The honeymoon is over
It's been another month of big events and once again there's bastardry afoot. But there are still many reasons to be cheerful in Scotland - our world champion sheep shearer among them
The honeymoon was over quickly for Keir Starmer’s newly-elected Labour government, and for Scots Ink it seems the more things change the more they stay the same.
Sweeping to power in Westminster via an electorate determined to Get The Tories Out, it soon became apparent that nothing would really change for Scotland.
If anything it will again fall on the Scottish Government, with their limited ‘pocket money’ budget, to try to mitigate the financial consequences of austerity policies, whether they are in the Tory or Labour name.
Labour’s refusal to scrap the two-child benefit cap is a case in point.
The SNP campaigned vociferously to end it; seven Labour MPs (notably none of them Scottish) lost the whip for refusing to vote in favour of keeping this cruelly unnecessary policy, again setting the tone for a ‘my way or no way’ Starmer leadership.
The Scottish Child Payment (of £26.70 per child per week) already attempts to mitigate the consequences of the two-child benefit cap, but as a devolved nation with a defined budget determined by Westminster, Scotland is not fiscally independent and for every spending decision made in an already strapped budget, another sector will suffer.
As it stands, the End Child Poverty Coalition released data late last year indicating some 90,000 Scottish children are impacted by the two-child benefit cap.
But wait, there’s more
Despite being warned repeatedly by the SNP that Labour’s projected budget costings pre-election didn’t add up, Chancellor Rachel Reeves seemed surprised to discover a £22 billion budget ‘black hole’ once firmly in power. Something would have to give, she said.
In a speech in Westminster she presented an either/or choice – either raise the wages of public sector employees in crucial institutions like the NHS or keep the current Winter Fuel Payment.
A rich country can’t pay people fairly and keep them warm in winter apparently. And so the Winter Fuel Payment was slashed.
The devolved Scottish Government was relying on some £180 million towards this; an estimated £100 million has been suddenly withdrawn. This means the government will have to somehow mitigate the loss of that revenue too.
It’s proving a bridge too far, and the Scottish Government has announced that it, too, will have to means test the Winter Fuel Payment, which devolves to Scotland in September.
This despite the fact Scotland generates enormous revenue through our green energy, oil and gas.
Insult joined injury with the news the new £4.3 billion “energy superhighway” between Scotland and England had been given the green light by the regulator, Ofgem.
The Eastern Green Link, a largely sub-sea cable, will run from Aberdeenshire to North Yorkshire, transmitting renewable energy from Scottish wind farms in the North Sea to power an estimated two million homes – in England.
Once the project is completed, that figure rises to 7.5 million homes. In England.
A joint venture between Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks and National Grid, it’s part of a plan to modernise the national electricity network. It has capacity to transfer electricity both ways – from south to north also – but it seems clear it will be Scotland’s electricity keeping the lights on down south.
The good thing of course is that it’s a positive move towards getting clean power by 2030.
The bad news? Scotland will continue to pay more for the electricity we generate than the people down south we send it to.
It doesn’t help that Octopus Energy CEO Greg Jackson pointed this out himself recently, on the BBC with Laura Kuenssberg, saying that with proper energy reform Scotland could have the cheapest energy in Europe if the UK introduced regional pricing.
Andy Murray rocks
Scotland’s favourite tennis star and all-time great sportsman has retired from his professional tennis career, playing his last matches at Wimbledon and at the Paris Olympics.
He got a proper good send off from players and fans alike, but we think Andy owned the internet with this tongue-in-cheek tweet, just moments after his last doubles match at the Paris Olympics.
And how about Una
All power to Una Cameron, 51, from St Boswells on the Scottish Borders, who recently set the world record for shearing sheep. She sheared 517 sheep in nine hours, something The Guardian reported as being the equivalent of running two marathons back to back.
Speaking the morning after, Una said she felt “like I’ve been run over by a tank … I am sore. My body hurts in places I didn’t know I had.”
As a reward after that marathon effort she asked for a beer and a Curly Wurly chocolate. bar. We are in awe of Una. See more about her here.
We’ve got this far without mentioning him
Donald Trump is not popular in Scotland. We were also underwhelmed by his son Eric’s claims his father would be the “greatest president” for Scotland.
Eric Trump said his dad will be the “great president as it pertains to the relationship with Scotland, that Scotland has ever had in the US” while on a trip to Trump International Golf Links near Balmedie.
He was short on platitudes when asked about the devasting impact the then-President Trump’s 25% tax had on the Scottish whisky industry though. It’s estimated to have cost the industry some £600 million. You know, details.
Since there is much truth in the saying ‘when America sneezes the world catches a cold’, we are encouraged by the extreme energy and hope generated by Vice President Kamala Harris and her running mate Gov Tim Walz, in the run-up to the US Presidential Elections in November.
And we just love their ultra-smart, highly focused social media campaign.
Hurray for the beavers
The first wild-born beaver kits in 400 years have been born in the Cairngorms National Park. They were born to two of the six families released into the Upper Spey catchment, as part of the drive to reintroduce the species to the region.
As the Cairngorms National Park points out, beavers are known as ‘ecosystem engineers’ – by changing and re-naturalising the landscape around them they help restore our rivers and wetlands, which in turn helps reduce the impacts of climate change and boost biodiversity.
You can find out more here.
Scottish seaweed crisps
A Scottish seaweed crisps company will have its products stocked in more than 200 stores across five major supermarkets.
The snacks from Wick-based Shore (The Scottish Seaweed Co) will be available in Tesco, Morrisons, Asda, Sainsbury’s and Co-op stores across Scotland, and in Go Outdoors stores across the UK.
Founded in 2020, Shore has sold more than two million bags of crisps to date.
“Seaweed is the hero ingredient in all our products,” Shore says, “helping to boost your diet with iodine, prebiotic fibre and antioxidants along the way. Not only that, all our recipes are 100% plant-based, all natural and with no added MSG.
For more about Shore, see here.
Watch this space
That’s the latest wrap-up from us at Scots Ink, but we’re very much still here. There’s more to come! And thanks for supporting us in ever-growing numbers. We’re beyond delighted at the response from you all.
As this platform stated previously, ‘This world is Phuhl o a number of things’’. Thank you for highlighting some more of the fascinating variety.