Scotland’s food and drink exports keep on growing.
Food and drink exports increased by over 11% in the first quarter of 2017, with £1.2bn exported, compared with the same period last year (£124m).
Exports to the EU increased to £50m, making it Scotland’s largest regional export market outside of the UK, North America was the second largest food and drink export destination.
James Withers, Scotland Food & Drink chief executive said, pointing out that Europe was the destination for 70% of Scotland’s food exports:
“Ongoing, smooth access to that market will be critical for our sector’s future. However, we are strongly committed to extending our global footprint well beyond Europe, something that the Scotch Whisky industry had led the way on.
“So it’s very encouraging to see such strong growth in Asia and North America, with rises of 50% to 70% in the value of food sales in those markets so far this year.”
200 new jobs for Motherwell as MB Aerospace lands $1bn deal
Lanarkshire engineering firm MB Aerospace has landed a $1bn (£780m) contract providing flight engine parts to a US company.
Chief executive Craig Gallagher said:
“The MB Aerospace group has already invested more than $50m in machining technology, facilities expansion and in the last year has recruited an additional 100 new full-time employees in support of this growth and ahead of the agreement of this exciting contract.
“Included in our investment in people is a ground-breaking engineering services team of more than 40 technical and programming specialists to support each of our business units from a central hub located in Rzeszow, Poland. We plan to grow this team to at least 100 engineering specialists to support our customers through the intense period of growth facing the industry in the next three to five years.”
“Unprecedented demand” for digital tech jobs in Scotland
Research published on Monday (19th June) by the Digital Technologies Skills Group and Skills Development Scotland has said there is an “unprecedented demand” for digital skills, as Scotland’s digital technology sector is forecast to grow twice as fast as the Scottish economy overall up until 2024.
The report Scotland’s Digital Technologies found that tech professionals are in high demand, as over 90,000 people are already employed in tech roles across all sectors in Scotland, with the top three employment areas are Glasgow City, Edinburgh and West Lothian. Two fifths are employed in tech businesses, but this also covers sectors such as finance, creative industries, engineering and the public sector.
It is estimated that Scotland has up to 12,800 tech job opportunities annually – a 16% increase on previous demand forecasts of 11,000.
Mark Tiffney from Dynamic Core Studios Clydebank writes about Goal Setting vs Goal Achieving.
Are you a list maker or a fly by the seat of your pants kind of person?
If you are the former, chances are you get a little more done than the latter.
Whilst it is not always the case, as some people use list making as a way of procrastinating and avoiding the actual work that needs done, it has been shown that you are 37% more likely to achieve something if you write it down rather than just think it.
When it comes to your health and fitness, goal setting is common. But, it is also commonly done badly.
Firstly, there is a tendency to focus on the negative (what you don’t want) but also, they tend to be wishes rather than serious goals.
When a goal is set on a whim, it is very easily forgotten when something more appealing, with instant gratification, shows up.
So, you may want to ‘lose weight’, but if that’s as far as your goal has gone and there is suddenly an offer of a large slice of amazing looking cake in front of you, you won’t even be thinking about the goal, you’ll be thinking about how good the cake will taste.
When setting goals, fitness or otherwise, if they have meaning; tangible, emotional meaning; they are more likely to stick.
The usual problem with goals is that they are so far away and if they are also vague, then they have little chance of being realized.
The first thing you need to do is make them specific. Something you are very exact about (I want to fit into a size 8 dress in 6 months or I want to be able to run 10km in under 40mins in 4 months for example), you should be able to quantify if you have achieved it and it must be something you believe is realistic.
But more than anything, it must mean something to you emotionally.
It should be something you feel that, by achieving it, your life will be better. That way, when the cake is presented, you have something more exciting to think of and that cake is only going to get in the way, so you don’t want it (rather than having to rely on willpower).
I call this Emotivation.
And you can read more on this here.
So, rather than making lots of goals and following through on very few, try making fewer goals, but make them mean something to you and begin to change your life, one success at a time.
VIDEO: Scotland, its economy, taxes and independence in an interview from Phantom Power with political economist, author and chartered accountant Richard Murphy.
Calling all Business for Scotland Members Online HR are offering members 1 hour free HR advice.
Read BfS Latest: Scottish Government must grasp the thistle and make the case for independence
