The Labour-aligned Ferret ‘fact checker’ and ‘corporation-hunter’, in its new alliance with the corporation behind the Herald, makes much of the way in which the owners of wind farms are depriving Scottish public services of funds but little of the fact that it is the UK Government and thus the Union which lies at the root of this, like so many other, problems. Of course, the fact that were the UK to tax these corporations properly, you can be sure that Scottish public services would not see any benefit, is left unconsidered. The SNP already has a commitment to levying … Continue reading Scotland’s biggest wind farms pay tax to London

In July 2020, researchers in Italy identified a major trend in drug abuse, triggered by the pandemic, away from classic streets drugs consumed in social, group settings, toward greater misuse of psychoactive prescription drugs, in isolation, such as benzodiazepines and opioid painkillers. [1] Writing, in Frontiers in Psychiatry, they suggest that the pandemic measures such as border closures affected illicit drug routes and led to a scarcity of classic street drugs such as cannabis, cocaine and MDMA. The researchers suggested, in the light of these trends, improvements in postal police controls to stem the intensification and spread of this activity … Continue reading Have Scottish substitution measures limited opioid deaths in the pandemic?

Watching Belinda Joyner’s anxious, very angry, plea for the biofuel industry in the UK to stop its involvement in an industry destroying lives in her impoverished community and raging against the the giant biomass power station in Yorkshire, Drax, and its massive US/Canada imports of whole mature trees, felled for that purpose alone, I was moved to find out more. In 2020, 63% of the pellets burned by Drax were imported from the South-Eastern US. In addition to those 4.68 million tonnes, Drax also burned 1.23 million tonnes from Canada and 836,542 tonnes from the Baltic States, as well as smaller quantities … Continue reading Biofuel: Scotland’s sustainable example?

As of yesterday, Scotland’s seven-day rolling average of new Covid cases per 100 000 population fell below that of England. The actual daily rate, yesterday (2 134 vs 30 619), was 43% higher in England with no sign yet of flattening, so the seven-day figure gap will widen markedly in the next few days. Dare we wonder, will BBC Scotland notice? There are early signs that Wales and Northern Ireland may have stemmed their surges. BBC Health are studiously ignoring this, sub-consciously sensing the Tory threat to the licence fee: BBC Scotland? Don’t be daft. On Reporting Scotland today, Gary … Continue reading Covid infections in England now 43% higher than in Scotland

Another stewartb plucked from the relative obscurity of the comments section and thrust into the full glare of TuS mass readership! The matter of the UK government’s commitment to financing international aid comes to the fore today in the Commons. However, as this House of Commons Library briefing confirms, its not only about how much the Tories wish to spend but spend on what. See: https://researchbriefings.files.parliament.uk/documents/SN03714/SN03714.pdf ‘The definition of what qualifies as Official Development Assistance (ODA) is set and reviewed by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)’s Development Assistance Committee (DAC), of which the UK is a Member.’ It … Continue reading One authoritarian’s incendiary bomb is another’s aid programme?

Of course, BBC Scotland don’t want anyone getting too excited so they’ve covered, smothered, the story, behind a big one calling for more Covid infection via the airports please and offered an accurate, if a tad understated, title: ‘Business output grows further as restrictions ease.’ Insider has gone for the not much better: ‘Scottish private sector ends second quarter with further rapid expansion‘ Rapid eh? That’s good? Well: The seasonally adjusted headline Business Activity Index – a measure of combined manufacturing and service sector output – posted 58.4 in June, falling from May’s survey record of 61.5, to signal the second-quickest increase … Continue reading Second highest business growth in more than 20 years!

Despite stupidly failing to develop enough natural immunity to stop a wee surge among the young folk, just to save a few, well more than 3 000, auld yins, Scotland has been unable to hold on to its strong showing just last week when BBC Scotland could proudly claim that we were the most infected in Europe. Now only a determined effort by Dundee, Scotland’s house party capital, has enabled them to hang on in the top ten, but England is now presumably the Covid Capital of Europe. Why isn’t BBC UK celebrating this to help them recover from doing … Continue reading Covid: Scotland fails to top Europe hotspot chart

I don’t suppose there is any point in asking the British Nats at the Express to ‘up THEIR game’ or to learn than they’re called jags here. Slump? This slump? So we’re in a slump even though we have almost caught the flatlining Welsh vaccination rate and are leaving behind the struggling English and Northern Ireland systems? On second doses, not catching Wales but still ahead of England and Northern Ireland. 0.2% behind Wales last night but likely by close of play today to have vaccinated more of the population than any other part of the UK. Continue reading NO SHOCK as ‘Scottish’ Sunday Express lies on vaccines

By stewartb The BBC News website’s ‘Scotland’ section today aggregates and amplifies front pages of theScottish editions of newspapers. This is a regular online feature of this BBC website’s coverage ofScotland. Radio 4’s Today programme regularly amplifies the views of the UK corporate media inits daily newspaper review. However, is it only for editions of newspaper in Scotland that the BBCregularly provides free online advertising? Does this happen on the BBC News website’s pagesfor England, NI and Wales too? Someone reading TuS will no doubt know if Scotland is againbeing blessed with special BBC treatment! Amongst today’s choice of ‘Scottish’ … Continue reading Attempt to undermine government during a health emergency – amplified by the BBC

In the above headlined report we read: Scotland’s GPs are “firefighting” to catch up with the huge backlog in non-Covid care caused by the pandemic, it has been claimed. Health service providers across the country have been warning that they are being stretched to the limit. Three hospitals were placed on “code black” status last week, having reached capacity due to a rise in Covid cases. GPs say they are now facing even greater strain as more patients turn to their local surgeries for support. So in a piece about pressure on GPs, the second and third out of four sentences … Continue reading EXPOSED: Wife of Tory MSP covertly allowed to attack SNP on made-up GP ‘crisis’