| Modern Scot - 20/08/2026 · Issue 011 |
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 | | Policy and Government · 20 August 2026 Scotland Declined £20,675 to Restore Five Drug-Wastewater Monitoring Sites Internal records show the Scottish Government was offered the chance to return five sites to a UK drug-monitoring programme after Home Office funding was cut. Officials said the cost was affordable but advised against paying it. The Scottish Government declined… |
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| | Environment · 19 August 2026 SEPA Plans to Stop Sending Draft Pollution Permit Decisions to People Who Object Scotland’s environmental regulator is proposing to stop routinely sending draft permit decisions to people who have already objected to or commented on applications involving waste, water and industrial activities. The Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) is consulting on changes to… |
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| | Community · 18 August 2026 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 create more than 3,400 new jobs. The latest… |
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| | Policy and Government · 18 August 2026 ScotAccount Brings Digital Identity Into Scotland’s Property Ownership System Scotland does not currently require a government Digital ID to buy or sell a home, but Scotland is promoting its government Digital ID system, ScotAccount. Through it, Scotland's land and property infrastructure is being rebuilt around digital submissions, machine-readable records,… |
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| | Economy · 18 August 2026 Ferguson Marine faces 70 Job Losses While Four Vessel Contracts Remain Unsigned Up to 70 workers could leave Ferguson Marine as the Port Glasgow shipyard runs into a gap between the completion of MV Glen Rosa and the start of a four-vessel programme announced by the Scottish Government five months ago. The… |
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| | Infrastructure · 18 August 2026 More Than 1,000 Customers Connected to GoFibre Network Around Eyemouth A broadband company founded in the Scottish Borders has passed 1,000 customer connections around Eyemouth, less than nine years after the business was established in Duns. GoFibre said homes and businesses connected to its full-fibre network can receive broadband speeds… |
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| | Infrastructure · 17 August 2026 China Is Making the Renminbi Easier to Use in Europe — What It Could Mean for Scotland Deutsche Bank has become the first non-Chinese bank in Europe authorised to clear China's renminbi directly. It sounds like a Frankfurt banking story. For Scottish whisky producers, manufacturers, food exporters and businesses buying Chinese goods, it could eventually change how… |
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| | Policy and Government · 17 August 2026 Scotland, Rebuilt: What 81 Years of Progress Did, and Did Not, Solve The Scotland that emerged from the Second World War faced a housing shortage measured in hundreds of thousands, decades of outward migration, dependence on heavy industry and severe inequalities of health and geography. The Scotland of 2026 is institutionally and… |
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| | Policy and Government · 17 August 2026 Britain Will Keep Brazilian Meat Market Open as EU Restrictions Begin Scottish farming and meat organisations are pressing the UK Government to tighten controls on Brazilian beef and poultry before new European Union antimicrobial rules take effect on 3 September. Great Britain, unlike the EU and Northern Ireland, currently intends to… |
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| | Environment · 17 August 2026 NatureScot Challenges Wind-Farm Bird Model as Scotland’s Own Records Show 71 Raptor Deaths A study part-funded by NatureScot models substantial long-term effects from wind-turbine collisions on hen harriers and golden eagles in the Flow Country. The agency disputes the scale of the predicted losses, while acknowledging that Scotland does not hold a comprehensive… |
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| | Economy · 17 August 2026 Bluetongue Reaches Four Scottish Premises as Vaccine Evidence Sharpens the Questions Ahead Five animals on four premises in Dumfries and Galloway have now been affected by BTV-3. As investigators establish whether Scotland is dealing with isolated infections or local transmission, European field research offers a more complicated picture of vaccination. Scotland's first… |
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| | Energy · 17 August 2026 Two Scottish Hydro Schemes Fall Below Ofgem Financial Test as Regulator Weighs Consumer Risk Glenmuckloch and Loch na Cathrach remain outside Ofgem’s proposed long-duration electricity storage portfolio after the regulator assessed both below a financial threshold that was not fixed before the assessment began. Two major Scottish pumped-storage hydro projects have been left outside… |
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| | Heritage and Arts · 17 August 2026 Mackintosh’s Hill House Moves Towards New ‘Breathable’ Exterior After 120 Years of Damp The National Trust for Scotland is commissioning a detailed survey of Charles Rennie Mackintosh’s Hill House as it prepares to replace the building’s failed cement exterior and remove its protective Box by 2028. The National Trust for Scotland has begun… |
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| | Economy · 17 August 2026 Nearly One in Four Larger Manufacturers in Scotland Reports Impact From US Tariffs New Scottish Government estimates show US tariff effects remain concentrated among manufacturers and goods exporters, while the American tariff regime itself changed during the period covered by the latest survey. Nearly one in four larger manufacturing businesses with a presence… |
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| | Policy and Government · 17 August 2026 NHS Scotland Seeks Provider for £9m Online Cognitive Behavioural Therapy Service NHS Scotland is seeking a provider for a national online cognitive behavioural therapy service under a contract worth up to £9m. The existing service has already required additional funding because of rising demand. NHS Scotland has opened a procurement process… |
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| | Infrastructure · 17 August 2026 Nearly £1bn of Glasgow Building Work Passes Through Service Missing National Response Targets Glasgow’s building standards service handled warrant applications representing £983 million of construction during 2025–26, but remained below national targets for two of the principal measures governing how quickly applications are dealt with. The council says persistent vacancies and staff turnover… |
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| | Transport · 17 August 2026 ScotRail’s £83.8m Retail Contract Comes Into View After Troubled App Launch The scale of the deal behind ScotRail’s new ticketing system is now public: £83.763 million for technology spanning the website, app, ticket machines, on-train sales and ticket offices. The award notice records one final tender. A difficult morning with a… |
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| | Tea With Gunns · 17 August 2026 Nobody Move: He’s Calling Edinburgh There is a particular sort of patience required on a Highland single-track road in August. Mr Gunn possesses it, although I should say there are limits. We were on our way to the ironmonger, a perfectly ordinary journey which should… |
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