Nowhere in Scottish media: Over 43,000 automatic payments to help families with cost of living. More than 43,000 payments have been paid automatically to help parents and carers with the cost of living and starting school, latest official figures show. The introduction of automatic payments means that tens of thousands of people getting Scottish Child Payment have been awarded Best Start Grant Early Learning and School Age Payments without the need to apply separately. For each of the two benefits, people are awarded one-off payments of £294.70 per child to help with costs like clothes, toys and school trips. Some … Continue reading You won’t hear this – ‘SNP help families with cost of living’

In their own latest poll with Ipsos MORI, the strong SNP lead of 9 points is down from 14 in their November 2023 poll but it’s up significantly from the two 5 point leads in the other two polls in 2024. Similarly, the 6 point lead for Yes in the same poll is down from 8% in November 2023 but it’s up on 5 other polls in between. It’s all about choices and STV is choosing a world. Continue reading STV stick in thumb and come out with clear bias against SNP

From the NZ Herald, yesterday: KiwiRail bosses will front a select committee meeting next week where they are expected to face pressing questions about the future of Interislander’s Cook Strait ferries. Plans to replace the existing fleet of three ferries with two new purpose-built mega ferries were thrown into disarray before Christmas. Finance Minister Nicola Willis called time on a string of cost blowouts fearing she would be left with a “completely open chequebook”had she agreed to pour money into the mega ferry project. Willis refused a request for $1.47 billion of additional funding leaving the scheme dead in the water. The 1.2 … Continue reading New Zealand’s lifeline Cook Strait ferries still ‘dead in the water’