From a survey not being reported anywhere else in BBC Scotland and unmentioned by BBC England or Wales, Reporting Scotland have chosen to use this unreliable wee poll suggesting that ‘more than half of nurses have considered quitting their job this year.’ There is no sign of the actual report with methods and data we can consider. So, just knowing it’s a trade union survey, we’re left with three obvious concerns. First, there are 63 178 nursing and midwifery staff in Scotland. The Unison sample of 500 is only 0.8% or less than 1 in a 100. 56% of those … Continue reading Reporting Scotland: Less than 1 in 200 nurses consider quitting

On hearing the Queen’s Speech, SNP leader at Westminster, Ian Blackford, responded: Boris Johnson has completely failed to deliver the investment and change required to build a strong, fair and equal recovery. Instead the Tories are imposing the long-term damage of austerity cuts, Brexit and a power grab against Scotland’s will. The Tories are repeating the same mistakes they made after the last economic crisis, by forcing through damaging cuts that are threatening Scotland’s recovery. Instead of building a fairer society, the Tories are entrenching inequality and pushing people into poverty by imposing a public sector pay freeze, cuts to … Continue reading ‘Forcing people to starve because they were late to a Job Centre did not appear in a Tory manifesto’

From SNP Media: The SNP has criticised Boris Johnson’s plans to disenfranchise thousands of voters by imposing new ‘Trump-like’ voter suppression measures – including requiring voters to show photo ID at Westminster elections – labelling it “blatant Tory voter suppression”. Following today’s Queen Speech, SNP Westminster Deputy Leader, Kirsten Oswald MP, condemned the proposal which the SNP believe will deter lower income, ethnic minority, and younger people from voting – groups that are less likely to vote Tory. The SNP has pledged it will reject any such measures for Scottish elections and referendums. Instead, the SNP government is focused on measures to extend the … Continue reading There will be no voter-suppressing ID scheme in Scotland

From SNP Media: The SNP has said the Tory Queen’s Speech “completely failed” to deliver the investment and fundamental change required to build a strong, fair and equal recovery – instead imposing the long-term damage of Tory cuts, Brexit and a power grab against Scotland’s will. Responding to the plans, Ian Blackford MP said “damaging Tory austerity cuts are threatening Scotland’s recovery” with the Tory government “repeating the same mistakes of the last economic crisis” by imposing a public sector pay freeze, cuts to Universal Credit and a “savings and efficiency review” of public services – instead of delivering an … Continue reading Queen’s Speech failed to deliver investment and fundamental change required to build recovery

From SNP Media: Boris Johnson is facing a growing backlash from the SNP, trade unions and charities – after failing to announce any plans whatsoever to improve the rights and conditions of millions of workers in the Tory Queen’s Speech. David Linden MP described the absence of any Employment Bill as a “glaring omission”, which shows the Tories have “no recovery plan for millions of workers and absolutely no intention of building a fairer society after the pandemic”. The SNP Shadow Work and Pensions Secretary said the omission underlined the reality that Scotland needs the full powers of independence to secure a … Continue reading New working-class Tory voters rewarded with worse employment conditions

This story featuring on TV, radio and on the website, claims: Pupils, parents and teachers have described severe stress and even panic attacks over the assessment system currently under way in secondary schools across the country. No adequate data is presented. All they have are quotes from 2 pupils, one parent, one teacher, one trade unionist and one lawyer. There are THREE HUNDRED THOUSAND secondary school pupils and they have TWO! There are TWENTY-FOUR THOUSAND secondary school teachers and they have ONE! There are around SIX HUNDRED THOUSAND parents of secondary school pupils and they have ONE! A proper study … Continue reading TWO, just two individuals, out of THREE HUNDRED THOUSAND pupils are apparently stressed by tests

By stewartb Ready to be a nation-state: Unionist poll finds ‘Scots Back Cooperation Not Conflict’! A prominent feature of Unionist messaging from ex-PM Gordon Brown is the importance of cooperation between Westminster and Holyrood. Indeed the basis of the pronouncements lapped up by the media (on 10 May) is an article published by his ’Our Scottish Future’ organisation entitled ‘Scots Back Cooperation Not Conflict’: it justifies the headline with survey evidence. When asked direct questions most folk, in terms, expressed a preference for cooperation rather than conflict between the governments in Edinburgh and London. Well, blow me down! If asked … Continue reading Gordon Brown’s poll methods discredited

The above three images, in terms of aesthetics, taste, style, all the same? Left school with no qualifications, worked in the park, Labour MP, John Francis McFall, Baron McFall of Alcluith PC, now the Lord Speaker. Went to St Patrick’s so probably not a fan of the ‘Queen’s Eleven’ back then. Ah, the Empire. Remember the Empire? Why don’t we have the Empire back? Because: Get me out of this place! Continue reading What does this have to do with us: Manacled to a mediaeval empire of ugly bling nostalgic for its bloody empire

After several days of clearly slowing, the rate of infection in India looks like flattening with 28.5 and 28.6 per 100K, in the last two days. This contrast with the rate of 95.8 in England on January 10th. The death rate always lags behind falling infection rates but seems unlikely in India, at 0.28 per 100K, to reach the horrific heights of 2.02 in England at the end of January, 7 times higher. I appreciate there will be under-counting of the figures in India but that has happened in England too. Continue reading Has India’s infection rate peaked at just over a quarter of England’s in January?

Many thanks to Annie McIndoe for feeding us this story. We heard a lot from the Scottish unionist parties about Alba and the Greens playing the system but this is astonishing. In the very high quality Open Democracy, yesterday, by Peter Geoghegan: When I unfurled my two-foot-long, peach-coloured list ballot paper on Thursday, my eye was drawn to a logo of a leaf with ‘Green’ in capital letters. This was the ‘Independent Green Voice’. Thanks to investigative site the Ferret – which, full disclosure, I chair – I knew that Independent Green Voice was a tiny party whose five candidates … Continue reading Fascists playing the system to effectively deny pro-Independence/Green voters