From BBC Business a few hours ago: Water companies in England and Wales want bills to increase by £156 a year by 2030 to pay for upgrades and reduce sewage discharges. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-66979271 In response from the SNP: The SNP has said “independence is the only way to guarantee key services are safe in public hands” – as privatised water companies in England and Wales seek to increase bills by £156 a year. Responding to the news, SNP Energy spokesperson Dave Doogan MP warned “families in England and Wales are paying an eye-watering price for failing services under Westminster control” and challenged … Continue reading Rutherglen By-election Alert – voters should be wary of eye-watering prices for dirty water if Labour get in control

The news today, above but in Scotland: and still what matters for BBC Scotland, later in the morning: Are the other BBC Nations so air-headed? BBC Wales: Northern Ireland: The caretaker manager Davis is from Northern Ireland. BBC Scotland could be wondering why Humza Yousef is getting so little praise for averting all these strikes. Then again, they know why. Continue reading BBC Scotland sink to the back pages

Skipping gaily by the worst ever doctors’ strike in history, not in Scotland, respecting the clearly prime importance of the Rangers job, Reporting Scotland leap excitedly first thing, ahead of their website, on the latest report on poverty. The good news, for them, is that those progressive SNP policies are seemingly not working. The latest report from the Joseph Rowntree Foundation Scotland titled Poverty in Scotland 2023 is full of assertions about the level of poverty in the present in Scotland yet the data on which it is based seems to be at least one, perhaps two (?), years old. … Continue reading Old data on poverty do not justify grudging commentary on SNP’s achievement

Jimmy Shanks, Labour Councillor, has returned to campaign in Rutherglen, from a holiday in Washington State USA. While there, Jimmy had to be evacuated from the 50 year-old Walla Walla ferry, above, which ran aground due to “gross bacterial and fungal growth” in its fuel supply system, leading to severe fuel filter plugging and loss of power. You can read the full story here: https://www.maritime-executive.com/article/fungal-growth-plugged-fuel-filters-on-wsf-ferry-causing-grounding Local media inferred that the vessel’s advanced age was a contributing factor to the fungal growth but the Walla Walla is by no means old in the Washington State Ferries fleet where the oldest, the … Continue reading Labour call for urgent fungal inspection of ferries in case of deadly spread from hospitals

By Alasdair Galloway On Thursday of last week, the Herald published this from well-known Better Together supporter and long-time Labour party member, Peter Russell Begins AMANDA Brown (Letters, September 27) asks for one single reason why anyone living in Scotland would not “want to cut from England and rejoin the EU”. She has surely not heard of the Scottish Government’s own GERS figures that give 10 billion such reasons: each of these one pound sterling in revenue which Scotland receives from the rest of the UK. These support the services we receive here and which she praises so fulsomely. (She … Continue reading The letters they won’t publish – why anyone living in Scotland WOULD “want to cut from England and rejoin the EU

From Kiro(7): SEATTLE — Our region’s ferry woes continued Wednesday when riders on several routes saw delays and cancellations. Washington State Ferries says there are six boats out of service and have informed lawmakers about the issues. The ferry Walla Walla was taken out of service on Friday when crews found damage to one of its propellers. Since then, officials say it has been a game of Tetris, reassigning fleets, which has impacted passengers who take the Edmonds-Kingston ferry. “State ferries face two big challenges. One of them is sort of short and medium-term, and that is due to staffing … Continue reading Ferrygeddon with SIX out of only 21 ferries out of service at the same time…..in Washington State

Every time I see another Labour MP bussed across the border to support the deeply-conflicted guardian of young Erskine morals, mgshanks, and Labour’s mysterious fresh start, I think: Should they be staying down there to work on problems worse than any Rutherglen and Hamilton West faces? This one should: Annual crime rate per 1 000 in Bradford – 66.6 and climbing. In Rutherglen and Hamilton West – 48 and 20% lower since SNP took over in 2007. Any other problems in Bradford needing his attention? Well there’s this: Bradford child sex abuse: MP calls for public inquiry https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-leeds-58486596 Continue reading Another English MP arrives in Rutherglen to find out how SNP has cut crime?