Not, of course, featuring anywhere else in the MSM nor even on the BBC Scotland website, this selective little piece will only see the light of day on Reporting Scotland‘s wee radio sister, Good Mourning Scotland. Only 16% of diesel buses have been replaced by electric buses against a target of a majority. There are around 54 000 buses in public service in Scotland so 16% is 8 640 diesel buses taken out of service. The impact of the pandemic gets a wee mention at the end but the image of Scottish Government failure has been communicated again to the … Continue reading SNP replaces 43 times more diesel buses than UK Tories can manage

By stewartb responding to the highly selective and negative media reporting of the whistleblowing officer’s report into contact tracing: As often the case, a journalist with a different objective could have framed the article quite differently. And here just a few extracts from it: Para 38. ‘The head of complaint I have investigated is that NCC staff did not have sufficient training and access to sufficient information to enable them to provide correct information to the public. This concerned the specific period prior to, and at the time of the concern being raised in June 2021.’ And then para 42. … Continue reading Whistleblower report on contact tracing: ‘Little or no sense from the news coverage’

By Bob Lamont You need to scroll all the way to the bottom of the article to read this – Neither NSS’s internal investigation nor the investigation conducted by INWO found examples of members of the public who had received incorrect public health advice. She added that at the time of the 2021 complaint: The national call centre was aware of the need to further develop the training at this time to meet the changing needs of the service and had a plan in place to do so. THAT should be the context, but that’s NOT how Andrew Picken framed … Continue reading BBC Scotland’s selective bias on contact training: ‘No member of the public had received incorrect public health advice’

By stewartb The stench of hypocrisy is in the air around opposition party politicians in Scotland again. A seemingly successful, direct and public intervention in an industrial dispute by a FM is denigrated for being too late by those not privy to the negotiations. Labour’s only MP in Scotland is even tweeting that the timing of the FM’s intervention was overly delayed because of a couple of appearances she made at the Festival Fringe! And this is the person the Labour Party considers appropriate to be Shadow Secretary of State for Scotland! The history of FM’s or PM’s or even … Continue reading The stench of hypocrisy is in the air

BBC Scotland today is featuring: Scotland’s Covid contact tracing staff lacked training – watchdog The report is based on concerns raised by ‘a worker’, ‘sometimes‘, ‘there is reason to believe‘ and ‘some‘. The only numbers are in this: It found 91% had complied with the agreed call centre scripts but that a “relatively high number” (25% of all cases) had the exposure date changed after the initial call by a quality control or supervisor check. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-62765825 There’s no mention, needless to say of this kind of thing, reported here in two years ago: Less than 3 weeks ago, Scotland’s MSM … Continue reading Scotland’s contact tracing system was miles ahead of that in England

I’ve had to correct the BBC Scotland headline again, but as they tell you a bit down the page: It follows an 11-hour meeting between unions and council leaders that was hosted by First Minister Nicola Sturgeon in Edinburgh on Thursday. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-62766520 Follows what? This: Strikes that had been due to close hundreds of schools and leave bins unemptied across Scotland next week have been called off. A new offer will mean a 10% pay rise for the lowest paid staff instead of special cost of living payments this year and next. Non-teaching school staff in 11 council areas had … Continue reading Sturgeon persuades unions to call off strikes!

By stewartb On the subject of Scotland-Germany collaboration, this from the Royal Society of Edinburgh’s (RSE) website: ‘The new RSE Scotland-Germany Hydrogen Research Scheme is funded by the Scottish Government with the purpose to facilitate international collaboration between Scottish and German institutes. It aims to develop hydrogen-related research which can inform Scottish Government policy objectives. This aligns with the RSE’s ‘knowledge made useful’ mission. ‘OBJECTIVE: This scheme seeks to foster research- and practice-based partnerships between Scotland and Germany to lead the way towards a decarbonised future. The objectives of the RSE Scotland-Germany Hydrogen Research Scheme are as follows: – ‘To … Continue reading Scotland-Germany Hydrogen Research Scheme funded by the Scottish Government and invisible to BBC

From Alasdair Galloway: Stewart’s acute perception is well used on his recent “Is Scotland’s economic fate already sealed for the next 50 years?”. https://talkingupscotlandtwo.com/2022/08/31/is-scotlands-economic-fate-already-sealed-for-the-next-50-years/ I agree completely with all the points that he makes there. It is lazy journalism in the extreme to call a projection a forecast – but then for many of the journos ‘confused’ in that way, it is politically expedient to do so. He is also right about the claimed precision of economic forecasting. I still recall 45 years later, going in to see my new head of department (the Department of Economics & Management) who … Continue reading ‘Economic forecasting was devised to make astrology seem respectable.’ A rejoinder (sort of) to Stewartb

Typically BBC Reporting Scotland tells us a tale of a supposed health problem under SNP-rule which, based on one case and no facts, is a wider problem which can then be laid at Humza’s door. My headline questions, relevant for any real news story, even one by a 1st Year student, are not addressed. Lots of personalisation but no context would be an undergraduate fail. We just hear: An Edinburgh mum whose young son fell seriously ill after contracting sepsis is backing a campaign to raise awareness about the condition. Corey King was 18 months old when he became ill … Continue reading Sad indeed, BBC Scotland, but is sepsis common, increasing or reducing, in ‘top of the pillar Scotland?’

From stewartb From today’s Scotland Politics section of the BBC News website: ‘Scottish economy FORECAST to grow slower than UK’. (my emphasis) It begins: ‘Scotland’s economy is PROJECTED to grow more slowly than the UK over the next 50 years, according to the Scottish Fiscal Commission (SFC). The independent body projected that Scotland’s GDP would grow by 0.9% per year on average between 2028-29 and 2071-72.’ As an aside, it is astonishing how statistically precise economists claim to be! It begs the question: is Scotland’s economic fate already sealed for the next 50 years? This is the source report: https://www.fiscalcommission.scot/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/Trends-in-Scotlands-population-and-effects-on-the-economy-and-income-tax-August-2022.pdf Here … Continue reading Is Scotland’s economic fate already sealed for the next 50 years?