By Alasdair Galloway In a recent letter to the Herald, Gavin Weir comments on the report “that the Ministry of Defence could keep Trident within an independent Scotland by creating a new British Overseas Territory.” He questions, however, “Who would exercise sovereignty, and for how long?” He also doubts whether “any Scottish government would agree to a long-term lease, though a decade might work, if oversight could be “fudged”.” While I agree with him about the view of an independent Scottish Government, we need to keep in mind that there are two involved in this particular matter – Westminster as … Continue reading Relocating Trident: Hobson’s Choice

Nowhere in this report do we see any mention of the fact that Maura McGoldrick is a Labour Party activist, member of Young Labour at Edinburgh University. Her social media trail is clear. Surely that’s relevant. How many times has BBC Scotland wheeled in political activists connected to the opposition parties and presented as just members of the public with a genuine complaint. On the very same topic, we’ve had a Lib Dem activist who moved up to Scotland. We’ve had a relative of Anas Sarwar on alleged PPE shortages for GPs. We’ve had Tory activists on SQA ‘failures’. In … Continue reading Labour activist wheeled in to attack SNP on vaccine certificate

I’ve already shared the quality reporting of Left Foot Forward, more Corbyn than Starmer/Sarwar and certainly not pro-SNP in any way, just accurate. It’s well worth a look. In addition, SNP Media have listed these: Those backing the 2021/22 legislative programme outlined earlier by the First Minister include: RNIB Scotland: Great to see a commitment to replace the Edinburgh Eye Pavilion within the Programme for Government. Well done to all those who have campaigned to protect eye care services, particularly the members of Keep Edinburgh Eye Pavilion (KEEP) CHAS: We welcome the confirmation in today’s #ScotPfG that @scotgov will ensure provision of … Continue reading Massive support for SNP/Greens Programme for Government

You’d never know from this report with its sneaky wee inaccurate reference to the land being owned by the Scottish Government, that Network Rail is responsible for the infrastructure of all of the UK’s railway lines, employs the remaining inspectors after cut-backs and that it is responsible to the UK Transport Minister, Grant Shapps. Transport Scotland which reports to the Scottish Government is only responsible for the services on those lines. If, as they say, Network Rail was unable to identify the owner of the land on which the tree grew, that remains entirely their responsibility. There’s a very curious … Continue reading UK Government agency to blame for train driver injuries

‘But Northern Ireland, Wales and Scotland will GET MORE MONEY to decide how to spend’ After Johnson brayed with the pride of a 5 year-old ‘I’m on message (miss)!‘ because he’d managed to scrawl ‘social care‘ on a mug, we hear the above explanation of how a UK-wide tax hike will lead to investment in the devolved health areas. It just comes naturally to them, to put it that way. They think of us as dependents and that narrative then resurfaces in adult political exchange, even among those who should know a bit about Scotland’s wealth. It all adds up. Continue reading How the myth of our dependency is perpetuated

In Scotland, there have been 3 114 deaths among the 85+, 2 663 among the 75-84 and 1 434 among the 65-74, 877 among the 45-64, 82 among the 25-44 and less than 10 in each of the 3 younger groups. Scotland and Northern Ireland have given 1st doses to 100% of the three oldest groups, most at risk, but only Scotland has also given 2nd doses to 100% of these same groups. In June, when Wales was first to fully vaccinate 50% of all adults, BBC Wales acknowledged it. BBC Scotland prefers to find evidence of Scotland lagging behind. Continue reading Scotland first to fully vaccinate the most at risk

When I heard Reporting Scotland today personalising the ambitions of millions for a second referendum and reducing them to the wishes of one person, the First Minister, my mind was cast back 7 years to the Spring of 2014, when I wrote: Plus ça change? Continue reading Demonising the First Ministers

The BBC has today revealed a massive, 175% overspend of the restoration of Big Ben, in London. The UK Government has not been available for comment but the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg is expected to doorstep Johnson for the answer to how this could have happened at a time when the poor cannot feed their families. Kidding. Imagine there had been a big overspend on Holyrood repairs Continue reading BBC reveals massive 175% overspend on Big Ben

From the Scottish Government statistics section today: The proportion of schools reported as being in good or satisfactory condition has increased to 90.2% (89.9% in 2020). This is 29 percentage points higher than in April 2007 (61.1%). The publication of ‘School Estates Statistics 2021’ by Scotland’s Chief Statistician also showed that the proportion of pupils educated in schools in “poor” or “bad” condition has decreased from 36.6% of all pupils (around 257,000) in 2007 to 8.4% of all pupils (around 59,000) in 2021. Since 2007-08, 1,000 schools have been built or substantially refurbished (includes those with cost of at least … Continue reading Massive improvement in schools under SNP

It’s been a while since Scotland in Union activist and expert on bacterial outbreaks in Lanarkshire has been the go-to-guy for advice in managing a viral outbreak on Scotland’s MSM. Profs Sridhar and Bauld had largely replaced him but like the undead he’s back with his first idea to help the SNP do better since his expertise was last revealed: In the Herald today: Tests which detect Covid-19 before symptoms develop should be used to track flu cases, a leading microbiologist has claimed. Professor Hugh Pennington’s made the call amid warnings of a surge in cases this winter and higher death rates.  https://www.heraldscotland.com/news/homenews/19562689.covid-tests-track-flu-amid-cases-surge-warning/ Leading bacteriologist? … Continue reading Pennington returns to muddy the waters