The contrasting realities of life as the Daily Mail sees it in England and Scotland, are inadvertently exposed today. Nothing could more quickly confirm that there are no plans in Scotland to release violent prisoners early than the Daily Mail‘s failure to replicate the bad news for down south, up here. There is, of course, not a sniff of the phenomenon in Scotland. Try searching for ‘Scotland release violent prisoners early‘ and get only the same stories about England. What could explain this, given the regular stories in Scotland of over-crowded prisons, pushed into a compliant media by the opposition … Continue reading Violent prisoners NOT to be let out early

For those more ‘normal’ folk who, unlike me, don’t get excited when they see a scatter-graph like the one above from the IFS six days ago , let me explain. The closer clustering of the dark blue Scottish dots, each representing a local education authority, means that the range of children attending schools in that area is very like, in terms of, in particular, income, parental qualifications, job status and property value, the range of such attributes in the neighbourhood around the school. Put crudely, children from more affluent homes tend to attend the same school as those from more … Continue reading Class far less important in population of Scotland’s less-segregated schools

From Sky News today: An Ipsos exit poll suggested the opposition, together as a coalition, has likely won 248 seats in the 460-seat lower house of parliament, the Sejm, while Law and Justice appears to have 198 seats. In order for a government to pass laws, it needs at least 231 seats. Three opposition parties, Civic Coalition, Third Way and the New Left, ran on separate tickets but with the same promises of seeking to oust Law and Justice and restore good ties with the European Union. Mr Tusk, a former prime minister and European Council president, told his supporters … Continue reading Great news for Scotland’s man in the EU

Today, the Guardian has sacked its long-serving cartoonist Steve Bell for the above, suggesting it refers to the clearly anti-semitic, Shakespeare’s ‘pound of flesh’ and labelling it anti-semitic. Nine years ago, I wrote to Steve Bell, praising his work generally but regretting that he had done this: He wrote back to call me a ‘nationalist dupe!’ I replied with my usual sophistication – ‘Bellend!’ A friend and fellow Bell-admirer suggested, in desperation, that maybe the missing four-letter word beginning with ‘f’ was ‘free?’ Do I welcome his sacking now? Of course not, I’m over it. Continue reading At last, Steve Bell can go and ____ himself

From BBC Wales today: “We are not getting a true reflection of what is exactly happening on the shop floor,” said Dr Suresh Pillai, vice president of RCEM for Wales. “This year alone from January to June, they have excluded about 45,000 patients and that’s a huge number. “If you don’t factor those patients in the already overcrowded emergency department, we cannot measure how bad things are. “If you don’t get the true figures, then the perception would be ‘everything is fine’. In fact, it is not.” Dr Pillai said the issue had routinely been raised during meetings with the … Continue reading Shock as Labour-run NHS Wales is revealed to have cheated on A&E figures to cover 36% superiority of NHS Scotland

By stewartb From the review of the Labour Party conference, and in particular its leaders speech, by the Institute for Government (IfG). It is crystal clear in its (non-partisan) analysis: in order to win the next General Election, Labour is committing itself to ‘Conservative friendly policies’! This is from the IfG (with my emphasis): ‘The Labour leader MADE A DIRECT APPEAL TO CONSERVATIVES to switch to his party, PURPOSELY FOCUSING ON THEMES of security and highlighting priorities traditionally popular on the right: fighting for the union, defending family life, keeping taxes down and building a positive relationship with business .’ … Continue reading To win the next General Election, Labour is committing itself to ‘Conservative-friendly policies’

Former New Labour minister and now supposedly just a journo at the Scotsman, is today making the frankly laughable claim that the SNP has Conservative-friendly policies. What, these things that Labour would never ever consider? Higher taxes for the higher paid and lower taxes for the lower paid? The unique Child Payment pulling poverty well below UK levels? More affordable housing and lower rents generally? Rent freezes and eviction bans in the private sector? Free prescriptions, bus passes and HE tuition. Free school dinners for far more children than elsewhere in the UK? Opposition to nuclear weapons? And on and … Continue reading Wrong Brian Wilson – MP’s defection spotlights Labour’s Conservative-friendly policies

From BBC Scotland this morning: MV Hebridean Isles has been out of service since February with a series of faults that have led to speculation it might never return. But after a new round of repairs in Aberdeen, it will carry passengers, cars and freight on the Islay route as part of its operational trials. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-glasgow-west-67105243 Despite that definitive ‘will carry‘, BBC Scotland went for the vague, hesitant, grudging headline – Repairs hope for veteran CalMac ferry MV Hebridean Isles Only 10 days ago, the Herald’s ‘leading journalist on the issue [of ferries]‘ wrote: Will one of CalMac’s oldest ferries … Continue reading One of oldest ferries to return in triumph to service as Herald’s Ferry newsletter sinks in ratings

In the Guardian today but, of course, not in any media outlet where you live, far less BBC Scotland, above: Experts say failure to invest now to prevent chronic health issues such as obesity and diabetes means saving up costly problems for the future – and failure to help families struggling to feed their children at a time of rising food prices and shrinking budgets means entrenching existing social divisions. The answers to these problems, they say, come from smart public policy, proper investment and education to help children learn about what they eat and why it matters. But they … Continue reading Experts praise Scotland’s free school meals initiative but ‘your’ media not interested

Mitchell won the Oliver Brown Award (to the public figure judged to have done most to advance Scotland’s self-respect) in 2018. That’s Sean Connery, Alex Salmond, him…and me, to list only a few. HTF!? At TuS, we’ve been dragged yawning on a regular basis to respond to his anti-SNP drivel. Did they upset him back then as they seem to have those huffs Stuart Campbell, Robin McAlpine and Craig Murray? Here are some of the more recent thoughts. In July 2023: Politico.eu today have the strangest of takes on SNP funding – ‘Only dead people donate to the Scottish National Party’ – it … Continue reading This prof is just an anti-SNP rentagob so BBC Scotland love him