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I HAD a bit of an existential crisis while writing this.
Why? Even as someone who, for their literal job, voraciously consumes news – I struggled for the first 10 minutes-or-so to think of much positive Scottish news in 2024.
In my defence, Google doesn’t help either. Try searching “positive news stories Scotland 2024” and you are met with the internet equivalent of crickets. Oh, and my tweet announcing Good News Scotland – talk about shouting into the ether.
Not the most auspicious of starts to this newsletter, I’ll admit. Put please bear with me!
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To be abundantly clear, I don’t believe Google – I don’t think this is the case. Nor is it, as you will find out below.
But it’s so easy to get stuck in a doom loop in this age of information overload we live in. Especially if you’re as cynical as I can be.
So, to buy some time as I gathered my thoughts, I pawned the task off on my colleagues.
“It has to be Bob [Macintyre] winning the Scottish Open,” fellow political reporter and huge sports fan Steph Brawn told me.
(Image: PA)
In July, the Oban-born golf star took the title he came so heartbreakingly close to winning in 2023. And, in his winning speech, as Steph highlighted – he then movingly expressed his passion and love for Scotland.
A nice choice. It was a great speech, and came just a couple weeks after Bob also won his first PGA tour competition with his dad as his caddy.
Next, it was multimedia journalist Adam Robertson, who is well used to reporting on businesses going bust on the early shift he has made his own during his time at The National.
So it’s perhaps unsurprising he chose the launch of Lost Shore Surf Resort near Ratho, around 25 minutes from the centre of Edinburgh, as his favourite news story of 2024.
(Image: Supplied)
Now Europe’s largest inland surfing destination, Adam went there to test out his own surfing skills in November. And was certainly impressed.
My colleague Lucy Jackson said: “literally anything to do with Haggis.”
No, not the great chieftain o’ the pudding race. Lucy is talking, of course, about the birth of the tiny endangered pygmy hippo calf by that name at Edinburgh Zoo in November.
(Image: RZSS)
Scotland’s answer to the supremely viral Moo Deng was described as “fugly” by a Saturday Night Live host (how dare they!) but has since undergone a bit of a glow up.
The National’s editor Laura Webster, meanwhile, picked the news from January 2024 that a new study had found no cervical cancer cases in HPV-vaccinated women in Scotland.
My boss described it as an “amazing medical success story”.
And indeed it is – signalling that the fourth most common cause of cancer in women worldwide could eventually become a very rare disease.
As these responses filtered through, as if by magic, I started to think of some positive stories and developments of my own.
In September, safe access zone legislation was finally passed in Scotland, banning people from protesting against abortion outside clinics or hospitals (below) offering the service.
(Image: PA)
Gillian Mackay – the MSP who spearheaded the legislation – has hailed it as a “crucial moment for reproductive rights” as women will now be protected against harassment and intimidation from demonstrators when accessing abortion care.
While the cynic in me wonders why it took so long, Post Office workers impacted by the Horizon IT scandal will finally see some justice.
Oh, and while I could wax lyrical about some of the less positive policies brought in by the new Labour Government – they have scrapped the cruel Rwanda plan. Hopefully, we won’t see that plan, or something similar, rear its head anytime soon.
(Image: PA)
Almost every week, we are reminded of all the exciting developments when it comes to Scotland’s green energy industry.
In September, for example, our renewable electricity generation hit record highs.
Scotland’s offshore wind potential looks particularly promising.
We all know about Scotland’s stunning nature – and it’s nice when it is recognised and protected.
So, I was particularly pleased to hear the news in July that the Flow Country in Caithness and Sutherland (above) has become the world’s first ever peatland site to gain UNESCO world heritage status.
It became Scotland’s first natural world heritage site as well, joining a very exclusive list including The Grand Canyon and The Great Barrier Reef.
(Image: Saving Wildcats)
In conservation news, two wildcats (above) released into Cairngorms National Park gave birth in June, marking a major milestone for wildcat recovery in Scotland – a species which in 2018 was deemed to be on the verge of extinction.
In the world of sport, Scottish runner Jasmin Paris made history by becoming the first woman to finish one of the world’s hardest ultramarathons in March.
And while it’s awful it came to this, it was really heartwarming to see the 19 medical students from Afghanistan arriving safely in Scotland in August to continue with their studies after the Taliban imposed an education ban for women in their home country.
It’s another example of great work from our third sector – in this case the Linda Norgrove Foundation charity.
Now, the list could truly go on and on – and I’m sure I’ve missed some absolutely key ones. But I hope you get the gist.
There really are an abundance of positive stories happening every day across Scotland once you cut through the (yes, often still important) negative noise.
And Good News Scotland is here to be that positive filter.
Every first Monday of the month, I will do my best to bring you the previous month’s positive developments — both big and small.
Remember to sign up here if you haven’t already!
If there’s anything you think should be included, please don’t hesitate to ping me an email: james.walker@newsquest.co.uk