The world's most-read Scottish politics website

Wings Over Scotland


Heads you lose, tails you lose

Posted on April 27, 2012 by

The Scottish media this week has worked itself into an apoplectic rage over Alex Salmond acting (or rather, merely being prepared to act) in defence of thousands of Scottish jobs. It’s been an odd phenomenon to witness, but doubly so given that last week everyone was furious with him over some jobs that were lost.

Despite the fact that unemployment in Scotland (at 8.1%) is again lower than in the UK (8.3%), the situation remains extremely fragile and any government could expect severe criticism if it failed to do everything in its power to protect and create jobs. Yet Alex Salmond appears, on the evidence of the last few days, to be damned by the Scottish media if he does and damned if he doesn’t.

The taxpayer-funded BBC has a far more powerful influence in Scotland than News International, and is frequently portrayed by nationalists as the Union’s propaganda vehicle of choice. The allegations can sometimes be difficult to dispute however objective one would wish to be, and the BBC’s coverage of the Doosan furore last week was an instructive case.

The key to all corporate investment is confidence. Investors and global companies looking to invest in Scotland need to feel confident that they’re placing their capital investment in the right place, and the Scottish Government has worked tirelessly to create investor confidence for Scotland – particularly within the renewables sector, in the face of a barrage of scepticism from the opposition.

From the perspective of a major global company, share price is everything. CEOs eat, sleep and breathe their company share price. They obsess over it. And understandably, because it isn’t just desirable for a CEO to ensure the share price performs well, it’s actually their legal duty. So, for a company like Doosan (or any other company), proceeding or not proceeding with a major investment can and often does affect the share price adversely.

It’s no surprise, then, that any such company withdrawing (even temporarily) from a major investment would wish to minimise any media outcry about such a decision. All companies work in the same way – when Apple, say, is launching a new iPhone, there’s a blaze of publicity worldwide, but if the launch is delayed, then the news is released quietly, with as little media engagement as possible. Major companies pathologically fear adverse publicity, or too many questions over their investment choices. They do it to protect their share price, because the law obliges them to.

The role of governments (in this case, the Scottish Government) in such circumstances is delicate. Doosan haven’t cancelled their investment in Scotland, merely postponed it. If and when this project, or a similar one, does happen it’ll bring many jobs to Scotland – both directly, and indirectly to small Scottish engineering and support companies in the supply chain. In the current global economic climate, such investment is like gold dust.

In that light, it’s difficult to rationally criticise the Scottish Government for not running immediately to a TV studio to tell the world the bad news. There was no active suppression of the story – as has been noted, the information was freely available in the public domain long before the BBC “discovered” it – but the Scottish Government’s responsibility is to ensure the investment will eventually come, and as such the last thing they want to do is either upset or damage the company by undermining the market’s confidence in it.

It did, in other words, merely what any responsible government would do in the same circumstances. But the actions of the opposition and the BBC – barely able to conceal their giddy delight at the loss of Scottish jobs as a potential stick with which to beat the SNP – directly risked damaging Doosan and therefore the prospect of future investment in Scotland. It’s hard to avoid the conclusion, therefore, that they would regard such damage as a price worth paying to help prevent Scottish independence.

(Indeed, a prominent Labour activist was to be found on Twitter yesterday openly stating that in Salmond’s shoes he would have refused to “kowtow” to Murdoch even if it meant sacrificing thousands of Scottish jobs.)

The Scottish Government must constantly walk a tightrope to preserve investor confidence and try to protect Scottish employment – the Finance Secretary was last week in Asia, Doosan’s home continent, trying to further strengthen Scottish exports to that region and develop plans for investment in Scotland. The opposition, meanwhile, was weeping crocodile tears at lost Scottish jobs and rejoicing in the chance to attack the SNP, with the national broadcaster’s enthusiastic connivance. Scotland needs either body like the Titanic needed an iceberg.

Subscribe
Notify of
guest

6 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
douglas clark

That seems to sum it up.
 
The Unionists are at best half hearted about increasing job prospects in Scotland. If they don’t pass the purity test then they don’t back them. Indeed, if an increase in jobs in Scotland were to increase the prospect of a ‘Yes’ vote then they would vote against them. It is knee jerk politics of the worst order.

Kenny Campbell

New jobs under SNP government = bad
Lost jobs under SNP government = bad
 
Where the morality in that stance is, is not clear. 
 
to simplify the equation….
SNP Government = Bad
 
Best way for Salmond and Co to win to to keep doing all they can and let the results speak for themselves.

Macart

Good article RL, right on the nail.

Cybernat Depot

Most foreign companies have no in depth knowledge of the morals/ethics/politics of News International (particularly those from the East compared to those in the UK or USA.) 

All that the majority of foreign companies actually see is the barage of abuse coming from the Scottish media and political opposition aimed at a corporate entity.  They see the noise and are more likely to conclude that they don’t need it and look to invest elsewhere.

Unfortunately, it’s the actions of the media and opposition, not the Scottish Government that end up doing the real disservice and causing all the damage in this instance.

They’ll get worse before they get better because they’re blinded to it by their presuppositions.
 

Like we have always said Labour are deliberately keeping Scotland poor and keeping us down.
 

Longshanker

Scotland needs either body like the Titanic needed an iceberg


I doubt you would even know what an iceberg was judging by the lack of insight or perception in this piece. You’ve let RevStu down. At least his arguments are compelling.


  • About

    Wings Over Scotland is a (mainly) Scottish political media digest and monitor, which also offers its own commentary. (More)

    Stats: 6,670 Posts, 1,202,826 Comments

  • Recent Posts

  • Archives

  • Categories

  • Tags

  • Recent Comments

    • Hatey McHateface on The Long Unravelling: “Stupidity, surely. He’s standing with the burners of babies, the rapist mutilators of teenage lassies, the hostage takers, the indiscriminate…Nov 22, 07:27
    • Hatey McHateface on The Long Unravelling: “Well, well. So you do have an ‘S’ on your keyboard. It’s just “scotland” that has to go without. Who’d…Nov 22, 07:16
    • Hatey McHateface on The Long Unravelling: “‘This is not a case of me , you , or anyway else thinking our opinions are ” superior ”’…Nov 22, 07:07
    • Hatey McHateface on The Long Unravelling: “Sure, Breeks. The soil of Holy Mother R is, of course, sacred. The soil of everywhere else, like U for…Nov 22, 07:00
    • Hatey McHateface on The Long Unravelling: “Falling out of windows is certainly endemic in R and its satellites. But targets and innocent bystanders can also get…Nov 22, 06:53
    • Robert Hughes on The Long Unravelling: “Yes , indeed , B . I’ve never known such levels of mendacious propaganda being spewed 24/7 by MSM &…Nov 22, 06:03
    • Oneliner on The Long Unravelling: “Yep – better to stick to an ad hominem like ‘microbe’ Do you have any mirrors in your butt an’…Nov 22, 05:21
    • Mark Beggan on The Long Unravelling: “He should have grown a moustache like Neil Gray.Nov 22, 04:59
    • Breeks on The Long Unravelling: “I haven’t either, indeed it’s something of a fallacy calling them newspapers. A cursory glance in the direction of the…Nov 22, 04:56
    • The Flying Iron of Doom on The Long Unravelling: “Don’t you mean “You fall out with the Tsar, you fall out of a window”? 🙂Nov 22, 03:00
    • Robert Matthews on The Long Unravelling: “https://www.progressscotland.org/uploads/Progress-Scotland-Nov-Release.pdfNov 22, 02:51
    • Robert Matthews on The Long Unravelling: “https://www.progressscotland.org/uploads/Progress-Scotland-Nov-Release.pdfNov 22, 02:49
    • Robert Matthews on The Long Unravelling: “Julius Evola – The Yoga of Power: Tantra, Shakti and the Secret Way, should steer you in the Right direction.Nov 22, 02:43
    • Campbell Clansman on The Long Unravelling: “I see that I’m living rent-free in your head. … Perhaps you’d explain how childish name-calling advances your cause?Nov 22, 02:23
    • Michael Laing on The Long Unravelling: “Perhaps you could explain to us, Camp Bellend, how Scotland benefits from being in the UK? How does having governments…Nov 21, 23:37
    • Michael Laing on The Long Unravelling: “It’s deliberate. He’s an unelected UK state plant. He’s just continuing the sabotage and destruction that’s been ongoing since 2014.Nov 21, 23:11
    • Zander Tait on The Long Unravelling: “You do like your facts embedded in your fantasy future Dumpster CamelMan. Unfortunately for you Cancer FannyBaws the last two…Nov 21, 22:58
    • Shug on The Long Unravelling: “I do hope Swinney and co turn up at Salmond’s memorial so we can tell them what we think of…Nov 21, 22:52
    • wull on The Long Unravelling: “Flynn should also have known that Alex Salmond also donated one of the two salaries he had at one point…Nov 21, 22:39
    • Campbell Clansman on The Long Unravelling: “Glasgow is an Indy stronghold. If these areas vote 2-1 Unionist parties, all the Alba/Salvo fantasies and all the lies…Nov 21, 22:37
    • Zander Tait on The Long Unravelling: “There ain’t no medals for his kind of bravery.Nov 21, 21:38
    • Mac on The Long Unravelling: “I have not bought a newspaper in 20 years but I have an X subscription which I bought just a…Nov 21, 21:30
    • Mac on The Long Unravelling: “What Craig Murray is doing is beyond brave. I really thought he had a death wish this last couple of…Nov 21, 20:56
    • Ian Brotherhood on The Long Unravelling: “Watching that right now. It’s remarkable, listening to these people, (regardless of whether you agree with them or not) and…Nov 21, 20:50
    • znovak on The Long Unravelling: “Craig Murray’s argument about purity is fallacious. When organic chemists say that that the product of synthesis was 95% pure,…Nov 21, 20:46
    • Zander Tait on The Long Unravelling: “And you are a thing of wonder, Camel Humpster TransMan. Let’s see, the last 2 polls on Scottish Independence clearly…Nov 21, 20:31
    • Campbell Clansman on The Long Unravelling: “There are four council elections today. Three are in Glasgow, an SNP stronghold. I wonder if the “Indy” parties (assuming…Nov 21, 20:12
    • George Ferguson on The Long Unravelling: “I was surprised Flynn didn’t know that Ross donated one of his salaries to charity when questioned on the Sunday…Nov 21, 19:41
    • Zander Tait on The Long Unravelling: “And, of course, let’s not forget the double salary, double staff and double expenses. There are few more impressive sights…Nov 21, 19:17
    • George Ferguson on The Long Unravelling: “Stephen Flynn finding out that double jobbing motivated by naked ambition is not a good look especially when sitting politicians…Nov 21, 19:09
  • A tall tale



↑ Top
114
0
Would love your thoughts, please comment.x
()
x