Fergus Ewing has asked the Scottish Government if it will consider an independent enquiry into “what went so badly wrong” with Scotland’s failed Deposit Return Scheme.

Fergus Ewing will be asking this Topical Question tomorrow:

Should Biffa win their lawsuit against the Scottish Government, Scottish taxpayers (including Lorna Slater) will end up footing the bill, costing each taxpayer roughly £58.

So despite potential costs surpassing £150m, Lorna Slater's share for her incompetence is also only £58.

Fergus Ewing asks: “why a newbie MSP with no Ministerial experience was placed in charge of a hellishly complex scheme with a net cost over 25 years of £1.8billion?”

scottishdailyexpress.co.uk/news/politics/…

Meanwhile, Irish DRS is going exactly as expected…

Meanwhile, Irish DRS is going exactly as expected…

To ask the Scottish Government: How many children would £150m lift out of poverty?

Waste firm Biffa start £150m court action against Scots Government over bungled bottle return scheme

dailyrecord.co.uk/news/scottish-…

A great feature from BBC World Service on the resurrection of ‘ghost’ distilleries. Well worth a listen!

Produced by Elizabeth Hotson 🏳️‍🌈

bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/w3…

Shout out to all the so-called ‘whisky cask investment companies’ who are continuing to ignore the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) guidance on cask investment ads.

This online training from ASA should be mandatory for anyone involved in selling casks as an investment:

Good Morning Scotland BBC Radio Scotland just ran a piece on sand erosion after storms. This article below from NYT talks about a glass recycling business in New Orleans that crush glass bottles to make sand as one potential solution.

A special thanks to Rebecca Davis O'Brien for correctly pronouncing 'niche' in today's episode of The Daily with Michael Barbaro.

A really interesting article about a glass pulverising company that crushes glass bottles into sand for use in wetland restoration.
Until this business started four years ago, there was no glass recycling in New Orleans.

nytimes.com/2024/04/27/cli…

The new anti-theft edition of Johnnie Walker seems to be working well.

You buy a drink at a gig, pay a deposit, but there's no way to return the bottle or can. This is what's happening with the Irish DRS.

Imagine the chaos if this happened at Murrayfield or Hampden.

An obvious irony is that King Charles has done more to protect the planet and our environment than anything the Scottish Greens have achieved.

Meanwhile, Irish DRS is going exactly as expected…

From today's Times Diary, I should clarify that I didn't have to ask the winemakers to bitch about each other.

“we have agreed to commence a DRS in Scotland without glass on day one, assuming this remains the position across all nations of the UK”

news.stv.tv/scotland/scotl…

This promised safer road is vital and now the Greens are gone, I expect my party to deliver on its promises with no more delay.