From a high of over 25Mt in the 1960s, UK steel production slumped to 5.6Mt in 2023. Demand is also plummeting as the wider economy deindustrialises. Employment in steelmaking has slumped 85% since 1981. The steel for the Forth Rail Bridge came from Motherwell, while the steel for the Queensferry Crossing came from China.

scottishconstructionnow.com/articles/using…

On the tenth anniversary of #Indyref2014, we have causes for very measured optimism.

1.Pro-indy voters now have other options: @VoteSovereignty, @AlbaParty, @IndyScotParty and @ScoLibertarian, and will punish electorally any party that is not pursuing effective strategy on Indy. 2. Despite the SNP spending ten years banning stuff, and pursuing antisocial, woke identity politics, support for independence remains above 2014 levels. We're level-pegging. With competent government in Holyrood that respected Scotland's traditional social mores, we'd be ahead.

There are more ways than one to annex a foreign country.

The EU's use of colour revolutions to usurp national governments should appall all those who believe in the principle of national self-determination, yet today we are encouraged to ignore its imperialistic animus. Through its land grab in Ukraine, the EU sought not merely to secure one of Brzezinski's critical geostrategic pivots for the West, but also to gain unfettered access to Ukraine’s abundant natural, agricultural, industrial and population resources.

Given the United States' role as trendsetters globally, the US Supreme Court's decision in #Dobbs will resonate in a particular way in Western Europe, which tends to follow the States in sociocultural matters by a decade or so. To be clear, Dobbs does not return the US to the status quo ante of 1973.

It dodges the avoids the crucial question of the personhood of the unborn child.

Critically, it refuses to rule on whether the unborn child enjoys 14A protections.