The Scotsman and the Express today reveal their ignorance and/or deviousness by ignoring the disruptions in 2020, 2021 and 2022 caused by pandemic measures and headline claims that the attainment gap between pupils in the most advantaged and most disadvantaged areas, at the SQA higher level has widened. It has not. It has narrowed by almost 1% to 16% from 16.9% in 2019. This is part of longer trends under SNP Government. At SCQF level 7 (Advanced Higher), the gap in 2009/10, two years after the SNP first came to power, was 24.1 and by 2021/22 it was 22.2, though … Continue reading In truth the attainment gap at Higher has further narrowed as the most disadvantaged surge

Today BBC Scotland goes with: Pass rate falls as Scottish pupils get exam results I’ll be quick. The proportion of pupils awarded an A, B or C at Higher has fallen from 78.9% in 2022 and 89.3% in 2020 to 77.1% this year. The pass rate was 74.8% in 2019. It was a similar picture for National 4s and 5s and for Advanced Highers. The pass rate for National 5 qualifications was 78.8%, which was down from 80.8% in 2022 and 85.8% in 2021 but up from 78.2% in 2019. At Advanced Higher level, 79.8% passed. That was down from … Continue reading Pass rate climbs at all levels in meaningful comparison with pre-pandemic figures

In the Herald today: Cost of Scotland’s growing army of civil servants soars by £600m ‘Scotland’s civil servants’ includes those of both the Scottish and UK [above] Governments in Scotland. Quietly down the page is this: An easy subtraction tells us that growth in the UK (Con) Government in Scotland staffing was 2,150, 6.6 times greater than growth in the Scottish (SNP) Government staffing – 325. Continue reading Staffing growth in Governor General’s office places massive burden on tax-payer

From BBC Business this morning: The UK’s six biggest water firms are facing legal action over claims they underreported pollution and overcharged customers. Severn Trent is the first in line, with claims against the other firms expected in the coming months. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-66443833 BBC Breakfast were more precise making clear that these were all English water firms and BBC Scotland had no comment to make in the light of their reporting with all of the MSM in Scotland, in May 2023, when they warned us: Scotland shockingly behind England in monitoring sewage releases! We soon discovered that Scotland monitors fewer flood … Continue reading Scottish Water not accused of under-reporting pollution or over-charging customers.

There are eight million stories in the naked city tonight? News reporting is actually far more news selecting as editors make quick decisions about what and how to report. From 6:00am this morning BBC UK makes credible choices. First, they report a massive data breach by the Northern Ireland police which will have put many at risk of terrorist attack. Then, we hear that six water companies in England have been accused of under-reporting sewage leaks and over-charging customers. Third, it’s a railway gas leak and fourth a railway strike. Finally, the NHS Federation claim the true impact of the … Continue reading SHOCK as Scottish Government only spend average of £4.57 each on staff development ‘away days’

The funnel plot above tells us something reassuring. Scotland’s hospitals are all safe and there is little between them in terms of their safeness. When statisticians estimate their death rates for the following year, they rarely disappoint. Where the actual death rate is the same as predicted, the HSMR is 1 and you can see Scotland’s hotels cluster closely around that. Where there is a difference it is always less than significant. The orange dot at the top in the middle is the Royal Infirmary at Little France in Edinburgh with 250 more deaths than expected than the 1 718 … Continue reading England’s deadly inequalities

Thanks to cuckooshoe for alerting me to this. From Welsh Government procurement card spend data: 2021 to 2022 https://www.gov.wales/welsh-government-procurement-card-spend-data-2021-2022 I see 6 entries for fuel in Hafan Pwllheli Marina, in April, adding up to around £1 500. 3 entries for fixtures and fittings from Yachtshop, adding up to around £500. 1 entry for Health and Safety from Ocean Safety, at £2 900. 1 entry for Vehicle Maintenance from Holyhead Marina at £80. 1 entry for radar equipment at £41. 1 entry for Marine health and safety at £344. and £45 with Cheap-Rope.co.uk for……cheap rope? BBC Wales seem disinterested at the … Continue reading Welsh Labour may have used a government procurement card to maintain a yacht and to buy lingerie

The Herald headline above is well-chosen to protect the Labour leader in Scotland. You might be forgiven for thinking that Sarwar was always aware of the shady nature of the Labour donor, Mirza, and was comparing him to the Trump we know today. He wasn’t. First, this was in 2017, when Trump was best known for his popular plans to build a wall to keep out the brutal Mexican criminal drug gangs. Second, he was expressing genuine admiration for Mirza and applauding the idea that he too might build a wall between Pakistan and India. Third, Sarwar was milking a … Continue reading Anas Sarwar praised massive VAT fraudster and ethnic nationalist with affectionate joke about Donald Trump

So, a total of £14.2m was spent on the Scottish government procurement cards over the near three-year period from September 2019, around £4.7 million per year. In the first half of 2011/2012, UK Central Government civil servants spent £149 million in the same manner. In 2010/2011, the first year of the Con/Lib coalition to impose austerity, resulting in disabled suicides and laying the ground for thousands to die in the pandemic, the MoD staff spent £237 million using government credit cards. From the Guardian in 2012: An examination of transactions using government procurement cards in five ministries has uncovered evidence … Continue reading Single UK Government department spends 50 times as much on credit cards as Scottish mandarins

We heard yesterday, from the Wee Ginger Dug in the National: Susan Aitken (above), the leader of Glasgow Council, has warned that the UK Government wants to house an asylum barge in Glasgow. Possibly this is because they think that Glasgow is as remote as Ascension Island. The council leader has revealed that the British Government is seeking consent form Glasgow City Council for an asylum barge to be “sited in the city”. She wrote on the social media platform that we are all still calling Twitter: “The UK Government wants Glasgow City Council to give consent to an asylum barge … Continue reading ‘Scottish’ Conservatives prefer ‘illegal’ immigrants in poor areas to Scottish drug treatment in posh bits