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ScottishCyclist

Listed below are comments made by ScottishCyclist between Friday, 2nd May 2008 and Thursday, 9th July 2009.

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Can O2 cope with smartphone traffic? 10:01pm on 09 Jul 2009 Rory, glad to hear you've done an extensive test in the area that matters most - London. Oh how us poor creatures out with the metropolis can only wish we had such coverage.

Look to Wales or Scotland and you see shocking coverage where even main conurbations or arterial roads are not covered.

But extending this still further, why are these more rural areas important? Why, because they are the same areas where it is prohibitively expensive to provide physical broadband infrastructure to each house and where many people still have to rely on dial up due to distance from the exchange. 3G in these areas would provide a real opportunity to provide a 'lower cost' improvement to overall speed of access to the internet. Please take the opportunity to consider the wider community outside metropolitan conurbations where it is more than a mere inconvenience not to have full 3G coverage whilst walking in the park.
What a difference a day makes 8:13pm on 26 Jun 2008 Brian, thanks for clearing up the 2 stages of voting on this matter. I have read the BBC website, listened to BBC Radio Scotland and read your blog and they all differ in their reports of what happened (I'm sure that your detailed explanation is the correct one). Radio Scotland was broadcasting not long after 4pm that the vote was incredibly close, 4 for, 3 against and that effectively the Tories opposed the verdict. As of 'now' the BBC website is reporting 4 for, 3 abstentions (different from earlier in the day). As you state it is slightly more complex. In the interests of democracy and correct reporting, can everyone try a little harder to get the facts correct. Please?
Map of the week: Poverty in the UK 4:11pm on 24 Jun 2008 Too many double negatives for me. And as people have commented, is 'poor' related to national average, regional average, or some other measure. Too little detail to make any sense.

Also "The maps cannot be updated until the 2011 census is taken and the data released in 2013". Why does it take so long. Ok there are a LOT of forms but surely this information is key to government planning. 2 years to get the data, then x years to get policies in place. What's the point?
UK news coverage 8:32pm on 11 Jun 2008 Stumo wrote : "Possibly this is a chance to explain some of the differences in the UK. I'm in England; I'd be very interested to see programs that explained to me e.g. what the range of opinions are in Scotland on Scottish Devolution [Independence] - why do some people want it, and what do they think they'll gain. What would be the implications for the rest of the UK."

I live in Scotland. I'd also like such a programme, but our 'masters' in the BBC seem too scared to air these views, presumably in case they are accused of adding to the Independence debate.
Not ticking boxes 3:13pm on 11 Jun 2008 It's simple. On the 'Six' or 'Ten' when a story relating to any part of the UK is shown (for items such as laws, statistics, etc) have a flag(s) in the corner of the screen showing where it relates to. It will then be obvious to all.

More seriously, there is an obvious imbalance in News programmes. English 'regional' news programmes have a different focal point than Sottish 'National' news. For instance the latter have to cover entire devolved items such as Health, Education and Policing. For England this gets covered in the 'Six'/'Ten' by UK 'National' News. There is an imbalance of time, but is there also an imbalance of funding as well? Not sure how to ever resolve this without following the GMS model which works pretty well.
Reserve strength 1:04pm on 05 Jun 2008 What we shouldn't loose sight of in this debate is that oil has up until very recently has been the key player in the wider energy equation. This is starting to change.

Given proper investment Scotland will provide key reserves of 'new' types of energy from wind and wave. Yes these are still coming of age, but when oil prices bite harder and international carbon treaties mean use of oil/carbon-based-fuels is penalised, Scotland's position to capitalise on its natural resources will be immense.

However this requires investment. If Scotland controlled more/all of it's oil revenue it would be straightforward to have an energy investment policy aligned to Scotland's needs. Greater investment in renewalables energy research and investment in subsea inter-connectors along the East and West Coasts would be a start and would help ensure Scotland's future energy demands will be met and provide future income. Instead Westminster tells us we should be building nuclear plants and mis-handles and loses an opportunity to use cutting edge technology (with BP?) to allow more oil to be extracted from the North Sea.

It's almost too depressing to think about.
Plain and simple? 8:09pm on 28 May 2008 For "Truth, Lies, Oil and Scotland" see the following link page 5.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/proginfo/nations/scotland/scpiwk23.pdf
Making new friends 11:49am on 02 May 2008 Very interesting analysis. In many ways I think this reflects the fact that the SNP 'keep' their most experienced politicians at Holyrood, whilst the other Unionist parties 'big hitters' are lured to what they view as bigger jobs at Westminster. Without causing mischief I wonder if the same happens to the business leaders the SNP are talking to!

On a related theme (politics). Your other column today mentions the lack of regular opinion polls of late in Scotland in which to track public political opinion. Isn't this what you need in your department to do a real job of reporting on popular political opinion - please get your bosses to commission one (or maybe that's what you are hinting your frustration at?)

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