T in the Park organiser Geoff Ellis of DF Concerts reckons the landscape of Scottish festivals could be in line for a major overhaul.

In a radio interview he said it wasn’t looking likely the music festival would return in 2018. And if it does it might be more focussed on rock music and an older audience.

I’m sure loads of you will disappointed to hear it might not be here next year.

But I think there could be benefits – its absence might give other smaller Scottish music festivals a chance to shine while and T in the Park fine-tunes its offering.

T in the Park was Scotland’s largest music festival, attracting 225,000 people and worth more than £40million to the Scottish economy according to a 2012 survey.

For those too young to remember, it started out in 1994 in Strathclyde Park and steadily grew in popularity until it moved to its iconic home in Balado.

But when it later moved to Strathallan in 2015 it was plagued by the largest number of complaints in its history, including planning objections, concerns about nesting ospreys and traffic congestion.

The following year was blighted by the news of the deaths of two people and there were allegations about fights and drug use in the campsite.

I think DF Concerts made the right decision to not go ahead with T in the Park this year and some time for reflection could be really beneficial. It’s wise of them not to commit until they explore the best way to proceed and potentially remodel things.

Because we WANT to see it come back thriving.

It’s not only popular with music lovers, it has created a fantastic opportunity for a range of businesses – from food vans to huge sponsorship deals with the likes of Tennents.

No doubt they’ll be keenly watching to hear fate of the festival.

In the meantime, smaller festivals should seize the opportunity to shout about what they bring to Scotland’s festival line-up.

T in the Park might be a major player on the festival calendar but there are loads of other festivals around Scotland catering for different tastes.

Electric Fields returns for its fourth year on 1 and 2 September, in the grounds of Drumlanrig Castle in Dumfries and Galloway.

Meanwhile Groove Loch Ness takes place where the Rock Ness festival used to call home. This electronic festival takes place on 19 August.

And also in the mix are Belladrum Tartan Heart Festival from 3-5 August in Inverness and Linlithgow’s Party at the Palace on 12 and 13 August.

As well as reimagining T in the Park, DF Concerts has also moved into new festival territory by launching TRNSMT at the start of this month – a non-camping festival on Glasgow Green.

I saw some of the performances on telly last weekend and I must say it was great to see glimpses of Glasgow as the backdrop. The event definitely had a different identity to T in the Park.

This is an exciting time for Scotland’s music festivals and I’m looking forward to seeing how the landscape shifts over the next couple of years and the economic benefits it brings.

 

Side

It’s fantastic news that Scotland’s unemployment rate has fallen to a 25-year low.

According to The Office for National Statistics (ONS), the jobless rate fell to 3.8 per cent between March and May, compared with 4.5 per cent in the previous quarter.

That’s Scotland's lowest rate since comparable records began in 1992.

The massive 19,000 decrease in unemployment to 104,000 in that period means the number of people out of work is back to the levels last seen before the recession.

Meanwhile the number of people in work soared by 25,000.

It’s brilliant to see the Scottish employment rate rising.

It shows that Scottish businesses have been resilient amid the cloud of uncertainty that surrounds Brexit.  They’re continuing to perform exceptionally well as they are now outperforming the wider UK economy.

There was also a slight fall in the number of people classed as economically inactive.  Basically that’s a way of describing people who have stopped looking for work.

That number dropped by 2,000 which is a welcome sign and maybe shows a more optimistic outlook. Scotland – those who have effectively stopped looking for work –and was down by 2,000.

But let’s not bask in the glory just yet because it’s not all rosy.

There are still big challenges for Scottish businesses who are reporting skills shortages and challenges in finding staff with the right skills to aid their growth.

Demand from staff is up across the public and private sectors so we need to look at what we actually do about it.

I’ve said it once and I’ll say it again – never underestimate the importance of investing in training the domestic workforce. This will be vital in ensuring the long term health of the jobs market.

Weep

No doubt the shops have been reaping the benefits of Wimbledon as strawberries have been flying out the door in punnet-loads.

But Wimbledon lost a bit of its sparkle with Andy Murray’s quarter-final defeat by American Sam Querrey – I’m sure I wasn’t the only one yelling at my TV.

We were all routing for him to scoop his third Wimbledon title after what has been a remarkable career.

At least Murray will still get to his retain his world number one ranking for now, followed by Rafael Nadal and Djokovic.

After a season plagued with injury and illness, I wish Andy a speedy recovery in the hope he’s fit enough for the US Open in six weeks' time, though the rumour mill says he could be out for months.

 

 

Laugh

I couldn’t help but laugh as things turned pretty surreal for Southern Rail when it handed the reins of its usually unpopular Twitter account to a 15-year-old schoolboy on work experience.

It’s usually dominated by the complaints of angry commuters.

But when Eddie introduced himself last week and invited questions from its 161,000 followers that all changed. There was a flurry of hilarious and hypothetical queries about what people should have for dinner, Eddie’s personal interests and Wimbledon predictions.

He was so popular he was even invited to chat to Scott Mills and Chris Stark live on BBC Radio 1.

 

Scotrail faced recent criticism over more than half of their trains to Inverness, Balloch and Vale being late - perhaps it’s time it thought about hiring Eddie to appease its social media followers too.