ScotRail trials wi-fi using Elon Musk's Starlink satellites
ScotRail will use Elon Musk's satellite technology to supply passenger wi-fi on trains for the first time during a six-month trial.Six trains in the north of Scotland have been fitted with equipment that connects to the low Earth orbit (Leo) satellite network Starlink.The trains operate on the Inverness to Wick, Thurso, Kyle of Lochalsh, and Aberdeen services.ScotRail said the new system was a first for the UK in terms of onboard passenger wi-fi and, if successful, could be rolled out to south of Scotland services.
The trial could also lead to the roll-out of the technology across the other class 158 trains in ScotRail's fleet.This would cover several rural lines including the West Highlands, Stranraer, Dumfries and the Borders.ScotRail said it would also help to influence the inclusion of the technology when buying new trains.The publicly-owned rail operator has partnered with Clarus Networks, which sells access to billionaire Musk's Starlink satellites in the UK.Business Minister Richard Lochhead said reliable internet connections would make passengers' journeys more enjoyable.ScotRail strategy and planning director, Scott Prentice, added: "The project addresses the long-standing challenges we've had for train connectivity in the region, and we hope it will lead to a future roll-out of the technology across other rural routes in Scotland."Musk, the controversial owner of Tesla and currently senior adviser to US President Donald Trump, has been criticised by senior figures in Scotland politics, including First Minister John Swinney.He has also publicly clashed with Swinney's predecessor Humza Yousaf.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Herald Scotland
12 minutes ago
- The Herald Scotland
Reform and indy will be at the heart of our debate for years
Of course, by now you already know the result, so you'll know which of the following scenarios and their consequences are the most accurate. But let me start with what the national polls tell us ought to have happened, by-election peculiarities – which I'll come to – notwithstanding. The SNP should have won with around 33% of the vote, down significantly on the 46.2% it won in 2021, with Labour in a narrow second on around 28% of the vote. Reform should have come third with just under 20% of the vote, while the Conservatives should have collapsed to under 10% of the vote. The rest of the vote, around 10%, will have been split among the Greens, Liberal Democrats, and myriad minor parties and independents. But by-elections rarely work out this way, even when the national polls are accurate. Firstly, voters are more likely to have voted in protest than they are at national elections, which may well help Reform in this case. As Jamie, a service engineer from Hamilton, told a focus group run by More in Common, it's 'time to give someone else a chance,' even if he thinks Nigel Farage is an 'a***hole'. Read more by Mark McGeoghegan Secondly, turnout will likely have collapsed. In the Hamilton and Rutherglen West by-election in October 2023, turnout fell by 43% compared to the 2019 General Election. A similar decline here would see around 15,600 voters who would otherwise turn out in a national election stay at home instead. Given that voters turning out to vote Reform as a protest against both the SNP and Labour governments are likely to be more motivated than SNP and Labour voters, this may also advantage Reform. In fact, assuming predictions based on national polling would otherwise have been accurate, Reform's vote will only have to have been marginally more resilient for it to finish ahead of Labour and narrowly behind the SNP. Factor in that first peculiarity of by-election campaigns, and such a scenario is hardly far-fetched. On the eve of the by-election, Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar accused the First Minister, John Swinney, and journalists of manufacturing Reform's competitiveness in the seat. Nothing could be further from the truth, and a Reform underperformance yesterday will have been more surprising than it coming second. It has demonstrated its strength in a succession of local by-elections, the latest of which saw it beat Labour to come second behind the SNP. Whether or not Reform came second yesterday, its performance will shape the narrative in Scottish politics going into next year's elections in conjunction with its UK-wide polling lead (it has led in 25 consecutive polls going back to the beginning of May) and strong results in recent local elections and Parliamentary by-elections in England. Ultimately, regardless of yesterday's result, the spectre of Nigel Farage looms over Scottish politics. There are three broad scenarios. Firstly, that Reform performed to its Scotland-wide polling, confirming that it is on course to win between 15 and 20 seats in next year's Scottish Parliament election. Secondly, that it did overperform, perhaps coming second, leading to the next 11 months to being dominated by the SNP seeking to present next year's elections as a choice between the SNP and Nigel Farage, and a bitter fight between Reform and Labour for status as the main challengers to the SNP. Thirdly, that it underperformed, in which case the SNP will be quick to emphasise divergence between Scottish and English politics. In any case, the SNP will use the prospect of a Reform government at Westminster to try to increase the salience of the constitutional question, attempting to return independence to the heart of the Scottish political agenda ahead of next year's elections and the following UK general election. It knows that that is its best bet for winning back pro-independence voters who have swung to Labour in recent years. Replacing Humza Yousaf with John Swinney may have stabilised the SNP's support, but the party not really recovered in any meaningful way. The longer Reform leads in UK-wide polls, the more likely that narrative will be to gain purchase among the independence-supporting electorate. Strong Reform showings in Scotland will reinforce the sense that they could win power in 2029; weak performances will emphasise the ways in which Scottish and English politics may be diverging. Both provide hooks for the SNP. The spectre of Nigel Farage looms large over Scottish politics (Image: PA) The bigger question is whether this leads to a change in the constitutional deadlock. Some recent polling suggests that support for independence may have edged up. Norstat recently recorded its first Yes leads in three years, finding Yes ahead by seven points in the wake of Reform's strong showing in the English local elections. Survation still has No ahead by two or three points, down from leads of seven or eight points a year ago. The data is not conclusive, and we should be cautious of hypotheticals around whether developments will change voters' minds – we had enough such polls around Brexit and Boris Johnson becoming Prime Minister that never bore out. But the prominence of Reform UK and Nigel Farage in UK politics is a gift to the SNP and the independence movement, regardless of how they performed yesterday or how they perform north of the Border in the coming year. If Anas Sarwar is frustrated with his opponents' and the media's "obsession" with Reform UK, he should get used to that feeling – they'll be at the heart of Scottish political debate for years to come. Mark McGeoghegan is a Glasgow University researcher of nationalism and contentious politics and an Associate Member of the Centre on Constitutional Change. He can be found on BlueSky @
Daily Mail
16 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
Tesla shares take $150bn plunge as Musk vs Trump erupts
Tesla shares fell sharply in US trading on Thursday after the sudden eruption of a public spat between boss Elon Musk and President Donald Trump sparked fears of reprisals for the electric car giant. Trump threatened to terminate 'Elon's governmental subsidies and contracts' on his social messaging service Truth Social after a disagreement over the President's budget bill saw the pair exchange accusations and insults. US subsidies and contracts at Federal and state level are worth billions to Tesla, which also currently benefits from a $7,500 tax credit available for electric vehicle purchases. Trump wrote: 'The easiest way to save money in our Budget, Billions and Billions of Dollars, is to terminate Elon's Governmental Subsidies and Contracts. 'I was always surprised that Biden didn't do it!' Tesla shares fell more than 14 per cent by the end of US trading, wiping $150billion off the carmaker's market capitalisation. Analysts at Wedbush said: 'The quickly deteriorating friendship and now 'major beef' between Musk and Trump is jaw dropping and a shock to the market and putting major fear for Tesla investors on what is ahead. 'This situation between Musk and Trump could start to settle down and the friendship continues but this must start to be calmed down on the Musk and Trump fronts and it's not good for either side. 'This feud does not change our bullish view of Tesla and the autonomous view but clearly does put a fly in the ointment of the Trump regulatory framework going forward.' Musk's relationship with the President has been a major driver of Tesla's fortunes, for better and for worse, over the last two years. Tesla shares rose more than 60 per cent between the start of November when Trump was elected to the end of 2024. But investor pressure over Musk's controversial role in the White House ultimately led to him to stepping down from his unofficial 'DOGE' department, which had sparked protests and vandalism directed at Tesla. The controversy also appears to have weighed on Tesla sales. Tesla shares were on a run more recently, however, after Musk confirmed the group would be testing an autonomous, driverless 'robotaxi' service in Austin, Texas, this month. Matt Britzman, senior equity analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, said: 'Investing in Tesla isn't for the faint of heart, and Musk's enthusiasm for topics close to heart is both a blessing and, at times, a curse. 'Let's not forget, Tesla has its own battles, with disappointing sales numbers and brand damage weighing on sentiment in the near term. 'For now, markets are willing to look past the weakening auto business with AI and automation the real prizes. But with such a pivotal few months ahead for the autonomous strategy, investors will want to see Musk give his full attention back to Tesla.' Richard Hunter, head of markets at Interactive Investor, added: 'Perhaps more importantly, the latest feud has also heightened unease that the President's seemingly irascible and erratic behaviour is symptomatic of the environment which has been created on a global scale. 'Companies have already been stepping back from providing guidance comments for the next few months, while consumer sentiment is brittle given the wider context of what could be a weakening outlook.'
The Guardian
22 minutes ago
- The Guardian
Hamilton byelection win is vindication of Scottish Labour's doorstep strategy
Labour's victory in Hamilton is both a surprise and a vindication – a demonstration that in a byelection, shocks can take different forms. It is a surprise to those of us in the outside world who felt certain of a Scottish National party victory, who saw Labour support plummet in the Scottish opinion polls, and the same polls showing Reform's steeply rising. The question became: would Labour scrape home in second, behind an experienced and personable SNP candidate, or even endure the humiliation of coming third behind a resurgent Reform. After all, it seemed Scottish Labour's candidate, Davy Graham, was ill-equipped, so much so his party refused to put him up for a live television debate. But for Scottish Labour's strategists this is vindication. In a very clear way, this demonstrates the differences between what some call the 'air war' – the contest taking place on social media and the airwaves, of rows over 'racist' adverts and defeats in other contests, and the 'ground war', the dull and relentless grind of sending out activists to doorsteps, of leaflet delivering and face-to-face engagement. While Reform was ploughing a record sum, up to £15,000, into a single advert wrongly and unjustifiably accusing Anas Sarwar, Scottish Labour's leader, of prioritising Pakistanis, Labour canvassers were going door to door, or forensically using their social media advertising spend to target voters on YouTube and Facebook. In the final phase of the campaign last week, Labour strategists were quietly insisting their canvassing told a different story. While their data showed more people were voting Reform than ever before, with their vote boosted by the Runcorn byelection victory in May, most of those came from Conservatives, they argued. The Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse byelection, called after the untimely death of the popular SNP MSP Christine McKelvie, was certainly a three-horse race, said one senior Labour figure. 'People are annoyed with us', they acknowledged. 'But I genuinely don't believe that the Reform vote is the size that people are speculating about.' Scottish Labour believed it had begun the contest in April at about 20% – a figure close to the party's national polling. Last week, Labour doorstep returns were putting its support at nearer 35%. 'I'm walking around quite happy,' the source said. 'People have written us off and people have made a mistake. But it's conditional on getting people out to vote.' Some voters have been visited four times by Labour canvassers and politicians: Labour MPs and MSPs flooded the constituency – in part because the UK party, from Keir Starmer downwards, knew they could not afford further humiliation at the hands of Reform. It seemed in the final days of the campaign that Reform's 'air war' was seriously wounding Labour's campaign: Farage revealed on Monday that a Scottish Labour councillor, a young man who had previously been chair of Glasgow University's Labour students group, had defected to Reform. That did shock the party. But in the event, the ground war won – to the great relief of a UK party that has just been pummelled by Reform in Runcorn and England's recent council elections. 'I think we have the better field operation and we've been around people's doors,' the strategist said. 'We're hungry for the votes and people see that.' This victory has sent a significant signal for Scotland's political parties with less than a year to go before next May's Holyrood elections. While the national polls repeatedly put Scottish Labour at 19%, with Reform only one point behind, and the SNP in the mid-30s, election campaigns are different. Labour's electoral machine – the machine that won a landslide on a 34% share of the vote in last year's general election, remains formidable. For John Swinney, the SNP's leader and first minister, this result has demonstrated his party has now to reequip itself by greatly improving its campaign machinery, its data-gathering and its strategies. The SNP was once the UK's most formidable electoral machine but, based on this byelection result, that seems no longer to be the case.
