in the Herald today: Professor James Mitchell is one of the nation’s leading expert on the constitution, devolution, the Scottish Parliament and Government. He’s seriously worried about the state of our democracy. In a no-holds-barred conservation with our Writer at Large, he lays it on the line about independence, the SNP, Westminster and systemic political failure IF you want to diagnose the health of Scottish democracy, there is only one man to turn to: Professor James Mitchell from Edinburgh University, a leading authority on Scottish politics. He has spent a lifetime dissecting the constitution, devolution, and the workings of the Scottish Government. … Continue reading No Neil Mackay, Scottish democracy is in relatively good health

Looking further into the Ipsos MORI poll, of 1 000 Scots, on views of Scottish independence, with the survey done only 2 days ago, there is much encouragement to be found. The poll is being ignored by the Scottish media, with good reason, for them, that is. Not only are the above results encouraging, when you recalculate with the don’t knows removed, we pass the magical 60% approval figure for some of the questions asked. From the above, we get 61.5% indicating they want to take the country in a very different direction from England and 59.5% saying Scotland should … Continue reading New poll: More than 60% want to take Scotland in a very different political direction to England

BBC Scotland have nothing on this. They’re busy with increases in E-coli in a nursery (Where’s Prof Pennington when you need a bacteriologist?), bin strikes (None in BBC Wales apparently), a sex assault, a serial rapist and cancer. They do have Harry Styles and a wee fox cub to cheer you up but, of course, nothing that might conceivable reflect well on an SNP Government. BBC Scotland could have had this: Covid infections fall for the fifth successive week in Scotland They prefer this kind of thing, from March 2022: Covid hospital numbers in Scotland reach new peak. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-60806381 BBC … Continue reading BBC Wales has an attitude problem – talking-up Wales

What row? Yes it’s Sharon Dowey List MSP for Ayr, again, accusing the FM of going gallivanting overseas. Will Dowey’s BFF, Liz Truss, know what gallivanting means? Anyhow, leaving a mess behind, gallivanting overseas while there’s a crisis here. Isn’t that something the Tories do best? Boris on holiday leaving the whole country in a cost-of-living crisis? Boris on serial holidays as the pandemic struck? Dominic Raab refusing to end his holiday while the Taliban were at the gates of Kabul? Liz Truss taking a holiday from reality? The FM is in Denmark on business. Labour/Tory councils, including the one … Continue reading Only Tories can leave a real mess behind

Scotland’s MSM are reading the latest Ipsos Scotland poll on independence as implying a lack of support for the SNP strategy of holding a referendum without Westminster approval or of using an election win with a clear manifesto commitment as a mandate: The Herald: Voters divided over plan to use election as ‘de facto indyref’ The Record: New independence poll finds less than 40% back Nicola Sturgeon’s ‘de facto’ referendum plan The Express: Nicola Sturgeon in new independence poll blow as support for Scexit vote next year slumps With regard to: A majority of voters vote for pro‐independence parties, like … Continue reading Latest Poll: 57% back Nicola’s plan for a referendum WITHOUT UK Government approval

In the Daily Record today: Scottish Conservative MSP for South Scotland, Sharon Dowey, said: “Despite numerous announcements from the SNP on their mission to tackle NHS capacity, the figures show that the situation is only getting worse. I’m calling on Humza Yousaf [health secretary] to get a grip on this problem. “It’s nerve-racking waiting on an operation and to be told that it can’t go ahead will be devastating news for those suffering a lot of pain. That’s why Humza Yousaf must make sure that NHS Ayrshire & Arran have adequate resources to deal with their patients.” https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/ayrshire/cancelled-operations-across-nhs-ayrshire-27821371?IYA-reg=8cb5bf56-7ace-4e9f-860f-ba0bd78585bc Norfolk and … Continue reading Ayrshire Tory List MSP has better hospitals than the ones Liz Truss doesn’t seem to care about

According to the Daily Record today: The number of cancelled operations across NHS Ayrshire & Arran has almost tripled, new figures show. Public Health Scotland statistics show that, in April 2022, there were 13 operations cancelled due to issues with capacity and other “non-clinical reasons”. By June, the figure had increased to 32 operations. Scottish Conservative MSP for South Scotland, Sharon Dowey, said: “Despite numerous announcements from the SNP on their mission to tackle NHS capacity, the figures show that the situation is only getting worse. I’m calling on Humza Yousaf [health secretary] to get a grip on this problem. https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/ayrshire/cancelled-operations-across-nhs-ayrshire-27821371?IYA-reg=8cb5bf56-7ace-4e9f-860f-ba0bd78585bc First … Continue reading Cancelled operations across NHS Ayrshire & Arran BELOW average, new figures show

Back in 2022: Why is the rubbish only piling up in Scotland? Have the refuse workers in England been offered a deal better than the 5%, across the board, offered in Scotland? At first sight, you might think so: Councils in England, Wales and Northern Ireland have offered staff a pay increase of £1,925 from 1 April 2022, which they said equated to a 10.5% increase for the lowest paid workers, defined as those on up to £18,333 a year. There is also an offer of an extra day’s annual leave. https://www.mrw.co.uk/news/unions-mull-councils-pay-offer-28-07-2022/ You see that ‘up to £18 333 a year?’ … Continue reading As the GMB binmen threaten strike on behalf of the Labour campaign they should remember how they were treated in 2022

As Scotland opened up and more infectious variants emerged, the overall infection rate in Scotland has now become higher than in England and Wales. Despite that, the death rate in England continues to climb higher, leaving Scotland with the significantly lowest death rate in mainland UK. There are three important contributory factors operating – the underlying, age profile, health of the population and the quality of their health and care services. Scotland has an older and less-well population and so might have expected a higher death rate than England. There is a median age of 42.1 in Scotland compared to … Continue reading Covid 19: Why has Scotland had the most cases yet the fewest deaths?

There is no mention of Scotland’s key role in the above achievement nor is it in Scotland’s newspapers but it is massive. Between Quarter 1 2021 and 2022, net electricity transfers from Scotland to England rose by 12 per cent to 5.9 TWh. 1 GWh will power around 750 thousand homes so 1 TWh per hour will do 7 .5 million homes. 5.9 TWh were transferred to England. https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk Scotland produces more than 60% of all UK natural gas, six times its own needs. https://spice-spotlight.scot/2022/04/06/energy-price-crisis-impacts-and-remedies-in-scotland/ Scotland produces more than 80% of all UK oil, currently selling at $100 per barrel, … Continue reading Scotland enables UK to stop importing Russian energy