April 5th, 2025 – April 11th, 2025
Scottish Fire Service Fretting about …. Polyamory; Is Lobbying Out of Control? The Dangers of Digital ID ….. but first ….
Scottish U-Turn on Gene Editing
The SNP and Scottish government have U-turned on their historical opposition to genetically-edited (GE) and genetically-modified (GM) foods, opening the door to possible sales of both in Scotland. GM inserts genes from other organisms, while GE adds, removes or tweaks existing genes. In the aftermath of the Covid pandemic, the UK allowed both in as a sort of ‘Brexit’ bonus, deviating from the EU’s rules outlawing them.
As recently as last year, the SNP was fiercely opposed, as confirmed this year by Agriculture Minister Jim Fairlie. But now he has announced an abrupt U-turn on Genetic Editing, not only ending their opposition, but announcing that it is going to consult on ‘what a GE food system in Scotland should look like’.
Will it Harm Scotland’s Food and Drink Sector?
The EU is looking to relax its rules, which may have been what prompted Scotland’s move, and under the UK’s Internal Market Act Scotland cannot forbid the sale in Scotland of English GE or GM foods, but there are no plans to label unprocessed GE foods, leading to concerns that people will not be able to make informed decisions about whether to buy them.
Leonie Nimmo, executive director of campaigners GM Freeze, says it leaves ‘virtually no possibility for independent policies in the devolved nations’. Ruth Watson of Keep Scotland The Brand and Pat Thomas of Beyond GM, both remain unconvinced, saying that the merits of GE and GM have been overblown and are sometimes environmentally harmful.
Fancy a HR Coaching job at Police Scotland …
paying a mere £53,673 a year? You will be designing and leading individual coaching provision to senior leaders …. ‘informed from data and insight from both individual and team coaching’ as a ‘HR Consultant – Coaching’ (what?)
The third stand-alone sentence has no context, lead-in or follow up:
‘To imbed an evaluation methodology providing assurance on the quality of senior leaders through improved ethical leadership, strategic decision making, performance and impact’,
making it a part-sentence with no context.
Does the police actually need someone to coach senior leaders at all? Given the recent Scottish epidemic of shoplifting, mostly ignored by police; and housebreakings not investigated unless victims can solve their crime themselves, would more actual officers help, instead of more consultants?
Better late than never, Police Scotland have just announced a Retail Crime Taskforce, among other things to ‘encourage more reporting of shoplifting’, which might not need any encouragement if the police actually attended shoplifting incidents.
Fire Service Polyamory Bid
Worried about falling staff numbers or crushing budget cuts? No, the (Scottish) Fire Brigades Union is more concerned about polyamorous staff not having sufficient legal protections from discrimination at work! They have not clarified how they are discriminated against, how many people are affected, or whether anyone at work would know anyway, but it is the subject of a motion submitted for discussion at the STUC LGBT+ Workers Conference next month in Clydebank.
Much of the fire service regards the move as a ‘completely nuts’ move by radical activists seeking only to pursue their own niche agenda. An insider also claims the FBU in Scotland pushes the ‘woke agenda’ particularly hard in Scotland, and English colleagues are disgusted.
Without a shred of evidence of discrimination, the motion states there are no legal protections for the polyamorous, and bemoans the banning of rainbow lanyards at Holyrood as an attack on the LGBT+ community.
Abertay University Senior Sociology lecturer Dr Stuart Waiton called it ‘the institutionalisation of narcissism’. Meanwhile both the STUC and individual trade unions have shamefully erased gender-critical women from protections based on our sex.
HM Inspectorate of Prisons (HMIPS)
is calling for trans-identifying male prisoners to get taxpayer-funded wigs and underwear, as these items are too difficult to source from jail!! Have they not heard of Amazon? Prisoners are allowed to purchase underwear in jail, so that should be okay, but would wigs count as luxury goods?
Scottish Conservative Equalities Spokesperson Tess White has called for the protection of prison officers rather than pandering to prisoners’ potential lifestyle choices.
Scotland Flies Headlong into Digital ID
The Scottish government is rolling out a system which collates information about individuals, including photos and personal details, aiming to create a single centralised ID to tackle fraud and make it easier to prove who you are to access benefits and so on.
The ScotAccount has already been used for some services provided by public bodies, and will now be rolled out more widely, but some fear the storage of data in one place will make people vulnerable to identity theft and hacking, or allow misuse of data. And with cyber-hacking being used as a weapon of war in these volatile times, is it wise to put all our data, our entire identity, in one place?
ScotAccount is being rolled out on a voluntary basis (voluntary for whom?), but there are fears it could become mandatory to access any public services. UK campaigning group Big Brother Watch wants people to be given a legal right to a non-digital ID.
A Scottish government contract worth £1.18 million has just been awarded to Scott Logic, a Newcastle firm, for development and scaling-up.
Scottish Forestry ‘Complicit in Carbon Emissions’
Scottish Forestry is accused of being both a ‘cheerleader of tree planting’ and simultaneously its regulator, two aims which appear in conflict. For example, SF only rarely requires an environmental impact assessment and allows planting on peatlands up to half a metre deep, with landowners exempted by the Scottish government from repairing the damage caused by sitka spruce trees invading peatlands.
Forestry and Land Scotland owns 9% of Scotland on behalf of the public, but operates commercially to produce and supply timber, as well as support tourism and the rural economy and enhance biodiversity. Critics say it acts to the detriment of jobs, training and the rural environment. Both are executive agencies of the Scottish government, created on the dissolution of Forestry Commission Scotland in April 2019.
‘3000 Hectare’ Land Reform ‘won’t deliver’
Campaigners argue that the bill going through parliament seeking to create a ‘community engagement’ clause and the production of Land Management Plans will be ineffective if it stays at the current 3000-hectare threshold, particularly as it appears to allow land to be effectively lumped together despite being technically separate.
This is the case with the controversial development of Taymouth Castle and Glenlyon estate, technically separated from each other by two miles, but effectively part of the same development by Discovery Land Company. Campaigners argue that nearby separate plots should be regarded as together amounting to over 3000 acres, but they will not be. And that is without the other nearby estates like Moness Resort in Aberfeldy, Kenmore Hotel, the Paper Boat and other buildings, which are clearly part of Discovery Land Company’s overall single development plan.
Holyrood’s Net Zero, Energy and Transport Committee wants significant changes to the bill to meet meaningful objectives. They want the Scottish government to get the power to ‘lot’ large estates, that is, compulsorily break them up into smaller lots for sale. The Scottish Greens prefer a public interest test, rather than just taking the size of the estate, and meaningful powers for local communities. The bill recently passed its first Holyrood vote.
Should Scotland Outlaw ‘Corporate’ Lobbying?
Kate Forbes would probably say ‘No’ but if it was outlawed she would definitely have more time for other things, racking up as she has 100 meetings between May 2024 and February 2025, mostly meeting business interests. The Energy Industry accounted for 11% of lobbying activity under John Swinney, with SSE meeting ministers 13 times, and lobbied among other things for changes to Scotland’s planning system.
BP met ministers 10 times, promoting mostly its North Sea oil and gas business; NFU Scotland met 25 times with ministers; and self-catering associations met ministers 8 times to highlight the negative impact of the licensing scheme for short-term rentals on their businesses. But community interests and individuals have much less access and influence than organised lobbyists, and find it harder to meet with ministers, unless they are Stonewall or Scottish Trans. Perhaps lobbying should only be by individuals?
And not all lobbying is covered …
by laws dating from March 2018, which only cover face to face meetings, including those online. Exemptions apply to lobbying by phone, letters or email; lobbying by organisations with fewer than 10 full time staff or by unpaid volunteers; or if ministers themselves request factual information.
And if you have a Zoom meeting with the cameras turned off during the meeting, it is also exempt, as are meetings requested by MSPs and cross-party group discussions.
The Scandalous Cost of PFI Deals
Private Finance Initiative schemes, used to build schools, hospital and roads ‘off the books’ will cost Scottish councils over £500 million this year, despite being replaced by the Scottish government with non-profit schemes which aim to limit private profits to 5%. In the next budget year 2025/26 the cost will be over £1.1 billion, and some contracts also demand an extra payment at the end – a ‘buy back’ clause to bring the building back into public ownership, including Edinburgh’s Royal Infirmary, University Hospital Wishaw and the Police Scotland training centre at Jackton, East Kilbride. Audit Scotland report that the NHS is less than halfway through paying off its PFI debt.
SSE Cutting Renewables Jobs
At the same time as parent company SSE is cutting 148 jobs (10% of its workforce) and scrapping several renewable energy projects in Scotland, Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks (SSEN) has announced major investment in infrastructure in the north of Scotland. SSE cited rising supply chain costs, high interest rates and falling market prices, following its announcement last month that 55 jobs would be going from its energy services division in Northern Ireland.
But SSEN has no approval for its plans, despite support from Energy Minister Gillian Martin; and faces massive opposition from local communities. The Energy Minister seems keen and has met SSEN several times, yet refuses to meet local residents, who fear jobs will not materialise, citing the Beauly-Denny line which brought workers in from outside the area, who promptly disappeared home when the work ended.
Residents are rightly asking why more infrastructure and energy is needed, when Ofgem has said Scotland already has eight times what it needs. It appears it is needed to just be scooped up and sent south.
Finally,
Luna The Cat
Sophie Carty from Darlington was devastated when her beloved cat went missing for four months. But all was not lost. Her cat was chipped and registered with Petlog, a lost-and-found database. Sophie was contacted and made the 300-mile journey from her home to pick up her pet in Scotland, where Luna had somehow become locked in a shed at an Inverness hotel.
It is not clear whether she just fancied a holiday or hopped on board a caravan or delivery van, but when rescued she was in a fragile state from malnourishment, an infection and possible nerve damage. She was even partially paralysed.
But once a vet had given her antibiotics and painkillers, she staged a miraculous recovery. Although still needing some help in moving around, she is gradually on the mend, getting lots of attention and cuddles to help her on her way.