Above the header for BBC Scotland’s newspaper front page summary with, notably, none repeating the 34th edition of Reporting Scotland’s ‘Ferry Fiasco’ this morning. Note the ‘NHS in crisis?’ It comes only from the wee story, top-right, in the Herald: Look closer: It’s a UK poll with apparently a ‘regional breakdown but no figures on that breakdown on the front page. Two days earlier, the same writer in the Herald had: Ambulance waiting times poll ‘not reflective of Scotland’ with still no breakdown of the data. Wonder why? I’ve had a look but can’t find the data tables – readers? Continue reading BBC Scotland and the Herald pasting England’s NHS ‘crisis’ onto Scotland

South of Scotland, List, not really elected by anyone, not really Ayr MSP, Sharon Dowey is almost on the books at the Daily Record doing an impersonation of BBC Scotland’s Unhealthy Correspondent, Lisa Summers. Here is some of her recent work: Dowey is notably absent today as Public Health Scotland tell us that University Hospital Ayr saw 67.4% of admissions to A&E in 4 hours, up from 59.7% in the previous week and 55.4% in the week before that. The people of Ayr deserve to know the facts. Why won’t the Daily Record and the Scottish Cons tell them? Source: … Continue reading Huge improvement in A&E waiting times at Ayr Hospital disappoints local unelected MSP

In another of their freedom of information media feeds, the Scottish Cons reveal again their deep cynicism. From STV today: More than 1,700 schools in Scotland contain asbestos, a Freedom of Information request has revealed. Some 1,745 primary, secondary and special schools across the country currently hold the toxic substance. Asbestos is a naturally occurring fibrous material that was used in a variety of buildings for its anti-corrosion and heat-resistant qualities. But the material was banned in the UK in 1999 after it was found to be carcinogenic, meaning it can cause cancer. The Scottish Conservatives, who released the figures … Continue reading Scottish Tory hypocrisy over asbestos

With no apparent sense of irony, the Herald, increasingly ‘low-end’ these days, joins the Daily Mail in the sheugh, in its ‘expose’ of Peter Murrel’s ‘state-of-the-art’ mobility home. What does any of that mean anyway? Not modest enough for someone paid from member-fee income? Armoured? With a built-in safe to hide dosh and dodgy docs in? When Clement Attlee had a caravan that could be towed around, no one suggested he was getting above himself or perhaps using it to tour high security sites on behalf of Stalin, even the Daily Mail. Is anybody trying to visit the 92-year-old whose … Continue reading Are only ‘high-end’ and ‘state-of-the art’ camper vans worth seizing?

In the above: It is the story of politicians ideologically hostile to regulation. In the 1980s, Margaret Thatcher’s government swept away virtually all building regulation, promising instead, in the words of her minister Michael Heseltine, “maximum self-regulation” and “minimum government interference”. In plain English, leave companies to manage their own affairs. Even this did not go far enough for David Cameron, who in 2012 made a New Year pledge to “kill off the health and safety culture for good”, launching a new swath of regulation cuts, including to fire safety inspections. https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/apr/09/stark-vision-of-grenfell-reveals-so-much-about-elite-really-rules-us To be fair, thanks to Old Labour in Scotland and … Continue reading How Old Labour and the SNP saved us from collapse

You’d think with his origins in Northern Ireland and his fishy name, Sharkey would know better than to say ‘in this country’ for the Anglocentric Guardian. A quick factcheck tells us: The flows and levels in Scotland’s water environment are currently at good or better condition in 90% of rivers, lochs and groundwaters. This is up from 88% when we published the second RBMPs. https://www.environment.gov.scot/our-environment/water/scotland-s-freshwater/ Why is this the case? Does Scotland show there is an alternative to this system? Scottish Water is a wholly public entity directly accountable to the Scottish Parliament. It offers lower bills than any of … Continue reading 90% of all UK water and 90% of it clean!

My wife really does have a 92 year old mother-in-law in Dunfermline! No wonder I can never get parked! Continue reading Today’s outright propagandist twitter activity

Keir Starmer and Anas Sarwar (Star Wars) are reputedly shouting ‘Scheisse!‘ to everyone who will listen as their recently re-named Neu Arbeit party fails to persuade the members (3) of the Airdrie & Shotts* group, to accept Frau Pamela Nasch as their candidate to fight the upcoming by-election. Nasch, Obergruppenführer of Schottland in der Union was considered to be the ideal partner for NL’s only other Scottish MP, Ian Murray, in their push for living space in Scotland. Airdrie & Shotts members are also reputedly furious that Starmer has told them to spell it ‘Schottz’ now and to stop calling … Continue reading Neu Arbeit leaders angered by failure of Airdrie and Schottz* to follow them to the right

Before I start proper, the US police have a lot to learn from Police Scotland* – only two cars? What, Trump wasn’t taken down to the station at 7.30am? Our lovely media have been making much of auditors, Johnston Carmichael, dumping the SNP ‘after’ their CEO was arrested and then subsequently not charged. They do have their standards to maintain or do they? Johnston Carmichael represented Trump in the public inquiry into his development plans for the Menie Estate in Aberdeenshire and signed off his apparent failure to make any profit and so not pay any tax, on his Turnberry … Continue reading Have SNP’s ’embarrassed’ auditors dumped Trump yet?