From Scottish Renewables today: The report on the economic impact of six pumped storage hydro projects currently in development in Scotland found that they will more than double the UK’s pumped storage hydro capacity to 7.7GW, creating almost 15,000 jobs and generating up to£5.8 billion for the UK economy by 2035. The Economic Impact of Pumped Storage Hydro Report also found that these six projects, if constructed, will add 4.9GW to the UK’s existing capacity of 2.8GW and go over halfway towards achieving the 15GW of capacity that is expected to be needed by 2050. As an established and proven technology, pumped storage hydro will play … Continue reading Scotland to more than double the UK’s pumped storage hydro capacity!

The Herald is making much of this case on one private company employee but has yet to ever report the news on IVF everyone in Scotland needs to hear. This: Try searching ‘BBC Scotland IVF‘ and all you will get is stories of the experience of one or two individuals or of how an unvaccinated person was refused treatment during the pandemic. You won’t see this: The 90% standard was met, with 99.6% of patients attending a screening appointment within 52 weeks of referral. 98.9% of all patients waited 39 weeks or less to be screened, similar to the previous … Continue reading IVF – One private clinic failure but otherwise a 100% system in Scotland

In this headlining BBC Scotland report, all they have are quotes from two claimants for the new Scottish Adult Disability Payment and this: The roll-out of the Scottish government’s new Adult Disability Payment has seen “significant delays”, according to welfare rights groups. However, welfare rights campaigners, including Enable Scotland, said it was taking “far longer than it should” for decisions to be made on new applications – and longer than the waits previously seen for PIP. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-65611514 There is no actual quote from any representative of any group saying ‘significant delays.’ There is not even an actual quote from a … Continue reading Only two people waiting too long for disability payments is not ‘significant’

Headlining from BBC Scotland this morning: Repairs to the CalMac ferry fleet have cost more than £100 million in the last five years. That’s according figures released to the ferry operator…eh…by the ferry operator to the Scottish Lib..d…d…Lib Dems. They say the figures highlight a decade of poor planning by SNP ministers. So, a late addition, not rehearsed by the presenter? ‘In the last five years’ but ‘a decade of?’ Is that £100 million over five years a lot? £20 million per year? At the end of the report we hear that the Scottish Government has invested £2 billion in … Continue reading Lib Dems join the Ferry Fiasco hesitatingly as performance falls to only 99% on time

This morning, BBC Scotland tell us that the Corran Ferry will be back in service ‘shortly.’ What happened to the suggestions of MoD assistance, six weeks ago? Three weeks ago, we read from BBC Scotland: An assessment is ongoing over whether military help is the solution for Highland Council’s Corran Ferry. There has not been a car ferry on the five-minute crossing of Loch Linnhe in Lochaber for three weeks due to issues with the main vessel and a relief boat. It is the busiest single-vessel ferry route in Scotland and carries more than 270,000 cars each year. The Ministry … Continue reading Any comment from the MoD on the return of the Corran Ferry unaided by them?

In the National today: THE Scottish Tories have demanded that a parliamentary inquiry is launched into the SNP’s finances probe.  Chief whip Alexander Burnett wrote to Presiding Officer Alison Johnstone calling for a new committee to be set up in relation to Operation Branchform. https://www.thenational.scot/politics/23528348.scottish-tories-demand-holyrood-inquiry-snp-finances-probe/ My memory of yesterday may be unsure at times but I remembered that Burnett had previous. Here it is from September 2017: Alexander Burnett (SCAUP), asked the Scottish Government what efforts it was making or can make to ensure that electric-only supplied houses are provided a broad choice of suppliers and what steps it is taking or can … Continue reading Tory brass neck as twice guilty MSP calls for Holyrood inquiry

stewartb You may be interested in what follows (with my emphasis), not least because it is NEVER quoted by the corporate media or the BBC. It will become obvious why this is the case! Source: OECD (2021), Scotland’s Curriculum for Excellence: Into the Future, Implementing Education Policies, OECD Publishing, Paris (https://www.oecd.org/education/scotland-s-curriculum-for-excellence-bf624417-en.htm ) ‘PISA’s new global competence module aims to capture the capacity of 15-year-olds to examine local, global and intercultural issues, to understand and appreciate the perspectives and world views of others, to engage in open, appropriate and effective interactions with people from different cultures, and to act for collective well-being … Continue reading SCOTLAND RANKED AMONG THE TOP-PERFORMING COUNTRIES IN GLOBAL COMPETENCE!

Maligned on a daily basis by our mainstream media, Calmac publishes daily performance figures but you won’t see them much in those media. Today, for the 16th May 2023, just the top of a huge list with absolutely no cancellations: The rest at: https://www.calmac.co.uk/calmac-performance-data-browser Continue reading Fact Check: Not one Calmac cancellation yesterday!

– from the Institute for Health Visiting By stewartb Support for children and families in Scotland has been accorded high profile in news coverage in the past week, especially by BBC Scotland. Many, and notably here on TuS, have sought to counter the negativity which has prevailed, including in one instance ‘absolute’ negativity. So here are some further research findings from an independent  health institute which reinforce the positivity in this earlier TuS blog post: ‘Scotland has nearly three times as many health visitors per head of population’. Source: Institute of Health Visiting (18 January, 2023) State of Health Visiting, … Continue reading The ‘good news’ about health visitor support for families in Scotland