Forestry Journal:

This piece is an extract from our Latest from the Woods newsletter (previously Forestry Latest News), which is emailed out at 4PM every Friday with a round-up of the week's top stories. 

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WELL, there you have it. Scotland has a 'new' first minister, giving me the rare opportunity to write about political upheaval in the UK for once. 

I jest, of course, and even so soon into today's newsletter I half expect many of you to have closed down the tab and gone off to do something much more fun. Like filling in some Scottish Forestry paperwork. 

For those who have stuck around – and, really, it's not too late to dig out those woodland-creation forms – John Swinney's swearing in as both the leader of the SNP and of Scotland's Parliament will probably not be news.

A former deputy first minister, Mr Swinney was sold as steadying the ship, and resisted the urge to make widespread changes in his first cabinet. That means Mairi Gougeon held onto her role as rural affairs secretary with its forestry brief. 

So, what could he do to win over the voters who will have forestry very much at the forefront of their minds when a Scottish election next takes place?

For starters, restoring the sector's budget – cruelly, shamelessly, needlessly cut in December – to close to its previous levels would win him immediate brownie points, injecting a much-needed confidence boost as the industry fights to reach planting targets generally seen as unachievable now (and they were hardly being delivered on a silver platter before). 

Forestry Journal: Mairi Gougeon held onto her forestry brief Mairi Gougeon held onto her forestry brief

Alternatively, he could address the serious concerns being shared by many in the wake of the decision to effectively ban wood-burning stoves in new-build homes in Scotland; something the sector isn't letting go without a fight. 

In a fresh development, Andy Hill, chair of the Stove Industry Association, said they had lodged a petition at Holyrood looking for a change.

"By effectively banning the permitted use of wood burning stoves in new build properties, the new Standard leaves households extremely vulnerable to total heat loss in the event of a power cut or where there are grid supply issues," he said.

“Furthermore, the [Building] Standard specifies heating technology with higher carbon emissions than a wood burning stove which is fundamentally at odds with the objective of the standard."

Whatever happens, Mr Swinney's time in office is unlikely to pass without interest – an interest you probably share if you've made it this far.