https://www.scotsman.com/news/politics/keir-starmer-snp-win-2021-would-be-mandate-indyref2-2981560 Sir Keir Starmer has confirmed he stands by his claims that if the SNP win Holyrood in 2021 they have a mandate for another referendum. The Labour leader today insisted a vote was “not needed” but refused to rule out another referendum after being repeatedly confronted with the question. Speaking to Sky’s Beth Rigby, Sir Keir first claimed the question was “hypothetical” and insisted he and Scottish Labour were focused on the “importance of rebuilding the economy in Scotland”. He added: “We will be making the argument going into that election that this is not the time for another … Continue reading Keir Starmer: SNP win in 2021 would be mandate for Indyref2

BBC England: Children at Eaton Valley Primary School in West Bromwich BBC England and the Guardian are headlining stories of imminent staff reductions. The National in Scotland has: ‘More than half’ of England’s schools planning ‘catastrophic’ staff redundancies Try searching for ‘Teacher redundancies Scotland’ and you just get the English reports. Will this matter too much? Surely England’s schools are so much better than those in Scotland? Hasn’t Prof Paterson been on Radio 4 telling the UK how bad we are? Haven’t all of the opposition Education spokespersons said the same. In 2019 in the run-up to the General Election, … Continue reading A far better pupil-teacher ratio and no planned redundancies: Is SNP Government better?

A National Care Service is an idea well past its time. The current system, dominated by corporations milking it ignored standards required by the local councils and health boards with fatal consequences during the pandemic. Unable to deny the overall approval for such a system, Scotland’s media, fed by Cosla and the unions, seek to weaken it with this argument: Councils would essentially no longer be involved in the delivery of social care – and complain that this could undermine local accountability. They don’t like the idea of a “power grab” by central government, and are wary of the potential … Continue reading Why we need a National Care Service: Media Bias

I joined Mastodon, the alternative to Twitter two years ago but let it slip due to a small following. In the light of recent musky events, I’m using it again to post RSU/TUS reports. Will stay with Twitter for the moment. Do join me at: https://mastodon.scot/@ProfJWR Continue reading After Twitter, Mastodon?

The UK DWP record above From the Scottish Government news pages today: More than £160 million in support paid out across 11 benefits in 2021-2022 Social Security Scotland has published its Annual Report and Accounts, which shows that it made £163.6 million in direct payments across 11 Scottish benefits from 1 April 2021 to 31 March 2022. The combination of direct payments and those delivered through Agency Agreements with the Department of Work and Pensions saw the Scottish Government invest a total of £3.48 billion in benefits across Scotland. The results of an annual survey of clients by Social Security Scotland … Continue reading 94% of clients praise Social Security Scotland staff for ‘kindness’ as we make a ‘better nation’ with our hands tied

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-50488094 Back in 2019, BBC Scotland had plenty to say about rough-sleeping but they seem to have gone off the topic. Could this be why? Throughout last year [2021] Glasgow had less than 10 people sleeping rough on the streets, often as low as 4 at any one time with the street team and partners actively working to prevent 30 people a week from having to sleep outdoors. That is still 4 too many and we are working hard to find the right solution to each and every one of them. However there is no European City that has achieved … Continue reading BBC Scotland longing for the good-old-days when Glasgow didn’t have fewer rough-sleepers than ANY city in Europe?

Scotland’s ‘top’ news stories between the 3rd and 5th November 2024. A search for ‘Scotland news early’ on 3-5 November 2022, did not find this, posted by Scot Gov on the 3rd: Families of more than 83,200 children are saving around £5,000 per eligible child per year, thanks to the Scottish Government’s Early Learning and Childcare (ELC) offer. Latest figures show a year-on-year increase in children accessing funded ELC. The number taking up the full offer of 1,140 hours a year is also up from this time last year. If families paid for this themselves, it would cost them around … Continue reading Scotland only part of UK to offer 1 140 hours of funded early learning and childcare not in public interest apparently

https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m001f2tc/the-sunday-show-series-3-06112022 Many thanks to Andrew Rosie for alerting me to this. This morning on the BBC Scotland Sunday Show, Sir Keir Starmer accused the Scottish Government of ‘total failure‘ because 1 in 7 (14.3%) of people in Scotland are on an NHS waiting list. Neither he, nor of course, the host thought to mention that according to BBC Wales: Waits – from referral to hospital to when a patient is treated – passed 750,000 for the first time as the latest NHS performance figures were published on Thursday, showing a 28th successive month of rising waiting lists. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-63326966 The population … Continue reading Starmer confirms that Labour-run Wales has far, far, worse NHS waiting times lists than SNP Scotland does

It’s how you tell it, if at all – ‘efficiency savings’ or ‘budget cuts’ in Health and Social Care! By stewartb This is prompted by learning of the revisions, including ‘cuts’, to public spending in Scotland announced recently in the Scottish Parliament by John Swinney.  One of the more politically sensitive aspects for the Scottish Government is the decision to vire funds away from certain health service budget lines in order to offer a decent pay rise to NHS Scotland staff. This brings me to the main purpose of this blog post, namely to look at actions being taken by … Continue reading What is the chair of the Scottish Conservatives proposing?

stewartb Harm caused by patient  safety incidents regrettably occurs in all health care settings, usually (and we trust) despite the best professional practice of the medical staff. Media coverage of the more serious incidents could provide a rich, endless seam of stories for journalists should they choose to cover them. And it seems that some are keen to do so, at least in Scotland. The National Reporting & Learning System (NRLS) collects data on patient safety incidents in England and Wales. The primary purpose of the NRLS is TO ENABLE LEARNING from patient safety incidents occurring in the NHS. Reporting … Continue reading 6,872 incidents linked to severe harm and England’s news media look away