Sam Taylor
@staylorish.bsky.social
Runs @theseislands.bsky.social. “cannot stand the awesome reality of Scotland’s energy wealth” - Alex Salmond. Posting in a personal capacity.
Richard Murphy has organised a conference (in a Cambridge hotel) and programmed himself in every session.
February 4, 2026 at 10:15 AM
Richard Murphy has organised a conference (in a Cambridge hotel) and programmed himself in every session.
Kate Forbes tells parliament there is little point in her resigning over the latest episode of the ferries fiasco, because she’ll be gone in a couple of months anyway.
February 3, 2026 at 3:09 PM
Kate Forbes tells parliament there is little point in her resigning over the latest episode of the ferries fiasco, because she’ll be gone in a couple of months anyway.
Reposted by Sam Taylor
1/🚨The Scottish Government *paid* for the credit ratings obtained last year from Moody’s and S&P.
But we are not allowed to know how much it paid, because “disclosure may affect the commercial interests of Moody's and S&P”.
But we are not allowed to know how much it paid, because “disclosure may affect the commercial interests of Moody's and S&P”.
January 29, 2026 at 7:25 AM
1/🚨The Scottish Government *paid* for the credit ratings obtained last year from Moody’s and S&P.
But we are not allowed to know how much it paid, because “disclosure may affect the commercial interests of Moody's and S&P”.
But we are not allowed to know how much it paid, because “disclosure may affect the commercial interests of Moody's and S&P”.
Rare moment of genuine drama at FMQs as Anas Sarwar produces evidence which undermines John Swinney’s evasions on the QEUH scandal.
January 29, 2026 at 1:31 PM
Rare moment of genuine drama at FMQs as Anas Sarwar produces evidence which undermines John Swinney’s evasions on the QEUH scandal.
1/🚨The Scottish Government *paid* for the credit ratings obtained last year from Moody’s and S&P.
But we are not allowed to know how much it paid, because “disclosure may affect the commercial interests of Moody's and S&P”.
But we are not allowed to know how much it paid, because “disclosure may affect the commercial interests of Moody's and S&P”.
January 29, 2026 at 7:25 AM
1/🚨The Scottish Government *paid* for the credit ratings obtained last year from Moody’s and S&P.
But we are not allowed to know how much it paid, because “disclosure may affect the commercial interests of Moody's and S&P”.
But we are not allowed to know how much it paid, because “disclosure may affect the commercial interests of Moody's and S&P”.
Reposted by Sam Taylor
🚨 This is scandalous. £7 million of public money to pay bankers and lawyers for a bond sale which is simply a nationalist publicity stunt. The Scottish Government could borrow at a lower interest rate from the UK Government, and avoid these fees altogether. www.bloomberg.com/news/article...
January 28, 2026 at 5:11 PM
🚨 This is scandalous. £7 million of public money to pay bankers and lawyers for a bond sale which is simply a nationalist publicity stunt. The Scottish Government could borrow at a lower interest rate from the UK Government, and avoid these fees altogether. www.bloomberg.com/news/article...
🚨 This is scandalous. £7 million of public money to pay bankers and lawyers for a bond sale which is simply a nationalist publicity stunt. The Scottish Government could borrow at a lower interest rate from the UK Government, and avoid these fees altogether. www.bloomberg.com/news/article...
January 28, 2026 at 5:11 PM
🚨 This is scandalous. £7 million of public money to pay bankers and lawyers for a bond sale which is simply a nationalist publicity stunt. The Scottish Government could borrow at a lower interest rate from the UK Government, and avoid these fees altogether. www.bloomberg.com/news/article...
Shona Robison explains her negotiating tactics on public sector pay: if you threaten to strike, she will cave in to demands.
January 28, 2026 at 10:12 AM
Shona Robison explains her negotiating tactics on public sector pay: if you threaten to strike, she will cave in to demands.
1/ Telling moment at yesterday’s Finance & Public Administration Committee. Shona Robison flounders under questioning on headcount reductions, so a civil servant pushes over something for her to read out. Robison proudly boasts about “the largest reduction… since 2012”
January 28, 2026 at 10:07 AM
1/ Telling moment at yesterday’s Finance & Public Administration Committee. Shona Robison flounders under questioning on headcount reductions, so a civil servant pushes over something for her to read out. Robison proudly boasts about “the largest reduction… since 2012”
Reposted by Sam Taylor
This. And it would do the pro-Indy lobby good if they were to make the effort to understand these issues properly and to stop misleading the public on the issue. ("Ewwww, Taylor, he's a yoooooon" is not a good reason for not trying to understand renewables.)
Glib assertions about Scotland having won the energy lottery twice over - first with oil and now with renewables - are not just false. They are actively harmful.
January 26, 2026 at 11:26 AM
This. And it would do the pro-Indy lobby good if they were to make the effort to understand these issues properly and to stop misleading the public on the issue. ("Ewwww, Taylor, he's a yoooooon" is not a good reason for not trying to understand renewables.)
Reposted by Sam Taylor
Has Scot Gov attempted to quantify the value of subsidy payments which flow from energy bill payers in England & Wales to the owners of assets located in Scotland?
No. Of course it hasn’t. The answer would be fatal to nationalist propaganda on energy, so better not to know.
No. Of course it hasn’t. The answer would be fatal to nationalist propaganda on energy, so better not to know.
January 26, 2026 at 12:58 PM
Has Scot Gov attempted to quantify the value of subsidy payments which flow from energy bill payers in England & Wales to the owners of assets located in Scotland?
No. Of course it hasn’t. The answer would be fatal to nationalist propaganda on energy, so better not to know.
No. Of course it hasn’t. The answer would be fatal to nationalist propaganda on energy, so better not to know.
Has Scot Gov attempted to quantify the value of subsidy payments which flow from energy bill payers in England & Wales to the owners of assets located in Scotland?
No. Of course it hasn’t. The answer would be fatal to nationalist propaganda on energy, so better not to know.
No. Of course it hasn’t. The answer would be fatal to nationalist propaganda on energy, so better not to know.
January 26, 2026 at 12:58 PM
Has Scot Gov attempted to quantify the value of subsidy payments which flow from energy bill payers in England & Wales to the owners of assets located in Scotland?
No. Of course it hasn’t. The answer would be fatal to nationalist propaganda on energy, so better not to know.
No. Of course it hasn’t. The answer would be fatal to nationalist propaganda on energy, so better not to know.
Reposted by Sam Taylor
The wider thread is troubling enough, but this ScotGov FOI response suggests the typical "We do not hold the information requested" is generated when someone simply doesn't reply. In other words, if you don't want the public to know what they are entitled to know, just say nothing. That's not FOI!
4/ And… lo and behold… of course someone knew who wrote the news release. Strikingly, the words were not written by a Special Adviser, as I had expected, but by a Scot Gov comms official in the theoretically apolitical part of the civil service.
January 26, 2026 at 11:34 AM
The wider thread is troubling enough, but this ScotGov FOI response suggests the typical "We do not hold the information requested" is generated when someone simply doesn't reply. In other words, if you don't want the public to know what they are entitled to know, just say nothing. That's not FOI!
Reposted by Sam Taylor
1/ Short 🧵 on how the civil service in Scotland has been corrupted by Scottish nationalism. Last August, Scot Gov published a news release alongside the GERS figures which was so misleading, the Director of @fraserofallander.org called it “egregious” and “out of order”.
January 25, 2026 at 12:02 PM
1/ Short 🧵 on how the civil service in Scotland has been corrupted by Scottish nationalism. Last August, Scot Gov published a news release alongside the GERS figures which was so misleading, the Director of @fraserofallander.org called it “egregious” and “out of order”.
Glib assertions about Scotland having won the energy lottery twice over - first with oil and now with renewables - are not just false. They are actively harmful.
January 26, 2026 at 11:20 AM
Glib assertions about Scotland having won the energy lottery twice over - first with oil and now with renewables - are not just false. They are actively harmful.
Reposted by Sam Taylor
This is the sort of thing that can happen when any party spends too long in power: the boundary between party and government (never 100% sharp, I suspect) becomes far too blurred.
1/ Short 🧵 on how the civil service in Scotland has been corrupted by Scottish nationalism. Last August, Scot Gov published a news release alongside the GERS figures which was so misleading, the Director of @fraserofallander.org called it “egregious” and “out of order”.
January 25, 2026 at 12:22 PM
This is the sort of thing that can happen when any party spends too long in power: the boundary between party and government (never 100% sharp, I suspect) becomes far too blurred.
1/ Short 🧵 on how the civil service in Scotland has been corrupted by Scottish nationalism. Last August, Scot Gov published a news release alongside the GERS figures which was so misleading, the Director of @fraserofallander.org called it “egregious” and “out of order”.
January 25, 2026 at 12:02 PM
1/ Short 🧵 on how the civil service in Scotland has been corrupted by Scottish nationalism. Last August, Scot Gov published a news release alongside the GERS figures which was so misleading, the Director of @fraserofallander.org called it “egregious” and “out of order”.
John Swinney’s choice of words yesterday at FMQs was very interesting. I don’t think anyone believes Nicola Surgeon said “I want this hospital to open before it’s ready”, and that might be what Swinney is very narrowly denying here.
January 23, 2026 at 9:31 AM
John Swinney’s choice of words yesterday at FMQs was very interesting. I don’t think anyone believes Nicola Surgeon said “I want this hospital to open before it’s ready”, and that might be what Swinney is very narrowly denying here.
An important message from John Swinney on fake news and misinformation.
January 21, 2026 at 11:02 AM
An important message from John Swinney on fake news and misinformation.
The SNP will activate the usual grievances here, but they need to explain this: someone has to pay for the additional grid necessary to make wind farms in Scotland viable. If the SNP want generators to pay less, who do they want to pay more?
Plans for huge wind farm paused over 'unfair' grid charges - BBC News
A developer warns that a development will not be built unless "unfair" transmission charges are overhauled.
www.bbc.com
January 21, 2026 at 10:39 AM
The SNP will activate the usual grievances here, but they need to explain this: someone has to pay for the additional grid necessary to make wind farms in Scotland viable. If the SNP want generators to pay less, who do they want to pay more?
Reposted by Sam Taylor
The civil servants in the Constitutional Futures Division spent three years working on independence papers, and never made any attempt to estimate the impact of independence on energy bills in Scotland. The reason is obvious: they knew the answer would be inconvenient.
January 19, 2026 at 6:54 PM
The civil servants in the Constitutional Futures Division spent three years working on independence papers, and never made any attempt to estimate the impact of independence on energy bills in Scotland. The reason is obvious: they knew the answer would be inconvenient.
The civil servants in the Constitutional Futures Division spent three years working on independence papers, and never made any attempt to estimate the impact of independence on energy bills in Scotland. The reason is obvious: they knew the answer would be inconvenient.
January 19, 2026 at 6:54 PM
The civil servants in the Constitutional Futures Division spent three years working on independence papers, and never made any attempt to estimate the impact of independence on energy bills in Scotland. The reason is obvious: they knew the answer would be inconvenient.
Sensational story in @scotnational.bsky.social
Journalist registers (at last minute) for event. On arrival, there is no badge with her name on it. The organisers hurriedly make one up for her. It includes a small typo. A malevolent conspiracy, obviously.
Journalist registers (at last minute) for event. On arrival, there is no badge with her name on it. The organisers hurriedly make one up for her. It includes a small typo. A malevolent conspiracy, obviously.
January 17, 2026 at 10:44 AM
Sensational story in @scotnational.bsky.social
Journalist registers (at last minute) for event. On arrival, there is no badge with her name on it. The organisers hurriedly make one up for her. It includes a small typo. A malevolent conspiracy, obviously.
Journalist registers (at last minute) for event. On arrival, there is no badge with her name on it. The organisers hurriedly make one up for her. It includes a small typo. A malevolent conspiracy, obviously.
Reposted by Sam Taylor
1/ RWE was the big winner in the AR7 auction, but what did it win? The right to build assets yielding an (unlevered) return on capital of 8.2%. By funding 80% of the projects with debt costing 6.5%, RWE should be able to squeeze out an equity IRR of 12.5%.
January 16, 2026 at 10:10 AM
1/ RWE was the big winner in the AR7 auction, but what did it win? The right to build assets yielding an (unlevered) return on capital of 8.2%. By funding 80% of the projects with debt costing 6.5%, RWE should be able to squeeze out an equity IRR of 12.5%.
This is excellent.
Is offshore wind really 40% cheaper than gas?
Sort of, but we need to be clear that the high cost of gas is, in part, a policy choice driven by carbon pricing and lower-capacity factors.
My latest attempt to inject some nuance into the energy debate.
www.samdumitriu.com/p/is-offshor...
Sort of, but we need to be clear that the high cost of gas is, in part, a policy choice driven by carbon pricing and lower-capacity factors.
My latest attempt to inject some nuance into the energy debate.
www.samdumitriu.com/p/is-offshor...
Is offshore wind really 40% cheaper than gas?
We need a better energy debate
www.samdumitriu.com
January 16, 2026 at 1:14 PM
This is excellent.