Gill Steele

The Scottish Parliament building at Holyrood

'Though only a first step, the bill turns Community Wealth Building into law that is irreversible without due parliamentary process, rather than being at the mercy of the whims of the government of the day.'
Joana Ramiro of The Democracy Collaborative, via The National
archive.is/thgcG

NEW: The Kremlin continues cognitive warfare efforts to attempt to convince the West to abandon Ukraine by projecting the false narrative that Russian battlefield victory in Ukraine is inevitable and that Russian forces are making widespread battlefield gains.

Full report: isw.pub/UkrWar022026

I remember when the UK gov gave the OK to this ridiculous project, we were building onshore wind in Scotland (cheap) & everyone was outraged at the strike price relative to what wind was getting

Since then I’ve worked on MW of wind since (including re power)
Hinkley still isn’t generating 🤷‍♀️

Hinkley Point C is now expected to cost EUR 55bn in today's money.

That's a whooping 17,000 €/kW.

Or about 10x the per-kW price of a wind turbine and 30x solar.

Nuclear is a lot of things, but one thing is it not: cheap.

🚌 TiSS turns 10! And we're offering FREE theatre performances to Scottish schools in 2026–27.
100+ shows, 10,000+ young people.

Register your interest by 27 Apr here: www.theatreinschoolsscotland.co.uk/tiss-at-10.h...

📸James Chapelard
#TheatreInSchools #Scotland #TagATeacher

It’s crunch time for Freedom of Information — Common Weal This afternoon, Tuesday 17th, marks possibly the end of the road for a long campaign to improve Freedom of Information in Scotland. The Members’ Bill promoted by Labour MSP Katy Clark finally reac...

In our Daily Briefing this morning, we pointed out that this is crunch time for the Government. Public information is ours, not theirs. We should have the freedom to see it.

www.commonweal.scot/daily-briefi...

Courting capercaillies up 50% on Cairngorms reserve Conservationists counted 30 lekking males on the RSPB's Abernethy nature reserve last year.

BBC News - Courting capercaillies up 50% on Cairngorms reserve
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Yep definitely Beaver (we have loads of them up here by Aberfeldy).
Another good sign is white sticks (so the sticks have been stripped of bark) if you see any of those floating around
I believe the young adults move into new territories at this time of year

This lot are off to have a whale of a time at this year's World Whale Day party 🎉

🐋 Take a moment to watch them go about their business in the knowledge that since commercial whaling was banned in 1986, populations have been bouncing back.

Images collected under scientific permit.
#WorldWhaleDay

A Ferret investigation has found more than 20 Scottish wind farms are paying less money than expected to local communities. The shortfall could add up to more than £50m. 

Critics have branded that an "acute injustice".

Read the full story 👉 https://bit.ly/4rIcDzY

If you ever have time you should look at the delivery of Habitat Management Plans (so the long term environmental benefits) during wind farm operation

Although obtaining the data on it would be challenging. Nature Scot don’t, it’s Local Authorities & like s75 they rarely have the resources to check

“Dorenell pays £2525 per megawatt each year, just over half the benchmark. Over 25 years, that means communities around the site will receive almost £11m less.

The wind farm is owned by EDF, the French state-owned energy company”

Five years ago, we introduced the Scottish Child Payment.

Thanks to our actions, child poverty in Scotland is the lowest in the UK - and we’re going further by introducing a £40 payment for babies under the age of one.

Let’s keep building a fairer Scotland. On 7 May, vote SNP.

That’s interesting. Up here in Scotland we are just working through the last few vaccines which get done at Secondary school so HPV and just now a DTP booster & MenACWY for the 15 year old.
Had a reminder email from NHS Scotland as the teenager had forgotten to pass on the form.

History-maker Davidson to ref Ireland-Italy clash Scotland's Hollie Davidson will become the first woman to referee a men's Six Nations game after being appointed to oversee the Ireland-Italy Six Nations game at Aviva Stadium on 14 February.

First female referee of a six-nations match Hollie Davidson from Aberdeen 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿
That’s some job

www.rte.ie/sport/rugby/...

The UK is one of last democracies using a non PR system, NZ reformed

PR isn’t that scary, Scotland has it (although not as proportional as it should be) & shock horror it works well
Cooperating is normal in democracy

Much as I dislike Reform with 20% of the vote it should have 20% of the seats 🤷‍♀️

Superb

‘Chief among them is surely to acknowledge that brown people are here because Britain had close relationships with its colonies for centuries. Ultimately multiculturalism is, in the words of the Jamaican poet, actor and broadcaster Louise Bennett, just “colonizin’… in reverse’

#ThrowbackThursday #FromTheArchives

This month marks 10 years since the death of Tom Hunter, a ScotWays life member, who came up with the original idea of the West Highland Way and was the author to the book ‘A Guide to the West Highland Way’, first published in 1979.

Yesterday: we exposed the terrifying extent of corporate capture in British politics

Three Labour select committee chairs came out calling for urgent action in response

Today: Labour government's Elections Bill lands. Does almost *nothing* to tackle any of the issues we exposed. 🤦

Major earthquakes don't run to timetable, 6,000-year study reveals - British Antarctic Survey "Overdue earthquake" myth busted: large earthquakes arrive in unpredictable bursts and lulls, overturning existing prediction models.

Here's the full story:
www.bas.ac.uk/media-post/m...

Rarely mentioned but about much of Ratcliffe’s business ‘success’ is based on draining public money (very common among these ‘self made tycoons’)

Eg democracyforsale.substack.com/p/ineos-set-...

Why are criminals stealing used cooking oil from chip shops? Across Scotland, 178 incidents of cooking oil thefts were reported to police between April to October last year.

When thieves start stealing your waste, you know your circular economy business model is a winner.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Community Led Housing has built 600 homes in the most difficult to develop areas where no one else is building homes

These homes make a disproportionate contribution to halting depopulation, so just 3 affordable homes can keep a island school open

www.communitylandscotland.org.uk/campaigners-...

‘The first ever Census of Community Led Housing in Scotland – conducted by the Alliance – shows that communities have already provided more than 600 homes, especially in rural & island areas poorly served by the housing system. They could deliver as many as 1,700 more by 2031, if properly supported’

The Community Led Housing Alliance urges increased public investment to build more affordable homes. They propose a £55 million Community Led Housing Fund, publicly-backed loans, and more support for community housing.
Read the full story here: buff.ly/YYR0uAO

Monaco based expat choosing to put more foreigners than U.K. players in his football team complains about expats and foreigners working in the U.K.

'Rare sighting' of walrus on rocks off Elie The walrus was spotted near Elie on 31 January but it was not made public in order to protect the animal from onlookers and drones.

Interesting Walrus sighting in the Firth of Forth! Our oceans are an amazing place. 💙

We're working hard with communities and wonderful partners to restore marine environments around the Forth - for nature, climate and future generations. 🌍

www.bbc.co.uk/news/article... #Marine #Wildlife

Still raining today….

January rainfall data (from nearest SEPA station) shows we had more than double the monthly rainfall

Ironic that a man barely ever in his workplace should make such a call.