Alasdair Galloway This morning well-known Union supporting Denis Forbes Grattan’s letter appeared in the Herald. It reads “THE Deposit Return Scheme is now only fit for the bin as major drinks and brewing companies describe the scheme as totally unworkable. The scheme has great potential for recycling and litter control but simply won’t work in the UK national distribution system unless it is adopted by the entire UK.” Is there not something of a contradiction between the two paragraphs? The first condemns the scheme pretty comprehensively – “only fit for the bin” and “totally unworkable”. Yet in the next breath … Continue reading Forbes Grattan and the letters they do publish

From the Lord Ashcroft poll on 3rd February 2023, the breakdowns of the support in the total sample and crucially in the only 65% who named a party, are: Con 12%, 18.4% Lab 16%, 24.6% LD 4%, 6.2% Reform 2%, 3% SNP 26%, 40% Alba 1%, 1.5% Green 3%, 4.6% For some reason the Ashcroft poll don’t offer the above figures. Continue reading Even in Lord Ashcroft poll, 46% of vote is for pro-independence parties

I’ve written about these two more times than is good for my health. Here are some reminders of what they do: Just one from GC: Despite the fact the Scottish and UK Governments are following broadly similar strategies, making similar mistakes, achieving similar outcomes, there is a big paradox here. The public perception is Nicola Sturgeon is handling this pandemic far better than Boris Johnson. The words of Glen Campbell, above, are not entirely surprising though they continue to shock with their dishonesty. He and colleagues at BBC Scotland, along with fellow travellers across the Scottish and UK media, continue to … Continue reading Campbell and Cook – BBC Bias ad nauseam?

Thanks to Andrew Rosie for alerting me to this. From Theresa Coffey’s department in January 2023: Many countries have successfully used deposit return schemes (DRS) to increaserecycling rates of drinks containers, with well-functioning schemes achieving collectiontargets of 90% or higher. This document sets out the response to the second consultationheld in 2021 on developing a DRS, and the next steps for scheme delivery. The 2021 consultation recognised the disruption caused by the Covid-19 pandemic andasked respondents how the pandemic may have influenced their views on a DRS. Theappetite for introducing a DRS remained strong, with 83% of respondents expressingsupport for … Continue reading Conservative government’s bottle and can deposit return scheme supported by 83%

From Public Health Scotland today, on babies with a serious congenital condition. You can see the figures begin to climb as the Tory austerity policies began to kick in. In 2015, the Scottish Government announced a plan for government with the following statement: We will create a fairer country. We will promote a proper living wage, fair work and use new powers to improve the welfare system, mitigating some of the worst impacts of the UK Government’s cuts. https://www.gov.scot/publications/programme-government-2015-16/ In 2019 alone, £100 million was been spent to mitigate the effects of UK Government austerity. Social Security Secretary Shirley-Anne Somerville said: We … Continue reading Scottish Government mitigations reducing birth defects

From Public Health Scotland (PHS), information on Hospital Standardised Mortality Ratios (HSMRs) for the period October 2017 to September 2022. Should any hospital have a higher mortality rate than that predicted, you would see a blue dot for it on or above the upper red line in the chart below. None has. Notably, given the repeated attempts by opposition parties and their friends in the media to portray it as failing, Glasgow’s QEUH (extreme right blue dot) continues to perform, based on hard evidence and not Anas Sarwar’s shouty comments on TV, as one of the safest in the country. Continue reading Glasgow’s super-hospital continues to be one of safest

Leah Gunn Barrett In the Scotsman on 6 February 2022: My response not published: Martin O’Gorman is wrong again. Inflation doesn’t automatically occur when a government spends more on productive areas of the economy that enhance the wellbeing of its people like the NHS, education, or a green new deal.  After WWII, John Maynard Keynes demonstrated that when the Attlee Labour government increased public spending in health, education, housing, transport and energy, private investment was generated to meet the additional demand. The result was robust growth and full employment, the ‘golden age’ of the post-war UK economy that was emulated … Continue reading Letters they don’t print – Inflation doesn’t automatically occur when a government spends more

I can see no hard evidence of a further surge at the moment, in published data, but I’d be surprised if it isn’t there when we get the 2022/2023 data later in the year. Recent reports of a surge in hate crimes against the transgender community are largely based on the figures for 2021-2022 , preceding the worst of the media/Tory feeding frenzy we’ve seen in the last few months. Will it have been worth it in anyway? Well, if you’re kind of human, clearly not, but if your deepest desire is to weaken the SNP and the FM, regardless … Continue reading Poll reveals increased attacks on trans people have been worth it for some creeps