The number of new tech companies set up in Scotland rose by 77 per cent in 2017, a report has found.

There were 440 software development and programming businesses incorporated in Scotland last year, a 77 per cent increase on the 249 companies set up in 2016.

Analysis by RSM found that UK-wide there were 10,016 technology businesses incorporated in 2017, with year-on-year rises recorded in every region.

Ross Stupart, partner at RSM in Edinburgh said: “These figures show very clearly that despite the fears of a post-referendum slowdown, Scotland’s tech sector is growing at a healthy rate.

“There are a number of reasons for this. Scottish universities are playing a key role in developing and nurturing exceptional talent and we continue to attract the world’s brightest and best. Organisations such as EIE, FutureX Innovation, Start-up dinners, Turing Festival and Entrepreneurial Scotland are also contributing significantly in creating a vibrant and supportive tech eco-system.

“Entrepreneurs are able to gain good access to finance, either through traditional sources of debt at relatively cheap rates, or from venture capitalists, angel networks and private equity funds.

“The UK’s tax regime is also proving to be an incredibly powerful tool in encouraging tech businesses, who take advantage of legitimate tax saving and incentive programmes. These include the Research & Development tax credits, video games tax relief and the Patent Box regime. The Enterprise Investment Scheme also provides valuable tax reliefs to investors which helps earlier stage tech businesses raise funding.”

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Nothing can kill the Saw franchise. Bloody Disgusting reports that Jigsaw writers Pete Goldfinger and Josh Stolberg are plugging away at yet another Saw sequel, which will yet again pit a group of hapless saps against a series of deadly traps. Michael and Peter Spierig, who directed Jigsaw, will not be returning, which means this latest Saw sequel will need someone new at the helm.

The Saw franchise primarily focuses on John Kramer (Tobin Bell), AKA Jigsaw – a civil engineer who has a lot of issues. Jigsaw was dying of cancer, and his brush with death inspired him to start punishing people who failed to appreciate their lives. This entailed kidnapping scores of people, locking them away in rusty, damp warehouses, and putting them through a serious of Rube Goldberg-like traps. Jigsaw’s whole M.O. included the ludicrous claim that he himself never killed anyone – his victims inevitably killed themselves. That’s technically true, but they only did so after being strapped into hazardous death traps created by Jigsaw himself. Jigsaw technically died at the end of Saw III, with Saw IV opening with his grisly autopsy. Yet even after his death, the series kept finding new ways to bring him back.

I know the Saw franchise has its fans, but I’ve always held the series at arm’s-length. The first film, directed by James Wan, is a pretty good, low-key indie horror film with some clever moments. The numerous sequels, however, became increasingly bonkers and resorted to jumping through hoops and foregoing any sort of logic in order to maintain some sort of continuity.

The Saw series originally spanned seven films between 2005 and 2010. Every Halloween season, a new Saw film would come out, and despite each film dropping in quality, audiences still turned out. The Saw franchise went into hibernation after 2010’s Saw 3D, AKA Saw: The Final Chapter. But in 2017, Lionsgate decided to revive the series with Jigsaw. Rather than a straight-up reboot, Jigsaw attempted to continue the ongoing Saw story for a whole new generation. The results were…mixed. Jigsaw is pretty stupid, but I have to admit, the film’s big third act twist is so ridiculous, and so implausible, that I sort of appreciated it.

There’s absolutely nowhere for the Saw story to go after Jigsaw, but I’m sure Goldfinger and Stolberg will figure something out. Perhaps they’ll reboot the franchise entirely. Perhaps they’ll go back in time. Perhaps they’ll send Jigsaw to space. Anything goes with Saw!</s>From a standing start two decades ago, Scotland's business organisations have shown themselves to be exceptionally adept at engaging with devolved politics - although a few individual business leaders still remain remarkably naïve about the democratic motive which drives political decisions.

Further, there can be different perspectives within business: for example, between those representing large firms and those speaking up for smaller outfits.

However, one thing tends to unite all sectors of the disparate business community. They would like our politicians to focus more upon economic growth. Less about the distribution of wealth and more about its creation in the first place.

Such was the clamour once more today as new GDP figures for Scotland were published. But there was also a revival of a controversy which seems set fair to be one of the defining characteristics of political discourse in coming years. Alongside, of course, the ever-present Brexit.

And those figures? Not disastrous by any means. A fourth consecutive quarter of economic growth, with the stats for the final phase of 2017 revealing an increase in GDP in Scotland of 0.3%.

Not bad, then. But by no means good, as business organisations and economic commentators have noted.

The Q4 figure for Scotland still lags slightly behind the figure for the UK as a whole. As does a comparison of the year as a whole, with the previous year. In that scenario, the Scottish economy grew by 0.8%, compared with 1.8% for the UK.

Looked at a different way, Q4 2017 compared with Q4 2016, the figure for Scotland is 1.1%. For the UK as a whole, it is 1.4%. However the sums are done, then, Scotland is lagging behind a UK performance which in itself is scarcely stellar.

Most observers note a particularly poor recent performance in the construction sector. As indicated earlier, all business organisations urge our politicians to co-operate and to concentrate upon policies and practices which enhance the economy.

Which brings us to that fundamental political discourse. The word today from the Tories, both in Holyrood opposition and in Westminster government, was "tax".

They argued, collectively and singly, that there are many remedies which could be essayed in an effort to improve Scotland's performance.

But they added that such efforts would only be hindered by the increase in the overall income tax burden which is about to kick in from the end of this week as a consequence of Scottish government decisions.

In response, Scottish ministers say that their tax decisions were moderate and responsible. That they were designed, further, to counter austerity - and thus stimulate the economy.

They outline measures they have put in place, including plans for a National Investment Bank. They cite the challenge of Brexit - countered by the Tories, who say Brexit will affect the whole UK. That it is up to Scotland as a whole to make the best of "opportunities" outside the EU.

In essence, there, you have the core contentions which will develop between the SNP and the Conservatives in the run-up to the next elections.

There are, of course, many other elements. There are counter offers from Labour, the Liberal Democrats and the Greens, with variations upon spending, tax and Brexit. But there remains one fundamental controversy. Given the wider economic context, Brexit and all, will those new tax plans help or hinder the Scottish economy?
A report reveals that 2017 saw over ten thousand new businesses in the technology sector throughout the United Kingdom, with all areas seeing growth over 2016. Scotland saw a 77% increase with 440 new firms.