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from MacroScope:
Scotland catches up with the UK economy – and maybe more?
* Updated to show Scotland's composite PMI has bettered the UK equivalent for seven straight months now, after Monday's data.
For the first time in a long while, Scotland's economic performance has caught up with the UK average– and there is at least some evidence to suggest it's doing slightly better than the British baseline.
In general, the Scottish economy has come second-best behind the poor UK average, at least since the full onslaught of the global financial crisis hit in September 2008 with the collapse of Lehman Brothers.
Purchasing managers' indexes (PMIs), which gauge business activity across thousands of British companies every month, show how.
from Photographers Blog:
Modern day vikings
Shetland Islands, Scotland
By David Moir
Vikings, they're not what they used to be.
No more do we see horn helmeted warriors pillaging and plundering everything in sight, striking fear into villagers with the stories of their wickedness. No, now they sing and dance when visiting community centers, hospitals and shopping centers. Basically cheering everyone up who sing along and join in the fun on a cold wet Tuesday in January.
I have just returned from covering the Up Helly Aa festival in Lerwick, in the Shetland Islands, Britain’s most northerly set of islands. More than 100 miles north of the Scottish mainland and closer to Bergen in Norway than London.
from Photographers Blog:
The water of life, the spirit of Scotland
Craigellachie, Scotland
By David Moir
Scotch whisky is big business. With sales well over 5 billion pounds per year it’s an industry that has gripped the growing middle classes around the world. Including in countries where sales previously struggled and with drinks industry companies eager to quench that thirst with huge modern computer run distilleries being built around the globe producing more and more of the liquid.
But one thing still remains true in its production, oak casks.
Whisky isn’t Scotch Whisky unless it has been distilled in Scotland and matured for a minimum of three years in an oak cask which comes in various capacities from a Pin to a Butt. ‘Cooper’s’ are the tradesmen who build and repair the oak casks and barrels, their skills passed down from generations show no signs of entering the hi-tech world. They use tools such as a dowelling stock, flagging iron, inside shave and a hollowing knife to name a few.
from Breakingviews:
Scots aim to break Europe’s working currency union
By Ian Campbell
The author is a Reuters Breakingviews columnist. The opinions expressed are his own.
The received wisdom is wrong. Europe doesn’t lack a functioning multi-country currency, fiscal and banking union. But it’s in the United Kingdom, not the euro zone - and Scotland ’s government is keen to break it up.
from John Lloyd:
No Union, please, we’re English
The opinions expressed are his own.
In France, it is les Anglais. In Germany, die Engländer. In Italy, gli Inglesi. In Russia, Anglichane.
The peoples of the United Kingdom, for most other peoples, are habitually “English.”
from Oddly Enough Blog:
I left my part in San Francisco?
Blog Guy, I always come to you for my news about the movie industry. What's my favorite actress, Halle Berry, up to these days?
She's shooting a movie on location in Glasgow, Scotland.
Ah, so I guess this is another Glasgow movie that's SUPPOSED to be Philadelphia, like that Brad Pitt zombie movie you wrote about recently?
from Reuters Soccer Blog:
It’s still July and already we see a European domestic shock
Yes it's July when people should be on beaches in Europe rather than sweltering in soccer stadiums.
Well modern football (and Euro 2012 at the end of the campaign) dictates we have to start proper matches in July in the European season these days.
from UK News:
Measuring up the Tartan curtain
Visiting Scotland this week to see Alex Salmond sworn in as first minister, the newspapers were full of talk about "independence lite". The idea was that an independent Scotland would be free to choose as from a menu, selecting which issues to manage itself and which ones to pool with the rest of Britain.
Listening to Salmond in Holyrood and speaking to him afterwards in his official residence in Bute House, there was little sign of soft-pedalling.
from The Great Debate UK:
Is Scotland heading towards independence?
By Paul Henderson Scott
The result of the Elections for the Scottish Parliament of May 5 has been widely described as historic. The Scottish National Party (SNP), which was created to gain independence, won an overall majority, something no other party has achieved in the devolved Scottish Parliament. In fact, the electoral system was designed by a previous UK Labour Government especially to make such a result unlikely, if not impossible. Labour, LibDem and the Conservatives all lost seats: Labour even in areas in and around Glasgow which they have held for decades. There is now a mood of optimism and confidence in Scotland, and the SNP is committed to holding a referendum on independence in mid-term.
Scotland is one of oldest nation states in Europe and we resisted English invasion for centuries. In 1603 the Scottish King, James VI, whose grandmother was an English princess, succeeded to the English throne. After the failure of the Darien scheme which the English Government did their best to disrupt, the Scottish Parliament in 1703 passed a bill to restore full independence on the death of Queen Anne by electing a separate Scottish monarch on her death. The English Government responded by first threatening invasion and then offering negotiations. The Scottish delegation was appointed by Queen Anne and during the talks the English side refused to discuss any proposal except their own. This led to a draft Treaty for the Union of the two kingdoms. The consent of the Scottish Parliament was achieved by the heavy bribery of some members. At that time the Scottish Parliament, like others, consisted almost entirely of the aristocracy and representatives of the landowners. The people of Scotland declared their opposition to the union in a flood of messages, but they were ignored.
from Reuters Soccer Blog:
Soccer Break: Wednesday
So this week's Champions League quarter-final action is over and the semi-finals are set up. As expected Real Madrid strolled through their second-leg against Spurs and will now face Barcelona. The Spanish giants are set to clash four times in 18 days, including Saturday's La Liga match at the Bernabeu and the King's Cup final on April 20 in Valencia.
After their astonishing win at the San Siro, Schalke 04 finished off the job against Inter to set up a meeting with Manchester United.
