Scottish Video Games Sector Going From Strength To Strength

[selfemployed]

The Scottish video games sector has gone from strength to strength in recent years helped by a number of UK government tax breaks:-

http://www.thenational.scot/busines...tish_video_games_sector_grows_by_27_per_cent/

Can you think of any more up and coming Scottish business sectors apart from maybe mico-breweries which seem to be popping up all over the place.

 

[Businessman]

The video games industry in Scotland is actually quite mature; there are at least half-a-dozen colleges offering relevant courses, some of which are well in excess of a decade old! What Richard Wilson of TIGA actually said was that more needs to be done... And He's not wrong!

Tax breaks? I'd suggest looking more closely at:

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/corporation-tax-creative-industry-tax-reliefs

...Frankly, it's completely irrelevant to most people working in the CIs, and benefits mainly very large money-men-driven projects. The vast majority of workers in the CIs generally are freelancers working on their own. And if you're in that position you'll be lucky if HMRC or the government give you bloody peace to get on with it! - Certainly, don't look for help or a handout; unless you're one of the 'special bairns' who went to the right public school and who's daddy knows who to talk to!

- The games industry has flourished purely off the back of the talent and efforts of the people involved; literally pulling themselves up by the bootstraps. It's not a sector I have any interest in, but more power to them!

Scotland is the fasted growing 'cluster' in this sector, with much of the talent being home grown. But the painful truth is like all the CIs it's grossly over-subscribed, small, and very difficult to get work in! Also, across all the CIs there has been a shift out of London (pricing itself out of the market) which has benefited many other parts of the UK. - That's to be welcomed and encouraged.

http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/...space_in_Scotland_is_crippling_film_industry/

I'm not 100% on-song with this chap, maybe about 70%. - 'Creative Scotland' are more part of the problem than any glimmer of solution; a bunch of delusional - often irrelevant - wasters swanning around in fantasy land. They should be shut down; tomorrow if possible! And the harsh reality is that "film" - glamorous and exciting as it apparently is - isn't really a big part of the overall scene; not as far as nuts and bolts employment goes anyway.

There will be a half-decent sized studio complex built at Straiton soon... Off the back of private investment and effort. Not entirely unsupported by the the Scottish government in a practical sense, but off the back of people's personal efforts. 'film', in the broadest sense, seems to be doing quite well in Scotland... Though some of the more traditional producers seem to be struggling to get things done right!

 

[OnlineSales]

Brexit and possible independence might bring about an interest opportunity for Scotland - a base in the UK with direct access to the European market (tariff free if Scotland was to become a member in its own right). If the authorities put half as much money and effort into for example the gaming sector as they did into these green energy self-sufficient pipe dreams then the Scottish economy might actually benefit. Surely I am not the only one to see the number of wind turbines which do not work in the strongest of winds - while the one next door is whirling around at top speed? Why dont politicians think in a joined up way? Why are they always trying to grab the headlines with ineffective schemes which cost money and will never pay for themselves.

 

[Businessman]

I hope to God the clowns at Holyrood never get to drag us back into the EU. - The UK is simply the first of the rats to see that ship is sinking, France will be next I reckon... 5-10 years at the outside. I think a penultimate picture of the Union of European Soviets will see Germany heading up a cluster of former USSR states and bankrupt husks with Austria and Belgium as their obedient toadies!

I'd object less to the windfarms - and many other vanity projects - if they actually were being being designed and built (and therefore creating genuine jobs) here! - I happen to live not-too-far from a cluster of these things. There is a (two bedroomed) house opposite mine which has, at times, had some eighteen or so foreign 'electrical workers' sleeping in shifts in it while they commissioned certain of these things... The firm started taxi-ing them to and from the site because the street was getting cluttered with the four or five foreign-registered Transit vans the men had obviously travelled overland to here in - and that was attracting attention! The guys were basically 'dossing' in these places, a few of which were dotted within a 5-10 mile radius of the site.

Don't get me wrong... I don't blame the guys for taking the work and doing what's right for their families back home. But equally well, I do know good Electricians (power workers) who have given up their own trades and/or can't get a proper job at all because all the work is going to foreign (EU) firms... Other farces... The Edinburgh Trams - were they built at the Cally? Not a chance - Construcciones y Auxiliar de Ferrocarriles aren't putting food on many Scottish or even British tables!

Why dont politicians think in a joined up way? Why are they always trying to grab the headlines with ineffective schemes which cost money and will never pay for themselves

...Because politicians (of any type or in any setting) are merely players of a game.

Modern politics is dishonest; essentially a synonym for corruption, moral bankruptcy and basic dishonesty... whether it's an office 'kickaround' or the first divisions and international 'premiere league'. The game of politics is of no better moral steersmanship than armed robbery or fraud. - I suspect it was always so!

Part of their game is to lurch from one scandal to another, with a key tactic being to take the public's eyes 'off the ball' long enough for earlier debacles to 'blow over'. there is zero interest in making things better or solving problems.

This is one reason why we have a culture where the 'tail' of statistics wags the dog of reality... To anyone who has had to spend time waiting in a hospital corridor or watching while a relative dies, our NHS is in crisis.

If you speak to almost any clinician (off camera and off the record at least) they'll quickly tell you the reasons why. - But ask a politician and they'll start trotting out vacuous stats to back up their lies and damned lies.

Nothing new, I'm sure we're all familiar with Disraeli's words as popularised by Mark Twain, and the man wasn't wrong in that respect.

Pre-Brexit and post indyref, I was (quite seriously) considering taking up work in Canada when my daughter finishes uni... I'm not alone! Brexit means I'm prepared to wait and see; for a short while at least.

 

[Needhelp]

One prime example is the Scottish government which has been extremely critical of the UK government with regards to military action in the likes of Iraq and Libya. We then find the Scottish government has made numerous attempts to block freedom of information requests with regards to Prestwick airport. It appears that the majority of income for the loss-making airport, which was bought for a pound by the Scottish government, comes from military activity in and out of the airport with particular focus on the US military. Hypocritical or what?

Politicians are all too happy to claim the glory but perhaps we should introduce new legislation that would end each term in office with a balance sheet of funds spent, funds raised and economic activity. Now that would be interesting!

 

[Businessman]

Drilling a little into that story as reported by certain sections of the press ...I'd question the spin on that one.

I did a video for Prestwick about 25 years ago, from my memories of that I can tell you the USAF were using it regularly then and had been since the early 50s. - The actual American base shut in the mid 60s IIRC. But in the days since there has been a fixed operation post there. - Yes, since 2013 the Scottish Government took on the Military contracts, but if they hadn't, existing jobs would have been lost (which would have been a huge scandal)! - And I'm not sure they had the authority to ditch that side of things anyway; defence matters aren't devolved.

Certainly, I'm not defending politicians of any shade - but if they're to be taken down they need to be taken down with facts not 'political spin'; because that is in itself the political game!

 

[MarkB]

In a perfect world politics and business would never mix but in many ways one cannot survive without the other. Hence we get an array swings to the left and right when governments change.