With only 1 day left, support Talking-up Scotland's work to counter the lies and get you the facts, daily, at:
Crowdfunder at: https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/help-talking-up-scotland-keep-going
Or by direct bank transfer to: JOHN WATSON ROBERTSON Sort Code – 08-91-04 Account – 12266421
Before anyone accuses me of being duped, read my trenchant criticism of Nicola Sturgeon's apparent views on Hilary Clinton and US foreign policy at: https://talkingupscotlandtwo.com/2026/03/04/sturgeon-and-clinton-does-being-a-woman-any-woman-trump-sic-her-war-crimes-her-murder-and-betrayal-of-the-poor/ That matters to me, a lot, but nothing can deny her massive achievements on the home front.
In the Guardian 5 June 2026, from George Monbiot, quite an heroic figure for me and often well-tuned into to Scottish affairs:
Bring your suitcase, your bin liner, your dumpy bag. They’re handing out money faster than you can stuff it in a sack. All you need do is join the market in what may now be England’s most lucrative commodity. A commodity with arms and legs, hearts and brains, thoughts and feelings. Children.
Two years ago I stumbled into this issue after discovering that children in care who were being helped by a local charity I’m involved with were suddenly being whisked away, terminating the amazing progress they had been making, breaking their relationships, their sense of home, stability and security. When I began exploring why this was happening, I could scarcely believe what I was seeing: a highly lucrative trade in highly vulnerable young people. Children in “care” were being exchanged between private equity companies for £100,000 apiece. That figure is now wrong. Today they are worth far more.
A few days ago, the Financial Times published an investigation that I defy you to read with anything but open-mouthed horror. The average charge to the state by a private provider for a child in “care” is now £384,020 a year. That’s six times what Eton charges. Some providers now levy more than £1m per child per year, rising in a few cases for children with complex needs to more than £3m.
Source: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/jun/05/child-care-councils-private-equity-companies
George’s report is strangely Anglocentric so, here’s what is missing for Scots to know:
Nothing like this is happening in Scotland and it cannot happen because of the achievements of FM Nicola Sturgeon, her government, the SNP and all of us who support it. Nothing makes me prouder.
From ‘the promise in 2016:’
With only 1 day left, support Talking-up Scotland's work to counter the lies and get you the facts, daily, at:
Crowdfunder at: https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/help-talking-up-scotland-keep-going
Or by direct bank transfer to: JOHN WATSON ROBERTSON Sort Code – 08-91-04 Account – 12266421
As a result, in Scotland but sadly not in England:
Unregistered/illegal children’s homes or carers (as in the English crisis) are highly unlikely in Scotland—effectively near-zero on a systemic scale—due to mandatory registration and active enforcement.
All children’s residential care (homes) and fostering services in Scotland must be registered with the Care Inspectorate. Operating without registration is illegal, and the regulator has powers to investigate, issue improvement notices, and cancel registrations (with strengthened enforcement via recent legislation like the Care Reform (Scotland) Act). gov.scot
Unregulated placements for under-16s are not permitted (unlike aspects of England’s system). Cross-border placements (e.g., English children in Scottish homes) are monitored with additional requirements. https://committees.parliament.uk/committee/127/public-accounts-committee/news/211346/hundreds-of-vulnerable-children-placed-in-illegal-homes-for-months-by-care-system/
Searches for Scottish equivalents turn up no comparable reports of hundreds of children in illegal settings. This issue is overwhelmingly documented as an England/Ofsted problem driven by severe placement shortages. https://committees.parliament.uk/committee/127/public-accounts-committee/news/211346/hundreds-of-vulnerable-children-placed-in-illegal-homes-for-months-by-care-system/
Finally rip-off prices?
Scotland: £28,000 operating profit per child per year.Across GB (England, Scotland, Wales): £44,000 average.
Difference: Scotland was about £16,000 lower per child (roughly 36% lower).
https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/62287a2e8fa8f526d6df251f/Scotland_summary_.pdf
Yes, I know, that £400 necklace and her bookshelves.
With only 1 day left, support Talking-up Scotland's work to counter the lies and get you the facts, daily, at:
Crowdfunder at: https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/help-talking-up-scotland-keep-going
Or by direct bank transfer to: JOHN WATSON ROBERTSON Sort Code – 08-91-04 Account – 12266421
Discover more from Talking-up Scotland
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
The BBC on the job again (in respect to Scotland).
“Too much of Sturgeon’s care ‘Promise’ remains on paper, report says”
Latest news elsewhere on “Care” regarding Labour and Burnham is that:
“Burnham has delayed major social care reforms until after the next general election, scheduled for 2029”.
So then the BBC here in Scotland need to offset that #LabourBad story with what they think is a #SNPBAD equivalent story.
That is how it works is it not ?
Well it does with the media .
A media corrupt and unfit to write or speak about Scotland as a country or indeed to communicate on our politics here in Scotland, as obviously the BBC (and other media) are way way way too compromised in their opposition to the SNP as a party and also their opposition to Scottish independence.
#UKStateMediaPropaganda
Liz S
LikeLiked by 1 person
It has also been reported that “Burnham is going to announce an end to the triple lock on pensions at some time in the future”
So welfare benefits to be targeted and now pensioners.
What about looking at a wealth tax ?
Well The Guardian reported that “Burnham signalled that a wealth tax is off the agenda for the time being, as his first major budget approaches”.
However “Burnham has proposed a crackdown on youth sickness benefits, making certain payments conditional on undertaking training or voluntary work”
Is this Burnham “doing politics differently” ?
Sorry “differently” from whom ?
As it seems to me that Burnham is adopting the same style ,delivery and politics as Starmer and the Tory party did .
Also the fact that he retained Shabana Mahmood as his Home Secretary also proves that he also thinks it is acceptable to adopt the same position on Immigrants to the UK as Reform UK have adopted.
#ZeroTolerance
Mahmood’s previous shocking immigration policy, when she was Home Secretary under Starmer’s premiership , should have seen her as being totally unfit as his, Burnham’s, new Home Secretary.
However somehow Burnham considered her to be the best candidate, why and how ?
Then we have the new Labour branch office manager in Scotland, Michael Marra, recently being reported as apparently “open to talks with Michael Gove on the topic of education”
(Marra, the same MSP who had previously told Burnham to “shut up”).
Yeh that will work in changing the election fortunes of Labour in Scotland NOT, in a Labour politician (pretend leader in Scotland) seeking the counsel of a former Tory Minister , who is now a Tory Peer and who just so happens to also be the Editor of the right wing magazine The Spectator !
But even worse that right wing Tory is Michael ‘Bloody’ Gove !
I thought Labour in Scotland had all of the answers and solutions to solve what they say is allegedly is not working here in Scotland because of the SNP Scottish government.
Well seems not , as if they , Labour in Scotland, need to ask the likes of Gove (Yuck) for advice and help, then it’s pretty obvious that they have been lying that they would be able to ‘turn things around in Scotland (for the better) if they won power in Scotland’.
#LabourLies
#RedTories
Liz S
LikeLike