Wednesday
Jul152015
by 
Bishop Hill
Bishop Hill SNP "not against" shale
Jul 15, 2015 Energy: gas The Herald (£) is reporting that Ineos boss Jim Ratcliffe has had private assurances from the SNP that they are not against shale gas development, confirming the view I had formed that the Scottish moratorium was simply a way to kick the issue into the long grass until after the election.
In some ways though the SNP have painted themselves into a bit of a corner. "More evidence is needed" they said before the election. This means that some kind of a fig leaf is going to have to be formulated to allow them to argue that the aforementioned evidence has been obtained. I wonder what it will be?
Reader Comments (22)
The SNP cannot be relied on for anything - except their anti-Englishness- after yesterday's hypocrisy and double-dealing on fox hunting. They are without principle, without shame.
Won't the Scots need something to sell to the English & Welsh, when the wind doesn't blow?
Frankly, I, also wouldn't trust Ms Sturgeon or anyone of the SNP to do anything that does not reflect a base hatred of anything English. Watching their behaviour in The Commons is painful.
The SNP are financial whores. They will do anything for money. They are indeed shameless.
The creation of Police Scotland and the appointment nasty (English) thug, Stephen House and their unwillingness to sack him gives them away as control freaks and scum.
esmiff
The apparent fatwah on Gregor Fisher's participation in politics (as a well known 'sleb / prominent north of the border person) struck me as rather thin skinned ....
The SNP's antics must be pure gold for a satirical sit com writer.....
Remember.
You can always tell when ANY politician is lying - it's when their lips are moving.
tomo
The SNP are a tool of Rupert Murdoch and his British political shenanigans. He got the result he wanted. The SNP would have won the election for Cameron if the result had been closer. That is the real key to understanding them.
http://i.guim.co.uk/img/static/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2015/4/30/1430375517832/9334f7d3-59b3-4958-b1ec-b561cafddab3-620x372.jpeg?w=620&q=85&auto=format&sharp=10&s=7794b5d7cc6929510ea80f3b5d05f85c
SNP cant bargain with North Sea Oil in an oil glut that is worth naff all.
If the people of Scotland can be the first in Europe to stick 2 fingers up to the Green Blob, I wish them well.
'Climate Change Negotiators' will have to evolve rapidly into 'Fig Leaf Carriers', to avoid extinction.
From down here it looks like the SNP's energy policy is the same as all the other parties.
Non-existent.
But they still have an environment policy.
esmiff
ooof!!
errr... thanks for that ;-)
satire redundant then.
It can get a bit boring being proved right all the time.
"More evidence is needed"
********************************
And the only evidence that will ever silence opponents of fracking will be from successfully drilling with no disastrous consequences. But we can't have that without drilling in the first place which is being prevented by red tape. Government needs to get on with this and stop prevaricating.
Trump also reported a private understanding he had with We Eek about no windmills near his golf course, nothing came of that.
And still moaning bout the on shore windmill grants being stopped when there are enough already in the pipeline to meet the commitments anyway.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-business-33445245
This seems to be very good news and hopefully reveals a degree of pragmatism on the part of the SNP. A lot of jobs would be under threat at Ineos if fracking doesn't proceed and with the probable closure of Longannet an energy crisis is looming. Perhaps lack of real evidence against fracking is in itself the evidence for.
Even the BBC managed to report this morning that National Grid is having to spend £360m (of, presumably, our money) on infrastructure improvements to avoid blackouts this winter - including getting the owners of old generating plant to put it on standby, and persuading big power users to shut down when necessary...
Nah - the windy mills will cope, won't they..?
For the SNP to have changed their stance from the SNP FRACKING MORATORIUM of Jan 2015, is it that they never had any evidence to back up their previous position, and political winds of change don't turn turbine blades?
gc
It was a moratorium on new licenses and nothing more. Ineos were always ok.
JamesG if you are satisfied that ideology has not changed, and that the wealth of Ineos has no consequences, who am I to argue.
The most recent Survation Poll for Scottish Daily Mail: Holyrood 2016 voting intentions:
Constituency: Con 14%; Lab 20%; L Dem 7%; SNP 56%; Others 4%
Regional: Con 12%; Lab 19%; L Dem 8%; SNP 45%; Grn 11%; UKIP 5%.
Looks as if the next Holyrood government is going to be SNP. And there is more good news for the party - 65% of the Scottish electorate would consider voting SNP.
Guess what the SNP is engaged in with this moratorium -politics. Get a life, boys, and stop obsessing.Mind your tongues and don't start slagging the Scots voters.
That was before botox, Sandy. Now it's if they're making noises, writing or typing, they're lying.
Well its still a secret to Nicola
http://www.scotsman.com/news/politics/top-stories/nicola-sturgeon-signs-un-pledge-on-global-poverty-1-3834853
Scotland is among the first countries to adopt the UN Sustainable Development Goals which aim to promote sustainable development across the world.
The goals include ending poverty and hunger, ensuring access to education, achieving gender equality and tackling climate change by 2030, and they will be formally confirmed at the 70th regular session of the UN’s General Assembly in New York in September.