When Storm Amy battered the Scottish Highlands in early October, it tore through a salmon farm’s sea pens, releasing around 75,000 fish into open water in Loch Linnhe. The scale of the escape is alarming. It comes at a time when wild Atlantic salmon – already classified as “endangered” in Great Britain – are in decline. For an animal so central to the UK’s ecology, culture and … [Read more...] about Storm Amy and 75K escaped Scottish salmon
climate crisis
Give the next heatwave a name?
Climate change has added an extra month of extreme heat to the calendar according to a recent global review. The report, which spanned Earth's hottest year on record, showed that from May 2024 to May 2025 nearly 4 billion people endured 30 days of temperatures hotter than those experienced 90% of the time between 1991 and 2020. When heatwaves are forecast, it can be difficult … [Read more...] about Give the next heatwave a name?
Insurgent, disruptive or flailing Labour?
When key Labour advisers, and the prime minister himself, are throwing around consultancy-speak words like disruption and insurgency then it’s clear the government has a deep problem. It doesn’t actually know what it's there for, let alone how to be popular – and the feeble, ever narrower repetition of the word ‘growth’, as growth stalls, is not helping. Keir Starmer told his … [Read more...] about Insurgent, disruptive or flailing Labour?
Energy privatisation is a disaster for Scotland
Energy poverty is when you can’t afford to heat your home or cook your food. Almost a third - 31% - of Scots are in this category, That is more than double the rate in England. It is far higher than any EU country - and four times the levels of countries like Scandinavia or Ireland. The irony is that Scotland is rich in energy resources - Scotland makes 16% of … [Read more...] about Energy privatisation is a disaster for Scotland
Hope and powerlessness: the world in new year 2025
The new year can be a time of hope, of fresh starts. But given the state of our world, the continuing genocide in Gaza, Russia’s war in Ukraine, war in Sudan, the right-wing backlash against vital climate action, hope is in short supply. And when we start to feel hopeless, that is surely intertwined with a sense of powerlessness. And yet, we have phrases that push us forward – … [Read more...] about Hope and powerlessness: the world in new year 2025