WHY?…SOME QUESTIONS TO PONDER.

Posted byiainlawson27Posted inUncategorizedTags:,

WHY..SOME QUESTIONS TO PONDER

Let’s start with oil. Why did they pipe the oil from the Scottish North Sea to Teesside and other points South?

Because oil creates a lot of jobs in the downstream plastics industry. The UK Government wanted them in England rather than Scotland. The wanted to lessen any Scottish grip on the asset.

Why did the UK GOVERNMENT sell off the state owned BNOC unlike Norway who created Statoil?

Because the Tories wanted no state owned oil. They wanted it all in private hands. They thought this made it easier to reject calls for a State Oil fund that would have shared the oil wealth. Norway did the opposite and their stock and share purchases through this fund now account for over 1.4% of all shares and stocks in the entire World. It is the World’s largest sovereign wealth fund valued at $1.4 TRILLION. This represents $248,000 for EVERY Norwegian citizen. Scotland found more oil than Norway. We, according to Westminster, have a DEFICIT.

WHY did Norway handle its oil wealth much better than Scotland? Well the first reason was they knew what was going on. In Scotland we were told “ it was the wrong type of oil” that “we would be lucky if it lasted ten years” and of course the Labour Government buried the McCrone Report, marking it top secret.

Then of course Norway was Independent and in full control of their assets Scotland, in contrast is England’s tuck shop where they don’t even pay us Pennies for the privilege.

BUT ITS NOT JUST OIL

I could write this article using a big number of different examples but let’s look at Energy because the same con game is well underway with this sector as well.

Scottish renewables are growing and we are already  self sufficient and we also have energy to export and those energy surpluses will grow given our geographical advantages in terms of wind, wave, tidal, hydro etc.

Great, where will we sell it? Not so good. Why?

Because Westminster is intent on controlling that as well. You might have read recently about the new power undersea cable being laid across to Europe. For years before Scotland was trying to do this, there was considerable support for the idea from the European Union BUT there was no interest or funding in Westminster.

Why Blyth you might ask? The answer is quite clear Blyth is the most suitable point in North East England to transfer Scotland’s surplus power to the continent but keep Scotland out the equation. Blyth to energy is what Teesside was for oil.

In the same way that Scotland is a significant and growing exporter of renewable energy ENGLAND IS A MASSIVE IMPORTER OF POWER, totally incapable of producing sufficient energy for their own needs. They need Scotland’s energy to stay cut off from distributing that power anywhere without it being sent via England. That way they guarantee it for England’s  needs first. They can also control the price by denying Scotland alternative markets.

Sound a bad deal to you? Well it’s worse. Why?

Well the “national grid” is set up in a rather unusual way. Unlike other markets where the consumer eventually pays the cost of bringing the product to market Energy through the National Grid works this principle in reverse and “ connection charges” are highest in Scotland because that production is distant from the “market”. For market read England, and the South in particular.

Now while Scots consumers will be well used to high delivery charges and surcharges for other products, in some cases delivery is not even possible, the energy consumer in England expects the Scottish supplier of their energy needs to pay a premium for the privilege.

All the above would change with Independence which is why the oil goes to Teesside and our energy goes to Blyth. Do you get in now? It pretty blatant even at first glance.

Now I will quickly add in passing, because I will be coming back to discuss this more fully in the near future that Scotland, the top exporter in the UK has intentionally been cut off from all markets through a combination of no investment in our ports, no direct ferry links with Europe, the same with air where our airports are mainly used as feeder routes for the three London airports and our range of direct flights are pathetic when compared with ALL Western countries of similar size.

The effect of all this. Scotland, the top exporter in the UK is forced to trade with the World via ENGLAND. This can lead to some staggering anomalies. For instance ENGLAND exports more whisky than Scotland. The most popular route to export Scottish salmon is via London Heathrow.

THIS IS WHAT YOU CALL COLONIAL POWER BEING FULLY EXERCISED. WHY SOME SCOTS CAN’T SEE IT IS BEYOND ME.

Ridiculous is it not but the most ridiculous fact is this. I suspect many people will be quite surprised by some of the information detailed above, but you shouldn’t be, our Nationalist Mp’s and MSP’s should be shouting about this from the rooftops. This type of information is what turns “ soft no’s”, so please share and retweet this everywhere but also challenge your local elected representative and ask him or her ( apologies for the pronouns) why they are not concentrating on this message rather than the daft, divisive nonsense that is blowing the unity of the YES MOVEMENT APART.

I am, as always

Yours for Scotland.

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57 thoughts on “WHY?…SOME QUESTIONS TO PONDER.”

  1. Iain those who have craved independence have known about these facts because we have been interested enough to research them , needless to say our snp reprobates are NOT interested in educating the electorate to this THEFT of our wealth and resources by countless unionist governments of LIEBOUR and TORY

    THAT is what sturgeon should and could have been doing for the last 7 years but she is more interested in knowing if our kids are engaging in anal sex , oral sex , or how many times they have had sex , this is not a government this is a group of child abusing sex pests and the electorate would know about them if the MEDIA weren’t being BRIBED

    Liked by 19 people

  2. Mushrooms – the people of Scotland kept in the dark and fed drivel.
    Your article should have been in the newspapers of Scotland years ago , long before the perverse , compliant SNP of today took power.
    It should have been on a rinse and repeat cycle so that every Scot and all those choosing Scotland as home were made aware of the cheating and shenanigans of Westminster.
    It comes back to a compliant , lying mainstream media with a “Scottish’ thrown in front of it to make it appeal to those in Scotland who only give information the most cursory of glances.

    Liked by 23 people

  4. The economic case for an independent Scotland and equally strong case for leaving the UK is irrefutable. The sheer amount of solid economic information that is available makes the strength of both arguments overwhelming. If this situation can be promoted and become widely known, support for independence would become the driving force that no supposed independence supporting politician could ignore, while endlessly waffling on about often irrelevant matters (such as trying to stop a UK Brexit ), but doing nothing for independence. Their dithering on independence and refusal to work with others has in fact only sown seeds of doubt, the exact opposite of what they should have done.

    The deadweight fake independence politicians need to be voted out and replaced with those that don’t just want to pursue their own personal goals, but who will put independence first and foremost until Scotland becomes independent, after which they can then focus on helping make Scotland as successful and just as all our independent northern European neighbours are.

    I hope that Alba will be the main way in which this will be achieved. It’s an open door that needs to be shown as such.

    Liked by 23 people

  5. And of course, you must add WATER.

    England, especially the South, is drought-ridden. Lay pipelines in Scotland and seal them off at Berwick. They will pay a pretty price for us to turn the taps on post-Independence.

    And a bit more on whisky. Two-thirds of a the price of a bottle goes to the Exchequer. That would not need to be the case in an Indy Scotland as we would raise enough surplus revenue from other sources (oil, gas, wind, tidal etc). So we, the population of Scotland, could enjoy our own National Drink at a reasonable price. Whisky has also been the 2nd/3rd biggest export earner for HM Treasury over the last 30 years – see Scotch Whisky Association for details – so we’d get that in the coffers too. Further, the lords and toffs down South do enjoy a good dram … so let’s make them pay for it.

    We could class the above as an indemnity for the cost of the British Union to this country – a British Union Reparations Package if you will.

    Liked by 18 people

    1. England has been taking steps to improve its water supply including various forms of water purification and removing salt by filtration as they do in middle east. For increased supplies they are looking at wales and lake district there is no interest in Scotland as frequent FOI have shown.

      As for whisky after independence only duty from Scottish sales are going to go to Scottish treasury. Sales elsewhere are export which is in bond. Scottish sales are around 10% of present westminster duty

      Like

      1. Yes, Bruce, they are looking at Wales, and the Welsh are looking back at them and asking themselves how many more valleys will have to be flooded?

        Liked by 3 people

  6. No point in complaining to your MP/MSP, even if they are SNP they are complicit in ruining Scotland.
    This has all been going on for years.
    Devolution should have helped. It didnt.
    An SNP government should have changed things. It didn’t.
    Independence will stop it but the so called independence party doesn’t want independence.
    We are snookered!

    Liked by 10 people

  9. If the SNP were following its founding purpose many more citizens would see Anglo trickery, after all it’s not exactly subtle.
    More a case of there’s a sucker born every minute. The rather docile even compliant ambient mood of Scottish national politics must change to something significantly more challenging of the system and its works.with a different leadership style to suit.

    Liked by 12 people

  10. With a majority at both Westminster and at Holyrood, our representatives should have settled up and left that place, declaring independence. Then our people at last could have started to benefit from the wonderful blessings our country has had bestowed upon it.

    They didn’t. Instead they settled in and became part of the establishment. (see cozyfeet Pete)

    Up here, our ego driven FM and leader of the SNP, has been doing MI5s work for, and possibly with, them. Instead of working for independence for our people, she and her very odd cabinet of incompetent ministers have been denying science and prying into the sexual habits of our young people, which is not the business of government.

    If only we had known then what we know now.

    I hope that ALBA have a plan to get us out of this mess that Sturgeon has created. There isn’t much time left to save our country.

    Liked by 15 people

  11. At the start of the Oil Industry Offshore Production the infrastructure was very poor. No Oil or Gas Pipelines existed and the London Treasury needed the cash badly. Oil was easy and in the Brent field for example the “Spar” was installed for tanker off loading. However when you produce a “Formation barrel of Oil” you get a great deal of Gas when it gets to the surface pressure.No Gas pipelines existed, No Gas re-Injection existed so it was flared, burnt off 🔥
    About one third of all gas reserves in the UK sector were simply burnt to get the Oil revenue. Brent at that time was producing 400/500kbbls a DAY so around a third of the equivalent Oil energy was being burned off as WASTE.

    The Environment was damaged.
    The Reservoirs were damaged by Rapid Drawdown to get the Oil
    Energy was wasted (At night the North Sea was lit up like a Mall. It was often 40degC on the deck.)

    This is the mindset of Westminster. If instead we had a slow ramp up while pipelines were installed it would have extended Oil and Gas Production by decades. We would not have had high risk tanker loading operations. We would not have created such massive environmental damage.

    I held Senior positions with a number of Major Oil Companies. The true story of the 70s would shock you.
    Platforms installed and weight overloaded by 30%/ Lloyds inspectors pressured to sign off for start up/ Safety devices overridden to run production. HSE, Shutdown Valves etc ALL came AFTER the Piper disaster. Look up the Alexander Kielland disaster to see how uncontrolled mods were neglected or the Sea Gem disaster.

    I recall one Oil Company Manager being told of a delay caused by certification saying “ Who do we have in the Lords?”

    Politics, Safety, Money, Environment all mixed but Money came tops.

    Liked by 18 people

      1. Iain Clootie always has educational and outspoken comments , as she has personal experience of the shambolic and greed driven organisations desperate and lying manipulations to maximise profit and minimise tax burdens it maybe enlightening and educational , we might even discover something that Sir Ian said that wasn’t lies

        Liked by 4 people

    2. North Sea oil was always just about short term monetary gains for the ‘UK’.

      ‘The 3.9 billion dollar loan

      As pressure on the pound continued, the government approached the IMF for a loan of $3.9 billion in September 1976. This was the largest amount ever requested of the Fund, which needed to seek additional funds from the US and Germany. The IMF negotiators demanded heavy cuts in public expenditure and the budget deficit as a precondition for the loan. Healey’s proposals for a cut of around 20 per cent in the budget deficit were hotly debated in Cabinet, particularly by Anthony Crosland and Michael Foot. Eventually they acceded, as it seemed likely that the refusal of the loan would be followed by a disastrous run on the pound. Healey announced the forthcoming reductions in public expenditure to the House of Commons on 15 December 1976.

      Following the agreement with the IMF, the overall economic and financial picture improved. Interest rates were soon reduced and the pound quickly appreciated in value. By the end of 1977, partly as a result of new oil revenues, there were improvements in the balance of trade’.

      https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/cabinetpapers/themes/sterling-devalued-imf-loan.htm

      Would the UK even have got the loan in 1976 if it wasn’t for North Sea oil. Probably, but on even harsher and longer lasting terms. Borrowing from Germany 31 years after WW2 says it all really.

      The reason the UK pound was under pressure in the 1960’s was largely due the Britain’s weak economic position – ‘When Labour, led by Harold Wilson, took office in October 1964, it was immediately faced with a deficit of £800 million, which contributed to a series of sterling crises’.

      https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/cabinet-office-100/the-1967-devaluation-of-the-pound/

      https://www.economicshelp.org/blog/132993/economics/uk-imf-crisis-of-1976/

      North Sea oil bailed out the UK from the 70’s onwards but almost uniquely for somewhere with commodity wealth, once windfall oil revenues started, a UK Sovereign wealth fund wasn’t created. Instead they were squandered by the ‘UK’.

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_sovereign_wealth_funds

      https://archive.md/6zXpw

      Now the UK is coming for Scotland’s second energy boom with no doubt an equally short sighted view that will benefit other countries much more than it will Scotland.

      As for the UK’s balance of trade position since the 1970’s, it shows that North Sea oil only provided a few years of overall surplus before the UK’s decades long economic decline continued relentlessly.

      https://www.economicshelp.org/blog/185/economics/balance-of-payments-disequilibrium/

      Strong shoulders?
      Better together?

      Liked by 15 people

  12. As I remember it. All this money sloshing around at the time had upset the equilibrium – so bad was it at the time that the Lib/Dem mp steel, speaking in the Commons said – if the oil is going to cause so many problems, maybe we should level it in the ground. Norway had the same problem – however, they decided that only the interest on the money would be spent at home, the bulk would be put into a wealth fund for future generations and pensions. Maggie Thatcher simply handed over the oil lock stock and barrel to her American friends and used the money from the loyalties to fund the unemployment she had created here at home – there was never any real discussion about how best to use the money from the oil, and it would never be put into a wealth fund for future generations or old-age pensions. Tories don’t do that.

    Liked by 14 people

  13. Since the 1970’s westminster has been planning this, they will do everything and anything they can to destroy Scotland economically and culturally, this has intensified since 2014 when they got a big fright. Brexit has allowed them to continue their plan, examples are everywhere, further industrial destruction, austerity, political unrest, poverty, unrestricted theft of our oil gas and taxes, control of our political system and civil service etc., etc. All of this with the help of unionists and the leadership of the newSNP who have set us back years in our quest for independence. I must add that the National newspaper has duped people into believing it supports independence, NO it supports Sturgeon and the fake Greens.

    If we look at all the places the UK invaded, they treated the indigenous population as either slaves or at best servants and could be eliminated without question if any protested. This is how the so-called elite view indigenous Scots, just another people to be exploited and robbed, it is clear these people are completely without empathy or compassion for their fellow man. One of the many examples of that superior attitude that I could mention is the occasion when a titled Lady arrived on business unexpectedly while I was digging a drainage ditch by hand in a rather restricted space, she exclaimed “have you not got a black man for that”, I presume I was not far enough down the social pyramid to do such work. I have many other examples of this attitude.

    I hope there are still some politicians within in the SNP that actually want true self determination, not just devolution or the trick of federalism.

    To anybody that has not read Craig Murray’s blog today, I think he has trully hit the nail on the head.

    Liked by 15 people

    1. @robertspence

      Mmm … sounds very much like a colonial scenario you’ve just described for us there, Robert.

      Liked by 5 people

  14. I hate to challenge the claim about English whisky exports, but the official Export Statistics Scotland apparently give the true story.

    Look at https://www.gov.scot/publications/about-export-statistics-Scotland/pages/export-statistics-scotland-faqs/ which states ‘The ESS publication measures the destination of goods exported from Scotland regardless of the port from which they leave the UK.’

    Not saying that other publications don’t misrepresent the facts but we should be careful of leaving ourselves open to the same charge.

    Liked by 6 people

      1. That is the crucial point, Iain, without trade routes and trade centres/ports/etc., Scotland is severely disadvantaged. We used to be as great a seafaring nation as England, but, now, you’d scarcely know it. Scotland and the Scots have given so much to the world, yet we languish behind everyone else. What really brings it home is the number of Covid deaths in Scotland compared to other comparable countries. Since we have no actual hubs, these variants can only be coming via the English hubs in the South-east. If we cannot control anything, we can do little to mitigate disaster when it comes calling. France is not banning UK travellers, meaning that France fears being infected to the same degree as the UK. None of this, or the ways in which we are robbed daily of our natural resources, has ever been highlighted by the present SNP government.

        Every time a new build is announced south of the border, just south of the border, it is a fair indication that a Scottish resource will be diverted there. A large, new landing port in Grimsby, on the Humber, was built recently. Ay, we’ll be getting back control of our fishing grounds, right enough, just like the oil and gas, the electricity, the land that is used to house nuclear weapons…. We are being sold down the river.

        Liked by 12 people

  17. If this doesn’t get soft noes blood pressure up and angry to boot nothing will, Scotland’s assets have and still are and always will be stripped by Westminster for the benefit of England unless we do something about it.

    I can’t help wondering just how much England has made in a cash form from Scottish assets as part of this union, and I can’t help thinking that the cash would’ve make the lives of Scots much better.

    Scotland is teeming in energy sources yet a third of Scots are in fuel poverty, and more are about to fall into fuel poverty with next April’s huge price rises.

    Liked by 10 people

  18. One aspect often overlooked with regards Iceland’s financial recovery, is the fact that it generates its own domestic energy via the geotherm systems. It is a major building block with regards a countries wealth.

    Another aspect of the oil and gas in Scotland’s waters, is the issuing of exploration (and subsequently drilling) licences – all done from London, and at a pretty penny too. Even if that aspect was re-assigned to a city in Scotland it would generate high value business to the area.

    I’m just wondering how much the ‘white flight’ now residing in Scotland, want the place to become exactly like ‘little England’, and if the above information might not trigger their ‘selfish’ gene, whereby they start to vote for Scottish Indy in order to preserve their new way of life, particularly if Scotland could become as wealthy as Norway. ‘Bout time the Yes movement started playing ‘divide and conquor’ on them for a wee change.

    Liked by 9 people

  19. Iain, this is brilliant stuff. I wrote to the SNP re-grid charges in 2012 and got zero reply. I am, at the moment looking for spare ground, to have power production containers installed for feeding into the grid. The cost per kW is not helping.

    Liked by 5 people

  20. Talking about direct International flights, I was at Siem Riep Cambodia airport waiting for a flight to take me to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, overnight then flight to Amsterdam then wait of several hours and flight to Glasgow.
    Imagine my surprise when it was announced that Finnair flight to Helsinki was now boarding! Yes that Finland with no natural resources apart from Snow and population similar to Scotland.

    Liked by 8 people

  21. For the Indy campaign 2014 I dug into statistics for presentation at meetings. 7 years on the data may have moved, I’d wager, at glacier speed:-

    Year 1911- Scotland was 13.9% of the UK population
    1951 12.6%
    1971 11.2% N Sea oil found).
    1991 10.3%
    2001 8.3%
    2014 8.3%

    I suggest two reasons for this historical declining %age. The heavy price Scotland paid in manpower in the WW1 and 2, and the decimation of Scotland’s industry by Thatcher.

    Scotland produces 7 times it’s domestic needs for oil and gas. And exports 20% of electric power to England, for free.

    Gross Domestic Product in US dollars: Germany, 43,855 per person, per annum
    New Zealand,39,840
    United Kingdom, 41,066
    Scotland, 47,369

    Yes,Scotland being in the UK drags down our GDP.

    In eastern countries the front legs of a camel are tied together to prevent it wandering off. An uncomfortable simile for Scotland?

    Liked by 10 people

    1. Scotland’s shipbuilding went in the1950s 60s and 70s, the car and vehicle industry closed in the 1970s and the majority of mines were closed under labour governments The bulk of the industry had gone before Thatcher.

      While the far east modernised the clyde tyne and mersey stayed the same.

      According to world bank and IMF Scottish GDP per capita is slightly less than England

      Liked by 1 person

      1. I must agree Bruce. The rot had started in the 1950’s and onwards, with the Labour Party not attempting to protect Scotland, they had no vision.

        I worked in the East End all through the 70’s and watched the closure of businesses one after another, companies that made industrial clothing, boots, components for ship building etc., steel works, everything needed for an industrialised city. People forget the number of businesses and workers required to support the high profile end manufacture items from ships to teapots.

        The destruction of all these businesses and factory premisses left tens of thousands and more unemployed.

        I returned in the early 80’s to where I used to work (then closed) and asked a local chap that I had worked with what had happened to the workforce in that now wasteland, he replied most were unemployed, “some of the girls have after dark jobs, the young lads are also self employed with jemmy’s also after dark”, Nothing was done to support the victims of Labour and the Tory onslaught on industry. The despair and defeat were obvious.

        Margaret Curren and others were happy that this would help the Labour vote, paracites one and all.

        I would say Thatcher only bashed the remaining nails in the coffin, this is as much the Labour Party’s doing as their allies in the Tory Party.

        It was clear to me then that Scotland needed clear of both these poisonous parties and to go it’s own way.

        Liked by 6 people

      2. Granted, Bruce, but would an independent Scotland have made the same decisions on closure? After all, the steel industry, for example, was profitable when it was closed down. The most shameful thing was that, while industry does, naturally, have a kind of shelf life, it can often be adapted to new technology or new technologies can be brought in to soak up the human loss of jobs and divert them elsewhere without destroying entire communities. I know this happened in England and Wales and NI, too, but there seems to be a short-sightedness in the UK as to how to introduce diversity, and excellent inventions and ideas, and talented individuals are all lost to other countries that have the nous to put them into use. I have never believed the rubbish about the best brains having left Scotland: we are not left with the dross; you only have to look around and research to discover that we actually have the equivalent of the magic porridge pot, if only we could see it and invest in it properly with far-sightedness rather than tunnel vision or, worse, a cul-de-sac mentality.

        Liked by 4 people

      3. Lorncal you are correct my father worked in Fairfield’s in sunny Govan and I worked in shipyards as an outside contractor up and down Scotland and just like other industries the BOSSES failed to modernise and keep up with technology it was ALL about profit and greed

        There is a programme made by the bias beeb about shipbuilding and it’s downfall but as usual it never blames the bosses , and after the UCS (upper Clyde shipbuilders ) was formed and the workers took over it was down to WM with their liebour quislings to sabotage it

        Liked by 2 people

  22. The oil pipeline to Teeside goes to the Ekofisk field in the Norwegian sectior of the N. Sea. If you want to know why, look a bathymetric map of the seabed. Unsurprisingly, I didn’t bother reading the article any further.

    Like

  23. As someone who was involved peripherally in air freight there is a reason why salmon and other high value products go out through LHR and GLW. The number of destination they serve is larger than any Scottish airport. LHR and GLW has a catchment area of around 10 times tat of EDI and GLA. Air freight and passenger companies go were the market is. Air freight goes under the floor in passenger in addition to freight aircraft.

    We exported to 89 countries and most of them were served direct from LHR and GLW

    We moved our manufacturing centre to Ashford and used concentrators in that area to cut costs

    After independence it is going to be the same air lines go where the market is

    We tried the Rosyth service when it started but it was cheaper and quicker to use the Tunnel

    Like

    1. But, Bruce, is that not the fundamental problem? Much of the salmon export goes to the US, so why can’t Scotland place freight in passenger flights to US, as London does? Isn’t the problem really that we are now allowed to, or don’t push for trade routes? We used to send ships all across the world before the Union. Later, the Cutty Sark was the fastest tea clipper on the oceans, made in Scotland. The Great Michael was the biggest war ship of its day, built in Scotland. Granted, James 1V, who commissioned it, was killed before it made any kind of impact. Other small countries have commissioned their own trade routes, flights (both freight and passenger), their own fast trains, set up their own ports. Why is it that, uniquely, we can’t ever do anything without it first having to be passed through England’s colon, if you’ll excuse the crudeness?

      Liked by 6 people

      1. all shipping is by private companies so it is up to them. No reason why shippers can’t use GLA or EDI if a route exists. The problem is there are more routes from LHR and GLW and cheaper because of economies of scale. . With all transport routes it is the market that decides. Tried Rosyth when it started but over £1,000 for 38ft of lane and a cabin. Newcastle Amsterdam is half that and half the time./driving at56mph and using tunnel is fastest. Sea routes are disappearing Newcastle Bergen has gone Iceland to Lerwick and Scrabster has gone. Ships are worst carbon producers burning up to 6 tonnes per hour.

        From the 1950s the ships tended to be registered elsewhere. /the big container ships are run by foreign companies and only berth where there is a lot of trade. Felixstowe takes containers for most of England and only a small proportion are for Scotland. They are not going to go to the expense and time of berthing here. In addition many containers are used by concentrators so are unloaded and any Scottish products moved to a different HGV

        Same with exports, concentrators near to port or airport take products from all over to fill containers. That is why Scottish salmon goes from London airports as they share a container with other perishables while leavinng from Scotland would mean having cost of whole container. We saved £1200 per load by sharing containers.

        #there are no politics in transport it all has to do with private firms, the HGV, containers, concentrators, airlnes and shipping companies are all private companies trying to run at a profit

        Liked by 1 person

      2. The problems goes back a long way. When Baa was set up it consisted of the three London airports, no other airport’s in England but Glasgow Edinburgh and Aberdeen were added to form the state owned enterprise. At the same time the EU ALLOWED each member what was called “airports with Gateway status, the UK because of its size were granted four.they were allocated to the three London airports plus Manchester. These were able to work with a subsidy to encourage traffic. Glasgow at the time had more traffic than Stansted .when I questioned why it got a designated airport BAA replied”If it didn’t have it nobody would want to operate it from it. What does that tell you about their attitude to Scotland?

        Liked by 6 people

      3. On the contrary, politics is very closely connected with creation of all global transport hubs, e.g. Singapore, Dubai, Suez, Panama, Colombo, Malta, Tangier etc etc. All hub + spoke infrastructure are primarily driven and funded by governments who put in place the necessary infrastructure and then concession these terminals also via IJVs long-term to private operators. I was involved in examining the feasibility of major container port transhipment infrastructure in Scotland, which was blocked by UK + its Scot Gov despite a willing industry tenant, and the UK Gov has also blocked Prestwick’s use as a global air cargo hub, all because they cannot see any further than southeast England and do not want Scotland to develop such strategic international connections and competitive advantages. Most air and sea freight on the Transatlantic trade follows the Great Circle Route on which Scotland has a strategic locational advantage/shortest crossing, plus low average spoke/feeder distances to EU/Baltic markets, all currently not exploited. In this the transport geography concept of intermediacy is important, enabling a strategic hub location to ‘intercept’ trade for multiple markets using optimal vehicle sizes for trunk hauls thus providing economies of scale. In Hub+spoke transhipment scenarios the relatively small size of the local market is irrelevant, e.g. Freeport/Bahamas, Salalah/Oman, Prince Rupert, and in aviation Anchorage etc.

        Liked by 9 people

      5. Alf: you put it more succinctly than I because I don’t have the expertise that you have in this field. I have looked back at pre Union Scotland and it is shocking. The hubs (of that day) that we had then was astounding. We built the ships to carry the freight, too. We had a first-class merchant navy. I take on board what Bruce is saying about costs to the exporter and, ultimately, the consumer, but these things are worked out by the governments of small countries just as they are by the governments of big countries.

        Scotland is rarely included in forward planning for this type of investment by the UK, so we miss out. They want to keep everything near the commercial hub of London, but there would be no pressing need on our part to do the same if we were independent: we could allocate investment and funding as we saw fit, taking costs into the equation. However, all we ever hear is how difficult it would all be, as if no other small country like ours ever did anything. I don’t believe that the kind of globalisation we have had up to now has worked particularly well for anybody, and the emerging economies, although, of course, they will trade right across the world, will be so keen on it when it starts to affect them, as well.

        The UK is in terminal decline – as the UK. As independent states, we might have a better time of it. Certainly, for Scotland, being able to take the macro decisions for us, as part of the world community of nations and states, would undoubtedly work better. It is as if an entirely wilful attitude towards acceptance of devolution has been adopted, and which suits the UK and the Unionists far more than it can ever possibly suit Scotland.

        Liked by 5 people

      6. Well said Alf, with you in a Scottish government position, it would help Scotland flourish immensely, I’d vote for you.

        Liked by 2 people

      7. You are absolutely correct Iain I worked for baa at Glasgow and they did everything possible to AVOID gaining transatlantic status , I applied to open a shop at Glasgow where I could sell SCOTTISH made tourist trinkets but the admin refused because they didn’t believe there was a market for it , a couple of years later Glasgow recd transatlantic status and someone in the know got that shop

        Liked by 2 people

  24. Excellent post and comments .

    As others have said ……why is information like this not being SHOUTED at every opportunity ? Rhetorical question .

    This is where the emphasis on ” Civic ” Nationalism to the exclusion of anything else is mortally flawed .

    While the NSNP are bending-over backwards , forwards , to the sides – disappearing up their collective fundament in process – to please everyone except the ” ordinary ” Scottish man and woman facts like the above are being ignored : incendiary information that if widely known and discussed would almost certainly win more Scots over to the cause .

    ” Ah but no one’s interested in this stuff ”

    How do we know ? they’ve never been given the opportunity to even hear about it .

    How many people outside the rainbow bubble are interested in the arcana of issues to do with Gender Ideology ?

    Yet we hear plenty about that .

    The pile of wasted opportunities is growing as fast as the pile of wasted mandates

    Liked by 10 people

    1. ” Ah but no one’s interested in this stuff ” You and I know Robert when it comes to people’s finances EVERYONE is interested in this stuff ,

      I am not a member of twatter but I used to go on and see what a guy who called himself ZARKWAN had posted , MOST of the information to expose and educate Scots to the rich natural resources we had were available to be printed off on HIS website for free , this guy had an enormous collection of information which HE had researched and produced to enable people to realise and challenge just how much LIES and MISINFORMATION re the fabled subsidised mantra being espoused was a load of tosh and waffle
      Unfortunately like many the guy became frustrated and angry that the deviant gang were only interested in taking everyone for mugs re indy AFAIK left twatter and the NSNP

      It is unbelievable that we cannot get this information out to the general electorate due to the blocking of it by the MSM and the very party who should be disseminating it to the people, to PROVE how rich Scotland is and how much WM and her Scots traitors have stolen from us

      Liked by 6 people

      1. Good morning Th . I’m not on Twatter either – only so much babble I’m willing to engage with – but that name is familiar and no surprise he withdrew out of frustration , many of us have been tempted to do the same , for the same reason .

        The iron grip of MSM on the flow of information is possibly the single most debilitating factor in our pursuit of Independence and every means possible should be used to counter it . That our supposed Independence * leadership * is equally complicit in this is beyond shameful .

        As we’ve seen , the virtual censorship/exclusion of ALBA has been * successful * in suppressing wider dissemination of their position/criticism of NSNP stalling tactics/ general idiocy and the Party is obliged to adopt a kind of information guerrilla warfare .

        Information , like water , can only be held back so long , eventually it will find a way to circumvent or erode even the most formidable obstacles . Lets hope when the levee breaks the political constipation we’ve endured will be relieved , the waste material swept away in it’s cleansing surge

        Liked by 5 people

  25. Neil Collins – bathymetric map? What’s that? Please explain. I do understand however that pumps, or system pressure will move oil and gas to whatever required destination. Aye Destination.

    Liked by 4 people

  26. oil, gas renewables etc had to be privatised simply because it diminishes the ‘scottish’ or ‘Extra regio’ tax revenue. Add to that the low tax regime the big energy companies have enjoyed over the decades. Had these resources been taxed properly (and nationalised) then the huge trade and fiscal surpluses would have been laid bare for all to see.

    The unionists love GERS because it singly talks about tax revenue. But the tax base is determined by the power base. The last 40 years are littered with examples of where London simply shredded Scotland’s tax base, whether it be oil, gas or the dismantling of our manufacturing industries and mining – with no alternatives put into place. In steps financial deregulation where the UK economy is turned into a Ponzi economy – and a government guaranteed one at that, as we found out in 2008 – The main proponents of the free market tend to be those who are protected from it.

    Not only were the bankers saved, but the life they became accustomed to was improved – no interruption to the private schooling, second homes etc. And the public purse still remains on hand to bail out the city, which will make the covid furlough funding look like small change.

    How would overseas investors view an independent Scotland? Would they look at tax revenue? Of course not, for the reasons above. No, they would be looking at resources – not only our natural capital, but our biological capital – our people and our skills and education levels – vindicating the ‘rocks will melt’ vow by Alex Salmond.

    London is terrified by Scotland’s wealth – our energy, water, soil, per capita. It all comes down to resources. No invading force makes for the central bank (there’s nothing there!). No they go to the oil and gas fields etc, where the real wealth of a country lies.

    Liked by 6 people

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