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Exclusive – Scottish taxpayer did not have to pay for First Minister wife’s trip to Istanbul

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The Herald today have this frankly pitiful exclusive: Turkish government paid for Nadia El-Nakla trip to Istanbul The Turkish government paid for the wife of the First Minister to attend a summit in Istanbul, according to the Scottish Government’s latest list of ministers’ interests. Nadia El-Nakla and an SNP press officer attended Emine Erdoğan’s “United for Peace in Palestine” conference on November 15, following an invitation from the Turkish consulate in Edinburgh. Really? Is that where we’re at now for an ‘exclusive?’ Were they hoping they’d catch Humza out using Scottish taxpayer’s payers money to pay for his wife to … Continue reading Exclusive – Scottish taxpayer did not have to pay for First Minister wife’s trip to Istanbul

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“Protective effect of devolved policies” – Child poverty rates in Scotland (24%) remain much lower than those in England (31%) and Wales (28%)“The Protective effect of devolved policies” 

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Joseph Rowntree Foundation on the Scottish Government By stewartb The Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) published (on 25 January) a report entitled ‘Constraints and trade-offs for the next government’. It paints a bleak picture of the present state of the UK, its public finances and services. Over the short to medium term, it offers no cheer for the future. The IFS notes: ’further tax rises and further cuts for most public services are built into current plans. But on official forecasts, this is only just enough to stabilise government debt as a fraction of national income.’  (my emphasis) And it … Continue reading “Protective effect of devolved policies” – Child poverty rates in Scotland (24%) remain much lower than those in England (31%) and Wales (28%)“The Protective effect of devolved policies” 

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Renewable technologies generate the equivalent of 113% of Scotland’s overall electricity consumption

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Renewable technologies generated the equivalent of 113% of Scotland’s overall electricity consumption in 2022, new statistics show. This is the highest recorded to date, and a 26 percentage point increase compared to 2021. The Scottish Government is taking action to scale up renewable technologies to transform and expand Scotland’s clean energy generation sector. It is also working to ensure Scotland maximises the economic benefits the sector will bring through commitments such as providing up to £500million to leverage private investments to support infrastructure and the offshore wind supply chain.   Not of interest, of course, to the media where you … Continue reading Renewable technologies generate the equivalent of 113% of Scotland’s overall electricity consumption

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What will a Labour government do? More austerity, no public investment, increasing privatisation, no curbs on corporate profiteering and remaining outside the UK’s largest market.   

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Leah Gunn Barrett English Labour says the UK economy is growing at the slowest rate for two centuries.[1] Could it have to do with austerity, Brexit, chronic underinvestment, rampant corporate profiteering and high interest rates? And if so, what will a Labour government do?  Fresh from Davos, Rachel Reeves told a meeting in the City of London “every day, every month and every year of a Labour government, Labour will maintain its credibility with the markets and relationship with the City.”[2] Labour has made clear that it will coddle and appease financial markets which means austerity, no public investment, increasing privatisation, no … Continue reading What will a Labour government do? More austerity, no public investment, increasing privatisation, no curbs on corporate profiteering and remaining outside the UK’s largest market.   

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As Tata Steel betrays thousands of workers does this Labour candidate in Ayrshire and ‘proud GMB member’ regret his naivety in promoting trade links with India?

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Allan Gemmell OBE is the Labour candidate for the Central Ayrshire constituency, his suitability to fully represent the constituents is cast into serious doubt by emerging facts. Gemmell was born in the constituency, and much is being made of that, but since that time he has been identified much more strongly with the Johnson Conservative UK Government’s interests and those of the British Council in India. Regardless of birth, he is a classic ‘helicoptered-in’ candidate, imposed on local Labour members and at the expense of two local and respected alternatives, by a now fully right-wing Labour leadership, in a tradition … Continue reading As Tata Steel betrays thousands of workers does this Labour candidate in Ayrshire and ‘proud GMB member’ regret his naivety in promoting trade links with India?

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Conscription to defend against Russian hypersonic missiles? Aye, for lads like these

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The Guardian and others are full of images like these: and comments from the likes of ex-Army Tory MP Tobias Ellwood: Sky News then reports: British citizens should be “trained and equipped” to fight in a potential war with Russia – as Moscow plans on “defeating our system and way of life”, the head of the British Army has said. General Sir Patrick Sanders, the outgoing Chief of the General Staff (CGS), said increasing army numbers in preparation for a potential conflict would need to be a “whole-of-nation undertaking”. The comments, first reported by the Daily Telegraph, are being read … Continue reading Conscription to defend against Russian hypersonic missiles? Aye, for lads like these

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Funding for projects to tackle poverty and inequality – another ‘SNPgood’ story you won’t hear?

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Above, BBC Scotland’s array of gossip and tabloid intrigue for the insatiably nosy but apolitical mind. Not anywhere but here and on the Scot gov website, this heart-warming good news and further evidence that the SNP is Scotland’s leftist party, committed, one-arm tied, to reducing inequality with all the harms it produces, and revealing the awfulness of UK Labour: An initiative which will support low income families to take part in community action and advise on improvements in local services is being funded as part of a wider programme to help develop new approaches to child poverty. The project, led … Continue reading Funding for projects to tackle poverty and inequality – another ‘SNPgood’ story you won’t hear?

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The overly sensitive professor

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stewartb Ths is from an earlier Covid Inquiry public hearing on Module 2 in London (16 October 2023). The Inquiry’s lawyer puts this to Professor Woolhouse: ‘Then if we can go to a passage towards the end of YOUR STATEMENT, please, you return to this theme …..: “… SAGE and its subgroups PUT TOO MUCH EMPHASIS ON CONSENSUS AND TOO LITTLE ON MINORITY VIEWS. The most likely outcome — intended or otherwise — of only
 expressing a single view is that it presents policy makers with an overly limited set of options and so will channel policy decisions along a … Continue reading The overly sensitive professor

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Covid Inquiry – Scottish ministers closed schools and saved thousands contrary to Prof Woolhouse’s wrong views

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In the Herald today: The Scottish Government ignored its own scientific advice not to close schools during the second Covid wave of 2021, the UK inquiry into the pandemic has heard.   Mark Woolhouse, Professor of Infectious Disease Epidemiology at the University of Edinburgh, said that the decision to shut classrooms across Scotland was “not necessary” and did not contribute to halting the spread of the virus.   Woolhouse, as far as I can see, was only one of the 20 advisors on the Scottish Government COVID-19 Advisory Group. I’m not aware of this group advising against school closures. Prof Sridhar was … Continue reading Covid Inquiry – Scottish ministers closed schools and saved thousands contrary to Prof Woolhouse’s wrong views