Latest news with #DanTurner
Times
4 days ago
- Business
- Times
We must create the jobs of tomorrow: failure is not an option
Scotland's economy has been in the doldrums for over a decade. Sluggish growth, flat productivity, stagnant incomes, with increasing economic inactivity, poverty and inequality. No wonder we lack the tax revenue growing public services need. There is a route out of this, if over the next ten years we have the vision, determination and organisation to build our economy on the jobs of tomorrow. The jobs of tomorrow will come from the science of today. From developing steam power to cloning Dolly the sheep, Scotland has often led the world in this. Today we have more of the world's top universities than any other small nation, doing truly world-leading research, but fail to capitalise properly on this excellence. We attract research funding, but not enough of the investment that turns it into jobs. Every £1 of public R&D in Scotland generates only £1.46 of business investment. In the UKit is double that. Across the OECD, it is three times higher. A report by the economist Dan Turner for Our Scottish Future, to be published at a conference later this week at Glasgow University, sets out a plan to move from failure to success. The ingredients of success are simple to state, but hard to do. Start from a world-class research base, and be clear on our strengths: we excel in medicine and bio-science, are talented in technology and advanced manufacturing, and have great potential to transform our energy economy. Governments must make Scotland an even more attractive place for the best researchers, including from countries where academic freedom is under threat. • How the Scottish economy performed in 2024 — in charts There is no time for political games. The UK and Scottish governments must align themselves on a single industrial strategy. Place is critical: different regions must build clusters around their different strengths. Aberdeen for energy transition. Glasgow, Edinburgh and Dundee for bioscience and technology. The city region deals involving both governments should be strengthened to make this happen more quickly, with more local leadership. Research is hard and building businesses from it takes time, with support at each stage: from initiation, through growth and finally into major business successes. Scotland is quite good at early stage investments, but promising businesses become attracted to clusters elsewhere. Capital investment is available, from pension funds encouraged by the government to invest in Britain. But it must be alongside public money. As companies grow, the other resources they need — quality infrastructure, skilled staff, sometimes regulatory change — must be co-ordinated in each city region, as in the most successful economic clusters in the world. Scotland has the potential but needs commitment from governments, private investors, universities and others to make each place succeed. Otherwise we fail as an economy and ultimately as a country. We cannot afford that. Professor Jim Gallagher is the chairman of Our Scottish Future
Fox News
19-04-2025
- Politics
- Fox News
Global church network pushes 'climate justice' narrative during Holy Week: 'Moral imperative'
FIRST ON FOX: One of the world's leading liberal ecumenical Christian organizations published a post during Holy Week promoting climate change activism, sparking criticism from some experts who spoke to Fox News Digital. "Training shows climate justice a moral imperative for churches," a post on the World Council of Churches website said on Monday as the billions of Christians worldwide began observing Holy Week and commemorating the seven days leading up to Easter. The post stated: "Exploring how churches can do more for climate justice, the World Council of Churches (WCC), in cooperation with the National Council of Churches in Bangladesh, organized a climate litigation training in Dhaka, Bangladesh, on 11 April." In a Thursday post on X, WCC again spoke about climate change saying, "Climate crisis isn't siloed—neither should our solutions be. At a joint seminar in India, experts push for a nexus approach to land, water & food justice." "Amidst the poly-crises the world is experiencing now, the role of churches and other faith actors in terms of our contributions to climate justice is more important than ever," WCC general secretary Rev. Prof. Dr. Jerry Pillay said in Bangladesh. "Our moral voice is necessary for the urgently needed system changes." Last week, WCC announced that it has "debuted its new resource on legal tools for climate justice, the focus was on hope for children—a hope strongly backed by knowledge on how churches can hold financial actors accountable for their role in perpetuating the climate crisis." Fox News Digital reached out to WCC for comment. Dan Turner, founder and executive director of Power The Future, likened the climate change push to Christianity's "long history of a battle against paganism." "It is unsurprising that neo-pagans hide behind climate change to pollute religion and push their agenda," Turner said. "The most Christian countries have the cleanest air and water, and the greatest respect for the Earth." Gabriella Hoffman, Independent Women's Forum Center for Energy & Conservation Director, told Fox News Digital that it is not "uncommon" for religious institutions to preach the "biblical" teaching of "stewardship of the land" but that climate justice "strays from this teaching by encouraging its adherents to reject positive human interactions with nature." "They believe nature supersedes the needs of people. Both interests can be balanced and not at odds with each other," Hoffman said. Steve Cortes, founder of the League of American Workers and a Senior Advisor for Catholic Vote, told Fox News Digital, "During Holy Week, the church should be focused on reflecting on Christ's sacrifice on the cross, instead of advancing climate hysteria. The church should be spreading the Gospel, not advance divisive legal battles that amplify fear over faith." The WCC, which claims 352 member church bodies from more than 120 countries, representing over 580 million Christians worldwide, has a long history of political activism on behalf of liberal causes. The organization has "established several highly biased and politicized subgroups," according to NGO Monitor, some of which have been linked to anti-Israel efforts and BDS activities. Last year, the WCC issued a statement in support of the International Criminal Court's controversial decision to issue an arrest warrant for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in response to the fallout from the October 7th terror attack. Shortly after that attack, the WCC issued a statement calling for "underscor[ing] the necessity of addressing the root causes of the current conflict, which are deeply intertwined with decades of occupation, prolonged sieges on Gaza, and the systematic violation of fundamental human rights."
