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Scotsman
an hour ago
- Scotsman
Chaos caused by North Sea cable break shows why we must act to stop Scottish islands being cut off
Sign up to our daily newsletter – Regular news stories and round-ups from around Scotland direct to your inbox Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to The Scotsman, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Learn More Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting... In the Northern Isles, you are never so aware of the things you rely upon as when they are no longer there. That, I suspect, has been the rueful thought of many islanders in recent days after an undersea cable breakage last weekend. Whether it was the switchboard at the Balfour hospital in Kirkwall being knocked out, undertakers unable to operate, island airports facing delays, shops unable to process card payments or simply their internet or mobile connections at home, people have had a sharp reminder of how reliant we have become on these connections for our everyday needs. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad We cannot wind back the clock on our reliance on the internet. Now is the time for our governments to take notice and take action so that Scottish islands cannot be so easily cut off in future. Residents of Orkney and Shetland saw internet and other services disrupted after a cable linking the islands to the UK mainland was damaged (Picture: Adrian Dennis) | AFP via Getty Images Risk of a catastrophe Technological advances bring all sorts of improvements of efficiency, accessibility and opportunity that were not there before in the more 'far-flung' islands of Scotland just as much as anywhere else (who counts as far-flung being a matter of perspective of course). It is sometimes worth taking a look around, however, and recognising the risks of our communities relying too much on too few potential points of failure. After all, in some ways you could say that last week's cable cut was the 'best-case' scenario for disruption. Cable breakages in the summer are better than cable breakages in the winter, when storms and cold weather can turn a 'nuisance' into a 'catastrophe'. One constituent contacted me after the outage saying that her only way to get a signal and communicate with anyone was to stand outside her local community hall. That is irritating in the summer but far more problematic in the colder months. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Even in these warmer months, however, there are serious challenges. One islander wrote to me this week because her father, who recently had a stroke, has had no way to contact her should he have a fall, due to the connectivity disruption. Another has had to rely on the help of neighbours to submit a job application and prepare for an interview. Building up our defences What has come through in my inbox time and again from islanders is the poor communication of network providers and the inconsistency of their support for customers – a tale as familiar in Edinburgh as it is in Lerwick. Every part of the country should have the same expectation of reliable, well-reinforced communications (and energy) links – and it is in every part of this country's interest to build up these defences. After all, Britain may be a larger island than those in Orkney or Shetland but it is an island all the same. Many of the same risks to connectivity that apply north of the Pentland Firth apply to the UK as a whole – with far wider potential consequences. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad All indications are that this latest cable cut was accidental, but after reports of Russia targeting undersea cables in the Baltic, we cannot be complacent about our own infrastructure. We have all grown to rely upon instant connections for so much of our economy and our society. We may not be prepared for what happens when those connections can no longer be taken for granted.
Scottish Sun
2 hours ago
- Scottish Sun
John Swinney insists he pushed whisky tariffs issue with Donald Trump after President appeared to rubbish the claim
The meeting had raised hopes Mr Trump could drop the hefty US import tariffs on Scotch whisky WHISKY BUSINESS John Swinney insists he pushed whisky tariffs issue with Donald Trump after President appeared to rubbish the claim Click to share on X/Twitter (Opens in new window) Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) JOHN Swinney insisted he pushed the issue of whisky tariffs with President Trump just a day after the US chief appeared to rubbish the claim. Donald Trump told reporters he and the First Minister 'did not really discuss' the issue of levies on the key export. Sign up for the Politics newsletter Sign up 3 The First Minister insisted he pushed the issue of whisky tariffs with President Trump Credit: Getty 3 Donald Trump told reporters he and the First Minister 'did not really discuss' the issue Credit: Reuters This was despite insistence from the SNP leader and senior aides that the chat had 'opened the window' to a possible exemption to punishing tariffs on the sector as part of the US/UK trade deal. The meeting had raised hopes Mr Trump could drop the hefty US import tariffs on Scotch whisky, which is costing the industry here £4million a week. Asked about Mr Trump's comments, Mr Swinney said: 'I've seen what President Trump said about the whisky issue and he said that we didn't talk about it much. That's different from not at all. 'So yes, we talked about it. I had a conversation with President Trump over dinner which lasted at least an hour and a quarter, maybe even longer, so we talked about a lot of things, including whisky.' We told how Mr Trump had also made the questionable claim there was no crime in Scotland, despite evidence to the contrary. Asked about this, Mr Swinney said: 'I think I made it clear to President Trump that we had lower crime in Scotland than we used to have but we still have crime.' He also failed to rush to the defence of his predecessor Ms Sturgeon who the US leader had labelled 'terrible' in a slapdown on Wednesday. Mr Swinney said: 'I am not able to determine all the things that the President says.' The First Minister, speaking at an event with the Edinburgh International Festival on the eve of the start of the Fringe, also insisted he believed the SNP would secure a majority at the Holryood election next year. The Nats chief had earlier set the party on a collision course with the UK Government over independence, claiming a majority would spark a second vote. Five moments you missed from a weekend with Donald Trump in Scotland However polling suggests the SNP could fall well short of a majority which has only ever been achieved once in 2011. Pushed on whether this was just a trick to boost his vote knowing how unlikely it was, Mr Swinney said: 'Of course I believe in it, I wouldn't have put it forward if I didn't.' Asked if he was 'delusional' to think he would get a majority at next year's Holyrood election, Mr Swinney insisted it is the 'reliable way' to get a second independence referendum. He also appeared to hit out at Humza Yousaf and Ms Sturgeon for their past indy wheezes, including claiming a majority of SNP MPs or a Holyrood pro-indy majority would deliver a referendum. The First Minister said: 'If people look at the circumstances of the last 15 years it is clear that the only moment in which there was a referendum on independence followed the election of a majority of SNP MSPs. 'Other things have been tried, if I can put it as delicately as that, and they haven't worked.' Scottish Tory deputy leader Rachael Hamilton said: 'Scots are sick and tired of the SNP focusing on independence, when they should be cutting sky-high taxes and fixing the public services they've broken. 'But, as usual, John Swinney is more interested in appealing to diehard nationalists than delivering on the priorities of ordinary Scots.'
The Herald Scotland
3 hours ago
- The Herald Scotland
Spotify CEO bankrolls AI military warfare while musicians walk away
Spotify, despite its ubiquity, has never been looked upon kindly by artists. The music streaming giant has spent years paying musicians by the fraction of a penny, covertly adding AI-generated and in-house commissioned songs to its playlists, and writing the rules as it sees fit on how its royalty system pays out. But now, CEO Daniel Ek has given the music world yet another reason to ditch the platform – this time, by pouring millions into playing business with high-tech war. Last week, Australian psych-rockers King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard yanked their entire catalog off Spotify, posting a blunt message on Instagram: 'We can't support a platform that profits from destruction'. They're not alone. A growing number of artists are cutting ties with Spotify after learning that Ek's investment firm, Prima Materia, is bankrolling Helsing, a German tech startup building AI systems for military drones and warfare. Read more: This extreme metal album blew up over a weekend – now it's accused of being AI Ek's investment firm first started their bankroll of Helsing in 2021, and recent reports from the Financial Times reveal they've just pumped in another €600 million. The musicians scraping by, and seeing paltry returns from their popularity on Spotify, are probably wondering what it's all for, other than fuelling the terrifying next generation of warfare. Truthfully, it will take a Taylor Swift or a Drake pulling out of the platform to cause any movement. Swift had previously taken her music off Spotify between 2014 to 2017, enraged by the bum deal offered to her through its royalty system. But in those years, Spotify was not quite the omnipresent juggernaut it is now – its huge gain in popularity in those years highlighted where music consumption was heading, but the total enmeshment between the major digital streaming services and the music industry was not quite yet complete. The idea of Swift removing her music from the platform would be much more radical now, but also much less likely. Many artists and projects removing themselves from Spotify are independent musicians, with sizeable enough audiences, but independent all the same. King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard are the biggest, averaging 1.5 million listeners a month on the platform, but the vast structure of such a space means their exclusion is negligible in the long run. Same could be said for the other artists leading the charge against Spotify. Acclaimed indie acts like Xiu Xiu and Deerhoof have joined the boycott, but their influence on the trajectory the platform takes shakes out to even less. Read more: The internet was my favourite thing in the world – now it just fills me with dread Still, musicians are boycotting Spotify, knowing all the risks to their own careers that it brings. The risk is simply worth it for them when trying to sleep soundly at night. Deerhoof made a scathing statement, equating their streaming revenue profits directly to the death toll of war. ''Daniel Ek uses $700 million of his Spotify fortune to become chairman of AI battle tech company' was not a headline we enjoyed reading this week,' read their statement. 'We don't want our music killing people. We don't want our success being tied to AI battle tech.' These artists know their boycotts won't touch Spotify financially, but the moral grace of taking a stand outweighs any financial loss. If musicians are squeezing for pennies in the streaming economy, then at least they might as well not be blood pennies. Spotify came onto the scene touting itself as a champion of artists, that the ease and use of streaming would inevitably democratise the process of music distribution. It once positioned its public image on this basis. But that has never been the case. Its business model has always prioritised growth and returns over dealing with anything close to fair artistic compensation. And with its CEO diverting hundreds of millions into advanced military AI technology, the disconnect between its image and its financial incentives has become too hard to ignore, too much of an ethical red line for any silence. Read more: Can we pass a law banning the sale of Highland cow AI art? For now, the boycott remains symbolic. Without major label artists with industry clout joining in, Spotify's bottom line will remain steady. But the growing discontent highlights the deeper issue of the music industry's reliance on these platforms, how they are now the only game in town worth playing, and how artists can be held at mercy over any basic ethical concerns they might have. For those musicians staying, the dilemma remains. Can they justify supporting a platform that funnels money into military AI, even if leaving means opting out of the biggest platform for their music? Either way, the conversation has begun, and it's a snowballing that the music industry will eventually not be able to ignore.
