Alasdair Galloway Once Scotland took powers over income tax a settlement with the UK became necessary for several practical reasons However leaving boring practicalities to one side, this arrangement offers political opportunities to Westminster. For one thing it puts the risk entirely on to Scotland because if the Scottish economy operates less well than the UK average, the income tax allowed for in calculating the block grant will be greater than what is actually raised by the Scottish Government. If, on the other hand, Scotland does outperform the UK average, then there will be a windfall for the Scottish Government, … Continue reading The turkey that voted for Xmas (twice) – Some reflections on the devolved fiscal settlement

cuckooshoe From the above report but not reported by the media: If Scottish and UK Government tax policy changes are considered together, almost all households will be better off due to policy changes announced in the Autumn Statement and Scottish Budget. Only 6% of households – almost all in the top decile – will be worse-off as a result of these changes, on average seeing their income reduce by 0.2%. OMG!Wow!No way!You’re kidding!Are you serious?I can’t believe it!Holy cow!Unbelievable!Quelle surprise!You don’t say!That’s incredible! Continue reading ‘Almost all households will be better off due to policy changes announced in the Autumn Statement and Scottish Budget’

On BBC Radio 4’s Fixing Britain with Louise Casey, a powerful account of the SNP leader’s competence married with deep humanity, at 11.45 mins in, for 20 mins. Casey says: I’m not somebody that listens to party conference speeches on the whole but there was something she was saying that totally grabbed my attention and I thought ‘Wow!’ You need to listen to it. This is a fascinating and deeply moving account of a great politician but one for whom the Scottish media and opposition party chums is their greatest fear. Continue reading Care – Astonishing praise for Nicola Sturgeon on BBC Radio – 4, not Scotland, don’t be daft!

Scotland is currently transferring 1.69TWh of electricity per month to England, more than 20TWh in 2023 and on some days (above graph) pushing 30TWh. You could fully power 70 000 homes for 1TWh. There are fewer than that in the whole UK. With the rest, you could power all the hospitals, schools, colleges and universities and still have some left. https://news.duke-energy.com/releases/duke-energy-customers-surpass-1-terawatt-of-energy-savings-through-my-home-energy-report-program 1TWh would sell globally for about $120 000 per hour, so on that basis Scotland’s 20TWh could generate $2.8m every hour or $1bn every day or $365 billion per year. So much for that £1bn SNP black hole in … Continue reading Scotland’s electricity transfers to England are worth $365 billion per year

From Public Health Scotland today, for November 2023: 15,532 (65.1%) of ED attendances were seen and resulted in a subsequent admission, transfer or discharge within 4 hours.Attendances of over 8 hours 2,572 (10.8%) patients spent more than 8 hours in an Emergency Department.Attendances of over 12 hours 960 (4%) patients spent more than 12 hours in an Emergency Department. https://www.publichealthscotland.scot/our-areas-of-work/acute-and-emergency-services/urgent-and-unscheduled-care/accident-and-emergency/#section-2-2 The equivalent figures for NHS England, were 55.4% within four hours and for 12 hours, a shocking 42 854! https://www.england.nhs.uk/statistics/statistical-work-areas/ae-waiting-times-and-activity/ae-attendances-and-emergency-admissions-2023-24/ So, for 4 hours, NHS Scotland was 18% faster. On >12 hour waits, with 10 times the population, NHS England might haver been … Continue reading More than FOUR TIMES as many, proportionally, wait more than 12 hours in England’s A&E departments than in Scotland!