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The unlikeliest places

Posted on July 26, 2014 by

Investors Chronicle (part of the Financial Times group), 25 July 2014:

“In the 12 months since we recommended EnQuest (ENQ) as a speculative buy option, the share price of the North Sea independent has oscillated within a relatively narrow range (-11p/+16p) either side of the current share price of 132p. The relative stability (or stagnation) of the share price – depending on your point of view – is partly attributable to repeat production delays on the Alma/Galia project.

But oil from the 34m barrel development is now imminent, which will help to shore-up near-term sentiment, particularly if output is cranked-up in fairly short order. However, even beyond the immediate quest to bump-up EnQuest’s daily production volumes by another 13,000 barrels, the driller’s strategic focus on exploiting maturing assets and underdeveloped fields in the UK North Sea places it in an ideal position to benefit from likely regulatory reforms, and we recommend buying in anticipation.

We think that Westminster has been deliberately downplaying the potential of the UK Continental Shelf (UKCS) ahead of September’s referendum on Scottish independence.

The Department of Energy has certainly been far more subdued than it was at the time of the February publication of Sir Ian Wood’s preliminary findings on the future of offshore oil & gas in the UK.

According to the report, the UK economy could generate £200bn over the next 20 years through the recovery of only 3-4bn barrels of North Sea oil and gas. Many analysts believe that the potential is much greater.

(Our emphases.) We all suspected as much, of course. But the Investors Chronicle isn’t exactly a renowned fount of Scottish-nationalist propaganda – for 150 years it’s been making its living out of telling the City of London how to get richer. If you want to find out what the UK’s wealthy elite REALLY think about the North Sea’s prospects, you won’t find a much better indicator.

So if it’s telling its readers to dive in on oil companies which had a big DROP in profits last year (you know, the freak low year for oil tax receipts that the UK government just loves to use as the foundation for its theatrically gloomy analyses of an independent Scotland’s finances), it’s probably worth taking note.

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  1. 26 07 14 07:03

    The unlikeliest places | Scottish Independence News
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  2. 27 07 14 00:44

    Daily Docs #53 | Frann Leach
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156 to “The unlikeliest places”

  1. Wee poor stupid Scotsman
    Ignored
    says:

    Excellent sleuthing, Stu. Mind you, what a surprise, eh? (Incidentally, it would be nice if someone would teach the IC journalist how to properly use the hyphen.)

  2. McHaggis
    Ignored
    says:

    Part of me feels sorry for rUK after the Yes vote in september.

    England has no major manufacturing or any other industry beyond banking/fInancial services that could possibly form the basis of an economy. We all know where that would lead in the event of another Lehman in the future…

    I can see pressure on an iScotland to help bail out our southern neighbours ;0)

  3. art1001
    Ignored
    says:

    Well who would have thunk it? Westminster deliberately downplaying oil revenue potential so that they can pervert democracy, win the vote and keep all the money for themselves to criminally ‘pull and share’ with their crooked mates. Meanwhile the people of Scotland queue up at food banks.

    This post MUST to be spread far and wide on social media, on to leaflets and press advertisements.

    Well done Stu. You are indeed an amazing journalist. Giving what people need most in a democracy – truth.

    Let us just vote YES, end this farce and show Westminster what it feels like to be on the wrong end of REAL, SEVERE CUTS.

  4. Defo
    Ignored
    says:

    The FT tells it like it is. Rare these days.
    Good find Stu, but I can’t see the DM running a banner headline on it.

  5. Cal
    Ignored
    says:

    Stu, I can’t read that. It’s asking for me to subscribe to the magazine. Can you give us an archived copy?

  6. hetty
    Ignored
    says:

    I have a book called ‘ Black and Green Gold’ by the Balmoral group, 2010. The title says it all really. History must not be repeated regards the lies about the oil. It is immoral that we have food banks in what is a rich country, utterly despicable.

  7. Clootie
    Ignored
    says:

    Lancaster – SubSeaIQ – Offshore Field Development Projects

    http://www.subseaiq.com/data/Project.aspx?project_id=730

    Lancaster is located on Block 205/21a West of Shetlands in the UK sector of the North Sea. Hurricane Exploration wholly owns and operates the oil prospect.

    200 million bbls recoverable and hardly a mention.

  8. Juan Pablo Del Roomigrant
    Ignored
    says:

    Another amazing reveal, thanks Rev.

    Wish I had a few quid though, looks like a very profitable investment.

    Anyone fancy chipping in?

  9. Muscleguy
    Ignored
    says:

    It just shows the arrogant patronising campaign of BT and Westminster. They think we are stupider than the writers and consumers of The Investor’s Chronicle.

    Oh we should of course put all the MSM journalists and editors and proprietors as well. Surely someone at the pathetic Sunday Herald could have found this?

    Honestly modern journalists just seem so utterly and completely INCURIOUS. Why would you become a journalist if you are so incurious? The hacks of old must be turning in their graves.

    Of course one word covers all this: propaganda. The journalists of this country are just propaganda mouthpieces.

  10. Defo
    Ignored
    says:

    “More tangibly, an independent Scotland would mean another valuable ally for Washington. The U.S. also would seek a trading partnership with the new country, particularly since it would control vast North Sea oil reserves.” !

    http://washingtonexaminer.com/article/2551226

  11. James S
    Ignored
    says:

    Amazingly real news is somwhere out there. Normally behind a paywall. Knowledge is power. Access to knowledge is control.

    All the London based press give the English 50m Butterfly gold winner the headline and sideline Dan Wallace 400m Medely swim.

    Might have something to do with this:
    https://vine.co/v/M0OiJv0Vnpe

    As he lives in Canada, he doesn’t even get a vote.

  12. mdmaok
    Ignored
    says:

    I’ve worked in major project development in the oil and gas industry for 40 years. I am what they call an SME (subject matter expert) There is a fantastic future for the industry, which will help pay for our vision of a social just Scotland. Westminster lying to us is hardly a surprise.

  13. caz-m
    Ignored
    says:

    You need to keep the oil industry in the headlines Rev. Your average Scot just hasn’t a clue what is happening out there, either through lack of reporting from MSM and BBC Scotland or just plain old ignorance on the subject.

    The SNP also need to start shouting about the oil/gas that could be sitting off the Clyde Coast. There is the potential for a serious amount of jobs that could be created if they can get the go-ahead to go out and explore the area.

    Excellent report on it by Business for Scotland.

    http://www.businessforscotland.co.uk/government-confirms-independence-could-generate-west-coast-oil-bonanza/

  14. Robert Peffers
    Ignored
    says:

    @Wee poor stupid Scotsman says: 26 July, 2014 at 6:33 am:
    “It would be nice if someone would teach the IC journalist how to properly use the hyphen.”

    Ach! Min, Naebody expects ower muckle frae MSM scrievers
    noo. Ilka ane a UK limmer noo.
    Owersettin intil the Inglis, (Oh! Man, nobody expects over much from MSM writers now. Every one a UK Prostitute now).

  15. Grouse Beater
    Ignored
    says:

    Know two North sea oil executives, both spit when told the oil is running out.

    ‘Bloody lies,’ said one only recently. “We’re investing more now than any time before simply because the oil is there for another 100 years.”

    Neither are SNP members, Royal Burgess golf chaps both. One is so angered by the black propaganda deluging his industry that he’s motivated to vote Yes.

  16. Juteman
    Ignored
    says:

    If the Sunday Herald is really onside, they have to run with this story in a big way.

  17. Weedeochandorris
    Ignored
    says:

    Thats fantastic news. Surely everybody in this country must know by now we have been lied to for years? You still meet folks who ‘know’ the oil is runnin oot, cause ‘they’ (BT) said so. The misinformation fed to ordinary folk, who don’t have access to online sites like Wings, is an utter disgrace. We will never forget this. Lots of work still to be done before Sep. I also can’t believe the number of people who still don’t know the Scottish NHS is entirely separate from rUK. Just a wee chat and it all comes out though.

    O/T Amazon, free kindle book – The Troll Trap. “This is book 1 in the Smelly Trolls series. There are snotacular sequels called ‘Mr Splendiferous and the Troublesome Trolls’ and ‘Trolls on Ice’.”

    “Meanwhile, the Super-Troll-Knobbly-Foot family decide to turn their backs on smelly bottoms and eating children. They don’t want to be bad any more. So, they paint themselves orange and try to live like humans. However, being enormous, horned and slimy makes it difficult to blend in.”

    We got you R whittington. We know what you’re about here. Now run along and try to be good!

  18. Ken500
    Ignored
    says:

    What caused the dip in Oil production. Alexander/Osbourne 2011 increased (11% £2Billion) oil tax, now up to 80%.

    Vote YES

  19. galamcennalath
    Ignored
    says:

    Well spotted Stu. Perhap I’ll just pop out first thing on Monday and buy a load of Oil company shares. Or, perhaps not.

    Does make you wonder. Have BT et al actually told us the truth about anything? I can’t think of anything beyond trivia like which day it was. Even then, I’d check a calendar.

    Also, can anyone think of any time since World War II when there has been so much state sanctioned lies and propaganda?

  20. Ken500
    Ignored
    says:

    Foreign multinationals tax evade through the City of London.

  21. alexicon
    Ignored
    says:

    I work in the Forties field, one of the oldest fields in the North Sea, and the operators there have invested about £2 billion pounds into it. They are not doing that for nothing.

  22. caz-m
    Ignored
    says:

    O/T

    BBC Scotland had the cheek this morning to advertise a display that the Red Arrows will be flying at. Can’t remember where it was (who cares), but why would I want to go and see a one-trick-pony.

    After all, Defence Secretary Michael Fallon has already told us that all they can do is trail Red, White and Blue smoke.

    And we have saw that trick at the Opening Ceremony of the Glasgow Commonwealth games.

  23. Cal
    Ignored
    says:

    Oh look! There’s a squirrel that looks just like a Volkswagon Polo.

  24. Stuart Black
    Ignored
    says:

    @R Whittington, yeah, I’ve driven Polos, they are a great wee car, reliable, and I recommend them. Now fuck the fuck off, and don’t annoy me.

  25. Derek M
    Ignored
    says:

    “We think that Westminster has been deliberately downplaying the potential of the UK Continental Shelf (UKCS) ahead of September’s referendum on Scottish independence.”

    Now correct me if im wrong people but does “deliberately downplaying” actually mean lying their asses off ?

  26. Stoopod
    Ignored
    says:

    Internally EnQuest are going through a significant change compared to the Petrofac days. The way they are shaping themselves they want their platforms to be producing in 10 to 15 years (these are the ones that are already almost 40 years old).
    Here’s me thinking all the oil will run out on the Tuesday after independence!

  27. Red Squirrel
    Ignored
    says:

    Thanks Rev, that woke me up! Despite suspecting this, seeing it printed from such an unlikely source is truly shocking. We can’t be fooled again by WM, we just can’t.

  28. Grouse Beater
    Ignored
    says:

    Now correct me if im wrong people but does “deliberately downplaying” actually mean lying their asses off?

    Chuckle! Good point.

    ‘Untruth,’ ‘obfuscate,’ ‘exaggerate,’ ‘prevaricate,’ are all euphemisms for lying.

  29. Rev. Stuart Campbell
    Ignored
    says:

    Fuck’s SAKE, readers.

    DO.

    NOT.

    RESPOND.

    TO.

    TROLLS.

    Ignore it and I can just ban the culprit. When you all get involved it’s a load of unnecessary work cleaning up the mess and I don’t know if you’ve noticed but I’m A LITTLE BUSY AT THE MOMENT.

  30. Duncan Woodward
    Ignored
    says:

    As Alexicon says! Why we need this tipy-toe with this ‘very British’ journalism I don’t know! Sit with any oil worker, ply him with a few drams and if he happens to be the head of exploration & drilling for one of the major players, as I did, you will hear the truth! Never mind this woolly speculation , The oil business risks billions on exploration and if they were crap at it they would be out of business. Investment in both the existing extraction areas and those coming on stream has never been higher and with high expectations for good reason!! What is to come from the West will dwarf the North! That is the truth…. who gives a monkeys fuck about what that etonian silver spooned toss-pot has to say…. he’s history very very soon!

  31. Nana Smith
    Ignored
    says:

    O/T

    Nice one

    http://www.thesouthernreporter.co.uk/news/local-headlines/steel-and-swinney-on-yes-platform-1-3486821

    So much better than slab dragging Millie’s wife up here. No hopers with no vote.

  32. caz-m
    Ignored
    says:

    Derek M
    “Now correct me if im wrong people but does “deliberately downplaying” actually mean lying their asses off ?”

    You got it one Derek.

    BBC Scotland, STV, MSM are all hiding this crucial information on oil from the Scottish electorate for the sake of saving the British State.

    They are ALL Lying Bastards.

    It really will be fascinating to see what slimy, backtracking tactics they adopt after our glorious victory on 18th September.

  33. Robert Peffers
    Ignored
    says:

    hetty says: 26 July, 2014 at 8:14 am

    “Do not feed the troll, waste of time, space and energy!

    There are two ways to look at this, hetty. One is that if we engage just enough to keep the Naysayer troll busy here then he/she is not out as a paid for naysayer footsoldier.

    Just think on the fact that we all spot the trolls so no harm is done but if they were out popping lies through letterboxes they would be communicating with less aware Scots.

  34. galamcennalath
    Ignored
    says:

    In the Norwegian movie Trolljegeren, we learn the interesting advice that sunlight trolls to stone. Don’t crowd round offering shade.

  35. Finnz
    Ignored
    says:

    More than true Alexicon. Working for the largest producer of hydrocarbons in the UK sector of the North Sea gives me an insight into the amount of investment and opportunities that are occurring now. The infrastructure is being upgraded all over the place and it ain’t for short term gains.

    Everyone in Aberdeen knows exactly what game the no side are playing. That’s why they want a change of management…

  36. Auld Rock
    Ignored
    says:

    Clootie, the ‘Lancaster Field’ geologically this field lies on the edge of what William ‘Big Mac’ McLaughlin identifies as ‘The Atlantic Margin’. Bill has produced two papers detailing in great detail all of the currently known oil/gas reserves ‘Onshore and Offshore’. If you have still not read these reports I will be happy to forward you a copy. Just email me at:- asterix[dot]says[dot]yes[at]gmail.com The information contained in these reports is free to use in whole or part only condition is that the Author is acknowledged.

    Let me briefly remind all you youngsters about when oil was first discovered. By the mid 70’s seismology was showing strong indications that oil/gas reserves in the Northern North Sea were vast. These early indicators had prompted the Labour Govt. to commission the ‘McCrone’ report which when they saw realised that it was political dynamite and that what the SNP were saying then was absolutely TRUE and if anything was an under-statement. It was such a shock to them that if the ‘Too Wee, Too Stupid and Too Poor’ Scots would realise that they were actually a very, very rich Nation. Their solution, declare it ‘SECRET’ and bury it for THIRTY YEARS.

    LIES, ALL LIES and they knew it but they keep on playing down just how much oil/gas was still to be recovered. As I write this I’m looking over to the Sullom Voe Terminal (SVT) where Total and Petrofac are building a huge new gas processing plant, estimated life span THIRTY YEARS, and big oil companies do not spend billions of pounds on a project that will shut in a couple of years. Oh, aye Cameron and his Cronies look on the residual Nth. Sea and the Atlantic Margin as the cash cow that will featherbed their City friends for decades to come.

    Let’s ensure that the Scottish people are not taken for MUGS once again. Get the message out to everybody who will listen.

    Auld Rock

  37. Rev. Stuart Campbell
    Ignored
    says:

    “There are two ways to look at this, hetty. One is that if we engage just enough to keep the Naysayer troll busy here then he/she is not out as a paid for naysayer footsoldier.”

    Aye, and the other is that if you do I’ll ban you as well. There is no more time to indulge this shit. We’ve go seven weeks left, I’m trying to juggle about six projects at once and I’ve just wasted 20 precious minutes getting rid of a load of fuckwittery about Polos because you all joined in rather than alerting me to it via the Contact form like I’ve asked a hundred times and then LEAVING IT ALONE.

    If it’s just Dick, his posts are easy to ignore in among the relevant ones. If 90% of comments are replying to an idiot trying to be disruptive, readers will give up on the entire thread almost immediately.

    I’m sure Dick is having a snigger now at wasting 20 minutes of my time. You all helped him do it. This is an official warning: from now on the ban-hammer is on a hair trigger. There ISN’T TIME TO KEEP EXPLAINING THIS ANY MORE.

  38. T222Deracha
    Ignored
    says:

    Perhaps Lamentable Lamont, Desperate Davidson and (ahem) Diddy Darling need to to read up on this stuff. They appear to be doing either excellent impressions of clueless imbeciles or even worse devious, lying toads.

  39. Midgehunter
    Ignored
    says:

    Most of the article threads are nowadays getting fairly long and I’m turning in to a 24/7 professional comment reader…!

    A lot of the threads would be much shorter and more informative if some folk here would STOP feeding the f******g trolls. And we’d get through a lot quicker.

    Do some of you have an impulsive urge like flies attracted to a turd to have to reply to even the most trollistic crap like wallpaper and car boots.

    This thread has already been ruined and with it, have made a few trolls very happy.

    It’s still early in the day so please, please, PLEASE cut out the crap and be happy – be positive.

  40. Mosstrooper
    Ignored
    says:

    Well said Rev.

  41. Colin Dawson
    Ignored
    says:

    And also this really disappointing story. These reserves are very modest indeed. Perhaps just around the size of the Forties field but with a value much greater because prices now are about five or six times higher than they were during the 90s.

    It’s also worth noting that these reserves are worth considerably more per capita to Scotland than the per capita value to the rUK of the reserves that were announced for northern and southern England on the same date.

    Then again, since when did the BBC or DECC let facts get in the way of a good anti-independence headline;

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-28085418

  42. T222Deracha
    Ignored
    says:

    Apologies for double post, me finger has taken on a life of it’s own.

  43. Derek M
    Ignored
    says:

    the big question :- is this the money men starting to turn on westminster? We all know they have no loyalty to anything except money and would sell their own granny down the river for a few pennies profit.
    It will be interesting to see how far they go in the next few months and how the UK government will try to spin this,i imagine right this minute the treasury will all be running about in a panic after reading this.

  44. Nana Smith
    Ignored
    says:

    My hubby has been involved in the oil industry for 30+yrs. He is back and fore from meetings in Aberdeen and I can assure you all the industry is booming.

    He has guffawed so much over the past 2yrs scaremongering I have sometimes thought he might choke.

  45. Robert Peffers
    Ignored
    says:

    @Muscleguy says:26 July, 2014 at 8:17 am:

    “Surely someone at the pathetic Sunday Herald could have found this?

    Why would they, Muscleguy?

    Not when they can sit there and earn their money simply by having a Press Agency, (Wire Service), site on their own homepage, like“Reuters”, perhaps. They needs then just search the word, “Scotland”, and Cut & Paste any found item as Reuters reported it?

    “Nice work if you can get it and you can get it if you try”, as the old song lyric used to say.

    Here’s a link to Wire Services :-
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_wire_services

  46. jim Dear
    Ignored
    says:

    The Cairn field west of Shetland in the Atlantic has 8billion barrels in it. The recent OBR forecast was 10billion barrels in total. You can check this out for yourselves to confirm.

  47. Murray McCallum
    Ignored
    says:

    I’m sure Alistair Darling will take the earliest opportunity to correct his grossly misleading estimate of future oil reserves (he applied the standard UK Treasury 1/12th rule).

    If he doesn’t he runs the risk of a Scottish journalist ripping him to shreds in an interview.

  48. ronnie anderson
    Ignored
    says:

    Noo see’s whit sombodys gone and done upset the Rev, ave telt you,s fur days DONT FEED THE FKin TROOLs . Noo ur you’s gonna listen tae the Rev.Ave been pist aff fur 2 days an hardly posting fur the Troll’s spoiling the Banter remember IT,& this site is well know for its Political insight / Rev disection of Media & Wit / Satire,if you,s want to engage Trolls Yes Scotland site has plenty & I came here a long time since to avoid them.

    REV. Troll free site from Now on ,Time is short & we need to be discussing daily events.

    BBC DEMO 2PM PACIFIC QUAY HOPE TO SEE YOU,S THERE.

  49. galamcennalath
    Ignored
    says:

    OT. Interesting that the thought police get everywhere. They are surprisingly active!

    4:18 this morning someone removed the lyrics from the Wiki page of Freedom Come All Ye. Some, myself included believe the song should be our National Anthem. There has been quite a lot of discussion about it since it was sung at the Games.

    The excuse for removal was “Lyrics are usually copyrighted and cannot be published here using” when earlier someone else clearly says “Lyrics Quote text from http://www.scottishpoetrylibrary.org.uk/poetry/poems/freedom-come-all-ye, which cites the collected poems”

    Anyone else noticed odd activity on Wikipedia trying to erase, downplay or modify Scottish items?

  50. heedtracker
    Ignored
    says:

    THERE’S OIL IN THAT SOIL, everyone in Aberdeen knows that the no oil left lie is one of BetterTogetherBBC’s biggest frauds. It’s really more about Scotland managing our resources or carry on with Westminster doing it. Ref polls for oil workers show offshore Yes winning but the office is No, with top guys pushing hard for no change. Surprised?

    Norwegian oil and UKOK oil are living embodiments of just how different the yewkay is from Scandinavia and that’s the understatement of the millennium, sadly.

  51. Grouse Beater
    Ignored
    says:

    Oil levels and profits will be a key question put to Salmond and Darling in their Great British Fake-off contest – but with Salmond having it as his specialism, and intimate knowledge of sexing-down from his time amongst Westminster spin doctors, frauds, and trough meisters, he’s bound to show Shallow Hal up as an empty barrel making a hellova lot of noise.

  52. Finnz
    Ignored
    says:

    Is there any hard evidence out there to confirm that Osbornes and Alexander’s raid on North Sea Oil revenues was a desperate attempt to minimise tax take from the industry in the one year before the referendum, just to skew the figures .
    Their sudden backtracking after the damage was done would suggest it.

  53. ronnie anderson
    Ignored
    says:

    The Uk economy on the UP is it Christine Lagaurde paying the Price of getting her position in the IMF, no increase in Manufacturing no increase in Employment,( unless its the American adopted model of employment Workfare ( slave wages).

  54. heedtracker
    Ignored
    says:

    Osborne’s OBR oil revenue forecasts on well anything at all can safely be written off as a load nonsense then. Again here in Aberdeen, local news for local Tories press and journal, tells us endlessly that there is no oil left but if there is then it’s “safer” in the yewkay. What these idiots are trying get away with here is anyone’s guess and they also push the £40 billion removal costs, when the non existent Scots oil does run out, Scotland will be too poor, small, stupid to do it al.

    Where p & j get £40 billion decommission fees is also anyone’s guess, but that’s our fraudster press for you.

  55. Stuart
    Ignored
    says:

    Rev there sitting on billions more here’s on example. BP Clair alone Westminster say 300m barrels of recoverable in its lifetime. Now where’s the other ,wait for it, 400,000,000 BILLION have I missed some zeros . 4billion waiting CCS to recover it. BP needs it badly Cameron won’t or can’t invest in the green energy that this process produces. His hands are tied with the govern rule of Brussels while they perfect it there’s elf . Looking from Scotland I see the northsea, looking from Germany you see the EU.there buying everything , transportation there key link going un noticed . Just keep an eye on it please. Ireland wat ch out for the term FARM IN.

    In short BP. Clair has the figure you speak of alone . Every other field has the same potential even the decommissioned ones shame on you Cameron for wasting our natural resorces cos you bent over to Brussels . BP told you , your ignorance and defiance has cost the uk trillions . Stand up and I’ll prove your !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!?

  56. ronnie anderson
    Ignored
    says:

    @Stuart Black I missed You & yYour Wife the other day in Maryhill foodbank catch up with you,s at Bbc Demo.

  57. Robert Peffers
    Ignored
    says:

    @Derek M says: 26 July, 2014 at 9:06 am:
    “Does “deliberately downplaying” actually mean lying their asses off?

    AYE!
    YUP!
    YES!
    SURE!
    CERTAILY DOES!
    INDEED!
    INDUBITABLY!

  58. G H Graham
    Ignored
    says:

    Invariably, the best place to get a feel for how an industry is doing, is to go to the people who hire the workers.

    Hays is a great place to go to to understand the market for labour in the oil & gas industry. There are many others of course but this is a global firm so understands well what the oil industry is doing without looking through a political prism.

    http://www.hays.com/oil-and-gas/Job-Index/index.htm

    The labour market is a highly responsive indicator of what a market is up to & helps teach us the effects upon the labour market from crude prices, instability, investment, taxation etc.

    In summary, oil demand is expected to increase by 50% over the next 30 years or so and only HALF of the fields have been developed.

    While all commodities have rollercoaster prices, the overall trend for the price of crude can really only go up. As in all businesses, there is a price sweet spot and we are right in the middle of it now.

    If crude prices are too low, investment is curtailed so less people are hired. If prices are too high, investment is curtailed because there’s no need to spend on exploration when you can just sit back & reap the profits. And companies stop hiring.

    But right now, there’s just enough money to be made that it is driving a huge demand for oil & gas workers to help oil companies extract from dwindling fields AND go out looking for new ones.

    People like “Flipper” Darling & “Towel Folder” Osborne who enjoy warning Scots that owning oil is a disaster are talking through a political prism & can easily dismissed.

    Of course, they want Scots to believe that oil is too volatile & it’s going to run out tomorrow but the reality is very different.

  59. heedtracker
    Ignored
    says:

    That unannounced £2 billion tax raid by Osborne was for the 2012 London Olympics, or at least for paying off some of the debt the £14 billion UKOK propaganda blast’s run up. Osborne completely fcuked several years of project management, budgeting, revenue, revenue forecasting but it made not the slightest difference to UK.gov because it’s their oil, which doesn’t exist either, suckas.

    Comparing and contrasting what Scottish sport could do with that Osborne £2 billion is not good for you, but look at the incredible Scottish swimming talent winning!

    London Olympic aquatics centre cost?

    Three hundred million quid for a pool and then along comes a Scot named Wallace!

  60. Grouse Beater
    Ignored
    says:

    This has a tenuous connection with oil:

    A Kind of Hero – grousebeater.wordpress

  61. Grouse Beater
    Ignored
    says:

    Heedtracker: Three hundred million quid for a pool and then along comes a Scot named Wallace!

    oh, the irony!

  62. Indy_Scot
    Ignored
    says:

    They have deceived us once before to our cost, we cannot give them another chance to do it again.

  63. Giving Goose
    Ignored
    says:

    It’s my belief that Danny Alexander’s tax raid on the oil industry was nothing more than a transparent attempt at sucking up to his Tory bosses.

    Alexander is so shallow a careerist individual that he desperately wanted to show Osbourne and Cameron that he was “onside.”

    He is like the kid at school who will go the extra distance in a dare to suck up to the school in-crowd.

    When trying to understand the motives of Scottish Unionist politicians you do not necessarily require to think deeply. Danny Alexander ultimately has one eye on a seat in the house of Lords and a gilt (He also qualifies for “Guilt”!) edged package to his personal financial reward.

    “Tax raid on the North Sea” equals Peerage, Lordship, Expenses, invitations to rub shoulders with the London Elite and big thumper pension to Danny boy.

    He really is that shallow a person and we should recognise that fact!

  64. Training Day
    Ignored
    says:

    Journalism at its simplest and best. Is there anyone in the London Scottish MSM who feels shame at their complicity in covering up lies and punting misinformation? (no need to answer that).

  65. heedtracker
    Ignored
    says:

    My Slovene girlfriend at Glasgow uni is a regular vote NO camper on BBC vote NO Scotland, gives “evidence” to Ian Davidson’s Scottish Affair committee for NO, CiF’s as only UKOK fanatics can and she says Scotland must pool, share, give up control of, energy resources to England because it makes Scotland safe and secure from bad things.

    “Take oil and gas as an example. North Sea oil and gas is a lucrative business, but it is also highly volatile. The oil and gas is expensive even to locate, never mind to extract, and the price of oil can decline sharply. Tax revenues from North Sea oil and gas fell by a whopping £4.5 billion in 2013. That is the size of the Scottish schools budget. That kind of economic shock is much easier to absorb in an economy of 63 million people than it is in one of only 5.3 million people. The UK Government supported the injection of over £45 billion into RBS in 2008, and offered the Bank a further £275 billion of guarantees and state support. This total was more than double the size of Scotland’s economy that year —”

    http://www.adamtomkins.net/adamtomkins.html

    Or another day, another “highly volatile” UKOK liar gets to see some actual fact, it’s a choice between spivs and liars in ivory towers, or real world fact from sources Investors Chronicle

    http://www.investorschronicle.co.uk

  66. Helena Brown
    Ignored
    says:

    We all realise by now that the Establishment which includes Westminster have to keep doing and saying things which may in the short term be regarded as doing the Scottish Economy down but they also have one eye on the economy South of the Border which if they let the truth be known will not exactly be good for them. We all know the Southern English do not care to soil their hands, but quite happy if the Northerners got their hands dirty with Trade, just so long as the English Gentlemen gambled on their backs and married their sons off for the money. So it continues. Wonder how they will explain the fall in their exports when we have finally got Ports up and running? What will they do about the shortfall in their GDP, when they can not use the oil to square their debts? If I were English or living in England I would have started asking these questions and not been so damned complacent about the Jocks not being stupid enough to leave the UK. They should be smart enough by now to know we never do as expected.

  67. Robert Peffers
    Ignored
    says:

    Red Squirrel says:26 July, 2014 at 9:09 am:

    “We can’t be fooled again by WM, we just can’t.

    The trouble is, Red Squirrel, that a significant number of Scots are indeed fooled by them. These are just innocent victims. Disgracefully, a goodly number who are NOT fooled by them are propagating the crass lies of the English Establishment.

    These last can cry and protest at being named as such until their eyes fall out but these last are indeed ("Tractor" - Ed)s of our country of Scotland. We will never, ever, forget who they are no matter the result of the referendum. Quite frankly I do not envy these people’s futures anywhere in Britain. If they win it will be a pyrrhic victory and, win or lose their paymasters will disown them as, no longer required, collateral wastage.

  68. Marker Post
    Ignored
    says:

    In the forthcoming debate between our First Minister and the Flipper, please, please, please can someone ask the simple question, “How much oil is there in Scottish waters?”

    And let Flipper answer first.

  69. heedtracker
    Ignored
    says:

    Graun reports Investors Chronicle

    http://www.theguardian.com/media/2002/feb/26/pearson.pressandpublishing

    “Mr Bracken, who went on to become Viscount Bracken, held strong views, many of which would be likely to infuriate the leading dealmakers of today. He said that only “minimal ability” was needed to become a banker. “We are of the opinion that the ancient and famous trade of banking suffers from the modern tendency to describe it as a profession,” he wrote in the publication’s early days.”

    And much the same could be said for UKOK professorial bullshit artists, like my Sloven girlfriend:D

  70. Grouse Beater
    Ignored
    says:

    “You must retain a belief in yourself, a belief that you can improve and improve. If you get into admiration you’re lost.”

    I neat analogy for Scotland’s predicament as the nation second to England’s interests. The quotation comes from Perthire resident, Ian Stewart, former Jaguar Racing Driver.

    (A kind of Hero – Grouse Beater’s blog)

  71. ronnie anderson
    Ignored
    says:

    @ Gala, Founder of Wiki stays in London is a NO,dont expect any favours from Wiki they will remove any Scottish items as instructed.

  72. macart763m
    Ignored
    says:

    Couple of posts with links went into the mists on this thread earlier, but essentially who knew?

    On the back of year with record levels of investment in the sector and fields coming back on line their lie was eventually going to be exposed. It was always about FOLLOW THE MONEY.

    Their hope though was that this would not happen till the referendum was in the rear view mirror. Time to get busy posting links and get this spread, since we can’t rely on any such help from the meeja.

  73. ronnie anderson
    Ignored
    says:

    @ Helena Brown. The Afflient in London will be up to they’re armpits with Efflient when they find the have no money to pay for the new London Sewer System & Underground Crossrail, happy days to the Lab/Cons/Libs/Ukip.

  74. heedtracker
    Ignored
    says:

    @ Grouse Beater, oh, the irony! Isn’t it glorious. A Scot named Wallace given no UKOK BBC coverage whatsoever wins Gold and despite north Briton’s like Crash Gordon pumping billions of debt mountain cash directly into English sport.

    I think it’s because our friends in the south are just completely knackered paddling up and down all those huge hundred million quid swimming pools they build themselves. Here in Scotland, unionists closed down most of ours and look what they get:D

  75. Barontorc
    Ignored
    says:

    “We think that Westminster has been deliberately downplaying the potential of the UK Continental Shelf (UKCS) ahead of September’s referendum on Scottish independence.”

    AND THEY’RE DOING IT DELIBERATELY!!! – A LA LARD FOULKES

    Just as deliberately as was their intention with the McCrone Report and as they are doing with the Devolution Papers, stonewalling SNP MPs and cynically denying many FOI requests from others interested in Scotland’s well-being.

    This monumentally silly and petty intervention by a Westminster lackey (new to the post, my bahookie) to force the Red Arrows – the acrobatic outfit we Scots pay towards, to emblazon the Scottish sky with the red, white and blue, was nothing more than an orange walk strutting it’s stuff in a demonstration of power mis-used.

    There are many people having a quiet smile in support of Dan Wallace’s shout and their YES pathway is looking more necessary by the day.

  76. Les Wilson
    Ignored
    says:

    Colin Dawson says:

    Colin, good link about the North Sea coal, technologies in that field are constantly gaining ground to make coal more environmentally friendly. It just shows Scotland will hardly ever run out of energy options.
    They can stick that in their pipe and smoke it!

  77. Grouse Beater
    Ignored
    says:

    Heedtracker: Grouse Beater, “Oh, the irony!” Isn’t it glorious?

    Enthralling.

    Just posted an essay on my blog about a Scottish Ecurie Ecosse racing driver to show how a tiny unit in a beaten up old Embra mews garage, filled with people of great ability and dedication, can beat the best in the world.

    Out of respect for its subject, Ian Stewart, I do not draw blatant analogies with Scotland’s state of being but it’s all there in the subtext. Have a read!

    (Honorary 250,000 Wings Poster 2014)

  78. Leo Foyle
    Ignored
    says:

    Funny how Scotland is an economic desert when reading the British papers…

    On a whim, I did a search on the phrase “rathlin oil field” and got loads of positive articles on a significant find off the north-east coast of Ireland.

    Move a few km into Scottish territorial waters and what do you get when you search for “kintyre oil field”?

    I’ll leave that as an exercise for the reader.

  79. Marker Post
    Ignored
    says:

    @macart763m that was my thought too, they were hoping this would not become clear until after the referendum. I’ve been looking out for a game-changer, and it turns out that it might have been under our noses all this time.

    If it finally dawns on the undecideds that the No Better Together camp has been downplaying the oil, while knowing all along that there is literally a hundred years’ worth left, it would be enough in itself to win our independence.

  80. The Tree of Liberty
    Ignored
    says:

    O/T, maybe. Can anybody tell me what was the point of Cameron’s visit to Shetland last week? No forward travel announcement and then no press questions! Seems strange or is just me?

  81. Robert Peffers
    Ignored
    says:

    @Finnz says:26 July, 2014 at 9:55 am
    “Is there any hard evidence out there to confirm that Osbornes and Alexander’s raid on North Sea Oil revenues was a desperate attempt to minimise tax take from the industry in the one year before the referendum, just to skew the figures.”

    More than likely it was just plain old fashioned incompetence and sheer ignorance.

  82. Les Wilson
    Ignored
    says:

    The oil and gas in Scottish waters is destined to rise, with new fields and new technologies including ” Octopus drilling”, which is designed to extract more than ever before.
    This uses a hub from which drilling can be done in all directions at once, multiplying the output. It is new, they are only now beginning to use it in America.

    Also, the link supplied by Colin Dawson shows the huge extent of accessible coal fields in the North sea are simply massive.

    Scotland IS a truly wealth nation, we need the guts and determination to grab it.We all need to work harder, we NEED to win. Otherwise masses of our wealth will once more be sucked out of us, while they grow fat on it, and laugh all the way to their dodgy Banks. We, will get more food banks.

  83. Jock Scot
    Ignored
    says:

    It’s about the oil again…so expect an invasion soon after Independence so that we can be ‘liberated’ and freed from The Nasty Nat gov’t who want to waste it on making people’s life better, the stupid ‘Frackers’..oh, but that another story

    re BBC protest..if anyone has a ghetto blaster then I can bring a backing track for BBC Blah Blah on disc and/or stick if anyone is up for a sing a long.

    Will post O/T about accessing the lyrics for printing or you could – watch, pause and write..

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wcHq5U_ZdiY&list=UU_gwsX4TiHO1ktJ1flTUnJg

  84. Socrates MacSporran
    Ignored
    says:

    Robert Peffer’s post at 9.38am, about the cutting and pasting of wire feeds by the Scottish MSM is a disgraceful pst.

    SSSHHH Robert! that sort of accurate information isn’t supposed to get out.

  85. heedtracker
    Ignored
    says:

    (Honorary 250,000 Wings Poster 2014) congratulations! Make sure it’s on your CV.
    Great essay, just shows what can be achieved with not that much. When David Coulthard won his Grand Prixs, you could tell he’d won because the BBC didn’t report the result. Lovely people.

  86. macart763m
    Ignored
    says:

    @Marker Post

    Sorry for the delayed response. Just got back from posting this link on a few sites.

    Most folks with any connection to the industry and a YES outlook have been screaming this at people for the past three years. The evidence provided through the levels of investment just never jibed with what we were being told by government and the meeja through referendum related articles.

    It always been one of the biggest and oldest lies in their house of cards, a foundation piece as it were. Yank this one and the rest come tumbling down.

  87. Capella
    Ignored
    says:

    Osborne’s 2012 tax manipulations were designed to shift the industry into sticking with older fields while heavily taxing production in new sectors
    “The UK’s current rate of tax for North Sea production is extremely high at 62% for newer fields and 81% for those subject to Petroleum Revenue Tax, and these rates are making some investment unviable….By reducing those rates for future production from investment in existing fields, more investment will be stimulated. As well as creating jobs now, this should help future North Sea production and future tax revenues.” (Alan McCrae PwC)
    This will have meant that a dip in tax take could be predicted in 2013 just as the OBR claims. It is is all Westminster managed smoke and mirrors. See Indpendent article in 2012
    http://tinyurl.com/995566h

  88. galamcennalath
    Ignored
    says:

    ronnie anderson says:
    Founder of Wiki stays in London is a NO,dont expect any favours from Wiki they will remove any Scottish items as instructed.

    Another institution bites the dust!

    They have friends everywhere, it seems.

  89. Irene Buchan
    Ignored
    says:

    I have been invited to be part of the audience at the debate between Alex Salmond and Alistair Darling. I was asked if I would like to ask or submit a question. My question would be to Mr. Darling, problem is which untruth do I challenge him on? Any suggestions?

  90. Robert Peffers
    Ignored
    says:

    @ronnie anderson says: 26 July, 2014 at 10:53 am:

    “The Afflient in London will be up to they’re armpits with Efflient when they find the have no money to pay for the new London Sewer System & Underground Crossrail, happy days to the Lab/Cons/Libs/Ukip.

    Ronnie, That’s a brilliant play on words. I Didn’t wet my screen – but nearly wet my undies laughing.

  91. Grouse Beater
    Ignored
    says:

    Irene Buchan: My question would be to Mr. Darling, problem is which untruth do I challenge him on? Any suggestions?

    Hoo haar!

    Why does Darling feel Scotland should be ‘gifted’ – for that is what it will be in Westminster hands – only a restricted, controlled, maximum level of democracy?

  92. Derek M
    Ignored
    says:

    simple Irene ask him why he and his westmister buddies continually lie about the oil and point to the hidden McCrone report ,this will give wee eck the chance to destroy the big lie and pull down the house of cards.

  93. Croompenstein
    Ignored
    says:

    @Irene – Ask Darling why he resigned from the Faculty of Advocates

  94. Mary Bruce
    Ignored
    says:

    For those who don’t already have it, here’s a link to another useful article in the Financial Times which also helps prove to undecided voters that we are being lied to about a decline in North Sea oil reserves.

    “UK oil and gas sector eyes 39,000 new jobs”

    Now why would the “UK” oil industry be creating 39,000 new jobs over the next year or two if they thought the oil was running out any time soon?

    http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/942a7ee8-bbd4-11e3-84f1-00144feabdc0.html#axzz38ZMKTTrJ

  95. Graeme Doig
    Ignored
    says:

    Would it be an idea to hand a letter, signed by all at PQ tomorrow, asking politely for EBC to run something on this. It seems to blow a spectacular hole in the lies from the kind of source folk might actually give credence to.
    Quote re WM downplaying is particularly powerful.
    Just a thought. They might just humour us with something on it. (or i might just be a deluded fool)

  96. heedtracker
    Ignored
    says:

    Flipper, you are on record for stating the ofcourse Scotland can be a successful independent country, say it again, go on not future Lord Darling of Morningside, say it.

  97. WantonWampum.
    Ignored
    says:

    The DOOM and GLOOM-MONGERS forget that several studies were so convincing that SLAB were forced to ditch the idea that – without oil and gas revenues – Scotland would be poorer.?

    These studies proved the opposite.

    The figures highlighted above is for “Investment and Profit Projections” which cover only the next 20 years but project only £200 Billion from the small area within which they have invested.

    As many have already posted, the McCrone Report was buried by Callaghan,Tony Benn, Thatcher, Major,Bliar,Brown and Darling etc.

    SCAB SLAB SCOTS among the ("Tractor" - Ed)s of their own electorate, make me want to puke all over their Armani clobber, preferably outside a Foodbank.

    Congrats to Rev Stu for “Informing” us -AGAIN.

  98. Stoops
    Ignored
    says:

    Decommission costs are another red herring. Decommission costs are the responsibility of the field operator. They can’t just up sticks and bugger off when the field dries up, it simply doesn’t work that way.

  99. wullie
    Ignored
    says:

    I watched an RT prog recently about assessments of various countries natural energy reserves, they had the uk at about 5 years of coal gas and oil. Oddly they stated that Norway had 500 years of oil reserves, guess who drills in the same area. I also have relatives quite senior in Scottish north sea oil business who get quite apoplectic with rage when the hear that the oil is running out, they talk of hundreds of years of oil yet to be extracted.

  100. Robert Peffers
    Ignored
    says:

    @Socrates MacSporran says: 26 July, 2014 at 11:15 am

    SSSHHH Robert! that sort of accurate information isn’t supposed to get out.

    Well, Socrates McSporran, I thought it was common knowledge. The days of the Newsrooms with ticker tape printers ended with the Internet.

    Here’s a direct link to Reuters. When you get there selct UK edition – go to the search box and type in something like Scottish Independence and get the news before the MSM distorts it for you.

    http://uk.reuters.com/

    You may also fill in the cookies section, though.

  101. 01010111
    Ignored
    says:

    Just to add an important clarification fellow readers.

    What the Investors Chronicle should have said is that it is AN ADDITIONAL £200 billion.

    That’s right – additional.

    Wood Review page 7.

  102. heedtracker
    Ignored
    says:

    Decommission costs are just another BBC UKOK frightner. The real issue is replacing ageing production platforms sooner rather than later because the steel used for the jackets has a lifetime of 25 years tops and big fields like Brent and Forrties are way beyond that.

    A lot of applied physics went in to the choice of steel for Scots oil and gas platforms but it won’t last for ever. Vote no and who will get the multi billion North Sea UKOK platform replacement contracts? Sure as hell won’t be Scotland.

  103. Barontorc
    Ignored
    says:

    The McCrone report was buried during the time of Willie Ross (Baron Ross of Kilmarnock) and Bruce Millan as SoS for Scotland, which begs the question – how could they have been in the British Cabinet while Callaghan and Benn were discussing ‘McCrone’, yet turn their deaf ear or Nelson eye to what was happening with Scotland’s oil?

    Answer; they did both and colluded with Westminster to do so.

    Wiki – cringing torag classification due?

  104. Defo
    Ignored
    says:

    Irene Buchan.
    Perhaps you could ask an oblique question such as ” how will an Independent Scotland guard against falling into a state like Westmidden, where nepotism, the old boys network, whip driven party first politics, and politicians siphoning off public funds for personal gain, leads to the apathy & disillusionment we see amongst the electorate today ?”

    It would set Eck up nicely, to put the dagger in Flipper.

  105. heedtracker
    Ignored
    says:

    http://www.offshoreenergytoday.com/gallery-clair-ridge-jacket-leaves-kvaerners-verdal-yard-norway/

    “BP has described Clair Ridge as its most significant current project on the UK SCOTTISH continental shelf. It will be developed around the latest technologies to enhance oil recovery and improve operating efficiency. The two new platforms are scheduled to be installed in 2015 with production expected to begin in 2016. The new development will have potential peak production of up to 120,000 barrels of oil per day.”

    It’s a long way from say from troughing bloaters like Ian Davidson MP, running around vote No Scotland with his bayonet or even the dreaming spires of Glasgow uni’s nutty Slovene Professor of safeness security ProjectFear style, too small, poor, stupid Scotland in the yewkay.

    I added ” Scottish continental shelf” to this report and await my bayoneting from an ecstatic fraudster down in Westminster 19th Sept, his bloated gut hanging over his troosers.

  106. macart763m
    Ignored
    says:

    @Irene Buchan

    Oh the opportunities are endless, but if you want to see the blink meter go off the scale ask him the same question the NS did on blood and soil nationalism? Or perhaps, did he have a hand in the joint party release on currency union as part of a campaign strategy? Either one should leave a mark on the Richter scale as the blinking goes into overdrive. 🙂

  107. Marcia
    Ignored
    says:

    Irene

    ‘As the DWP have issued confirmation that pensions will be paid after Independence as they are now, why are you lot lying?’

    A lot of pensioners may be watching.

  108. Derek M
    Ignored
    says:

    @stoops im afraid you are slightly wrong about that as a precedence has already been set in the US ,where fracking companies have been declaring bankruptcy after shipping their ill gotten gains to tax havens ,going through the process and winding up to then finance another “new” company leaving the mess to be paid by the tax payer,its truly appalling and westminster have just about put in place this same loophole for companies to do exactly the same here ,and we must stop them and the only way to do this is to vote yes.

    If you really want to learn more then go to youtube and type in Abby Martin breaking the set ,you have just got to love Abby she is like the US version of our Rev 😉

  109. Robert Peffers
    Ignored
    says:

    @Irene Buchan says: 26 July, 2014 at 11:38 am:

    “Any suggestions?”

    WOW! Here’s one. It is along the same lines as, “When did you stop beating your wife”?

    “WHEN DID YOU STOP LYING TO THE PEOPLE OF SCOTLAND?”

    This sort of question is known as a, “Complex”, or “Loaded, Question”. Phrasing a question in such a way implies another, (unproven statement), is true without evidence or discussion.

    So for, “when did you stop beating your wife?”, the intelligent procedure for such a question is to analyse its component parts and discus the prior, implicit question first and thus dissolving the explicit question.
    Al, The Flipper, though, is probably not such a very intelligent debater. The apparent signs of great stress when on screen indicate he would probably become flustered and confused.

  110. ronnie anderson
    Ignored
    says:

    @Irene Buchan, A wuld send you a few questions tae ask but I would need to use a Roll of Lining Paper & the cost of postage ahaaaa.

  111. Minty
    Ignored
    says:

    BBC’s Jim Spence on twitter has caught the #indyref bug:

    Seeing Mother Glasgow in her finery at these games convinces me there’s a new Scotland emerging.

    One down, the rest of BBC Scotland to go…

  112. Robert Peffers
    Ignored
    says:

    @Stoops says: 26 July, 2014 at 11:54 am:

    “Decommission costs are another red herring. Decommission costs are the responsibility of the field operator”.

    The field operators are given tax breaks throughout the life of the fields they operate to pay them for the decommissioning costs. We Scots have thus already paid more than our fair whack of those costs because our per capita GDP is higher than the UK average.

  113. dennis mclaughlin
    Ignored
    says:

    I’m quite sure that AS being an ex oil analyst will be acutely aware of all the lies and disinformation around the North Sea’s future production potential.
    BT are trying to pull off the con of the century , if we let them away with it.

  114. galamcennalath
    Ignored
    says:

    dennis mclaughlin says:
    “BT are trying to pull off the con of the century”

    Nice phrase! Probably even the biggest con of the last 300 years!

  115. Iain (orri) McCord
    Ignored
    says:

    Ask Darling what he thinks his chances of being elected as a regional Holyrood MSP would be in an independent Scotland. Supplement it with his chances of re-election to an English seat or elevation to the HoL. A simple question about where he sees his political future post a Yes vote might be a bit more concise.

  116. Marcia
    Ignored
    says:

    Minty

    He has had the bug for decades.

  117. heedtracker
    Ignored
    says:

    Press & Journal frightener of the day “vote yes and you threaten UK greatest recovery ever” which is running next to greatest teamGB economic recovery ever news, based on what, P&J liggers skip over, also explains why PM Cameron went to Shetland, to tell Shetland vote no or ruin the greatest ever recovery etc.

    Can’t fault UK journalists for their sheer daily effort in saving the yewkay, but rather horrible press and journal Glasgow games coverage, so they must be going really well. P&j also praying for really bad weather for Glasgow which is also really creepy from a very creepy outfit.

    Aberdeen Journals, another newspaper business that openly detests Scotland.

  118. Helena Brown
    Ignored
    says:

    Iain (orri) McCord says at 12.27am, Seeing oor Darling resigned as an Advocate he will need a job. I see the House of Lords in his future, the English will never accept him, another failure, good enough to speak to the Jocks though.

  119. Alan McHarg
    Ignored
    says:

    In the hands of Westminster, oil is a commodity to be bought and sold for power, personal gain and personal wealth. Its a pawn in the game of the rich.

    However, in the hands of Scotland it is the treatment and eventual cure to the ills in Scottish society building a more prosperous and fairer country.

    Vote Yes its a no brainer!

  120. Democracy Reborn
    Ignored
    says:

    @Irene Buchan

    Q: “Mr Darling, have Westminster governments ever lied or deliberately concealed the extent if Scotland’s wealth”

    It’s an ‘in’ to all sorts of things, & any denial by Darling can be demonstrably refuted by the McCrone Report.

  121. macart763m
    Ignored
    says:

    @Heedtracker

    Ooohhhh the guilt trip approach. 🙂

    I don’t recall the city giving much of a shit as entire working communities were cut loose.

    It also doesn’t seem to occur to these people that if the economy had been managed better we wouldn’t need to recover from anything.

  122. ronnie anderson
    Ignored
    says:

    Important NOTICE please huv a look at my AVATAR courtesy of Partician & Gerry Parker.

  123. Croompenstein
    Ignored
    says:

    Magic Ronnie, got a wee fright when I saw the UJ but looked at the bigger picture and LOL 🙂

  124. Rev. Stuart Campbell
    Ignored
    says:

    “What the Investors Chronicle should have said is that it is AN ADDITIONAL £200 billion.”

    I noticed that at the time, but I’m not sure they’re talking about the same thing.

  125. ronnie anderson
    Ignored
    says:

    @Croompenstein, see thats the crack that everybody misses 1st time, its wider now than when it was 1st painted,& need to re-paint the wording.

  126. Robert Kerr
    Ignored
    says:

    Glad we now have mention of Methane Hydrates as a resource.

    Retired Rear Admiral Chris Parry mentions these in his recently published book “Superhighway, Sea Power in the 21st Century”.

    Firstly in discussing disputes over Rockall and seabed resources (Hatton area dispute) I quote

    “… Although the Irish agreed that Rockall was part of the UK’s area, they have now made a submission to CLCS (Commission for the Limits of the Continental Shelf) with regard to the continental shelf limits, as have Denmark ( on behalf of the Faeroe Islands) and Iceland. It seems that recent discoveries of substantial amounts of methane hydrates below the waters around Rockall have revived proprietorial claims.”

    and later

    “… the first offshore trials are currently underway in Japan’s Eastern Nankai Trough where Japanese and Canadian Firms have drilled 300m below the seabed into deposits of methane hydrates. The immediate discovery is thought to hold 1.1 trillion cubic meters of methane. …. It is hoped to bring the gas to market on a commercial scale within five years”.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nankai_Trough_gas_hydrate_site.

    Interestingly the UK parliament passed legislation making Rockall part of Scotland.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Island_of_Rockall_Act_1972

    The game’s afoot friends!

  127. Nana Smith
    Ignored
    says:

    @Ronnie Anderson

    Ooh Ronnie I do like a man with a shed…does this mean you’re good with your hands?

    Liking the big tear in the UJ.

  128. ronnie anderson
    Ignored
    says:

    @Nana Smith, thank Christ somthings working ( ma hawns )but the rest of me,s fawing apart, never mind a huv a friend that kin tye me back thegither Gerry Parker an Hairy String.

  129. Nana Smith
    Ignored
    says:

    @Ronnie Anderson

    Ah never mind Ronnie, we are all in the same way but independence will mend us well. Might take a little time but no matter it’s all for the common good.

    Onwards…..protest tomorrow at BBC Culduthel Rd Inverness 2pm. I will be there. Hoping there will be a Wings banner.

  130. ronnie anderson
    Ignored
    says:

    @ Nana has anyone in Inverness got a Wings Banner as far as I know gerry parker is the only person that had them made, he did post up at the time the companys addy,so hopefully some Wingers used it.

  131. Nana Smith
    Ignored
    says:

    Ronnie, I don’t know. We will see what they do.

    I’ve asked Jock Scot to sign my name on the Wings banner at PQ, that’s if he is there and of course if there is any room left on it.

  132. turnbul drier
    Ignored
    says:

    @mary Bruce

    any chance you could archive that ft article.. behind a pay wall and I can’t access it via the phone.

    Thanks.

  133. Marker Post
    Ignored
    says:

    @ Irene Buchan

    I posted this earlier on this very thread before your post.

    Ask Flipper the simple question, “How much oil is there in Scottish waters?”

    Let him answer first, and then let our First Minister skewer him with the real facts, so that the people of Scotland can see for themselves Flipper’s lies and dissembling.

  134. Capella
    Ignored
    says:

    @Irene Buchan
    My favourite is the simple question
    “Should countries be independent?”
    Being a politician, AD will be well schooled in providing seemingly logical answers, unfortunately to some other question and not the one you ask.
    Have variations to hand e.g. “Should the population of a country have control over their own affairs/resources/democratic institutions?” “Should the people of Scotland make the decisions about their resources?”

  135. Les Wilson
    Ignored
    says:

    Ref Salmond v Darling, what will happen via our Unionist compliant media, will be, questions selected will be the easy ones for Darling to answer and Salmond getting the difficult ones. Particularly the ones that currently cannot be answered.

    Where it will fall down for Darling is when they debate head to head, the media will interrupt to suit Darling, but Salmond knows how they work. That is when Darling’s “unibrow” will start jittering !

  136. ian foulds
    Ignored
    says:

    WELL DONE!!!

    Spread this far and wide to the DKs and unknowing Naysayers – not the SLAB/OO contingent types.

  137. liz g
    Ignored
    says:

    @Irene Buchan

    My suggestion for you’re question is

    Having researched Scottish oil reserves,I would ask both of you to state how much oil you think is still in Scottish Waters,so that I can form a view on how much weight I can give to each of you’re claim’s.

  138. handclapping
    Ignored
    says:

    My question for Flipper would be “Why won’t Westminster let the Scottish Parliament run a benefits system to suit Scotland’s problems?”.

  139. msean
    Ignored
    says:

    To all those that say we canny,this shows that we can,very easily.

  140. Stuart Black
    Ignored
    says:

    Aye Ronnie, we’ll be there, ur ye wearing yer badge? 😉

  141. crazycat
    Ignored
    says:

    @ handclapping

    That’s a fair question, but I fear he would use it as an excuse to say that all would be well with devo-max. He needs to be confronted by questions he can’t wriggle out of like that.

    liz g’s suggestion – opening by indicating that the questioner has researched an answer, and then inviting them both to respond, in a way that makes it necessary to allow time for two answers – might be sufficient to put him on the spot.

  142. 01010111
    Ignored
    says:

    Rev

    I’m going to have to disagree – it quite clearly is referring to recommendation 4 in the executive summary of the Wood review.

    It was widely misreported at the time – have a look back at the archives.

    I wrote to the editor of the Herald asking whether they had actually read the report, as it seemed to me the omission of the word “additional” was of some significance when the sum involved is £200 billion.

    Lazy journalism or deliberate omission by the Herald et al. Take your pick fellow readers.

  143. handclapping
    Ignored
    says:

    @crazycat
    “We have had Calman and now 3 further proposals for more devolution so why still won’t Westminster let the Scottish Parliament run a benefits system to suit Scotland’s problems?”.

  144. Midgehunter
    Ignored
    says:

    @ Ronnie A

    Sorry Ronnie but I don’t like your sheds colour scheme.

    There’s too much red, white and blue. The Scottish lion is on the left and looks as if it’s running away from the coloured rectangle next to it. ;-( The rest is OK though.

    The WOS poster in the window is however very dashing… 😉

  145. X_Sticks
    Ignored
    says:

    Ha Ha Ronnie. The infamous nat-central shed. Braw.

  146. orri
    Ignored
    says:

    Think I’ve figured something out. If, as he said, Salmond is on a self imposed ban on politicising during the games then can we assume there never was a formal agreement to keep the referendum out of the games.

    Just as with the Red Arrows one might assume that up until recently they had actually agreed to a blue and white trail due to a conversation along the lines of “Can you do white and blue”, “No problem” in the first contact with them. Which is now being classed as an enquiry rather than request. So it’ll transpire that there was nothing in writing about either side hijacking the Games for propaganda purposes.

  147. TopCat
    Ignored
    says:

    I also found the lyrics of “Freedom come all ye” on Wikipedia last night. The page had a brief history of the song plus the original lyrics and also a more English translation. I added the page to “My Favourites” so that I could study the lyrics later, that was about 11pm last night. At 11am today I went to the page, the brief history is still there but the lyrics have gone. Funny that.

  148. hetty
    Ignored
    says:

    @Irene Buchan

    I might ask, why do the Labour party, and unionists constantly harp on that Scotland is subsidised by the rest of the uk and yet so desperately want to hold onto Scotland, even going to the extreme of threatening to reject a shared currency and other such ridiculous counter productive scares?

    Or, is it not time Mr D, that the unionists started to talk sensibly with the Scottish government, in order to begin the process of Independence so that the remaining constituent parts of the uk are able to build upon having shared and common interests with their closest neighbour for the good of all?

  149. hetty
    Ignored
    says:

    @Irene Buchan
    Or another idea, you could get the audience going by asking, do you think that the unionist politicians are mirroring the ‘parcel of rogues’ who in 1707 sold Scotland for their own gain?

  150. Davy Coulter
    Ignored
    says:

    Like all my fellow YES supporters, I’m so looking forward to the days after the confirmation of our wishes when the BBC and the rest of MSM have to grovel for their survival. They are all in for a real hard time of it when they have to face up to what they tried to do but we’re found out and failed. At every turn they should be made to squirm……and for every lie, for every sordid attempt to maintain the thieving Union…..let them suffer……by god let them suffer.

  151. Weedeochandorris
    Ignored
    says:

    Testing….



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