When The Herald approached me for its Scotland’s Defence Future series, I was struck by the scale of the effort. Four days of dedicated reporting on strategic threats, industry, politics and the people whose livelihoods depend on defence is not a small undertaking.
I’ll say it here, Herald Political Editor Andrew Learmonth and his colleagues have given this subject the space and seriousness it deserves. This is fantastic.
🚨 @heraldscotland has launched Scotland’s Defence Future, a four-day series on threats, shipbuilding, industry and politics. @UKDefJournal is proud to be part of this effort. Read work by our editor @geoallison as part of the series. https://t.co/Ur6nziAr2N
— UK Defence Journal (@UKDefJournal) September 22, 2025
Those of us who live and breathe defence reporting know the importance of explaining capability gaps, procurement battles or the long cycles of shipbuilding on the Clyde. But there is a danger in thinking the conversation belongs only to specialists. The audience that matters most may be the readers who do not have years of experience or expertise in this field. They bring different questions and perspectives, and their voices deserve to be heard alongside those of seasoned analysts, often more so.
Day two of @heraldscotland‘s Scotland’s Defence Future series looks at the state of Scottish shipbuilding and what the change in spending priorities might mean.
— Andrew Learmonth (@andrewlearmonth) September 23, 2025
Scotland’s role in defence has always been pivotal. From the regiments that gave the British Army its distinct accent to today’s £9 billion defence industry employing tens of thousands across the country, the scale is significant. Yet the real story is about people as much as it is about platforms and budgets. Workers on the Clyde, radar engineers in Edinburgh, and small firms in rural communities are just as much a part of this national debate as politicians and generals.
What makes this conversation urgent is the moment we are living through. Europe faces the most volatile security environment in decades. Russian aggression continues in Ukraine, NATO air policing is now a routine feature of life in the North Atlantic, and the cyber domain is no longer an abstract battleground but one that touches airports, businesses and households. Add to this the UK Government’s pledge to raise defence spending to 5% of GDP by 2035, the biggest financial shift in a generation, and it becomes clear why Scotland’s stake in this debate must be understood.
In this series, I have contributed a piece on shipbuilding, looking at the peaks and troughs of Clyde yards, and the new wave of investment reshaping the industry. That story is one of resilience, renewal and lessons learned the hard way. Scotland’s shipyards have been through decline and revival before, but what is different today is the combination of digital transformation, export ambitions, and strategic urgency.
The Herald truly deserves praise for bringing together such a wide range of voices. In a media environment that often prizes speed over depth, this series is an example of good old fashioned journalism: carefully assembled, designed to inform, and rare nowadays in its scope and ambition.
Defence may sometimes feel remote, but in reality it is close to home: in jobs, in local economies, in national security and in the choices that shape the future. The more people who engage with these issues, the healthier and more grounded our national debate will be.
You can read the full series here: Scotland’s Defence Future
