I know, I know, they have to keep coming up with excrement of the male bovine, but the Record’s Paul Hutcheon is special.
Yesterday, he had:
The SNP will lose the Holyrood election if the NHS is the top issue of voters
That’s a big IF.
First, opinion poll after opinion poll, recently is clear. The SNP will be the biggest party by far. Cons, Labour and Reform will fight it out for second place. The evidence is at: https://talkingupscotlandtwo.com/2025/01/14/averages-from-seven-2014-bias-free-polls-have-snp-15-points-ahead-labour-stuck-cons-in-trouble-reform-a-wee-worry-and-lib-dems-pleased-to-hang-on-to-5th-place/ and https://talkingupscotlandtwo.com/2024/11/23/westminster-polls-snp-recovering-labour-plummeting-cons-consolidating-in-heartlands-and-reform-still-too-wee/
Second, NHS Scotland is doing far better than the other NHS areas in the UK. Despite Paul’s best efforts, enough folk know that. The evidence is at: https://talkingupscotlandtwo.com/2025/01/27/patient-satisfaction-surveys-rate-nhs-scotland-improving-and-far-more-highly-than-nhs-england-to-cast-doubt-on-4th-health-secretary-media-witch-hunt/ and https://talkingupscotlandtwo.com/2025/01/27/the-shortest-waiting-lists-in-the-uk-but-bbc-scotland-quote-sandesh-gulhane-and-jackie-baillie-in-a-2-minute-report-to-lie-about-nhs-scotland-factually-better-on-the-4-key-measures-of-ae-cance/
Third, the NHS though important is not number one or even that near it. More below.
From the Scottish Government’s Public attitudes to cost of living and other topics: tracker – data tables, based on fieldwork on 3rd to 6th October 2024, with a sample of 1 067 weighted to represent the population in terms of gender, age and social grade, we can draw the following conclusions to inform political campaigning for the 2026 Scottish election.
Only two areas really matter, really seem to concern a significant percentage of the population of all categories and so might influence voting patterns significantly – personal finances and the economy (78%) and within that, the cost of living (55%), general heath concerns (56%) and within that the NHS (41%). For the SNP, the message is clear. Campaigning materials should simply repeat the facts of lower rents and council tax, of same or lower income tax for the majority, of free prescriptions, free tuition, bus passes, 95% NHS dentistry and so on.
The threats of climate change and war, though most political parties are keen to flaunt both green and national security credentials, seem to concern only around 20%, 1 in 5, and less than that among male voters. Pragmatically, the SNP should not enter, again, into anything that looks a coalition with the Greens, a party that appeals to less than 10% of the population.
NHS backlogs do concern the over 65s and over 75s at 32% and 38% but for all of the younger groups, the figure is well under that suggesting that for the SNP, this should be less of a concern and, perhaps, indicate that promoting details of the superior staffing levels and target busting in areas such as operations completed, drug and alcohol treatment and IVF may be worth greater prominence in campaigning literature.
Energy/fuel prices concern around 33% of the younger groups and approaching 50% of older voters. The UK Labour government’s sole responsibility for this and discrimination against Scottish consumers, needs to be upfront in campaigning literature.
Notably, the researchers did not ask about transport issues, such as the CalMac ferries or the A9. This suggests, to me, that despite recent MSM feeding frenzies on these two matters, they did not present as common, in the prior exploratory work undertaken to identify those concerns which are great enough to be worthy of inclusion in the survey. The message for the SNP on both is ‘chill’, talk about other things. Less than 2% of the voters live on Scottish islands, less than that in the CalMac range.
Also, but unsurprisingly this time, the researchers did not ask, in this survey, about trust in politicians but it seems clear from the 2024 General Election that the media demonization of the SNP leadership was effective. Hopefully, they have no such material to work with in 2026 as the current leadership puts miles between them and the previous incumbents.
To conclude, I fully support the efforts of the previous two PMs to fight against forms of discrimination and to eradicate child poverty but, pragmatically, recognising that everything flows from independence and that any apparent distraction from the cost-of-living and health, real or otherwise, can and will be sued against the SNP.
Talking-up Scotland 'Albatraz' 
Poor Paul is probably still trying hard to get accepted for a Labour constituency in an upcoming election . He thinks , rightly , if voters can be fooled by Torcuil Crichton then there is hope for him .
Sorry , son , that ship ( not ferry ) has sailed .You are forever doomed to be a scribbler for the Daily Rag . Don’t be too downhearted as Torcuil will soon rejoin you as Starmer’s New Labour/Tory/Reform Party implodes .
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Hutcheon must have moved to England if ” The SNP will lose the Holyrood election if the NHS is the top issue of voters ” – The SNP and Welsh Labour (as distinct from ‘new shiny new even more smiley’ Labour) are the only parties in the UK desperately trying to save ‘their’ NHS, but there is head of steam building in England over it – They don’t have an equivalent to the SNP now that Labour has abandoned Labour values given England’s hegemonic politics, into which gap squeezes the odious Farage… England is in serious political trouble, and despite the bullshit over the Farage mirage, ehm no, The Toxi-Cola company will fool none ‘oop north’…
One of the Scotland media mafia’s greatest problems was to get people to believe in their ‘bubbleverse’ because that’s all the public can hear/read – Yet where was the much reported ‘outrage’ over QEUH ? – Where were the public marches in protest ? Where was the public uproar over incontinent pigeons dive-bombing an AC unit and killing ONE innocent girl in a sterile bubble whilst hundreds of others who were not in a sterile bubble, lived ? Bluntly Nick Robinson expressed it best, a lie…
Aesop’s “The boy who cried wolf” parable is as relevant today as it was thousands of years ago, even when it comes from a man in a shiny bespoke suit claiming to be impartial….
The days of Paul Hutcheon, James Cook et al, influencing anything now in Scottish politics is frankly for the birds….
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Paul is trying to use the power of suggestion in his role as one who is very much engaged in trying to help Labour win the Scottish elections in 2026.
My family and friends experience a different kind of Scottish NHS from the one that Paul and opposition parties promote to be a reality, and so come 2026 we, like others, will vote to sustain this better standard within our NHS in Scotland , where Scotland is regularly outperforming both Wales & England’s respective NHS services.
Of course now with Labour UK in charge we still suffer from having to endure a high cost of living, high energy prices, high food prices , no compensation for WASPI women, the Universal Winter fuel payments being cut for pensioners , the two child cap retained as a Tory policy as it is now adopted as a Labour policy , targeting those on Benefits, sucking up to and making excuses for Trump, protecting the UK rich and also very much Labour reneging on their promise that we would see and experience real change with Labour in charge at WM, Labour constantly blaming others for their failure to fulfil what they promised they would do in their election campaign in 2024 , are all I imagine , huge factors in many a Scottish voter’s future intentions in who they, as voters in Scotland, intend to vote for in 2026 in the Scottish elections.
The above real issues and serious concerns impacting many lives in Scotland are the ones that Paul Hutcheon prefers not to mention , emphasise or play politics with, as they are far too damaging for his Labour party in Scotland.
I suspect Labour will lose a lot of those votes that they gained in Scotland from those voters who may have voted for them here in the General Election in 2024 , also Labour as a British Nationalist party may also lose votes to the Reform UK party who are a English Nationalist party pretending to be, like Labour, a British Nationalist party.
I think we all know that Paul may think he can dictate what is significant for voters in Scotland in the 2026 elections but he cannot distract us all away from the many failings and broken promises Labour made to us in 2024, aided and supported by Anas Sarwar and also by Paul Hutcheon himself in headlines in the newspaper that he works for in Scotland.
Liz S
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This is a long comment but it exposes BBC bias against the SNP and the BBC’s support For the Labour party.
The BBC have another new radio and TV programme called “Scotcast” which they promote as being a ‘Scottish’ news podcast.
It is broadcast Monday to Thursday on BBC Radio and also on the BBC Scotland TV channel 9 and later on BBC Scotland channel 1 .
It is hosted by Martin Geissler.
Last night they covered Waspi women.
Martin said at the outset “The UK government has gone to war with the Nation’s grannies, surely on so many levels that’s a fight you don’t want to have”
So straight away the tone is set, as one that diminishes the seriousness of the subject and the clear betrayal of Waspi women by Labour UK as the new UK government.
He then promised to look in detail at this for those who were not fully unaware of what it was about.
Martin then stated “it’s always going to be controversial if you are picking a fight with old ladies” .
A bit disrespectful as Martin had as a guest, Anne Potter, who represents Waspi women across West central Scotland and he also said the other guest was their political correspondent Kirsten Campbell to look over the “politics of it”.
He said to Kirsten Campbell “This is coming up in the commons today, Stephen Flynn is introducing a bill. Firstly do you think it’s going to change things” ?
Kirsten responded ” No is the short answer” but then she expanded her answer by then saying “it’s a bit of a political stunt by Stephen Flynn who’s the SNP’s WM leader” and she then explained what this bill was and that it sought to get the backing of MP’s in the HOC to back it.
She also surmised that Stephen Flynn wants to “exploit it and that he was really seeking to highlight divisions between the Scottish Labour party and the UK Labour party because Scottish labour have been a bit more vocal in saying that they think the UK government has maybe made a bit of a mistake”.
She then proceeded to trivialise the significance of this bill being introduced by Stephen Flynn in saying “it will eventually get lost in the machinations of WM”.
Two points here, one being 10 Labour MP’s, including Brian Leishman the new Labour Alloa & Grangemouth MP all voted for Stephen Flynn’s bill so were they too complicit in the supposed “political stunt”?
Also why did Kirsten Campbell not emphasise that many SNP MP’s, including Stephen Flynn, have always been supportive of Waspi women, as have the SNP MSP’s, so why just make out it was Labour in Scotland who were “more vocal in supporting” Waspi women .
Also worth noting how bad WM is if things just “get lost in the machinations” as in bills that are introduced and are very important to sections of the public are then just lost and not addressed by this parliament.
As all of this was being said Anne Potter was listening to it and rather than challenging it and also praising the SNP , especially Stephen Flynn , for doing this in the HOC she was instead quite submissive and accepting of this biased interpretation from Kirsten Campbell.
Brian Leishman, the new Labour MP, sent a message advising Scotcast that he would be supporting this bill.
Kirsten’s take on this was that “Brian has become a bit of a serial rebel” which she said while laughing , of course Kirsten forgot to note that Grangemouth too was also betrayed by Labour so let’s have a laugh at Grangemouth’s expense, as well as laughing at the Waspi women.
After all we have a Labour party to save and a 2026 Scottish election where Labour in Scotland need the BBC to try and help them win it.
Then Martin mentioned ‘Scottish’ Labour and Kirsten said “They’re frustrated frankly, there’s a lot of eye rolling going on, and she then said they have supported Waspi women in showing placards of support and signing pledges but then, in a get out of jail card moment, she reminded everyone that “it was not in their manifesto, and that’s worth pointing out when people are accusing them of breaking promises, there was no mention of Waspi women in ‘Scottish’ Labour’s manifesto for the last GE”
Sorry but UK Labour MP’s also did this too when they were in opposition to the Tory UK government , as in sign pledges and show placards that confirmed they too wanted justice and compensation for Waspi women , and it was a vote to elect a UK government in 2024, as we were not voting for Labour in Scotland , so who cares what was in ‘Scottish’ Labour’s manifesto in 2024!
Kirsten then spoke about Labour UK’s broken promises on the winter fuel payment, two child cap and said that the “SNP were seeking to exploit it” I mean that is a very partisan way of looking at this, why can the SNP not just be making valid points on how the Labour party have let down the most vulnerable in society after they, Labour UK, promised us change ffrom the previous Tory UK government if Labour won the GE and now they have not delivered for those who need the most help and support within the UK?
Kirsten also forgot to mention Grangemouth too which is strange as they had just been talking to and talking about Brian Leishman the MP for that area who also opposed what his party had done to Grangemouth, as in Labour UK letting Grangemouth down in lying about saving it, which Anas Sarwar also said Labour would do if they won the GE.
Kirsten did not want to go there obviously as that would then expose Sarwar as having promoted something that now has proven to be a lie.
Martin then said Anne Potter had passed him a card signed by Keir Starmer , when Starmer was an opposition MP, where Starmer stated ” I support fair and fast compensation for 1950’s women” and Anne said she had quite a few signed cards by other Labour opposition MP’s like for example Ian Murray, what was interesting was that Anne also said she had statements of support from Scottish Labour, Scottish Greens and Scottish Tories but she did not mention the SNP’s support ????
Martin asked Kirsten if there was any chance the Scottish government could mitigate this ?
Kirsten then decided to be honest this time and said this was a reserved issue.
Anne also came in on this and said she would not expect this to be mitigated by the Scottish government as they paid their money to a UK government.
Basically , this debate, just like the Gaza vote in the HOC where Keir Starmer and the Speaker stitched up the SNP, is now being promoted by the BBC as a political stunt and as an opportunity for the SNP to try to embarrass Keir Starmer and exploit divisions in the Labour party.
The victims , Waspi women and with Gaza the Palestinian people, are considered to be less significant when the BBC are trying to save Labour any embarrassment or obscure Labour’s lack of principles and also in the BBC attempting to portray the SNP as being deceitful and dishonest in their true intentions in their words and political actions.
I mean one could argue that when Labour UK were formerly in opposition at WM they were seeking to “exploit” the Waspi situation and that they were pulling ‘political stunts’ only to try to “embarrass” the Tory UK government on the Waspi situation.
I would argue it is the BBC who seek to “exploit” political situations to try to create an advantage for Labour in Scotland , and so the BBC try to “embarrass” the SNP in accusing them of being false in all of those matters that they, the SNP as a party, support. The only “political stunts” we witness are the many stunts that the BBC tries to pull on behalf of Labour in Scotland against the SNP.
It seems no matter what the SNP try to do the BBC political editors in Scotland will always misrepresent their true intentions and so fail to give them any kudos in case the public in Scotland sides with the SNP’s position.
That is currently a huge problem for Scotland as it then means we are not getting Political news from the BBC that is fair or balanced but instead it is heavily weighted against the SNP and way more supportive and seemingly in harmony with Labour in Scotland.
The British Broadcasting Corporation are certainly very much living up to their name in Scotland as far as their pro British political output is concerned and that should be a warning to the public in Scotland , that the BBC’s lack of politically impartiality in politics in Scotland, means that they cannot be trusted as a reliable and honest source of any political news.
The BBC political news in Scotland is tainted by their allegiance to Britain.
Liz S
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It needs to be re-branded ….
“YOONCAST .”
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