Some folk are calling it “the Gold Coast”, the sandy, occasionally palm-fringed shores of the northwest Highlands. It certainly lived up to the billing on a bright spring day last week when I headed over to Gairloch to meet parents from the Save Our Rural Schools campaign. It is a paradox that this area has both a problem with depopulation and soaring house prices. Surely … [Read more...] about The paradox of Scotland’s ‘Gold Coast’
Scotland
Industrial strategy for Scotland 2
Most of the publicity around Humza Yousaf’s new year speech at Glasgow University focussed on his claim that independence could deliver a £10,000 windfall to households in Scotland. The First Minister’s Panglossian assumptions around that have been well covered elsewhere. For the purposes of this blog, we will focus on the central argument in the First Minister’s speech: the … [Read more...] about Industrial strategy for Scotland 2
Look this way: the glass is half full
A proper winter morning for a change. I’m birdwatching by the window with a cooling coffee. There’s a cluster of blue tits on the birch tree feeder, chaffinches catching crumbs on the ground. One robin, two blackbirds, three red squirrels frisky in the snow. Sights for sore eyes and sad hearts this grim December when there’s precious little seasonal comfort and joy. But look, … [Read more...] about Look this way: the glass is half full
Patagonia 2023
I first saw Cerro Torre (pictured below), which is on the Argentinian side of southern Patagonia, in a climbing magazine when I was at university, writes Rob Bruce. I was climbing a lot at the time, and half-thought I might climb it one day. It’s a super-hard 2000m big wall climb and I doubt I was ever able to do it, but the decades passed and the middle-aged spread … [Read more...] about Patagonia 2023
What does the Autumn Statement mean for Scotland?
The two main tax measures – lower NICs and making full expensing permanent – are UK-wide, and apply automatically in Scotland. Some other measures announced are England-only, and therefore bring with them additional funding for the Scottish Government through the Barnett formula, totalling £233m in this financial year and £281m in the next. The main measures generating … [Read more...] about What does the Autumn Statement mean for Scotland?