* GROWING up in the 1950s, we were informed that Scotland led the world with nuclear power. Scotland had and has no nuclear industry: we do not design, build or export our nuclear expertise. Nuclear power remains hugely expensive and difficult to build, needs guaranteed access to coolant at a time of increasingly serious climate events; requires costly state intervention with subsidies, insurance and security. I actually heard a trade union rep complain that without nuclear power Scotland, as part of the UK grid, would partly rely on England’s gas-powered electricity generator. The social group that benefits from the current tax laws is the same group that made the tax laws and the business laws that – while intended initially to encourage investment – now just protect business people from the very market forces they are always banging on about.

Source: The Herald April 09, 2022 06:28 UTC