16/01/2012 Newsnight Scotland

words, that were set up to help When Newsnight Scotland tonight,

with around 1,000 days until referendum time, howled and the

level of political exchange think? Today, a Labour MP resigned his

heart -- post after this Hitler parody, but on the way down accused

and SNP SNP -- MSP of being less penitent that he was. Is this the

shape of debate to come? Also tonight...

How waste material from Cuban sugar plantations is feeling a wave of

inventions at a Scottish university. Good evening. Personal invective

and stinging satire are not unusual in Scottish politics, so it is

unsurprising every so often when someone cries foul and someone else

makes a grudging apology. Today, it was the turn of Labour's Tom Harris,

who stepped down from his party's new media tsar post after posting a

video sites -- parodying Alex The official mantra of Scotland's

main political parties is that the independence referendum will be a

positive campaign. So, how do you This is not the work of some young

political geek. It was Tom Harris, representing the Labour Party south.

It is a spoof, there are lots of them, by the way, of the German

film, Downfall, which cuts the end of the Third Reich. Mr Harris's the

deal is Joan's Downfall. And here is Joan McAlpine, last seen in

Holyrood on Thursday. By make no apology for saying that the Labour

Party and the Tories are anti- Scottish and coming together to

defy the will of the Scottish people, the democratic mandate. Mr

Harris was not able to take part in the debate, as he set in

Westminster - which he obviously has access to a computer. The

party's new leader, Johann Lamont, asked Tom Harris to lookout their

new leader has -- me media strategy to help improve performance. After

this, he has had to resign from the The SNP called his video silly,

negative nonsense, which was hugely embarrassing for Labour. Tonight,

we can reveal that, having had a look at his YouTube channel, Mr

Harris has form on this. This was his Downfall spoof at the time the

Lockerbie bomber, Abdelbasset Ali al-Megrahi was released from his

Scottish prison cell. What does this tell us about the

tone of the referendum campaign? You been proffered teaches

journalism students but used to be an SNP advisor. -- Ewan Crawford.

I do not think it is that different, and politicians have fallen foul of

social media in the past. Social media is often used to say things

that may not otherwise be said, and that social media aspect means that

perhaps you have rather less unattractive dialogue than you may

have had otherwise. But politicians have been using

older media to develop the accord - - to develop their core message all

week. The Prime Minister has been

behaving like Margaret Thatcher this week.

The coalition don't often talk about independence, they instead

use the F-word. Scott London will remain separate

from Vic -- they will remain separate from the United Kingdom.

And in America, the Republican presidential cambered -- candidate,

met Ronnie, is getting a virtual battering from his own side.

He speaks French, too. And for Labour, negativity has

worked in the past. This was the party's famous 1999 election at

work. -- advert.

The SNP's divorce means more tax... Alex Salmond says a positive

campaign will be to a negative one. It turns out Joan's Downfall was

actually Tom's. By am joined by blogger, Gerry

Hassan, who has been writing about the debate, and by Lorraine

Davidson from the Times, who has heard a few inappropriate remarks

heard a few inappropriate remarks in her time, no doubt.

Let's not dwell too much on the individual comments and posts. At

this stage in the campaign, argued Opel it can be a positive campaign,

or argue mildly depressed? And I think the events of the past few

days have been a bit depressing, but in context we have had a very

febrile atmosphere in Scottish politics, mainly because of the

Prime Minister of's intervention and Alex Salmond's responses.

Things got very frenzied are rendered Scottish politics, but

what happened? We are back to the situation we had in May last year,

where Alex Salmond his having a referendum on independence in the

second half of Parliament. We have seen an establishment of the phoney

war, if you like, this a vacuum where the big issues are not

igniting. George Osborne came in with his intervention on will --

will you be able to keep the pound or not, that stuff. There has

always been there is a visceral hatred between Labour and the SNP,

you can see it on the streets between activists campaigning.

Because of social media, you can see it any night of the week on

your own computer screen. Perhaps not just between Labour and

the SNP, but as we get needed to polling day, on the question of

independence, between nationalists and Unionists. Is that in part what

is under lie in this, Jerry? is under lie in this, Jerry?

Yes, there is also the battle between the Scottish Government

speaking for Scotland and the UK Parliament.

The some of us -- some of this seems like a little bit going back

to the battles and language of yesteryear. Many of us going up --

grew up hearing about the 1979 referendum, when Scotland was

talked out of demolition. Some of this feels a little like that. Some

of it feels like we clearly have not got a language that is about

substance or emotion. There are a lot of red herrings around and a

fax needing filled. Into that vacuum comes a lot of stuff. People

have a lot of fear. Some of the political parties I think have a

fear about the political debate because of a fear of the result.

Some of it falls to gut prejudice. That is what you see some of the

time, about part of Labour, and some of the SNP about Labour.

The what is new is the developments in social media and the use of

Twitter and Facebook and YouTube delivering political messages.

Should we judge what is said online different league to what is said in

Parliament war in the newspapers? Do I do not think you can. All

politicians are encouraged to embrace social media. The SNP did

that effectively in the last election, they had someone employed

full-time to make sure they were using it to the best effect. That

is why Johann Lamont wanted to employ Tom Harris, because he has

made a big impact and has a lot of followers. It is a good stab for

the SNP to get, because in this sphere, apart from this lapse of

judgment, and he has had one before, he did actually know what he was

doing and he knew how to reach an audience. The problem with new

media, Twitter in particular, is that you have to communicate

differently. If you are putting a cross party political propaganda,

no one will follow you and think you are a crashing bore. If you do

not fear into that, -- if you do not go in to that too much, and

have conversations on Twitter, and I do not tweet because I think a

lot of the conversations on there are too personal and violent I

don't want to go into that world, then I think in the cold light of

day when mainstream media born to Twitter and pick things up, they do

not look edifying. Is that the shape of things to

come? Not quite, I think, in a leaf. --

in a sense. The rules of Twitter and Facebook are sensible and how

you would deal with things in every life. Despite every day life. There

are commonsense rules, and there is edited we have not quite fully

formed. I think on Twitter and face but, I engage with people and there

is some invective and things like that. We all get things wrong, but

there are ways in which you pick up information more and learn things.

The stories you write all worldwide. If you read for the Scotsman,

Beijing or Australia can pick it up, but they have more impact,

potentially and you have more engagement. That is a big

opportunity, as well as a problem. Briefly, in terms of tactics, how

important is it to Sydney at your opponents?

The does not, it all backfires. What we have seen as something that

will be consigned to history. -- it is not. The public will put a stop

to this, and we have seen Tom Harris stand down from his position.

I think Joan McAlpine will be doing less of the comments she has been

doing, and the public will hit this stuff. They see it as a plague on

all your houses, will you please call up? Do -- will you please call

Thank you very much. Could the collapse of the Soviet

bloc lead to more efficient electric cars and cheaper rum?

Engineers at Strathclyde University have found a way of turning a Cuban

weed into one of the world's most sought after substances. It is also

paving the way for cleaning did -- cleaner drinking water in Latin

America and more well-formed that only need recharged every three

months. -- mobile phones that only need recharged.

The collapse of the Soviet Union sparked a decline in Cuba's sugar

industry. The land left behind is infested with the stuff - marabou.

It is now a plate covering 1.74 hacked tears -- 1.7 4 million had

tears. It was useless, until Strathclyde University got their

hands on it. We cut it into chunks like this,

then we have a process for carbon rising and Anthony King this would

for producing an activated carbon, except that this carbon has several

unique properties. Here is a sample of the pardon. I can put it into

your hand. It is non-toxic, quite safe. It is quite resilient. This

activated carbon has a surface area of a boat 1,200 metres squared per

gram. A few grams has an equivalent surface area of the City of Glasgow.

That high surface area makes it a great filter. Cuba currently

imports �5 million worth of activated carbon to filter at its

famous rum. Marabou's unique properties means they could make it

at home for the fraction of a cut - - a fraction of the cost.

This process mimics what would happen at in a filtration process

industrially where the remove impurities from rum before it goes

into the barrel. We have in pure rum and we want pure alcohol to

commit. We have carbon particles, porous carbon particles, and the

remove all the impurities by attaching loan to the surface of

the carbon. This process could also be applied

to produce vodka, whisky or produce clean drinking water in the

developing world. It has made his way through the carbon bed and it

is now coming out here. It has removed all the impurities Ali

added. But this carbon can do a lot more. It is an excellent material

for making electrodes for non-toxic batteries. This is where we test

our batteries. Once we have made the electrodes, we can construct

them into batteries and Mrs R Barton's sell. The batteries we

make, or be a developing with Peter Bruce in the University of St

Andrews, and they're called lithium oxygen batteries. A special feature

is that they are about 15 times lighter than conventional batteries.

They can contain 15 times more energy, for the same weight.

Perhaps in 10 years, we could make them for several hundred, to us

rather than for several tens of kilometres. Strathclyde are also

using carbon to take a step beyond batteries. Power from Super

capacitors. It is like a battery, but it does not store as much

charge, but it can deliver much faster. These devices are being

used to help extend battery life or being used in an electric vehicle

to give additional acceleration. Marabout carbon could also play a

role in reducing our carbon emissions. -- marabou carbon.

could be rude used to reduce hour carbon footprint and Scotland by

burning the wood alongside Cole. Some of these developments will

take years to make it to the marketplace. If they are commercial

success, the Cubans may have to start farming it. In the meantime,

they have plenty to be getting on with for now.

A quick look at tomorrow's front The picture of the fund is all but

divers searching the some kinship. -- the sunken ship. There is a

quote from Joan McAlpine as well. People are entitled to oppose

independence, she says. That is all for tonight. You can

Another frosty start. In the West, or we are starting to see change.

Slowly but surely, a bad rain will come into western Scotland. For

much of central and eastern England, it will be a fine winter's day. It

will still be on the chilly side. A different feel across south-west

England. Temperatures will be rising by the end of the day. It

will turn quite agree on the coast of Devon and Cornwall. -- it will

turn quite gloomy. In Northern Ireland, it could turn drier in the

afternoon and brighten up on the north coast. Some rain spilling

into south-west Scotland. The north-east having a fine but cold

day. Most of the UK will be smothered in cloud. And part of the

South, it could feel very different. That milder weather will spread