Last week, the Herald knocked it out of the park with its special reports on AI and the explosion of data centre applications in Scotland.

By the nature of AI’s hyper-rapid development, not just the public, but policy makers and, yes, trade unionists must wrestle with a range of competing issues at an uncomfortable pace. Just as AI itself has us weighing up significant benefits against very significant potential harm, the data centres that drive them throw up massive conundrums too.

That the construction of these colossi presents major issues for communities and the wider environment is beyond doubt. Vicky Allan covered this admirably in ‘Six campaigns that tell the story of Scotland’s data centre backlash’ last week. There are also undoubted potential benefits in terms of local employment and Scotland-wide economic growth. Job creation is not to be sniffed at, particularly given the relatively bleak industrial picture we currently see. It is highly unlikely that policy makers will find a one-size-fits-all solution. Given this, and while there is an understandable desire across many sectors of the economy to accelerate planning consents, it is right that Parliament has, in effect, agreed to a 12-month pause.

For many, a central factor in weighing the pros and cons in this debate is the quantity and quality of the employment and local benefit data centres will provide.

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