Try asking any BBC editor how often they have made a Freedom of Information request of, for example, the Scottish Government and you’ll get a revealing response like this:
Please note that the information you have requested is excluded from the Act because it is held for the purposes of ‘journalism, art or literature.’ Part VI of Schedule 1 to the Act provides that information held by the BBC and the other public service broadcasters is only covered by the Act if it is held for ‘purposes other than those of journalism, art or literature” 1. The BBC is not required by the Act to supply information held for the purposes of creating the BBC’s output or information that supports and is closely associated with these creative activities.
Creative? Like the creative writing we sued to do in school?
In 2018, I wrote:
See this recently published response from the Scottish FOI office to an anonymous request:
________________________________________________________________________________________
FOI reference: FOI/17/03047
Date received: 29 November 2017
Date responded: 22 December 2017
Information requested
How many Freedom of Information Requests BBC Scotland submit to the Scottish Government &/or Parliament each year, for as many years as records are available & the overall or average cost associated with handling these requests.
Response
How many Freedom of Information Requests BBC Scotland submit to the Scottish Government each year.
The information you have requested is detailed in the table below. For the purposes of this request we have include FOI requests received from both BBC Scotland and BBC Scotland News:
| Year | Number of FOI requests |
| 2008 | 8 |
| 2009 | 3 |
| 2010 | 8 |
| 2011 | 2 |
| 2012 | 0 |
| 2013 | 1 |
| 2014 | 2 |
| 2015 | 13 |
| 2016 | 20 |
| 2017 (to 19 Dec) | 11 |
Overall or average cost associated with handling these requests.
While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance the Scottish Government does not have some of the information you have asked for. This is because although requests are considered under the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act (FOISA), they are allocated to the policy area responsible for that topic, and answered accordingly by an appropriate official as part of their normal duties. Officials are not required to record what proportion of their time is spend handling requests for information and therefore we do not hold a figure for the overall or average cost associated with handling these requests.
_________________________________________________________________________________________
https://beta.gov.scot/publications/foi-17-03047/
University College London did some costing estimates and came up with an average cost of a request from survey data of £189 and a maximum of £3 033.
The BBC is exempt from FOI requests relating to ‘journalism, art or literature’ and tends to tell applicants:
‘The BBC is not required by the Act to supply information held for the purposes of creating the BBC’s output or information that supports and is closely associated with these creative activities.’
So, what is clear is that BBC Scotland has significantly increased its FOI requests to the Scottish Government since 2014 and the risk of independence became more real to them. I could find no evidence of the BBC elsewhere in the UK making any FOI requests of the UK Government. Also, these figures do not include BBC Scotland’s FOI requests to health boards or to individual hospitals nor does it include those requests made by the Labour, Tory and Lib Dem parties in their attempts to dig dirt which they can use to attack the SNP or to undermine the case for independence. Regular readers will have seen two recent reports by STV based on Tory and Lib Dem FOI requests.
I’ve just repeated the request.
chrome-extension://efaidnbmnnnibpcajpcglclefindmkaj/https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/418460/response/1011080/attach/2/RFI20171026%20Response.pdf?cookie_passthrough=1
Talking-up Scotland 'Albatraz' 
Here’s some “information” that I give for free…..
In today’s Guardian newspaper….by John McTernan where he tweeted in reference to his article that “My piece for @guardian on why Keir should bury the Tories not praise them”….and he also stated “A word to the wise, Keir Starmer: whoever advised you to praise Thatcher got it wrong”
Hmm….really ?
On 13th October 2015 at 9.55am the SAME John McTernan tweeted THIS on….checks notes….Margaret Thatcher.
“I think breaking the miner’s strike, privatisation and the right to buy are her great achievements”
Oops…..there’s an example of John saying to Keir Starmer “Do as I say not as I do”…..a very common thing done by Pro UK politicians and their little helpers, like John McTernan, as in when they are in attack mode against the SNP…….
See I KNEW that would be a great tweet to KEEP for future reference as John is someone who, for whatever reason, is regularly platformed by the MSM as if he is some heavyweight political Guru….. but reality is that he is someone who is often caught out as one who contradicts what he has said previously …..….and as John is someone who the MSM just LOVE to drag out to get his ‘perspective’ on politics in their UK as a supposed ‘political strategist’….they also, as a media, expect us to forget that he is also a noted LOSER in POLITICS as he was someone who helped Labour in Scotland to LOSE all but ONE of their MP’s in 2015 as his job then was the Chief of Staff for the then Labour leader in Scotland (INO) Jim ‘Fundilymundily’ Murphy…..mind you he cannot take ALL of the credit for that as Labour themselves had a major hand in that too via all of the groundwork they did in 2014…..as in them working on behalf of the Tory party to keep Scotland in their UK……BTW John is a regular guest on GB News as they know DEEP down he is a TRUE BLUE TORY at heart……want more proof of that…OK….
In February 2022 he tweeted :
“One of the best aspects of the Health Bill is allowing private providers seats on local health boards”.
Now THAT is a real TRUE BLUE TORY statement praising a TRUE BLUE TORY initiative…..and one that New New Labour are now very willing to also embrace……as they now state they also want MORE privatisation involvement within the NHS….which John will obviously support as tis a policy close to his TRUE BLUE TORY heart…..
In 2016 he also argued in his Daily Telegraph column aka The Daily TORYgraph….. that “tax avoidance is an expression of basic British freedoms “……spoken like a TRUE BLUE Tory…….John HATES those Labour politicians who are left wing (a dying breed in New New Labour) and who want to give more money to the poorer people in society…..but he LOVES the more right wing element within New New Labour…..who like John pretends , as the New New Labour party, to OPPOSE the Tory party but actually, like JOHN, wants to adopt more of the current TORY UK government’s policies……and rhetoric.
John also tries to pull the wool over our eyes as he is often misrepresents matters….
One example being this tweet by him….in response to those opposing Blair’s knighthood
“Always intrigued but never surprised that there are parts of the UK left who are so triggered by a Labour leader who wins elections that they are desperate to back Thatcher over Blair”.
So was the opposition to Blair’s Knighthood not BECAUSE of the Illegal war in Iraq and not as he, McTernan, infers about the left being “triggered by a Labour leader who wins elections” ……and as to “backing Thatcher”….well John did that also via the above tweet in October 2015 where he PRAISED her LOL ….‘achievements’……I think then we can also add hypocrite to John’s CV….uber one.
Thank God for social media…..as people like John cannot erase what they have previously said via various subjects……that as information now retained and also information we are able to research and source via social media clearly exposes their blatant hypocrisy and too their forked tongues…..LOL
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Labour Mafia. BBC controlled by Westminster.
Thatcher had 3million unemployed. 20% in NI. 15 in Scotland. Interest rates at 17%. Inflation at 15%. Deregulated the Building Societies owned by the members. The mortgage books were sold off to the banks to gamble. Sold off utilities.
Social unrest and violent protest. The Poll tax.
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John McTernan is a Confused Undercover Naive Tory – usually known by his acronym !
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DOES THE GOVERNMENT NOT HAVE LEGAL SUPPORT TO QUESTION THE VIABILITY AND JUSTIFICATION ON A TAX FUNDED ORGANISATION
PLACING SUCH IRRESPONSIBLE WORK LOAD
WITH NO PURPOSE IN MIND OTHER THAN
POLITICAL MISCHIEF !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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ALEX ‘F*ck You Maree’ Cole-Hamilton is facing calls to apologise after he apparently tried to take part in a Holyrood debate from outside the parliament bar …..the presiding officer of the parliament was NOT amused……I watched the video of him, ACH, doing this….OMG…..what a Pro….NOT.
Yet two days ago in The Scotsman the very SAME Alex ‘F*ck You Maree’ Cole-Hamilton stated that “Sluggishness” was HIS word of the year for the Scottish parliament.
Sluggishness : moving, reacting or working more slowly than normal and in a way that SEEMS LAZY…….Hmm like say when you have been in a bar……come OUT of the bar and try to vote remotely rather than make a 2 MINUTE WALK to the main chamber….that kind of sluggishness……that is… in a way that SEEMS LAZY….by HIM.
It was reported by some of the media that “The dishevelled party chief used his phone to raise a point of order by video call but MSPs jeered when they saw his location on screens”
Well they, the media who reported this, missed out the word ‘Sluggish’ and went for “dishevelled” …..
“Dishevelled” is a word that describes someone’s appearance (of a person’s hair, clothes, or appearance) untidy; disordered…….”dishevelled” being the apt description in appearance one sometimes sees via some people who exit a BAR……..and after watching the video of this incident….I concur re the description of HIS appearance was one that looked most definitely “Dishevelled” ………….
Alas at this point (16.47pm today) the BBC online News Scottish Politics page has , as yet, not found room for this story on their website…..but are, I am sure , desperately trying to find a similar story linked to an SNP MSP for…….’balance’…..LOL
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Indeed
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Balance ?
No need to find a new SNP bad story, they simply leave the “Covid inquiry: Hancock found Sturgeon ‘unhelpful’ during pandemic” story the created on 1st December lingering on the BBC/Scotland/politics page for yet another day, long after what they sought to obscure on BBC/UK/Politics “Covid inquiry: Earlier lockdown could have kept schools open, says Matt Hancock” on the same day, and Chris Mason’s subsequent “Covid Inquiry felt like the trial of Matt Hancock” the following day…
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“Balance ?No need to find a new SNP bad story”
Just my attempt at a bad joke…….as we are often told ‘balance’ is apparently something the BBC news here adhere to……but alas we know their output is anything but…..also where there is BAD news re the Tory Government (or other Pro UK parties) then the BBC Scotland news team try to seek out another concocted #SNPBAD comparison that makes it seem as if they, the SNP, are no better than the Tory party (or others)…..or they just regurgitate an old story e.g. Ferries ……as they, BBC here, cannot ‘allow’ any #BAD time for the Tories (or others) to exist without then also stirring up MORE #SNPBAD .
Have a nice day Bob
🙂
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Aye, James Cook’s “Covid inquiry: Hancock found Sturgeon ‘unhelpful’ during pandemic” has been up on BBC/Scotland/Politics since 1st December 2023, 02:48 UTC
Over 4 days now of this blatant diversion to Tory embarrassment…
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“Covid inquiry: Hancock found Sturgeon ‘unhelpful’ during pandemic”
The only problem with that is….everyone in Scotland KNOWS all about Matt Hancock……nudge nudge wink wink….we SHOULD say more….but do we need to….LOL
Thus what HE says carries no weight in either credibility or in influencing people to be swayed by his opinion…..perhaps everyone found HIM “unhelpful” as he was far too busy with his own extra marital affair to focus upon the needs and requirements of others during the pandemic…outside what was his own soap opera bubble….kiss kiss kissing his aide……I am sure his WIFE found THAT very very “unhelpful” too……for their marriage…..
Then he was a “Celebrity” in the JUNGLE……so he is on course to sink even lower in people’s estimation……if that were possible (I doubt it)….LOL
I think James Cook and the BBC have picked the wrong HORSE in promoting any story where Matt Hancock is to be seen as the apparent ‘victim’ in NS supposedly being “unhelpful” ……indeed only crocodile tears, like the ones he shed on GMB once, would be appropriate for someone clearly MORE the VILLIAN than the VICTIM……LOL
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Everybody in Scotland SHOULD know the “Covid inquiry: Hancock found Sturgeon ‘unhelpful’ during pandemic” article only ever appeared on BBC/Scotland, created 1st December 2023, 02:48 UTC.
What becomes obvious from the publication times is that James Cook got a 10 minute lead to obscure the BBC/UK/Politics, “Covid inquiry: Earlier lockdown could have kept schools open, says Matt Hancock”, 1st December 2023, 03:08 UTC, https://archive.ph/ggOBn.
I’ve read both articles, and Chris Mason’s excellent “Covid Inquiry felt like the trial of Matt Hancock”, 2nd December 2023, 01:23 UTC, yet not a cheep on either of them from HMS James Cook, ‘the news where you are’ without an ounce of humour…
James is still flogging this particular incontinent pigeon for the 5th day in a row, even Dewar must be spinning in his grave over BBC Scotland’s ‘Sturgeon ate my budgie’ obsession.
Yet true to form, James has set another hare running whilst he quietly drops the prior bullshit, this time it’s “Scottish education performance falling, says study”
– An hour old at the time of writing, comments open, the earliest of which is 12.45, 5 hours ago…. and you guessed it, “Analysis by James Cook…” At least Anal is correct in the ‘Analysis’…
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I’m only part way through a book by David Sedgwick called “BBC : Brainwashing and its worth reading as it puts the Biased Broadcasting Corporation (or should that be EBC and we all know what the “E” stands for) and its lies into perspective. To the BBC Editors and Reporters – we have heard all the lies and distortions you have pedalled against the Scottish Government, SNP, and the Independence Movement on behalf of your unionist masters, and when Independence comes as it surely will you will never work again in Scotland, so get down south and beg for a job from your masters as we don’t want your like!!
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