Let The Union Fail.

Progressive Politics Backwards?

As Labour tighten their Socialist grip on Scotland, which also guarantees a poisonous tentacle in England, I despair of my Unionism. If this fraud, perpetrated on us all, via The Royal Mail, is OK by The Scots, it's not by me. Screaming Independence whilst pissing on England shames the relationship of the peoples of each nation. So now I am beginning to change and seek a Conservative conservative England. Let the Welsh and Scots go it alone as satellite regions of an ever more corrupt Federal European Monster. We have sufficient North Sea reserves of our own and the investment capability to develop The Falklands. Never mind the cost it took to explore and harvest Scottish Oil. Forget UK funding and central financial strength. Let us witness an open competition between a Socialist Republic of Scotland and a Wet Welsh Wimpanation, versus England and see which triumphs. An England free from Labour and Socialists? Yes please, Mr Salmond. Before you go, however, may we have your golden handshake money back, please. Hypocrite.

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The Balancing of Power

Yesterday the Scottish government gave the go-ahead for the upgrade of the 137 power line between Beauly, near Inverness and Denny in Stirlingshire.

It is said the upgrade is vital for the future of renewables in Scotland, as it will take power from green energy developments in the Highlands and Islands to markets in the south.

Enterprise Minister, Jim Mather immediately came under fire for his 'vagueness' from political opponents who raised concerns that the conditions of 'visual impact mitigation' measures he had included in his decision would further delay the project, which has already taken eight years to process. It has been the longest planning enquiry in Scottish history.

The power line passes through some of Scotland's most scenic areas and, during the consultation period, the plan received 18,000 objections.

Some of the objections I found rather nonsensical as pylons already run through scenic parts of Scotland. Indeed the replacement pylons, some up to 217 feet high, will be far larger than those which presently cross the landscape but, after listening to Jim Mather on Newnicht tonight, I understand there will be fewer of them.

It's not going to be plain sailing for the power companies, (Scottish and Southern Energy and Scottish Power), even though permission has been granted. They still have to produce plans which will comply with the set conditions and the John Muir Trust, a prominent conservation charity, has said it would go to court to stop the development.

Dare I voice my opinion? If this new power line secures a steadfast provision of electricity for all of Scotland for the foreseeable future I'm all for it. The objection that it will affect tourism is ridiculous unless people are suggesting tourists don't understand the necessity for countries to have energy supplies. Yes, it may have been possible to place the cables underground but, from reading both sides of the dispute, underground cabling also has its problems.

What does trouble me is the closeness of any pylon to communities. I'm not convinced there is no relation between the high level of electromagnetic radiation from pylons and certain cancers.

Finally, is this upgraded power line going to reduce the cost of my electricity? I don't think I need three guesses for the answer to that. The south of England will possibly continue to pay less for electricity created in Scotland. They do at present.

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Scottish Power in with a Shout for CCS Funding

The main topic of discussion on Newsnicht last night was how Scotland was going to provide power without nuclear. The tory MSP's information was out of date if today's Scotsman is to be believed.

'Boost to Scots bid for £1bn emissions cash as rival quits race' says the paper.

Most Scots knew that Scottish Power were up against E.ON in the bid for funding to capture emissions from power stations but E.ON has admitted it can't meet the competition deadline which demanded a full-scale working demonstration plant built by 2014. Although E.ON has been allowed to remain in the competition (no explanation given*), some experts say this makes Scottish Power the front runner for the cash.

If Scottish Power won the money to retrofit Longannet Power Station, it could pave the way for Scotland to lead the way globally in developing a technology crucial for the fight against climate change.

If CCS is developed successfully, it will be able to capture about 90% of the emission produced by coal-fired power stations. Nick Horler, Scottish Power's CEO, said : The Scottish Power consortium is ready to demonstrate CCS at a commercial scale at Longannet from 2014 ...".

Let's not get too optimistic here, but it would seem Scotland's in with a good chance to progress this revolutionary technology. Many say jobs will be lost because we refuse to build new nuclear power stations and that may be true, but CCS will attract many of those skilled workers from the nuclear industry.

* my insertion

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