Scotland’s MSM seem not to have spotted this striking evidence of success. The BBC presenters, including a Scot, have had nothing to say about something obvious here, as the stand below a giant screen showing the above. With 10 times the population, England have won only just over twice (54) as many medals as Scotland (23) and so, per head of population, are 5 times better. I suppose they’re too busy repeating how bad we are at preventing drug deaths compared to England, to notice this. Continue reading Scots athletes 5 times more successful than England at Commonwealth Games

I’m grateful to TuS reader John Jamieson for alerting me to this. I do loving patronising the thicker Scottish Labour and Tory representatives we see so often faithfully reported in ‘our’ MSM. The above table is used in ‘Scrap the cap‘, today from Reform Scotland, the right-wing think tank headed up by Lord McConnell and former Tory researcher and BBC TV ‘mum’, Alison Payne. McConnell used to be a maths teacher in Alloa. Payne used to be a girl guide leader, They have, with all the intelligence of a typical Labour MSP, leapt on that 83.7% in the bottom right-hand … Continue reading The Labour Lord, the Tory mum and their arithmetically challenged ‘think’ tank

By stewartb The UK government’s Department for Education has been consulting on the re-introduction of STUDENT NUMBER CONTROLS (SNCs) for universities in England. It points to perverse incentives for institutions offering poorer/less impactful courses, with relatively low entry requirements, to more and more students whilst charging similar fees. See https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1057091/HE_reform_command-paper-web_version.pdf I’ve yet to read the Reform Scotland report. I trust it acknowledges key differences in the HE systems in Scotland and England – very long tail of ‘low tariff’ (easier to enter) institutions in England, none of these in Scotland according to UCAS; importance of HE provision delivered by colleges in … Continue reading Higher Education: Yet another ‘borrowing’ power not available to Scotland

The Herald’s David Balls, today, presents Reform Scotland as a ‘leading think tank.’ They’re not. They’re right-wing and not that thoughtful. I’ve done them before. Here again: Reform Scotland, like most right-wing, unionist, so-called think tanks is keen to project itself as somehow independent or non-partisan. Any social science student will tell you there’s no such thing but Reform Scotland is an easier target than that. It’s director is Chris Deerin, a New Statesman writer, Blairite and regular critic of anything the SNP does. Just Google his name and SNP and you’ll see just how non-partisan he isn’t. Its research director is … Continue reading Labour Lord and Tory ‘mum’ behind call for end to free tuition on Kaye Adams today again as just a ‘mum’

Watching Lucy Worsley last night, I was shocked, deeply, to hear of the disastrous Counter Armada of 1599 when more than 20 000 lost their lives, twice the Spanish losses the previous year. Why shocked? I’ve been reading and watching accounts of the history, of most parts of the globe, for more than 50 years, on a daily basis. Why had I never seen even a mention of this event despite hearing on a yearly basis of the prior Spanish Armada and England’s heroic victory? I asked friends, some even more history buffs, and none knew of it. I tried … Continue reading 16th Century English Propaganda – so good even I (!) knew nothing of this event

Note: Thanks to Jim for alerting me to this. Based on the above UK Government data, there have been 40 343 applications by Ukrainian refugees to live in Scotland and 30 668 visas have been issued. All things being equal, with 10 times the population, you might expect there to have been 400 000 applications and 300 000 visas issued to live in England but there were only 86 000 and 77 000 respectively. Scotland has been, at least, four times as welcoming. The extent to which we are different has been discussed here before. Some of them: Scotland IS … Continue reading Scotland accepts FOUR times as many Ukrainian refugees

Two weeks ago, in the Express it was this: Outrage as Nicola Sturgeon forces Ukraine refugees onto CRUISE SHIP in ‘betrayal’ of plan Three days ago, it was this: Sturgeon’s cruise ship with rooms smaller than prison cells takes first Ukrainian refugees and even the Guardian went with: Calls for Ukrainians living on cruise ship in Scotland to be quickly rehoused. MS Victoria is temporary solution to host refugees but there are concerns about small rooms and seasickness Seasickness in harbour? Today, BBC Scotland cannot bear to headline the awful truth, for them, of life on the cruise ship but … Continue reading ‘Better than we could have dreamed’: The Ukrainians living a life of luxury on cruise ship in Scotland

While, it’s clear that full independence has paid off, in lives saved, for those otherwise comparable neighbours – Ireland, Denmark and Norway – devolution has enabled the SNP Government to save many lives by its quicker reactions, clear signalling and and greater popular trust. Being shackled to a maniac is always going to limit your ability to stay out of trouble. Continue reading SNP pandemic measures and popular trust continue to pay off in reduced deaths

When things are high in Scotland, they are headlined as the highest in the UK (Covid). When they are no longer the highest, they just ‘fall’. It’s now 1 in 20 in England, 1 in 19 in Wales and Scotland and 1 in 16 in Northern Ireland. Last week there were 1 in 15 or around 340 900 cases in Scotland. This week it’s around 280 000, 60 000 fewer! This from Good Morning Scotland in another dimension. Continue reading With 60 000 fewer cases Scotland now has second-lowest Covid rate in the UK

The above Guardian report today, has no mention of Scotland, immediately adjacent to Cumbria. Why would it? Sellafield is ‘safely’ at the very end of England, as far from London as possible. In 2015, even the Herald reported such risks: Radioactive waste from the Sellafield nuclear plant in Cumbria is contaminating shellfish hundreds of kilometres away on the west coast of Scotland, according to a new scientific study. Scottish researchers discovered traces of radioactive carbon discharged from Sellafield in the shells of mussels, cockles and winkles as far north as Port Appin in Argyll, 160 miles from the notorious nuclear … Continue reading Scotland’s waters at risk again from Sellafield dump