“Labour’s fiscal caution and policy U-turns, not least with Starmer dumping his £28bn green investment plan, have left the door wide open for a strong, broadly social-democratic challenge from the SNP to Labour’s policies at the general election…so why is the SNP being so cautious and over-focusing on the Tories?”
Environment
Sunak’s day of two (poor) speeches
Bring on the election and put us out of our misery, urges one of our regular columnists in a partially updated piece written before this week’s UK Budget which has apparently failed to turn the dial for the Tories.
Let’s end public subsidies for commercial conifer tree-planting
The RSE sets out its new report calling for a radical rethink of tree planting in Scotland…It makes a series of recommendations for how public financial support for tree planting in Scotland can be reorganised to better serve Scotland’s people, environment, forestry industry, and public purse.
Northern Ireland environmental catastrophe
Lough Neagh in Northern Ireland is an “ecological disaster” – thanks to agricultural pollution and poor enforcement of regulations inter alia
Can Scottish Labour leave the branch office?
Scotland’s influence in Britain will be strongest when you have a Scottish Labour Party working with a Labour Government. If you want a Britain that places Scotland and its interests at the heart of the Westminster debate, if you want a politics that is committed to smashing the class ceiling, if you want to […]
Green backlash: EU, farmers and the Far Right
“Farmers across much of the EU (and further afield) are protesting and demonstrating, including blocking roads and parts of cities. Many political leaders have rushed to appease them including, in the case of the European Commission, dropping or delaying key climate and biodiversity laws.”
Labour’s green gaffe plays into Far Right hands
Labour is dumping its £28bn “green prosperity plan” like farmers dumping manure outside the European Parliament: no way to save the planet, modernise the economy, take on the Far Right backlash…
Alarming death toll in the Scottish wilds
“Scotland could lead the way in pioneering legislation that protects all animals, domestic and free-living. This legislation should begin with the recognition of sentience and enshrine in law the value and dignity of wild animals such that their right to live unmolested is respected.”
Look this way: the glass is half full
“Around 70% of Scotland is covered with farmland and agricultural funding has made its mark on the landscape. Scotland, for all its apparently wild beauty, is like the rest of the UK “one of the most nature-depleted countries on Earth….”
Who owns Scotland’s sea lochs?
“ ‘This effectively means no one can scrutinise the activities of these farms which are basically self-monitored as it is. It’s a very, very dangerous ruling.’ ”