Latest news with #SandiePeggie
The National
a day ago
- Business
- The National
A true just transition will save jobs and the planet
We have families here who have been working in oil and gas for generations. We have communities whose very fabric was built around that industry. We're in the middle of a major shift. The decline in oil and gas production isn't something in the distant future, it's already happening. And with it, the jobs are going – some reports have said we're facing Grangemouth-scale losses on a weekly basis across the North-east. I want to be really clear that I truly believe the Scottish Government is absolutely committed to a just transition. And I support that – I welcome it. And it's not just words, it has been backed by action. READ MORE: Sandie Peggie 'wanted to post bacon through mosque letterbox', tribunal told We've seen investment coming into the north-east through the Just Transition Fund, and recently we saw the launch of a new oil and gas transition training programme tailored specifically to our region. That's vital, because we're not talking about abstract change, we're talking about retraining real people for real jobs in sectors like renewables, offshore wind, hydrogen and carbon capture. I recently visited the St Fergus gas terminal in my constituency, a place that is central to the UK's energy supply, processing about a third of the gas the UK uses. It was eye-opening, and it gave me a deeper appreciation of just how skilled the workforce is, and how deeply embedded the oil and gas sector is in our local economy. And that's why I think we need to be really honest about what the transition means in practice. Because it's not just about switching energy sources, it's also about making sure that we don't leave entire communities behind as we move forward. Of course we must protect our climate and meet our climate obligations. I have grandchildren, and want to make sure the world we leave behind for them is sustainable. But we also must be honest about how we do that in a way that doesn't destroy jobs and decimate local economies in the process. A return to Thatcher and the treatment of the coal mines and their workers must be avoided at all costs. That's why the word 'just' really matters. We must make sure people whose work powered our country for decades aren't tossed aside now that we're changing direction. What I hear a lot from people is that if Scotland and the UK are still consuming oil and gas (which we are), and if we're not drilling for it ourselves here, then where is it coming from? Are we just importing it from elsewhere? And if so, are we not just offshoring our carbon footprint? It's a fair question. And I think it's one that we need to answer properly. Because when we talk about reducing emissions, are we measuring the carbon we produce in Scotland, or the carbon we use? Those are very different things. It would feel like smoke and mirrors if we claimed a reduction in emissions simply because we're not drilling here, while still burning the same amount of fuel that has been shipped in from abroad. The public deserves transparency on that. We can't pretend we're doing better for the planet if all we're doing is moving the problem offshore. From what I understand, most UK emissions accounting is based on what we produce territorially. But that doesn't reflect what we consume. And when you look at that difference, it raises big questions about how honest we're being with ourselves. This leads me to another question that I want to put to the public. If we are assuming we won't license new oil fields, if that is the direction of travel, then what are the consequences? Not just for emissions, but for jobs, for our energy security, and for local economies like ours? If we're not producing enough of our own energy, we're leaving ourselves vulnerable to the whims of global markets and political figures such as Donald Trump or Vladimir Putin. We need to add that into the equation when we're talking about what's realistic, responsible, and safe for Scotland's future. I'm not here to say 'drill baby drill', absolutely not. I firmly believe in our climate responsibilities. But I also believe we must think practically, not just ideologically. Is our current position realistic? Is it fair? Is it in line with what other countries are doing? That brings me to Norway, a country that often gets held up as the gold standard in balancing energy and climate goals. Norway is still drilling. It is investing in renewables, yes, but the country is also using the oil and gas sector to fund the green transition. Is that something we can learn from? Is there a model that supports jobs and meets climate targets? Public money alone won't be enough. To really shift our economy at the scale we need, we must have significant private investment too. That includes renewables, yes, but it can also come from oil and gas companies willing to invest in cleaner technologies. There's a huge opportunity here. We can align climate objectives with economic growth if we get this right. Right now, key powers over energy policy and licensing are still held by the UK Government. That limits what the [[Scottish Government]] can do, even when the will is there. So, I suppose what I'm calling for an honest conversation. We need to stop pretending it's one or the other, we either save the planet or save jobs. It's not enough to have big ambitions if we don't have the infrastructure, investment and workforce to get us there – without hurting the people who built this country's energy industry in the first place. And of course, the big question is: will it help secure our future as an independent nation, because if so, we need it on the balance sheet.
Daily Mail
2 days ago
- Health
- Daily Mail
Workmate 'who couldn't stand' trans row nurse wanted her struck off, tribunal told
A nurse who shared an incriminating message sent by Sandie Peggie to a private group chat was accused of doing a 'hatchet job' on her former friend for NHS Fife health board. Lindsey Nicoll, who had holidayed several times with Ms Peggie along with others and were in a chat group with other colleagues had wanted her struck off, a tribunal heard. Ms Nicoll, an employment tribunal heard yesterday, captured a joke the 51-year-old had forwarded to the chat about the Pakistan floods and sent it on to the health board. And in a private exchange the NHS Fife worker said she hoped Ms Peggie would be struck off the nursing register. It came as part of another day of extraordinary evidence in the landmark employment tribunal which saw Ms Peggie come under further attack. Ms Peggie's barrister Naomi Cunningham told Ms Nicoll: 'The board was looking for somebody to do a hatchet job on Sandie Peggie's character and you were all too willing to step forward for that role, weren't you?' Ms Nicoll replied: 'Anybody was going to ask me for a statement I was going to be willing to do it.' Ms Peggie, who has an unblemished record, was suspended from work after challenging medic Dr Beth Upton, a trans-identifying male, in the changing room at Victoria Hospital, Kirkcaldy, on Christmas Eve 2023. The nurse sued NHS Fife and Dr Beth, 30, after claiming being made to get to get changed beside the doctor, who was born male, was unlawful. They are now locked in an increasingly bitter employment tribunal, with the latest string of hearings now entering their third week. The tribunal heard yesterday Ms Nicoll sent messages from the group chat she was in with a handful of other colleagues to the board. Messages showed Ms Peggie had forward a list of ten jokes about the Pakistan floods, which were described as 'racist' by Ms Nicoll. It was followed by a message which Ms Peggie said 'sorry folks if that makes me sound like a racist', to which Ms Nicoll reacted with a crying laughter emoji. But the witness, who admitted breaking patient confidentiality herself elsewhere in the chat, said she did not like the joke but was 'agreeing it makes [Ms Peggie] sound like a racist'. Cunningham, acting for Ms Peggie, said the witness was 'thoroughly hostile' to her client and it was 'fair to say you have got it in for her'. But the witness said she had not, with being hauled before the tribunal a 'complete nightmare' but something she felt 'strongly about and something I needed to do'. Messages from her revealed she wrote she 'could not stand' Ms Peggie, and said she 'should be struck off, I hope she is' Another said: 'If anyone was to ask me for a statement about Sandie's character I would do it, she should be struck off.' She rejected a claim she was trying to end Ms Peggie's career, and told the tribunal: 'I think it's important for people to understand Sandie's character - the bigoted racism, the bigotry that Sandie is all for, I don't think there is a place for it in nursing. I think we should be showing people compassion and empathy and respect, and I don't think Sandie does that.' Meanwhile, emergency nurse practitioner Fiona Wishart yesterday claimed Ms Peggie had made 'derogatory' remarks in the past. She claimed Ms Peggie at a lunch had claimed she had a 'a good mind to post bacon' through the letter box of a nearby mosque. Ms Cunningham put it to her that, in fact, it had been a paramedic who made the comment. The lawyer said the witness remembered it as an offensive thing to have said about the mosque and now she had 'attributed it to Sandie Peggie to make her look bad'. Ms Wishart, who has worked at the health board for 41 years, said she was at a dinner with Ms Peggie once when she made 'derogatory' remarks about Dr Upton. She said she could not remember the remarks herself but had been told that they were 'weirdo' and 'freak'.
BBC News
2 days ago
- Health
- BBC News
Trans tribunal nurse accused of wanting to "post bacon" to mosque
The nurse at the centre of a tribunal involving a transgender doctor allegedly told colleagues she wanted to post bacon through the letterbox of a local Peggie made the comment at a work lunch with colleagues, along with other remarks insulting transgender people, according to testimony from Fiona Wishart, another nurse with NHS Fife. According to another colleague Ms Peggie shared racist jokes in a WhatsApp chat regarding the flooding that killed thousands in Pakistan in 2022. Ms Peggie is to return on Tuesday to give additional evidence in the tribunal, at the request of her legal team. The nurse was suspended by NHS Fife in January 2024 following a row with Dr Beth Upton regarding the doctor being allowed in a women's changing has since lodged a claim against NHS Fife and Dr Upton, citing the Equality Act Wishart, who has worked for NHS Fife for 41 years, told the tribunal Ms Peggie's comment regarding a mosque in Kirkcaldy was made on 4 September 2023. She said Ms Peggie said "she had a good mind to post bacon through their letterbox" and that the comment stood out in her mind because it was Peggie's lawyer Naomi Cunningham suggested the comment had been made several years previously by a male paramedic, and Ms Wishart was choosing to falsely attribute it to Ms denied this, and said it was definitely the nurse who made the said other comments regarding Dr Upton were made at the lunch, but could not recall the details of what words were other colleagues had told her Ms Peggie had referred to Dr Upton as "weirdo", "freak" and "it". Later testimony by nurse Lindsey Nicoll said Ms Peggie had used those terms in conversation and in a WhatsApp chat for a group of nurses who sometimes holidayed to messages from the chat, Dr Upton's looks were mocked and was referred to as having a "pathetic voice" by Ms Peggie in the Nicoll said she believed the comments were "disrespectful" and made her feel added her main concern was with how Ms Peggie expressed her Cunningham suggested it was "not wholly unfair" to call Dr Upton a "weirdo", and that if any man walked into the women's changing rooms they would "be considered a voyeur" and therefore it would be reasonable to suggest they were what the lawyer called a creep or a weirdo. This was in reference to an incident where Ms Peggie had messaged a colleague's husband by accident and asked for a picture of "the weirdo", thinking she was messaging a different colleague. The husband then replied with a picture of his wife in a fancy dress costume, an incident that annoyed her and led to the wife complaining about Ms Peggie to Ms Nicoll. Pakistan flooding The tribunal also heard Ms Peggie posted racist jokes in the chat referencing flooding in Pakistan. Among the comments were "what goes around comes around – Pakistan has been flooding Britain for years" and crude jokes about Asian Cunningham asked why Ms Nicoll had not criticised her at the time. She replied that she wished she had remonstrated with lawyer asked if Ms Nicoll's actions in speaking to the tribunal were due to her "having it in" for Ms Peggie, referencing a text message from Ms Nicoll saying she hoped Ms Peggie would be struck off. She denied this claim, and said she was giving testimony so people could "understand Sandie's character" and that there was no place for "bigotry in nursing."Ms Wishart had also alleged Ms Peggie made racial remarks, particularly regarding immigrants.A previous session of the tribunal had seen texts sent by Ms Peggie where she complained that "everyone stands up for the minority", referencing Dr Upton. Timeline of the Sandie Peggie tribunal Other chat messages involved discussing Imane Khelif, who won women's welterweight gold at the Paris Olympics last year amid a row over gender Nicoll also said Ms Peggie spoke to her after a family member came out as said: "She was devastated about a family member being gay and asked me 'how I coped with two family members being gay'.Ms Nicoll said the use of coping suggested Ms Peggie was upset about her family member being Cunningham suggested being upset was a "reasonable" reaction to the news as various reasons could cause it, such as fear of relatives suffering homophobia. Extra witnesses Earlier the tribunal panel agreed for further witnesses to appear on Tuesday, with a timescale described as "extremely tight".Ms Peggie's legal team said gender critical group Sex Matters were contacted at the weekend by a witness who shared the nurse's objections over sharing a changing room with Dr Upton and "found the courage to come forward".A representative of Sex Matters has now been called to discuss this evidence. The team had also been contacted by another potential Cunningham said that the way Ms Peggie had been treated by NHS Fife had "frightened off" other potential witnesses who shared her views, and that the nurse "has been the only one to find the courage to speak up" until judge Sandy Kemp said the Tuesday schedule - which will also feature cross-examination of Dr Maggie Currer, a consultant in emergency medicine – was the only way to ensure all evidence was heard without extending the tribunal any further.
The Independent
2 days ago
- Health
- The Independent
Nurse called transgender doctor ‘weirdo' and ‘it', tribunal told
A former friend of nurse Sandie Peggie has alleged that she referred to a transgender doctor as 'it' and 'asked for pictures of that weirdo', a tribunal heard. Ms Peggie was suspended after she complained about having to share a changing-room with transgender medic Dr Beth Upton at Victoria Hospital in Kirkcaldy, Fife, on Christmas Eve 2023. She was placed on special leave after Dr Upton made an allegation of bullying and harassment, and cited concerns about 'patient care'. Ms Peggie has lodged a claim against NHS Fife and Dr Upton, citing the Equality Act 2010, including sexual harassment; harassment related to a protected belief; indirect discrimination; and victimisation. Lindsey Nicoll, an emergency nurse practitioner who became friends with Ms Peggie in 2010 and began holidaying with her in 2017, said the veteran nurse would use racial slurs and posted jokes about floods in Pakistan which killed 3,000 people into a ' Benidorm group chat' in 2017. Ms Nicoll said that in 2024 the pair were at an airport when Ms Peggie allegedly saw a group of women wearing burkas and appeared 'disgusted', the tribunal heard. The witness said that after the trip she removed herself from the group chat and explained she 'wouldn't be spending time in Sandie's company'. Ms Nicoll alleged that at a lunch on September 4 2023, Ms Peggie referred to Dr Upton as 'it' and 'weirdo', the tribunal heard. Ms Nicoll said: 'I can distinctively remember her saying 'weirdo' at lunch.' She said that in February 2024 her ex-friend had posted in a group chat 'well it appears official, Sandie Peggie vs Beth Upton', and that Ms Peggie had inadvertently messaged someone in error 'asking for photos of that weirdo', the tribunal heard. Asked about a message sent by Ms Peggie which read 'can you post a picture of that weirdo', Ms Nicoll said: 'I obviously didn't realise the weirdo she was referring to was Beth.' She said that Dr Upton was mentioned at the lunch 'immediately', the tribunal heard. The witness said: 'She started talking about a doctor who had been working in A&E about three or four weeks, she was really angry about the doctor being there, referring to the doctor as 'weirdo'; 'it'; 'him'. 'I remember someone saying 'why can't you live and let live?' She seemed full of anger and hate about this doctor who she had only just met.' During cross-examination by Ms Peggie's lawyer, Naomi Cunningham, the witness agreed she was aware of allegations Dr Upton had 'caused chaos' in a previous job including allegedly complaining about being misgendered by dementia patients and admitted patient confidentiality could have been breached in the group chat, the tribunal heard. Ms Cunningham said: 'Do you agree your regulator places some stress on confidentiality, so sharing patient details, chatting about patients by name on a chat like this would be breach of regulations?' Ms Nicoll said: 'Yes, it would.' The witness provided 10 jokes shared by Ms Peggie regarding flooding in Pakistan, branding them 'racist', but admitted posting a laughing emoji when Ms Peggie posted saying 'Sorry folks if that makes me racist', the tribunal heard. Ms Nicoll said she may have 'enabled' Ms Peggie and that it was 'likely' she had behaved as alleged towards Dr Upton, describing her as 'rude' and 'bigoted', the court heard. Other users of the group chat posted jokes including about the adult baby diaper loving community, the tribunal heard. Ms Cunningham said: 'Do you disagree you were the only member of the Benidorm group who disagrees with Sandie's stance?' The witness said: 'My reason for feeling the way I do is to do with Sandie's views and how she likely behaved to the doctor. I accept everyone has got different views about being in a changing room with a transgender person.' The witness denied she was 'hostile' to Ms Peggie but added: 'It's something I certainly felt strongly about and felt I needed to do.' Messages written by Ms Nicoll were shared, including: 'She's a fanny who is going to end up with a massive payout, I hope she's struck off', and 'if anyone was to ask for statement about Sandie's character I would do it. She should be struck off, I hope she is', the tribunal heard. Ms Cunningham said she was 'attempting to end Sandie's career', but the witness said she felt there was no place for 'bigotry' in nursing. The witness said: 'I've watched her stare in disgust at people walking through an airport in burkas, I've heard her calling a transgender woman a weirdo, and I don't think it's acceptable, no.' She added: 'I think it's important for people to understand Sandie's character, the bigoted racism that Sandie is all for. I don't think there is a place for it in nursing. I think we should be showing people compassion and empathy, and respect, and I don't think Sandie does that.' Ms Peggie will be recalled at the hearing on Tuesday for further questions. The tribunal continues.
Times
2 days ago
- Health
- Times
Sandie Peggie ‘joked about posting bacon to mosque', tribunal told
Lawyers representing NHS Fife in a high-profile employment tribunal have offered evidence from a witness suggesting a gender-critical nurse was Islamophobic and racist. Sandie Peggie is suing the health board for discrimination because she had to share a single-sex changing room with Dr Beth Upton, a male doctor who is transgender. On Monday, Fiona Wishart, an emergency nurse practitioner, told the tribunal she had heard Peggie making 'derogatory' remarks about Dr Upton at a lunch in September 2023, and making 'offensive' comments about a mosque being built in the town. Wishart, who has worked for NHS Fife for 41 years, said: 'I was at a lunch with fellow colleagues. Sandie had made remarks about Beth at the lunch, derogatory remarks.' Wishart said she had forgotten details but was told the comments were 'weirdo', 'freak' and 'it', although she also conceded those specific terms were not used at the lunch, the tribunal heard.
