Ludo Thierry Beeb Scotland is carrying the Scotrail improved timetable story – but – in this reader’s view – NOT offering the story the same sort of prominence that we routinely see with their more frequent ‘Scotrail Are Rubbish’ (and Scotland by extension is also rubbish) pieces. Anyway – In view of the major improvements Scotrail has announced (including opening the NEW station at Robroyston) it is clear that HUMZA MUST GO!. Link and snippets below: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-50652437 ScotRail has vowed that the latest changes to timetables across the country will add 10,000 extra seats for passengers each day. The improvements, … Continue reading Trains, trains and more trains but BBC Scotland grudging

Ludo Thierry Hi all – This beeb article which gives favourable mention to First Minister Nicola Sturgeon (and, positively, brackets Nicola with 2 other national leaders – those of Iceland and New Zealand) was cunningly positioned in the beeb Science pages! – If the story did appear on the beeb Scotland pages then I certainly missed it – and so must a heck of a lot of us). Beeb Science webpage comes up trumps again. Link and snippets below: Iceland’s prime minister has urged governments to adopt green and family-friendly priorities, instead of just focusing on economic growth figures. Katrin … Continue reading First Minister praised

Ludo Thierry Another (sensible and socially just) brick was, today, cemented in place in the edifice of the New and Better Scotland we are, together, building. Get out there and vote SNP folks, bring that better future another step closer still. Link and snippets below: Private schools are to have their charitable status removed and be made to pay business rates, the Scottish government has confirmed. The announcement means the schools will no longer get relief of up to 20% on their bills for non-domestic rates. The change, recommended three years ago, will come into effect on 1 September next … Continue reading Scottish private schools to pay their way

‘Children are dying in a new Glasgow hospital BECAUSE the water’s contaminated perhaps by pigeon droppings.’ In a tirade of interruptive distortions and inaccuracy, the above claim stood out for me as best representing the malice of the corpulent long-tied Neil. I’m guessing expensive private health-care, funded by licence-payers is keeping that ‘body’ alive. Children ARE dying in Glasgow hospitals, but NONE have had their deaths caused by water-born infections. They have died sadly BECAUSE OF prematurity, cancer and other conditions. No competent medic has claimed otherwise. Only ambulance-chasing ‘journalists’ posing as health correspondents, at BBC Scotland and at the … Continue reading Andrew Neil hard to stomach as he LIES shamelessly on hospital deaths

The crimes of Nazi Germany were appalling beyond our worst nightmares. The suffering of the Jewish people goes on today. The contemporary crimes of the Israeli State are appalling and should be condemned but they are not the product of Nazism. They are the typical product of liberal democracies throughout history as they rationalise the defence of their supposed liberties against the demands of those whose lands they have stolen, dehumanise them and, over time, massively escalate their punishment of them if they fight back. We’ve seen it in the ethnic cleansing of the Gaels and the Irish but, far … Continue reading Naming Israel a Nazi State was stupid, insensitive AND unnecessary. Liberal democracies are the most brutal and oppressive to others

From 2017, I know. If there has been a recent surge in Scotland, you’ll tell me. The Community Security Trust (CST), a charity which monitors anti-Semitism, recorded 1,382 anti-Semitic incidents nationwide in 2017.’ I had a look at the actual report, as opposed to their press release. On page 34, I found that there had been 1 382 incidents in the UK in 2017 up 3% from 1 346 in 2016 and there had been a 34% increase in physical assaults from 108 in 2016 to 145 in 2017. On the same page of the report, I found a breakdown … Continue reading Ant-semitism in Scotland: Evidence

We’ve all known for some time, in a general sense, that a hard Brexit will punish food exporters but, today, I found out in more detail and the costs seem unsustainable. Looking at the WTO Tariff Download Facility, you can get the tariffs for any product being exported into any country from any other country, using either WTO rules or, if you have a trade deal in place, some kind of favoured nation status. Before proceeding it’s worth noting that EU Most Favoured Nation status seems pretty unlikely for the UK: ‘Most Favoured Nation clauses contained in EU’s trade agreements … Continue reading Voting Conservative in Ayrshire is business unfriendly as their promised support for a Boris Brexit means these devastating costs for farmers, fishermen and food exporters

In the Herald today: ‘MIDDLE-CLASS pupils are paying the price for sweeping school reforms, a leading educationalist has warned, as Scotland’s performance in maths and science hit a record low in international rankings.Lindsay Paterson, professor of education policy at Edinburgh University, said the gap in reading level between rich and poor children has narrowed over the last decade partly because the performance of the better-off is falling.’ After 30 years in schools, teacher education and in university research, I can tell you that falling Pisa results in reading for middle-class children cannot be simply attributed to SNP education reforms such as the Curriculum for … Continue reading Bean-counter uses widely rejected Pisa data to attack SNP education policy again

In the desperate struggle for readers and clicks, the Herald tries to make something negative out of nothing at all: ‘The latest workforce statistics show that more GPs than ever before are being paid a salary instead of earning their income as an independent contractor, in a sign of the strain facing the profession.’ From my lefty perspective on the NHs and other things, that looks like good news. We don’t want any more ‘independent contractors’ motivated by profit, do we? Anyhow, McArdle has previous. On the 28th November, she told us that there were ‘unsafe’ staffing pressures on nurses, … Continue reading The Herald vs BBC Scotland battle for ‘Mencken Sickness Correspondent 2019’ continues as GP numbers increase but only in Scotland