By stewartb I continue to be irritated by the coverage of the SQA exam results for Scotland’s schools. Recall the Scottish Tory Party’s education spokesperson, Oliver Mundell: ‘Education spokesman Oliver Mundell said the widening attainment gap was a “badge of shame” for the first minister.’ (BBC News website) Of course the Tories are comparing statistics for 2022 with 2021. What is notable is that it was Mr Mundell who demanded that ‘normal’ examinations be re-introduced in 2022: “The SNP must guarantee that every pupil will be able to sit their exams this year as planned.,’ adding “We must get back … Continue reading Exam Results: Times Education Supplement weak on statistics too

Alasdair Galloway The problem I have with this story in the Independent is that what they intend to achieve is right, but they are doing it for all the wrong reasons “Students should turn to apprenticeships to ease soaring demand for degrees, Ucas boss warns” The presentation of encouraging school leavers to go for “apprenticeships” is  that its directed “to bring down soaring demand for higher education places”. On present trend England is heading toward one MILLION applicants for universities every year. Instead of asking how we “damp down” this demand, perhaps we should be asking whether what the country … Continue reading Degrees of Apprenticeship

Today, I received data (a re-run of table 2 for the link below) from the UK Statistics Authority, to enable me to confirm that drug deaths among younger users are much higher in England & Wales than in Scotland. The researcher sent me a rerun of the data for the 25-34 group so that I could compare with Scotland’s equivalent group. The published data in the link below uses different groupings from the published version making direct comparison impossible. I’m grateful to him. In 2021, in England and Wales, there were 501 deaths from drug abuse among the 25-34 age … Continue reading UK Government data confirm much higher drug death rate among younger users in England & Wales than in Scotland

I hesitate to correct Professor Tom Devine in his defence of Anas Sarwar. Once compared with Prof John Curtice, a writer said he was like a premier league footballer and I was like a third-team reserve at Elgin City. Anyone who saw me play would agree that I should have been so lucky. Goodness knows what league I’ll be relegated to if I question Prof Devine. Anyhow, Sarwar’s support for Pakistan’s independence, considered hypocritical by many including me, was dismissed by Devine as ‘no comparison‘ because Scotland was not ‘subjected to imperial authority‘ and because ‘Scots‘ (sic) took part in … Continue reading Sorry Prof Devine but Sarwar was a hypocrite and you’re wrong

In the week ending 7 August 2022, demand at Scotland’s A&E departments climbed from 24 699 to 24 731. Despite that 67.9% were seen in 4 hours, up from 66.3% and 65% in the previous two weeks. Those waiting over 8 hours fell from 2 798 to 2 541 and those waiting over 12 hours fell from 1 040 to 916. Only Scotland publishes weekly figures but in July, the figure was only 57%. For the local health trusts in the constituencies of Boris Johnson, Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak, the figures were positively ‘third world’ at 47.5%, 39.3% and … Continue reading Scrutiny: Significant improvement in emergency waiting times despite increased demand

Just which part of the SNP record do they feel entitled to scrutinise? Is it: the superior NHS performance? the much lower crime rate? the much lower drug death rate among the under 35s? the higher NHS staffing? the higher police staffing? the higher firefighter staffing? the lower cumulative Covid death rate? the effective contact tracing? the lower child poverty? the greater affordable housing supply? the higher vaccination levels? the greater acceptance of refugees? the greater investment in water and consequent cleaner water? and… Will they be allowing scrutiny of their own record? Such as: billions wasted on a failed … Continue reading Breath-taking arrogance of the Tories

BBC Scotland, advertising their timid wee pals at Disclosure, tell us: Scots with learning disabilities and autism have been locked in secure hospitals and psychiatric wards for decades, a BBC investigation has found. They remain unable to get out despite [Labour] Scottish ministers saying 22 years ago that they should be living independently in the community. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-62477095 They find 40, interview 4, 0.0026% of the estimated 150 000 living in Scotland with learning difficulties or autism I know, 99.9% isn’t 100% and I recognise that even one wrongly kept in those conditions is a personal tragedy but, in a system … Continue reading Disclosure: More than 99.99% of people with learning difficulties or autism NOT stuck in hospitals

Towards the end of Reporting Scotland, after tales of being locked in, being cancelled, of fire deaths, road deaths and of storms, we heard: Scotland has become the first country in the World to legally protect access to free period products. They’re already available in many places but from this morning, councils, schools and colleges are required to make sanitary towels and tampons available free of charge to anyone who needs them under the Period Products Act. First in the World but not headlining? Earlier, BBC 1 News had it as ‘Scotland has made public health history.‘ Why did Reporting … Continue reading BBC 1 News: ‘Scotland has made public health history’

We’ve seen this before as the right-wing media try to undermine Scotland’s gradually improving, more progressive, tax regime. In 2015, the Telegraph predicted an exodus of the wealthy and young and 2017, Border Region Tories predicted an exodus to England. I can find no subsequent hard evidence that this ever happened. What is clear is this: Figure 3.1 shows estimates of net migration between Scotland and rUK over the period 1951-52 to 2017-18[3]. During this period, Scotland changed from being a nation that typically experienced a net outflow of population to one where migration had a positive effect on population growth. Between 1951-52 … Continue reading There will be no tax exodus from Scotland

..living in psychiatric hospitals across Scotland. That’s according to an ‘investigation’ by BBC Scotland’s Disclosure. At least 40 people have been stuck in hospital for more than ten years and 15 people for more than 20 years. https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/live/bbcone There are an estimated 120,000 people who have a learning disability in Scotland. Learning disability is lifelong and affects around 1 in 50 people. There are around 26,786 adults who have a learning disability known to local authorities across Scotland. https://www.enable.org.uk/get-support-information/what-is-a-learning-disability/#:~:text=There%20are%20an%20estimated%20120%2C000,to%20local%20authorities%20across%20Scotland. Drawing on data from the Scottish Census 2011: 13,666 (0.6%) adults aged 16-64 years and 698 (0.1%) adults aged 65 years and over … Continue reading BBC Scotland’s fearful Disclosure team find 0.0026% of something is bad in Scotland