Oh what it is to be young: Galadriel and escaping the awful truth

Listen to the song first to get in a mood. I’m watching the Lord of the Rings prequel. It’s for 12 years plus, visually sumptuous with many painterly images, with lines of Old Testament weight and, like a 1950s Western, it hides the awful truth of violence. I’m not watching the Game of Thrones prequel. It’s for 18 years plus, not quite so good-looking, hateful in word and image, blood, brains and guts spilling all over the sets. Like a Sam Peckinpah Western, you see it all. I’m too young for that yet. Watching the central character, the icy beauty … Continue reading Oh what it is to be young: Galadriel and escaping the awful truth

Douglas Ross overheard talking to Mothership:

By gavinochiltree DRossie to Mothership. “Mothership, we have a problem”. Sigh. “What is it this time DRossie? Dont you know how busy we are in London, giving bungs to the rich”? “Mothership, all my aides are leaving because……well, because of Trussie being elevated to the Big Chair”. “This is just nonsense, DRossie. Hire someone with experience to help you out”. DRossie to Mothership. “Mothership, I did what you said, and hired someone really, really good. A Super-spad who worked with Spud Murphy………..but he LIED, Mummy. He told me porkies and he isn’t even Boris. I had to get rid of … Continue reading Douglas Ross overheard talking to Mothership:

The reasons for NHS Scotland’s A&E figures are Covid related

By Legerwood There was a Tweet I saw this morning from someone who thinks the 84-hr wait case was his mother. From what he said in the Tweet the circumstances surrounding the case were quite different to the impression given by DRoss or whichever one of the interchangeable wastes of space brought it up. On the subject of A&E waiting times it cannot be disguised, and should not be glossed over, that the A&E waiting times in NHS Scotland have been on a downward trend for some time and this has been made worse by the number of attendances at … Continue reading The reasons for NHS Scotland’s A&E figures are Covid related

Will Scottish Labour MSPs rejoice as SNP refuses them a tax cut?

It’s the big news for BBC Scotland today as it emerges that the SNP Government is unlikely to pass on the income tax cuts announced by the UK Chancellor today. Scottish MSPs will miss out on a cut of around £2 000! Those earning the median wage in Scotland of £25 000 or less, will see no difference but will, of course, benefit from the continued investment of taxation in services. This is further evidence that the SNP is the left-of-centre party in Scotland or the UK for that matter as SNP Media signalled in February 2022: Scotland will continue … Continue reading Will Scottish Labour MSPs rejoice as SNP refuses them a tax cut?

Different Scotland has 8% of the population but 25% of all the UK’s living wage employers

From Living Wage Scotland today The real Living Wage remains the only rate independently calculated based on what people need to live on. Businesses in Scotland recognise the importance of a fair day’s pay for a hard day’s work: Scotland’s 2,800 Living Wage employers account for a quarter of the total 11,000 accredited employers around the UK. Since 2011, the Living Wage campaign had delivered £365m into the pockets of workers in Scotland.   https://scottishlivingwage.org/the-real-living-wage-increases-to-10-90-in-scotland-as-the-cost-of-living-rises/ So, Living Wage employers are THREE times more common in Scotland than in other parts of the UK. That’s a very big, statistically significant, variation. It’s the … Continue reading Different Scotland has 8% of the population but 25% of all the UK’s living wage employers

Only 0.001% of emergency cases interesting to Scottish Tories

NHS Scotland’s A&E departments see around 300 000 patients in a year. Around 5% wait more than 12 hours because after triage they have been found to be not at serious risk. A Scottish Cons freedom of information request found one person who waited 84 hours, nine months ago. We are not given the full details. There are beds in A&E. Did they wait in one of those as seems likely. Did the medics try to send them home but they refused to go? The Cons also found ‘others who were not treated for 79, 64 and 53 hours‘ so … Continue reading Only 0.001% of emergency cases interesting to Scottish Tories

Covid cases plummet in Scotland as they surge in England and Wales

BBC Scotland regularly reports when Scotland has the highest Covid 19 infection rate in the UK. On 8 July, we read: Scotland still has highest Covid rate in the UK and last week they were careful to remind us The number of Covid-19 infections in Scotland rose last week. They’re saying nothing this week as cases fell sharply in Scotland by 18% and by 606 to 2 841. In England, they climbed by 13% to 28 167 making the rate pretty much the same as in Scotland and so not newsworthy for the agenda. The rate in Wales climbed 4% … Continue reading Covid cases plummet in Scotland as they surge in England and Wales

On poverty and inequality: how England’s voters have chosen for the UK to be!

By stewartb Rightly, poverty and its negative consequences are important, politically charged subjects. The purpose of this blog post is to put the feasibility of addressing these issues in Scotland today in a context viz. that within which the Scottish Parliament and Government operates whilst within the UK. The Scottish Government’s constraints and dependencies were described recently in a publication from the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS): ‘… the challenges of projecting the finances of a government (the Scottish Government) that has to run a balanced budget, and whose funding depends to a large extent on decisions by the UK … Continue reading On poverty and inequality: how England’s voters have chosen for the UK to be!

Neill Oliver and Britishness

By Alasdair Galloway For many people Neil Oliver is a zoomer. Even the National Trust couldn’t put up with him. Someone though must think he’s ok though even if it is just his mammy and GB News. This https://twitter.com/i/status/1571975114673061891 is a classic Oliver defence of the Union. But he makes several points that even though I don’t agree with him, remain important. First of all, there is his view of the “Scottish connection”, which seems to take the form of the Queen dying in Scotland as a reflection of the significance of Scotland’s place in that Union. Even a cursory … Continue reading Neill Oliver and Britishness