In the Herald, a Scottish newspaper RIOTS could break out across the UK this summer as the effects of the coronavirus pandemic take hold, a scientific adviser to the UK Government has warned. Professor Clifford Stott, a behavioural expert, said there was a risk of disorder on a scale last seen during the London riots in August 2011 – sparked by the police shooting of Mark Duggan – if urgent efforts were not made by police forces to quell any potential unrest in the neighbourhoods they served. Stott is based at Keele University (Midlands) and is a member of the UK Government’s … Continue reading English expert warns of street riots across England but Herald equates that with ‘UK’

Research published today and covered on the BBC Scotland website, for easy comparison with Reporting Scotland, reveals: Professor Jim Lewsey: Incorporating data from England and Wales into our analysis controls for any changes in sales in a neighbouring region where the legislation was not introduced. We’ve also been able to adjust for other factors, such as household income, sales of alcohol through pubs and clubs and of other drink types. Alongside a range of additional analyses accounting for various other factors, we have demonstrated that the introduction of MUP was associated with a fall in population consumption of off-trade alcohol … Continue reading Alcohol sales increase in England and Wales but SNP policy works to reduce them in Scotland

And it was the heme of Oliver Cromwell who defeated the Scohts at Dunbah. Incorporated Scohtlan into his protectorate and transported the Scohts as slives to the colonies…..snigger snigger hyah hyah from the Tory benches.….Nouw, there’s an ohnswer to the West Lothian Question!….Hoh! Hoh! Donkey Bray from the benches. I’ve typed Frazer’s words out for two reasons. I’t’s hard to make out what she’s saying in that accent and the sound of it might make you boak all over your keyboard. Seriously though, a Tory MP thinks slavery can ever be a laughing matter? A Tory thinks the enslavement of … Continue reading An appalling woman reminds of Scotland’s other slaves

By stewartb: The drinks giant Lucozade Ribena Suntory (LRS), which manufactures Ribena in the UK, has agreed to invest more than half a million pounds over five years in crop research at the James Hutton Institute at Invergowrie near Dundee.  The research programme is to develop new varieties of climate-resilient blackcurrant. LRS reportedly uses around 10,000 tonnes of blackcurrants grown each year in Britain to make Ribena.  James Hutton Institute varieties have an estimated 95% market share in the UK, and for the last 30 years the majority of this crop has been used in the production of Ribena. Blackcurrants … Continue reading Major crop research boost

By Brenda Steele: This is from an exchange between Alex Gallagher and me in Richard Murphy’s excellent Tax Research UK blog: https://www.taxresearch.org.uk/Blog/2020/06/08/scotland-is-not-amused/ I want to fill you in on information related to statements made by one commenter. This is the paragraph in question: Alex Gallagher Also, in case it’s not been noticed south of the border, Sturgeon’s handling of the pandemic has been as bad, even worse in some respects than Johnson’s. It’s not as if we were not warned. Apart from Cygnus, a UK wide review, there were three reports specifically for the Scottish Government, that told of lack … Continue reading Filling-in another house jock

By stewartb: “… Scotland can justly claim to be the pace-setter among the nations of the United Kingdom in opening up opportunities for higher education to all groups in the community”. On 5 June the third Annual Report from the Commissioner for Fair Access to universities and colleges in Scotland was published.  Source: https://www.gov.scot/publications/fair-access-higher-education-progress-challenges/ It reports sustained progress towards meeting the Scottish Government’s nearer term, interim target for ‘fair access’: 16 per cent of new entrants to higher education from the 20 per cent most deprived communities in Scotland by 2021 – “which has already effectively been achieved”. It also … Continue reading Scotland the pace-setter in opening up opportunities for higher education access

By Sam Commenting on a moronic Herald piece by Guy Stenhouse, John observed:”It’s quite clear that in the first few weeks the UK Government’s strategy was herd-immunity and “taking it on the chin”. What is the strategy now? There is informed speculation here.  https://99-percent.org/what-is-the-governments-coronavirus-strategy/ Take a look at the available strategies?  “The four generic strategies are:the laissez-faire strategy – let the virus take its course without interrupting normal economic activity in the hope of building herd immunity quickly and doing minimum damage to the economy;the isolate the vulnerable strategy – as above but find a way to protect those most at … Continue reading Is the UK government moving back to herd immunity?

From the CMO today: Beyond the eight cases already known to be associated with this outbreak, there are three other cases with a genotype that might be linked to this lineage. Of these three cases, two of them are closely associated with samples that came from other cases identified in other countries and have been discounted as having been directly linked to the conference. The third show similarities to those associated with the conference but not direct link to the conference has been established. After this explanation, the CMO concluded This suggests that the actions taken by the IMT to … Continue reading Calls for Shadowy Scottish Secretary to resign after public health team who dealt with Nike Conference infections are shown to have prevented further outbreaks

After two days with zero covid deaths, headlined by BBC 1, but only afterthoughts on Reporting Scotland, today’s 7 tragic deaths enabled a reassured return to normal. The 7 deaths became Reporting Scotland’s headline story despite being an unremarkable statistic compared to the zero on two successive day. Earlier, BBC Scotland’s lord of darkness, accomplice in naked bias of Lady Sarah Smith, asked the First Minister: I wonder if you can explain why more than 200 people with coronavirus having died on Scotland having picked up the virus in hospital wards that were supposed to be covid-free and how you … Continue reading Glenn Campbell and death return to BBC Scotland

On the BBC website today but of course not of interest to BBC Scotland: Britain is about to pass a significant landmark – at midnight on Wednesday it will have gone two full months without burning coal to generate power. A decade ago about 40% of the country’s electricity came from coal; coronavirus is part of the story, but far from all. National Grid responded by taking power plants off the network. The four remaining coal-fired plants were among the first to be shut down. The last coal generator came off the system at midnight on 9 April. No coal … Continue reading Britain goes coal-free for two months but only with massive Scottish aid