Overheard in the Reporting Scotland ‘war room’ today: FOUR THOUSAND DEAD! OK that’s the headline sorted. FOUR THOUSAND DEAD! OK that’s the opening sentence. What next? Oh we don’t know. Maybe we should inform them on how many just today, whether that’s fewer than last week, how many weeks it’s been falling – that kind of thing? Well OK, if you think that informing them about what’s happening today in the world around them is ‘in the public interest’ but let’s not forget, FOUR THOUSAND DEAD!! We promised Jackson we’d do the FOUR THOUSAND DEAD!! thing. Glenn and Sarah have … Continue reading FOUR THOUSAND DEAD!!! Scare or inform? Reporting Scotland always go ‘SCARE!’

On Reporting Scotland, yesterday: Meanwhile, the chair of the Independent committee scrutinising the way the police have implemented lockdown has told MSPs it’s given the idea of policing by consent ‘fresh life’ and he praised the police for setting up scrutiny of their actions themselves. He told a virtual meeting of Holyrood’s Policing Sub-Committee it was a healthy sign that the committee had been set up by the national force. But, then the independent advisory committee chair, John Scott QC tells us: I’ve been in touch with colleagues in the human rights field in other countries and it appears that … Continue reading Police Scotland ‘ahead of the game’ in human rights-based approach to implementing lockdown.

In the Herald, a Scottish newspaper RIOTS could break out across the UK this summer as the effects of the coronavirus pandemic take hold, a scientific adviser to the UK Government has warned. Professor Clifford Stott, a behavioural expert, said there was a risk of disorder on a scale last seen during the London riots in August 2011 – sparked by the police shooting of Mark Duggan – if urgent efforts were not made by police forces to quell any potential unrest in the neighbourhoods they served. Stott is based at Keele University (Midlands) and is a member of the UK Government’s … Continue reading English expert warns of street riots across England but Herald equates that with ‘UK’

Research published today and covered on the BBC Scotland website, for easy comparison with Reporting Scotland, reveals: Professor Jim Lewsey: Incorporating data from England and Wales into our analysis controls for any changes in sales in a neighbouring region where the legislation was not introduced. We’ve also been able to adjust for other factors, such as household income, sales of alcohol through pubs and clubs and of other drink types. Alongside a range of additional analyses accounting for various other factors, we have demonstrated that the introduction of MUP was associated with a fall in population consumption of off-trade alcohol … Continue reading Alcohol sales increase in England and Wales but SNP policy works to reduce them in Scotland

And it was the heme of Oliver Cromwell who defeated the Scohts at Dunbah. Incorporated Scohtlan into his protectorate and transported the Scohts as slives to the colonies…..snigger snigger hyah hyah from the Tory benches.….Nouw, there’s an ohnswer to the West Lothian Question!….Hoh! Hoh! Donkey Bray from the benches. I’ve typed Frazer’s words out for two reasons. I’t’s hard to make out what she’s saying in that accent and the sound of it might make you boak all over your keyboard. Seriously though, a Tory MP thinks slavery can ever be a laughing matter? A Tory thinks the enslavement of … Continue reading An appalling woman reminds of Scotland’s other slaves

By stewartb: The drinks giant Lucozade Ribena Suntory (LRS), which manufactures Ribena in the UK, has agreed to invest more than half a million pounds over five years in crop research at the James Hutton Institute at Invergowrie near Dundee.  The research programme is to develop new varieties of climate-resilient blackcurrant. LRS reportedly uses around 10,000 tonnes of blackcurrants grown each year in Britain to make Ribena.  James Hutton Institute varieties have an estimated 95% market share in the UK, and for the last 30 years the majority of this crop has been used in the production of Ribena. Blackcurrants … Continue reading Major crop research boost

By Brenda Steele: This is from an exchange between Alex Gallagher and me in Richard Murphy’s excellent Tax Research UK blog: https://www.taxresearch.org.uk/Blog/2020/06/08/scotland-is-not-amused/ I want to fill you in on information related to statements made by one commenter. This is the paragraph in question: Alex Gallagher Also, in case it’s not been noticed south of the border, Sturgeon’s handling of the pandemic has been as bad, even worse in some respects than Johnson’s. It’s not as if we were not warned. Apart from Cygnus, a UK wide review, there were three reports specifically for the Scottish Government, that told of lack … Continue reading Filling-in another house jock

By stewartb: “… Scotland can justly claim to be the pace-setter among the nations of the United Kingdom in opening up opportunities for higher education to all groups in the community”. On 5 June the third Annual Report from the Commissioner for Fair Access to universities and colleges in Scotland was published.  Source: https://www.gov.scot/publications/fair-access-higher-education-progress-challenges/ It reports sustained progress towards meeting the Scottish Government’s nearer term, interim target for ‘fair access’: 16 per cent of new entrants to higher education from the 20 per cent most deprived communities in Scotland by 2021 – “which has already effectively been achieved”. It also … Continue reading Scotland the pace-setter in opening up opportunities for higher education access

By Sam Commenting on a moronic Herald piece by Guy Stenhouse, John observed:”It’s quite clear that in the first few weeks the UK Government’s strategy was herd-immunity and “taking it on the chin”. What is the strategy now? There is informed speculation here.  https://99-percent.org/what-is-the-governments-coronavirus-strategy/ Take a look at the available strategies?  “The four generic strategies are:the laissez-faire strategy – let the virus take its course without interrupting normal economic activity in the hope of building herd immunity quickly and doing minimum damage to the economy;the isolate the vulnerable strategy – as above but find a way to protect those most at … Continue reading Is the UK government moving back to herd immunity?

From the CMO today: Beyond the eight cases already known to be associated with this outbreak, there are three other cases with a genotype that might be linked to this lineage. Of these three cases, two of them are closely associated with samples that came from other cases identified in other countries and have been discounted as having been directly linked to the conference. The third show similarities to those associated with the conference but not direct link to the conference has been established. After this explanation, the CMO concluded This suggests that the actions taken by the IMT to … Continue reading Calls for Shadowy Scottish Secretary to resign after public health team who dealt with Nike Conference infections are shown to have prevented further outbreaks