Rutherglen & Hamilton West Labour candidate Michael Shanks is a Modern Studies teacher. I’ve said before that the introduction of Modern Studies in Scottish schools around 50 years ago, along with improvements in the teaching of History, must be given some credit for the surge in support for independence and for the SNP among younger people. So, it’s surprising that Shanks has not been persuaded. In his drive to become the Starmeroid candidate, I suspect he’s had to zip his lip many times as he watches the Labour Party dragged to the right and to British nationalism under the truly … Continue reading Is Rutherglen candidate just ‘not against’ massive wealth inequalities and bad economics?

From BIV on 25 August 2023: Amid rising demand, thousands of customers lost bookings in recent weeks when first Coastal Celebration and now Coastal Renaissance went out of service with mechanical problems. Engine problems sidelined Coastal Renaissance, which is likely out of service until at least mid-October. On Wednesday, the third of the three Coastal-class vessels, Coastal Inspiration, was delayed because of what the company called a minor issue. Service was normal on Thursday. The German-built Coastal-class vessels are critical to the system, especially during the summer. They run between Vancouver Island and the Lower Mainland https://biv.com/article/2023/08/resilience-put-test-bc-ferries-tries-cope-high-traffic-staff-shortages-vessel The three Coastal-class … Continue reading Government not attacked as three ferries suffer mechanical breakdowns in quick succession…in Canada

Leading charities have praised the SNP’s introduction of a minimum standard national allowance for foster and kinship carers to support them caring for the children and young people they look after. The payment is set to benefit more than 9,000 children, through £16 million from the Scottish Government. Following the SNP Scottish Government’s announcement of the new Scottish Recommended Allowance, Kinship Carers UK welcomed and said “it’s wonderful to see that Scottish Government are supporting their #kinshipcarers”. The payment was also praised by Fiona Aitken from Adoption UK Scotland who said they “look forward to seeing the impact of this on our community of carers” as well as Angie Gillie the Executive Director of Association for Fostering, … Continue reading Leading UK charities praise SNP Action for Kinship Carers

From the Guardian yesterday: Hundreds of extremely vulnerable children at risk of being recruited by criminal gangs are being thrown out of schools in county lines hotspots. Exclusion is widely regarded by child protection experts as a trigger point for criminal exploitation as pupils removed from classrooms lose the structure of the school day and the oversight of teachers. Some are left unsupervised at home and others are sent to pupil referral units, where gangs often recruit. https://www.theguardian.com/education/2023/aug/29/hundreds-of-children-thrown-out-of-school-in-english-county-lines-hotspots There were 578,280 temporary exclusions (suspensions) up from 352,454 the previous year and 6,495 permanent exclusions from Schools in England in 2021/2022: … Continue reading School exclusions in England more than seven times more frequent, as County Lines gangs target them and before they terrorise Scottish towns and cities

From Wales online on 6 August 2023: The Welsh Government are refusing to disclose vital information into how they handled Covid 19. In the early months of the pandemic the Welsh Government were desperate to get as many people out of hospitals and into care homes as possible in order to free up capacity. Then health minister Vaughan Gething initially refused to test anyone who had no symptoms for Covid, a decision which likely seeded the virus into the part of Welsh society which was most vulnerable. A WalesOnline investigation proved that policy makers were made aware of the risks posed by asymptomatic transmission … Continue reading Scottish Labour demand a Covid inquiry but Welsh Labour won’t have one and won’t even co-operate with the UK ‘gold standard’ one

As the SNP Government in Scotland increases the transformative Child Payment and higher pay rates for carers than elsewhere in the UK, there’s a taste of what Labour will do in government from this in Wales: Children could slide deeper into poverty if Wales’ councils suffer more cuts, a charity has warned. Councils expect a combined shortfall of £394.8m over the next two years, leaving services at risk. One youth club said securing long-term funding would be a challenge and feared the effects on the young. As data showed 34% of Wales’ children are impoverished, the Welsh government said ending poverty was an … Continue reading Rutherglen Alert – The massive council cuts UK Labour will bring you

Actually, it’s probably not just the second brainless headline in a row but I’m not prepared to look any further back than yesterday’s claim that dropping S4 exams would lead to an increase in school violence, from an unattributed failed Lib Dem candidate. Today, it’s Douglas Ross, possessor of a diploma in unpleasant farming practices, telling us the minimum unit pricing policy (MUP) has failed and that the 2% increase in alcohol deaths is proof of that. We know for certain that the increase trend in alcohol deaths is largely a consequence of patterns of behaviour triggered by the pandemic … Continue reading Scotsman makes it a double with second brainless headline in a row

I know, tabloid writers have to find the bad news. Good news is no news, I’ve heard some say, but you deserve better – a reality construction that might make you want to go with hope in your heart. So the Herald view is that Scotland’s drink problems have ‘overtaken’ our drug problems on a death spiral to the bottom and just stay at home for the rest of the year. You don’t want to go out. There are corpses everywhere. What might you want to think instead? Well drug deaths are down 2 Alcohol deaths are up 2% (statistically … Continue reading Drug deaths (0.019% of the population) plummet 21% below alcohol deaths (0.023%) which are down 11% on Labour era!