20/04/2016 Scotland 2016

And nearly all the job losses are here in Scotland.

20,000 jobs have gone in Scotland since December.

Yet barely any in the rest of the UK.

A Trump/Clinton battle for the White House moves a step closer

And how often have you thought about the soil beneath your feet?

It's a much-ignored natural resource.

Disappointing news for the Scottish economy today as it was revealed

we continue to have a higher unemployment rate than

New figures show the jobless total here rose by 20,000

A thousand jobs were lost everywhere else.

In a moment, we'll be asking our Business Editor what lies

behind this growing gap in the unemployment figures.

But first, here's our Business Correspondent,

This engineering plant is a long way from the North Sea, but it is still

feeling the impact from the collapse in the price of oil. It makes

high-tech parts for the offshore industry. But buyers are saving

their cash, so jobs here have been lost. Things have got much, much

tougher over the last year. We are at a fraction of the turnover we

were doing before. We have lost six people from our workforce, we had to

make them redundant. Most of our competitors have done the same

thing. The oil industry has been hit hard and that is bad news for

employment. The latest figures across Scotland show the number of

people out of work and looking for a job rose by 20,000. And Scotland's

and employment rate is now higher than it is across the UK as a whole.

But these problems go beyond the North East and the offshore

industry. Scotland's manufacturers have had a difficult year. With some

of the best known names facing closure. And Scotland's service

sector, which employs the most people as a barely grown in recent

months. For the first time in a longer time we are beginning to see

evidence of a real disconnect in what is happening in Scotland and

the rest of the UK. Oil certainly is part of the story, but maybe some of

our other key sectors, like financial services are not doing as

well as we might hope. I think the whole problem of uncertainty

associated with the stagnation of the European economy, the question

of uncertainty associated with Brexit and the question of

uncertainty associated with what would have the Scotland a Brexit

occurred. So as our big employers face big challenges, what scope is

there for small scale at job creation? At this event in Glasgow

today, entrepreneurs and community groups were talking shop using old,

empty buildings for new ventures and new jobs in uncertain times. This is

happening all across the world. And maybe if we actually recognise that

and go, we are living in one of the most volatile economic times, we

need to be more flexible, we need more innovation, we cannot hark back

to the past with people saying, oh, wouldn't it be good if Woolworths

came back? That is gone. This engineering firm is taking up that

challenge, looking for orders beyond the oil industry. The question now

is can other Scottish employers and its workforce do the same?

Here now to discuss what this all means is our Business

Hello, Douglas. Hello. Why is the job situation here so different to

the rest of the UK? Is it all down to oil and gas? No. I think it is

worth saying that through a lot of the downturn in years that we've

been in for roughly 80 years, Scotland has mirrored an awful lot

of what the UK has been doing. It has been an average parts of the UK

in a way that London has been an outlier. Scotland has been fairly

average. That has now changed. There is a guy virgins and in almost every

account you look at, where you have got statistics, the guy virgins does

not look good from a Scottish perspective. It's partly the London

effect. The South East has a huge dynamic effect on the UK and London

has strengths which lead to an balance is across the UK. Stop blood

has not done badly in avoiding too much influence from that. --

Scotland. Oil and gas is the dimensional be Scottish economy

which really stands out. It was a very strong for several years when

we needed it to be strong and other things were we, it is now, because

of the oil price, moved into a much worse position. The downturn has

spread more to the Scottish economy that we expected. That suggests

there is more to this than oil and gas, as you are here from Professor

David Bell. There is something else wrong about the sectors we have

strength in, the kind of sectors we exported. We are vital to dependent

on certain sectors, whiskey for instance. A quarter of our exports

are in a whiskey and although that had strong growth in recent years,

the past three years so it's falling significantly. Financial services

have problems as well. Business confidence is not strong. Consumer

confidence is a week as well. The retail figures came out today and in

food and fashion, they are going backwards. There is some willingness

from consumers to spend on big items like furniture and such. We heard

Professor Bell they're talking about the European referendum damaging

business confidence. Could this have something to do with constitutional

and certainty in Scotland? Yes, first of all, you are talking about

the prospect of a Brexit, the question of whether the UK leave the

European Union in June. -- leaves. It is already affecting investment

and things been postponed, particularly in the property sector

in Scotland where house prices fallen, which is not the case in any

part of the UK. There is something different about the Scottish

property market there. Inward investors as well looking at the UK

as a place to invest will be suspect about the risk of that uncertainty,

about Britain's trading position. We know and it was referred to again

thereby Professor Bell, we know that if Britain votes to leave the EU and

Scotland does not, we are back into independent referendum territory. --

independence referendum. But even if it doesn't, Scotland has realigned

itself, whoever is to blame, they have seen to realign themselves

around this question of Independence. That brings

uncertainty and there are economic consequences from a, because

business does not lie that kind of political uncertainty. Are you

surprised we haven't heard more from the politicians about this from the

rest of the UK during the Scottish election campaign? I am quite

surprised by the com yes. The familiar discussion in this fifth

Scottish Parliamentary election is around spending priorities, how will

you put big lumps of money into things that are popular?

Particularly the health service and education or whatever. We have the

new dimension about tax and that is really being talked about in terms

of how you redistribute the extent to which you can use the levers of

tax. How you use them to close the inequality gap, for instance. There

is little discussion about what is happening in the economy long term,

the big trends, some are global trends, those that affect Scotland

in particular and what can be done about them. There is a little

analysis coming from any of the parties about what Scotland needs to

do next to take the economy and to regenerate bits of it which it

inevitably needs, it needs regeneration, industries that way as

others come up and what you can do about that does not seem to be part

of the debate that we have got in the Scottish Holyrood election. OK,

Douglas, thank you for coming in this evening.

The Ukip leader in Scotland, David Coburn, has said his

critics in the party should consider quitting.

On the campaign trail in Inverness, Mr Coburn hit back at the ten senior

activists who wrote to party bosses calling for him to be replaced.

Here's our political correspondent, Glenn Campbell.

Ukip's larger than a life lead in Scotland has a Nigel Farage for

company in Inverness. The UK party leader and also to David Cockburn

and has little time for those who have demanded his replacement. We

are on the verge of establishing a toehold in Holyrood. Some people are

jealous, it happens in every party and walk of life. -- Holyrood. Among

the critics, the UK former treasurer in Lothian who says he acted not out

of jealousy but concern for his party's reputation. I look at David

Cockburn in a position of prominence and think whoever made that decision

that he is a good candidate to be in that job and he clearly isn't in

terms of his character and terms of its competence. Mr Coburn's

opponents say Ukip is dysfunctional in Scotland and in a letter to party

headquarters, blamed him for bad publicity. It was after appearing on

a BBC debate on immigration that Mr Coburn amid comments comparing the

SNP Government minister to the terrorist supporting cleric Abu

Hamza. It was eschew but think to say and inappropriate. He

apologised, but the activist's letter described this as a major

public gaffe. -- public gas. The document also raises concerns about

the liberal strategy dubbed operation...

I'm sorry, I am a patriot. Today, Mr Coburn insisted he had not realised

he used the wrong name. Before arriving here in Inverness, David

Cockburn dismissed the criticism as a nonsense. He says those

responsible were a disgruntled minority and that half of the group

of ten had already left the party. Now, he wants the other half to

think about going to. They should consider their positions and quite

frankly, they have not been doing much for the party. They did not

help me get elected and are not doing anything in this campaign, so

quite honestly, what is the point of them being in the party if they're

not doing that? Mr Coburn's keeping his job and does not think his party

critics will harm his chances of toasting future election success.

Now, the prospect of Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton facing each

other in the US Presidential election in November moved a step

closer last night as they each won decisive victories in their home

Both frontrunners are now well on their way to securing

Joining me now from Washington to discuss where they go from here,

is our North American reporter, Anthony Zurcher.

Anthony, a comfortable winner last night by Hillary Clinton in her home

state. Is it all but over and for Bernie Sanders? It is looking that

way. He had longer odds going into New York to get the nomination and

with the decisive winner by Hillary Clinton, it is all but impossible.

She raised all of the games Sanders made when he won seven at the last

eight states in just one fell swoop with this dominating performance in

New York. So it is not looking good for him. And yet, he has not stepped

aside? No, he hasn't. And he entered this race wanting to Bush is

progressive against -- agenda, free college education universal. I do

think he think he thought he would be competitive when he entered the

race, so the fact it is now out of reach does not mean he cannot

continue to talk about the issues that are important to him and he can

get to the convention and maybe shape the Democratic platform, shape

their agenda going forward. Last night was also a big winner for

Donald Trump. But a gift -- but a bit of a different tone? He has made

a name for himself with his brash attitude, his belligerence, his loud

outspokenness, and it was a much more moderate, restrained Donald

Trump last night. He was talking about the economy, not belittling

his opponent, he was emphasising his electability and the number of votes

he has got, the number of delegates he has got and although earlier

today he was back on the campaign Trail and sounding a little more

like his old self, so we will see how long this new Donald Trump last.

It was a good knife him and he were not delegates in New York and kept

his hopes of winning the nomination alive. What happens if he doesn't

win the nomination outright? Well, if he doesn't follow this path and

get winners next week in places like Pennsylvania, Maryland, Indiana and

California at the beginning of June, if he doesn't take this magic mark

of 1237 delegates, then it could be an open convention and at that

point, there will be a lot of political wrangling in Cleveland

where the Republicans all meat if Trump does not somehow manage the

delegates to come over to his side. Someone like Ted Cruz, his primary

opponent would have an opportunity to make his pitch.

They could convince someone who wasn't running for President to take

nominations. It is unprecedented in modern US politics. What happens

next? Next Tuesday, we have another slate of states. Pennsylvania,

Maryland, Connecticut, Delaware. A lot of states that are close to New

York and similar to New York in their attitude and style. Right now,

Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump are leading in the polls, and if they

take this momentum, this surge of support that they got last night in

New York and turn it into wins next week across the board, I think they

have got to be feeling pretty confident that they will face off

against each other in November. What can we gauge so far from this

process about who might actually be the next president of the United

States? Well, it has been surprising on the Republican side how much

support outsiders have got. I don't think anyone thought that Donald

Trump would be able to generate the kind of support he has. Ted Cruz was

considered an outsider, as well. Someone who wasn't well liked in

Washington by the establishment, and he is in second place candidates. A

lot of anger and resentment over among Republican voters. So that you

can see the Democratic side, too. Hillary Clinton was the chosen one,

the one who had all the money, all the establishment support. Everyone

thought she was going to be able to waltz to the and incomes Bernie

Sanders who wasn't even registered as a Democrat when he entered the

race. He has capitalised on the outs well among progressives, liberal

tubercle believers, young voters who find his pitch for free college

education to be essential. And so he has presented much more of a

challenge than anyone could have imagined. It has been a contest of

surprises and outside is doing well. Thank you for joining us. My

pleasure. We've heard a lot from candidates

during this election campaign about protecting

Scotland's natural resources. They were at it on this

programme just last night. But they usually mean wind,

solar or tidal power. When was the last time

you heard a politician Well, I should warn you that this

report from Huw Williams contains explicit shots of adults sniffing

soil - which some viewers And lastly hear our lovable

countrymen Arthur Fallowfield. I think the answer lies in the soil.

It may just be that Kenneth Williams' character had a point.

This field at the southern end of Loch Lomond has some of the best

views in Scotland. It also has the best soil. It won top prize at last

year's Royal Highland show. What makes the soil so special, it is

more to do with what I haven't done than what I have done. We don't use

ammonium nitrate fertiliser, which is acidic. The pH in this field has

remained at about 5.9, which is not perfect, but not too bad. I haven't

spread lime for eight years now here. The other things we don't use

of herbicides and pesticides, which may damage the microorganisms in the

soil. Goes on, look at this field and tell that this is prize-winning

soil? I don't think you could answer that, you have to get your spade out

and did. You have to see what is down below to know where the soil is

good and healthy. We can see the roots coming through the soil

sample, that is good. It should have an earthy smell to it, that has a

soil smell. They are sampling soil in Glasgow, too. These artists are

part of soil city, an initiative launched at the Glasgow

International Festival. They've come to this rose garden to look beneath

the surface. Soil city is a project to reimagine the city as if soil

matters. It is in Glasgow and we are trying to engage people, citizens,

activists, food growers, scientist. We're trying to bring all those

people together to have the conversation about soil and really

look at soil as a collective resource. It is so essential to

everything that we do, do how we produce our food, particularly in an

urban context, soil is often a bit neglected. We don't think about it.

Soil is something in the countryside, something that farmers

might care about, but it is essential to everything we do in the

city, as well. The James Hudson Institute in Aberdeen has been

sampling soil the decades. It is home to Scotland's national soil

archive. It really is a library of one of our most valuable resources.

One of its main worth is when you resample the soil. You can tell how

the soil has changed, for good or bad. As the carbon level dropped?

Increased? Has the New Jersey drops? Has the pH change? Should soil be an

election issue? The artist behind the project say yes. It should be an

issue. We are facing massive soil problems that is really in jeopardy

at the moment. It is also where a lot of life lives, it is full of

life in soil, but maybe not in cities where we have damaged that

soil, so part of the idea behind soil city is to bring people

together into this conversation to think about, what can we do to

revalue soil in the city? Giving people and politicians to care about

soil might not be easy, but it is fundamentally important. -- getting

people. Perhaps we all need to acknowledge that. It is also

important for food production, important for farmers, their

fundamental resource. They use it to grow crops and grow grass to feed

livestock. It is also really important for looking after the

environment. Soil has a big part to play in preventing greenhouse gas

emissions. Soil is really important for everyone. He knew what he was

talking about, that Arthur Fallowfield. I think the answer lies

in the soil. Now joining me in the studio

to discuss some of the day's other news is the health journalist

Pennie Taylor and the Daily Record's Political Editor,

Magnus Gardham. Let's go back to that Ukip story.

David Cockburn's troubles from within his own ranks. Coburn. Ten

people have said he is not suitable to be the face of the Brexit

campaign. Is that fair? It is a sign of a complete shambles that is Ukip.

Certainly when it comes to the Brexit campaign, it is going to be

very interesting to see whether Vote Leave, the officially designated

league campaign will have anything to do with David Coburn. From their

point to do with David Coburn. From their

their only elected official here in Scotland. If he wasn't at the helm,

who would there be to Scotland. If he wasn't at the helm,

world anti-doping agency is in Scotland tomorrow to talk about how

clean athletes can be better protected against athletes who

cheat. In advance of his talk in sterling, he has been speaking to

the BBC. Is there a point at which you look

at the least level sport, taking up space value the nature of those

performances? Yes and no. I don't watch cycling any more. I just don't

care. I hope the clearing it up a bit, but as we say in my continent,

I am from Missouri, show me. The other things, even athletics. I

don't know how you watch, but if I watch a 100 metre race, I watch the

race in excitement and then I look at the time. It is not one of these

things were you watch the clock and when the clock stops you look down

and try to figure out who got there first. It can still be exciting. But

what I don't like is when the uncertainty disappears. You can see

the full interview tomorrow night on HARDtalk at 8:30pm on BBC News.

Magnus, before I ask you about that, I must correct my mistake. I am so

sorry, I don't know why I said that. I do apologise. Just listening to

his comments then, do you think a lot of people share his

disillusionment about competitive sports now? Absolutely, I do. I

thought it was rather sad to hear him say that he no longer watches

cycling. I am an avid cycling fan, and I think to hear him say that is

a real blow to cycling. It undermines the efforts that the

sport is making to clean itself up after the infamous Lance Armstrong

era. Having said that, cycling particularly has a huge uphill

struggle to go along to rehabilitate itself. Fans of all sports hope that

winning performances are clean, but there have been enough scandals to

sell a seed of doubt in our minds, sadly. I wonder if we should be at

all surprised that is competitive cyclists, athletes, will do anything

to win. Reflecting on this story today, I realise that all my life,

I've grown up with stories about suspicions of what athletes were on.

It used to be Eastern Europe, European athletes, and women who

looked too much like men. It has gone on for ever. There is another

kind of race here, which is a game of TB P between the regulators and

those in whose interest it is to stretch the boundaries, sometimes

legally, sometimes illegally. It seems to be that it is integral to

sport, and probably always has been. But why do you think it matters so

much to the public? They're just trying to enhance their performance,

to be as good as they can be. Some people might argue that is OK if

everyone is doing it. Certainly. Cycling is a funny example.

Throughout much of the history cycling, it wasn't seen as cheating

to have a little me up, amphetamines and a tot of brandy in the old days,

it was part of the sport. If something helps an athlete perform

better and everyone was doing it, hey, why worry? I think it has

changed because the drugs have become so much more sophisticated.

You've got into this arms race, really, between the testis and the

coaches and the doctors who are producing performance enhancing

drugs. I think that is really changing the performances and they

become no longer credible. Is it taking the magic away? Fact it is

so... I don't think so. When I sit and watch an Olympic sprint, I am

still in awe of the human effort that has gone into it. It is

disappointing if, at some point later, it emerges that that wasn't

necessarily the fair race that it purported to be. We can't possibly

have a world where athletes have to be pumped up with fundamentally

experimental drugs before they can compete. We have to leave it there.

Thanks for coming in. I'm back tomorrow night, usual time,

so do please join me if you can. How are you feeling?

I'm withdrawing...very heavily. Returning to Britain tomorrow:

the not-so-secret weapon President Obama and Americans

of all political colours say So why exactly does the US seem

to care so much about it? The UK is an important part of being

part of the solution.