As Anas Sarwar hides off-screen, refusing to pose beside rubbish, as he was happy to do at Glasgow Cop26, Edinburgh City Council tries to get more out of the Scottish Government: “As the lowest funded council in Scotland, it’s time for the Scottish government to properly fund our capital city and its services.” The First Minister commented that it was: “really disappointing” that £140m of extra Scottish government funding had not resolved the pay row. In 2020/21, Edinburgh City Council reported £360 million in ‘usable reserves’ and £2.9 billion in ‘unusable reserves.’ Glasgow City Council only has £137 million in … Continue reading Pay deal: Labour/Tory council has billions in reserves

The final two candidates for leadership of the Conservatives were announced on 21 July. Throughout July, support for the SNP in UK-wide polls had averaged 4.03% but in August climbed around 10% to an average of 4.5% While these are small sub-polls, of limited significance on their own, together they suggest that, as others have argued, either candidate is good news for the SNP. Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opinion_polling_for_the_next_United_Kingdom_general_election Continue reading Multiple polls suggest either candidate may add 10% to SNP support

In the Guardian yesterday but nowhere to be seen on their extensive list today: The landmark study, based on research carried out for the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) and funded by the Nuffield Foundation, found that disadvantaged pupils start school behind their better-off peers, and those inequalities persist through their school years and beyond – eventually having an impact on earnings. The authors state there is overwhelming evidence that the education system in England leaves too many young people behind, and despite decades of policy focus, there has been little if any shift in the gaps in educational attainment … Continue reading No demonising of Johnson over England’s attainment gap betrayal

Both candidates for PM have been banging on about the SNP’s track record. Education is a favourite for them but today the Guardian reports: The attainment gap between poorer pupils and their better-off class mates is just as large now as it was 20 years ago, according to a damning new report which says the coronavirus pandemic is likely to have increased the inequalities in education The landmark study, based on research carried out for the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) and funded by the Nuffield Foundation, found that disadvantaged pupils start school behind their better-off peers, and those inequalities … Continue reading Holding Sunak to account for England’s failure to close the attainment gap

By stewartb I continue to be irritated by the coverage of the SQA exam results for Scotland’s schools. Recall the Scottish Tory Party’s education spokesperson, Oliver Mundell: ‘Education spokesman Oliver Mundell said the widening attainment gap was a “badge of shame” for the first minister.’ (BBC News website) Of course the Tories are comparing statistics for 2022 with 2021. What is notable is that it was Mr Mundell who demanded that ‘normal’ examinations be re-introduced in 2022: “The SNP must guarantee that every pupil will be able to sit their exams this year as planned.,’ adding “We must get back … Continue reading Exam Results: Times Education Supplement weak on statistics too

Alasdair Galloway The problem I have with this story in the Independent is that what they intend to achieve is right, but they are doing it for all the wrong reasons “Students should turn to apprenticeships to ease soaring demand for degrees, Ucas boss warns” The presentation of encouraging school leavers to go for “apprenticeships” is  that its directed “to bring down soaring demand for higher education places”. On present trend England is heading toward one MILLION applicants for universities every year. Instead of asking how we “damp down” this demand, perhaps we should be asking whether what the country … Continue reading Degrees of Apprenticeship

Today, I received data (a re-run of table 2 for the link below) from the UK Statistics Authority, to enable me to confirm that drug deaths among younger users are much higher in England & Wales than in Scotland. The researcher sent me a rerun of the data for the 25-34 group so that I could compare with Scotland’s equivalent group. The published data in the link below uses different groupings from the published version making direct comparison impossible. I’m grateful to him. In 2021, in England and Wales, there were 501 deaths from drug abuse among the 25-34 age … Continue reading UK Government data confirm much higher drug death rate among younger users in England & Wales than in Scotland

I hesitate to correct Professor Tom Devine in his defence of Anas Sarwar. Once compared with Prof John Curtice, a writer said he was like a premier league footballer and I was like a third-team reserve at Elgin City. Anyone who saw me play would agree that I should have been so lucky. Goodness knows what league I’ll be relegated to if I question Prof Devine. Anyhow, Sarwar’s support for Pakistan’s independence, considered hypocritical by many including me, was dismissed by Devine as ‘no comparison‘ because Scotland was not ‘subjected to imperial authority‘ and because ‘Scots‘ (sic) took part in … Continue reading Sorry Prof Devine but Sarwar was a hypocrite and you’re wrong

In the week ending 7 August 2022, demand at Scotland’s A&E departments climbed from 24 699 to 24 731. Despite that 67.9% were seen in 4 hours, up from 66.3% and 65% in the previous two weeks. Those waiting over 8 hours fell from 2 798 to 2 541 and those waiting over 12 hours fell from 1 040 to 916. Only Scotland publishes weekly figures but in July, the figure was only 57%. For the local health trusts in the constituencies of Boris Johnson, Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak, the figures were positively ‘third world’ at 47.5%, 39.3% and … Continue reading Scrutiny: Significant improvement in emergency waiting times despite increased demand

Just which part of the SNP record do they feel entitled to scrutinise? Is it: the superior NHS performance? the much lower crime rate? the much lower drug death rate among the under 35s? the higher NHS staffing? the higher police staffing? the higher firefighter staffing? the lower cumulative Covid death rate? the effective contact tracing? the lower child poverty? the greater affordable housing supply? the higher vaccination levels? the greater acceptance of refugees? the greater investment in water and consequent cleaner water? and… Will they be allowing scrutiny of their own record? Such as: billions wasted on a failed … Continue reading Breath-taking arrogance of the Tories