Ishan Crawford

A Hebridean fisherman has received a prestigious award at the annual Scottish traditional music awards gala for his song that criticises the proposed introduction of highly protected marine areas (HPMAs) in Scotland. Donald Francis MacNeil, from the Isle of Vatersay, collaborated with the popular trad band Skipinnish to record ‘The Clearances Again’, a protest song that compares the potential impact of HPMAs on coastal communities to the Highland Clearances. The song and its message ‘The Clearances Again’ was written by Angus MacPhail, the co-founder of Skipinnish, who said he wanted to give a voice to those who oppose the HPMAs…

Funding gap puts local services at risk Scottish councils are warning that they could go ‘bankrupt’ unless the government increases its funding to meet the rising costs and demands of local services. According to a report by the Scotsman, the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities (Cosla) has estimated that councils need an extra £1.5bn over the next three years to maintain the current level of services. Cosla, which represents all 32 Scottish councils, said that the funding gap was caused by a combination of factors, such as inflation, public sector pay deals, demographic changes, and the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic. The…

Scottish First Minister’s family caught in the crossfire of Hamas-Israel conflict Humza Yousaf, the First Minister of Scotland, has expressed his anguish and fear for his family members who are stuck in Gaza, the Palestinian territory under a brutal Israeli blockade and bombardment. Yousaf’s wife, Nadia El-Nakla, is of Palestinian origin and her parents, Elizabeth and Maged El-Nakla, had travelled to Gaza to visit their elderly relatives. They are now unable to leave as the Israeli authorities have closed all the borders and cut off all the supplies to the besieged enclave. Yousaf said that he and his wife are…

A Scottish company secures €2.5 million for a tidal farm project A Scottish company, Orbital Marine Power, has secured €2.5 million from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 programme for its tidal farm project in the Orkney Islands. The project, called TIGER (Tidal Stream Industry Energiser Project), aims to demonstrate the potential of tidal energy to provide clean and reliable power for remote coastal communities. The company will use the funding to install and operate two of its O2 tidal turbines, which are the world’s most powerful floating tidal devices. Each turbine has a capacity of 2 megawatts and can generate…

How Thatcher’s policies affected Scotland’s economy and society Margaret Thatcher, the first and only female prime minister of the United Kingdom, is a controversial figure in Scottish history. Her economic policies, known as Thatcherism, aimed to reduce the role of the state, privatize public industries, deregulate the market, and curb the power of trade unions. While some argue that Thatcherism helped to modernize the British economy and restore its competitiveness, others contend that it caused widespread social and economic damage, especially in Scotland. Thatcher’s policies had a devastating impact on Scotland’s traditional industries, such as shipbuilding, steel, coal, engineering, and…

The need for a state-led approach Heating is one of the major sources of greenhouse gas emissions in the UK, accounting for about 15% of the total. Most of the heating systems in the UK rely on fossil fuels, such as natural gas, oil and coal, which contribute to global warming and air pollution. To meet the net-zero target by 2050, the UK needs to rapidly decarbonise its heating sector and switch to low-carbon alternatives, such as heat pumps, heat networks and hydrogen. However, the transition to low-carbon heating is not easy, as it involves high upfront costs, complex technical…

The Labour leader’s controversial remark Keir Starmer, the leader of the Labour Party, has sparked a backlash after he quoted and praised Margaret Thatcher in a speech on crime. He said that the former Conservative prime minister was “right” about the rule of law being the “first duty of government”. He made this remark while launching Labour’s second national mission, which aims to make the streets safer and stop criminals from escaping punishment. Many people, especially in Scotland, were outraged by Starmer’s endorsement of Thatcher, who is widely seen as a divisive and destructive figure. Thatcher’s policies of privatisation, deregulation,…