely not to be paid the voluntary rate was joint between Northern Ireland and the East Midlands, both at 26%.

Scotland has the lowest proportion of female workers earning under the Living Wage at 22%, compared to 27% across the UK, however the UK figure remains 10 percentage points above that of male workers.

https://www.halsteadgazette.co.uk/news/national/17199903.rate-of-workers-in-scotland-paid-less-than-the-living-wage-is-below-uk-average/

https://www.heraldscotland.com/news/17199966.rate-of-workers-in-scotland-paid-less-than-the-living-wage-is-below-uk-average/

But, but, but. Don’t get carried away. Things are of course worse than it seems, and Steven Naysayer is the man to convert things. Yesterday, if you’d been paying attention, you’d have seen the downside to Scotland’s workers getting the living wage. Here it is:

The content of the piece was predictable:

‘Care charities are facing a crisis over implementing the living wage, because of the chaotic way the Scottish Government policy has been introduced, a new report has revealed.’

https://www.heraldscotland.com/news/17200220.care-charities-fear-impact-of-living-wage-increase/

The ‘crisis’ is of course a crisis because the charities say it is and the ‘chaotic’ handling by the Scottish government should read: ‘Show us the money!’ So, paying less than the charities want is evidence of chaos?

Our Nomedia have, of course, ignored this story just as they did these earlier pieces of good news on wages in Scotland:

Are Scotland’s employers also different – more willing to pay a decent wage?

Wages growing faster in Scotland than in non-Scottish parts of the UK

Another step on the way to becoming a ‘Living Wage Nation’ and a ‘Better Nation?’

With 1 in 4 living wage employers already in Scotland, the Scottish Government aims to make this a ‘Living Wage Nation’

8% of the UK population and 28% of living wage employers. More evidence that we are different enough to want to run the whole show?

80 000 lowest paid workers in NHS England still on poverty wages as NHS Scotland follows Scottish Government policy to pay a living wage to all public-sector employees

 

The term ‘alt-Nat’ is becoming increasingly popular on Twitter as a put-down. It’s not clear from the twittering whether the alt-Nats are an offshoot of that dreaded sub-culture, the Cybernats, but as a Nat of some eccentricity, already, I sense the need to embrace the term and to ironically, if necessary, turn it round into a positive identifier.

The Fugs! I’m off to Youtube them!

I’m thinking here of the way words such as ‘nigger’, ‘punk’, ‘hippy’, ‘freak’ were embraced and made cool. I know, I’ve just typed ‘freak’. Oh shit, I’ve done it again! Is it possible to talk about how the originally abusive, when used by squares man, term ‘freak’ (oops!) was turned by hippies or freaks (oops!) into the really cool, sharp, hip, self-identifier ‘freak’ (oops) but only when used by freaks (oops) themselves?

Also ‘alt’ has already been used as a positive in ‘alt-Country’ to refer to the more authentic, less glitzy form than we see at events in Vegas.

However, finally, the best alternative version of alt is the oldy Celtic word for a high place or a fresh water source in a high place. So, an alt-Nat may be a bit alternative in a cool refreshing way and, of course, a bit lefty, but it now, also implies that one is on a higher plane.

Alt is one of those ancient Indo-European wordbits (morphemes) that appear across modern languages – altitude, altruistic Altnaharra?

Oslo (my new word for the over-repeated and thus boring Also) rta, the correct way (?) is in art, arithmetic, aristocrat.

Play the game of hunt the morpheme!

Advice to newly joined alt-Nats –  substances may be used to attain that higher plane. I’m using espressos.

 

 

 

My first complaint on October 20th 2018:

Fig: Trends in hate crime in Scotland

On Reporting Scotland, at 1.30pm and 6.30pm the coverage of hate crime in Scotland was of poor quality leading to distortion of the content. There were three flaws:

1. The report covered the only aspect of hate crime where there has been a major reported increase – that against the disabled. For public information, given that this was the only aspect covered at any time by BBC Scotland, the report should have mentioned that hate crime based on race, by far the most common form of hate crime, is falling and that this is unique to Scotland.
2. The report, once at 1.30 and twice at 6.30, led with the unsubstantiated claim that it is estimated that 93% or more than 90%, of such incidents are not reported. Such a claim is highly significant in that it may lead to disproportionately increased anxiety among disabled people or their friends and family. This could influence important decisions about the travel, education or living arrangements made for disabled people A source for this claim is required in reporting by a public service broadcaster. Giving a source would enable viewers to at least begin to evaluate its reliability.
3. The scale of such crime needs to be reported to enable viewers a sense of perspective. For example, there were 3249 case of hate crime based on race reported and only 284 cases based on disability. The lack of such context was important given the report’s extended focus on a handful of single, admittedly disturbing cases. I have long experience of working with disabled students and remember them being treated with tremendous kindness by staff and other students. A reliable source: http://www.copfs.gov.uk/images/Documents/Statistics/Hate%20Crime%202017-18/Hate%20Crime%20in%20Scotland%202017-18.pdf

 

My follow-up complaint today:

CAS-5133614-9673ZG Complaint follow-up

My follow-up comments, limited by the system word limit which you do not have to meet but I do, in italics

Firstly, you are concerned that the report mentioned only disability hate crime and did not mention other hate crimes. That is because the report, as I say above, was about self-protection training offered to victims of disability hate crime. Your proposed references to other forms of hate crime and their rates in Scotland were not relevant to the story.

The report ‘was about’ what you chose it to be. It did not have to be that. Why again did you choose not to report on other much more common forms of hate crime such as race-based which is in decline?

Secondly, you are concerned that we used “the unsubstantiated claim” that more than 90 percent of such incidents are not reported. We said that the figure was an estimate and it is one that is widely used by organisations and charities which specialise in caring for the needs of people with disabilities and who are exposed to hate crimes.

Worthy though the work of the charities you list is, their claims are both partisan by definition and are not based on any empirical research. There is no reliable peer-reviewed evidence for their claims. You are a public service provider with a charter to inform and that requires the use of non-partisan statistics to avoid misleading your audience.

Thirdly, you are concerned that we did not include the rates of other hate crimes to give “a sense of perspective”. There are two points I would make here. I do not believe that that information would have added anything to the story, partly because of the respective levels of estimated non-reporting; and I think we should not lose sight of the fact that this two-minute report was about the solution as much as about the problem – it concentrated on how disabled people are taking action in order to keep themselves safe.

Once more, you seem to think the report you have constructed IS THE STORY when it is only one example of what could have been chosen. In the interests of informing your audience about the highly important phenomenon of hate crime, you chose to report at some length on the very rare and only form where it may be significantly increasing (disability), to inflate that based on unreliable sources and to ignore by far the most common form (race)where there is evidence it is falling.

You have not answered my initial complaint.