By stewartb On the topic of the Scotland on Sunday article on abortion statistics, let’s fill some of the context void with available data: Source: https://www.publichealthscotland.scot/publications/termination-of-pregnancy-statistics/termination-of-pregnancy-statistics-year-ending-december-2021/ In 2007:Terminations performed in Scotland for Scottish residents = 13,733Terminations performed in England & Wales for Scottish residents = 377 (2.7%) In 2019:Terminations performed in Scotland for Scottish residents = 13,596Terminations performed in England & Wales for Scottish residents = 179 (1.3%) In 2020 (i.e. during the pandemic!):Terminations performed in Scotland for Scottish residents = 13,891Terminations performed in England & Wales for Scottish residents = 123 (0.9%) In 2021:Terminations performed in Scotland for Scottish residents … Continue reading A BEACON FOR WOMEN’S REPRODUCTIVE CHOICE?

From their collection titled ‘Let’s blame Sturgeon for a rail crisis’, ignoring the union leaders and the Scotrail managers, the Herald, offers the above. They also have this today: We’ve already seen: and: Before the pandemic in 2019, seat occupancy on Scotrail journeys was only 23%! Seats were empty for 77% of the time. I can’t find Scotrail data for 2021/2022 but UK rail traffic is at best at 70% of the 2019 level, meaning occupancy levels, if we kept the same level of services, would be only 18%. Sources: https://www.scotrail.co.uk/about-scotrail/fit-future/detailed-assessment https://www.businesstravelnewseurope.com/Ground-Transport/UK-rail-traffic-back-to-70-but-business-travel-slow-to-recover UPDATE: Thanks to Legerwood: Scotrail passenger journeys (in … Continue reading UPDATE: SNP praised for cutting costs on service running at less than 15% capacity

The above is what they like. Below is what they do not: Happening for 7 years now and costing NHS England £10 million, either consciously in some cases or unconsciously, Scotland’s MSM journalists see the SoS story as something you need to hear or they need you to hear and the Guardian one as somehow not of interest. Also, seemingly not of interest, access to abortion is clearly greater in Scotland at 22.1 per 100k but only18.2 in England and Wales Sources: https://www.statista.com/statistics/382955/abortion-by-age-of-woman-in-scotland/ https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/abortion-statistics-for-england-and-wales-2020/abortion-statistics-england-and-wales-2020 Continue reading Choosing always to do Scotland down though women have greater access to abortion here

Yesterday’s Herald piece on Scotland’s supposed lack of cohesion in education prompts this from: stewartb A recent report from the House of Commons Library (HoCL) provides an in-depth analysis of the funding of further education colleges in England and the financial fragility of this sector after .c 12 years of Tory rule in Westminster. Source: House of Commons Library (19 May 2022) Further education funding in England. Here are just a few highlights to give a flavour of the findings: ‘The Institute for Fiscal Studies latest Annual report on education spending in England found that spending on classroom-based adult education … Continue reading English FE ‘expert’ needs to looks in own backyard

In The Herald today: There are fresh fears for education after a former chairwoman of the Scottish Chambers of Commerce suggested efforts to develop effective national policies lacked coherence. The remarks from Nora Senior, currently chairwoman of the Enterprise and Skills Strategic Board, came as MSPs were warned about relentless financial pressures bearing down on the college sector. https://www.heraldscotland.com/politics/20186847.education-scotland-fresh-fears-policies-lack-cohesion/ Senior is a businesswoman with no mentioned educational qualifications or experience she seems to feel worthy on inclusion in her published CVs. She’s on the board at Nottingham University so may know something about educational policies in England not being coherent. Yet the Herald … Continue reading Not competent

In the Guardian today: A shortage of beds for severely unwell eating-disorder patients has forced the NHS to send more than 100 women from England to hospitals in Scotland for treatment since 2017. The cost of relocating patients, which included under-18s, was more than £10m, with one patient staying more than a year in hospital, costing close to £250,000. https://www.theguardian.com/society/2022/jun/03/patients-with-eating-disorders-sent-from-england-to-scotland-due-to-lack-of-beds?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other&s=09 BBC UK, England and Scotland are not covering this story thought it clearly contradicts the latter’s regular bed shortages in Scotland reports. How is this possible? Here’s how: Continue reading SHOCK as NHS England has to spend more than £10 MILLION on FIVE YEARS of transfers to Scottish hospital beds

Four Jubilee stories for Scotland, where the Union is under threat and where support for the monarchy is the lowest in the UK: https://theferret.scot/ffs-explains-how-popular-royal-family-monarchy/ But only one on the BBC UK website. We saw the same thing back in April: Even on the day after the funeral, three out of seven headline stories were about the Duke of Edinburgh. BBC England had only one. BBC Wales and Northern Ireland had none. What’s in the minds of BBC Scotland editors when this happens? Do they feel intuitively that we just need a bit more encouragement to value the monarchy? Do they … Continue reading BBC Scotland pushes the monarchy harder

This journalism game – it’s all about choices and, sometimes ignoring facts that might spoil a ‘good’ headline. From Police Scotland today, there were only 45 homicides, down from 55 in 2020/2021, 65 the year before and 134 in 2004/2005. As for the Herald’s six-year-high, read this: An overall increase in violent crime (11.2%) is measured against a significant reduction during 2020-21 (-10%) due to the restrictions in place at the time. The five year mean (+2.1%) offers more insight into violent crime. https://www.scotland.police.uk/what-s-happening/news/2022/june/homicides-in-scotland-are-at-the-lowest-level-since-the-inception-of-police-scotland-in-2013-a-new-report-shows/ And on detection rates: Whilst the number of detections has risen, these have not kept pace … Continue reading Homicide at all time low and violent crime up slightly

system differences and scope for misrepresentation By stewartb – a long read It is commonplace for commentators favouring an ‘SNPbad’ story to make negative criticisms of the governance of education in Scotland. This may include highly selective use of statistics on higher education course applications and acceptances. These are exploited to draw (supposedly) unfavourable comparisons with England and by implication, to point to better governance by Westminster.  Context is typically absent: what follows is an attempt to fill some of the void. Differences in standards of provision When news relating to higher education in Scotland is reported, it tends to … Continue reading Long Read: Higher Education in Scotland and England –

Last week, Aslef’s Kevin Lindsay is quoted as saying: Aslef entered these talks in good faith. We have negotiated a pay offer of 4.2%, a three-year, no compulsory redundancy deal and a number of other improvements. These will now be put to our members for their consideration. https://www.edinburghlive.co.uk/news/edinburgh-news/train-drivers-scotland-new-pay-24075384 Today, they’ve done a u-turn and won’t let the members decide. Why? They fear the drivers might accept? This? ASLEF delegates have rejected a motion to disaffiliate from Labour by 74 votes to nine after general secretary Mick Whelan told the train drivers’ union that staying in the party is “the only … Continue reading What does Aslef executive fear? Upsetting their UK bosses and Scottish Labour?