Paraphrasing the Daily Express header ‘Drug death figures ‘a badge of shame’ for Nicola Sturgeon as second highest total recorded‘, last month, I draw attention to an emerging scandal and dramatic shift in the relative drug deaths in Scotland and in England & Wales. Drug deaths among both the 15-24 and 25-34 age groups are climbing in England & Wales to a record high in 2021 (see tables below). Media attention has been light and no blame has been directed toward Kit Maltouse, a regular critic of the Scottish Government, above. In sharp contrast drug deaths among both the 15-24 … Continue reading Drug death figures among younger users ‘a badge of shame’ for Conservatives

Helpful researchers at the Office for National Statistics have provided me with drug deaths data that can be directly compared with those for Scotland. In 2021, there were 11 deaths in this group in Scotland, down from 12 in 2020. Click to access drug-related-deaths-21-report.pdf The figures for England & Wales are below: England & Wales have 11 times the population of Scotland and so, all things being equal, could be expected to have 110 drug deaths but have 240 or 160 depending on whether you count ‘all‘ or only ‘drug misuse‘ deaths, more than twice as many or nearly 50% … Continue reading ONS researchers confirm drug deaths among 15-24 year-olds far lower in Scotland

BBC Scotland will be reporting this all day today. ..by the union sat they’d be willing to take industrial action and more than half say they’d be likely to leaved the NHS. The BMA has around 154 000 members across the UK. BMA Scotland membership is not listed but can be assumed to be around 15 to 16 000. According to the Daily Record, the sample was 3 100 in Scotland. Leaving aside any doubts about how real that is, it represents only 20% of members in what is a self-selecting sample. So that ‘half planning to leave‘ is only … Continue reading 90% of Scots doctors planning to stay in their jobs!

By stewartb It’s possible to conduct a near like for like assessment of how the publication of school exam results is covered by news outlets. This can most readily be done by comparing and contrasting the BBC News website articles on this topic which appear on the date of results publication. BBC NEWS UK PAGE:First para: ‘The proportion of top A-level grades in England, Wales and Northern Ireland has fallen since 2021, BUT REMAINS HIGHER THAN IN 2019.’ (my emphasis) Note the immediate, countering ‘but’ to give a positive. Later: ‘This year’s A-level marking system has been adjusted, so that … Continue reading BBC England Wales make ZERO political comment on falling exam grades

See the complete absence of mention across the eleven big newspapers here: Newspaper headlines: Soaring inflation and UK has the worst rate in G7: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/blogs-the-papers-62585143 Not a word. Not a photo of the Education Minister James Cleverly (sic), or the PM. But in Scotland last week: Continue reading As A-level results fall 8%, England’s media respond

I don’t know if writers get to say what the headline should be these days but the above ‘attention-grabber‘ conceals the key facts which most readers, headline-surfers, won’t see. In the article: An SNP spokesperson said: “The SNP is the only major UK political party to see a rise in membership income last year. “Although our overall membership fell by 1.5%, that’s dwarfed by the mass exodus of 18% of Labour members and 25% of LibDems last year.” https://www.heraldscotland.com/politics/20668426.snp-loses-almost-fifth-members-just-two-years/?ref=twtrec Note: Many of those leaving seem to have done so only to save money during a tough time. Continue reading A real people’s democratic party: Only SNP sees membership income increase as others suffer ‘mass exodus’

As Anas Sarwar hides off-screen, refusing to pose beside rubbish, as he was happy to do at Glasgow Cop26, Edinburgh City Council tries to get more out of the Scottish Government: “As the lowest funded council in Scotland, it’s time for the Scottish government to properly fund our capital city and its services.” The First Minister commented that it was: “really disappointing” that £140m of extra Scottish government funding had not resolved the pay row. In 2020/21, Edinburgh City Council reported £360 million in ‘usable reserves’ and £2.9 billion in ‘unusable reserves.’ Glasgow City Council only has £137 million in … Continue reading Pay deal: Labour/Tory council has billions in reserves

The final two candidates for leadership of the Conservatives were announced on 21 July. Throughout July, support for the SNP in UK-wide polls had averaged 4.03% but in August climbed around 10% to an average of 4.5% While these are small sub-polls, of limited significance on their own, together they suggest that, as others have argued, either candidate is good news for the SNP. Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opinion_polling_for_the_next_United_Kingdom_general_election Continue reading Multiple polls suggest either candidate may add 10% to SNP support

In the Guardian yesterday but nowhere to be seen on their extensive list today: The landmark study, based on research carried out for the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) and funded by the Nuffield Foundation, found that disadvantaged pupils start school behind their better-off peers, and those inequalities persist through their school years and beyond – eventually having an impact on earnings. The authors state there is overwhelming evidence that the education system in England leaves too many young people behind, and despite decades of policy focus, there has been little if any shift in the gaps in educational attainment … Continue reading No demonising of Johnson over England’s attainment gap betrayal

Both candidates for PM have been banging on about the SNP’s track record. Education is a favourite for them but today the Guardian reports: The attainment gap between poorer pupils and their better-off class mates is just as large now as it was 20 years ago, according to a damning new report which says the coronavirus pandemic is likely to have increased the inequalities in education The landmark study, based on research carried out for the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) and funded by the Nuffield Foundation, found that disadvantaged pupils start school behind their better-off peers, and those inequalities … Continue reading Holding Sunak to account for England’s failure to close the attainment gap