The neverending plague
Posted on
September 03, 2014 by
Rev. Stuart Campbell
From industry recruitment website oilandgaspeople.com today:
Another 100 years? A trillion pounds? When will this curse be lifted from Scotland?
Please, no more resources. we are clearly too wee too poor and too stupid to deal with it all.
I reckon Westminster know this too.
A BP survey for the area in question has gone missing.
We’re not genetically disposed to cope with such a huge problem. Let’s just get in the back of the bus and let westminster handle it for us. Mmmmmmm…….mibye naw.
To much resources are too much for wee stoopid poor people. It’s their economy stupid.
How are we going to cope? Must ask my neighbour to do it for me.
And this will come as no sudden news at all to Sir ( soon to be Lord ) Ian Wood, ” highly respected ” oil tycoon.
Just make sure the geiger counters are engaged as these areas may also yield great amounts of undiscovered nuclear waste too
…and when will the mainstream media start reporting it?
Can we get something from the doctor to help against this terrible plague that will strike us all upon independence? LOL
link to nairnyes.wordpress.com
Posts being blocked. What’s going on??
Form the article …
“The British Geology Survey specialist, Howard Johnson, team leader on Continental Margins, stated that: “There is no doubt that there are considerable reserves of oil and gas in the British North Atlantic sector ….. ”
…. too wee, too poor, too stupid and to top that, cursed with vast oil and gas resources.
Another DOS attack?
Its the wrong type though. Scottish oil is the volatile stuff, nae use. Everyone else has the good stuff.
Yet super rich gazillionaire oil man Sir “John” Wood says its all running out in 15 years and PM Cameron makes first UKOK prime minister visit to Shetland since early 60’s, on the qt too, shock!
Its super rich Sir Ian but a miserable old NO grincher kept calling his vote NO hero Sir John Wood, last night STV debate.
But but but this can’t be right. Our masters in Westminster, more intelligent and honest than all of us, says the oil will soon run out. Why won’t these oil companies believe the experts in Westminster?!
Makes you laugh, so it does…
If Yes win on the 19th, I would love to be a fly on the wall when Cameron has to meet the Queen to discuss how Scotland was able to secede from the Union. Oh the excuses…
That fly will eventually fall off the wall because it was too busy holding its sides with laughter…
Don’t tell the BBC, they might tell everybody.
@Cris Thacker
Norway’s biggest economic problem at the moment is that they have too much money they cannot use it all (without inducing undesirable economic or social effects).
It is not a bad problem to have and just begs for creative solutions.
It is not like back when Jack McConnel’s Labour ‘administration’ at Holyrood handed 10s of millions of unspent pounds back to a Labour chancellery at Westminster and crowed about it. And they wondered at the rise of the SNP. Numpties.
One thing the Norwegians consciously do is spend money to keep their landmass occupied. Tromso above the Arctic Circle cannot be cheap to run for eg but they do it rather than concentrate lots of stuff just around Stockholm which they could do. The attitude of the SNP government to the Islands and Highlands suggest they have learned that lesson and with more economic levers after Independence youngsters may not have to leave home to get a good job.
We have seen what can happen when you have large areas of empty unoccupied land. Terrorist training camps are only part of it.
We can repopulate the Highlands. That will require land reform but that is doable. A comprehensive land registry comes first, which is in progress. Finally.
Yes but the real benefit is sharing and pooling resources. So we pool the resources and share HS2. Simple
So, the future oil volatility an independent Scotland will be forced to endure is double what the YES campaign admits to in public.
You couldn’t make it up.
I was trying to remind people of the incredibly popular youtube that dared to speak the truth about the Independence Referendum from America.
With another reminder to please help to get this guy over for some badly needed unbiased reporting of the Independence Referendum.
Just Google – Will McLeod Fly Me To Scotland. It’s on gofundme.
I’m assuming links are being disabled right now for some reason.
[…] « The neverending plague […]
@JLT
The monarch has remained studiously silent on the referendum. Since they stand not to lose any of their multitudinous crowns this is not surprising. Also they have not kept going for so long without some political nous. They are more likely to keep the Crown of Scotland if they stay schtum than if they come out for No. This is aided and abetted by the SNP not wishing to scare more horses than absolutely necessary. After March 2016 however all bets are off and if Brenda pops her clogs ditto.
If we give this windfall away again to be pissed against the wall down South, I will be rather miffed.
As I work in the Oil and Gas industry I am completely unsurprised by these details however having spoken to many people over recent months I have found that the Yes voters believe this to be a bonus for Scotland’s future but not an absolute necessity whereas the No voters use it as a crucial clause that if the oil is not as prolific as the truth investors are believing it will all be doom and gloom. I just hope the undecided realise that the billions being invested is not because major operators and the shareholders behind them don’t like money, if there was no future for the O&G industry most investors would already be gone.
Distaste for Scotland. To quote Arthur Montford.
Will this never end?I might not even be alive in 100 years. The horror, the horror. At this rate even my grandweans grandweans will be suffering fron this oil bonanza and here’s me no’ genetically equiped. Ahhhhh!
Muscleguy – Stockholm’s in Sweden.
And ‘they’ never ever had an inkling, and want to keep us hitched to Westminster because they love their families, and Scotland.
Yeah.
Scene from ‘There Will Be Blood’ –
link to youtube.com
Only Trident equals the importance of Scotland’s rich resources in the mind of the pompous, self serving, greedy British State.
Our country has been bled of people & resources for well over a 100 years. How else does one explain a population that has grown by a miserable 6% compared to England’s 67% since 1911?
People inevitably follow the money and to Scotland’s great harm, much of our wealth has been extracted for London’s exclusive gain while those who remained, scratched a living from the crumbling remains of a once industrious society.
While London builds multi billion pound tunnels, sewerage systems, airport extensions, an Olympic Park, a Dome, a new financial hub & other major city projects, Scotland is left to wonder why the A9 still remains single carriageway for much of the journey between Inverness & Perth & why the oil capital of Europe doesn’t have a motorway closer than 100 miles away.
We really have been taken for mugs.
OMG… what are we goingh to do with this burden??
*disaster
Going… sorry , treat it as a silent H
I really think we should donate some to the North of England, Wales and Northern Ireland.
It is just not fair having so much oil.
Or I suppose, we could give them some support for our “overseas aid” budget ?
Reporting Scotland headlines – Blow to Yes campaign as latest report suggests Scotland may drown in oil.
Last night STV debate, future Labour Lord Douglas Alexander said there is no ukok oil pension like Norway has because in 1979 a few SNP MP’s voted for Thatcher. Not bad even for a hard core ligger like future Lord Dougie but UKOK oil paid for Thatchers millions on the dole and the rest of its been pissed away on all that UKOK good stuff like catastrophic middle east wars, WMD’s, tax evasion and swish motorways across teamGEnlgandB.
Here’s the problem facing richest country in the world Norway and what do they invest ethically.
link to worldcrunch.com
UKOK is bankrupt
Och if only wee Ruthie had mentioned this last night. I could have changed my mind and slept easier. Surely it must be Naw now.
Double the reserves. That’s double the volatility, so we better vote NO.
Seriously, the YES campaigners and spokespeople need to get this news out pronto. Last night Ruth Davidson was given free reign to spout about Ian Wood’s recent gloomy predictions and no one at all challenged her. She harped on about Wood being THE expert on North Sea oil production. It is as if the YES team are afraid to criticise Ian Wood’s recent intervention.
What the frack is going on?
BTW Rev, rice crispies may be nice but a good breakfast they are not. Rice is inherently high GI, making it into crispies basically means they are tantamount to sugar. You’ll be hungry again before lunchtime. Porrage, muesli, shreddies (or other high fibre equivalent) or whole grain toast. An occasional fry up won’t kill you so long as it’s occasional. Add a fried tomato for your health.
New post, please share
Project: What The F**k? | todayinscotland
link to todayinscotland.wordpress.com
Muscleguy
Can you not cover them in chocolate and serve them up with a nice cup of tea…
Well, well – cost of new ground for West Ham soaring to double the Olympic budget, shared by Scotland of course.
Don’t worry,just run off now and let Westminster take your burden. Aye right!
@ Indy_Scot…
I hope you don’t mind my borrowing your great headline!
John Bettie has Prof Kemp on to speak on this on Radio Scotland show. Will hopefully make TV so the “too poor” NAWS can hear it..
OT. BREAKING TODAY.The UK’s former Ambassador to NATO has said she will be voting Yes in the independence referendum. She dismissed claims put forward by opponents of independence that a newly independent Scotland would be blocked from joining NATO.
In a letter to the Scotsman newspaper, Mariot Leslie, said: “I shall be voting Yes on 18 September.
“I am a democrat, and believe that the geography, economy, demography and politics of our country are so distinctive that they are best served by our own sovereign government.”
Tomorrow’s headline…’Disaster for Salmond and the SNP’
I would be delighted.
I wonder if this news(?) will see a few Scottish MPs from all sides that are borderline No and too scared of either the establishment or losing their Westminster perks to back Yes, now come out and back Yes.
…just as we had a chance of winning this had to happen. The blight of more oil will scupper our chances now.
What a surprise this must be to Westminster – I’m sure they knew nothing about it! 😀
Not sure I want to own 10% of West Ham.
There are two great articles on Business for Scotland regarding West Coast oil:
Clair Ridge and Scotlands new oil boom and
Better Exploration techniques
The second link has a very interesting image showing the area where ‘fractured basement reservoirs’ are known to exist – Basically all the way down the west coast.
Very important, because 2 months ago, Hurricane Energy found 200 million barrels in their Lancaster well to the West of Shetland.
Proving they could flow at good rates for the first time in Scottish waters using long horizontal wells.
The massive Clair field also has a similar fractured,oil filled structure underlying the entire field – not included in current reserves.
BP is testing it now, but won’t release results until the full appraisal program is over..
This latest news will NOT be appearing on the BBC website any time soon. Instead we get to read about the “Happy Adventures of Jim Murphy M.P”. What a great media we “currently” have. I for one will be glad to give them all the big boot right out of Scotland.
In this week’s Troon Times a wee article about exploration off Ayrshire coast. There’s a wee question buttons thing that you need to use first but, it’s free access after that.
link to troontimes.com
Aw naw. That’s us well and truly snookered now! Too much!! Haha
UK has no state oil pension but 3rd most extremes of wealth and poverty, giant national debt, huge deficit, City destroyed economy 2008 but keep taking bonuses/tax dodging on their own losses, poorest pay ultimate price, soup kitchens everywhere, illegal invasion Iraq triggers a hell on earth in the middle east that doesn’t look like ending and they want to buy £100+bn Trident 2 in Faslane
So can someone somewhere explain why this garbage union makes us safe, secure, pooling and sharing, above our weight punching, and then they call Scotland the scrounger region.
I remember distinctly in the early 70’s being told by those in the government through the media (just Radio, TV and Newspaper’s in these days) that the Oil would not last and it was the wrong type of oil, not suitable for fuel or some uses. Think we were told that it would only last 20 or 30 years.
It was about the time that I went for a job in Leith at a ships agency. They were expanding dues to the increase in oil related traffic.
I innocently asked, what happens when the oil runs out. The manager laughed in that knowing way and said ‘no, son, it will last longer than you think’ (it was the 70’s remember, so a bit like a scene from ‘Life on Mars’ tv series, so all managers were condescending 😉 )
Onward,
‘won’t release results until the full appraisal program is over..’
It’s that spellcheck again isn’t it?
Surely, should have been, ‘until the referendum is over’.
Looks like the terror and Ukraine/Russia fearmongering is getting ramped up with no doubt a NATO scare being arranged regards indy. Just saw a survey by SKY saying, worryingly, that 81% of Brits in favour of bombing middle east.
This is what happens when you have a state controlled media and folk quickly forget the results of the previous escapades in that region.
Oh No – I have just realised …
Double the Oil means Double the Volatility.
How will we cope?
Let’s make this unpolitical and simple for HMG & friends.
1 – How much oil & gas lies underneath the firth of clyde to the boundary with northern irish waters?
2 – How much oil @ gas lies in Scottish waters off the west coast out to rockall and up to the northern boundaries of Scottish waters past shetland?
3 – how much coal lies under Scottish North Sea?
HMG tries to ignore and avoid these questions so the true extent of Scottish wealth can be AVOIDED until they get their grubby paws on it in the event of a no vote.
Then we might find out the purpose of ordering 600 armoured cars should they be needed.
We are being conned and tricked by the Westminster establishment and HMG. OUR MATES AYE RIGHT.
Oil and Gas Man (winks): “Well, Mr Cameron, that’s it out now. UK oil reserves doubled. 100 years production. We waited until 1st September like you asked!”
David Cameron PM (holding back the tears): “I clearly said, and I said it three times. October! I went down on my knees and I begged you to wait until 1st October!”
@heedtracker….I’d love to read that article but the site is blocking me. Is it available anywhere else?
Has anyone got Westminster’s phone number? We need to get them to help exploit the new oil reserves.
@Iain Gray’s Subway Lament remember to remove the http:// before posting Youtube URL as this site adds that on posting and won’t post if you include it.
Jim Thomson
The ‘Stril Explorer’ is currently in Belfast
but its track shows that it has been going up and down, like a demented floor walker, in the area between the Stranraer peninsula of Portpatrick and Northern Ireland like its looking for something
This is what Westminster/bettertogetherBBC etc brought to the UK
link to news.bbc.co.uk
It has been a curse in one sense only – without it would Westminster have mounted the same scale of propaganda, misinformation and fear campaign against the Scottish people? Or lobbied quite so many foreign government’s, international bodies, Scottish and rUK businesses to try and keep us in the fold.
Without the oil and gas we may have been independent already.
It ceases to be a curse on September 19th with a strong Yes win.
Have we heard one apology for the deception revealed by McCrone?
@Iain Gray’s Subway Lament
With another reminder to please help to get this guy over for some badly needed unbiased reporting of the Independence Referendum.
_____
With all due respect to the guy there is only two weeks Thursday until the referendum so not much point in him coming over here when we can listen to his reporting online as you have provided links which I have bookmarked.
Sorry if this comes across badly as that is not my intention.
Yes,the oil situation just gets worse and worse, do not know how we will be able to use all the revenue.
Here we see just why the UK are soo desperate to keep us hog tied. Without us they are screwed, this IS their interests in Scotland, plunder of resources.
Listening ( briefly ) To BBCS call Kay, they produced some nutty professor ( just how many do the Unionists have?)
who was talking about ISIS or whatever they call themselves now. We need to do anything to stop them, after all the UK has international reach, and is a Global Power. That is why I am proud to be British he proclaimed.
FFS, where do they find these loonies!
‘Scotland has an abundance of natural resources, the most controversial of which is Oil. Whether you believe in the most conservative or the most liberal estimates, it is an asset that will eventually run out. Scotland cannot be an economy built on Oil forever, but as other oil-rich countries are doing, we can use the revenues while we can to invest in the next generation of industries that will help our economy and society endure. If there is more than we expect, or new assets are discovered, then it will be all the better to build an even stronger economy. But if not, then the quicker we use the assets we have to invest in future economic growth sectors, the better.’
link to businessforscotland.co.uk
Bollocks to the union, tout court.
Vote Yes to Scottish independence on September 18.
Yep, this is exciting… I went to the BBC Scotland news website to see how they were reporting it…….
…. We’re hosting the Sheepdog Trials in Tain.
Surely it should be the unionist liars and doom mongers that should be on trial!
Is it true that Scotland’s oil was used to fund unemployment benefits during Thatcher’s destruction of industry in the UK?
Blow to Salmond as Scotland drowns in volatile oil.
We’re chust not genetically programmed to accept all this wealth from our oceans…..
Help ma boab 🙂
Hey Edward, that makes three of us, we distinct remember that as well. It was only suitable for aircraft. Well we know differently now.
Surely we’ll not cope with all that Oil, the revenue it would provide, the Industry it would support, the hundreds of jobs created, the rebirth of areas blighted by industrial collapse in the 80’s..etc..
If only there was a far away political establishment that could assist us with the BURDEN and so we can help with their ‘Pooling and Sharing of Resources.’
Thank god we’re about to become an Independent nation..
Oops Distinctly not distinct.
@JLT
I reckon Betty would gain huge approval if she told her government to stop playing silly buggers. Not actually come out for any size, just ensuring HMG does not abuse over 5 million of her subjects.
This, of course never happen. Firstly, because of the present constitutional setup we are trying to escape. Secondly…
Chumbawamba (2000) Her Majesty (The Beatles, a reworking)
link to youtube.com
OMG! Won’t anyone think of the volatility
(Of course Westminster already knows all about this…who really thinks they give a flying one about Scotland and the Scottish people)
Well, I for for one, don’t believe it because there’s nothing about it on the BBC.
There is however a story about “sterlingisation” and that it’s quite certain that we won’t get into Europe. Nosiree. It’s not happening. Absolutely no doubt. Don’t even bother asking. The answer’s no now what’s the question?
I’m voting no because Vladimir Putin is on the march and if we didn’t have nuclear weapons then we’d be the same as Ukraine. It’s hard to fault Ruth’s logic.
Best off if we give our oil to WM so that they can buy nukes and angry looking vans and save us from ourselves.
OT
Are 600 armoured vehicles an Asset.?
Presumably, Scots taxes will be reduced to reflect the fact that our tax has never bought any UK Assets.?
Jim @ 12 O’clock, it was used to fund her social engineering programme, as well as the destruction of the Industrial base.
I am old enough to remember the days when every new oil discovery was greeted with joy and huge banner headlines on the front pages. Why doesn’t that happen in these pre referendum days?
OT. Two BT leaflets arrived by Royal Mail today. One addressed to my wife, one to my daughter. Hey, where’s mine! Does this mean I’m on their database as a lost cause? And how did that come about. Interesting.
While it’s the usual crock of excrement, I detect it’s been toned down on the blantant lies front. Though perhaps deceptively woolly might a good description. ” FACT by staying in the United Kingdom ….. we have better public services”. What does that actually mean? Yes, we have better public services. That is a fact. However that has nothing to do with staying in the UK, historically or in the future.
Time to give these characters their jotters!
You DO realise that discovering all this extra oil can only have one result- the reduction in value of boe?
IT just TOO much!
Jim says:
Yes, absolutely true, that and regeneration projects in the South of England.
Hmmm, history repeats!
@G H Graham
While London builds multi billion pound tunnels, sewerage systems, airport extensions, an Olympic Park, a Dome, a new financial hub & other major city projects, Scotland is left to wonder why the A9 still remains single carriageway for much of the journey between Inverness & Perth & why the oil capital of Europe doesn’t have a motorway closer than 100 miles away.
Says it all.
Meanwhile, Norway can afford to drill hundred of miles of road tunnels through mountains, and is even planning a ship tunnel and floating road tunnel.
O/T The good news for Yes continues – Former UK ambassador to Nato is voting Yes and says Nato will welcome an independent Scotland:
“A democratic, non-nuclear Scotland with strong military and technological traditions would fit naturally alongside similar Nato members in Northern Europe, and would be likely to join them – and the UK – in looking for multinational solutions to the pressures on their defence budgets”
link to news.stv.tv
Angus Robertson asks good question in PMQs about Nato membership. Cameron blusters even more than Darling.
@Jim
With all due respect to yourself you don’t seem to realise that in the next two weeks a massive chunk of the entire world’s press and media will be descending on scotland. So it’s a wee bit important to get some of them over here who we know can see past the incessant westminster ‘better together’ spin.
@Capella
Thank you kindly Capella. 🙂
I shall give it another go with, the youtube that dared to speak the truth about scotland’s independence referendum.
link to youtube.com
And the fundraiser to help get some unbiased reporting of it over here when for the hordes of Fox News and other ‘trustworthy’ media outlets start appearing in scotland to add their spin to the Independence referendum.
link to gofundme.com
Hey, I just tried to post on Scotsman (I know – a waste of time) but I referred to Wings Over Scotland (quite innocently and in a perfectly respectful, polite comment) but my comment was denied posting with the creepy statement popping up, ‘We will not post your comment until you remove the words ‘Wings Over Scotland’. So Wings Over Scotland is now a swear phrase! There it is! The true face of UK MSM’s censor machine in action! What a country! What a newspaper! Free press? My ‘Wings over Scotland’ erse!
Scottish oil is like the comments on Wings – they keep coming so fast it’s difficult to keep up..! 😉
Flood warning for Salmond!
Cuilean
The Scotsman is a deranged rag, I don’t even look at their on line copy any more.
How is that there are still people in Scotland who intend to vote to keep sending our wealth South to finance vanity projects like HS2, the aircraft carriers and of course Trident? Why do people not make the connection between our money going South and tax cuts for millionaires? What is it that people don’t understand about keeping our own wealth and using it to eliminate poverty, create a just and caring society and creating a vibrant economy?
Where are we going wrong? We should be winning this by 90% to 10% And the 10% should be just the cranks and little Englanders. Do these people not see the connection between poverty in Scotland and ermine robes, multi-million pound country estates, fancy cars and yachts in the South of England? Have the Better Together No Thanks mob really been so successful that still, around half of the voters in Scotland say they are going to keep this corruption going?
I am gobsmacked that so many of my fellow Scots appear to be taken in by the BTNT propaganda. Voting Yes really is a no-brainer for anyone who has a brain (if that’s not a contradiction in terms). My questions above are not rhetorical – if anyone has a better understanding than I have, I would be interested to hear it.
Drink sodden Tory MP stands up in PM Q’s and says “losing Scotland will be a national humiliation”
Westminster has known about this for decades so has shell, BP etc
O/T looking at bookies odds, they are now 5/2 for yes, and that is the majority of them.
See here if interested
link to oddschecker.com
@Cuilean
W in gs over Scotland perhaps?
Hand and Shrimp:
As from now, I will do ‘Wings Over Scotland’ likewise.
TD:
We must win. I cannot bear think upon any other reality. We will win.
@Edward 11:55am
Yeah I know. Marinetraffic.com is a great resource 😉
@Donald Urquhart – do you know Invergordon by any chance?
Are 600 armoured vehicles an Asset.?
They are if we have to pay for them!
@Helena Brown & Les Wilson
Thank you for those answers and as you say, history is repeating itself with Scotland contributing to the regeneration of the rUK which don’t benefit the people of Scotland yet who still have to pay for it.
Les,
Win by over 55% now 11/2.
I’ve been putting a few quid on every week or two for the last 8/9 months, the odds are coming down in the last week or so almost daily.
Radio Scotland talking about oil shortly. Get your texts or calls in about this latest news 🙂
O/T
Last chance for Midlothianites!!
link to wingsoverscotland.com
If you want to be involved in this monumental moment in Scottish history and help as a Polling and/or Counting Agent for Wings Over Scotland please let me know..
email me: turnbulldrier AT gmail DOT com
@Jim Thomson
I’m in Invergordon. Is there something you want to know?
“losing Scotland will be a national humiliation”
Which MP said that?
I work in the oil and gas industry, my work involves acquiring data on Oil / Gas production, quantity of reserves and life span of fields.
I have been telling people about our reserves which have been greatly underestimated for obvious reasons, and most people just say ‘I dont know who to believe’.
How do we get that information across?
One example is a new field west of Shetland developed by Statoil, it will average 60,000 barrels per day for 60 years, and that is just one corner of a huge field
Oil reserves. The debate about the North Sea varies from 24billion barrels down through typical 14-18 and down to some of the WM/BT estimates of 8.
Anyone read any estimates of West Coast? I’m sure I saw 1billion mentioned for the Clyde down to Kintyre.
@Haggis Hunter
….. Which equates to 1.3billion in total. Partially answering my question.
Blow for Salmond: The Scottish Government will have to set up a costly administration system to deal with what will most surely be described as an embarrassing amount of wealth flowing from Scotland’s immense oil resources. Any banks still planning to move south to the debt-ridden home turf of Cameron & Co have obviously “lost it,” so to speak.
HandandShrimp says:
3 September, 2014 at 12:39 pm
“losing Scotland will be a national humiliation”
Which MP said that?
Listening on radio here but will check it out.
Muscleguy
Oh, I know that! The Queen will still be the Queen of the Scots.
But prestige …Westminster will have lost quite a bit. It does not matter if Scotland and England accept a Currency Union and the submarines remain at Faslane until 2030.
Westminster will have made ‘Great Britain’ a bit of a laughing stock.
The Queen …will not be amused.
@ HandandShrimp, this piss arteest.
link to bbc.co.uk
Referendum ‘complacency’
Posted at 12:26
Another question on the Scottish referendum. The prime minister says that the idea a Scottish government may be willing to default on its debts is “chilling” and the UK needs to set out its message in the most robust fashion. Tory MP Sir Edward Leigh accuses the party leaders of complacency and urges them to drop everything and focus on Scotland, saying a break-up of the UK would be a “humiliation of catastrophic proportions”.
Jim
I think it is wrong to blame Thatcher for de-industrialisation. Improved capital mobility brought about by advances in communications technology, encouraged capital flight to low cost areas (China and the surrounds). So Thatcher didn’t create the conditions that brought about the destruction of our traditional industries, she simply responded to a global shift in trading patterns. This was the perfect opportunity for her to exploit Scotland’s vast wealth to crush organised labour and shift the economy to a low skill and low wage base. As I have said before, Thatcher was a fungus feeding off decay.
Remember Thatcher’s “There is No Alternative”. Well there is, but it requires democracy and the rule of law to function.
Is it just me or has the MSM turned the volume up all the way to 11?
The Groaniard seems to have a piece every few hours although the a couple are positive, Monbiot and the piece on NATO. The new one on currency seems to be annoying both sides…so I suppose that is even handed 🙂
nevermind what the Stril Explorer was up to, wonder why the Borgyn Dolphin is sitting in Belfast port just now…
link to dolphindrilling.no
link to shipfinder.co
galamcennalath
In a way it doesn’t really matter what the exact figure for oil reserves is. Even if the WM/BT figures are correct, surely the revenues are better spent in Scotland. The implication of the WM/BT argument (although they are careful not to explicitly state it) is that when the oil runs out, which will be soon according to them, Westiminster will step in to sustain Scotland which by that time will be out of oil. If people really believe this then they are fools. If we vote No and we get to a point where Scotland is actually a drain on the UK’s financial resources, are people really naive enough to think that the UK would continue to allow higher spending in Scotland? Dream on. Even with the oil, we can expect public spending in Scotland to be cut to average UK levels which means that in percentage terms we are looking at far more severe cuts than the UK as a whole. If the oil runs out, and we are no longer a cash cow, then they will cut us adrift financially if not politically.
I have said from the outset of this campaign that a positive approach is best. But there is a negative side to the argument in support of independence. I”m not sure that we are playing this card enough. If we vote No, we are in for a very hard time and it’s important that people understand this.
Oh YES!
HandandShrimp
EDWARD LEIGH MP
Conservative Gainsborough
never seen a REDDER face
link to bbc.co.uk Also SNP MP gets a row from Mr Speaker, “start acting like a statesman, youre a lovely chap but please do etc”. Check out the photo of SNP MP used by BettertoghetherBBC shills. BBC no likee SNP, shock.
Soon be over BBC liggers, soon be over. What they going to call themselves with YES win, bBC? rBBC? EBC? WEBC? They had a good a run in Scotlandshire, creaming off over £300m Scots licence fee, spend most of it in England, a few vastly overpaid talentless bloaters for life in Pacific Quay, bish bosh.
I would agree that the exact figure on oil doesn’t matter. It is a lot and any other country would give its eye teeth to have it whether it is 16bb, 24bb or 32bb
I don’t want to appear all doom and gloom but I just wanted to ask, with the advantage being in the Yes court at the moment and all the momentum it seems to be gaining, is there any way that the referendum could be blocked by Westminster in the case that they are so concerned of a loss. I desperately hope not but I don’t trust the WM lot enough to feel comfortable that they will not do something to block independence if it is in their power.
Why no updates on Wee Blue Book distribution on Wings website. IN the WBB section, lots of people desperately looking for an update.
link to dickwinchester.blogspot.co.uk
Panic begins to rise. The gold-plated toilets at Westiminster can barely cope. Is everyone ready for BT MSM’s last stand next week? It is going to get pretty intense over the next few days.
Brace yourselves.
@Les Wilson – I don’t really care about odds but my betting brother keeps going on about higher odds for Yes and he still thinks it will be a No because of this – glass half-empty guy.
Someone mentioned before about not being able to place bets of more than £50 at the more favourable odds but according to him they will now take up to £4k.
I presume this might be due to the £800k someone put on a No – does anyone have any info on that?
@TD
It’s the flaw in BT’s armour. They have tried so hard to be negative about everything associated with Independence, but have failed to cover their arse on the Union, past and future. A degree of negativity from Yes is needed exposing the Union for what it is, and more importantly, what it will become if No win. That is being done, but enough? Exposing NHS threats is a good example, others may be needed too.
Scotland must be the only country in the world where having a currency is bad.
I have taken the contingency of archiving the Oilandgaspeople page should it **ahem** disappear. Here’s the archive link:
link to archive.today
CameronB
Quietly, I don’t think the Queen will be too happy with HER government so far. They are after all, meant to represent her. …and so far …they are doing a cracking job of upsetting 2 or 3 million of her subjects north of the border. Each day, more and more Scots are turning to ‘Yes’.
Her advisors must also be watching with some concern. The last thing they want is possible bad blood between the 2 kingdoms. There is helluva lot of oil and collateral in Scotland. Calls for Republicanism after a Yes vote will not go down well. That’s a lot of revenue that could be lost, and all thanks to the eejits of Westminster.
Jim Thomson
Well sussed Jim 😉
Actually use it in my ‘day’ job to keep track of ships I use
also handy to have a nose at what’s happening in oil exploration
Technology – don’t ya just love it! 😀
Paul, there are probably a lot of legal and constituitional ways that Westminster could block any movement towards independence after the Yes vote in the referendum, the question you should ask is “how desperate is Westminster and would they try it?”
A peaceful democratic mandate, with a turnover in the region predicted ( 80%) with even 60% for Yes would be very difficult for a parliament that calls itself the “mother of parliaments” to ignore, or wantonly try to subvert.
All the arguments about how dangerous it would be for the rUK economy to refuse Currency Union are the same arguments for how dangerous it would be to push Holyrood to make a UDI, universal declaration of independence. A UDI does Scotland few favours, certainly initially, but there is a good chance within a year that it would all be back to normal for Scotland and the rUK would still be recovering from the economic fall out it had created. 600 armoured cars don’t get built in the UK in a matter of months these days. ( a benefit of destroying your own manufacturing base), and it is not in a position to militarily force the situation really. How many troops would refuse or desert an order to march on Scotland after such a referendum result?
Nope, their own neoliberal policies have brought the entire sorry mess to their table and ensured they can do little about it too.
@galamcennalath – when I recently got a BT leaflet from the Labour party including the famous ‘you will not be able to use the £’ comment from JoLaLa, I returned it freepost with lies written all over it directing them to sources refuting said lies.
I am so glad I do not comment on the guardian – of what, certainly not the truth – as they have a headline on their front page which says ‘Reality Check – can Scotland really be independent and use the £?’
I’m wondering about the toning down – could this be because the postal votes have gone out and they are now concentrating on the ‘soft’ no’s.
Paul.
The referendum being stopped now would cause a shit storm throughout the world. If that happened Yes voters would demand a Unilateral declaration of Independence (UDI) Which would inform the world that Scotland IS independent.
Westminster would be foolish to start something like that. The ramifications would be too horrific to the Uk and EU.
We are not alone Paul. The Irish , Welsh and English would be against stopping the ref. Eu and world wide opinion would hammer WM . The threat of sanctions would destroy the uk economy .
Keep the Faith. The YES vote is marching on to independence. There is NO stopping us now.
WM and the BT campaign have failed and we will have a healthy majority by 18th. The r UK need an iScotland and it’s exports , they will have no choice but to sit down and stick to the Edinburgh Agreement. Anything else is just scare tactics.
@JLT
Indeed. I think it has to be said that should be get a Yes win on the 19th, it will in part be “thanks to the eejits of Westminster” themselves!
There are two sides working for a Yes win. All good people and organisations attracting people towards Yes … plus elements of the supposed No campaign driving people towards Yes!
It is a plague for victims of global warming. We commit to prevent climate change and seek to extract all the oil reserves to boost tax revenues. A couple of wind turbines won’t help.
Talk about having your cake and eating it.
Thanks Caroline and Yesguy, I suppose it is a struggle for me to believe that we are so close to independence and being a natural believer that something is bound to screw this up, I am getting nervous. I began all of this believing that we would probably fall short but maybe be close enough to a Yes vote to get some recognition and more powers but it actually looks like we will achieve the golden fleece and independence will allow us to decide our own powers, more than I could dare dream of 🙂
Why oh Why are the SNP so reluctant to trumpet the true Oil reserves?
Last Night Nicola Sturgeon let future Sir Nemotode and the KD Lang of Scots tories get away with the ‘Ian Wood’ mantra about ‘only’ 16 billion barrels left. Yet based on 90% territorial ownership for IScotland, we still get three and a half times the tax take than we did from the last lot! and then there’s all the West Coast bonanza to add in.
I worked in London in the mid to late seventies and then in the North Sea in the early ’80s. London was a dull medium-high rent metropolis when I left.
When I returned twenty years later on business, it had become a megapolis, unrecognisable, with oil money used to rebuild and refinance the City of London and extend it out into the old East end with massive infrastructural investment.
Meanwhile back home: destruction of our heavy industry; mass unemployment; heavy emigration and Aberdeen bursting at the seams, but with no real government investment, and even today still with no real ring-road and no investment for when the Oil really does run out.
While in the North Sea, I was employed by US companies, bossed by red neck yanks with no respect for the crews. Even the crews were not predominantly Scottish, despite massive unemployment. When my rig moved to Norway, I witnessed high indigenous employment; high standard of living; and a Nationalised Oil Industry run for and by the Norwegian state.
I came back seeing the future….or so I thought. What followed has been thirty five years of State sponsored lying about Scotland’s wealth.
The true Better Together/No Thanks motive is simple: keep grabbing the Oil and resources until we’ve squeezed them dry, then let them go fuck themselves. Anybody buying the lies of the Unionist camps deserves to be shagged over an Oil barrel for the next thirty years and then they might get the real meaning of ‘Pooling Resources’!
Oil and gas reserves doubled.
Lasting more than a century into the future.
Other known but untapped reserves in the Clyde Basin.
Vast untapped but known reserves off Skye.
Ludicrously, despite ALL the other wealth created in Scotland, all of which would maintain a healthy economy anywhere else on the planet – Westminster blowhards, Bigots Together and self-serving Scottish MP`s and SLAB repeat the LIE that we will perish without their inane judgement.?
Even more ludicrously, we are witnessing voters in Scotland who cannot/will not believe their own eyes and ears that increasingly Smothers the Lies being repeated by ConDems,SLAB,Mibbeland and all their Scottish MP`S and MSP`S.
The future is BLEAK if Scots vote “NO”.
Cuts versus Scotland`s Budget – Long into the future – is promised by BamCam,Clegg and Mibbeland.
Penalised for being one of the richest countries on the planet.
“YES” makes us Proud and Loud in a fortnight.
Subjugation ENDS in a fortnight.
@Jim and CameronB
A good film about the dismantling of UK manufacturing by Tory and Labour is the Adam Curtis documentary “The Mayfair Set”
link to youtube.com
Hiv a good laugh the noo,we’re awe gonna be crookbacked cairrying the people of England on our broad shooders,an there,s nae Atos tae or Salus tae cure us.
O/T x 2
@Nana Smith I lived there many years ago. Just wondering if DU was the same one I used to pal about with.
@Edward I just use it when either listening to marine traffic (sad, I know) or if there’s something moored off that looks intriguing. They also do an android version that costs a couple of quid. Not used that one though.
Basically, I’m just a nosey bugger 😉
Paul
Once an idea is awoken…
We live in the digital age now and it will be sweet irony if the technology that enabled neo-liberalism, helps to enable Scotland to create a more ethical alternative.
Disgusting lying a—–
link to msnbc.com
Damn.Just when we thought we were down to the last couple of pailfuls,they go and find some more billions of barrels.
Lochside
+1 – spot on comment.
Grant
I agree there does appear to be a contradiction there but at the same time, our Scottish Government is committed to the most ambitious green energy targets in Europe and that, as we both know involves a hell of a lot more than a couple of wind turbines. I would not be SNP if they weren’t so committed. Cutting down domestic and commercial waste, increasing recycling, improvements to insulation etc are part of the mix too.
Oh, and getting rid of trident and ceasing these foreign invasions will help. It’s not about going back to the stone age but indy is the start of turning our economy and country into a sustainable, successful beacon for the rest of the world to follow.
I’m sure others can reassure you further.
Lochside
It wouldn’t be Westminster’s first time offense.
link to theorwellprize.co.uk
Brace yourselves??? This I found on AOL
=============================
Philanthropist of the Year award given to Tony Blair: why?
Tony Blair named philanthropist of the year: prompting Twitter backlash
By Sarah Coles, Sep 3, 2014
4020
Daniel Leal-Olivas/PA WIRE
The GQ Men of the Year award ceremony is usually largely about the man crowned Legend of the Year. However, last night’s Legend, Van Morrison, will have to learn to live with the fact that his achievement was entirely overshadowed by an incredibly controversial choice for Philanthropist of the Year: Tony Blair.
The magazine highlighted an under-reported fact: that since leaving politics, Blair has done an enormous amount of work for charity. On its website it said: “Alongside his role as a Middle East peace envoy, Blair’s channelled his energy into philanthropy, establishing three charities. The Tony Blair Sports Foundation pairs volunteer sport coaches with children in Britain’s North East and his Faith Foundation aims to reconcile the three Abrahamic faiths, but his most ambitious is the Tony Blair Africa Governance Initiative.”
This was launched in 2008 in six African countries, where teams work with government bodies to help bridge the gap between their leaders’ visions for the future and the governments’ ability to make it happen. GQ said: “In Sierra Leone, for example, AGI has helped delivered an entirely free healthcare programme that’s cut the number of children in hospital dying from malaria by 80 per cent.”
Blair accepted the award, saying: “I would like to dedicate this award to the people that work with and for my organisations. I feel the pulse of progress beating a little harder.”
Critics
There was an immediate backlash – with Tony Blair trending on Twitter. Gary Lineker tweeted: “Apparently, Tony Blair has won GQ’s philanthropist of the year award. Finally these awards have grasped irony!” while The Respect Party tweeted: “This must be some sort of joke?… “Tony Blair wins GQ Philanthropist of the Year” And James Doleman, legal correspondent for The Drum, tweeted: “Satire officially dead as Tony Blair named “Philanthropist of the Year” by GQ magazine.”
Some critics are furious that this title could be given to someone who will forever be associated with the British government’s decision to go to war against Iraq. Some compared it to the Nobel Peace prize given to Henry Kissinger.
Others are critical of some of the consultancy work he has been involved in. The Daily Mail reported that Conservative MP Charlie Elphicke called the decision ‘jaw-dropping’, given that he was paid to advise Kazazh leader Nursultan Nazarbayev on his image. At the time Nazarbayev was defending his country’s human rights record after unarmed protesters were killed by police.
However, there were a few who asked whether this backlash was deserved, as @ArticulatePanda pointed out: “Has anyone actually looked into Tony Blair’s philanthropy before saying he doesn’t deserve the award?”
Shortly after this, Kim Kardashian was named Woman of the Year.
More on AOL Money
Blair says he’s only worth a fifth of estimates
Fancy a giant Commonwealth Teacake? One is up for auction
Ice bucket challenge: the financial impact
Caught a bit of John Beattie interviewing a chap from Oil and Gas People. Made a big play of them coming out for Yes recently and asked him twice if he genuinely was saying there could be double the oil that we previously thought. the chap was great, saying, “that’s what the experts are telling us”.
Beattie sounded so downcast. The thought of his country having all that lovely oil should have cheered his soul, surely?
Capella
Don’t get me started on Adam Curtis. 🙂
O/T, but I had to share it. I’ve just been out for a bike ride and passed one of those hideous ‘Ashamed to be Scots, Delighted to be Subjugated’ banners and noticed that the angry-looking little cartoon mannie with his butcher’s apron flying over his shoulder, well, he’s got it flying in the distress position…
I was cleaning a shops windows and got speaking to a customer about the debate last night when the owner of the shop butted in with “Alex Salmond = Bad. We need nuclear weapons. There’s nay oil etc etc”. I’ve cleaned this shops windows for 13 years and get on really well with the staff and owner. I told him about about how useless the weapons were and the amount of oil we had was unbelievable. He started to get a wee bit angry and told me I’m full of shit. I kept talking about what Westminster are doing to our country and what they’d do after a no vote. He gets angrier and tells me to get the fuck oot his shop. I tried reasoning with him and asked if he thought Westminster cared about Scotland. All the while smiling and not thinking he was serious. At this point he goes all out telling me I’m an annoying little shite and then puts his hands round my neck and started to strangle me. At first I laughed then thought “Fuck he is serious”. He starts balling at me telling me to get the fuck out his shop. Now I’m a small man and he is not but I’m no woose. I grabbed his hands and told him to get off me. I got him off and his employee tried to calm him down but he was having none of it. More abuse.
Now I’ve had loads of talks with people about independence and have gotten annoyed at some folks laziness and ignorance but I never raise my voice and would never get physical I always hope they’ll come round. But that shocked me at how crazy it was. I past the shop 5 minutes later and gave the owner a big smile and a thumbs up. He wasn’t impressed. Now I’m wondering how to follow this up. I’m in two minds to go and see him and tell him not to try any shit like that again. On the other hand I thought of going to the police. What’s your thoughts Wingers?
Wee Jonny
It sounds like he wasn’t even prepared to attempt resolving his cognitive dissonance. He couldn’t take it and sounds like the sort who would be an avoidable victim of a disaster.
Normalcy bias.
Wee Jonny
Sorry to hear that – polis. Next time he gets worked up it could be a lassie, or someone older. Or just another guy like you. And he might go to town.
Totally unacceptable. Call it in.
Curse those Permo Triassic sandstone deposits and indicators of supermassive oil reserves. 😀 LOL
@Wee Jonny
Jeez that’s grim. Certainly give the place a swerve from now on. Nobody needs put up with that and walking away from it was a good shout.
Harry McAye says
RE massive oil potential on Radio Scotland with John Beattie.
Later he had Sir Ian Wood on giving the view from St John’s Wood and pouring cold water on the report.
As usual BBC had to mention that the original “expert” was a Yes supporter whereas no mention was made of Sir Ian Wood coming out for a NO vote.
I emailed the BBC via the Contact – Possible Story link.. Luckily I’ve not been holding my breath since I sent it just before half 12.. (I can only assume they’re running the story through spell check before publishing it.. that’s what the delay will be, won’t it? It’s sure to appear soon.. or maybe their fact checking the story.. they normally do that don’t they?)
Anyway. Here’s what I sent at 12:20 this afternoon (the grammar, spelling isn’t as it probably should – my fingers couldn’t keep up with what I wanted to say..):
I have a link to an explosive story re the Oil industry in Scotland and how it will impact in an independent nation..
It’s mind blowing. The facts will surely put peoples fears to bed about the volatility of the industry and the
prosperity it will bring.
link to oilandgaspeople.com
Surely in the interests of the Bonanza this type of find could bring to Scotland has to be reported.
It’s bigger than when oil was first discovered in the 70’s. The media were all over that. The queen was even there to push the button and watch the oils swirl round the spiny tube.
This is bigger than that event. If BBC Scotland is worth it’s salt, and committed to reporting on Issues in Scotland this has to be a headline..
Well, I am forgetting there is a referendum on, and for the BBC to Publish this blatant good news story for the Oil Industry -debunking Better Together’s prediction that the Oil will run out.
In the interests of balance this story would have to be on air/radio/web. This Good story is the Balance to the Bad.. isn’t it? Maybe in an ideal world, where the nations publically funded broadcaster is not in bed with a particular Political Persuasion.
I look forward to seeing/hearing the story soon on your Impartial & unbiased news media outlets.
Thanks
Brian
Go back and egg him.
Ah the Hootsmon’s moderation policy. Takes me right back to those glory days when we were allowed to Blether with Brian, in more than 140 characters too, so long as the words Newsnet and Scotland didn’t appear together. Oh the fun we had.
I remember a guy, whatsisname, Rev Stuart Campbell I think, used to put forward some good points. Wonder what happened to him?
Wee Johnny
He seems to be at the extreme end of the “unhappy no” camp.
What I see, and hear, when I’m out and about (also borne out by other yessers) is that we all seem to be happy and buoyant and the No side are pretty much grim, grumpy and angry with very few exceptions.
I can only imagine that they see a loss of whatever power THEY think they have over their own (and possibly our) lives with a yes vote.
In that respect I think a lot of them are simply developing what’s known in the trade as “postural echo”. They emulate those around them, who are the ones they try to impress, so that they can be in the same club. They don’t want to be left out.
Consider the demeanour of the No side politicians we see day in and day out on the TV. Regardless of party politics they are generally brusque, demeaning, self-righteous and totally unwilling to debate without lying through their clenched teeth.
I suspect your shop owner is a follower of one of those political camps and wants to be a bit further up their food chain.
I’ll offer no apology for anything above that seems to be a gross over-generalisation. Mainly because it’s my experience.
Now here’s a thing. Having moved the boundaries in the North Sea, where does the line go off the west coast?
Not supermassive, in Texas we call that a thimble-full! You may have your Barnett Formula, we have Barnett shales. 50,000 square miles of them and we pool and share them with nobody. Bloody Feds.
@ JamesCaithness
Don’t forget that Alasdair Campbell former Labour Spin Doctor who twisted Salmond’s words over Putin is now GQs main monthly contributor.
And last night’s STV debate revealed that former Labour Spin Doctor Peter McMahon is now Border TV’s political editor.
There must be a Westminster election coming up with Labour placemen now in position.
Wee Jonny, the trick here is to forget what the discussion was about, and focus on the actions of you and the owner. If you’d had a discussion about another topic, or even some sort of argument about the window cleaning and he behaved that way what would you do? I’d like to think you’d go straight to the police. Were there witnesses and will they confirm your version? Remember the hop has when Saatchi put his hands around Nigella and was snapped by a papperazzi? It’s not socially acceptable. And it might be he’s actually a bit violent on a regular basis but people have always made excuses for him.
Don’t take no shit
@CameronB Brodie
“Don’t get me started on Adam Curtis”
Don’t know what you think of Adam Curtis but his access to archive footage is amazing – and, of course, the ability to tie it into a narrative. Worth watching I would say. It is in four parts of approx 45 mins each.
One theme is UKs foreign wars and skullduggery aimed at hanging on to other people’s resources such as oil. Leads on to the dismantling of UK manufacturing base.
link to youtube.com
Anyone else think it is strange that if oil exploration is blocked in West Coast Scottish waters because of Trident, then why have blocks been allocated for exploration on the rUK side of the Irish channel, i.e. the Northern Ireland coast?
Could the Trident thing just be an excuse, a cover, for rather more sleekit political machinations?
Wee jonny
You should report him for his actions – completely unacceptable at any time. No excuses.
He’s entitled to his views but not to do this to you.
For what it’s worth, I was physically beaten a while back, I did nothing wrong at all – not a thing – it came out of the blue and he was pissed. While some people kind of take this as part of society and get on with it, for me he was needing his collar felt.
End result was a small “fine” for him from the courts easy way out system(he had to pay me £150 compensation – at £5 per week mind).
There will be plenty more windows to clean after independence.
Good luck whatever you decide to do.
Capella
He gives more incite than the usual BBC production, certainly. I have watched all his material, several times over, and have researched further on the material covered. I just wish he was a bit more balanced with his narrative.
Stylish propaganda for the intelligentsia, IMO. He is not important to this debate though.
Onwards. 🙂
I am back after a trip into town – did I miss any more of those awful oil discoveries?
Now laid in 200 sand bags to hold back the flood…me being near the North Sea oil fields and all that…
Also, no block licencing allowed along Scotland’s Southern coast.
No military strategist, but I cannot think of a scenario where nuclear subs would need to sail towards the UK i.e. towards the Solway Firth, before deploying its missiles.
And again, plenty blocks allocated and developed in what would be rUK waters in the NW of England.
BTW I’m looking at the DECC map
link to gov.uk
@ Wee Johnny…
Not to be tolerated. It is typical of hard-nosed no voters. Drowning out reasonable discussion and debate with nonsense and abuse. It’s all these BritNats know – closed minds and closed fists. In your shoes, I report it, especially if there were witnesses.
Westminster in shock today, must be getting the true poll figures. Rather sad to watch their power base crumble.not!! A city forced offer of currency union coming any day now.
Wee Jonny
What Caroline Corfield said at 2:39 pm.
heraldnomore,
Ah… the glory days of Online ed, he was a hero.
Oh NOOOOOO!
Not MORE oil! Where are we going to put all this bloody oil? My back yard is already full to the point it is overflowing for goodness sake!
Is this not a secret underhanded ploy by Westminster to make us so pig sick of the oil that when we go independent in 2016 we’ll turn round to Cameron and say “you know what Dave, we’re so bloody sick of all this black stuff we don’t want it any more here you can have it as a wee going away pressie from us to you!” 😛
@ lesley-Anne
Get some sand bags…make a wee overflow lake in the front garden…just put a net over it so birds don’t fall in…
But… if any more is discovered, that’s going to be a real problem for us all…
😀
O/T but oil is mentioned. Ah the oil is British, Uk’s don’t you know…
link to moneyweek.com
To those who asked if there were any witnesses : yes. The shop manager tried to calm his boss for speaking to me the way he did but I told him I could handle myself and his boss so no need to worry. It was he who grabbed his boss when I got him off me. Now this man is not a very nice man as he likes to joke on occasion about me being gay because I’m small and wear bright clothes (his logic) but I go along with him by offering him a cuddle or a kiss which he effing hates. I will go the police and report him as I will say something to him and it will not end well.
That man off the telly (you know, the one with the eyebrows) said the oil would run out in 2017.
WOW!
Thanks for that tip Nigel, now why did I not think of doing that! 😛
I’ve just had another wee thought about all this black sticky stuff. I think I’ll trade our Jeep in for a couple of Hummers. I think you get about 2 gallons to the mile out them so that will keep our wee oil lake in the back yard in check I think. 😀
I read that Moneyweek thing before, they really are SO out of touch with the independence debate.
It’s embarassing.
I trust in light of all this filthy oil we have we will not be offering them a Scottish pound for a measly British pound will we, we should ask for £1.20 for a Scottish pound, I remember years ago I filled my van in England with fuel was handing over a couple of Scottish notes to the woman in the garage to pay for it to be told “I am not accepting them” I asked if she had a big straw to suck the fuel back out my van as that was the only currency I had, she called the Police, they informed her it was legal tender and she had to accept them, I laughed all the way home.
@Lesley-Anne
Aye its always running out next week that black stuff, spookily right up until Westminster requires a new infrastructure project around the city to happen. 😉
@Tam Jardine 1.50pm
Some good points and I agree there are efforts to become more sustainable.
However – averting the threshold 2 degree rise in global temperatures will require (everyone) leaving a volume of oil and gas reserves where they are.
I presume economics will take precedence however. We’ll give climate change the usual lip service whilst dancing around like characters from Backyard Oil.
I’m lost – is Sir Ian Wood the guy who is very optimistic about the future of the oil industry with possible reserves of approx 24 billion barrels left and Sir John Wood the pessimistic no voter who thinks we’ll be lucky to take out 16 billion barrels?
Is Sir John Wood Sir Ian Wood’s alter-ego, his dark side? I know that my sunny disposition gives way to a guy I call Hank Schaftberg who has an altogether more pessimistic outlook so I have sympathy with Ian/John and his/their duality.
But then, no-one is relying on my economic forecasts as gospel to decide the future prospects and thus sovereignty of our country.
Tam Jardine
I was thinking that too, Sir John/Ian Wood couldn’t tell you if your arse was bored or tapped, Oil expert or Tory Friend??
Lesley Anne,
The business lease on my Jeep ends in December. Looked at the new Jeep Cherokee diesel and found to my disgust that it is even more fuel efficient than my current one…so a Hummer it is :D.
Anyway, now wary of digging over my veg plot – could strike oil at more than a spade depth. No more double digging for me!
It might shock folk to know that bypasses and trunk road improvements in Scotland, often fail Treasury conditions (my experience is over 20 years old but it is probably the same old). That means the expenditure in Scotland can not be legally justified against schemes proposals in areas offering higher user benefits (more drivers/passengers = a quicker return on investment). Scotland will always be up against the numbers under this system, which I think proves it is not possible to achieve positive results if conditions will not allow for such to happen.
This planning environment was further complicated when one of the Thatcher governments radically reformed land-use classifications, in an attempt to stimulate a car-led economy. This completely knackered the potential to forecast future traffic volumes and road requirements with much accuracy, IMO. I’m not sure how that situation has developed.
Funny that Macart isn’t it, our oil, the stuff we all absolutely hate and loathe, is running out. Well if that is the case will someone please tell the the wee oil field fairy who keeps restocking my back yard every night cause I don’t think they have received the memo yet. 😛
That’s a real bummer Nigel. What on earth are Jeep thinking … MORE fuel efficient indeed! 😉
@macart763m
Like this kind of infrastructure…
link to cityam.com
It is ok though – it is for London – they really need to maintain their international presence otherwise they might fall behind. We couldn’t have that.
Good news though we will get some trickle down if we vote No!
Chic at 14.40 and 14.53
could be the Beaufort Dyke – a trench running down the north channel (with large deposits of ww2 munitions lying in it). Plus it’s a good spot for listening for “enemy” subs (comparatively narrow channel). Then there’s Luce bay (former weapons testing) and Dundrennan (live DU ammunition test) ranges. Shedloads of undesirables lying around in the area.
I’m not sure about the trickle down doc, there are an awful lot of projects, mostly but not exclusively, in London where WE have had to make a contribution to the various projects but got nothing in return. I give you by way of example the following:
London O2 Arena
London Olympics
London Cross rail
London Underground upgrading
London sewer system improvements
London Thames crossing (new bike friendly bridge)
HS2 London to Manchester
HS3 Leeds to Manchester
Future upgrading of London airports
P.S. I know that the intricacies of road planning in Scotland might not appear particularly relevant, but I think that it is an example of how the mechanics of the British state, generally work against Scotland’s best interest.
link to theorwellprize.co.uk
P.P.S. The Royal Town Planning Institute is predominantly Fabian in membership and outlook. 🙂
link to rtpi.org.uk
Still nothing about this on BBC Scotland website.
I have just read an abridged version of the report on the oil find in the west of Scotland. There is the capacity for up to 37,000 new jobs so the quicker this is made public the better before the BT lot deny any knowledge of it.
Don’t worry Harry, the story will be along any time now. You have to remember that the BBC works along the lines of NO news about Scotland for ages then all of a sudden THREE stories come along at once, bit like London buses really. 😛
Ignorant Kezia. Unelected waste of public money. Why doesn’t she get a job, get some experience. and find out about life. To have the cheek to lecture others. An absolute disgrace.
Ie (Foreign) multinationals tax evade through the City of London, under a Labour Gov. The Oil sector is taxed up to 90%. Two different tax rates in the UK. Losing Scotland £Billions of tax revenue.
Westminster spends 1/6 of Scottish taxes Approx £10Billion on what it wants, not what people in Scotland decide, while Scotland pays the price.
130K college place cuts? Demographic fall in students nos. The Scottish budget has been cut £1.3Billion a year since 2011 Budget by Westminster.
P.P.P.S. I meant that money actually spent on Scotland’s infrastructure, often fails Treasury test of cost-efficiency.
Lesley Anne
You forgot about the Energy Tunnel under London 🙂
link to londonpowertunnels.co.uk
Nobody knows how much oil there is, except that it’s shitloads.
Damn I knew I’d forgotten something. Thanks for that Edward. No doubt there are others I’ve forgotten as well but hey ho I think we all know Scotland is being well and truly shafted by Westminster for the SOLE benefit of London! 😉
By Passes and trunk roads improvements have been voted against by Unionists, Greens and landowners, while £1.3Billion was returned by Unionists to Westminster
Sorry for the mess all over the page, I wish I’d thought this through first. 😉
The money that is spent in Scotland and which can’t be justified against Treasury conditions, is the cost of keeping a lucrative cash-cow tended and productive.
I think you might find this returning money to Westminster thingy is all about gaining access to ermine cloak wardrobe Ken. 😛
Does that mean that there is more than just a drop of oil left then Albert? 😉
Every Oil prediction has been wrong. There has always been more. Oil producers estimate at least 100 years more.
Investment in Renewables will produce more energy than Oil.
I can’t remember where I heard or read it Ken but I believe that the oil companies deliberately underestimate their reserves.
Sinky says:
3 September, 2014 at 2:24 pm
Harry McAye says
RE massive oil potential on Radio Scotland with John Beattie.
Later he had Sir Ian Wood on giving the view from St John’s Wood and pouring cold water on the report.
3 hours late to the party, but it was Prof Alex Kemp who was on the J Beattie show, not Ian Wood. I had thought previously Prof Kemp was less biased, and he may indeed be so, but he was spinning like a top to avoid agreeing this report was, at the very least, a pretty major contribution to the “debate”. Kept quoting DoE figures as if they were gospel in order to suggest it wasn’t all that big a deal.
Just wonder when the reports on “North Sea Oil” will be accompanied by reports on the “Western Coastal and Atlantic Waters Oil”, or will we still be talking the same old same old so as not to give them any credibility.
Yes, it was Prof Alex Kemp on the radio.
He obviously knows his stuff, but it was torture to listen to, as he had to give disclaimers for every single sentence.
John Beattie was desperate to try and get him to say the OilandGasPeople estimates could be biased, and to put actual figures on future income and reserves.
Impossible to do with all the variables.
All you can do is make reasonable estimates, but one thing is for sure – given the geology and recent discoveries West of Shetland, there is the potential to really hit the jackpot of the West Coast.
Ian Wood is giving all his money to the vulnerable in Scotland and Africa How much are the critics giving? Ian Wood has brought £Billions into Scotland.
Ian Wood offered Aberdeen City £80Million for a UTG pedestrianisation project supported by the majority. Refused by ignorant Unionists, whose alternative non-mandated Project will cause major further traffic chaos and will cost 30 times more. Unionists wasting £Millions/Billions of public money.
Grant, I think you are doing the SG a disservice, there are more than efforts, I believe they made their green targets, no wait, they beat their 31% electricity from renewables by 2011 target by 4%.
And set a new one of 50% by 2017.
link to bbc.co.uk
Oil makes plastics, and a lot of plastics do things other materials can’t so they will continue to extract it from the ground, although my wee trawl on the internet has turned up some interesting stuff about making plastics from CO2.
I’m actually sitting eating something from a graze box. It’s made of cardboard (not the stuff I’m eating) but the food is in wee plastic holders with plastic seals to keep it fresh. Now glass might work, and you can recycle glass, but it’s heavier to transport so costs more in CO2. It’s not a simple as stopping the oil industry.
I’m fairly confident that a government that puts it’s money into tidal power generation when all the rest are only talking to wind turbine manufacturers ( Mr. T Bliar I’m looking at you) might well be interested in proper renewables and a sustainable society.
Alex Kemp has been wrong on Oil estimates. They have always been more. Oil production always depends on the tax regime.
That is all unionists are really good at Ken … WASTING £Millions/Billions. They could never organise a proverbial in the brewery!
@Dr JM Mackintosh
Obscene isn’t it? But we do have it from the horse’s arse Boris – a pound spent in Croydon and all that. To keep London competitive they have to spend the pound for pound equivalent of the UKs debt. Just London mind, forget about everyone else. Apparently we don’t matter.
Will Prof John Kemp wade in anytime now with a pessimistic forecast for our children and our children’s children?
Hank Schaftberg and I both agree there is plenty oil and gas left, plenty for a small country to tax and spend as it sees fit.
While we’re at it – can we get Leyland Palmers forecast… and Bad Bob an aw.
Or maybe we can just continue extracting the oil and gas and see how it goes. 2 weeks time it ceases to be Westminster’s problem – well take that burden off their hands.
I can’t cope what with all this scaremongering on oil…what if it’s the WRONG TYPE of oil…waaaaagh ! 🙁
A tridal barrage was planned for the Humber. £9Billion. It was cancelled as too expensive by Westminster. Now the plan is to invest £Billions (Chinese/French investment which will take £Billions to pay back) in Nuclear near the sea – the most dirty, dangerous and expensive.
France has had tidal barrage schemes for years. Since the 60’s. Dinard.
Scotland has the most for potential for wind and wave power. Coal is half the cost of Gas. A CC project for Longannet, in Fife was refused by Westminster (Hulne) Two coal plants are being built (£2Billions) in Clegg’s constituency. Indecision at Westminster has prevented the opportunity for Scotland to apply for Renewables investment Grants from the EU.
Ken500 says:
3 September, 2014 at 5:48 pm
Ian Wood is giving all his money to the vulnerable in Scotland and Africa How much are the critics giving? Ian Wood has brought £Billions into Scotland.
========================================
Ken – your hero Ian Wood is an egotistical creep. Why does anyone know about donations he gives? Why does ha not give on the QT? Answer he wants the praise.
Also the ordinary man in the street gives more to charity than him, if you look at how much Wood is worth to the ordinary person. If I earn £10,000 pa with my pension and I give £100 per year to charity, Wood’s earnings from his 1bn interest per year (and lets say he gets only 3% interest, he will get more than that) £30,000,000.
My £100 is 1% of my earnings. Woods 1% of his £30,000,000 is £300,000.
2nd Last in a wealthy country like ours why do we have poor needing foodbanks.
Finally Wood is after a Lord ship.
O/T EGG MAN ARRESTED 45 – STV
And nothing about it tonight from either BBC or STV. Any point in complaining? Maybe someone in the audience in Aberdeen for the Big Debate tonight will mention it. Not sure I want to watch Jim Murphy and Brian Soutar though. Call me cynical, but have they got Soutar involved at this late stage because they know how unpopular he is?
A 45 yr old man has been arrested in connection with Jim Murphy’s egging.
On BBC Scotland news
All the good egg puns are currently going on over here. 😛
link to wingsoverscotland.com
The BBC must still be researching the news re
link to oilandgaspeople.com
I’ve still not seen anything relating to it on their website, and I’ve given up watching their news so no idea of it’s been on there.. Doubt it though..
Wee Jonny says:
3 September, 2014 at 1:58 pm
Assault is assault regardless of discussion.
However you could give hime the chance to apologise and if you felt it was genuine then it could be considered closed.
Don’t leave it too long…
All I can report at the moment is that there is presently a survey vessel currently moored in Stranraer Harbour. So it would appear that there is much activity in the North Channel, but to what purpose?
Further to my post above, a reliable contact says that the name of the vessel is the Semper Vigilo, which, if I am not mistaken, is the motto of Police Scotland.
@JLT says: 3 September, 2014 at 11:12 am:
“when Cameron has to meet the Queen to discuss how Scotland was able to secede from the Union.”
Whit! Can you explain, JLT, how it is possible for Scotland to secede from a bipartite Treaty of Union that has only the signatures of the equally sovereign kingdoms of Scotland & a three country Kingdom of England on the document?
Did you forget that in 1706/7 the Kingdom of England had already annexed the Princedom of Wales by the Statute of Rhuddlan in 1284? You must know that to this day the Monarch of England’s first son is The Prince of Wales and thus is his mother’s subject. Then, of course, in 1542, “The Lord of Ireland”, King Henry VII, had the Parliament if Ireland pass The Crown of Ireland Act and thus annexed all Ireland. So how can Scotland secede from a bipartite union of equally sovereign kingdoms?
Scotland, on leaving the union, legally disunites the bipartite treaty.
Kendomacaroonbar @ 6:08, wrong type of oil !
I am sure the uk gov already came out with that one back in the 70’s,something about it being ‘too rich’ or some other codswallop. The inference being that it wasn’t as valuable a resource as your common garden or chippy oil.
Anyone else remember hearing this ? .
Andy smith
I remember that. Our problem was we had the high quality expensive stuff and what we needed was cheep low grade sludge. Who’d a thunk?
Jim Murphy makes a crass statement at tonight’s indy debate in Aberdeen
“Jim Murphy says nations all over world are threatened by terrorism, and suggests the Yes side may not have thought through armed forces under independence”
From the BBC
The man is a complete an utter idiot
@Muscleguy says: 3 September, 2014 at 11:16 am:
“They are more likely to keep the Crown of Scotland if they stay schtum than if they come out for No.”
It is, Muscleguy, legally imperative that we retain the monarchy. At least until the post independence negotiations are done & dusted. Here’s why – in 1603 The Scottish king inherited the crown of England but could not legally form a united kingdom. That’s why he was designated James I & VI. England’s legal system in 1603 was, “The Divine Right Of Kings”. In Scotland, due to Bruce being excommunicated for murdering the Red Comyn on the Kirk’s alter steps, the Scots had got round the problem of one murdered contender for the throne and an ex-communicant, (who thus could not have divine right), by declaring the monarchy as, “Protector of the People’s Sovereignty”, and Scots law is still based upon that premise.
So after the English parliament deposed James II of England by, “the Glorious Revolution”, and imported King Billy & Mary as joint monarchs they also removed the Royal veto over parliament from them and thus made the three country Kingdom of England a, “Constitutional Monarchy”, but, as Scotland was still an independent kingdom, they couldn’t legally depose the Scottish Monarchy and that is what kicked off the Jacobite Uprising, 1688 – 1745, that England still calls the Jacobite Revolution to this very day. However, you cannot legally rebel against a monarch who is not your own. Thus in 1706/7 the Kingdom of England by underhand tactics, subterfuge, military threats and bribary forced The Treaty of Union upon Scotland.
The important legal fact is that what was united was actually the two royal realms, (by Atricle I of the Treaty) That is the legal significance of the title, “United Kingdom”. It is not the Parliament of Westminster for that parliament was not a continuation of either Kingdom’s parliament as the text of Article III of the treaty plainly states : –
“Article III. That the united kingdom of Great Britain be represented by one and the same parliament to be stiled The Parliament of Great Britain..
Westminster is plainly a totally new parliament for a bipartite United Kingdom of four countries. You cannot have a legal rUK with only one kingdom and a disunited parliament.
Oh no, we are going to be as poor as Saudi Arabia at this rate.
I spent 35 years in the oil industry from building Highland Fabricators and Jacket FC for the Forties field (still going strong since 1973) at Nigg on the Cromarty Firth to Travel Center takeover projects for Marathon Ashland Petroleum in the USA. From Conceptual Engineering to Hook Up & Commissioning of offshore platforms through to First Oil for all of the major oil companies in a Project Management and Project Planning capacity as a self employed contractor. Twelve years in the Norwegian sector. Suffice to say I have a little knowledge of Offshore Oil and stayed close to the sharp end at all times. I can assure you that it is in my opinion a fact that Scotland is sitting on a great mountain of Oil and Gas way beyond our wildest dreams waiting to be exploited by the new technologies which were being tested in my time up to 2007 when I retired and can now be utilised to maximum effect on our current and future discoveries. Go for it Scotland you cannot lose.
What is going on now is not a debate about internal Scottish politics, this scene is already set, nor is it about England, but the shape and scope of the politics there – the very dimensions of Scotland and its make-up. People should not be surprised that this has happened. This is a natural cycle of anything with the ability to question itself and shape its own destiny.
link to newstatesman.com
Still no coverage on bbc tv news but sure we’ll see banner headlines in our pro Scottish media tomorrow…not
I read a lot of comments about CLAIR & Clair Ridge – the focus seems to be on CLAIR Ridge but CLAIR according to BP is the daddy with an estimated ** 8 BILLION BARRELS ** and according to BP on their website “The largest oil field in Europe”.
Weird how there’s been talk about reserves as low as 10 billion barrels when BP openly state facts on their website! See below.
link to bp.com
From BP website – CLAIR FIELD
Clair, the first fixed platform in the west of Shetland area, started producing in 2005. With an estimated eight billion barrels of oil in place, it is the largest oilfield in Europe. The field was discovered in 1977, but it was only with significant advances in technology and innovative engineering that the first phase of development was made possible. Clair Ridge, the £4.5 billion second phase of development, was confirmed in late 2011 and will see two new platforms installed and production starting in 2016. In 2013, a major appraisal drilling programme began to help define a possible third phase of development for Clair.
On BBC Scotland news
Lesley-Anne says:
3 September, 2014 at 6:49 pm
All the good egg puns are currently going on over here.
link to wingsoverscotland.com
Well done Lesley-Anne, now there will be a mad scramble to get over there, your brain must be fried tonight….
On oil finds.
Not being overly clever on these issues, but is it possible there are huge reserves of oil that could be extracted from land based wells ?
Surely there is no one in Scotland unaware of Scotland’s vast resources and the consequent wealth that would be delivered to a sovereign Scotland. With that in mind you will surely deserve being bent over a barrel and what follows if Independence is rejected.
Unfortunately, there is a huge “don’t know/naebiddy telt me/we don’t know enough aboot it” constituency out there being encouraged by those who do know and seek to profit from the status quo. As long as they are kept ignorant on the back pages and celebrity , or circuses before bread they will never know.
Social media is outstripping the MSM but the don’t knows do not use the social media for political purposes.
I just wish the SNP panellists would stop sooking up to the Murphy’s Alexanders, etc, on television as good people who will work with us for Scotland’s good after independence. Old Labour were just the same careerists and troughers and their disgraceful record in office needs to be exposed for the opportunists, fraudsters and liars that they are.
from biz 4 scot oil update.
link to businessforscotland.co.uk
[…] culpable, Dougie wants us to ignore that and look at oil dwindling, we’re doomed, well in maybe a century, oops don’t look at that […]
Oh no not another burden for us to deal with! I think I’ll just eat my cereal.
sir ian wood
If you ever meet this miserable tosser you will know why if c—s were voting for head c–t hes your man