I’m grateful to my Researcher, Bernadette Robertson, for alerting me to this with a shout of: ‘Hey! BBC Wales is on our beach!‘ From BBC Wales as an insert in BBC 24, today around 4:30pm: But here on the West coast of Scotland, locals and environmental officials say that benefits are already being felt on beaches like this [Ayr South] one because of the work they’re doing with farmers on the River Ayr….Scotland’s environmental regulator spends £900 000 a year on a dedicated team of 12 inspectors and support staff just checking water pollution from farms. In Wales? No fully-funded … Continue reading ‘Have you done what the Scots are doing?’ BBC Wales praises Scotland’s river quality enforcement

We’ve been here before with Tom Devine confusedly defending Anas Sarwar’s claim that Scotland cannot be seen as a colony of the British (English) Empire because a few elite Scots were enthusiastic participants in the the imperial project. Now we have David Leask asking the above question. The answer is a simple ‘yes’ because the vast majority of Scots like the vast majority of the English, for that matter, were the very first victims of the colonising of these islands, by a Norman warrior elite, starting in 1066 and tidying up in the last corners by 1745. It’s been the … Continue reading Most Scots could never be colonisers and were among the first to be colonised

It’s quite a suggestion coming today from the UK Convenor of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine. Surely, this time, the Health Secretary for England, Steve….eh…..Barclay…I think, must resign? Nope, he gets no mention. What’s happening in Daily Express Scotland? She gets everywhere, that woman! OK so 50 not dying every week in Scotland then? How does the Scottish Daily Express generally cover health matters? Ah, they certainly know his name and what he can be accused of – anything and everything? Continue reading 500 deaths a week not related to English Health Secretary Steve…Thingummy

A health report politicised in the Times (Scotland) with an ‘SNP policy vacuum’, ‘SNP ministers’, ‘SNP ministers’, again, and ‘SNP free-prescription policy. In the big UK Times, far greater drama as A&E delays apparently kill 500 every week, but there’s no mention of the party of government, the Conservatives, just that ‘ministers’ hope that public support for the unions will ‘erode.’ Imagine if the SNP were revealed to hold the same hope in Scotland. Nothing more clearly illustrates the full force of bias against the SNP and the wider movement for independence than this naked contrast in the coverage of … Continue reading A sign of the Times in the UK and in Scotland

Back in 2019, Scottish Lib Dem leader, Alex Cole-Hamilton, proudly reported saving his daughter’s life with a series of back-slaps to clear a blockage, so he knows a bit about DYI medicine or self-medicating, and self-promotion too. Today, he’s in the Scotsman saying: …treating themselves. Cole-Hamilton was born in Hertfordshire on the Northern edge of Greater London. The big town there is Watford. Also today, in the Watford Observer: Lib Dem leader Sir Ed Davey said “This is a national scandal. Face-to-face GP appointments have become almost extinct in some areas of the country,” he said. “We now have the … Continue reading Lib Dem Leader confuses GP crisis in Hertfordshire with none in Scotland

The North Briton, above, typically using UK data to stir up anxiety in Scotland There were 3,494 GP Whole Time Equivalents (WTE) in Scotland in 2022. The equivalent figure for NHS England was 27,392. Per head of population, all things being equal with England you might have expected 2 739 GPs in Scotland (1 tenth) but there were 3 494, 27.5% more. Try searching for ‘Scotland self-medicating‘. You’ll find one report. Yes, you guessed, the same Scotsman one. What has Alex Cole-Hamilton, leader of Scotland’s teeny, shrinking 5th column, to say? ‘GP appointments have become almost extinct.’ That’ll be in … Continue reading No reports of mass self-medicating with 27% more GPs

From Alba on 30 December 2022: In a poll carried out on behalf of the party by Panelbase, only 45% of those responding after don’t knows were excluded said they wanted to keep King Charles as Scotland’s Head of State. In contrast 55% say they want to see an independent Scotland become a republic with an elected Head of State. https://www.albaparty.org/majority_of_scots_back_plan_for_independent_scottish_republic Alba have chosen to ignore the don’t knows and not tell us how many there were, because they want to hammer home the notion of a majority for dumping the huffy one. It’s a legitimate ploy but, maybe in … Continue reading It’s almost certainly far worse for Charles III in Scotland

In the Telegraph today, Cochrane confuses and, typically for a Tory, resorts to the talk of the physical violence they are all so fond of, talking about, from Johnson and throughout the Party. Ill come back to that but first, read this: Despite Nicola Sturgeon’s woeful record in office, affluent people north of the border have allowed themselves to be bribed. By any standards, the year just ending was pretty dreadful for Nicola Sturgeon, so much so that lesser mortals might well concede that they deserved a good political kicking for all the mistakes they had made.  https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2022/12/30/scotlands-complicit-middle-class-have-lot-answer/ Wait, I … Continue reading Allan Cochrane should NOT get a ‘good kicking’

From their first triumphalist claims on Christmas Eve until their latest on 28 December, the Telegraph continues to mislead the public as to the worrying consequences of replacing Border Force staff with untrained squaddies. Today, the Guardian has the facts Just nine people were stopped at passport control and held at Heathrow over three strike days from 23 to 25 December, compared with 189 people over the same three days in 2021 – a 95% drop. https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2022/dec/31/just-nine-passengers-detained-at-heathrow-during-border-force-strike Using Reporting Scotland editorial guidelines and Scotland’s 8% share of the UK population, we can estimate that just one potential criminal was stopped … Continue reading Scottish public put at risk as British Army stops only one possible criminal at airports over Christmas, 95% down on 2021

On it’s own, unreliable but as one of 15 out of 20 recently putting UK Labour at 40-50% while Scottish Labour lag behind at half that, this one from People Polling has them at 18% compared to 45% for UK Labour. It puts the SNP at 62% and the Greens at 6% with the Cons at 4% behind the Lib Dems at 5%. On Christmas Eve, the same pollster had UK Labour at 46%, Scottish Labour at 24% and the SNP at 55% Continue reading Just a sub-poll but pro-Indy parties at 68%