‘Yes! Eat my dust, losers! Michael Shanks (Image: Colin Mearns) By Not-My-Real-Name yesterday: “I’m not sure then how the Labour candidate can be presented as the kind of ambitious, energetic and demanding person, the folk of Rutherglen and Hamilton West deserve as their MP” : https://talkingupscotlandtwo.com/2023/08/10/rutherglen-labour-candidates-underperforming-modern-studies-department-does-not-encourage/ Anyone who is in opposition to the SNP will be THE ones whose prior history , where any failures and too decisions that contradict their current position, is largely ignored by the media….all because their opposition to both the SNP and independence is enough for the media to create and present a false image that … Continue reading Just another example of Labour , via this candidate, making promises and pledges that will never be fulfilled?

As junior doctors in England begin their fifth round of industrial action and BBC Scotland tell the old and vulnerable to ‘Just pay attention grandad! You’re not in England! Yes, your appointment is still on!’, we read today in the Guardian: Strike could push number of appointments cancelled due to NHS industrial action over a million. More than 830,000 appointments have already been postponed as a result of industrial action since December, which is estimated to have cost the NHS about £1bn. Sir Julian Hartley, the chief executive of NHS Providers, said cancellations could hit a million after strikes by junior doctors … Continue reading Scottish Government actions have saved 100 000 health appointments

Some of you won’t like this and I’m ready for some indignant flak but the Rutherglen & Hamilton West by-election is already pretty dirty and will no doubt get more so as we approach the day of the vote. Already, we see the media in Scotland essentially campaigning for Labour, demonising the recalled former SNP MP, framing the election in terms of a supposed crisis of corruption in the SNP and shielding the Labour candidate from honest exposure of the deep fissures in that party and its intended betrayal of many of the electorate. So, the candidate has taught Modern … Continue reading Rutherglen Labour candidate’s underperforming Modern Studies Department does not encourage

Published yesterday but not making it yet to BBC Scotland’s Business website or broadcasts: The latest Scottish Annual Business Statistics data are for the calendar year 2021, with data provided back to 2008.  in 2021, approximate Gross Value Added at basic prices (aGVA) of the non-financial business economy was estimated to be £99.3 billion. This is an increase of 21.9% compared with 2020 between 2020 and 2021, aGVA increased for all four of the main sectors of the non-financial business economy. Services aGVA was up by 15.3%, Primary Industries up by 47.1%, Manufacturing up by 17.5% and Construction up by … Continue reading Massive increases in value of Scottish businesses under business-friendly SNP

Published today but not making it into any of the media operating in Scotland: Ipsos were appointed by the Scottish Government to undertake an implementation evaluation of the development and early delivery of No One Left Behind and the Young Person’s Guarantee. The evaluation explored how effectively No One Left Behind and the Young Person’s Guarantee had been implemented, the experiences of service providers and service users, and lessons from early delivery. https://www.gov.scot/publications/implementation-evaluation-no-one-left-behind-young-persons-guarantee/pages/2/ The initiatives were launched in September 2020 with these words: We are committed to supporting young people transition successfully into the labour market and recognise the challenges … Continue reading Ipsos praises Scottish Government on No One Left Behind & the Young Person’s Guarantee initiatives

According to the Herald today, based on a feed from the Labour Party in Scotland, there has been a drop of 160 fewer bus routes in Scotland in the last year. From BBC Politics, yesterday, fed by Labour too, 2 160 bus routes were lost in England last year. All things being equal, with 10 times the population, the figure for England might have been expected to be around 1 600 but is, in fact, 2 160, 35% higher. In what way might the SNP have protected bus companies and passengers better? Free bus passes for all over 60. Free … Continue reading Labour find SNP Government aid means bus routes falling 35% faster in England than in Scotland

Not a word of criticism of any politician, the absent DUP and Sinn Fein or the Secretary of State, Chris Heaton-Harris (Con). Who? You may well ask. Doesn’t, in the absence of a devolved government, the buck stop with him? No platforming of the opposition Alliance party to attack anyone other than the Chief Constable. Should the buck stop with him? On 20 June 2023, BBC Northern Ireland had: The Northern Ireland Secretary of State Chris Heaton-Harris has defended his refusal to make major policy decisions in the absence of an Executive. He has been criticised by Stormont politicians for … Continue reading Major data breach in Northern Ireland – Unlike in Scotland, why does the buck not stop there with any politician?

The Scotsman and the Express today reveal their ignorance and/or deviousness by ignoring the disruptions in 2020, 2021 and 2022 caused by pandemic measures and headline claims that the attainment gap between pupils in the most advantaged and most disadvantaged areas, at the SQA higher level has widened. It has not. It has narrowed by almost 1% to 16% from 16.9% in 2019. This is part of longer trends under SNP Government. At SCQF level 7 (Advanced Higher), the gap in 2009/10, two years after the SNP first came to power, was 24.1 and by 2021/22 it was 22.2, though … Continue reading In truth the attainment gap at Higher has further narrowed as the most disadvantaged surge

Today BBC Scotland goes with: Pass rate falls as Scottish pupils get exam results I’ll be quick. The proportion of pupils awarded an A, B or C at Higher has fallen from 78.9% in 2022 and 89.3% in 2020 to 77.1% this year. The pass rate was 74.8% in 2019. It was a similar picture for National 4s and 5s and for Advanced Highers. The pass rate for National 5 qualifications was 78.8%, which was down from 80.8% in 2022 and 85.8% in 2021 but up from 78.2% in 2019. At Advanced Higher level, 79.8% passed. That was down from … Continue reading Pass rate climbs at all levels in meaningful comparison with pre-pandemic figures