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Yet another reason why British Labour Party leaders hope Scotland’s voters will NEVER ask the question: ‘How has Wales fared with Labour governing in Cardiff with devolved powers?’

johnrobertson834

Since 2007/08, poverty rates among children in England, Scotland and Wales have been consistently lowest in Scotland and often highest in Labour-run Wales according to the Social Metrics Commission. By stewartb This blog post is a follow on from the recent TuS blog post – ‘Eradicating child poverty costs nothing in the long term because everything depends on it’ – prompted by the Guardian’s coverage of the Social Metrics Commission’s latest report. Source: Social Metrics Commission (2024) Measuring Poverty 2024( https://socialmetricscommission.org.uk/ ) Comparing rates of povertyThe table below summarises data on the percentage of the population in England, Scotland andWales … Continue reading Yet another reason why British Labour Party leaders hope Scotland’s voters will NEVER ask the question: ‘How has Wales fared with Labour governing in Cardiff with devolved powers?’

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Failing to tell us that the early prison release scheme in Scotland has already been a success as re-offending rate plummets

johnrobertson834

By Professor John Robertson OBA BBC Scotland this morning telling us that MSPs will debate legislation to cut the minimum term served by short term sentence prisoners from 50% to 40% to relieve overcrowding. Wouldn’t be interesting to know if previous early release schemes have been successful? Imagine they had caused a surge in crime? BBC Scotland don’t inform on this despite it being their day job to do so. I’ll do it. In October 2024, after previous batch of early releases the Scottish media were full of headlines like: On in ten prisoners released early back behind bars and Dozens of … Continue reading Failing to tell us that the early prison release scheme in Scotland has already been a success as re-offending rate plummets

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Liz Kendall reveals 40 000 more Scots pensioners predicted to suffer fuel poverty leading to greater cancer risk and ending up joining the assisted dying programmes she is first minister to support

johnrobertson834

Liz Kendall, UK Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, wrote today to reveal this, for the UK as a whole: An extra 450 000 UK pensioners pushed into poverty by 2030 means around 40 000 in Scotland. From the Herald on 1 August 2024, only one month after the General Election: From the National Records of Scotland in 2019: The association between mortality and low indoor temperature observed by the Eurowinter Group was also found by Wilkinson (2001) in a study on excess winter deaths in England. This used postcodes to link data on characteristics of over 21,000 houses … Continue reading Liz Kendall reveals 40 000 more Scots pensioners predicted to suffer fuel poverty leading to greater cancer risk and ending up joining the assisted dying programmes she is first minister to support

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See anything you don’t like here? See anything these folk wouldn’t like?

johnrobertson834

By Professor John Robertson OBA Some folk I know say: “We will champion measures like: “A £15 minimum wage, regardless of age; “Equal pay for women; “Abolition of all zero hours contracts, with a guaranteed minimum 16-hour contract for all workers who want one; “Democratic public ownership instead of profiteering privatisation; “Free public transport to combat poverty and pollution; “Public ownership of energy to provide clean, green affordable energy instead of profiteering and pollution; “Construction of 100,000 council houses for affordable rent, built to the highest environmental standards; and “An immediate end to arms sales to Israel and war on … Continue reading See anything you don’t like here? See anything these folk wouldn’t like?

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Domestic abuse TWICE as common in England and Wales as in Scotland

johnrobertson834

By Professor John Robertson OBA I remember in 2014, Frankie Boyle suggesting that Scotland become an Islamic Republic but that to do so it would have to treat its women better. From the Scottish Government’s Safer Communities Directorate today, the above graph and: The police recorded 63,867 incidents of domestic abuse in 2023-24, an increase of 3% compared to the previous year. This is the first year this figure has shown an increase since 2020-21.1 Note, from Section 1.2 of the full report: The Act [in 2018] did not alter the way in which statistics on the volume of domestic abuse incidents … Continue reading Domestic abuse TWICE as common in England and Wales as in Scotland

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As Motherwell man becomes first [vulnerable?] Scot to be named as member of an English County lines gang, BBC Scotland still won’t bite

johnrobertson834

BBC Scotland (above) today, have no space for this hot story: A man from North Lanarkshire has been charged after over £6m worth of cannabis was seized during a massive multi-agency taskforce operation. Craig Tomlinson from Motherwell was charged with the supply of Class B drugs after British Transport Police officers targeted key stations across Manchester on Monday and Tuesday last week while intelligence led to a search of three addresses. The multi-agency operation, dubbed Op Blume, was led by a BTP specialist County Lines taskforce and deployed officers from the dog section, Neighbourhood Policing Team, Operational Support Unit, plain … Continue reading As Motherwell man becomes first [vulnerable?] Scot to be named as member of an English County lines gang, BBC Scotland still won’t bite

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22 degrees of difference in temperature but one means-tested winter fuel allowance?

johnrobertson834

As I watched BBC Breakfast at around 7am this morning, it was minus 10 in Tulloch Bridge just south of Fort William and plus 12 at St Mary’s in the Scilly Isles yet it’s the same means tested winter fuel allowance for pensioners in both places. Still months away from the real Scottish winter, we see the first signs of how different Scotland is from the southern parts of the UK and how important the Winter Fuel Allowance is for many here. In a year or so, we’ll see the winter mortality data for all parts of the UK and … Continue reading 22 degrees of difference in temperature but one means-tested winter fuel allowance?

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Eradicating child poverty costs nothing in the long term because everything depends on it

johnrobertson834

By Professor John Robertson OBA In the Guardian in December 2024: The news that more than one in three children in the UK are now living in poverty should shock everyone but surprise no one. Nearly three years into the cost of living crisis, we know that young families and disabled people have been among those hit hardest by the biggest fall in UK living standards in half a century. The latest estimates, by the non-partisan Social Metrics Commission, show that the number of people in poverty has risen to 16 million, or nearly one in four of the UK population – its highest … Continue reading Eradicating child poverty costs nothing in the long term because everything depends on it

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Latest poll – Labour collapse and Reform almost catch Tories

johnrobertson834

I’m just seeing the full data tables from the Norstat/Sunday Times poll on 1 November 2024 which had YES/No tied, so improved from a 3% NO lead on August 22, 2024. 22 August 2024 poll by same sample in brackets below, before death of Alba leader Alex Salmond (12 October) and first Labour budget (30 October). Westminster (likely voters excluding undecided): Con – 15% (12) Labour – 23% (32) LD – 10% (8) SNP – 30% (29) Reform – 14% (12) Green – 6% (5) Alba – 1% (2) Holyrood Constituency Con – 15% (12) Labour – 23% 30) LD … Continue reading Latest poll – Labour collapse and Reform almost catch Tories

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More good ideas for winning the voters round to the pro-independence parties including honesty about the England team

johnrobertson834

I’m indebted to one of the many Ann Onymouses who comment on TuS, for sharing this with me. Earlier today, I wrote: The SNP can win again if they learn from the US Democrat’s defeat – don’t respond to opposition ‘facts’, frame the argument as strength and do not move to the right as that only convinces voters that the right has better ideas https://talkingupscotlandtwo.com/2024/11/18/the-snp-can-win-again-if-they-learn-from-the-us-democrats-defeat-dont-respond-to-opposition-facts-frame-the-argument-as-strength-and-do-not-move-to-the-right-as-that-only-convinces-voters-t/ In essence, this argues that the leadership should ignore the flak, like Trump, dismiss it all as biased, present as strong and caring, frame the argument around the values that the majority will vote for … Continue reading More good ideas for winning the voters round to the pro-independence parties including honesty about the England team