Many thanks to Dorothy for alerting me to this: “The RSC is pushing for a tenfold reduction of the limit for individual PFAS types – from 100ng/l to 10ng/l – as well as an overall limit of 100ng/l for the total amount of PFAS. It would bring the UK closer to the EU and Scotland, which have a stricter limit of 100 ng/l for the sum of 20 specific PFAS in treated water. Some countries have stricter limits, with Denmark’s set at just 2ng/l for four individual PFAS, and the US Environmental Protection Agency has proposed dropping limits on some to just 4ng/l.” … Continue reading Forever chemicals – Scotland has stricter limit

By Jim Stamper I find Brian Barbour’s perspective in his letter (Scotsman 27 November) very difficult to comprehend.  He mentions failures of the SNP not setting up a Scottish energy company but doesn’t seem to question the UK Government not doing so, despite energy being a retained power.  Instead UK Governments sold off all our oil and gas resources to private companies leaving us exposed to extreme energy price increases following the Russian / Ukraine conflict with very adverse resultant effects including huge inflation.  He doesn’t suggest the UK Government should be taking public ownership of the Grangemouth refinery despite … Continue reading Grangemouth closure symbolic of UK Government failures

Revealed yesterday, the Scotsman‘s Conor Matchett and Kevin Hague’s These Islands made 360 freedom of information requests of the Scottish Government. According to the University of London in 2010, the average costs, in Scotland, were £189 and 7.2 hours of staff time. According to the Bank of England, inflation since 2010 has been 48% so we can make that £189 no £280. Just those two cost us £100 000. The total 900 by just the top ten, cost us £254 000 and 6 480 hours of staff time – 5 full time staff! Continue reading Conor Matchett tops list of dirt-digging journalists costing Scottish taxpayer quarter of a million and five full-time staff in just one year

From Public Health Scotland today: During the quarter ending 30 September 2023, the 90% standard was met, with 99.7% of patients attending a screening appointment within 52 weeks of referral. One patient waited more than 52 weeks to be screened. https://www.publichealthscotland.scot/publications/ivf-waiting-times-in-scotland/ivf-waiting-times-in-scotland-quarter-ending-30-september-2023/ The evidence for the headline’s claims? These two research studies in 2022: 83% of respondents felt sad, frustrated and worried often or all the time as a result of fertility problems and/or treatment, 47% experienced feelings of depression often or all the time, and 10% experienced suicidal feelings often or all the time. However, a further 30% reported suicidal … Continue reading Scotland’s stunning 99.7% IVF programme creates life, save lives and reduces NHS mental health demands

From the Herald, headlining the online version, today: Scotland faces an influx of XL bully dogs from south of the border, campaigners have warned, after Scottish ministers refused to follow the Prime Minister’s decision to ban the breed. no clickbait links any more here What’s the evidence? I’d be ashamed to have to offer this level of evidence unless I was writing one of my much disregarded mock-up/spoof/satires. Are XL Bullies fully banned in England? From 1 February 2024 it will be a criminal offence to own an XL Bully dog in England and Wales unless your dog has a Certificate … Continue reading Complete BS from the Herald!

Ferries from the English mainland to the Isle of Wight, population 141 000, take between 40 minutes and 1 hour. Foot passenger return tickets cost between £18.80 (day) and £27.70. Wightlink, the source of the above prices seem very cagey about publishing precise charges for cars so I searched for 4 people in an average family car sailing 30 November and returning 23 December and was quoted between £120 and £133. Local MP Bob Seeley of the governing party (Con) has described them as ‘some of the most expensive on earth’ but has/can do nothing about them. Ferries from the … Continue reading SNP Government-owned ferries saving island communities costs at massive 50% off the going rate

According to the Police Promotion Blog, in 2023, Scotland has 16 615 police officers. All things being equal, with 10 times the population, England should have 166 150 but has only 139 425 so Scotland has 26 725, 19.2% more pro rata. With 1.7 times the population of Wales, Scotland should have 13 608 officers but has 16 615, 3 007 or 22.1% more. Might this help to explain these crime level differences? Continue reading Scotland has 22% more police officers proportionally than Labour Wales and nearly 20% more than England to drive down crime

For years now, I have commented on the reluctance of Scottish media to recognise the appalling impact on communities right across Scotland of brutal English ‘County Lines’ drug gangs arriving with a level of violent intent way beyond that of local dealers. You can read several accounts here: https://talkingupscotlandtwo.com/?s=county+lines Over the weekend BBC Scotland, STV and the press have reported on riots in Auchinleck and Cumnock as exclusively violence against the police and with no explanation for the attack on a house that triggered the police response in the first place. On Reddit, some local comment can be seen and … Continue reading Ayrshire riots were against English drug gang terror but media avoid anything that harms the reputation of the Union

BBC Scotland have headlined this story: CalMac small ferries replacement spending delay The deeply cynical like me thought ‘What’s that ‘spending‘ doing in there?’ Sneaky, sneaky – they want, of course, to keep the delay fiasco narrative going so they kept the delay notion even though they knew it wasn’t true and slipped the spending qualification in as a defence for any criticism. What did the Finance Secretary actually say? She said the small vessels plans had been “reprofiled, allowing time to fully consider the business case work, vessels design criteria, and help ensure alignment of the related shore power … Continue reading Small ferries replacement building ‘on track’ though you’d be forgiven for thinking it wasn’t if you didn’t read the sneaky BBC Scotland headline carefully

As BBC Scotland lead of with one lung cancer case, their main webpage ignores the above and the BBC Scotland Politics page still has three iPad roaming charges stories and hangs on to a Labour Lord’s outburst on ferry costs, we see what they are. No public information of any note, not here and not on any front pages, shockingly, in the midst of a genocidal war directly affecting Scottish citizens, condemned cross-party in the Scottish Parliament, the central role of the First Minister, a genuinely democratically elected leader is hidden from the public. Even the STUC itself did not … Continue reading First Minister’s speech to Scottish Trades Union Congress’s (STUC) annual St Andrew’s Day anti-racism rally IGNORED