of people with learning difficulties being forced to live far from their families. That’s the the warning from charity Enable Scotland. Official data shows that in 2019, more than a thousand adults were sent to live outside their council area. https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/live/bbcone When I saw the ‘far from their families‘ and ‘outside their council area’ terms conflated, I wondered just what data are we talking about here because you could easily be closer to your family after being placed outside your council area. Imagine you live in Newport, Fife and you’re placed in Dunfermline, 40 miles and 43 minutes away, instead … Continue reading Yes but how far?

The Elections Bill 2021-22 would require voters in Scotland to show voter ID in polling stations for UK parliamentary elections. The types of ID required include passports, driving licences, PASS scheme and Blue Badge cards, and some travel passes. People without existing photo ID will be able to apply for a free voter card from their local council to use in the polling station. Research commissioned by the UK Government found 96% of respondents had suitable photo ID with a recognisable picture.* The Government’s view is that asking voters to prove their identities will safeguard against the potential voter fraud in polling stations.[1] How serious … Continue reading The UK Elections Bill: A plan to disenfranchise SNP voters

The whole idea of a public service broadcaster only works in a theoretical world where you can trust professionals to act on your behalf, unafraid and not chummy with politicians. BBC Scotland’s naked bias against the independence movement is the most recent and sharpest of justifications for binning the whole venture but they have a long history of ideological distortions, going back to their founding. Today, they promote the Game of Thrones UK monarchy uncritically and ignore the brutality of our trading partners, Saudi Arabia. In the early 21st Century they championed NATO military adventures, killing millions in the Arab … Continue reading Sometimes respected academic agrees with Nadine Dorries

From Douglas Fraser, BBC Scotland’s Business/economy editor, today: Prices are already up. Household bills have been capped, and that cap is likely to rise by about 50% from April. There’s no way out of the rising bills. Ofgem, the regulator, is obliged by law to pass on the costs of sourcing energy. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-business-60016038 Not, of course, mentioned by Fraser but surely staring us all in the face: Statistics announced today by Scotland’s Chief Statistician show that oil and gas production in Scotland, including Scottish adjacent waters, is estimated to have been 77.2 million tonnes of oil equivalent (mtoe). This was … Continue reading There’s no way out of the rising bills? Even with 82% of UK gas production?

Assuming, he wrote the headline, I have to disagree with Neal Ascherson for the first time in my life. In 1967, instructed by my Higher History teacher to start reading a serious newspaper, I bought the Observer and an article by Neal opened my eyes. More recently, I nominated him for an honorary degree at UWS. But, this notion that Scotland is a small c, conservative nation is very out-of-date. Two years ago I wrote this: YouGov’s poll on 7th and 8th November, has some interesting data on attitudes toward taxation and nationalisation which suggest quite clear differences between the people of … Continue reading Neal Ascherson, Scotland is not a conservative country

You won’t find the data for Wales, Scotland or NI in this extended report with analysis by Nick Triggle, because: Yes, the stricter pandemic measure in the three non-English parts, seem to be working better and, sssh, Scotland is doing best. The above won’t be reported because they prefer this kind of thing from July 2021: Continue reading Covid figures are better together for Conservative England

We’ve been here before, no bleedin’ percentages, just some zeros to get you worried and then Jackie ‘Trident’ Baillie’s face to send you into deepest despair. To be fair, it’s not just the SM, hardly any journalist will ever use a percentage because they are death to the dramatic headline. You need zeros, lots of them! So, 150 care workers, every day? Yes, but that’s mostly the same 150, off for 7 days and it’s only 6.1% in week-ending 11 January, down from 9.1% the previous week. 7 000 NHS staff? Out of 160 000 so that’s 4.3% and, as … Continue reading 0% of Sunday Mail stories use percentages because they are too calming

Infection rates in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have fallen fast as the pandemic seems to be moving toward an endemic phase. A failure to, in particular, maintain face-covering and non-party compliance during the surge, seems likely to have caused the more stubborn infections rate in England. A price will have been paid for this in deaths and in long-Covid among younger people. Continue reading Stricter measures pay off

every day last week – the highest since the start of the pandemic. https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m0013g09/reporting-scotland-lunchtime-news-14012022 In the morning of the 15th January 2022, Reporting Scotland told us that ‘about’ 52 200 staff were off in the week-ending 11 January. They had stupidly added up the absences from each day to get that nice big figure, ignoring the fact that many of these were the same people each day. I pointed this out by around 9 am and wrote a complaint, as did a reader of TuS. By 1.30pm they had changed the story to the above but, amazingly, had replied within … Continue reading Reporting Scotland editor lies to complainant (not me)

Like some kind of death cult, BBC Scotland celebrate only death and infection milestones. BBC Wales is, of course, still celebrating their steep fall in infection rates; the same as in Scotland but not mentioned here. BBC England did report the UK’s 150 000 deaths last week but England’s grave milestones, such as 100 000 deaths, months ago, are not mentioned. Most important of all, context, which all journos know is an essential part of reporting, will not appear when death is being announced in Scotland. Scotland’s death rate over the whole pandemic (227.8 per 100K) is significantly lower, with … Continue reading Reporting Scotland Down again with another grave milestone