Analysis by the Wee Ginger Dug (Paul Kavanagh)
Those of us who are old enough to remember when oil first came ashore from the North Sea in 1975 are also able to remember that it was only a very short time later that Scotland was being warned that the oil was running out.
I seem to recall the warning being made during the 1979 election which saw Margaret Thatcher become the UK's first female Prime Minister and Scotland's most loathed, a ranking she still retains despite fierce competition from Boris Johnson.
Yet here we are over 45 years later and not only has the oil not run out, new fields and discoveries are still being developed. The real issue now is not whether the oil is running out, but whether it is prudent to extract it.
Despite being the hosts of the UN COP26 climate change summit in Glasgow in a few months' time, the British Government is pressing ahead with oil extraction from the North Sea.
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