The map below lets you find out what’s happening to house prices in your area.

You can get the 52 week version of this map at ros.gov.uk. You can also get more detailed statistical information as well as finding out what houses in your street are selling for with RoS’ free house price search facility.

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The map below lets you find out what’s happening to house prices in your area.

You can get the 52 week version of this map at ros.gov.uk. You can also get more detailed statistical information as well as finding out what houses in your street are selling for with RoS’ free house price search facility.

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Mark Thompson. Picture: Erikso

Delivering the MacTaggart lecture at the Edinburgh Television Festival, the BBC’s director general, Mark Thompson, said that all the best speeches had anger, “rage if you can mange it” but more importantly a “proper black-hearted villain”.

Most of the audience would have been forgiven for thinking the villain of Thompson’s speech would be James Murdoch, whose lecture at last year’s festival savaged the BBC. Yet aside from a few swipes, Thompson avoided a shouting match with Sky focusing instead on the funding deficit facing British telly, and the BBC’s response to it.

Acknowledging that next year’s licence fee negotations would be a “moment of realism” for the Beeb, he took the opportunity to rehearse his defence of the corporation. The public, he said, love the BBC despite what he considered ruthless attacks from the print press. Thompson suggested that the British public have rarely been so in favour of the licence fee and the BBC. He said that nationally 71% backed the corporation but, and he could barely keep the glee out of his voice here, the figures for Daily Mail readers and Sunday Times readers were respectively 75% and a massive 85%.

Thompson pointed to the very real need to respond to a funding gap available to commission content that could see British television lose out on “a historic opportunity to expand globally”.

The response to the drop in advertising revenue called for new approaches. Thompson wanted a vibrant ITV, Channel 4 and Channel 5 investing in content and growing creative talent and reputations internationally.

And it was here that Sky briefly took centre stage as the pantomime villain. Citing Sky’s £5.6 billion revenue he suggested that Sky was already a “dominant force in broadcast media” – a dominance that worried Thompson, especially when such a force failed to invest in original UK content. Last year, he said, Sky spent over £100 million on their marketing budget, more than ITV 1 spent on their content. Sky could, and should be doing more.

Thompson didn’t place all of the blame on Sky’s lack of investment. He acknowledged that the reform of the BBC “still has a vast amount to do”.

The rate of change, he promised, would be “faster and deeper” now, cutting jobs and services to ensure that quality content came first. The BBC would have to become “leaner”; he envisaged that senior positions would be cut by a quarter, executive pay would be looked at and the taxing pension problem would not be side-stepped. The scope and breadth of BBC services would need to be scrutinised to ensure that they met their public service remit. Thompson also said the BBC’s web footprint would be cut by a quarter in this “daunting programme of change”.

He ended his speech by reiterating his call for the broadcast sector to work together, to share technologies and grow talent. He left the audience in no doubt that he was there for the long haul. “The stakes have never been higher,” he said, “but the prize has never seemed more precious.”

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Picture: Nic's Events

Help for a select few may be at hand from HSBC. It’s launched a search on Facebook to find the UK’s most visionary students. At stake is one of four bursaries worth £15,000 each. The competition is open to all students starting their first year of university. All they have to do is upload a 90 second video explaining: “How £15,000 at university would help you make your mark on the world.”

The top 20 videos will be chosen by popular ballot. These will then go forward through a number of further stages until the winners are decided by a panel of judges. The judges will include two former winners of the bursary along with a representative of the National Union of Students, the university clearance body UCAS and the bank itself.

The bank’s “youth and student segment manager” Matt Nguyen explained that going to university was “a time of discovery and we wanted to help students with a real vision for their futures the opportunity to realise their full potential.

“This is the third year we have run the competition and we are delighted to be offering twice the number of bursaries this year. By using Facebook, we hope to reach as many students as possible and give them the opportunity to win a bursary which could transform their university experience.”

One of last year’s winners was Claudia Titley. She is now studying Architecture in Portsmouth. In her entry she explained that having grown up in Africa, she had seen first hand the importance of affordable, sustainable housing. She won one of the bursaries because of her passion for her subject area and commitment to using her time at university to benefit others.

Looking back, she believes the bursary made “a huge difference to my experience at university and means I can focus on doing the best I can in my studies. When I graduate I’d really like to work with Article25, which is an architectural charity that believes that shelter and housing are a basic human right.”

Students have until the 15 September to film their short videos and upload them to the site. Full details of the competition rules can be found at either the HSBC Student Bursary competition page or www.facebook.com/hsbcstudents.

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Liz McAreavey

What does a successful entrepreneur do when she’s made her fortune? Some go on to become serial entrepreneurs but not all. Liz McAreavey moved from Wales to Scotland in her early 20s, settling in Edinburgh. In “le Bistro”, she built up one of Scotland’s most successful catering businesses, with an annual turnover of around £7m. She won the Outstanding Scottish Businesswoman of the Year in the process. She sold that to Azure Support Services and then she opened the Hurricane Bar and Grill, a venture that failed to deliver on its promise. She then went on to work in professional services and now is bringing a wealth of experience – as well as pleasures and pain of being in business – to help Edinburgh Chamber, as it director of development, weather the current economic storms.

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The map below lets you find out what’s happening to house prices in your area.

You can get the 52 week version of this map at ros.gov.uk. You can also get more detailed statistical information as well as finding out what houses in your street are selling for with RoS’ free house price search facility.

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Until now, Teleperformance didn’t have any presence in Scotland so it will now be able to serve all parts of the UK more effectively.

beCogent founder and chairman, Dermot Jenkinson, said he had mixed emotions about selling the business after developing it for the past 11 years but he’d known the French company and its directors for some time and admired their approach. “Other offers were very easy to turn down,” he said, “but this one was different.

“It was apparent that the two businesses were a good fit in a number of ways. There was a good cultural fit – we approach things in much the same way. There was no geographical overlap so all the jobs in Scotland were safe. And finally, there was a good return for shareholders. I believe I’ve sold the company into safe strong hands to a firm that will nurture and grow it.”

He will stay on as chairman until the end of the year. The current management team of the company will stay on and become part of the world-wide operation.

From its base in Airdrie, beCogent has developed considerable expertise in a number of industry sectors, such as retail, financial services and telecoms. It now employs some 3,000 people at its four call centres in Airdrie, Erskine, Kilmarnock and Glasgow. This year, it’s expected to turn over some £50 million. The combined group will employ over 6,000 and have a revenue of £140m+.

For Teleperformance, the move into Scotland has brought a technologically skilled and multi-lingual workforce. According to its chairman and chief executive in the UK, Jeff Smith, “we plan to use the combined strength of the Group to develop yet more strongly our UK presence, taking advantage of our incomparable strength across both our onshore and offshore networks.”

Teleperformance has grown to become the world’s leading provider of outsourced customer relationship management and contact centre services. It has clients all round the world, handling customer care, technical support and debt collection programs on their behalf. Last year, its revenues exceeded €1.8 billion (almost £1.5bn).

The group has more than 112,000 employees working in 276 contact centres in 51 countries. It deals with programs in more than 66 different languages and dialects on behalf of major international companies operating in various industries.

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Picture: Kevin Zim

A website called smartertravel.com has named them all in its top ten of the scariest airports in the world. Given the company it’s with, Barra’s beach landing strip seems mild by comparison. Judge for yourself from the selection.

1. Toncontin International Airport, Honduras

Getting through the mountains is only one hurdle to overcome for a safe landing in Tegucigalpa, Honduras. During descent, planes need to make a 45-degree bank to effectively reach the 7,000-foot runway located in a valley. Due to the surrounding mountainous terrain, passengers will experience a quick drop in altitude in order for the plane to line up with the runway. Frequent winds complicate matters, as pilots are forced to make several last-second adjustments.

2. Gibraltar Airport, Gibraltar

As if having the Mediterranean Sea to the east and the Bay of Gibraltar to the west of the airport weren’t enough to complicate a landing, the main road to Spain also intersects the runway. You may be thankful if your plane gets diverted to a nearby airport due to weather, though you’ll still have to brave the runway when you walk over it to get from Spain to the British overseas territory. Because of this, traffic must be stopped when planes are using the airport, and pilots must take care when landing to quickly engage the brakes, as the 6,000-foot runway doesn’t leave much room for error.

3. Nantucket Memorial Airport, Massachusetts

The US Army Air Corps specifically chose Nantucket, or the Grey Lady, as a training base in World War II because of the frequent fog and low ceilings that make navigation a challenge, forcing pilots to rely solely on instruments to fly. “In a matter of minutes, fog can roll in and turn clear, blue skies grey,” says pilot Andrew Sitarz (the brother of of one of the report’s authors, Captain Kate Sitarz.) “Sometimes you can’t see anything until the last second; you break out of the fog, and the plane is landing.”

4. Paro International Airport, Bhutan

If you want to visit Bhutan, chances are you’ll have to fly into Paro, the only international airport in the country. “Anywhere where there’s mountainous terrain there’s a challenge,” says Captain Sitarz. And Paro is no exception. Soaring through 16,000-foot Himalayan Mountains with whipping winds gets your adrenaline pumping as you approach the 6,050-foot runway, located in a deep, tree-lined valley. According to the website of Drukair, the only airline serving Paro, “each flight is a mesmerizing aeronautical feat and offers an exciting descent into the kingdom.” But fear not: Pilots are specially trained to fly into Bhutan, and accessing the airport is entirely dependent on good weather conditions.

5. Yeager Airport, West Virginia

Located on Coonskin Ridge in Charleston, West Virginia, Yeager Airport’s cliff face, at an elevation of 982 feet, can be intimidating, especially when you only have 6,302 feet of runway (the closed secondary runway is a mere 4,750 feet). When smartertravel.com asked their Facebook followers about their scariest airport experiences, Chris Randall noted Yeager: “It’s a flattened mountaintop, so if they overshoot the runway there’s nowhere to go but down.” Of course, a takeoff or landing is the same whether you’re on a mountaintop or on the ground, but for those flying into Yeager for the first time, it can be a nervous landing until you’ve come to a complete stop.

6. Barra Airport, Scotland

Touching down without a paved strip may seem like a crash landing for unsuspecting passengers, but in Barra, Scotland, it’s a normal experience. When the airport isn’t in service, the beach is a popular spot for locals to hunt for cockles, but when the wind sock is flying, you’ll do well to observe from afar. On Flybe, the only airline that flies there, passengers can expect to arrive safely on one of the three runways (marked by concrete poles) formed when the tide goes out. As one of the only airports in the world where beach landings still occur, you shouldn’t miss this unique experience.

7. La Aurora International Airport, Guatemala

Surrounding mountains, a high altitude, and a steep drop at the end of the runway make flying into La Aurora International Airport in Guatemala City a fun ride, even from a pilot’s point of view. According to Patrick Smith, author of the Ask the Pilot blog: “Passengers find [landing here] startling because you weave your way through a series of volcanoes,” including the active Pacaya Volcano that recently caused the airport to close, before flying low over the city and approaching a runway situated at the edge of a valley. But despite the unusual landing, Smith notes that based on weight and weather, the types of aircraft that can attempt a landing must be guaranteed to stop within a certain amount of time.

8. LaGuardia Airport, New York City, New York

The main, 7,000-foot runways at New York’s LaGuardia Airport were extended back in 1967—over water. In case gliding over Flushing and Bowery bays isn’t enough of a thrill, pilots have to avoid interfering with flights from two other extremely busy airports nearby: JFK and Newark. Plus, the airport is located a mere eight miles from Midtown Manhattan, sometimes creating the illusion that the plane is skimming rooftops. Smith cites LaGuardia’s shared airspace, climbs, and twists and turns as reasons why it is a more challenging airport. “On one approach to runway 31, the plane makes a steep, continuous low-altitude turn around what was Shea Stadium, now Citi Field, from south to northwest; it’s very low to the ground and a short final approach.”

9. Wellington International Airport, Wellington, New Zealand

With a single, short, 6,351-foot runway that appears to begin and end in crystal blue waters, it’s easy to see why flying into Wellington may make you uneasy. Plus, as SmarterTravel Twitter follower @trickericke says, “They don’t call it ‘windy Wellington’ for nothing,” noting the strong crosswinds that seem to attack landing planes. Plus, the northern approach descends between hills and over trolley lines. And judging by the airport’s slogan, “Wild at Heart,” you’d almost think the Kiwis consider landing there an extreme sport like zorbing.

10. John Wayne Airport, Santa Ana, California

Strict noise reduction requirements may not seem scary at first, but if you’re not expecting engine cutbacks during takeoff you might be spooked. According to Jenny Wedge, public relations manager at John Wayne Airport in Santa Ana, “Due to its close proximity to nearby communities, JWA has one of the most stringent aircraft access and noise monitoring programs in the United States, if not the world.” Pilots begin their takeoffs at close to full power, then incline quickly and steeply before reducing engine power. “It’s like a space shuttle liftoff,” says Facebook follower Elizabeth Conrad. Smith notes that passengers contact him about this airport all the time, some even claiming the pilots turn off the engines after take off. But although the procedure seems unusual, he says “there’s nothing that the plane does that is not within its capabilities.”

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The map below lets you find out what’s happening to house prices in your area.

You can get the 52 week version of this map at ros.gov.uk. You can also get more detailed statistical information as well as finding out what houses in your street are selling for with RoS’ free house price search facility.

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Picture: Chiara Marra

“Hmm,” says the man. “Any idea how much he wants for it?”

“I think he’s after a grand,” says the shopkeeper.

“That sounds tempting. Shame I won’t have that sort of cash before the end of the month.”

“I tell you what John,” says the shopkeeper. “I’m sure I could lend you that for a couple of weeks. I know you’re good for it.”

It’s easy to look at this exchange and think; “Aah, the joys of village life.” The shopkeeper knows John’s interested in old bikes because he supplies his copy of Classic Motorcycle every month. Sometimes they’ll even chat about them in the pub with the friends they’ve both known since childhood. This close relationship also means the shopkeeper’s happy to lend him money in the knowledge John’s always paid his debts and he’s not going to disappear.

Every element of this transaction can be duplicated on line and more efficiently without the need to live in a village. To start with, most of us have lists of friends on Facebook and elsewhere. Then our interests are simple to quantify by tracking visits to websites and purchases. Somehow, though, the digital version scares people.

It’s the limits of these fears that Google is discussing internally according to documents acquired by the Wall Street Journal. At the moment Google amasses incredible amounts of data which it either restricts or chooses not to use at all even though it reduces the efficiency of its products.

Google’s main business is selling contextual advertising. This means when you search or use Gmail you should see ads that are related to the subject you are looking for or discussing. It’s slightly more refined than, say, putting beer commercials on during in a televised football match. But both on line and on the telly, the process is hit and miss.

With more data on your age, income, geographical location, likes and dislikes, web ad targeting could be much more accurate. You’d no longer have to see ads that were annoyingly inappropriate. Products should also cost less because manufacturers wouldn’t have to cover the cost of the vast majority of advertising which is directed at the wrong people. (As collateral damage it would also wreck most media business models – including that of The Caledonian Mercury – as they’re based on vague hope of attracting the right audience for advertisers.)

But, although advertising money is currently the main focus of data use and abuse on the internet, it is actually pretty trivial. In the great scheme of things there is much more to be gained from giving up our privacy and anonymity. Or, to put it another way, from abolishing secrets and lies.

Think back, for example, to the scene in the village shop. There’s no danger that somebody could pretend to be John in order to borrow money and defraud the shopkeeper. They know each other too well. It’s privacy that makes identity theft possible.

The more detail that’s readily and publicly available about us the harder it is for somebody to, for instance, fraudulently use our credit cards. It may be easy to forge a signature, but not a person’s appearance, voice, shoe size, fingerprints, list of friends, DNA and so on. We could now make all this available almost instantly on the internet.

But until recently the technology to store, process and display this quantity of data was prohibitively expensive. Increasingly, however, the reasons it is not made available are to do with fear of loss of privacy. But the benefits could be enormous.

Governments across the globe, for instance, are employing extraordinary methods to balance their books. Many are trying to reduce benefit fraud, even though cutting tax avoidance would bring in far more cash. Part of the problem is there simply aren’t enough inspectors to check individual returns. If, however, everybody’s return was posted publicly on line for all to see, most tax avoidance would disappear overnight. Suddenly there’d be millions of tax inspectors wanting to check what their boss, friends and neighbours were allegedly earning and paying. (Me? I’d just be embarrassed if people knew just how little I earn.)

A less extreme version of this concept would be to put up income tax data in a way that was anonymous. Bounty-hunters could be offered a percentage of any extra revenue they brought in as a reward. It’s an idea that might have seemed far-fetched not long ago, but it’s not far removed from a proposal by NERA Economic Consulting which suggests the US financial regulator, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), could make its data public.

The SEC already admits it doesn’t have sufficient staff. This is blamed for it missing, amongst other things, the $65 billion Bernie Madoff fraud. NERA argues this could have been avoided if everybody had been given access to SEC data including those with an incentive to find problems such as competitors, academics and investors.

Generally the more openness there is, the harder it is to commit fraud. And the technology to disseminate the data over the internet and to crunch it on home computers is now readily available.

There are also other trends in technology which could make much dishonesty obsolete. For instance, in common with many other people, every email I’ve sent or received in the last seven years is stored and searchable by me on Google’s servers. Soon a similar service will be widely available for voice communications.

Already companies such as Skype and Google Voice are moving towards offering everybody a single number through which all their mobile, internet and landline phone calls are routed. The main obstacle to recording all conversations as well is not technology, but the law. It’s treated as phone-tapping. But in the next few years we could, if we wanted, save every conversation and be able to search it, thanks to the fast-improving capabilities of voice recognition software.

From phone conversation it’s just a small step from recording every moment of our lives initially in audio, but eventually in video as well. The cost of storing the vast quantities of data required is falling fast.

The impact on legal systems would be vast. Recording our every conversation in a searchable form would remove a very large proportion of lawyers’ work as there’d be no need to rely on the fallible memory of individuals any more. Lying would be a real challenge.

This isn’t far-fetched. There are already devices on sale such as the Roadhawk which clips to a car windscreen to collect data including video and GPS locations. If there’s an accident it can show the speed and actions of the driver in the moments leading to the impact.

It doesn’t require a hug leap of imagination to picture a similar miniaturised device to be carried by humans. In fact, it already exists. It’s called a “smartphone”.

Abandoning a large part of medical confidentiality could also bring widespread health benefits. The more data there is available about individual illnesses, family health problems and lifestyle choices, the more accurately the causes of disease can be ascertained. But we might have to be less squeamish about our medical records and, of course, there are a whole load of ethical problems to be resolved.

Privacy and anonymity have only become widely available even in wealthy societies fairly recently. Perhaps the way say we value “openness” reveals our continuing ambiguity towards its opposites. Certainly there are huge benefits to letting the world know our business. Do we want to?

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Donald Macrae

Take this week’s report from the Bank of Scotland. It suggests that the slow and steady recovery in the Scottish private sector has continued, albeit slower than the rest of the UK. Its index looks at activity across the manufacturing and service sectors. The upward trend is small but the growth is still there. Companies are employing the same numbers of people and new orders are increasing.

But dig down into the figures and the interesting trend is that manufacturing is out-performing the service sectors. Manufacturers are starting to take on extra staff, while those in services are laying off. The numbers aren’t large on either side but it’s a significant change. Production is also up and any backlogs in the order books are shrinking.

It means that activity across the Scottish economy in July increased for the 13th straight month in a row. The pace of expansion is continuing and, at last, Scottish firms appear to be catching up with their rivals south of the border, with the growth in output here now frequently linked to growth in new orders.

In the view of Donald MacRae, chief economist at Bank of Scotland: “There’s been a welcome increase in growth in the key services sector and in particular in business and financial services. Activity in travel and tourism continues to grow, although with a slight fall in the rate. Overall, there is positive news in most areas, signalling Scotland’s economy is in recovery.”

But there are pressures on the economy. For example, there was a sharp increase in raw material costs. On top of that, wages increased and the rise in the cost of transport meant that inflation was higher than expected. Despite this, strong competition meant that the price of goods leaving the factory gate actually went down slightly.

The exporters’ optimism comes from a different source and is UK-wide rather than Scottish. The Travelex Confidence Index leapt last month, thanks to the GDP figure in the second quarter of the year – it showed the UK growing at its fastest pace in four years. Perhaps surprisingly because of the political outcome, sentiment was also bolstered by David Cameron’s overseas trade mission.

According to Paddy Earnshaw from Travelex, this “sharper-than-expected increase in confidence will help improve importer and exporter morale and allay concerns about the medium to longer term growth outlook. It is particularly encouraging to see the new Government’s international trade efforts injecting confidence into the UK’s SME importers and exporters.”

But he thinks it’s it is too early to say if this optimism is justified, as many uncertainties remain for both importers and exporters. He points out that “businesses are fearful of austerity measures and the impact they will have on consumer buying power. I would expect confidence to remain volatile, as harsher fiscal tightening approaches.”

And there’s another cloud on the horizon – the deteriorating picture in the US. A growing number of firms now feel that the threat to business development comes from the current health of the global economy. The figures underpin growing concerns in the financial markets that the US recovery has slowed and may lead to a double dip recession

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The Skoog

That raises issues for severely disabled children who cannot use traditional instruments. However, a spin-out company from Edinburgh University may be able to help them. Skoogmusic has received research funding from the National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts to create a new musical instrument aimed exactly at this group of youngsters.

Founded by Dr Benjaman Schogler and Dr David Skulina, the company’s successfully created a novel piece of technology – the Skoog – that allows these children to play music in an expressive way. It’s already been tested in trials in schools in Ayrshire, Fife and Lanarkshire.

It’s a complex piece of technology, one that’s only been possible thanks to a licensing agreement with Stanford University and the Yamaha Corporation. The deal will allow the company to use the “Sondius back catalogue of waveguide physical modelling synthesis”.

What that means is that computer software replaces the need for a real-life musical instrument with a simulated or virtual one. A real vibrating string, membrane or air column is replaced by a virtual one. The disabled user controls the instrument by varying how hard they pluck, blow or strike it.

The result is that even the slightest touch or twist of the Skoog can give a slightly different timbre or tone quality. This allows for apparently limitless expression on a range of different instruments, such as flute, trumpet or marimba. Users can change the pitch, timbre and volume with very small movements.

Historically, the technology has only been available to the serious professional musician or those with highly advanced technical skills. Skoogmusic plan to bring it within the reach of all budding young musicians, helping them with an extended selection of expressive musical instrument sounds.

The founders were surprised at how relatively easy it was to obtain the licence. As Dr Skulina explains: “As a small spin-out company, it was with some trepidation that we approached Stanford University and Yamaha, not expecting to receive much attention from such big hitters. Contrary to our expectations however, we found [them] to be extremely open and flexible”.

Through Edinburgh University, they were also able to draw on a wide range of academic expertise when it came to developing the instrument. They included experts in physics, musical acoustics, physical modelling, music technology, psychology and human computer interaction.

Nigel Osborne, Professor of Music at Edinburgh University, describes the Skoog as one “for established musicians, and new ways for all to play”. But he’s also world renowned for his work in music therapy, particularly with children who have been victims of war and conflict. He believes that the question for schools with disabled pupils “…will not be ‘can we afford one?’ but rather, ‘can we afford not to have one’?”

Despite the current climate, the company has successfully raised money from a series of investors, including Barwell, Daedalus Capital and the Scottish Enterprise Co-investment Fund. This will allow them to continue the development, manufacture and supply of the instrument.

They were helped by LINC Scotland, the national association for business angels, whose executive director, David Grahame, described it as a “testament to the vital role that Scottish angel investors are playing in providing much-needed capital funding for our most promising start-ups.

“Thanks to this licensing deal with one of the world’s largest musical instrument manufacturers and most prestigious universities, I am sure this Scottish success story will go from strength to strength.”

The Skoog has been commercially available from March 2010 and has received widespread interest from the education sector.

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The map below lets you find out what’s happening to house prices in your area.

You can get the 52 week version of this map at ros.gov.uk. You can also get more detailed statistical information as well as finding out what houses in your street are selling for with RoS’ free house price search facility.

Related posts:

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3. Scottish house prices up by 5.5% In the latest four week period available the Scottish average...

Not any more. Far from being anonymous online it’s generally pretty easy not only to find out your canine origins, but also those occasions when you’ve been a very bad dog. And there could well be pictorial evidence to go with it.

Don’t believe either that if you don’t use Facebook or any online services at all that you won’t have a searchable online reputation that’s good, bad or indifferent. At the moment there’s nothing you can do about it. The internet never forgets. At least it never forgets anything you want it to.

On a simple level, for instance, the 1974 Rehabilitation of Offenders Act is supposed to “wipe the slate clean” after a certain amount of time has elapsed for people convicted of all but the most serious crimes. But, there is no requirement for news websites to delete court reports from old trials, so even if somebody is found not guilty their name could show up through a simple search.

And if you apply for a job the chances are you will be Googled and more by your prospective employer. It’s just about impossible to tell if you’ve not had an interview as the result of information revealed. So it may be illegal to discriminate on the grounds of “spent” convictions or sexual orientation, but proving that is the reason a person hasn’t been hired is another matter.

The reason sexual orientation is mentioned here is that recent research from MIT shows, to put it bluntly, the more openly gay friends you have on Facebook, the more likely it is that you are also gay. It seems likely the same is true if you have, for instance, strong political or religious views.

What is more than a little frightening about this is it’s information which can be gleaned from apparently fairly innocuous sources, and ones that we may not control. For instance, even if you have strict privacy controls on Facebook and other social networks which prevent third parties from seeing your list of friends, it doesn’t prevent anybody from accessing lists on which you appear, your friends’ lists of friends.

Other advances in technology threaten to render privacy settings on social networking sites even more irrelevant. For instance, if you’ve tried Google’s Picasa on-line picture storage service you may have come across a function which allows you to search automatically through your photographs for individual faces. It’s an uncannily accurate way of finding every picture of a friend in your collection.

It’s clearly not much of a step from this to carrying out a reverse image search where you can upload an image and find similar ones that are displayed online. There are already companies such as Tin Eye and LTU which use this type of technology for tracking everything from copyrighted photographs to identifying the children being abused in paedophile images.

It won’t be long before it’ll be easy to find the snap taken of you by a friend of a friend on an over-lubricated night out. It might not even be accurate. One of the most apparently incriminating pictures of me was taken when I was the designated driver trying to prove you can have fun while you’re sober.

If there’s anything encouraging to be taken from the way more and more indiscretions are appearing online it’s the small number of cases where people have lost their jobs as a result. Indeed, even the best-known current example doesn’t really bear scrutiny.

A recent article in the New York Times, “The Web Means the End of Forgetting”, focused in its introduction on the case of Stacy Snyder who it says was denied a teaching degree because of a picture posted on her MySpace page with the caption: “Drunken Pirate”. There was a furore because she was old enough to drink and therefore not committing any sort of crime outside school hours.

The full judgement after she challenged the ruling tells a rather more detailed story. It’s available as a downloadable PDF from the Washington Post. The judge lists a whole catalogue of reasons why she should not be given a teaching degree of which the pirate picture is only one. And there would appear to be a fair chance that the incriminating picture would not have been seen by the authorities if Ms Snyder hadn’t pointed her high-school students towards her MySpace page.

If hers is the best example anybody can find of people suffering as a result of material posted on the internet then there’s hope. Perhaps the way almost everybody has done something they’ve regretted will take the sting out of those indiscretions that have appeared online.

With the increasing popularity of mobile phones and other devices with video capabilities it is absolutely certain that more incriminating material will appear on the internet. One only slightly tongue-in-cheek suggestion on the geek website Slashdot was that all first year students should be photographed as a matter of course naked, drinking from a bottle of vodka with a blow-up sex doll. Then there’d be something incriminating on everybody.

It’s also possible that the increasing lack of concern as to whether a person is gay or not is the by-product of the growing ease of discovery. It’s so much harder for celebrities in particular to stay in the closet that they’re not bothering any more. Perhaps that attitude will spread.

The digiital age’s capacity total recall is already having a profound impact on society and it’s only just beginning. The effects could be seen as positive or negative. We’ll have to wait and find out, unless somebody comes up with a “solution”.

Viktor Mayer-Schonberger who set the debate rolling with his book, “Delete: The Virtue of Forgetting in the Digital Age,” proposes a system of time-limited data that would self-destruct after a certain period. Given the technogy of the internet and the way it stores copies of everything all over the place, this would seem to be a non-starter.

We may have to learn to forgive when we aren’t allowed to forget. Ever.

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All the headlines about Edinburgh’s Tram Project have been on the problems in the centre of town. Certainly, the dispute over part of the contract with Billfinger Berger has still to be resolved. But that doesn’t mean to say that all work has stopped. It’s continued throughout on the section from Haymarket, out to the City Bypass and beyond towards the airport.

Within the next few weeks, more trams will be arriving to join the one currently on show in Princes Street. They’ll be stored on tracks now being laid at the new Control Centre at Gogar. Both Edinburgh Trams and the City Council say they expect to see some of them running by early next year as they start to train the drivers. The Council’s Transport Chief’s been keeping a close watch on progress, as David Calder found out this morning:

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The problem’s been highlighted by accountancy firm, Wilkins Kennedy. In eight out of the last ten insolvency cases their lead partner’s been involved in, they’ve found evidence of such illegal activity. It’s led to fraud investigations over the activities of the directors.

The tax authorities are particularly concerned. HMRC are usually one of the largest unsecured creditors to insolvent businesses. They’re now so concerned that illegal dividends mean businesses are not paying their tax debts that they are asking insolvency practitioners to look for this problem.

According to Keith Stevens, insolvency partner in the firm, “the temptation by directors and owners of businesses to pay themselves an abnormally large special dividend before the increase in the highest rate income tax band to 50% on April 6 2010 may have triggered the spate of illegal dividends.”

These special dividends would be illegal if the company had not made the profits to cover the payments. Wilkins Kennedy also believe the recession has led to some directors and business owners taking illegal loans or dividends to pay for the lifestyles that they have become accustomed to but which the failing fortunes of their businesses can no longer fund.

“A couple of holiday homes, a taste for sports cars and an expensive divorce settlement,” says Keith Stevens, “will normally come with a big debt that needs servicing every month. For some owner-managers it seems easier to break the rules and take an illegal loan from the company than to curb their spending.”

The news appeared to come as a genuine shock to the Institute of Directors in Scotland. Director David Watt said that the organisation had been “…consistent in condemning such practices. We strongly condemn directors taking illegal actions to avoid tax, even if it is a tax which we and others opposed as it discourages entrepreneurial activity and penalises success.”

But he adds: “On the other hand, paying a legal dividend before tax rates go up is fine. I am sure the Treasury did anticipate that more [legal] dividends would be paid in an effort to get round this higher rate of tax.”

He is however also concerned that the tax authorities may be unduly punitive. He points out that “many companies are being forced out of business by HMRC pushing their claim from unpaid taxes.

“This all seems to signify a very determined tax pursual regime which might seem sensible as we look for public funds; but could in fact bring down some organisations acting legally but finding it difficult to pay in the short term and being caught up in the process of HMRC chasing wrongdoers.”

The CBI in Scotland is also concerned. Its assistant director, David Lonsdale, points out that, since the Spring, higher earners have had a hefty rise in tax on their pay and pension contributions. “If some of those affected,” he said, “have looked at the options available to them to avoid paying the higher tax rates it is perhaps unsurprising.”

But he adds that “thinking about how to minimise your tax liability is however wholly different to tax evasion which is rightly illegal.”

In the view of Keith Stevens of Wilkins Kennedy, the consequences of acting illegally could be dire. “HMRC wants these directors banned and they want to pursue them through the courts for all the money that they can get. That is an obligation that HMRC have, so directors need to beware of that. They need to be careful not to treat their business as a personal piggy bank.”

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Picture: Eperales

The driver for actual reform however has often come from Europe. Earlier this year, a committee of the European Parliament agreed draft legislation to extend maternity leave to 20 weeks on full pay. In the UK, the new coalition government will try to stop the measure before it becomes law.

In an effort to grasp the initiative, the Federation of Small Businesses has published a report setting out its thinking. Flexible Working: small business solutions calls for “radical” reforms to the whole system. In particular, it suggests a new concept – “flexible leave” – which would allow parents to choose their leave arrangements.

It wants the legislation simplified to give small businesses more certainty on their employees’ intentions when returning to work.

“Constantly extending maternity rights in the UK,” it says, “have created an increasingly complex administration process for businesses. Maternity provision needs a radical overhaul to make it simple and flexible for both employers and parents”.

Its research found that half of small businesses found the process hard to administer. It says that business owners were often unsure when staff would return to work. In the view of Andy Willox, the Federation’s Scottish policy convenor, “laws surrounding maternity and paternity leave are complex, can be confusing to administer and may act as a barrier to small firms taking on new staff.

So it wants a new system, one that would see parents paid a lump sum for a pre-agreed period of leave. The aim would be to give employers much greater clarity about when they could expect the worker to return. The FSB wants mothers and fathers to have more flexibility on sharing the leave entitlement, but again it should be pre-agreed with the parents’ respective employers.

Maternity leave is stands at 52 weeks, but only six weeks of this is at 90% of their pay. After that, it drops to statutory pay of £124.88 a week for the next 33 weeks. For fathers, it’s more complicated. They’re currently entitled to up to two weeks of leave paid at statutory rates. However, this has to be taken in a single block within 56 days of a birth, though this may change after April next year.

Under the FSB’s proposed system, new parents would receive the full entitlement to statutory maternity or paternity over the time they want off. For instance, if a mother wants four months maternity leave she should have that time off with the full pay in that time frame.

The organisation also wants to see the creation of a new “childcare bond”. It believes this would help businesses provide sustainable childcare for families. It should help remove some of the uncertainty parents feel when looking for nursery provision. Under the current system, only 18% of nursery providers in the UK said they were certain they would still be operating in five years time.

“Family leave should be tailored to suit each individual” explained Andy Willox. “A one size fits all approach fails to adapt to those needs. The Westminster government must reform the way statutory pay is distributed to people taking maternity or paternity leave.

“Parents should be able to choose not only how long they take leave but how and when they receive the pay they are entitled to. In doing so small firms will have more clarity on when that invaluable and skilled member of staff will return to work.”

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Colin Borland

It’s too early to tell if the Westminster government’s strategy of cutting the deficit now to stimulate a private sector led recovery is going to pay off.

Experts are understandably wary about reading too much into the initial signs. The latest UK GDP figures were surprisingly positive, but economists question if these levels will be maintained in the next few quarters. Elsewhere, there are fears that pressures on individual public bodies to focus solely on their bottom line will result in short-sighted decisions which, in the longer term, could harm the wider economy.

If the history books are any sort of guide, though, we know that a sustained period of mass unemployment must be avoided. Fewer people in work, fewer taxpayers and fewer consumer pounds going round the economy, coupled with more people drawing state benefits, is a tried and tested recipe for economic stagnation – and that’s before the massive social costs are even counted.

So, with Scottish unemployment standing at 216,000; poor local labour market statistics; and significant public sector job cuts on the cards, we urgently need more private sector jobs in the economy.

The only question is where they are going to come from.

This opinion piece is part of The Caledonian Mercury’s ongoing debate about Scotland’s national life and is part of our commitment to raise the level of debate in Scotland. If you or your organisation would like a platform to voice your views then please contact us at stewart@caledonianmercury.com.

The form guide says that over the last decade Scottish big business shed 34,000 jobs, while small businesses created 67,000. Thus, it is going to be down to our small firms to build on this track record and create employment wherever the opportunity exists.

So how can we make it easier for them to get on with the job?

First, we need to look at how we can make job creation more affordable and the UK government needs to consider cutting payroll taxes for new jobs in all small businesses, not just start-ups.

And, at Holyrood, surely it is now time to shift the focus of enterprise support from a small number of favoured companies and sectors to the solid, if unfashionable, small businesses which are going to form the foundation of any sustained recovery.

Why not, for example, focus some effort on helping the 200,000-strong army of single member enterprises in Scotland create more new jobs?

People are self-employed for many reasons – the structure of their industry, semi-retirement etc. – and becoming an employer is not for everyone. But what about those who are running successful businesses as owner-managers and who, like 30 per cent of small businesses in Scotland, are operating at full capacity?

Harnessing this untapped resource, the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) has argued, would be neither particularly complex nor expensive. Initially, it would require someone to sit down with a prospective employer and explain exactly what they would be taking on – dispelling the myths, but also setting out the obligations and costs. If they decide to move forward, there would be someone there to take them through that daunting first recruitment process – from placing the advert to drawing up the employment contract. This would require a dedicated member of staff, but that does not necessarily mean a net increase in headcount.

By helping prospective employers make an informed choice, we believe more would be convinced to take the plunge – and move us towards a broader, stronger economic base.

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Edinburgh International Conference Centre

Until now, Edinburgh’s not been able to bid for some of the largest international conferences as the facilities weren’t big enough to cope. When it opens in 2013, the new premises will change that. They will also provide the city with an arena in which to stage pop and rock concerts, an indoor alternative to the Castle Esplanade and Ingliston.

According to Hans Rissmann, the EICC’s chief executive, “people in Edinburgh have become increasingly familiar with the inside of the conference centre as we have grown into a major Fringe venue, but our new multi-purpose hall will also bring more intimate music events, fashion shows and small arena sports tournaments to the city.”

But he insisted that the main focus would remain on attracting business conferences to the city, adding that “international association customers around the world are excited about bringing their delegates to an expanded EICC that can fully justify its offer as the world’s most technologically advanced events space”.

The development will be the final piece of the triangular jigsaw which links Clydesdale Bank Plaza with Lochrin Basin and Morrison Street. It will include an underground multi-purpose hall with a bespoke moving floor system. It will also have a new seven-storey atrium with shops and a cafe. Finally, it will bring income to the EICC through letting high quality offices.

Jenny Dawe, the leader of Edinburgh City Council, stressed the economic benefits the work would bring to the city. “Experience tells us, she said,” that when we invest in EICC we are investing in the future prosperity of the city and, with a £2.3 billion return forecast over the next thirty years, our long term investment is safe and sustainable through and beyond the current economic downturn”.

The project is expected to create up to 250 jobs over the next three years. It will face a number of engineering challenges. During excavation, 120,000 tonnes of material will be removed. The superstructure will need 3,300 tonnes of structural steel. There will also be a 15-metre cantilever at the rear of the building where the office development will overhang Conference Square.

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Most people – including me and all Americans, it seems – are brought up to believe that BP is short for British Petroleum. In fact, that name was dropped when the company merged with the US oil giant Amoco in 1998. “BP” became the official name, the green flower was adopted as its new logo and the aim was to become one of the world’s largest energy companies, moving “beyond petroleum.”

The company’s website talks a lot about alternative energy – wind, solar power, bio-fuels etc – but when you turn to its annual report for 2009, you see it’s continuing obsession with oil. Its “operating capital employed” account for that year reports $101 billion invested in oil exploration and production but only $1.8 billion spent on developing alternative energy.

So, after more than ten years of trying, BP has achieved less than 2 per cent of its ambition. For that reason alone, Tony Hayward had to go, never mind his failings in the Gulf of Mexico. He’s yet another example of an overpaid, under-performing chief executive.

Let’s hope the Gulf disaster – and its $32 billion bill – will force a change of course. It ought to serve as a warning to shareholders in BP that oil-extraction is going to be more troublesome and more expensive in the future and that eventually the oil going to run out. And, as the company decided in its better moments in 1998, the future lies in sustainable energy sources and ones that don’t damage the planet.

Unfortunately there is no sign of that happening anywhere below decks in BP. As recently as September last year, the head of Alternative Energy at BP, Katrina Landis, was telling a conference in Aberdeen: “We need to be frank about the continuing role of hydrocarbons. Today, fossil fuels provide 80 per cent of all the world’s energy and by most forecasts fossil fuels will still provide the majority of primary energy in 2030.”

She went on to quote a study by the Institute of Economic Affairs which concluded that oil will still provide 75 per cent of our energy needs by 2050 even if the world meets its target of cutting greenhouse gases by half.

It didn’t seem to occur to her that the IEA might be wrong or that the greenhouse gas target might be hopelessly low. Or that the cost of oil, in money and lives and environmental damage might rise steeply within a few months of her conference speech.

To be fair to BP, it is investing large sums of money in alternative energy, it’s just that it’s much too small and it’s much too peripheral. Imagine what a large company like BP could do for the renewables industry if it got serious about it.

The Fraser of Allander Institute says Scotland needs £10 billion to achieve its renewables target. The energy regulator Ofgem says the UK needs £33 billion in off-shore wind investment alone and £200 billion for all energy sources over the next decade if it’s to achieve its greenhouse gas target. These are sums of money that a giant like BP could afford and it’s money that is not forthcoming from other investors.

So, come on BP, get back to your carbon capture project at Peterhead – abandoned in 2007. Let’s have a thousand wind farm projects in the USA, not just the hundred you have already. Let’s have more solar panel factories like the ones in Madrid and Bangalore. Let’s have more investment in the bio-butanol plant in Hull, or the sugarcane-to-ethanol factory in Brazil or the grass-to-biofuel project in Florida. And, please, could Scotland finally have some proper investment in wave and tidal power ?

If casting Tony Hayward adrift in his yacht – with his pension of £600,000 a year – is just going to result in the super-tanker plunging on to the next oil spill, BP will have learnt very little from the Gulf of Mexico disaster. And that would be a great pity, for the company, its investors – including many of our pension schemes – and for the planet

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It’s therefore interesting occasionally to look beyond our shores. In the past few hours, there have been a couple of reports which help to put a global perspective on the international property sector: US house sales and the RICS Global Property Survey.

The US figures took a lot of people by surprise. Just last month, the doom sayers were insisting that the market was dead in the water. It would be a long time before there would be any significant improvement. They were wrong.

Sales of new homes went by more than most analysts had forecast. True the figures were the second-lowest dating right back to 1963. But sales were up by 24 percent on those in May which prompted some at least to claim that the worst of the slump was over.

That may be over-optimistic but house buyers currently enjoy the lowest mortgage rates on record. That’s helped to underpin demand and stabilise the house building industry, enough at least for it to claim that it’s through the worst recession in around 70 years.

But it’s not all good news in the US. The number of people who can’t keep up their mortgage payments has led to an increase in foreclosures. That means there are growing numbers of unsold houses in the second-hand market (so to speak).

The result is that sales are “bouncing along the bottom” as one analyst put it, adding that it would continue to do so because there was little sign of growth in the jobs market confidence amongst consumers was weak. Nonetheless, stock markets on both side of the Atlantic rose on the news.

The message from the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) was that property markets in the more dynamic economies of South America, Asia and Eastern Europe were outperforming those in the UK and Eurozone.

It rightly points out that tough measures have been taken to reduce fiscal deficits in those economies and those all appear to be having a more pronounced impact on the appetite of businesses to take up new space.

It’s true that their survey concentrates on the commercial sector but there are figures which help to point to a trend. The most significant is that surveyors in the US have reported a rise in tenant demand across the board for the first time in 3 years.

So which countries are reporting healthy growth. Perhaps surprisingly in Europe, France is bucking the negative trend. The market there is showing signs of an upturn. The authors claim that this reflects, in part, “the relatively resilient performance from the domestic economy”.

Elsewhere, Brazil is leading the way. Surveyors there are reporting a rise in already buoyant demand. Since the last quarter, demand for space has gone up from 70 to 85 percent. Markets in countries as diverse as Peru, Argentina, India and China are also performing well.

The RICS report shows some surprise that the Chinese market still remains strong because the Government there had brought in measures to curtail a property boom. It says that the indicators for occupier demand all remain positive.

So where does that leave the UK? In the commercial sector, demand is falling for the first time in a year. There are also worrying figures from Pricewaterhousecoopers which put out some negative predictions on the future of house prices here.

It claims that there’s a 70% chance that, in 2015, UK house prices will still be below the levels of three years ago, when the market was at its peak. In fact, it even thinks there’s a 50% chance of their still being below the 2007 rates in 2020, despite a predicted recovery in values.

There are some who claim that UK house prices as a whole are 20% over-valued. Professor Donald Macrae, Chief Economist at Bank of Scotland, isn’t one of them. But he doesn’t think there will be anything other than a “gradual increase” in house values north of the border.

“Prices fell during the worst part of the recession,” he says, “but they’ve started to recover though rather slowly. It’s also worth noting that the number of transactions is half the number that went though before the downturn.”

He argues that the housing market depends on the general economic situation and he’s sceptical of the latest Government figures on the country’s Gross Domestic Product. “A lot of that was in construction,” he says, “and that won’t be as strong in the next quarter’s results.

“Consumer confidence,” he adds, “is still half of what it was before the recession. But I don’t see a slump in prices because aspiration levels remain high. But don’t expect house prices to rise any faster than earnings – and they’re not rising by much at all.”

He also cautious about reading too much into international comparisons. There aren’t that many countries, especially in Europe, where buying your own home is the norm. Elsewhere, the majority are happy to rent. It’s only the people in Britain who are strangely obsessed with property.

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The map below lets you find out what’s happening to house prices in your area.

You can get the 52 week version of this map at ros.gov.uk. You can also get more detailed statistical information as well as finding out what houses in your street are selling for with RoS’ free house price search facility.

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The map below lets you find out what’s happening to house prices in your area.

You can get the 52 week version of this map at ros.gov.uk. You can also get more detailed statistical information as well as finding out what houses in your street are selling for with RoS’ free house price search facility.

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Picture: Dr Siobhan Jordan of Interface

A recession can often be the best time for a new business to start or an established one to change direction. But one problem for both is how to turn a good, innovative idea into a profitable product. For the past five years, an organisation called Interface has been helping them do just that.

In many parts of the world, the worlds of business and academia mix relatively easily. In North America and Australasia, the idea of a company looking for help from an expert in a university is seen as quite natural, as is an academic taking his or her bright idea out into the marketplace.

In Scotland however, barriers have been erected between the two. Many of our universities have been seen as ivory towers, devoted to pure research. Big business has been prepared to invest in this but smaller firms have looked at the concept with suspicion.

A key objective of Interface is to break down those barriers. It works with 26 universities and research institutes from the Borders to the Outer Isles. It identifies academics and students who are willing to work with companies. It then match-makes them with firms looking for help.

According to Dr Siobhán Jordan, the organisation’s director, it helps to have had “…a number of funding initiatives in Scotland which have proved a means of off-setting the cost of a business working with a university and that’s always in incentive in these cash-strapped times.”

The principal one, she says, is the Scottish Funding Council’s Innovation Voucher Scheme. That provides up to £5,000 for the companies looking for short-term help. They have to match that funding in cash or kind, such as materials or facilities.

“It’s a win-win as a starting point,” she explains. “It helps establish if the company really wants to work with an academic and to see if they can deliver a successful outcome. It also helps give them confidence to go ahead and work on longer-term projects.”

So far, they’ve had almost 2,000 enquiries. Almost half of these have moved on to the point where serious proposals are developed. Currently, around 250 projects have actually started and others are in active negotiations to start later this year.

The projects are not necessarily what you might expect. There are indeed several which involve high technology of one kind or another. Computing, the oil industry and engineering figure large in their statistics. But the Annandale Distillery near Dumfries had special needs of its own.

The distillery first opened in the 1830s. It produced its brand of lowland whisky for around 75 years until it closed in 1919. But a local entrepreneur is determined to re-open it and restore the historic buildings. His plans include an online visitor ‘experience’ and the production of a single malt.

David Thomson has obtained financial help from Historic Scotland and the Scottish Government through a Regional Selective Assistance grant to start the project. But he also wanted academic help for historical research on the location of the distillery and the culture in its area.

This involved looking at the evolution and history of Lowland Scots and also emigration patterns from the region. This was important in developing a brand ethos as well as a memorable visitor experience online.

As David explains, “it is important that the brand has meaning and value. The team at Interface immediately grasped the key elements and arranged meetings with academics specialising in quite distinct areas that met my requirements.”

They included John Corbett, Professor of Applied Language Studies at the University of Glasgow, who drew on his knowledge of the history of the Scots tongue to produce marketing materials that were informative, yet light and witty, for use in Annandale’s website.

The team also identified migration patterns of people from the area. The idea is to tap into the folk memories of potential consumers around the world and use the history and heritage of Annan as a key sales tool.

By contrast, Cyberhawk, a Livingston-based firm, has developed cutting-edge Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (or drones), previously only available to the military, to work with the oil & gas industries, carrying out remote visual inspections of their assets.

The drones carry a mixture High Definition video and high resolution still cameras, as well as thermal imaging sensors. They can carry out detailed inspections by flying over the areas in a fraction of the time it would take when using conventional methods.

The firm recently joined forces with The UK Astronomy Technology Centre in Edinburgh to carry out a feasibility study to develop a Smart Imaging System. This will will improve the image quality within the constraints imposed by using such a remote-controlled vehicle.

Malcolm Connolly, the company’s technical director, explains that UKACT “…had the exact range of expertise we required in cameras, imaging, electronics which has helped us to develop a better solution.

“The payload of the vehicle,” he adds “was the most significant constraint and the effects of shock and vibration needed to be addressed. There was also a requirement that the vehicle has the ability to “talk” to the control system, therefore electronics expertise was essential to support integration between the camera and vehicle controls.”

Even a company like Nairn’s, makers of the humble oatcake, has called on academic help. The firm had recently invested £5 million in building a new production line in Edinburgh. But it also wanted to improve the shelf life of its products and to reduce the use of saturated fats.

Its own food technicians had discovered a strange anomaly, that some batches of oatcakes stayed fresher for longer than others but for no apparent reason. They’re now working on a long-term solution to the problem through a Knowledge Transfer Partnership with the Invergowrie- based Scottish Crop Research Institute.

As its technical director Gavin Love points out, they were able to combine “various areas of interest into the one project. Interface has opened up a fantastic opportunity for us and given us access to a partner in SCRI who will offer us the means to move our research and development onto the next level.”

Siobhán Jordan is keen to stress that students are as much a resource as the more senior academics. “An industrial-based project,” he explains, “could be the topic for a PhD and so over a three year period, the company, the academic supervisors and the student themselves will work on the business challenge.

“In some cases, students who gone into a company on this basis have then been taken on by the firm as employees. There was one who went into a company to help with their computer aided design for a drilling tool. After he graduated, he was taken on by the company to run with the new product, to further develop it and improve the technical specifications.”

Looking forward however, Interface could itself be facing a challenge as a result of the spending decisions in the public sector. Dr Jordan is aware of increasing demand for the organisation’s service and has started asking how to target resources to meet those demands.

That means keeping in close contact with what she describes as “our stakeholders in the Government” to make sure they recognise the benefits to Scottish Economy Plc that are emerging from the knowledge exchange projects.

“We are currently undergoing an evaluation and revue which will identify some hard-and-fast facts about the added value we get from those projects,” she says, “but this should also help to identify if we should have new directions on which to focus.

“We need to ask if, when solving one particular part of the market failure, are there other new avenues that are opening up? We should know the results by the end of September and those findings should help us steer our course for the next few years.”

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Photo by: Seagers

By David Bateman

There can be no doubt that the Internet is one of the world’s greatest ever inventions.

It may not be as groundbreaking as the harnessing of electricity by Edison or Guttenberg’s printing press; or have as deep and immediate consequences as Oppenheimer’s atomic bomb; or even be as widely used as the television by Scotland’s own John Logie Baird, but it is nonetheless a phenomenon.

The Internet has effectively re-created society in an abstract, virtual world. Shops that people used to frequent in person now sell their products online. Newspapers, like this one, can now be read entirely online. Finances can now be managed without entering a bank. Almost everything in the world now has an online presence.

Now, even conversation between humans has a mass presence online. The rise of social networks like Facebook and Twitter has been meteoric, to the point where 62% of the United Kingdom now has a Facebook account. These figures, produced by Nielsen, show the extent to which the Internet has invaded ordinary life. In the 21st century, even standard interaction between two people can happen entirely online. People can keep in contact solely through Facebook. They can meet potential clients solely through Twitter. In short, on any given day someone can be very active socially, without ever saying hello to someone face-to-face.

The extent to which we rely on the Internet, and particularly Facebook, is scary. The same study by Nielsen indicates that the 62% of the UK who use Facebook do so for an average of six hours per month. Six hours per month, spent solely on a social networking site. That figure does not take into account someone checking news sites like this one, or reading their emails, or just scouring the web. Out total time spent on the Internet per month would be far, far larger.

The popular film The Terminator may be fictitious and ridiculous, but the basic message it wishes to portray- that we rely on technology too much- is not. We do rely on the Internet an alarming amount. It is preposterous that the Internet would be our downfall in a similar fashion to The Terminator, where the evil machine corporation Skynet wipes out millions of humans. But, what is certainly not preposterous is that our fascination, dependence and obsession with the Internet could be harmful to us as social beings.

As humans, we are meant to interact. We are meant to engage with one another. We are meant to be socially active. While the Internet retains this social aspect through networking websites like Facebook and Twitter to an extent, does it also destroy true interaction and engagement between humans, in a face to face scenario?

The academic Robert Putnam, in his 1995 essay, “Bowling Alone: America’s Declining Social Capital”, examined this point. Although his focus was on the USA, his thesis remains relevant: that social capital is declining, partly as a result of an increase in watching television. By ‘social capital’, Putnam means simply engagement in public life, via groups, organisations and associations. The title of his work refers to the fact that many Americans were ‘bowling alone’ by the 1990’s, as opposed to in bowling leagues, as was previously the norm. Putnam believed that television was heavily responsible for decreased engagement in civic life; it is hard to imagine what his study would find in the present day, in the aftermath of the rise of the Internet.

It is hard to say what impact the Internet has upon our daily lives. Does it hinder us socially? Does it hinder our engagement with wider society? The positives of the Internet and social networking sites are clear to see, but do they have as much of a negative impact, as a positive one?

To find out, I opted to live without the Internet for 24 hours.

To put this into context, I am a ‘digital native’. This means I have grown up with digital technology, whether it is a mobile phone, camera or computer. I don’t remember a world where the Internet did not exist. To make the task even more difficult, I am a particularly Internet-addicted digital native. I don’t buy a newspaper often, but I read the majority of the UK and Scottish national papers everyday. I have my own website, and feel the need to check my emails multiple times a day. My statistics for Facebook and Twitter are tough to measure, because I often use them from my phone, but it is certain that I spent more than six hours a week on each site, at least quadruple the average user according to Nielsen’s findings. In short, the Internet permeates my entire existence. Eradicating the Internet from my life for 24 hours was always going to be difficult.

But, I didn’t realise just how tough it would be.

I felt completely lost. Despite watching BBC and Sky News for large portions of the day, I felt like I had no idea what was happening in the world, devoid of Twitter and Facebook to inform me of news I may have missed. I often turned to the television for some sort of consolation, but wasn’t satisfied by what I was offered. Resisting the urge to cheat and use my Blackberry, I found myself…bored…and very thoughtful, about the most ridiculous things. I contemplated concepts ranging from how cough medicine is made, to how someone devised the concept of an English language. But, devoid of the Internet to enlighten me, I didn’t find out the finer points of how cough medicine is made, because I have no idea where my local library is, and even if I did, I probably wouldn’t have gone. In my case, the Internet has definitely made me lazier than I should be.

Perhaps my most significant finding, was that I actually talked to people less. I still called the occasional person, but no different to any other day. Using Facebook and Twitter to converse may not constitute social interaction in the conventional sense, but not using those social networks did leave me feeling like I had barely spoken with anyone.

It was a tough day. I do have an Internet addiction, that much became very apparent. If not using the Internet is this bad, I can’t imagine being addicted to alcohol or smoking and trying to quit. But, is it an unhealthy addiction?

I’m not sure. Without the Internet, I was far more bored than usual, and had I spent longer than 24 hours without it, I would certainly be more inclined to engage in social groups more often. From that respect, the Internet is probably responsible for decreased social engagement, in that time spent on it prevents us from doing other things like taking part in wider society.

However, the Internet, and particularly Facebook, is my way of engaging in social groups. I’m not part of a Burns Club like my Gran, or engage in similar groups like my ancestors did, but I don’t interact any less. My chosen method of interaction, however, is via the Internet. It may be less personal, and it may be destroying the art of conversation, but as long as we remember a world exists beyond the realms of news feeds and profile pictures, it’s an addiction that isn’t too unhealthy. I’m David Bateman, and I’m a Facebookaholic- but I’m ok with that.

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The Cisco Report

It would seem to be a serious concern. “Our expectations of what technology can deliver really do need to be higher in Scotland. We are using technology to make our everyday and business lives more efficient, enjoyable and productive, but if we raise our expectations, the demand-pull will accelerate change, improving things for us all,” said David Cairns, chairman of the technology trade body ScotlandIS.

“This research has shown that as technology is increasingly adopted in our lives, we no longer see it in bolt-on terms, but simply part and parcel of our everyday lives.  For example, it is hard for most of us to contemplate a world without email and the internet, but this has transformed our lives, generally for the better, and will continue to do so.”

So, is there a problem in Scotland? Perhaps, but this research doesn’t really reflect it. In most cases the variations in response from each side of the border are statistically insignificant. Although in some cases it’s perhaps the query that’s insignificant.

The biggest national difference, for instance, comes from a question about whether it will be possible to join a council via Facebook within the next decade. Only 32 per cent of Scots thought so compared with 40 per cent of the rest of the UK.

There’s an assumption that joining the council through Facebook would be progress. This is echoed in another question about voting online which showed 86 per cent of those surveyed on both sides of the border expecting its introduction within ten years.

Certainly these changes are technically feasible now, although implementing any large scale IT project is fraught with difficulty. It’s only necessary to look at the NHS and identity card schemes to see that. But there are also deeper philosophical questions.

If a system was implemented which allowed people to fill their general election ballots by computer, phone or television remote, the hard and expensive work would have been completed. It wouldn’t then be too difficult to add the ability to vote on any number of issues. That would fundamentally change the current system of representative democracy for better or worse. Who knows? You decide.

Other questions in the Cisco report reveal the difficulty of trying to look into the future. Many changes were not predicted at all. Nobody foresaw how popular, for instance, texting and social networking would become. This makes it difficult to find questions to ask which cover services which can be seen to be useful now, but don’t yet exist on a wide scale.

When asked whether they expected to be able to have GP consultations by video link slightly more Scots than the rest of the UK, 70 per cent as compared with 69 per cent, said yes. This could reflect the lower population density of Scotland and the use of telemedicine which has been developed over a number of years in the Highlands.

Some of the questions reflect the way that technology becomes invisible as it is popularised. For instance, respondents were asked about the increased availability of TV via the internet. This is already growing through services such as BT Vision and parts of Virgin Media, but many of the viewers will have no idea which technology is being used. But they don’t need to know any more than, for instance, whether their car uses fuel injection or a carburettor.

Potentially the most interesting question asks when respondents expect very fast broadband to be available. The point about this that it really is a matter of when not if speeds will increase so “demand pull” is important as cost is the major factor. If providers can be persuaded that consumers will pay for increased bandwidth than they’ll invest in the infrastructure.

At the moment, however, there aren’t many services that require or would benefit from the 100MBPS speeds quoted in the survey question. Of course, companies would start to provide high-definition video streams and so on once there are sufficient customers to use it.

Despite this chicken and egg situation 90 per cent of UK respondents expect it to happen compared with 88 per cent in Scotland. Again, the disparity could be explained by the higher proportion of Scots living in rural areas where broadband services have always lagged behind the rest of the UK. What is generally clear is that an overwhelming majority of the UK population want faster internet speeds.

Overall what the report really shows is how difficult it is to ask questions predicting the future. A more complete version of the Cisco document “25 on 25 Connected Conversations – Reflecting on a quarter century of technology” is available here.

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The map below lets you find out what’s happening to house prices in your area.

You can get the 52 week version of this map at ros.gov.uk. You can also get more detailed statistical information as well as finding out what houses in your street are selling for with RoS’ free house price search facility.

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Picture: liewcf

We’d long wondered what she used to keep track of Facebook, Twitter and the Royal (E)Mail. Now we know. It’s certainly reassuring to find out that she apparently prefers the more businesslike BlackBerry to the Apple iPhone with its distracing apps. The Bold 9700 might, however, cause problems for a woman her age with its small screen and keyboard, but provided she doesn’t spend too long surfing the web she should be okay.

Unfortunately the Government of Ontario does not reveal which smartphone is favoured by her husband (Phil the Geek?). The Caledonian Mercury wonders if the Queen will be receiving special version of her favourite computer games console which must be, of course, the Royal Wii.

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It believes that Scotland could lose up to 126,000 jobs over the next five years as a result of the cuts. And it says the economy here will also grow more slowly than the UK from now until 2012. As the institute’s director, Brian Ashcroft, pointed out “As the economy emerges from recession, a slowly strengthening recovery is threatened by the massive fiscal consolidation package.”

By contrast, a survey from the Clydesdale Bank suggested there were growing signs that business confidence was returning to Scotland. It is apparently currently the highest in the UK, more than half of Scottish companies thinking their business will grow in the next 12 months, 9 per cent above the national average.

But it’s not all good news. Around 10 per cent fear a reduction in trade and one companies in 25 is worried that they’ll go out of business in the next 12 months. According to Scott McKerracher, Clydesdale’s regional director for Scotland, “These figures are promising. They appear to indicate that growing numbers of Scottish businesses are looking to the future more confidently and are beginning to explore opportunities to develop and grow their operations. This is encouraging as where confidence exists, growth often follows.”

But he acknowledged that time would continue to be tough, adding that it had “clearly been a challenging time for Scottish businesses. While it remains important for businesses to retain a grounded and balanced perspective, a growing number will be looking at how they can take advantage of emerging market opportunities.”

Many of those “market opportunities” will be overseas. So it’s significant that the survey comes the day after the Scottish Government released figures on export sales. They show the third successive quarter of growth for exports, up a mere 0.2 per cent but it is a steady increase, though on lower volumes which were down over 7 percent over the year to the end of March 2010.

In the view of the Enterprise Minister, Jim Mather, it was an encouraging trend. “These sets of figures,” he said, “highlight the real success Scottish companies are enjoying in global markets and is a tribute to the hard work, determination and innovation in Scotland’s business community. But the fact that growth is not as strong as the last quarter indicates there can be no room for complacency.”

The CBI in Scotland believes that figures are broadly consistent with results from its Scottish industrial survey – the next figures will be published later this month. In the first quarter of the year, it reported continued growth in exports. The main reasons for this were a competitive exchange rate and rising demand overseas.

However, its assistant director, David Lonsdale, wondered “whether this improvement will be sustained in the second quarter, given recent worries over the Euro Area sovereign debt crisis and renewed jitters in the financial markets. We will be watching closely to see whether the subdued expectations for export orders for the second quarter were borne out.”

He argues that more ought to be done to assist firms win and retain business overseas. He added: “The decision to gear Scottish Investment Bank funding towards exporters is encouraging. However, the devolved administration needs to set a far more stretching national target for export growth, protect support for internationalisation from the looming spending cuts.”

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The bank’s business confidence survey found that more than half (56 per cent) of Scottish companies believe their business will grow in the next 12 months, 9 per cent above the national average. But it’s not all good news. Around 10 percent fear a reduction in trade and one company in 25 is worried that they’ll go out of business in the next 12 months.

According to Scott McKerracher, Clydesdale’s regional director for Scotland, “These figures are promising. They appear to indicate that growing numbers of Scottish businesses are looking to the future more confidently and are beginning to explore opportunities to develop and grow their operations. This is encouraging as where confidence exists, growth often follows.”

But he acknowledged that time would continue to be tough, adding that it had “clearly been a challenging time for Scottish businesses. While it remains important for businesses to retain a grounded and balanced perspective, a growing number will be looking at how they can take advantage of emerging market opportunities.”

Many of those “market opportunities” will be overseas. The Government’s statistics on export sales show a slight rise of 0.2 per cent but it is the third quarter showing growth though on lower volumes which were down over 7 per cent over the year to the end of March 2010.

In the view of the Enterprise Minister, Jim Mather, it was an encouraging trend. “These sets of figures,” he said, “highlight the real success Scottish companies are enjoying in global markets and is a tribute to the hard work, determination and innovation in Scotland’s business community. But the fact that growth is not as strong as the last quarter indicates there can be no room for complacency.”

The CBI in Scotland believes that figures are broadly consistent with results from its Scottish industrial survey – the next figures will be published later this month. In the first quarter of the year, it reported continued growth in exports. The main reasons for this were a competitive exchange rate and rising demand overseas.

However, assistant director David Lonsdale wondered “whether this improvement will be sustained in the second quarter, given recent worries over the Euro Area sovereign debt crisis and renewed jitters in the financial markets. We will be watching closely to see whether the subdued expectations for export orders for the second quarter were borne out.”

He argues that more ought to be done to assist firms win and retain business overseas. He added: “The decision to gear Scottish Investment Bank funding towards exporters is encouraging. However, the devolved administration needs to set a far more stretching national target for export growth, protect support for internationalisation from the looming spending cuts.”

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Ewan Fraser and Mairi Mickel

So what makes housebuilding firm Mactaggart and Mickel different? Founded 85 years ago, its shareholders are for the most part members of the Mickel family. Mickels take a wide range of management roles with the youngest being the fourth generation to do so. All seem to have the same enthusiasm for the business as the founder, Colonel Andrew Mickel.

The current group chairman, Derek Mickel, will celebrate 50 years with the company next year. But younger members of the family insist they’re not there by right. Most have had a successful career before joining the firm, though often in a related or relevant field and they all insist that this has helped with developing a clear vision and strategy for the business.

Deputy chairman Bruce Mickel for instance was an architect. Directors Mairi and Andrew Mickel, both fourth generation members, worked in advertising and surveying respectively before returning to Scotland to join the Board. Ross Mickel, another fourth generation member, brought his skills to the timber systems division when he became commercial manager in 2007.

In the present economic climate, a small part of their commitment may be a determination to see the company through these troubled times. But that really is only a small part of their loyalty. The rest, the much bigger part, is a desire to innovate and to develop a much longer term strategy than most publicly owned firms ever have the chance to do.

Certainly the past couple of years have not been easy. As managing director, Ed Monaghan (not a family member), points out, “we’re a business that has been in recession for over 18 months. And we’re not seeing any sign of significant recovery yet. We’ve had good spells but then it’s reverted back to being pretty much flat and that’s where we are right now. There’s no sign of any growth.”

He says that every business in the country is affected by uncertainty about the economy generally. “The Budget,” he adds, “wasn’t a watershed in making anyone more certain, simply another part in the journey. There’s the public spending round in October when Scotland learns how much money comes from Westminster. And the Scottish election’s another uncertainty on our horizon as well.”

He may not be a family member but he’s Mactaggart and Mickel man and boy. He started as an apprentice 30 years ago and worked his way up through the ranks, something that affects his thinking as a senior manager. As he puts it: “sitting at the top table, I can see that, if there’s pain to be dished out, it should be us that take the lead.”

And that’s what they had to do last year – dish out some pain. The recession was hitting the building industry harder than most. The company went on to a four-day week. It affected everyone in the business from the board of directors down. In the view of Andrew Mickel, that meant “we were slower into the redundancy process than most of our competitors.”

It also brought forward reforms that were already being considered. One of them included moving into the contract side of building. The first project has just been signed off – the construction of 22 affordable homes for the Dunedin Canmore Housing Association at Lochrin Basin in Edinburgh, just behind Festival Square.

Mairi Mickel, the head of corporate communications insists that “working with Dunedin Canmore was a very important lesson for us. There were commercial angles about the project that we hadn’t appreciated before and we learned a lot about working to other people’s brief. Even so, we didn’t take any huge leaps. We just found ways of building homes for one client rather than many.”

It was also a test for one of the firm’s major divisions – timber systems which it bought three years ago. The concept isn’t new but the techniques applied are. Whole sections of the buildings are pre-assembled in the company’s factory in Cumbernauld and then brought to the site where they’re put together, with the basic frame wind and water tight within a day.

It was also a first for Ewan Fraser, chief executive of Dunedin Canmore, who said it was “amazing to have an affordable housing development like this right in Edinburgh city centre. A private luxury housing developer and a housing association working together and learning from each other like this is a real asset for both sectors.”

The successful completion of the project, along with another at Erskine Hospital, means that the company is now on the list of approved builders for future public sector housing contracts. As a result, they’re about to start work on a series of other projects, including the athletes’ village for the Commonwealth Games in 2014.

But as Andrew Mickel is quick to point out, “there aren’t a lot of contracts out there and it’s a very competitive market. Others in this business have gone into administration and, while house building is recovering, commercial property is still down. So it helps to have diversity with embryonic parts supported by the stability of the group and the group as a whole is financially strong.”

If it hadn’t been, it wouldn’t have been able to withstand the knocks of the past two years. It reported a loss last year after writing down the value of its land bank, especially when it had acquired some almost at the peak of the market. However, it is starting to buy again, despite the fact there’s less available that they’d hoped.

“There’s land we thought would come back on the market after other companies went into administration,” explains Mairi Mickel. “But we haven’t seen that. The banks too seem to be holding on to the land they acquired through the failure of other builders, but they seem to be keeping it because there aren’t enough people willing to buy at the moment.”

They’ve made a point of keeping their bank closely informed of their progress and plans. It also helps to keep other Mickels, the shareholders who’re not personally involved with the day-to-day running of the firm, informed as well. This year, they’ve reported that sales are starting to rise again, though not in high volumes, which helps with this.

For the first time in the company’s history, they’ve appointed a non-executive director. Keith Swinley, formerly of the fund manager Martin Currie, joined this year. As Mairi Mickel is quick to stress, “we didn’t want to take anyone on until until we were back on five-day working at the start of the year.

“He’s going to chair the shareholder liaison group as well as providing some external perspective by asking the awkward questions which is healthy.” She describes it as “part of the modernisation of the company. It’s an unusual route as there’s no legal requirement to do so, but we knew it was the right thing to do.”

Everyone involved in the company insists they’re optimistic about the future. In Ed Monaghan’s words, “there’s nothing we can do about the economy and people’s confidence. So we concentrate on the things we can influence. We’ve good locations, a good product (we think), a willingness to diversify and the history to remember that, even in the darkest times, people still buy homes.”

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The map below lets you find out what’s happening to house prices in your area.

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Most of the world still thinks Gates is the boss of Microsoft and the company has done little to dispel that belief. In fact, almost exactly two years ago he stepped back from the business and his involvement now is negligible. He does still have a major share-holding and rejoices in the title “non-executive chairman”, but his life has definitely moved on.

There’s a fascinating profile of him in Fortune magazine which shows him spending his time running his three kids to school, spending his $50 billion fortune saving the world and popping in to see his old pal and former head of Microsoft R&D Nathan Myhrvold at the labs of the appropriately named “Intellectual Ventures”. You can also get an idea of what the former richest man in the world is up to by reading his blog – if you can get past the irritating mixture of third and first-person writing.

He really is obsessed with solving the problems of the Third World even through Myrvhold who was one of his closest lieutenants at Microsoft. Amongst other projects they’re working on developing devices based on cheap lasers that will zap egg-laying, blood-sucking, malaria-spreading female mosquitoes, but leave males alone presumably to watch football, drink beer and play video games.

While Gates is being the world’s leading philanthropist his former company seems to be drifting downwards and rudderless. Okay, its most recent figures have been healthier, buoyed by Windows 7 which has proved popular, certainly compared to the disaster that was Vista. But its longer term prospects don’t look so good.

It remains totally dominant in the world of PCs over 90 per cent of which run on Windows. Its Office suite is almost as popular with almost every workplace relying on Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook. And it does pretty well under the bonnet with products such as Exchange.

The problem for Microsoft is its strength lies in declining markets. The desktop PC is dying or stagnant. Individuals and businesses no longer want to replace their computers every couple of years with something more powerful. So they don’t need new versions of Windows either.

The growth is in portable devices such as phones, laptops, netbooks and tablets. All these are essentially the same product in a different package. They are all computers with a single central common function which is to provide access to the internet where users’ data and software resides, a place often known as “the cloud”. This doesn’t fit Microsoft’s business model which is generally to sell licences for programs to be used on individual computers.

Google is the most obvious threat. Already its Android operating system for mobile phones is grabbing market share. In the autumn it’ll launch its Chromium operating system for netbooks, laptops and tablets. This will enable users to boot up and get on line in seconds. But the greatest advantage both Android and Chromium have over Microsoft’s products is they’re free.

Cut-throat competition, particularly in the market for cheaper devices, means manufacturers will look to find any way they can to reduce costs. Microsoft can’t afford to give away its software because it has no alternative source of income.

Apple doesn’t have the same problem. It sells both hardware and software to the top end of the market which increases the number of income streams it can get from a single consumer who’ll often buy, for instance, an iPhone, music from iTunes, apps and pay indirectly through advertising. Microsoft can only dream of this sort of closed ecosystem.

But there is at least one striking superficial similarity between Apple and Microsoft. In the 1990s it was Apple that was in trouble. It was rescued by the return of its charismatic CEO Steve Jobs. Could Gates do the same?

The answer is almost certainly not. Firstly there’s almost no chance he’d want to return. He seems to be enjoying life outside too much. Also, unlike Jobs, he left voluntarily and wasn’t pushed out by the board. Gates has nothing to prove.

More importantly, perhaps, the problems with Microsoft date back to when Gates was in charge. The PC-based software business model served him and the company well, finding other sources of income has proved rather more difficult. Whether it’s the Zune alternative to the iPod. mobile phone operating systems or the Xbox there’s always a slight feeling of Microsoft being second best.

Microsoft now looks very much as IBM did in th 1990s. It’s so big it’ll survive, but its ability to innovate is severely restricted by its size and the continual threat of anti-trust legislation. Its current CEO Steve Ballmer reportedly won’t admit the PC is dead and won’t listen to anybody who tells him it is.

Gates probably couldn’t make any difference even he was still working for Microsoft. But such is his talismanic power that the company is happy to let the world believe he’s still in charge. Well , it works in North Korea where the president has been dead for 16 years.

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In a Budget speech lasting just under an hour, Chancellor George Osborne has unveiled a package of tax increases and budget cuts designed to make the UK “balance its books” by 2016.

He said he would “not hide hard choices from the British People”. 77 per cent of his measures would be achieved by spending cuts and 23 per cent by tax rises.

But the main headline change is an increase in VAT to 20 per cent from January next year. Those items currently zero rated, such as children’s clothes and magazines, will remain exempt.

Corporation Tax will be cut by 1 per cent next year to 27 per cent and then by a further 1 per cent a year for the following three years, making it one of the most competitive in Europe. The small companies tax rate will be cut to 20 per cent, something the Chancellor claimed would help 850,000 firms. However, the proposed tax relief for the video games sector has been cancelled.

Capital Gains Tax will be increased to 28 per cent for higher rate tax payers from midnight; but the rate for those on low or middle incomes will remain at 18 per cent.

The Chancellor said that the current crisis started in the banking sector so it was “fair and right” that banks should pay an increased contribution. From January 2011, the Government will introduce a bank levy to generate £2bn revenues.

From April next year, the threshold at which employers start to pay National Insurance will rise by £21 a week above indexation. New firms set up outside of the south-east and east of English will be exempt from paying employer national insurance contributions, up to £5,000, for each of first 10 employees recruited.

The personal income tax threshold will be raised by £1,000 from April next year to £7,475. The Chancellor believes this will take over 800,000 people out of tax altogether. He added that the longer term goal was to raise the allowance to £10,000.

There’s also help for pensioners by relinking pensions to earnings, something broken by the previous administration. From April 2011, the basic state pensions will rise every year by at least 2.5 per cent or by whichever index is highest – earnings or inflation.

On excise duties, there will be no new increases on alcohol, tobacco or fuel and the propsed increase in the duty on cider has been abolished. But there are will be reforms proposed for the excise system when a consultation document is published later this year.

On spending, the Chancellor has frozen public sector pay for those earning more than £21,000 a year. An independent commission will review public sector pensions. There will also be a review of the current retirement age along with an acceleration of a rise in the State pension age to 66.

However, he has decided not to cut the capital spending programme, especially on major infrastructure projects. This will include improvements to broadband, though the proposed 50p levy on phone lines will be abolished. Instead, money left over from the digital switch will be used.

The Chancellor is also planning major reform of the welfare system to put it on “a more affordable and sustainable basis.”

Benefits, tax credits and public service pensions will increase in line with consumer prices rather than the retail price index. Caps on housing benefit will be introduced, with the aim of cutting its cost by £1.8bn a year by the end of the parliament. Child benefit will be frozen for the next three years and the “Sure Start Maternity Grant” will go to the first child only. Disability Living Allowance will be subject to a medical assessment, though the Government insists it will continue to support those with genuine disabilities and will not reduce the rate.

On the general economy, the Chancellor expects growth to be 1.2 per cent this year, rising to 2.3 per cent next year, then 2.8 per cent in 2012. Consumer price inflation is expected to peak at 2.7 per cent this year before returning to target in the medium term.

Unemployment is also expected to continue rising, peaking at 8.1 per cent this year and then falling for each of the next four years to reach 6.1 per cent in 2015.

The Chancellor also believes that public sector borrowing will fall from £149 billion this year, to £116 billion in 2012-13, £89 billion in 2102-13, £60 billion in 2013-14, £37 billion in 2013-14, reaching £20 billion in 2015-16.

The Chancellor described the Budget as “tough but fair”. He said that the questions being asked about the liquidity of banks are now being asked about countries. “I never want those to be asked of this country,” he said, adding that he was taking “early determined action”, designed to “give confidence to our economy”.

Read the full text of George Osborne’s Budget speech.

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So what are people’s hopes and fears in Scotland? Inevitably, there are certainly more fears than hopes. Take someone like Dr Peter Hughes, chief executive of Scottish Engineering, a man who’s generally supportive of the UK government’s thinking, especially on getting control of the country’s debt. He likes the idea of regional tax breaks for small companies.

But he insists: “The biggest help the Chancellor can give the manufacturing engineering sector, based on feedback I have been receiving from our member companies, is to somehow force the banks to release much needed finance for investment. It would also help if he could consider some form of tax relief on capital investment and training. These areas are essential if businesses are to grow and compete in the world market.”

He’s also worried about cuts in defence spending, in particular the order for the aircraft carriers to be built by BAE Systems and Babcock Marine in Glasgow and Rosyth. Cancellation, he says “would be catastrophic for a large number of employees and a substantial number of sub-contracting companies throughout Scotland.”

The STUC wrote a seven page letter to the Chancellor outlining its opposition to many of the ideas leaked about the Budget. Its general secretary, Grahame Smith, STUC General Secretary warned that the wrong choices could tip the economy back into recession or condemn the UK to years of stagnation and high unemployment.

“Current market prices,” he explained, “are stubbornly refusing to support the new coalition’s claims that immediate and deep cuts are necessary to maintain credibility with global financial markets. Meanwhile current growth projections indicate that little inroad will be made into high unemployment – with its huge human and economic costs – for some years.”

He argued that, in the current extremely fragile economic circumstances, it would be irresponsible to embark on the widely trailed programme of public spending cuts. He said it would be “counter-productive on the Chancellor’s own terms with spending cuts likely to increase the deficit as wages and demand fall, taxation revenues decrease and social spending rises.”

The CBI by contrast wants the Chancellor to use his emergency Budget to set out a convincing and credible path to balance the government’s books, while improving the conditions for business growth and protecting those areas of public spending such as capital investment which aid the economy.

As assistant director, David Lonsdale explained, “without growth, high unemployment will continue, firms will remain reluctant to invest, and the mammoth public finance deficit and national debt will be even harder to bring down.”

But he warned: “Hopefully he will avoid higher taxes on business – whether on spirits, North Sea oil & gas, fuel duty, or business more generally – as this would be the wrong approach and could undermine economic growth. If previous form is any guide, the devil is always in the detail with government financial statements, and we will need to examine closely the small print in the Budget.”

The tax professionals are already homing in on the detail. Donald Drysdale, assistant director of tax at the accountants’ body ICAS, says the Chancellor needs to set the stage for tax simplification in his opening act. He called for a “wide-ranging simplification of the tax system” with small, considered steps rather than one big leap.

But he went on: “In order to maintain Scotland and the UK as competitive and attractive locations to do business, measures for consideration could include bringing the tax regime for unincorporated businesses more closely in line with that for companies.”

He also suggested that working should always be more profitable than not working, and income tax should be limited to reflect this.

One of his colleagues, Ronnie Ludwig, a partner in the private wealth group of accountancy firm Saffery Champness believes that this Budget is not going to deliver a pat on the head to those who put George Osborne into No 11.

He warns that “one consequence of heavyweight change may be that more individuals choose to leave Scotland for a more benevolent tax regime abroad, either in Europe or further afield. 427,000 UK residents left in 2008, and there are now estimated to be some 6 million UK nationals living abroad. These figures could continue to see an upward trend.

“Regrettably, many of these émigrés are taking both their business and their investment out of the country so the Government is losing not just their fiscal contribution, but also their acumen in generating and growing more business and creating more jobs. Scotland needs these entrepreneurs but the temptation may be for an increasing number of them to up sticks.”

Others, like Martin Bell, head of tax in Scotland, BDO LLP, believes that a reversal of the so-called “jobs tax” is on the cards. This is the planned increase in National Insurance contributions announced by Labour last year. He says that help for small employers in particular is but warns that “we may find that employers of high-earning employees are still worse off.”

He points out that an immediate increase in VAT would be “very unpopular and some economists and business leaders have suggested that it could lead to a “death spiral” for the UK economy. However, the bottom line is that VAT contributes around one-sixth of the total tax yield and so to cut into the deficit and fund other reliefs it will almost certainly have to go up to at least 20%.”

He thinks it’s no longer as question of “if” VAT goes up but “when”. Alastair Mackenzie, regional investment director at Barclays Wealth, agrees, pointing out that, although unpopular with retailers, it’s effective at bringing in money quickly. A 1 per cent increase equates to £5Bn in additional receipts.”

He adds that the current rate is low compared with many other countries in Europe which typically levy a rate of 20 per cent or more. “An increase of 2.5 per cent to 20 per cent,” he says, “is likely to raise an additional £12.5Bn. That said, and appealing as it may seem, such action may have a less than desirable impact on inflation.”

Certainly, their comments about being unpopular with retailers is bourne out by a survey by uSwitchforbusiness.com. It found that 87 per cent of SMEs think the proposed rate rise would have a negative impact on their business with a third predicting that it would deter consumer spending.

Its small business energy expert, Jake Ridge, claims that “A VAT hike will not only cost businesses money to implement, but it will also make trading even harder, putting consumers off spending and pushing costs up making it harder for them to compete. Just one in ten small business owners think that a hike in VAT will not have an impact on their business.

It’s not just business that’s waiting for the Chancellor with baited breath. Charities are sure they will also be affected. As Martin Sime, chief sxecutive of the Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations explained, “from a voluntary sector perspective, this Budget both offers opportunities and poses some fairly major threats.

“We’ve all heard the coalition’s enthusiasm for delivering more public services through the voluntary sector. In areas like tackling unemployment or getting involved with running schools, it’s clear that the government is looking to increase the role of the sector. However there’s a danger that the government won’t practice what it preaches and will fail to properly support the sector to take on this bigger role.”
A lot of charities are particularly worried by the threat of a rise in VAT. The problem for them is that VAT is non-recoverable for charities, so any rise will seriously damage their ability to deliver services. In Martin Simes’ words: “our capacity to help support the most vulnerable people in our society and to help take the country out of the current economic downturn will be put at risk.”

One of those charities, Shelter Scotland, warned that repossessions could rise as a result of a harsh Budget. Its director, Graeme Brown, Argues that “one of the best things the UK Government can do is continue existing support to help keep people in their homes. George Osborne and Vince Cable can start by giving a clear commitment today to extend the Support for Mortgage Interest scheme, which helps homeowners in trouble.”

In the face of such trepidation, even on the part of those who might be sympathetic to the Government’s cause, it’s worth looking back to previous Conservative Chancellors and their record.

Take Rab Butler for a start. Back in 1955 with the country booming, he dramatically cut taxes just before an election. But that caused an even greater boom with wage inflation and pressure on sterling. He had to reverse his policies and was eventually sacked.

Then there was Tony Barber’s “Dash for Growth” in 1972. The country was about to join the EEC (as the EU was then known). He went for a rapid expansion of domestic demand by raising income tax allowances and cutting purchase tax. He also increased government borrowing and greatly increased the money supply. The result: inflation soared from 7 per cent in 1972 to 24 per cent in 1975 and those policies too had to be reversed.

Sir Geoffrey Howe was Margarter Thatcher’s first Chancellor. He introduced a deflationary Budget when the Tories returned to power by doubling the rate of VAT from 8 per cent to 15 per cent, claiming that it would “sow the seeds of economic recovery”. But unemployment kept rising, and things only got better when, thanks to Thatcher’s economic adviser Sir Alan Walters, monetary policy was relaxed.

Nigel Lawson’s slashed the basic rate of income tax to 25 per cent in his 1988 Budget. He also increased the main income tax personal allowances by double the rate of inflation. His mistake was to interpret the current boom for a fundamental change in the UK economy. Inflation rose quickly and his boom soon turned to bust.

Finally, there was Norman “Peerie Norrie” Lamont, John Major’s Chancellor. He took the UK into the European Exchange Rate Mechanism (or ERM). Two years later, he was forced to defend a run on the Pound, raising interest rates to 15% at one point and spending billions on the currency markets. The result was an ignominious retreat, when the UK failed to maintain its minimum level in the ERM and Britain was forced out.

It may be worth recalling that record as Chancellor Osborne reads his Budget from the Dispatch Box today.

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The map below lets you find out what’s happening to house prices in your area.

You can get the 52 week version of this map at ros.gov.uk. You can also get more detailed statistical information as well as finding out what houses in your street are selling for with RoS’ free house price search facility.

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Picture: SCP

by Kevin Gilmartin

Most of us at some point have fancied ourselves as  something of a musician. Perhaps you took some piano lessons as a child, or maybe you can tease Smoke on the Water out of that guitar you bought years ago and promised yourself you’d learn to play? If, however, you’re like me and your musical talents don’t extend further than humming along to your own air-violin then a revolutionary new iPhone music app could be just what you need.

Street Orchestra is a unique application conceived of by Swedish advertising agency SCP, and developed by HiQ.

It’s a Guitar Hero style game based around musical instruments of the orchestra, but unlike the other GH inspired titles that are available for the mobile platforms, Street Orchestra is multi-player.

SCP claim to have come up with the first iPhone game to actually synchronise multiple handsets around one song. The idea for the app came as a result of a request from the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra for SCP to help them promote their Simon Bolivar Youth Orchestra.

“The mission given to us by the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra was to introduce a younger audience to classical music,” says SCP’s Interactive Producer, Russell Clark “If you want to engage teenagers you have to engage them where they are, and right now they’re crowded in groups poking at their iPhones and iTouches and what not.”

Russell and his colleagues knew that introducing teenagers to classical music was going to be a tall order, but it didn’t deter them from delivering the message of the Simon Bolivar Youth Orchestra – that everyone has the potential to create and contribute to a larger than life musical experience.

“We decided to deliver that message in the form of a game, and just sneak the classical music in there, everything else about the app looks kind of rock ‘n’ roll.”

Russell thinks their guerrilla tactics are working, at least so far, “We released it here in Sweden first and I’ve seen, and heard, people playing it. A couple of people in a café, groups of three and four kids in the park.

“You don’t need a lot of users to make it effective, even with just three players it builds to a hell of a crescendo,” he says.

The Street Orchestra game isn’t limited to just three or four players, though.

“Technologically there’s no limit to the number of players who can join,” says Russell, “all your iPhone needs for you to join in is an internet connection over 3G – it doesn’t need you to be in a wi-fi enabled area, or within Bluetooth range or anything like that.”

He adds, “We have a video on YouTube where the whole orchestra uses the app instead of their instruments to play together – one poor girl gets a stinker of a look for playing a bum note.”

The game also has a competitive edge. It is openFeint enabled, meaning that players can track their worldwide ranking as a clarinettist, percussionist or violinist.

SCP are calling Street Orchestra “the world’s first synched musical iPhone experience”, but what about the future of the app? The company has plans but, surprisingly, they don’t currently include a version for Android or other smartphone operating systems. “I think we’ll exhaust the iPhone market first, and let the Android systems mature a bit,” says Russell, “but the future of the app is exciting.”

“Come version 2.0 we want to have four or five different songs available, more instruments, and make it expandable with songs and instruments available to download.”

Russell has lived and worked in Sweden for almost 10 years, but he’s an Edinburgh lad at heart, and knows where he’d like to see the application end up, “In the stands at Tynecastle and Easter Road,” he laughs, “I know that Hearts fans have a song about Vladmir Romanov that’s sung to the tune of, I think, Vivaldi – I have this image of six or seven thousand fans all synching up their Street Orchestra apps and tapping away while everybody sings along.”

The Street Orchestra App is available to download from the iTunes store.

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The Eyjafjallajökull eruption. Picture: NASA

In the view of Celia Donne, regional director at Regus, one of the country’s largest operators of business centres, “there was a definite uplift when the recession hit as people became nervous about their future and didn’t want to commit to a long-term lease. The market’s been tough, but we’ve seen a huge increase in enquiries.”

The company admits that the UK as a whole is one of its “more fragile” markets. But in Scotland, it’s just opened a seventh Scottish centre at Eurocentral near Motherwell. And Ms Donne insists that they’re continuing to see growth, even though the economic climate has shown signs of improving. She points out that “we’ve seen a 56% increase in enquiries in the past three months alone.”

At the new Strathmore Business Centre in Edinburgh, Dr Issa Alami agrees with her analysis. “The demand,” he says, “is continuous and there is particular demand for high quality city centre sites that are easy to commute to. Flexibility is the name of the game.

“Normal leases are quite risky,” he adds. “An office of (say) 1700 sq ft in Edinburgh will translate into a commitment of about £400,000 over a five year period when you add in rent, rates and utilities.” That is more than most smaller firms are willing to take on in the current climate.

David Harrop, finance director at Forsyth Business Centres, which started in Glasgow and now runs centres across the UK, believes it take an element of risk out of the equation. “A good quality product in a quality location will always attract customers,” he says. “The recession has meant that all types of companies have been drawn to the attractive flexibility that serviced space offers.”

So what is a “business centre”? The concept is only about 20 years old in the UK. The idea is to provide serviced office accommodation for firms needing meeting rooms, training rooms, even board rooms for a day, a week, a month or even an indefinite length of time. They come fully furnished with phones and high-speed broadband already installed.

The attraction of this type of facility for smaller firms is easy to see. They pay an agreed, relatively affordable monthly rent for a furnished office or suite which usually includes reception services, heating, lighting, cleaning and security. It also appeals to sole traders who want to escape the loneliness of working from home.

But some large companies and even government departments like the idea of having readily available desk space in places where they don’t want to maintain an office. It means they can have access to secretarial support, good phones and broadband and video conferencing.

The last of these features was regarded as marginal until that volcano exploded in Iceland. Very quickly, it turned into a vital resource. The aviation crisis left millions of people stranded and put international business in crisis with displaced executives and cancelled meetings. Regus alone saw a 230% increase in companies wanting video communication.

Celia Donne explained that the crisis “moved video conferencing to the front of business people’s minds. The whole experience was a wake up call for businesses on their dependence on air travel, which let us not forget is costly on both tight budgets and effective working time as well as damaging to the environment.”

According to Julie Calder, managing director of the Edinburgh-based Abbey Business Centres, there’s another reason why some firms prefer to use serviced facilities – changes to employment law.

“Various employment laws enacted over the past few years,” she explains, “have had the admirable aim of protecting working people from unscrupulous employers. Unfortunately, this had the less benign effect of making it more and more difficult for even the most enlightened employers to dismiss people who either under perform at work or take long periods of absence.”

Ms Calder also chairs the Business Centres Association, whose 200+ members have reported this across the UK. “Increasingly new inquirers are emphasising the importance of a telephone answering and reception service being part of the deal. But if a receptionist is under performing or has a poor attendance record then it’s our problem, not the client’s.”

The benefits of recession are shown in the number of premises run by its members – up by 130 in the last twelve months. And it’s showing a willingness to adapt to changing circumstances, such as introducing a Consumer Charter. It’s also lobbying government on a new voucher scheme to support SMEs and to eradicate uncompetitive business centres run by some local authorities.

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The map below lets you find out what’s happening to house prices in your area.

You can get the 52 week version of this map at ros.gov.uk. You can also get more detailed statistical information as well as finding out what houses in your street are selling for with RoS’ free house price search facility.

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From November, it will have three weekly flights to Alicante and four each to Barcelona, Brussels, Frankfurt and Malaga.

According to Laszlo Tamas, the airline’s Sales & Marketing Manager for UK & Ireland, “this will help to fill the gap left by the collapse of FlyGlobespan. We are very committed to the Scottish market.”

The airline carried just over 1.5 million passengers to 40 destinations from Edinburgh last year and claims to be on target to carry 2.5 million in the current year. Six of its 247 aircraft are based in the Capital. It says that no additional aircraft will be needed for the increased schedules.

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Picture: wlodi

Three of Scotland’s leading computer games companies, have been shortlisted in this year’s Develop Industry Excellence Awards 2010.

The international awards recognise the most talented UK and European games developers for their creativity, teamwork, and innovation.

Realtime Worlds has been nominated for All Points Bulletin, its latest online title, as well as Best Independent Studio. Tag Games has been nominated in the Best Micro Studio category and Digital Goldfish for Best Handheld Studio. All three are based in Dundee.

Realtime Worlds is one of the largest and most successful independent game developers in the world. Founded in 2002, the company now has more than 300 talented staff, producing some of the world’s best selling video games from Lemmings to Grand Theft Auto.

Creative Director, Dave Jones, said that it was “extremely gratifying to be nominated for a Develop Award, and testament to the creative talent that exists in Dundee when you have not one, but three studios amongst the nominees.”

Tag Games is an independent game developer and publisher, which concentrates on games for mobile devices. They have games for a wide range of mobiles, iPhone and iPad, to Google’s Android operating system, through to Playstation, Nintendo and Blackberry. Managing Director, Paul Farley, described it as “fantastic that our industry peers have recognized the forwarding thinking approach to game development and self-publishing that Tag have championed over the past couple of years.”

Established in 2005, Digital Goldfish is an independent games development studio working on original content for mobiles. They’ve had a number one hit game in America, Bloons iPhone, along with an award winning game Reach For The Starz and the popular Babygrow.

Barry Petrie, its Studio Director, said that to be “nominated for the best Handheld Studio alongside some of Europe’s finest games developers is a fantastic achievement for Digital Goldfish and is a real testament to the hard work and determination we have put into building this studio.”

The nominations will act as a major boost for the games sector in Scotland. The industry currently employs around 1,000 people here and is still seeing signs of growth, despite the global economic recession.

According to Terry Hurley, Scottish Enterprise’s head of digital markets, “The games industry is growing on a massive scale worldwide and changing rapidly as technology develops for mobile phones as well as online platforms such as Facebook and Web 2.0.

“One of the biggest challenges is keeping up with the pace of change but all three companies have demonstrated their ability to do just that and keep ahead of the competition and I want to wish them all the best of luck at the awards ceremony next month.”

More information about the Develop Conference 2010 and the Develop Industry Excellence Awards can be found at www.develop-online.net.

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Picture: I See Modern Britain

A report from the housing charity, Shelter Scotland, suggests that would-be first time buyers are still locked out of home ownership. Its annual Affordability Index shows that, despite the impact of the recession on house prices and record low interest rates, becoming a home-owner in Scotland is 75% harder than it was 15 years ago.

The latest figures indicate that the situation in Scotland is worse than the UK as a whole, where a first home is 65% harder to afford than in 1994. In fact Scotland has seen the least improvement in affordability of any of the other regions.

But if you are able to buy, then Scotland is the best place to be a first time buyer in the UK. Mortgage costs only 13.7% of the average working household income, compared to the UK-wide figure of 17.3%.

According to Shelter Scotland’s director, Graeme Brown, “it is a sobering thought that despite the first house price crash in 15 years, the deepest recession since the war and the lowest interest rates in history, it is still harder to buy a house in Scotland than it was before the recession.”

The biggest barrier to home ownership remains access to finance. The Shelter report says that mortgages remain out of reach and hefty deposits are still required. In fact, recent figures from the Council of Mortgage Lenders show that the average deposit for a first-time buyer stands at 25 per cent, which would mean their having to find over £30,000 to buy an ‘entry level’ home in Scotland.

The Building Societies Association acknowledges that first time buyers have a problem. Paul Broadhead, Head of Mortgage Policy, explained that “although both property prices and interest rates have fallen, the very high costs of property are such that even taking these recent falls into account, many first time buyers still face a major challenge buying a home.

“Building societies offer a range of mortgages to give people the opportunity to buy a home, many with specific and creative products to help first time buyers. However, for many, the price of a home in relation to local income levels presents a real challenge. It is no surprise that the average age of a first time buyer (without parental support) has now risen to 37 years of age.”

The figures are a worry, not just to Shelter, but also to other parts of the housing sector. Allan Lundmark, Director of Planning at Homes for Scotland, described first time buyers as “the lifeblood of our industry, with every such sale estimated to result in an estimated further six transactions up the property ladder, but they face tightened lending criteria and struggle to find deposits.

“Whilst home builders are doing everything they can to assist this vital segment, developing new and innovative solutions to help them meet their aspirations of owning their own home, we need firm and urgent action from the new UK Government. It must act decisively to ensure our banks and building societies increase the flow of mortgage finance.”

He concluded, “If Government can put in place sustainable and robust lending practices, the flow of funds will ensure that the Scottish home building industry will once again be able to supply the homes that are so desperately needed by our communities.”

A lack of affordable homes also puts increased pressure on the country’s housing associations. The acting Chief Executive of the Scottish Federation of Housing Associations, Andrew Field, pointed out that his members “…know all about the huge demand for rented accommodation. There are nearly 300,000 people on social housing waiting lists in Scotland.

“There are problems, as Shelter highlights, for those on low incomes or first time buyers to access the housing market. While we fully support a mixture of tenures, as part of the mix we believe there will always be a need for a strong, well-supported, quality rented sector in Scotland which is flexible to the needs of people with widely differing circumstances.”

Shelter Scotland believes that the Scottish Government‘s recently published discussion paper, Housing: Fresh Thinking, New Ideas posed some fundamental questions about the future direction of housing policy. But it says that the most fundamental of these is the housing choice on offer.

Graeme Brown called for a new approach to housing policy that moves away from the myopic pursuit of home ownership, which risks a return to inflated house prices, and moves instead towards one that promotes long-term affordability for home owners and tenants alike.

Mr Brown added that there were “tough choices ahead, amid a tight spending environment, but the government’s discussion document presents a great opportunity for a new vision.”

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Picture: Grinannan

For advertising agencies these are difficult times as they’re faced with confusing messages about the future of the industry. On the one hand, one leading media buyer has predicted that revenues will soar in the coming year. On the other, agency bosses are waiting for the axe to fall on many public sector marketing budgets.

They are also working through a seismic shift in the way advertising works. In September last year, more money was spent in the UK buying online adverts than on terrestrial TV. It was the first time that had happened anywhere in the world, and that trend is accelerating.

Figures from Internet Advertising Bureau showed that 30% of all UK advertising budgets are now spent online – that’s the highest share of any market in Europe. Its survey, produced with PwC, shows that the UK online market also grew by 4.6% last year.

Another change it reported was on the amount being spent on mobile phone advertising – up by 32% last year to over £37bn. It says that’s a faster rate than expected due to a combination of targeting, immediacy and return on investment.

Advertising agencies in Scotland have been seeing that in action and are having to adapt. The Leith Agency, for instance, now offers a broad spectrum of services, from setting up a brand and design consultancy called “Leithal Thinking”, to direct response and digital marketing.

For the first time, they’re having to design online campaigns for some clients that almost guarantee a response from a buyer. It’s no longer just about brand awareness. Their effectiveness is judged solely by the numbers of viewers who click and buy.

Managing partner, Richard Marsham, says there are clear signs that the amount companies are spending on advertising is starting to recover quite rapidly. “Last year a lot had battened down the hatches,” he explained. “It was almost as though the country had put up a ‘closed’ sign. No-one knew how bad it was going to get and a lot of companies went under.

“But the first six months of the year have been very good for us. The work kept coming in. Yes, some clients in the financial sector cut back but we don’t have many. And others, such as in the drinks sector, were also still spending as normal. We also won public sector work throughout the UK. While that will inevitably be cut back, the work is still there – it’s just a lot more competitive.”

At The Gate, managing director, Helen Hourston, is also breathing a sigh of relief. “It’s been a tough couple of years but we have weathered them OK,” she says. “In fact, we’ve had two good years financially and hit the budgets set by our parent PLC.”

But she admits that “we’ve been lucky. Everything is much more project driven. The downside of that is that these can be cancelled or postponed. We went into 2010 thinking we’d make our targets. But my personal feeling is that next year will be the toughest.”

With all the reports about big cuts in public spending, she also feels relieved to be “not overly dependent on the public sector – only up to 35% of our revenue. The company is on the Scottish Government’s roster but only on the digital side.”

For some of the smaller agencies, the past couple of years have been cruel. Alex Stewart of Ocean70 had to cut the number of staff from nine to two and also moved out of expensive offices in Glasgow; the company’s now based in Linlithgow.

“From October 2008 a lot of clients just stopped spending.” he says, “We had to dig deep into our savings just to survive. And even now when the phone’s started ringing on a daily basis, people are asking for more discounted work. We have to work harder for every contract and make sure the service is up to scratch.

“Clients have also moved online. They’re looking at search engine optimisation, at email marketing and upgrading their websites. They want value for money and something that’s trackable. Make a TV ad and you can’t measure the results. Put the same thing online and you can. They get much more for the same money.”

Jim Devine of 21nine Advertising & Design also says he’s been going back to basics. “I’ve ended up spending a lot of time on my own marketing. Yes, there’s been a pick up in spending; but most clients want web advertising now.

“In the past year,” he says, “we’ve done no physical advertising. There’s also been a massive fall in TV advertising. There are signs of an upturn but it’s very patchy. Clients now want branding and you really have to be clever about what you’re offering for as little money as possible.”

But amongst the new entrants to the sector, there’s considerable optimism. The Borders-based Fruitful Advertising and Design started up in January 2007. Director Giles Etherington says that the timing helped because it was “still a nimble agency when the recession hit. As a start up, working outside the big cities, we have a distinct value for money advantage over the bigger agencies.

“When clients are looking to save money, but not skimp on quality, we became an attractive alternative. This has helped us not only survive, but thrive through the recession. We didn’t need to lay anybody off. We have probably used a little less freelance resource than we would have liked, but now we are looking to take people on.”

That said, he admits that clients did cut their budgets and they’re not expecting them to come back fully until 2011. However, he says that “a recession focusses all businesses on where they spend their money. Many clients will have seen that they can get the same quality of creative work from the smaller, nibbler agencies and will be reluctant to go back to the old way of doing things.

“I see the future of the industry being smaller companies working collaboratively to provide the client with the spectrum of services they require. But, it will only be those who provide the best quality and best service that will survive.”

Curiously, that’s a view shared by even some of the larger agencies. The Leith Agency has seen a growth in collaboration because, as Richard Marsham explains, “very few clients want a one-stop-shop. The majority are looking at key skills, at good ideas and creativity.”

But at The Gate, Helen Hourston argues that “people are no longer looking for specialists. They want agencies that can deliver a broad package across multiple channels. The old models no longer really apply.

“Clients will tell us: here’s the brand,” she explains, “now deliver it across a broad range of channels – direct marketing, radio, TV, online, PR, even community activity and in-store sales promotion. It’s a lot harder to deliver. There’s an expectation that you can deliver everything.”

Hourston also believes that the sector in Scotland has a much more difficult, much longer term problem to overcome, one, she argues, is also deep rooted. “There’s been a trend in the last 10 years for corporate decision taking to move down south,” she says “mostly as a result of mergers and acquisitions.

“20 years ago there were so many big businesses with head offices here but many of these have gone. It means there’s much less brand advertising and fewer TV ads made in Scotland. There are pockets of work around but the worry is that not much may come back.”

However, the recession means that many Scottish agencies now believe they have a better chance of competing against their London rivals. The Leith Agency has just won a major contract from Scottish and Southern Energy in a pitch against several London firms. A number of financial institutions have already indicated they’re looking beyond the M25.

The Scots argue that their lower overheads and the fact that clients are watching every penny means that they’re very attractive in a highly competitive market. The trouble is that they’ve made that case before in previous downturns without achieving a breakthrough. Will this time be any different?

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