By stewartb: It’s good again to want to ‘amplify’ an article published in Source Direct, the daily digital news and opinion bulletin produced by Common Weal! The piece in the 15 June issue is to be welcomed. It’s entitled ‘The changing moods of unionist economics’ and perhaps because I had been musing over broadly related matters, it did resonate. The Source Direct article sums things up nicely:  “Are you keeping up? Before the pandemic, the case for the union was that Scotland is part of a UK state that didn’t need to have a big budget deficit, which Scotland would … Continue reading Long read: ‘Agency’ – the antidote to Unionist scaremongering over deficit and debt

Research by the CIES Football Observatory has revealing shocking favouritism by football referees in Scotland. Fans of Motherwell have to wait 50% longer than fans of neighbours and arch-rival, Hamilton Accies. Also notable is a West-coast bias with the top three all located in the West. Psychologists have explained the Scottish trend, saying that referees, like bossy weans, tend to prefer the colours blue and red and dislike yellow or dull shades such as maroon. Some have suggested that there may be bias based on religious affiliation but the positioning of Rangers and Hearts at opposite ends of the table … Continue reading Shock: Scottish refs biased against Motherwell!

…  Alastair Darling reflects! By stewartb One can gain insights into people when they are in relaxed, but serious conversation. This is no doubt the purpose behind the Institute for Government’s ‘Ministers Reflect’ series of interviews. By chance I came across the transcript of one such interview from 2016 conducted with Alastair Darling, the leading campaigner against self-determination for the people of Scotland. I noted a short section in which Darling speaks about Scotland, the aftermath of the 2014 referendum and his view of the Scottish electorate’s likely response in a second independence vote. Despite its vintage, it’s worth shining … Continue reading An apologist for the Tories and a serial scaremonger?

Though the Record’s churnalists still managed to extract the negative, BBC Scotland did manage to squeeze in a wee recognition of the truth: A report has said there were a “series of problems” with the design and build of a Glasgow hospital campus – but no clear evidence to link those failures to any “avoidable deaths“. But, don’t get carried away, there’s still this: The Queen Elizabeth University Hospital opened in 2015, but fears were raised after deaths were linked to infections. An independent review concluded that some patients had been “exposed to risk that could have been lower”. before, sort … Continue reading Calls for BBC Scotland to apologise for hospital accusations

In the Guardian today: Dozens of hospitals are running short of scrubs in the latest problem to hit the NHS over the supply of personal protective equipment (PPE) during the coronavirus pandemic. The shortages are revealed in a survey of UK doctors undertaken by the Doctors’ Association UK (DAUK), which found that 61% said that the hospital where they worked was facing a shortage of scrubs. If you remember a recent tweet by the Scottish Health Secretary, those claims might be a surprise. See this: So, I’ve written to DAUK to ask for access to the data: I won’t be holding my breath. I’ve … Continue reading To say it’s a ‘UK Doctors Survey’ do you just need Anas Sarwar’s brother-in-law’ to respond?

On Good Morning Scotland, this morning (1 hour in) Alison Payne is introduced as ‘Allison Payne works for the think tank Reform Scotland…Alison also has children‘ and is asked then ‘As a parent what are your reactions to the plans for the next year?‘ She launches into this I’m flabbergasted. In Edinburgh we’re looking at one day per week in the current proposal…works for nobody, it doesn’t work for pupils, it doesn’t work for parents and I don’t see how it works for schools. That last bit makes me think, ‘spin doctor, speech writer?’ Alison is currently ‘Research Director‘ with … Continue reading ‘Mum’s’ deep Conservative Party insider history hidden by Good Morning Scotland to attack Swinney

The review is of public interest but it’s not out yet. BBC Scotland have jumped on the news to repeat their scurrilous series of distortions at the time. However, just as the forthcoming report gives them the excuse to repeat, it does the same for me. Here are some of our rebuttals of their stories of pigeons and deaths ‘after’ a pigeon flew past a ward window: https://talkingupscotlandtwo.com/2019/09/09/a-fake-scandal-based-on-fake-news-where-no-one-suffered-any-pain/ https://talkingupscotlandtwo.com/2019/09/17/premature-babies-die-of-prematurity-and-pigeons-kill-no-one-at-all-but-bbc-scotland-politicise-health-reports-with-fake-news-to-undermine-snp-government/ https://talkingupscotlandtwo.com/2020/01/20/breaking-flagship-hospital-far-cleaner-than-pacific-quay-reporting-scotland-fails-to-apologise-for-misleading-public/ https://talkingupscotlandtwo.com/2019/12/26/bbc-scotland-fails-to-report-when-investigation-shows-patient-was-not-killed-by-fungal-infection/ https://talkingupscotlandtwo.com/2019/11/14/reporting-scotlands-bloodlust-for-dead-patients-continues-unsated-for-nearly-a-year-and-its-not-good-for-you/ Continue reading BBC Scotland use notice of review to repeat scare stories about Glasgow hospital but still not one person died BECAUSE of the infections

Despite desperate attempts by Jack and Carlaw, aided and abetted by Scottish Labour and the GMB, loyally broadcast by BBC Scotland, the truth will out. A letter to the Herald this morning reminds us of the facts: Only Westminster had the legal authority to impose a lock-down and a quarantine of ports, tunnels and airports. No other administration in the UK had these legal powers. As I stated in a previous letter, the devolved administrations were “daft” to go along with the “four nations approach”, where London was setting policy based on the SAGE advice where they were not allowed … Continue reading Let’s be clear, this man’s party is to blame for the deaths including those in the care homes

Researcher: Douglas, the report says repeatedly ‘We are not making recommendations about Scotland.’ Fraser: They won’t read the report and if they do, so what? From BBC Scotland yesterday: Private care homes are getting some of the heat for the spread of coronavirus and high numbers of residents’ deaths. That has led to claims they should be in public hands, and that they are raking off excess profits. There are examples of that. But the wider problem seems to have more to do with under-funding than profiteering. Indeed, private care homes in Britain are struggling with unsustainably low levels of … Continue reading Douglas Fraser sneakily applies England-only recommendations to Scotland and sides with the private care home owners

By rosie andrew: Sunday Times readers have been spared a few weeks of Michael Glackin’s monotonous attacks on the Scottish Government but he’s back to-day with his usual partisan comments on Scotland’s “declining economy” forgetting that the UK economy shrunk by a record 5.8% in March alone. Prior to Boris Johnson trashing the country, the Scottish economy was predicted to grow by 0.8% GVA in 2020 before picking up to 1.4% in 2021 https://www.ey.com/en_uk/growth/ey-scottish-item-club-winter-forecast-2020 Unlike other oil producing countries, Scotland doesn’t have the powers to diversify by making massive investments in alternatives such as hydrogen fuel cells https://fuelcellsworks.com/news/norway-unveils-its-hydrogen-strategy/. And we all remember … Continue reading Michael Glackin’s monotonous attacks on the Scottish Government