Huh, is this the best the SNP can do for the country’s economy? Look and learn, hen: No list of politicians and cars is complete without mention of John ‘Two Jags’ Prescott. The former Labour Deputy Prime Minister famously had one luxury Jaguar in his Hull consistency and a second in London. Continue reading Jaguar/Land Rover accuse Sturgeon of typical Scottish tightness and lack of loyalty to UK by only letting hubby buy one Jag!

By cuckooshoe An article in the BBC News Section (under Health) says “Parts of the UK could become home to mosquitoes capable of spreading dengue fever, chikungunya and zika virus by the 2040s and 2050s, health officials warn.” Mention of the chikungunya virus rang a bell and prompted me to look up Valneva! Valneva is the French pharmaceutical company, some may recall, who received a termination notice in September 2021 from the UK Government in relation to the supply of its Covid-19 vaccine. The article below is from the Daily Express and is dated 20th November 2023 – https://www.scottishdailyexpress.co.uk/news/politics/scottish-enterprise-claw-back-millions-31477524 “Scottish … Continue reading Scottish Government support for Livingston vaccine plant leads to new mosquito vaccine

By stewartb The PISA 2022 results are just one of a raft of measures that one can and should use to assess the quality and relevance of an eduction system and its associated curriculum. We need a ‘balanced scorecard’ and we need balanced, objective consideration of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats in system. We do not need insulting, partial, partisan and ill-informed comment on Scottish education from the Westminster government’s Education Secretary aided and abetted by a newspaper supposedly ‘serving’ Scotland. Scotland on Sunday (SoS) gave Gillian Keegan space today to tell us – justified by the PISA 2022 scores … Continue reading UK minister unaware Scots pupils among the most likely in the developed world to understand and appreciate the perspective of others

Like a playground crowd around a fight, our MSM have gathered frothily around some figures which seem to bear little relationship to those published above. Looking at the above data, it is clear that all forms of bullying are decline from the 2018 level and that Scottish students feel significantly safer than in other nations, on average. And in England? No such breakdown seems to have been done with only this offered: The report also found that the majority of pupils in England reported feeling safe in their schools. That it? Just ‘the majority’ is OK? Why no percentage we might … Continue reading Scotland’s school violence fact check – All forms of bullying in decline and students feel safer than in other nations

I was gonna just ignore this but too many friends have urged me to respond so I’m gonna deal with it quickly using cuttings from earlier posts. She claims: The Scottish school system was once the jewel in the British educational crown. With good standards and low levels of social inequality, it was seen as the part of the UK where working-class kids could get ahead as a result of a high-quality comprehensive education. The English system was a basket case by comparison, characterised by huge variations in school quality, poor outcomes and the occasional wacky education theory. In 1997, … Continue reading Gormless Guardian writer, educated at St Hilda’s College, knows nothing of Scottish education but is allowed to tell us what went wrong

From cuckoooshoe today: ScotRail, nationalised last year by the Scottish Government, has introduced new greener Class 380 trains today on their Glasgow to Barrhead route. The line, which recently underwent a £63.3 million upgrade, is a part of the Scottish Government’s investment to decarbonise passenger services across Scotland’s Railway. Fares are from £2.20 one way and the journey time is 18 minutes! https://www.scotrail.co.uk/plan-your-journey/timetables “On Sunday, 10 December, a new timetable will be introduced, which represents our commitment to delivering the best service we can and encourages more people to choose rail.  We’re dedicated to making Scotland’s Railway more accessible and … Continue reading Nowhere in ‘your’ Scottish media – new greener trains and low fares

Perhaps unaware of the signal this might send to their readers, the Scottish Daily Express on 18 November had: Telephone cell site analysis and automatic number plate recognition checks will play a vital role in tracking down the murderer of a young father, police sources have confirmed. Ross MacGillivray was the victim of “a significant level of violence” and it is feared he was killed on the orders of a Merseyside-based organised crime gang. As tributes continued to flood in for the 36-year-old from Inverness, the extent of how technology can help find those responsible has been revealed. Whilst police … Continue reading Still hiding the cross-border English county lines killers in Scotland

By namorrodor “For Liam Kerr, education spokesman for the Scottish Conservatives and for Alan Mathieson [https://talkingupscotlandtwo.com/2023/12/09/scotlands-schools-are-much-better-than-they-used-to-be/], to say whether or not Scotland has a world leading education system they would have to compare Scottish schools and universities with those in other countries around the world” The problem Liam Kerr has is that he cannot back up his claims without exposing both the truth and how ridiculous his party’s decision to pull the UK out of the EU in 2019 was. https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat produce annual data tables on the performance of EU member countries in terms of tertiary education, amongst other areas. For … Continue reading Scotland topped EU tables of the percentage of ‘degree-bestowed’ adults

From the Guardian today: Whooping cough might sound like a disease of the Victorian era, but according to new data from public health bodies, it is on the rise in the UK [sic]. Looking at 2023 until late November, data from the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) has revealed there were 1,141 suspected cases in England and Wales, compared with 450 for the same period of 2022 and 454 for that period in 2021 – about a 250% increase. Why is whooping cough increasing? Experts say it could be a hangover from restrictions during the Covid pandemic. “Social distancing and lockdown measures … Continue reading Whooping cough vaccination level safe at nearly 97% in Scotland

From Kiro News Radio yesterday: After the last attempt to build five new electric hybrid boats fell through, the state is about the start the bidding process again. The first of five new hybrid ferries was supposed to roll off the line in 2022, but the contract with long-time ferry builder Vigor, previously Todd Shipyard, fell through. Why? The bid to build the boats was double what the state expected. The contract was nixed, and here we are today running a ferry system held together by chewing gum and good intentions.  To say it’s a crisis is an understatement. That’s … Continue reading Washington – ‘a ferry system held together by chewing gum and good intentions.