In the Herald today Andy Maciver, Director of Message Matters and a former Head of Communications for the Scottish Conservatives writes, with no mention of his baggage, of course: TO WRITE about Scotland’s constitutional politics is to open oneself up for opprobrium. On a good day, that will just be from one side, although more often than not censure is in duplicate. Inasmuch as truth is relevant in the puerility of Scottish constitutional debate, I feel compelled to begin with my view on the matter. Opprobrium? Puerility? Impressive vocabulary of the kind that makes one ponder on the writer’s need to impress … Continue reading Tory spin doctor losing touch?

Brenda Steele Since The Times is behind a paywall, I  don’t really know much about how they spin the news but I do want to comment on the way this article by John Boothman is worded. Unlike the general way Boris’s trite sound bites are generally promoted in the MSM, this article is written with a more subtle air of doubts hanging over it. Thus we have convoluted phrases like: “Appears to have benefited from the perception” and gems like: “Three times as many people believe she has done a good job of leading the response to the pandemic, compared … Continue reading Former BBC Scotland head of news and bullying presents Scots as dupes

All graphs by Scotland Coronavirus Tracker: https://www.travellingtabby.com/scotland-coronavirus-tracker/ In the last 7 days, weeks after lock-down easing across England, the number of deaths per million population there is 10 times higher per head of population than in Scotland, yet the Tories remain in the lead in every opinion poll. Perhaps more significant as a guide to the future, the infection rate, below, is 5 times higher in England. The situation in Wales is even more worrying though much of this is concentrated in two meat processing factories: One of the most emotionally satisfying images is this graph below showing zero deaths … Continue reading Covid death rate in England now TEN times higher per head of population than Scotland

In the Herald today: A new opinion poll [YouGov] has shown that half of Conservative voters in England support English independence, but tell us something we don’t know. English Tories supporting English independence is about as surprising as Scottish nationalists supporting Scottish independence – in many ways, they come from the same source and feel the same feelings. The only problem, in both England and Scotland, is what on earth anti-nationalists can do about it. Spot the differences if you can. Mark Smith, it seems, cannot. Fascist vs Social Democrat, Racist vs Anti-racist, Anti-immigrant vs Pro-immigrant, violent versus non-violent, bigoted vs … Continue reading Herald’s Mark Smith accuses Scottish Nationalists of being as nasty as British ones

Their disgrace is your disgrace? Isn’t that a track on the fourth album by English prog-rockers, Yes? It was an attempt to repeat the success of their earlier hit, Yours is no disgrace. Funnily enough Carlaw had allegedly used used those very words in a secret memo to the organisers of the recent George Square Loyalists for Statues riot. Seeing the banners over the M1 telling tourists to please turn round or words to that effect, you might have remembered this story which BBC Scotland did not ask Carlaw about at the time: Then again, as we saw on Brewers … Continue reading Jackson Carlaw revealed as Yes supporter!

By a remarkable coincidence Neil Oliver has stepped down ‘as intended‘ only days after being exposed as being in a bromance with the less than appealing and racist Dr Starkey. In a sample by the HeyUPal.gov polling agency, 100% of respondents over 4 said ‘Aye Right!‘ Any Oliver story presents me with an opportunity to share older ones. There some fine photos: BBC Scotland urged to replace Neil Oliver to placate historians and attract broader range of viewers If we can’t remove the ‘cancerous presence’ of Neil Oliver from the National Trust we can still stop subscribing to this elitist and … Continue reading Neil Oliver dumped by NTS: Tell him we love it, by all means!

In the Herald today : THE SCOTTISH Government has been accused of “mismanagement” after it was revealed that almost £40 million has been spent on clearing clinical waste from hospitals since a contract fiasco 18 months ago. Costs to remove the waste have increased since December last year when Healthcare Environmental Services Ltd ceased trading – with NHS National Services Scotland blaming the rise in costs partly on Covid-19 and “market disruption”. Ooh, I wonder who has the fears? Could it be Miles Briggs? He does look a bit glum. Is it just him accusing the SG of mismanagement? Would that be … Continue reading Scottish taxpayer picks up bill after private company folds and Herald writer lets Miles Briggs expose the private sector he normally loves so much

Too busy frothing over imagined quarantining of UK tourists on the one hand and an imagined failure to quarantine overseas air travellers, on the other, the Scottish Tories are as quiet on Leicester as they tried to be on Dominic Cummings. While there will be attempts to scapegoat Leicester’s ethnic minority groups for having to live in cramped housing and being forced to go to work in sweatshops throughout the peak, the truth will out though it may not be spread as much as we’d like. From the Guardian today, it’s clear that the huge spike, 944 in the last … Continue reading Scottish Conservatives silent on Conservative Government’s testing failures revealed in Leicester

After a coronavirus spike in Melbourne, The State of Victoria will close its border from midnight on Tuesday, to protect the neighbouring state of New South Wales. The Premier of Victoria, Daniel Andrews said: [The closure] is the result of a phone hook-up between the prime minister and the premier of New South Wales and myself just an hour or so ago, where we have – all of us – agreed that the best thing to do is to close the border,” Andrews said on Monday morning. That closure will be enforced on the New South Wales side, so as … Continue reading Lessons from Australia: Why England should close the border with Scotland as a good neighbour

We heard from the BBC yesterday: Asked if there was a link between employment practices in Leicester and the outbreak there, Mr Hancock described guidance for employers as “statutory guidance” backed up by fines. “There are clearly some problems that have been under the radar in Leicester that need action,” he told the BBC. Neither Hancock nor the BBC thought to tell us how good the ‘radar’ is. How many health and safety workplace inspectors and inspections are there? In a 2016 report, Professor Steve Tombs of the Open University writes: What we find here is in fact a virtual … Continue reading Leicester spike: How the Tories slashed workplace inspections