Bishop Hill Scottish wind
Jul 23, 2015 Nicola Sturgeon's latest protest about the Westminster government's intention to cut wind turbine subsidies was reported by both the BBC Today programme at 7.40am or so and by the Telegraph online this morning.
...the new UK Government should not change the public funding for onshore wind schemes “without agreement from Scottish ministers”
I'm glad to say the Telegraph's article by Scottish Political Editor Simon Johnson was firmly on the critical side, including among other critical comments from other interested parties omitted by the BBC and reported by the Telegraph.
[But] Holyrood’s energy committee heard how Scotland in course [sic] to lose 55 per cent of its electricity generating capacity, leaving the country dependent on importing power from south of the border.
Whether La Sturgeon's objection is made on political or eco-dogma grounds is a moot point. TM
Update 9.46am 23.7.15
Apologies for quoting from earlier dated article- the topic is still relevant though.
TM
Reader Comments (43)
Everything Sturgeon (not Surgeon - typo!) does is political.
Ergo any "eco-dogma" is also political.
Can this be used in any way to embarrass/undermine/piss off the English/the British Government/the Tories? If there is any chance that the answer is 'yes' the SNP will do it, whatever 'it' is.
[Thanks, typo corrected. TM]
Well the linked page is to 21st May - not exactly this morning...
And I don't see how Scotland can import energy from England when England itself is on course to lose even more capacity than Scotland. In fact, for a considerable period of time Scotland has been exporting excess energy to England. Only the impending, suicidally dumb and Tory-caused, Longannet closure - which is vehemently opposed by the SNP - has changed that picture.
It's not a nationalist issue - we are all in the same sinking boat. However only the SNP and (to a lesser extent) Ukip seem to be looking over the side and warning others. Tories are still sipping cocktails in 1st class while Labour want to load more cargo. When the blackouts come they will all blame each other.
One important thing from that old article is that Scottish academics are foursquare ringing the warning bells while their colleagues down South are mostly still dreaming of an unrealistic renewable energy nirvana.
Meanwhile we engineers realise that they will inevitably be seeking yet another extension to the nuclear plants. Alas this time it will likely mean extensive refits due to material degradation from irradiation and excessive HSE concern about Fukushima. The slack will be made up by another last minute dash for gas.
The only interest the SNP has, is to maximise the amount of money they can extract from the UK, blame the Westminster government for any shortfall in money and also to carry out a suicidal energy policy.
In response to Mike Jackson, the reverse is certainly true. The opportunity to do something to damage Scotland will be taken whenever possible by Westminster and Whitehall. The tory govt may have decided to do something about wind subsidies, but doing it this quickly is definitely an anti-Scotland measure.
Salmond was backed by ~200 businessmen, many of whom set out to industrialise the Highlands to extort subsidies from the predominantly English poor. To that extent the SNP is a Corporatist lackey.
The best way to control them is to install phase switches at the border as a threat; go Independent and you won't get the replacement for N. Sea oil by extortion using EU energy dogma.
There is a fix for England which will allow, in time, 100% grid uptime with no new nuclear**. It could also be applied to Scotland, but it could not allow their grid to operate for more than perhaps 60% of the time.
**Because Aveva has lost its skills, no nuclear can be built for a decade and by then the winter excess death toll as climate dips into the new LIA will be in the many 100s of 1000s a year, political dynamite for Government
JamesG please post a link to this secret SNP sensible energy policy, I have looked but all I can find is Green garbage.
Latest one
Well its still a secret to Nicola
http://www.scotsman.com/news/politics/top-stories/nicola-sturgeon-signs-un-pledge-on-global-poverty-1-3834853
Cameron will save Sturgeon from her own stupidity by ignoring her pleas. As the Telegraph article points out, the SNP’s ideological support for wind farms together with its ideological opposition to new nuclear is leading to the perverse outcome from the SNP point of view that Scotland will soon be almost entirely dependent on thermal backup electricity from England to keep the lights on when the wind doesn’t blow.
Except that even assuming the grid were able to cope and the English were still willing to help (e.g. after a rancorous separation), there are severe doubts as to whether Climate Change Act-backing England will have enough spare capacity to bail Scotland out.
I watched Amber Rudd's performance at the HoC ECC committee meeting the other day and it was quite formidable. She saw off the SNP communists bleating about their wind subsidies in short order.
Her opening statement was that she saw energy policy in three main strands:
Security of Supply
Energy Porces
Meeting EMISSIONS targets
Note:
not RENEWABLES targets - geddit?
and the order of her priorities..
Watch out for lots more gas, even though it's going to treble in price by 2020.
MJ has it. SNP will say anything that serves to further resentment, push their idea that Scotch are being ignored, not respected blah blah blah when of course UK energy policy is not Scotch Parliament business. SNP motto, alongside all Lefty wreckers: "truth is a bourgeois construct".
BoFA
http://www.gov.scot/Publications/2014/03/7306/3
Well (shamefacedly) I can't find the report with the pretty pictures again but there is a summary of the positions I earlier outlined here with the important points to not:
428. Is continued oil and gas production consistent with Scotland's commitments on climate change?
Yes. In Scotland, we will need a mixed energy portfolio, including hydrocarbons, to provide secure and affordable heat and electricity for decades to come. Scotland has a target of delivering the equivalent of 100 per cent of electricity demand and 11 per cent of non-electrical heat demand from renewables by 2020. As we increase our use of renewable energy sources, we also have a duty to minimise carbon emissions in line with our world-leading climate change targets.
435. Will carbon capture and storage be developed in an independent Scotland?
Decisions on carbon capture and storage (CCS) will be for future governments in an independent Scotland. However, it is the current Scottish Government's view that, alongside a substantial further growth in renewable energy, it is likely there will be a need to maintain and build new power stations run on traditional fossil fuels. The scheduled closure of existing power plants, and the construction of a minimum of 2.5 GW of new or replacement efficient fossil fuel electricity generation plants progressively fitted with CCS, will satisfy security of supply concerns and, together with renewable energy, deliver large amounts of electricity exports.
Our aim is for thermal generation in the future to be decarbonised over time through increased application of carbon capture and storage. Carbon capture and storage has the potential to substantially reduce emissions from fossil fuel power stations and will be a vital element of a decarbonised power sector.
442. How will independence impact on Scotland's targets for decarbonised electricity generation in Scotland?
... The current Scottish Government has set a target for the equivalent of 100 per cent of electricity demand to be met by renewables by 2020, and a 2030 electricity decarbonisation target to achieve a carbon intensity of 50g CO2/kWh of electricity generation in Scotland.
Good progress is being made towards this, with renewable generation in Scotland hitting a record high of 36.3 per cent of gross consumption in 2011, well above our 31 per cent interim target for that year. Provisional figures for 2012 show a further increase to almost 39 per cent of gross consumption. Our 2030 electricity decarbonisation target could actually be hit a little earlier, perhaps closer to 2027.
/////////
Now the confusion rises about the 100% equivalent which folk take to mean no fossil fuels. as you can see though that is not the stated position. My conclusion is that they must be including gas with CCS as a renewable equivalent which is of course daft and very optimistic. So the target will be missed but this does not mean they would sacrifice fossil fuel power plants and thence endanger the power supply - and that is their stated position. Try to find a similar position like that in Uk.gov!
@James G: as a pioneer of CCS I can tell you for a fact that by doubling power costs even if you can create many more entry points into the depleted oil reservoirs to allow the liquid CO2 pumping rate, it'll be too expensive and will take too long. The new glaciers forming on Ben Nevis and Ben McDhui presage severe weather for Scotland and the inner city slow death as power ceases to be available when needed.
The only sustainable Scotland will be crofting and sail trawling.
BrianSJ
I'm not sure whether it is worth trying to engage or not.
As a (more or less lifelong) Conservative voter who lived in Scotland for over 40 years my reaction to your comment would be either:
take the chip off your shoulder,
or - more succinctly -
bollocks.
The belief among a certain segment of the Scottish population that anything that Westminster does is designed specifically to do down the Scots was getting tedious 30 years ago and hasn't improved with age. Face it, as far as the UK government is concerned you are not that important. You are 10% of the UK population, feather-bedded to the tune of about £1,600 per person above what is spent in England.
Nobody I know has ever seriously complained about that (until last year) but there is a sort of unwritten idea around that while gratitude is not demanded, spitting in English faces is not wanted either. There are parts of England more in need of that £1,600 than many parts of Scotland. I come from one of them and still have relatives there.
Conversely the SNP has made it abundantly clear that unless they get what they want when they want it for as often as they want they will happily f**k up the parliamentary system so that nobody gets anything very much.
The latest idea that their 56 MPs somehow have become the official opposition just because Labour refuses to do what they want demonstrates to a T just how pig-headedly ignorant they are and (hopefully) the sane majority north of the Border will take appropriate action next May.
Now, if you want a debate, I'm up for it. If all you want is to demonstrate a bit of SNP-inspired small-mindedness then I'll leave you to get on with it in peace. Your choice.
NCC
Carbon dioxide dissolves naturally in rainwater. Nobody is using that simple fact to simply add a misting unit to the stack to remove the carbonic acid which can then be safely dumped in the environment as fake rain. I even have a design available for this, which also removes any soot. You can also adapt existing SO2 scrubbers to do a similar job but this time absorbing the CO2 in carbonates which can be dumped in the sea to reverse any acidity 'problem'. All of this is backed by peer-reviewed science and existing engineering skills which I have quoted on this blog before.
The reason so many cost estimates for CCS are so high is because a lot of people are standing by to make a lot of money for overly complex designs to remove and store 99.9% CO2 rather than settling for a much cheaper 90% removal with simple dumping of natural by-products in nature.
Maybe I missed it, but has the SNP recently won an important election or something?
Perhaps they will allow wind turbines to vote next time.
"The tory govt may have decided to do something about wind subsidies, but doing it this quickly is definitely an anti-Scotland measure."
As Mike puts it "bollocks".
They are stopping the SNP destroying the countryside with more bloody wind farms, and helping poor Scottish pensioners from freezing to death during the winter.
Political talk about CCS, Decarbonising, Renewables etc, is a triumph of failure over reality.
I think Mike Jackson has the bigger shoulder chip. If 56 out of 59 MP's doesn't give the SNP a mandate to speak up for for Scotland's interests then what the heck does? He has in fact just made the SNP argument for them - ie it doesn't matter what happens in Scotland, nobody else in Westminster actually gives a toss. This is the reason for the existence of the SNP in the first place and the reason for the recent SNP landslide. The sane majority voted SNP whether he likes it or not. The salient reasons for that result will probably be forever lost on the blinkered. Personally I favour federalism so I don't have a dog in the fight but I (like the SNP) am absolutely certain that the Scottish economy has been firstly greviously damaged and then held back by Westminster indifference. The recent growth rise in Scotland is due to the SNP despite Westminster taxes. The ideas that the SNP are wreckers, communists, spendthrifts or English-haters are myths engendered by the pathetic English media, only believed by those with their own axe to grind, be they Tories or little Englanders.
@JamesG: misting does not sequester CO2. The reverse Cement works idea in Yorkshire was viable for up to 40% removal, as are the ethylamine systems. I developed membrane ideas too, but scale up is hideous.
The best way is to burn coal in pure oxygen then pump direct. However, that is the limiting factor - pumping 100 Bar liquid into sandstone reservoirs imposes a tremendous pressure drop because you must displace water as well.
When it comes to UK money, they are 59 out of 350 MPs, and they have chosen to align with the minority of those MPs despite that minority consisting mostly of the party they voted against in Scotland.
Government indifference beats government interference any day when it comes to economic development. It matters not whether that government is based in Westminster or Holyrood.
JamesG
I'm not sure by what reasoning you come to the conclusion that spending nearly 20% more per head on the Scots than on the English means that Westminster "doesn't give a toss".
The problem is that the Scots forget that they are only 10% of the UK population and unless and until a majority of Scots vote to leave the UK they are only entitled to the same as any other 10% of the UK population.
You can "be the nation again" when you vote for it. Meanwhile you are nothing more than a part of the UK in the same way that Yorkshire & Humberside (same population) is part of the UK or that the West Midlands (same population) is part of the UK, except that Scotland is 20% better off at the expense of areas like Yorkshire and Birmingham and has control of its police and education and health services as well.
And wants yet more!
If I'd had a chip on my shoulder do you seriously think I would have stayed in Scotland as long as I did. It's a great place (apart from the weather and the arrogant sods in the SNP with an over-developed sense of entitlement which they do not deserve because they have done SFA to earn it).
And Sturgeon is not "standing up for Scotland" and nor are her robots at Westminster. Hopefully they will learn that disruption is not going to make them any friends or the day will come in the not too distant future when they will find "every man's hand against them" in that forum. You have 56 seats there out of 650. Don't push your luck too far; you might even upset Bercow!
My conclusion is that they must be including gas with CCS as a renewable equivalent which is of course daft and very optimistic. JamesG
So its your own interpretation of the usual gobbledygook, an interpretation which sadly is more wishful thinking that fact. None of the rest of what you have posted is anything else but the same green bilge put out by the LabLibCon.
The SNP are a classic example of what happens when low quality people get power. they abuse it and they want more.
Big Brother comes to Scotland.
Former First Minister Alex Salmond has called for social media trolls to be forced to identify themselves and say where they live online.
http://www.scotsman.com/news/politics/top-stories/alex-salmond-calls-for-online-trolls-to-be-identified-1-3833780
"The SNP's disturbing, seven-year obsession with looking through the nation's keyholes to ensure we are all behaving, sitting straight, eating properly and getting to bed early continues. It is surely only a matter of time before the Scottish government's children's minister, Aileen Campbell, is invited to North Korea to make a presentation on how her party has managed to secure such coast-to-coast state surveillance of families without any bad publicity. Last Wednesday night, the government effectively paved the way for official surveillance of family life by allowing for state guardians to be appointed for every child in Scotland. "
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/feb/23/scottish-children-government-appointed-guardians
Breath of Fresh Air, JamesG believes the SNP can do Green Bilge better than LibLabCon, even though Green Bilge has stuffed the entire UK, not just Scotland.
If only the SNP could demonstrate an ability to think independently of Green Bilge, wherever/whatever the source, and focus the anti-English hatred on the Climate Change Act and its consequences, the rest of Europe, including the English would have reason to be jealous, and envious.
To my surprise, Amber Rudd is starting to nibble away at the consequences of the Climate Change Act. The SNP wants to stick with Miliband's disastrous legacy.
My mate reckons the SNP are being as awkward as they can so that the rest of the UK gets fed up with their idiocy and chucks them out of the UK.
100% of electricity demand from renewables probably means:
50 % of AVERAGE demand (the rest of average demand coming from hydro) coming from PEAK capacity wind. Since minimum wind output is a tiny percentage of maximum demand there has to be a nearly complete conventional generating capacity for when the wind doesn't blow on winter afternoons/evenings, which raises the obvious question: why bother with wind?
Green politics within Europe never figured on the price of oil crashing due to fracking.
Offshore oil exploration and extraction (North Sea) is very expensive, so the first to hit the buffers.
The SNP pushed through a fracking moratorium at the beginning of the year, because it would meet the approval of Miliband, the future coalition Prime Minister, and leader of failed Green ideology.
The SNP are now stuck in a position of their own making, and JamesG wants to blame the English.
The people of Scotland might feel they have been let down by lying politicians again.
Personally, I have major issues with all who supported the Climate Change Act at the time, and deep distrust of those who still do, whatever their race, skin colour, religion, sexual identity, ethnicity, political affiliation, or connection with Royalty.
With due respect to ~Mike Jackson and his arithmetic ability I would like to point out that Scotland is above 5 million (just) out of 60 million (near enough) so suggesting that Scotland accounts for 10% is a bit of an exaggeration. +/- 8.5% would be nearer the mark. So the smaller % they are, the louder they shout.
I believe that many voting for SNP in May think that the SNP cohort can extract even more support out of the English. A recent report indicated that few Scots understood how the SNP promise of how the elusive oil west of Shetland would pay for everything has become like a "puff of smoke". They still think that by voting SNP the honey will continue to drip upwards from south of Hadrian's Wall defying gravity.
In my honest opinion Rudd is being pulled from behind lie a puppet by Osborne. She wanted a few weeks ago to "educate" Lord Lawson about "Climate Change" as reported here.
John Peter, I admitted my surprise about Amber Rudd, and I am not clear whether her mindset or motivation has changed, but her words and actions to date indicate some common sense from a politician.
Given that "sources close to No 10" have not been briefing against her, it suggests she has Mr Cameron's support.
This would be a glorious heffalump trap, for the new Leader of the Opposition, as the temporary incumbent remains silent.
This is the key that unlocks everything you need to know about the modern SNP. They are a Murdoch tool for winning UK elections for the Tories.They weren't needed last time, but they might have been. The legions of Scottish dafties who think Salmond is some kind of socialist beggars belief.
Alex Salmond ties to Murdoch revealed
The burgeoning friendship between Alex Salmond and Rupert Murdoch has been likened to a bromance. The men have exchanged admiring letters, held private dinner dates and received offers to sporting events.
Murdoch, normally known for his dry cynicism, has released tweets lauding Salmond's radicalism and his political skills. He was, said the News Corporation chairman in one tweet in February, "clearly most brilliant politician in U.K. "
http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2012/apr/25/alex-salmond-rupert-murdoch-ties
John Peter
I was working in round figures.
The point in all this (and one reason why I have no patience with the Nats and their allies) is that Scotland was being sold a false bill of goods last September and still is.
I am not saying for one minute that Scotland could not stand on its own two feet but it would be a tough few years and the figures that Salmond was producing were Alice in Wonderland stuff, and he must have known it.
Golf Charlie's theory as to why Sturgeon opted for a moratorium on fracking is highly plausible. There was never any good scientific reason if only because the government had called for, and got, a scientific report which gave the process (properly regulated) a clean bill of health. I can tell you with every confidence that those who produced that report were fizzing and are unlikely to trust the government again as long as Nippy Sweetie and the Numpties are calling the tune.
The consensus theory (within the ranks of the chippy) is that "the London government" goes out of its way to arrange things in order to disadvantage Scotland, and always has. Considering that more often than not Labour governments have needed their Scottish MPs for a Westminster majority (hence the refusal to give England its devolved government) the idea makes absolutely no sense even assuming that it were in any way legal to do so.
By all means disagree with this government's policies but before making an idiot of yourself in the HoC have the brains to find out what the real Scottish people are thinking, and their view on welfare is a bit (but not all that much) less in favour of IDS' reforms than in England.
Even Labour (or Harriet Harman at least) has learned that mindless opposition for the sake of it is just that: mindless.
Mike Jackson
Scotland has a long history of sending its best Brains and most adventurous people abroad - check the number of geographical features named after Scottish explorers. When I was a lad, before moving south, it used to be regarded as a problem (possibly still is). Interestingly I worked in manufacturing in England, my elder brother in tourism around the world, and my younger brother remained in Scotland teaching. The other interesting thing is that our retirements were in reverse age order. So as a family we highlight Scotland's problem since the industrial revolution; the wealth creators created wealth outside Scotland, and subsidised those stay at home Scots including the those training the next generation of empire builders..
Just a point.
Wind today - for the whole of the UK - 0.22GW.
That might just boil the odd kettle....
Around 45% of Scots voted for independence in the Indy Referendum. Just over 50% of Scots voted SNP in the last General Election. In a poll last year 66% of those polled were in favour of "devo max" with 19% opposing it. It is pretty evident that large numbers of Scots want a much greater degree of control over their own affairs. The general Election results suggest that the numbers wishing to have more control is rising. And who the Scots vote for in Holyroood and Westminster is, of course, our business and Scots increasingly vote for the SNP in Holyrood. Opinion polls suggest there might be another SNP landslide next year.
Scots have their own reasons for how they vote. It might be that they perceive the UK government as generally incompetent. There is no sustainable economic model. Bust follows modest growth. It might be they look at the bungling incompetence of the management of the oil and gas sectors. it might be the rising health inequalities in Scotland over the last 40 to 50 years when Scotland used to sit among the average rates of health inequalities in western Europe.
There have been a number of posts on this site where JamesG has repeatedly had to remind readers that energy is a reserved matter. Holyrood has very limited power and is expected to apply its planning permission powers in accordance with EN1. It appears to me that there is such dislike of the SNP on this blog, fostered by Montford, that it does not occur to those posting that the concern of the Scottish government regarding the subsidies for onshore wind is what it might cost in Scottish jobs.
sam
Voting patterns have followed Murdoch since Thatcher. Murdoch supports the SNP. My MP is the so called voice of street level, working class scoatish yoof, Mhairi Black.Five minutes of research uncovered this about her father who she lives with in Ralston, a middle class suburb of Paisley. The following is sarcasm on my part.
Alan Black is a simple, modest, very typical, down to earth, Paisley working class man. As well as being his daughter's election agent, he also owns a UK wide business with 5 English regional managers (none in Scotland). That's him on the left.
.
http://live-n-learn.co.uk/home/meet-the-team
.
About Live-N-Learn Ltd
Almost 10 years ago, experienced teachers Alan Black and Scott Goddard created Live-N-Learn with the aim of inspiring confidence in young people by encouraging them to take personal responsibility. We have now supported over 1000 schools throughout the UK and inspired more than 400,000 students....
The majority of our courses work directly with the students, supporting vital areas, such as Study Skills, Closing the Gap, Options, Inductions, Transition, Enterprise, Health, Careers and Aspirations. Ultimately, we aim to build confidence and raise attainment by encouraging students to take personal responsibility, adopt a 'growth mindset' and develop their resilience.
http://live-n-learn.co.uk/home/about-us
Interesting that his connection to her has been disappeared yet his photo appears on her election material.
smiff
You talk nonsense. Do you really expect anyone to believe that the great increase in support in Scotland for the SNP is because Scots form their opinions based on what the Murdoch papers say?
Yes I do.
Alex Salmond ties to Murdoch revealed
The burgeoning friendship between Alex Salmond and Rupert Murdoch has been likened to a bromance. The men have exchanged admiring letters, held private dinner dates and received offers to sporting events.
Murdoch, normally known for his dry cynicism, has released tweets lauding Salmond's radicalism and his political skills. He was, said the News Corporation chairman in one tweet in February, "clearly most brilliant politician in U.K. "
http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2012/apr/25/alex-salmond-rupert-murdoch-ties
Murdoch's courtship of Blair finally pays off (1998)
For Mr Blair, the relationship bore fruit when he was elected with the key support of the Sun. But Mr Murdoch had to wait until yesterday for full satisfaction when No 10 launched a passionate attack on his critics after the Lords passed an anti-Murdoch amendment to the Competition Bill.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/murdochs-courtship-of-blair-finally-pays-off-1144087.html
smiff
Large swathes of the Scottish electorate, which is fairly well politicised (i.e knowledgeable) loathe the mainstream media and Murdoch.
Your opinion rests on no evidence. You are not Scottish, I guess. I am, and you are in a minority of one with that conclusion.
sam
I live in Paisley (as I told you) . Have done for all but 10 years of my life. I run Paisley's most popular Facebook page. The electorate are generally tabloid reading neds and that's the 'university' edumakated ones.
I had a conversation with two UWS physics lecturers recently who told me how incredibly stupid their students are these days. I've met locals with sociology degrees who can barely speak English.
This girl here has a degree in nursing from Paisley Yooniversity (UWS). I don't mean any harm to her. Just an illustration.
2013 Clocks going backward/forward is the most confusing thing I've ever experienced
2014 Still is..I have a degree and I still don't understand the clocks going back/forward
https://twitter.com/NicolePirie/status/526675919386451968
Massively over confident, emotionally driven individuals with Mickey Mouse education. That's the Scotland you're referring to. Here's the problem. There are no real jobs. There is an army of sink estate nurses and carers who should really be working in factories. Thanks to care in the Community. I know I taught them and it's why I didn't even think about a job offer teaching nurses at Paisley Uni.
Paisley's last factory is being dismantled as I type this.
BASF to close Paisley chemical site with 141 job losses
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-glasgow-west-24638168
esmiff
There is not enough in your posts to make me want to trust your judgement about why people vote SNP. All I get from your posts is a hatred of the SNP. That's OK - each to his own. I like it less when, without any evidence, you make broad statements about large numbers of your fellow Scots. If there is a decline in educational attainment in Scotland it is likely to be something long in the making - not solely attributable to the SNP.
sam
I wasn't blaming the SNP for any of the education issues, I do think they're dangerous control freaks. I won't repeat the details because other forum members have heard it before.
I was critiquing your claim that the average Scottish punter in 2015 is too knowledgeable for the mainstream media. I don't think that's true.
esmiff
I don't think I said that the Scottish electorate is too knowledgeable for mainstream media. What I said is that the Scottish electorate is reasonably well-versed in some political issues. That came with the Indy Ref if it was not there before. What also came with Indy Ref was a distrust both of the accuracy and impartiality of much of the media. In any case, long before Indy Ref use of newspapers was declining so all of the Scottish electorate knew where to turn to obtain information.
It amuses me that the Telegraph is used here as a stick to try to beat the SNP. For years the Telegraph has been decried here for the inaccuracy of the reporting on climate science. The part the Telegraph played in Frenchgate should tell you much about the editor's desire to put accuracy in reporting over political posturing.
Same again with this article on which this turd of a blog post is based. I can't really say there are outright lies but there are certainly distortions. It is claimed that SNP ministers have blocked the construction of a new generation of nuclear power plants. From one perspective this is untrue. There have been no planning application proposals north of the border for any nuclear plants as far as I am aware. Think what would happen if there was such an application and the SNP turned it down. The UK government would find a way to ensure that such a decision would be overturned. The SNP's "policies" or rather its views on energy generation is similar to that of the UK government as outlined in EN1.The UK government expects a Scottish government to exercise its planning application responsibilities in line with EN1.
If you go online to a speech by Ewing in Holyrood this year you will hear him say that the SNP thinks there should be a mix of energy generation means and that mix includes nuclear. Right this minute work is being done on Torness which will enable it to extend its life. Torness can go beyond 2040 if needed and it will be needed.
To return to the Telegraph. There would be energy supply problems if Torness is closed. It will not be the SNP that closes it for it has no responsibility in the matter. and the SNP has nothing to do with the closure of Cockenzie and Longannet.
The Telegraph piece is headlined "Nicola Sturgeon demands veto". The concluding quote from Ms Sturgeon reveals that she wants a more collegiate approach on energy policy making and to ensure she and her ministers are consulted. The headline might not coincide with reality. I doubt if Ms Sturgeon would agree that she seeks a veto. That would be foolish and she is not that.
This bit of froth led to much more frothing here. Who the hell cares what Mr Bratby's pal thinks or how long Mr Jackson lived in Scotland and why we should think his views on anything are important as a result. Your ideas about the SNP, where it draws its support and how those supporting the party form their decision to provide that support are ideas likely to be held by no other person than yourself.
'Your ideas about the SNP, where it draws its support and how those supporting the party form their decision to provide that support are ideas likely to be held by no other person than yourself.'
Me and Alex Salmond and Rupert McMurdoch.
Guardian: Leveson criticises Salmond for offering to lobby on behalf of Murdoch http://goo.gl/w2Goid
Big deal. No. Unwise. Yes - even if the motive was to save Scottish jobs. Is this the sole reason for your prejudice?