Headlining the Herald today: NHS staff and patients are being “left in the dark over the safety of hospitals and clinics” with only a third of buildings suspected of containing a potentially dangerous form of concrete investigated. A number of public premises and facilities constructed using a material known as Reinforced Autoclaved Aerated Concrete (RAAC) have been closed as a precaution over fears that it is unstable and poses a risk of collapse. https://www.heraldscotland.com/news/23804784.raac-concrete-majority-nhs-buildings-not-yet-checked/ Who says the public is endangered? Dame Jackie Baillie. What are the facts? RAAC is inevitably present in many public buildings and has been there for … Continue reading Public NOT ‘endangered’ by ‘concrete risk’ based on Jackie Baillie scaremongering

BBC Scotland is headlining this story – Scottish school strikes: Unions split as parents brace for school closures – but carefully avoiding any mention of the dirty tricks, below, by UK Labour, as we approach the Rutherglen and Hamilton West by-election, where Labour’s victory expectations show signs of panic. Unison’s split with the GMB and Unite make little sense until you see this: Johanna Baxter is the Labour Party‘s CLP Representative on both the National Executive Committee and the Scottish Executive Committee.[1] She is regarded as a Corbynsceptic and has been endorsed by Blairite group Progress and ‘old right’ organisation Labour First. https://wikispooks.com/wiki/Johanna_Baxter AND UNISON Scotland head of local government, Johanna Baxter … Continue reading Panicked UK Labour exploits school staff and risks pupil interests to aid their Rutherglen by-election campaign

Western Isles Council, Independent with only 6 SNP out of 29 councillors, has no basis for the above claim. The facts about depopulation in Scotland in the last 20 years: First, Western Isles has seen little de-population, is no worse than mainland Dumfries and Galloway and is better than the largely mainland Argyll, Inverclyde or North Ayrshire. Second, Western Isles benefits from the most inclusive, generously subsidised and up-to-date ferry service in the comparable world. See: https://talkingupscotlandtwo.com/2023/07/29/research-reveals-scotlands-island-communities-benefit-from-the-most-inclusive-generously-subsidised-and-up-to-date-ferry-service-in-the-comparable-world/ Continue reading Scotland’s ferry services unrelated to population decline anywhere

Vashon Island (10 000) commuters to Seattle in Washington State are up in arms about their $27, 15-minute ferry service: Vashon Island residents are fed up with the unreliability of their ferry route and many expressed their frustrations at a meeting Monday night. On Monday morning, an issue with a ferry forced it to leave the Fauntleroy-Vashon-Southworth route to unload vehicles at Pier 52 in Seattle. The issues on this ferry line have been a point of complaint for years — long lines of vehicles at Fauntleroy are common, so much so that an entire Facebook group is dedicated to … Continue reading Affluent islanders say ferry service is ‘worst ever’…..in the USA

Audit Scotland has an agenda quite unlike that of the National Audit Office for England. The latter above puts not a word of criticism, direct or implied, of the Government in report titles or press releases. Today, the Herald and Reporting Scotland have been all over the Audit Scotland headline report below. In Scotland, it’s all very different: Things are bad almost everywhere they look and that is trumpeted in headlines and releases for the media. One of Audit Scotland’s clearest indicators of bias and, indeed, lack of credibility, came in April 2023 when we heard that better protection from … Continue reading Audit Scotland has an agenda quite unlike that of the National Audit Office for England

Rutherglen and Hamilton West UK Labour candidate Michael Shanks is keeping his head down, dreaming of that £85K salary and hanging on to his seat belt, aided by the media, as his UK Labour keeps steering right. Remember when he, a man who resigned from Labour over Brexit, said he was ‘not against’ re-joining? That’s the kind of guy you don’t want in your corner. Today, as we hear that Treasury officials are discussing a one-off break from the pensions triple lock that could save £1bn by preventing a bumper 8.5% increase in the state pension next year, UK Labour … Continue reading Rutherglen By-election – Is Labour candidate ‘not against’ punishing pensioners for inflation when billions could be raised from the wealthy instead?

From Plymouth Live yesterday, as Putin and Jong Un meet to plan ‘sacred fight’ against the West: Devonport dockyard operator Babcock International Plc has been criticised in Parliament after it emerged none of the Royal Navy’s attack submarines were at sea. Tory MP Mark Francois blamed the engineering giant for delayed refits and demanded ministers give Babcock bosses a dressing down. He told the House of Commons that “Not a single one” of the UK’s attack subs were at sea a few weeks ago due to maintenance. It was reported that all six of the country’s nuclear subs were alongside, with … Continue reading Scottish Government offer to Penny Mordaunt – ‘We’ll fit torpedo tubes on larger CalMac ferries as all six RN attack submarines are tied up for repairs’