Eradicating child poverty costs nothing in the long term because everything depends on it – the EIGHT research reports supporting the SNP Government’s decision to spend 0.7% of its budget for a future we all benefit from
In the Guardian in December 2024: The news that more than one in three children in the UK are now living in poverty should shock everyone but surprise no one. Nearly three years into the cost of living crisis, we know that young families and disabled people have been among those hit hardest by the biggest fall in UK living standards in half a century. The latest estimates, by the non-partisan Social Metrics Commission, show that the number of people in poverty has risen to 16 million, or nearly one in four of the UK population – its highest level … Continue reading Eradicating child poverty costs nothing in the long term because everything depends on it – the EIGHT research reports supporting the SNP Government’s decision to spend 0.7% of its budget for a future we all benefit from
The BBC did report Professor Dorling more fully and how the Child Payment costs Scotland less than one-percent of its budget but ONLY for its audience in Wales
In October 2023, after Professor Dorling’s fulsome praise for the SNP’s Child Payment, BBC Wales had Prof Danny Dorling, of Oxford University, said the Scottish payment was the most significant attempt to tackle child poverty seen anywhere in Europe since the fall of the Berlin Wall. “It is clearly the most direct way to help people,” he said. “The parents of children, and especially their mothers, are the people who have their interests most at heart,” he said. “So any talk that says that some other method is better is going against all the evidence that we’ve collected for decades. … Continue reading The BBC did report Professor Dorling more fully and how the Child Payment costs Scotland less than one-percent of its budget but ONLY for its audience in Wales
How the SNP’s ‘Biggest success story in social policy in the UK for 40 years and the biggest fall in child poverty anywhere in Europe for at least 40 years’ was effectively hidden for two years, from 90% of you, including me – Some F******g Professor!
A quick, one-day Twitterpoll of 306 suggests that just over 90% of Talking-up Scotland followers had not heard these words, from 2023, reported here two days ago : To my mild embarrassment, I had been aware of him saying something positive about Scotland’s unique child payment, but had not thought to watch the whole comment until being reminded of it by a Freedom of Information report from the Scottish Government last week. Dorling was quite emotional and enormously excited by the initiative. He too had noticed the bias by omission across the MSM. The above poll, only a 100 times … Continue reading How the SNP’s ‘Biggest success story in social policy in the UK for 40 years and the biggest fall in child poverty anywhere in Europe for at least 40 years’ was effectively hidden for two years, from 90% of you, including me – Some F******g Professor!
Trying to light a two-year-old damp squib as police officer injuries fall from 62 to 1 to zero last year
BBC Scotland today, trying to scare the old folk, like me, with a complete failure to inform us. Was there a lot of trouble last year? No. The year before? No. Less than a week ago, that other tabloid medium, the Daily Record tried to light the same damp squib. The answer is the same: On 6 November 2025: Police say there was a “notable” reduction in Bonfire Night disorder with the number of calls received down by 37% across Scotland. Between 31 October and 5 November, 833 calls needed a local or specialist response, almost 500 fewer than last … Continue reading Trying to light a two-year-old damp squib as police officer injuries fall from 62 to 1 to zero last year
BBC UK’s troubled sibling, squirming like a toad in Fort Pacific Quay, is clearly not known to a service that does it quite well from Alaska, heading East, all the way round to Kamchatka
I happened to spot the above in a wee advert for the BBC, reminding us that only it can be trusted to prepare us to go out into the world knowing what faces us. The prevailing south-westerlies must be blowing away from England, the stench of moral decay in Pacific Quay just along the Clyde from a giant sewage works. Is that why they put the BBC Scotland HQ there? Mind you, they got upwind while the big hospital got downwind. BBC Scotland is beyond untrustworthy. Oh, yeh? My granny trusts it so I dae tae! Prove it tae me! … Continue reading BBC UK’s troubled sibling, squirming like a toad in Fort Pacific Quay, is clearly not known to a service that does it quite well from Alaska, heading East, all the way round to Kamchatka
As police officers in England & Wales become ‘too exhausted’ Scotland has 23% more police officers to deal with 17% fewer crimes.
Across BBC TV News and the tabloids including The Sun, today, the above and: FOUR out of every five cops are feeling stressed over workloads, a survey reveals today. And more than three-quarters of them say they are too exhausted to perform their duties properly. The rank-and-file Police Federation of England and Wales has declared a public health emergency in policing. Acting deputy national chairman Paul Williams will today tell its annual conference in London: “Policing is a service making its people sick. https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/40768891/public-health-emergency-policing-stress-exhaustion/ Nothing from BBC Scotland yet but how do the figures compare. Do Scottish cops face as … Continue reading As police officers in England & Wales become ‘too exhausted’ Scotland has 23% more police officers to deal with 17% fewer crimes.
Scottish Government advised care homes to isolate discharged hospital patients three weeks before other three UK nations saving unknown number of lives as nearly 3 000 were lost in England
By stewartb The Covid Inquiry report on care homes identifies multiple, alleged ‘failings’ by government bodies and ministers. But whilst it makes clear the invidious decisions and trade-offs that faced the authorities, it seems to avoid drawing what is – perhaps to the lay person – the obvious conclusion that there was no ideal, harm-free approach to mitigating risks to care home residents AND the wider public needing hospitalisation available to governments across the UK as the pandemic took hold. In terms of mitigating the risks from discharges from hospitals to care homes, this from the Covid Inquiry report is … Continue reading Scottish Government advised care homes to isolate discharged hospital patients three weeks before other three UK nations saving unknown number of lives as nearly 3 000 were lost in England
Due to 40% greater inspection frequency and other factors such as earlier isolation and earlier vaccine delivery, Covid deaths in Scottish care homes were much lower but that cannot be fully demonstrated due to commercial protective secrecy in the sector in England
A quick one. In the period prior to the pandemic, England inspected 8 155 hospitals, care homes and other healthcare-related places with a particular emphasis on infection control in the light of annual flu outbreaks, sometimes deadly. All things being equal with just under a tenth of the population, you might expect the inspections figure in Scotland to be around 820 but it was 1 129, nearly 40% more. Source: https://covid19.public-inquiry.uk/wp-content/uploads/2026/10/19064857/M6_Report_Accessible.pdf Due to this and other factors such as earlier isolation and vaccine delivery, Covid deaths in Scottish care homes were much lower but that cannot be full demonstrated fully … Continue reading Due to 40% greater inspection frequency and other factors such as earlier isolation and earlier vaccine delivery, Covid deaths in Scottish care homes were much lower but that cannot be fully demonstrated due to commercial protective secrecy in the sector in England
Nearly six years ago 5 research studies found scale of Covid deaths was largely due to private care home owners over-reliant on travelling agency staff, denying sick pay to staff and failing to test them in-house
Again, I’ve lost track of how many times I’ve countered that myth about hospital discharges causing care home outbreaks but, one more time quickly: There is no evidence at all that any of the discharges of hospital cases into care homes caused any of the outbreaks in those homes. There are repeated research reports showing that agency staff working in more than one of the, especially, larger corporate-owned homes did, unwittingly, cause the outbreaks. Here’s the evidence again: The charitable MHA with a presence in Scotland did research into its own homes and discovered this: Large numbers of staff could … Continue reading Nearly six years ago 5 research studies found scale of Covid deaths was largely due to private care home owners over-reliant on travelling agency staff, denying sick pay to staff and failing to test them in-house
Not a word on hospital discharges in first of deadly care home inspections in 2020 as care home owners are revealed to be guilty for Covid deaths
In December 2020, as deaths began to rise again in care homes and opposition parties returned to the smell of blood they detected from their ‘common sense’ unqualified notion that hospital discharges must be responsible, the Care Inspectorate applied to cancel the registration of Thornlea Nursing Home in Loanhead Midlothian. There was no mention of hospital discharges as a suspected cause of infections and deaths, by the Care Inspectorate in December 2020 and there is none in the final report released yesterday but there is, ten times, mention of failures of infection control by the staff, often untrained and under-staffed, … Continue reading Not a word on hospital discharges in first of deadly care home inspections in 2020 as care home owners are revealed to be guilty for Covid deaths
