July 5th – July 11th 2025
Does Dundee University have a ‘Woman Problem’? Why Can’t We get rid of Seagulls? Advertisers Shun Scotland… but first …
UK Looks to Rescue English Refinery but not Grangemouth
The UK government is working to rescue an English oil refinery where hundreds of jobs are at risk. The Lindsey refinery in North Lincolnshire, owned by Prax Group and parent company State Oil, have 620 jobs at stake. The SNP’s Graham Leadbitter pointed out the hypocrisy of the UK ‘pulling out all the stops’ to help the English firm when they refused to help Grangemouth.
More than 80 potential investors have come forward since the UK pledged £200 million for the Grangemouth site, but a £200 million pledge isn’t the same as saving the Grangemouth refinery.
And Scunthorpe Blast Furnaces Were Saved
The UK government did, however, use its emergency powers swiftly to save British Steel in Scunthorpe and the firm now has a £500 million five-year deal with Network Rail for 337,000 tonnes of rail track, securing thousands of manufacturing jobs. The contract avoided hold-ups on grounds of public procurement rules as both firms are UK-government owned.
The Long List who Don’t Trust Scotland
….to advertise Scotland. Irn-Bru, Tennent’s, Highland Spring, VisitScotland, Scottish Water, Shelter Scotland, National Trust for Scotland, Quality Meat Scotland, Brand Scotland and even the Scottish government have all commissioned TV ads and promotional videos produced and/or directed by those based outside Scotland, predominately in London. Worse, creative agencies based in Scotland are even hiring talent outside Scotland to make those adverts.
True, they aren’t obliged to use Scottish-based marketing people, but not doing so reinforces the perceived bias against Scotland’s screen sector. Fewer than 38% of directors on public service broadcasts which are shown as Scottish in the latest Ofcom Made Out Of London register are based in Scotland.
Ferry Lifeline for Businesses
The Scottish government has announced a £4.4 million support fund for island businesses affected by ferry disruption. The Island Business Resilience Fund (IBRF) will pay grants up to £35,000 to eligible businesses on South Uist, Colonsay, North Uist, Eriskay, Benbecula, Berneray, Grimsay and Arran for businesses reliant on tourism or producing perishable goods like seafood.
The fund is open for applications from July 22nd until midday on September 1st, with decisions and payments expected by October 31st.
The geographical restriction is based on islands which have had more than 15% of services disrupted over the last 3 years, compared with an average 7% disruption in the CalMac ferry network in general. But Mull and Iona Ferry Committee claim the fund is ‘exclusionary’.
Ferguson Marine Needs More Funding
Meanwhile, Holyrood’s Public Audit Committee has found extensive failings at the Ferguson Marine site in Port Glasgow, including leadership and board instability, inadequate internal audits, poor contractor oversight and governance failures over exit packages for senior staff. The government have currently halted a subsidy which the yard needed to keep going. It was thought the yard would get the ‘Seven Small Ferries’ contract but that went to a Polish company after tender; two other ferry contracts went to Turkey.
Transport Secretary Fiona Hyslop admitted that a ‘substantial subsidy’ would have been needed for the 7-ferries contract, which the Scottish government felt was unjustified.
Does Dundee University have a ‘Woman Problem’?
Two female professors at Dundee University say a culture of sexism exists at the university, saying four female professors have been ‘targetted for compulsory redundancy before men’ in the School of Science and Engineering, with no male professors made redundant.
An independent report into Dundee University found female staff members being ‘spoken over, sidelined and called obstructive’ if they tried to be heard. The four being made redundant are the only ones with research responsibilities. Seventeen male professors remain untouched. Two of the four professors, Angela Daly and Annalu Waller, say there is also a 14.8% sex-based pay gap in favour of male staff. The university has denied all allegations.
MOWI working conditions slammed
Controversial Norwegian fish-farming firm MOWI, which has 1000 workers at Rosyth, is being accused of poor working conditions at the plant, including a dire lack of toilets and washing facilities, timed seven-minute toilet breaks, and inadequate seating in the canteen, forcing some workers to eat standing up during half-hour breaks. The Bakers Food and Allied Workers Union accuses the firm of ignoring Health and Safety Executive advice. The union claims workers must work for prolonged periods in almost freezing temperatures, and say the firm also have risky manual handling practices; the union also has concerns over the firm’s sickness policy.
MOWI’s Unimpressive Track Record
The BFAWU union is asking the HSE to attend unannounced, alleging that management have in fact been notified of previous ‘unannounced visits’. Fife MSP Alex Rowley has also been notified of conditions at the firm by his constituents, and found the firm ‘defensive’ and staff ‘frightened to speak out’.
This is not the firm’s first skirmish. It was accused of destroying a large part of the Murray’s Cauld Weir on the Ettrick Water in Selkirk, through inaction, leading to the sale of its nearby fish farm to a local businessman who commenced remedial work. Its operations in Chile have resulted in millions of fish dying from Infectious Salmon Anaemia (ISA). Infections were alleged to be caused by overuse of antibiotics in Chile and having fish pens too close to each other. Private Eye magazine claimed in 2017 that MOWI deposited large quantities of the insecticide azamethiphos into Scottish waters to control sea lice in salmon. It allegedly overstocked a fish farm in County Kerry, Ireland, leading to it losing a fish farm licence.
And in 2020, MOWI Scotland assistant manager Clive Hendry, died after being crushed between a workboat and a large barge and drowning. On that occasion the Marine Accident Investigation Branch criticised MOWI safety processes, saying they should introduce processes to comply with the International Safety Management Code.
Should Scotland Go Nuclear? (2)
Nuclear Lobbying Rises
MSPs have met more than 50 times with nuclear power lobbyists who are trying to reverse the Scottish government’s opposition to nuclear power. Scottish Labour says the Scottish government’s opposition is ‘stifling investment’. Scottish Energy Secretary Gillian Martin said the Scottish government’s plans centred on renewables rather than nuclear. Local MSP Paul McLennan wants those employed currently at Torness to ‘super-charge’ the journey to net zero and ‘work with a range of stakeholders’ to deliver the Just Transition, but it is not clear how the transition will actually play out. Labour MP for Lothian East Douglas Alexander does not want Torness’ nuclear expertise to be discarded, but should be used to continue to deliver nuclear power from the site.
Union Supports Nuclear Energy
GMB Scotland has joined calls for Scotland to end its opposition to nuclear energy, putting forward plans for two new reactors which could employ up to 1000 workers at the Torness site in East Lothian which is facing closure. Over the years, Torness station has contributed over £16 billion to the UK economy since 1988, according to an admittedly biased observer, the Torness station direction Paul Forrest, generating 21.5% of the UK’s total nuclear output and over 22% of the pre-tax earnings of the whole of the UK’s Nuclear Operations business.
GMB Scotland is instead focussed on the jobs possibilities of nuclear, suggesting 800 jobs could be created at the already-closed Hunterston site, and 900 at Torness, and pointing out that the government’s ‘Just Transition’ is going so well that according to Robert Gordon University, 200 jobs will be shed from offshore industry every week for the next five years.
Seagull Menace
MSP Douglas Ross has accused the Scottish government of being ‘on the side of the seagulls’ and not of public safety, at the same time as concerns have been raised over the licensing system run by NatureScot for controlling gull numbers, with less than a quarter of the number of licences granted in 2024 (505) as in 2023 (2041). Ross pointed out the conflict of interest for NatureScot, who seek to conserve and preserve bird numbers while simultaneously controlling applications to regulate (cull) bird numbers.
NatureScot keeps a record of bird deaths and injuries but no record of people injured by gulls, which have been responsible for serious injuries including causing falls by elderly people, and a lot of instances of aggressive seagulls taking food from the hands of passers-by and nipping their faces. Ross said the gulls’ constant screeching is also causing people mental health issues.
Jim Fairlie pointed out the difficulty that NatureScot issued licences based on their own guidance, which does not allow culling for ‘menace or nuisance’, but only on ‘health and safety grounds’. Although it does not seem to be working for people, the power remains delegated to NatureScot for now.
Scottish Prisons ‘more progressive’ than English jails
…. at least in providing entertainment for prisoners, who can watch DVDs portraying extreme criminal activity, sex and drug use despite an epidemic of violence behind bars, and despite such films being outlawed in English jails since 2013. The Prison Officers Association has begged the authorities to ban these films from Scottish jails but the Scottish Prison Service refuses to review what prisoners can watch!
Violence against prison officers is widespread, with more than 250 assaults on average yearly on prison staff over the last decade. What prisoners watch, though, is apparently at the discretion of the governor, and there are no plans to change that.
Finally,
Deaf teenager Niamdh Braid has welcomed the passing of a bill legally recognising students and teachers who use British Sign Language (BSL). She was integral in the passage of this bill, having previously taken Fife Council to a tribunal after they denied her access to a BSL interpreter in Auchmuty High School, Fife, despite it being designated as a base for deaf support services. She won the case having successfully argued the council had denied her full access to learning for her whole school career, placing her at substantial disadvantage.
As a result, she struggled to make notes, having to try and lip-read and write notes at the same time. The bill, which initially recognised only Gaelic learners, was passed by 69 votes to 47.
The National Deaf Children’s Society (NDCS) welcomed the news, saying deaf children are at the moment three times as likely to leave school without any qualifications. They hope this will now change.
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