For years now, I have commented on the reluctance of Scottish media to recognise the appalling impact on communities right across Scotland of brutal English ‘County Lines’ drug gangs arriving with a level of violent intent way beyond that of local dealers. You can read several accounts here: https://talkingupscotlandtwo.com/?s=county+lines Over the weekend BBC Scotland, STV and the press have reported on riots in Auchinleck and Cumnock as exclusively violence against the police and with no explanation for the attack on a house that triggered the police response in the first place. On Reddit, some local comment can be seen and … Continue reading Ayrshire riots were against English drug gang terror but media avoid anything that harms the reputation of the Union

BBC Scotland have headlined this story: CalMac small ferries replacement spending delay The deeply cynical like me thought ‘What’s that ‘spending‘ doing in there?’ Sneaky, sneaky – they want, of course, to keep the delay fiasco narrative going so they kept the delay notion even though they knew it wasn’t true and slipped the spending qualification in as a defence for any criticism. What did the Finance Secretary actually say? She said the small vessels plans had been “reprofiled, allowing time to fully consider the business case work, vessels design criteria, and help ensure alignment of the related shore power … Continue reading Small ferries replacement building ‘on track’ though you’d be forgiven for thinking it wasn’t if you didn’t read the sneaky BBC Scotland headline carefully

As BBC Scotland lead of with one lung cancer case, their main webpage ignores the above and the BBC Scotland Politics page still has three iPad roaming charges stories and hangs on to a Labour Lord’s outburst on ferry costs, we see what they are. No public information of any note, not here and not on any front pages, shockingly, in the midst of a genocidal war directly affecting Scottish citizens, condemned cross-party in the Scottish Parliament, the central role of the First Minister, a genuinely democratically elected leader is hidden from the public. Even the STUC itself did not … Continue reading First Minister’s speech to Scottish Trades Union Congress’s (STUC) annual St Andrew’s Day anti-racism rally IGNORED

Against a background of falling road traffic accidents across Scotland, with the steady trend interrupted by a massive dip in the pandemic, the Herald, typically arithmetically-challenged, has today: Some facts: These are data for the whole of the giant Highland Council and do not indicate any particular A9 dualling problem. There were 24 deaths in 2022 (2023 data not yet complete or confirmed yet), up from the 5-year average of 17 but serious accidents at 87 were down from the 5-year average of 130 and all accidents at 232 were only just over half of the 443 average. The increase … Continue reading Highland roads getting far safer

From Business Examiner yesterday: VICTORIA – BC Ferries‘ net earnings for the three months ended September 30, 2023, were $102.1 million, an increase of $21.7 million over the same quarter the previous year. For the six months ended September 30, 2023, net earnings were $117.3 million compared to net earnings of $88.3 million in the prior year. Revenue for the three months ended September 30, 2023, at $381.5 million, was up $38.4 million or 11 per cent over the same period in the prior year primarily as a result of an increase in vehicle and passenger traffic levels, tariff rates, fuel surcharges and retail revenue. … Continue reading Troubled unreliable state-subsidised ferry operator still making millions for shareholders

By Jim Stamper The real reason for the intended Grangemouth refinery closure is the same as the reason for the huge increase in energy costs in the UK leading to very high inflation and the subsequent reduced value of wages and increased poverty.  That reason is the privatisation of our oil and gas resources and industries by UK Governments.  The private oil and gas companies have no obligation to provide oil and gas to the UK.  So even although we have these resources in our territorial waters we had to compete for oil and gas supplies on the world market … Continue reading The real reason for the intended Grangemouth refinery closure

By Leah Gunn Barrett Scots are sick and tired of BBC Scotland’s heavily biased reporting against the Scottish government and Scotland. The latest example is the wall to wall coverage, which has gone on for two weeks, of health secretary Michael Matheson’s iPad roaming bill, which he has paid. But the negative stories keep flooding in. The BBC Scotland website has posted 8 reports of which 6 are still prominently displayed on their propaganda website, despite Matheson doing the right thing – owning up and paying the bill.[1] Here’s some real criminality. In 2020, Baroness Michelle Mone funnelled £203m via … Continue reading Here’s some real criminality

By stewartb The waiting times performance figures for major emergency departments in NHS Wales during the month of October 2023 have been released. We’re now in a position to make comparison with similar performance metrics in Scotland and England. Summary table  – October 2023 Metric NHS England NHS Scotland (‘main sites’) NHS Wales (‘major’ departments) % attendances meeting 4-hour standard 55.6% (‘Type 1’ departments) 64.2% 58.2% % spending over 8 hours in A&E Not reported 12.7% 23.4% % spending over 12 hours in A&E 10.7% (‘Type 1 and Type 2’ departments 5.4% 14.6% The basis of these tabulated statistics is … Continue reading A&E performance across nations: contrasting the responses of the Labour Party in government and opposition

The 1 000 residents of Campobello Island, New Brunswick, Canada, are to have no ferry service at all this winter, from 30 November, because the regional government refuses to pay the $60 000 per month cost. The Scottish Island of Greater Cumbrae, population 1 300 will have 52 crossings per day heavily subsidised by the Scottish Government. All 52 were on time yesterday. Campobello Island lies at 44.9 deg N, 10 degrees south of Greater Cumbrae at 55.7 deg N. Source: Continue reading A tale of two similar islands – one gets no winter ferry service at all and the other gets 52 crossings per day