From cuckooshoe
Yesterday, the BBC’s political editor Chris Mason wondered
For a party that has been in government in Scotland for 15 years, they continue to defy gravity: despite strong criticisms of their record on the NHS and schools, the highest rate of death from drugs in Europe and ferry orders that are late and over budget, they keep doing miles better in elections than anyone else in Scottish politics.”
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-63209674
Wonder no more Mr Mason….
Since the SNP came into government, every home in Scotland has benefitted from SNP policies.
From free tuition, to record health funding and the Baby Box, we have taken bold steps to build a fairer, greener and more equal Scotland – despite the limited powers and budgets of devolution.
Here’s 100 of our top achievements.
https://www.snp.org/record/
Talking-up Scotland 
This is where the “Ah, but …” argument gets deployed. If you list the benefits arising from the period of SNP Government, reporters switch rapidly to the “Ah, but … ” mode and list and emphasise the downsides as if the existence of downsides means that any positives are of no value. It is a variation of the ‘perfectionist fallacy.
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Taking a couple of comparable NHS statistics, Scotland has consistently performed better than any other UK NHS in the 4 hour Accident and Emergency area and has long had the highest percentage of its population vaccinated one, two and three times against Covid.
Let’s not get carried away over a couple of Scottish Government ferries (that have saved commercial shipbuilding in Scotland) when we have two UK Government aircraft carriers and a fleet of Type 45 vessels for comparison.
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… which even at the increased cost on completion, both “Fiasco” ferries will be 25% the original cost of ONE type 45…
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But we are not allowed to compare ourselves with other ‘regions’ of the UK say the ScotTories because it should be the dire performance of the Scottish Government that should concern us and not what the rest of the UK is doing. Which makes me smile when you take into consideration that they (ScotTories) most certainly would want us to be overtaken by the very government that we seem to be doing better than in every public service.
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Funnily enough, Sky’s reporter in Aberdeen yesterday morning, came out with the same line of “Defying Political Gravity” as though it was some magic trick the SNP were pulling rather than people voting for them.
He then went on to list his perceived failures from what I remember, of Drug Deaths, NHS Waiting Times and of course Ferries!
It seems both the BBC and Sky were reading from the same UK Government supplied script.
Bunch of wallies 🙂
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”Defying gravity ”?
No , simply not hard-hearted Tory B*stards or cowardly , Tory-lite Labour chancers !
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Well as drug policy is controlled by Westminster i’m surprised it was mentioned , now it has been hopefully it won’t be long before it’s run the way conditions in Scotland demand .
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Problem is most people don’t know drugs policy is WM controlled, as with many governmental powers. I would love the Scottish parliament to do a leafelt staing every single power they have, and every single power the EngGov controls in Scotland, and put it through every door before and do it beginning 2023.
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‘… despite strong criticisms of their record on the NHS and schools, the highest rate of death from drugs in Europe and ferry orders that are late and over budget ..’
The shallowness of understanding and therefore of analysis available from the BBC’s political editor here is in full view.
And at root is the BBC’s inability – more likely its determined unwillingness – to present the Scottish Government, its achievements and its failings, in context. And its unwillingness to address the ‘perspective void’ that characterises BBC coverage of Scotland. All this despite its supposed politically neutral, balanced and public service position.
1) ‘despite strong criticisms’ – all governments in a democracy – all parties of government – get ‘strong criticisms’ from opponents who want them out of office as well as from supporters who want them to more, more quickly or differently. We expect more from a ‘political editor’ than the self-evident!
2) ‘record on the NHS’ – I wonder if – to gain perspective – the BBC’s political editor has EVER spent say one hour genuinely, honestly comparing and contrasting NHS performance data from England, NI, Scotland and Wales.
And he surely(?) must know the crucial context: the severe constraints on the budgets of governments in Belfast, Cardiff and Edinburgh are NOT and NEVER experienced by the government responsible for NHS England!
3) ‘record on schools’ – one wonders what the BBC’s political editor knows about the nature of education in Scotland. Has he just heard opposition politicians repeat ‘PISA” endlessly!
(On Newsnight yesterday, the BBC’s Ms Wark was claiming failure to close the attainment gap in Scotland based on a statistical comparison of 2022 exam results with the previous year’s teacher assessed grades – and she got away with it!)
4) ‘drug deaths’ – apart from recent improvements in the statistics due to actions taken by the Scottish Government and others, most people in Scotland have a sense of the underlying causes of such social ills and don’t attribute them just to the past 15 years or to the SNP.
They know that Scotland is not alone in having social and health problems although they wish them to be solved. And they know that Westminster has refused to permit the introduction of drug consumption facilities.
Many voters in Scotland do know about context and have a sense of perspective on this drugs issue and many others too!
5) ‘ferries’ – has the BBC’s political editor NEVER read even the executive summaries of a long string of National Audit Office reports on Westminster’s procurement track record?
Given how little coverage of Westminster’s awful track record we learn about from the BBC, probably not!
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Scots allow for bias from hundreds of years of experience. I suspect some don’t even realise that they do it. If you think back to the 2010 election, I believe that Gordon Brown’s support held up better in Scotland less because he is a Scot and Labour than because Scots believed that much of the criticism of him was because he was a Scot.
Scots know deep down that much of the criticism of Nicola Sturgeon, and the SNP is based on anti-Scottish sentiment. And the pragmatism that is part of the Scottish character also says that any human government makes mistakes. The SNP does not make mistakes based on overweening arrogance and greed, though, and does a lot more right than wrong.
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As observed by Stephen upthread, the same script circulates – How often have we heard “their record on the NHS and schools, the highest rate of death from drugs in Europe and ferry orders that are late and over budget” or similar being parroted by “professional” journalists, who had they lifted a finger to verify the facts would realise and reveal the lie. In truth they’ve already realised the lie but dare not reveal it lest they reveal themselves as the vehicle for the lie.
Mason in this case, as the link shows, is playing to a predominantly English audience via the UK web-page, reinforcing the notion Scots are somehow held under a spell, hence the “defy gravity” reference.
We are in Granny Weatherwax territory from the media now that the “subsidy-spongers” gambit having backfired badly, the “incontinent pigeons targeting the death of a child” as piloted by HMS Smith and continued under HMS James Cook have been laughed out of Scotland, not that Pacific would report it’s saggy departure anyway.
Propaganda only influences if they listen – Sorry James Cook, you’re very expensive toast. What England does with Chris Mason is up to them.
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