Scotland’s Businesses Are Beginning to Worry More About Missing Customers Than Rising Costs
Falling demand has become the most commonly cited main concern among Scottish businesses for September 2026, narrowly ahead of energy prices. At the same time, the share of firms reporting rising turnover has fallen sharply from the previous month and
Scotland Is About to Rewrite the Map of Its Public Bodies
The Scottish Government has begun a five-year programme to reduce a public sector landscape containing more than 130 national bodies. Transport Scotland is to return to government, four environmental organisations may be brought under one body, food regulators are to be combined, transport organisations reviewed for merger and Scotland’s health-board structure radically reduced. The last comparable programme of public-body mergers exceeded some of its original cost estimates. This time the restructuring sits inside a wider plan to remove £1 billion a year from government and public-body corporate costs. Scotland’s public sector contains organisations for regulating food, registering land, protecting nature,
Scotland Plans 150,000 Apprenticeships. Parliament Has Reopened the Question of Where the Money Goes
The Scottish Government intends to fund at least 150,000 apprenticeships over the next five years. As it prepares for that expansion, an older argument over the way apprenticeship money moves between government, managing organisations and colleges has returned to Parliament. In one established plumbing scheme, 40 per cent of the public contribution is retained by the industry managing organisation and 60 per cent is paid to colleges. The organisation says the retained money pays for work that colleges do not perform. Scotland is now reviewing the funding system while responsibility for apprenticeships is being transferred to the Scottish Funding Council.
Scotland Is Preparing to Put Legal Price Ceilings on Food, Potentially Selecting Imported Food Over Scottish Food
The Scottish Government has now published the first detailed framework for statutory controls on the price of essential food. What began as an election proposal has reached consultation with draft legislation, proposed retailer thresholds, enforcement powers and an unresolved question running through the entire scheme: where in the food chain
Scotland Is Building A Major Projects Office. What Will Change?
The Scottish Government has announced a new Major Projects Office to accelerate nationally significant investment in housing, energy and other strategic sectors. Scotland does not have a shortage of proposed projects. Across the country there are housing developments waiting on infrastructure, renewable-energy schemes waiting on grid connections, industrial projects requiring
Most Read This Week
Wind Turbines Are Getting Too Big for the Roads. Scotland Is About to Try a Different Design.
A wind farm near Lairg will become the first project in Britain to use GE Vernova’s Cypress turbine. Its blades can be transported in separate sections and assembled closer to the wind
The Invisible Infrastructure Running Scotland’s Water Is Being Rebuilt for £230 Million
Scottish Water’s new technology contracts began on 1 September. Behind Scotland’s reservoirs, treatment works and 64,000 miles of pipes sits another national network: thousands of communications links, operational control systems, cloud platforms
Glasgow’s M8 Is Being Physically Lifted Off Its Supports This Weekend
Engineers will close the eastbound M8 through central Glasgow for extended periods between Friday night and Monday morning while they jack part of the Woodside Viaduct away from the concrete structures that
Another Scottish Energy Company Is Being Sold Overseas
Capricorn Energy has spent more than four decades building businesses from Edinburgh, from the North Sea to India, Senegal and Egypt. A new £292 million takeover by Norway’s DNO could now remove
Scotland’s Peatlands Are Becoming Financial Assets
New restoration contracts appeared this week for peatland on North Uist and in the Highlands. Behind the engineering work is an emerging market in which repairing damaged Scottish land can create carbon
Scotland’s Lost Kingdoms Left Their Art in Church Walls, Graveyards and Broken Stone
Before there was a kingdom recognisably called Scotland, the country south of the Forth and Clyde was divided between competing peoples, churches and rulers. They left comparatively little writing, but they left
DataVita’s North Lanarkshire AI plan gets public backing as Flynn repeats disputed 3,400 jobs claim
A £300 million expansion of DataVita’s North Lanarkshire AI data centres is receiving substantial public financial backing while the Scottish Economy Secretary continues to repeat a claim that the wider development will
Apparently, Backgammon is Fashionable Again
I discovered on Tuesday morning that backgammon is fashionable again. I was having my second cup of tea and reading about the things fashionable people are doing when I came across the news. Backgammon, it seems, has returned to drawing rooms, clubs and fashionable tables, where attractive people are once again moving little counters around expensive boards while looking as though they have understood the rules since birth. “Backgammon is back,” I told Mr Gunn. He looked up from his breakfast. “Where did it go?” “Out of fashion.” “When?” “I don’t know.” “Well, how do you know it’s back?” “Because
Forgotten Scottish Gardens: The Older Table
Alongside the structured discipline of the Scottish working garden, there existed in Scotland a quieter and older tradition of cultivation, one that did not always conform to formal planting, yet was no less important. This was a looser relationship with the land, where certain plants were allowed to remain and return year after year with minimal intervention. Skirret, Good King Henry, sorrel, and sea kale belonged to this older table, as did the more readily overlooked nettle and dandelion. These were not confined to ordered plots, but found near walls, along paths, and by the coast, where they became part
When Does a Visitor Become Taxable?
I have been reading about the proposed Highland Visitor Levy, and I have questions. This will surprise nobody who knows me. I have questions about most things. I once kept a washing-machine engineer in the kitchen for forty minutes because he said the noise was “within normal parameters” and I wanted to know whose normal parameters we were discussing. The Highland Council is consulting on a visitor levy which, if eventually approved, could mean a charge of £5 per room per night for hotels, B&Bs and similar accommodation, and £2 for hostels, campsites and caravan parks. This sounds straightforward. Nothing
Scottish Community Drama Association (SCDA)
If you’re keen on delving into the dynamic world of Scottish theatre or simply looking for a cultural deep dive from the comfort of your home, the Scottish Community Drama Association (SCDA) located at www.drama.scot is your go-to digital destination. This community has actually existed since 1926, long before the internet. Its beautifully designed website is not just a portal; it’s a gateway to Scotland’s vibrant performing arts scene, packed with features that celebrate and support the theatrical craft across the country. Why Visit Drama.scot? Comprehensive Coverage: Drama.scot stands out by offering an extensive look at all things related to