Significantly fewer Scots dissatisfied with social care services but Royal College of Nursing lies to deny Scottish Government any possible satisfaction
Treat negativity about Scotland’s NHS and social care services with healthy scepticism: evidence of the Royal College of Nursing being plain wrong and opting to omit relevant positives. My apologies to stewartb but I’ve used my perhaps unattractive unilateral editorial powers to replace his more mature header above with my more combative version at the top! By stewartb When political advocacy in advance of a parliamentary election takes by its own admission, a ‘gloves off‘ tone, it seems reasonable to point out a clear error in case-making. The Royal College of Nursing (RCN) recently published this report: ‘The Nursing Workforce … Continue reading Significantly fewer Scots dissatisfied with social care services but Royal College of Nursing lies to deny Scottish Government any possible satisfaction
Massive fall in violent crime in Scotland especially among younger adults as lead pollution disappears
There is a clear positive trend revealed in the data above from Re-conviction statistics for male offenders: FOI release published today. Violent crimes over the eight year period from 2012/13 to 2020/21, among under 21s fell from 181 to 44, more than three-quartered! For 21 to 30 year-olds from 492 to 231, it more than halved! Then, however, for all of the over 30 years groups, there were much more modest improvements. What might explain this? On 1 January 2000, lead in petrol was banned in the UK, when Scotland’s under 21s and 21s to 30s were still very young … Continue reading Massive fall in violent crime in Scotland especially among younger adults as lead pollution disappears
Restore Britain’s position – You live in England, you speak English
By Liz S Rupert Lowe , an English Nationalist , has now created a new party that he has called ‘Restore Britain‘. Reading his many daily posts on ‘X’ you will see how often he sees England and English as the same as Britain and Britishness , as for him there seems to be no distinction between the two. Yesterday he wrote (yet another) long post about Councils , Reform UK ones, “spending hundreds of thousands of pounds on foreign language translation” He concluded his post in stating this: “Let me be clear about Restore Britain’s position. We would scrap ALL foreign language … Continue reading Restore Britain’s position – You live in England, you speak English
Top History Professor says ‘All of my students must use AI’ – Me too!
Regulars will have noted that TuS has been making increased use of AI in the last year or so and getting some criticism of that. I understand why many are concerned but my view is that this is another technology, like those before, we must master, a ‘tiger we must ride.’ Famous last words perhaps but we humans didn’t get where we are, on top because we are the meanest SOBs on the planet, just to let our own technology replace us. If we, crucially, educate or young to use it carefully, it can massively enhance their lives but when … Continue reading Top History Professor says ‘All of my students must use AI’ – Me too!
Nurses fight for band 7 status after missing out on £9,000 pay rise in NHS Wales but are they treated any better in Scotland?
From Nursing Standard on 7 May 2026, the above and: A group of 100 health visitors are taking to picket lines for two more months after their NHS employer ‘refused to acknowledge’ a job evaluation appeal that would see them get a pay increase of up to £9,000. The specialist nurses, who work at the Cwm Taf Morgannwg University Health Board (CTMUHB ) in south Wales, are fighting for their Agenda for Change (AfC) pay band to be increased from a 6 to a 7 after a job evaluation outcome found in their favour. 1 You know what’s coming? Does he never … Continue reading Nurses fight for band 7 status after missing out on £9,000 pay rise in NHS Wales but are they treated any better in Scotland?
HS2 despite chopping link to Scotland to take 2 to 3 times as long as Japanese and French equivalents AND now go even slower – Con and Labour governments not to be blamed as it’s not a Scottish ferry is it?
From BBC UK today: The failings surrounding the HS2 rail project are partly due to a focus on achieving the highest possible speeds and political pressure for progress on the scheme, a review is expected to find. The scheme has been undergoing a “reset”, and in March Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander asked HS2 bosses to look at lowering top speeds to save money. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c936xeeye41o This comes on top of an earlier, though not much, admission of failure. From BBC England 29 December 2025: HS2 has confirmed that its aim to get trains running between Birmingham and London between 2029 and 2033 “cannot be … Continue reading HS2 despite chopping link to Scotland to take 2 to 3 times as long as Japanese and French equivalents AND now go even slower – Con and Labour governments not to be blamed as it’s not a Scottish ferry is it?
RCN Scotland’s claim of ‘unsafe’ patient loads on nurses ignores NHS Scotland’s far higher staffing level per patient
As the Royal College of Nursing launches research claiming ‘Two-thirds of NHS nurses believe lack of staff is putting patients at risk, survey finds’ and ‘across the UK’, at their conference in Liverpool today, their Scottish branch continues to ignore, conceal, the facts on staffing. In the Herald today, there’s no mention of this crucial context their readers might need: There are 67 700 nurses in NHS Scotland as of March 2025 figures. 1 To compare meaningfully, you know the drill, all things being equal in terms of patient load per nurse, but with 10 times the population, NHS England … Continue reading RCN Scotland’s claim of ‘unsafe’ patient loads on nurses ignores NHS Scotland’s far higher staffing level per patient
Scotland’s environment agency is TWICE as effective in closing illegal waste dumps
BBC UK and other MSM this morning reporting on illegal waste dumping ‘loopholes’, do not refer to the situation in Scotland. Their reports are based on this from the UK Government, published today: New reforms are set to tighten the net on waste criminals with tougher sentences for those illegally dumping waste, and advanced background checks to help put rogue operators out of business. As part of the major crackdown on waste criminals, underpinned by the government’s Waste Crime Action Plan, laws being laid this week will require waste handlers to prove they are qualified to transport waste. The current registration system is broken and outdated, relying on a basic registration process with limited identity and background checks. This has been exploited by rogue operators with a poor track record of dumping waste and … Continue reading Scotland’s environment agency is TWICE as effective in closing illegal waste dumps
Eurovision – When they see ‘United Kingdom’ they think ‘ENGLAND’ and ‘nil point’
I’ve had to correct the above because while governments and top politicians know to call it the UK, hardly anyone else from Portugal to Bulgaria does. After centuries of the UK’s elites and those Celts co-opted to it, self-referring to it as ‘England’, that’s what 99% of Europeans and beyond call it. Protests against the UK in Tehran chant against ‘Inglesi’. Here are typical examples: Source: https://www.indifferentlanguages.com/words/england So, the voters see this mad eccentric singing for the so-called UK and they think, straight-off, ‘English, no votes for you.’ Why? They’ve learned to hate England. Here’s are some reasons: Here are … Continue reading Eurovision – When they see ‘United Kingdom’ they think ‘ENGLAND’ and ‘nil point’
Talking-up Scotland 