Yesterday the Sun headlined: DARK WAGES Nearly 37,000 Scots workers may have been paid less than the minimum wage last year BBC Scotland headlined: Almost 37,000 Scots paid less than minimum wage Spot the mistakes? Yes, 37 000 ‘may have been’ paid less than the minimum wage is important. Both were reporting on a UK-wide Citizens Advice survey and both stupidly accepted that you could just work out the Scottish figure as a percentage of the UK total because, presumably, Scotland is essentially the same just smaller. So, the Sun headline is more accurate. There’s one for the defenders of the … Continue reading Sun headline on low pay is more accurate than BBC Scotland headline but both reports are ill-informed

This is a political drive by vested interests including teacher unions trying to preserve jobs in unpopular subjects and by opposition politicians try to score points against the SNP. Neither really cares about the pupils or learning. From a non-partisan Irish perspective, here’s what forcing all pupils to study too many subjects at the same time can mean: Secondary students are confronted with “too much content, too many subjects”, and are not getting enough time and space for genuine learning or reflection, according to school heads. The National Association of Principals and Deputy Principals (NAPD) said that Irish students were … Continue reading Growing calls to allow ‘SNP’ education policy to be implemented and for pupils to be allowed to learn

In the Herald yesterday: Scotch beef is being sold in Canada for the first time in nearly 24 years.Aberdeen Angus is on the menu at steakhouse Jacobs & Co in Toronto, Ontario, making it the first Canadian restaurant to sell Scotch beef since a ban [due to mad cow disease or BSE] on UK beef imports was imposed in 1996. https://www.heraldscotland.com/news/18125199.scotch-beef-returns-menu-canada-ban-imports/ Scotland and Northern Ireland were given Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE) negligible risk status in May 2017. The last confirmed case in Scotland was in 2002. The last case in England was in 2012. England is not due to have … Continue reading SNP credited with fight against beef bans!

Headlining in the Herald today: Architect? Bloomer was just a member of the review group which wrote Curriculum for Excellence. He was Director of Education in Clackmannanshire. His last ‘pamphlet’ on education was 20 years ago. He chairs a think-tank, Reform Scotland, also light on research or educational credibility, and, as often before, loves to be in the media presenting himself as some kind of guru. As with that old bacteria guy the BBC love to use in NHS Scotland attacks, Bloomer is an always-willing helper when the Herald or the Telegraph want some clickbait. ‘Urgent halt?’ Why is no … Continue reading Confused member with limited recent experience attacks Scottish curriculum

From the BBC today: Thousands more NHS patients and visitors will be able to access free hospital car parking, the government says.From April, all 206 hospital trusts in England will be expected to begin offering the concession in line with the government’s manifesto promise. Those with the “greatest need” will benefit. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-50903266 We’ve already heard the first CE complain that the money will have to come from the existing budget, harming frontline services but no affecting his bonus. In the Herald in February 2018: ‘More than 2,000 NHS staff await parking permits. The Scottish Government has been urged to carry out … Continue reading Conservatives grant free parking to hospital staff in England IF they’re on night-shift while SNP ‘deny’ only 1.39% a free space!

Who wrote this drivel? Ah, that’s not in the public interest. There are 13 745 medical and dental staff employed by NHS Scotland as of September 2019 of whom 576 are dental staff so around 13 000 doctors. https://www.isdscotland.org/Health-Topics/Workforce/NES-Publication/ There are 5 049 GPs in Scotland as of September 2019. Click to access 2019-12-03-GPWorkforce2019-Summary.pdf So, the BMA (a trades union not ‘doctors’ leaders’) survey was responded to by 800 out of around 18 000 or 4.4%. Remember this wasn’t even a structured sample designed by social scientists but just the 800 who were sufficiently bothered to respond because, presumably, they … Continue reading BBC Scotland/BMA researchers exposed as nincompoops by Jamie, 15, Dumbreck Academy

In the Herald today Hannah Rodger presents Miles Briggs to rant unconvincingly about documents the Herald claims to have ‘uncovered’ where the ‘lead infection control doctor’ said ‘it is possible the dialysis point was the source’ but also that the fungus could be ‘ubiquitous’ and ‘present in the air.’ For some reason, this possibility raised back in June is presented as a contradiction. Of course, Briggs uses this familiar platform to attack both the Health Secretary and the First Minister. Readers will know that his bosses in England are never blamed for the third-world conditions they have produced across many … Continue reading Herald colludes with Tories to wrongly malign Scottish Hospital in now desperate proxy war on the SNP

In March 2019, BBC Scotland made much of this story based, as often before, on the uninformed anxiety of relatives: Prosecutors are investigating the death of a third patient at a Glasgow hospital. Mito Kaur, 63, was one of two patients affected by a fungal infection, Mucor, at the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital. Two other patients died after contracting a separate fungal infection linked to pigeon droppings. An inspection of the hospital published last week raised concerns about levels of cleanliness. Ms Kaur was admitted to the hospital on 7 January and died at 02:00 on Thursday, a day before her 64th … Continue reading BBC Scotland FAILS to report when investigation shows patient was NOT killed by fungal infection

In the Independent yesterday: The amount of land being used to build new homes in England’s most flood-prone areas has more than doubled in a year, figures reveal. Countryside activists have said the increase signalled future flooding misery for homeowners and headaches for insurance companies. And they blamed successive governments for forcing councils to accept development without flood risk surveys and without obligatory water-management measures. https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/flood-land-homes-houses-insurance-development-cpre-a9243001.html As far back as 2006, researchers at the English College of Estates Management, whose patron is HRH Prince of Wales, made a number of highly encouraging comments about the achievements of the Labour-run Scottish Executive, SEPA and the … Continue reading As Tory England rushes to build on flood-plains what is the situation in Scotland?

Headlined in the Guardian on Christmas Day 2019: Thousands of children in care are increasingly being placed in homes that are illegal or unregulated, in what critics have labelled a national scandal, a Guardian investigation has found. A lack of places to house vulnerable children in the UK is prompting a surge in placements that are less safe. These include those that are unregulated or not registered with Ofsted. MPs, the police, charities and the children’s commissioner warn that children accommodated in these homes are at risk of exploitation from sexual predators and drug gangs. https://www.theguardian.com/society/2019/dec/25/revealed-thousands-children-care-unregulated-homes As always, the report conflates … Continue reading On Christmas Day we hear of how Tory England betrays its children but nothing of how SNP Scotland does not