Politico.eu today have the strangest of takes on SNP funding – ‘Only dead people donate to the Scottish National Party’ – it relies on member subscriptions and bequests left by supporters in their wills. The seemingly healthier basis, for writer Andrew McDonald based on the thoughts of Prof James Mitchell, would be ‘big ticket donors.’ What? Like Russian oligarchs or hedge fund managers who want to turn your party, say Cons or Labour or Lib Dems, into their servants? In the context of democratic politics, isn’t the SNP model morally superior? Also, what would they need lots of money for? … Continue reading SNP Donors – the dead ask no favours?

Simple Lads Alert – I faked that above for comedic effect because BBC Scotland neglected the story, for their own reasons. Geddit? There’s been much about the democratic deficit in the Highlands and in the Islands and issues such as ferry and doctor recruitment but, not even on BBC Scotland’s Highlands & Islands page, this from PolicyMogul yesterday: Rural and island communities will have a chance to have their voices heard in local and national decision-making as a result of Scottish Government funding. Around £80,000 will help to deliver the next Scottish Rural and Islands Parliament – a grassroots democratic … Continue reading Bias by omission as Yousaf announces funding to support Scottish Rural Parliament

In case any of the lads at r/Scotland see this, there’s an element of humour, satire, in this. It’s not exactly true but don’t get upset. I’m trying to make a deeper (truer than mere facts) point about how slimy Labour are under those snakes Shllsstarmerr or Shllssarwarrr. From Christian Action Research & Education, in March 2023: On Thursday of this week, Sir Keir Starmer, leader of the Labour party, said that there were lessons to learn from Scotland, despite previously promising to reform the Gender Recognition Act to allow transgender people to self-identify. Speaking to reporters during a press … Continue reading Gender recognition – Putin follows Starmer’s lead as Sarwar hides in Pacific Quay cupboard

I’m guessing that former minister, Brian Wilson, means under New Labour from 1997 to 2010 and is not referring to the catastrophic failure of Labour, in the previous decades, to tackle poverty and ill-health in Scotland, such that folk were often still in damp, squalid, housing well into the 1960s. I’m guessing he doesn’t mean the period after that when Labour made sure Scots didn’t know about the oil wealth which they planned to just handover to their bosses in London. I’m guessing, also, he doesn’t mean the Iraq and Afghanistan wars where many Scots soldiers died thanks to the … Continue reading Things really didn’t get better under Labour and won’t for the majority under Starmer

By stewartb I’ve just seen this in the Daily Record: ‘Labour will not allow self-identification for trans people if it wins the next general election despite the policy being supported by its MSPs.’ We’re told: ‘Anneliese Dodds, the shadow equalities secretary, said today the party would keep the need for a medical diagnosis of gender dysphoria to obtain a gender recognition certificate as part of its proposed reforms.’ Adding: ‘Dodds, who was born in Aberdeen, said medical diagnosis would remain “an important part” of future Labour reforms.’ (Relevance of her place of birth in this context anyone?) So now Labour … Continue reading A Labour Party lost – ditching policies to win over England’s Tory voters and placate England’s right wing press?

From SNP Media this evening: Commenting on the remarks by Baroness Neville-Rolfe in the House of Lords today – in response to George Foulkes – that the UK government is considering sanctioning the Scottish Government for work in relation to independence and reserved areas, SNP cabinet spokesperson, Kirsty Blackman MP said: “It is deeply ironic that unelected members of the House of Lords are seeking to dictate what Scotland’s democratically elected Parliament can and can’t do. “It’s also very clear that the process of trying to stymie the Scottish Parliament is being driven by Tory ministers, egged on by a … Continue reading ‘Unelected members of the House of Lords are seeking to dictate what Scotland’s democratically elected Parliament can and can’t do’

From the Nuffield Foundation based on research by the universities of York and Oxford, published today on child poverty in larger families, a damning critique of the Conservatives in Government: The two-child limit was implemented in 2017. It prevents families from receivingadditional means-tested support for their third or subsequent children, worthup to £3,235 a year per child in 2023/24. Because the policy only applies tochildren born since 6 April 2017, the number of children affected by it increaseseach year. By April 2023, 1.5 million children lived in families affected by thetwo-child limit: equivalent to one in ten of all children … Continue reading Child poverty research reveals the SNP to be the party that Scottish Labour wishes it could be

This is the kind of post that so angered some at Reddit before my ban there. I was labelled a ‘ghoul’. The Herald’s health correspondent, headlining the above, feels I suspect, justified in alerting the public to a worrying trend. These are, of course, tragic events but it’s important to put them into perspective. Here are the figures in graph form for the two sets of data: There is clearly a very small upward trend in the post neo-natal deaths but not in the childbirth data. The scale is important too. That ‘spike’ in April 2023 was at 2.8 deaths … Continue reading ‘Baby death spike’ – a bit of perspective?