Here’s the March 2026, response which still stands today
Craig Hoy mounting pressure on home workers
The Herald today has:
The Scottish Government faces a new transparency row over civil servants working from home as statistics are set to be withheld until after the Holyrood election. Pressure is mounting on SNP ministers to crack down on officials who refuse to work from the office as part of the Scottish Government’s hybrid working policy.
Where is this ‘mounting pressure’ coming from?
Anyone else? Nope, that’s it. Pathetic.
Is there any evidence that any half-decent journalist might easily access and use in her writing?
From a UK Government study of 25 290 civil servants with a 98% response rate across 34 departments, published in October 2020, under the Conservative Government:
The report finds that home working generally supports productivity and employee experience, especially with dedicated spaces, but social connection and collaboration suffer without physical proximity.
“The Herald today rehashing a story they got from the Scottish Cons in March”
Rehash being the preferred method we in Scotland must tolerate from the media, for the news that they state is the news where we are , but mostly only in respect to the news that they can link to #SNPBAD.
The BBC also are supporters of that above method as well.
Talking of the BBC , I note an article on their website where they are obviously seeking to generate apathy in the Scottish elections , mainly I suspect, because the SNP are polling so well and Labour are not.
On the main Scottish page and their Scottish politics page they have this article:
“I’ve voted since I was 18, and I’m 64 now, and I’m not doing it this year. I’m done“
“That’s my protest – none of them are worth bothering about.”
“Those were the words of Ottilie Fraser, who spoke to BBC Scotland in Perth”
“They reflect a broader feeling about politics at the moment – a disenchantment commonly referred to as “the scunner factor”.
“With pollsters detecting a lukewarm reception for every party and forecasting a decline in voter turnout, how could this apathy affect the result”?
“They reflect a broader feeling” ? (“lukewarm reception” for “every party“, well certainly for Labour and the Tories whose polling is not great is it).
Really , but I wonder is that broader feeling of “disenchantment” only with Scottish politics and the Scottish election, or is it mainly with the UK’s WM politics and the UK parties who have governed the UK in the past and also now.
Bad policies , cruel policies , broken pledges, austerity, no end to the cost of living crisis, scandals , constant U-Turns, reneging on promised support for Waspi women, targeting of the poor and vulnerable, protection of the wealthy few, divisive rhetoric to try to match Reform UK’s hate filled message and a UK media that only seeks to serve and so then only promote the political interests of those who own that specific media. (and who are all part of the wealthy “few”).
The BBC would certainly not be producing such an article as this had Labour in Scotland been in the same polling position as the SNP currently are.
I think we all know that if any voter apathy or disenchantment exists with politics then it has largely stemmed from Labour HQ , Tory HQ and also Reform UK.
However it is also very much the BBC themselves who have to take a lot of responsibility for trying to trigger so much despondency, to the extent where some voters then become totally scunnered , not just with all UK political parties, but in Scotland some of these voters mainly become scunnered with the SNP.
The fact that the BBC are trying to sabotage this election for the SNP, where a succession of polls have shown the SNP to be in the lead, is one of the main reasons why we never ever trust the BBC as an honest and reliable source of information or news, political or otherwise.
Fortunately for many people there is also a “broader feeling” of “apathy” when it comes to people not wanting to either watch or listen to most BBC TV and Radio news programmes or indeed any BBC debate programmes , and that is solely down to the BBC themselves.
Most viewers and listeners give a “lukewarm reception” to these BBC TV and Radio programmes that could be referred to as “the scunner factor”. Where we are seeing a “decline” in viewers and listeners for these various BBC programmes.
Perhaps the BBC should worry more about the “disenchantment” people have for their output and so then get their own house on order , that is before they try to sway (con) people into not voting in May in what is a crucial election , just so that they can then falsely equate this to being the fault of the SNP or rather those that they (too) often promote as being #SNPBAD.
While working in (what is now HR) for Highland Council I gave advice on ‘Working from Home’ some teens of years ago. The Council was ahead of Scottish or UK governments in having a formal policy on this. It worked. Get over yourself Craig.
Talking-up Scotland 
I’m disappointed to have missed out on MSP Craig Hoy’s stellar career to date. Does he have an agent for bookings?
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The Holyrood Civil Servants are part of the UK civil service, unlike in N. I Ireland. So who should be doing the enforcing?
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“The Herald today rehashing a story they got from the Scottish Cons in March”
Rehash being the preferred method we in Scotland must tolerate from the media, for the news that they state is the news where we are , but mostly only in respect to the news that they can link to #SNPBAD.
The BBC also are supporters of that above method as well.
Talking of the BBC , I note an article on their website where they are obviously seeking to generate apathy in the Scottish elections , mainly I suspect, because the SNP are polling so well and Labour are not.
On the main Scottish page and their Scottish politics page they have this article:
“Will ‘scunnered’ voters decide Scotland’s election”?
“I’ve voted since I was 18, and I’m 64 now, and I’m not doing it this year. I’m done“
“That’s my protest – none of them are worth bothering about.”
“Those were the words of Ottilie Fraser, who spoke to BBC Scotland in Perth”
“They reflect a broader feeling about politics at the moment – a disenchantment commonly referred to as “the scunner factor”.
“With pollsters detecting a lukewarm reception for every party and forecasting a decline in voter turnout, how could this apathy affect the result”?
“They reflect a broader feeling” ? (“lukewarm reception” for “every party“, well certainly for Labour and the Tories whose polling is not great is it).
Really , but I wonder is that broader feeling of “disenchantment” only with Scottish politics and the Scottish election, or is it mainly with the UK’s WM politics and the UK parties who have governed the UK in the past and also now.
Bad policies , cruel policies , broken pledges, austerity, no end to the cost of living crisis, scandals , constant U-Turns, reneging on promised support for Waspi women, targeting of the poor and vulnerable, protection of the wealthy few, divisive rhetoric to try to match Reform UK’s hate filled message and a UK media that only seeks to serve and so then only promote the political interests of those who own that specific media. (and who are all part of the wealthy “few”).
The BBC would certainly not be producing such an article as this had Labour in Scotland been in the same polling position as the SNP currently are.
I think we all know that if any voter apathy or disenchantment exists with politics then it has largely stemmed from Labour HQ , Tory HQ and also Reform UK.
However it is also very much the BBC themselves who have to take a lot of responsibility for trying to trigger so much despondency, to the extent where some voters then become totally scunnered , not just with all UK political parties, but in Scotland some of these voters mainly become scunnered with the SNP.
The fact that the BBC are trying to sabotage this election for the SNP, where a succession of polls have shown the SNP to be in the lead, is one of the main reasons why we never ever trust the BBC as an honest and reliable source of information or news, political or otherwise.
Fortunately for many people there is also a “broader feeling” of “apathy” when it comes to people not wanting to either watch or listen to most BBC TV and Radio news programmes or indeed any BBC debate programmes , and that is solely down to the BBC themselves.
Most viewers and listeners give a “lukewarm reception” to these BBC TV and Radio programmes that could be referred to as “the scunner factor”. Where we are seeing a “decline” in viewers and listeners for these various BBC programmes.
Perhaps the BBC should worry more about the “disenchantment” people have for their output and so then get their own house on order , that is before they try to sway (con) people into not voting in May in what is a crucial election , just so that they can then falsely equate this to being the fault of the SNP or rather those that they (too) often promote as being #SNPBAD.
Liz S
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While working in (what is now HR) for Highland Council I gave advice on ‘Working from Home’ some teens of years ago. The Council was ahead of Scottish or UK governments in having a formal policy on this. It worked. Get over yourself Craig.
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