“The renewables investment would generate substantially more sustainable jobs in areas like design, construction and operations and maintenance over the typical 25-year lifespan of a facility.” Why taxpayer-funded North Sea decommissioning is a bad idea.
Scottish industry
Flying Scotsman: how Scottish is it?
There’s more to the recent Flying Scotsman restoration than its runs in the Borders and Fife. Its costs are huge. And it is not even all that Scottish.
Scotland still losing the heid
‘Losing the heid’ is the title of an STV documentary on foreign takers of Scottish companies made by the author 25 years ago. Here he returns to the topic, finds more and more ‘crown jewels’ are no longer in Scottish hands, with Holyrood powerless to stop the process, and lists those that have gone recently.
SG borrowing to keep the economy buoyant
John Swinney, finance secretary, is about to borrow money to help finance new construction projects and stimulate growth and jobs just when the economy is turning down. It’s a sign of things to come as Holyrood gains more control over tax-and-spend.
Goodbye Silicon Glen, Hello Berlin Adlershof
Scotland used to fight fiercely for foreign direct investment to set up here and create hundreds or thousands of jobs as well as a domestic supply chain. But those once-golden days are over. Scottish industry should raise its game and consider overseas investment instead as the route to growth.
Planning for a post-oil Scotland
The oil price shows no sign of recovery any time soon; thousands of jobs are being lost; the big producers have left the North Sea and the smaller ones are following suit. Scotland needs to start real planning for the post-oil – and post-carbon – economy.
Scotland through the fiscal looking glass
The Scottish Government has dismissed pressure from Labour to offset cuts in spending on local services with a 1p on the Scottish Rate of Income Tax. It rejects pressure from the Treasury to agree a fiscal framework it say will cost Scots billions. No detriment, it says: but at another’s expense?
Aberdeen misses the boat in the oil boom
Nicola Sturgeon and David Cameron have rushed to Aberdeen to pledge financial support to surmount the oil industry slump. But the city was never given the tools to benefit fully from the boom, argues the Aberdeen-based author. It now needs a change in Scotland’s political culture to make the transition.
TTIP could damage Scotland’s food industry
The negotiations over TTIP come with generalised criticisms of secrecy and corporate skullduggery. Here, in the fourth of our Napier student pieces, the author soberly examines its potentially damaging impact on Scotland’s food and drinks sector.