In the Herald today: Executives at nationalised Prestwick Airport are expecting continued multi-million pound public money support to keep it in existence while public spending auditors said it is not clear that government intervention has provided value for the taxpayer pound. https://www.heraldscotland.com/news/homenews/23263791.prestwick-airport-needs-taxpayer-millions-remain-existence/ Yet, according to BBC Scotland Business in November 2022: The Scottish government-owned airport saw fuel sales return to pre-pandemic levels in the year to 31 March, boosted by “strong” military aircraft movements. Sales of fuel over the year nearly doubled to reach 36 million litres. They accounted for £13m of its £16m year-on-year rise in revenue, which reached … Continue reading Correction: Prestwick Airport posted a profit for the third year in a row and expects another flight boom this year

In the Daily Record today: New figures show that 45 per cent of patients who presented at University Hospital Ayr’s A&E faced waits longer than the four-hour standard. South Scotland Conservative List MSP, Sharon Dowey, said the figures were “extremely worrying.” Dowey looks less than worried, I’d say. May be that’s because she knows the context? First, they’re using one-week statistically unreliable data. Over the month of December 2022, the University Hospital in Ayr, saw 61.3% in 4 hours. The figure for Scotland as a whole was 59.6%. For NHS England, managed by Dowey’s party, it was only 49.6%. 61.3% is 23.58% … Continue reading Latest A&E waiting times at Ayr Hospital massive 24% better than in Conservative-run NHS England

In the Scotsman today, on the front page, we have: Warning of ‘geopolitial risk’ as Scottish Government figures show jump in international students. The Scottish Government is facing a ‘geopolitical risk’ in relying on foreign students to subsidise universities, Universities Scotland has warned, as new figures show the number of people studying in Scotland from outside Europe rocketed by more than a third in the past year. The latest Higher Education Student Statistics found that the number of non-European Union students from overseas rose by 37.1 per cent to 65,300 in the last academic year. https://www.scotsman.com/news/world/warning-of-geopolitial-risk-as-scottish-government-figures-show-jump-in-international-students-3993774 The story has been picked … Continue reading More Scottish Students Than Ever In Scotland’s Universities

I’d been wondering where Iain Macwhirter had gone to. Not retired gracefully and still struggling with the notion of strong intelligent women, I see. I won’t be reading the above but you might like to be reminded of why even the Herald wearied of his grey old misogyny: Continue reading Iain Macwhirter find his natural home, with Boris, Jeremy and Rod Liddle

BBC Scotland above, respond to Stevenage-born, London Met officer’s arrest for multiple rapes, by contacting a senior officer to say: Police Scotland could look “stupid” if it does not step up the vetting of recruits, a former chief has said. Angela Wilson, ex-assistant chief constable of Tayside, also called for an independent body to be set up to look at complaints against officers. It follows the case of David Carrick who admitted dozens of rape and sexual offences as a Met police officer. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-64330112 BBC UK, England, Wales, N Ireland? No interest. BBC London, surely? Nope. Isn’t it great to … Continue reading London rapist policeman but only BBC Scotland demand action

There were 62 942 deaths last year (2022), down from 63 587 the previous year and 64 093 in 2020. Deaths have been higher in the last three years due to the pandemic and the Tory austerity policies which prompted a first increase in 2012, after two decades of steady falls. The recent fall suggests some recovery from the pandemic and the effect of more complete vaccination especially among the elderly. Source: https://www.nrscotland.gov.uk/statistics-and-data/statistics/statistics-by-theme/vital-events/general-publications/weekly-and-monthly-data-on-births-and-deaths/monthly-data-on-births-and-deaths-registered-in-scotland Continue reading Scotland’s death rate falls again for second year but media health correspondents are not interested

From Lisa Summers, BBC Scotland’s Unhealth Correspondent today, a long piece, headlining, opens with this: The health service has never before been under such strain, with dire warnings [not data] from doctors about patient safety. Scotland, [less] like every part of the UK, faces challenges if it is going to make the health and social care system work now – and into the future. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-64303425 https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-64303425 Lisa does not mention faster ambulances, more beds, more nurses, more GPs, more consultants, better A&E and cancer waiting times, fewer Covid deaths….. I’m too busy to cut and paste all the evidence again … Continue reading As England & Wales suffer a real health crisis Lisa Summers tries to make one here

I’m grateful to the ever modest AR for alerting me to this. From House of Commons Research Briefing Taxation of North Sea oil and gas on 29 November 2022: In its commentary on the Statement, the Resolution Foundation noted that a 75% headline rate on North Sea oil and gas profits “is close to double the pre-crisis rate and in line with that in Norway (78 per cent).” They went on to note that anticipated receipts by 2023/24 were now expected “to reach an all-time high in cash terms (£20.7 billion, of which £10.8 billion would be due to the … Continue reading Scotland’s oil price boom to earn £21 billion for UK Treasury in one year

A long read – by stewartb There is a lot of heat being generated in the corporate media, in social media and in parliaments, especially from the Tories in Westminster and Holyrood, about the Scottish Parliament’s Gender Recognition Reform Bill. It seems that too few people remember or are willing to acknowledge the very recent history of the Tories’ policy position on this subject in Westminster. Fortunately, an excellent briefing published on 22 February 2022 by the House of Commons Library (HoCL) provides a detailed and, given the source, authoritative account. The briefing deals largely with the UK Government’s consultation … Continue reading The “screeching change of direction” –  the forgotten Westminster history on gender recognition reform

From 1998/99 to 2021/22, oil and gas production, in Scottish adjacent waters, added up to 2.67 billion tonnes of oil and gas equivalent. The crude oil alone added up to 1.68 billion tonnes and the natural gas to 882 million tonnes or roughly 30 million British Thermal Units (BTU). The crude oil production in that period was typically 95% of all UK production while the gas production ranged from 77% to 99%. https://www.gov.scot/publications/oil-and-gas-production-statistics/ Crude oil at the end of 2021 was $622 per metric ton and averaged around $400 in the last ten years. Natural gas prices have soared in … Continue reading $672 billion – the value of Scotland’s oil since 1998