By stewartb ‘£90K to KPMG and £68 000 to PwC?’ This is money spent by NHS Scotland to help create something that the party of government and the parliament of Scotland wishes to be established. By contrast – and for perspective – what about Scotland’s share of Westminster government’s spend on something a majority in Scotland didn’t want to happen? On 12 March 2018, a report from the Institute for Government (IfG) was published that examined the cost of consultants hired by the Westminster government in support of Brexit: ‘Costing Brexit: what is Whitehall spending on exiting the EU?’ But … Continue reading What about Scotland’s share of Westminster government’s spend on something a majority in Scotland didn’t want to happen?

The Herald makes much, without actually telling us who is ‘angry’, about a £1 million, in total, awarded to consultants by NHS Scotland, including £90K to KPMG and £68 000 to PwC. The total NHS Scotland budget is £15.3 billion. £1 million is 0.00653594%. In 2018/19 NHS England spent 7.2% of its budget on private providers: https://www.kingsfund.org.uk/publications/articles/big-election-questions-nhs-privatised In 2018/19, NHS England spent around £300 million on private consultants and in 2021 spent £375 million on the failed test & trace system alone: https://lowdownnhs.info/coronavirus/the-great-consultancy-boom-from-covid-to-icss/ Continue reading UK ministers fork out far far more on private consultants

In 2015, the RMT took legal advice from EU procurement law expert Gordon Nardell QC on whether the Scottish Government was obliged to put the new CalMac ferries out to tender and, thus, be required to inform the EU. Applying a provision known as the “Teckal exemption” he concluded that the Scottish Government did not need to put the service out to tender.   The full text is here: https://www.rmt.org.uk/news/publications/teckal/?preview=true Continue reading Ferries: SNP ministers did not need to inform EU

In the Scotsman today Alex Cole-Hamilton writes: I’m writing this with a smile on my face. For the first time since 2007, the Scottish Liberal Democrats have taken a significant step forward in Scottish local authority elections. We’re back and it feels amazing. https://www.scotsman.com/news/opinion/columnists/scotland-council-elections-2022-the-lib-dem-revival-has-begun-alex-cole-hamilton-msp-3684461 What is he talking about? This: So, the Tories lose 63 and their near equivalents, the Lib Dems, only take 20. Labour also take 20 and the SNP take 23 Tory wards. How on earth does he imagine this to be some kind of revival? Continue reading Revival?

How did the SNP get so good at winning. Glenn Campbell, stressing and magnifying their supposed failures, puts it down to their campaigning strength. The implication, again, is that the electorate is stupid. The truth seems likely to be different. The electorate, or enough of them, know fine well what the SNP in government has done for Scotland, can see clearly what damage the Tories have done in England and how weak the Labour opposition is. They vote SNP because they know about things like this: 1. Free Tuition. While students in England face tuition fees up to £27,750, Scottish students receive … Continue reading How did the SNP get so good at winning? The electorate knows why

One of the background reasons for quitting a few months ago was the realisation that TuS was no more popular in 2022 than it had been in 2018. Though more than 6 000 followed it on Twitter, very few shared the posts and even fewer accessed the full text in the blog. Typically, 1 to 2 000 visit the blog each day and judging by the comments it’s largely the same people – the already converted? What can we do? John Continue reading Echo Chamber

By stewartb Just published is the latest edition of the World Press Freedom Index. Compiled by ‘Reporters Without Borders’ annually since 2002, its purpose is to compare the level of press freedom enjoyed by journalists and media in 180 countries and territories. The assessment methodology defines press freedom as “the effective possibility for journalists, as individuals and as groups, TO SELECT, PRODUCE AND DISSEMINATE NEWS AND INFORMATION IN THE PUBLIC INTEREST, INDEPENDENTLY from political, economic, legal and social interference, and without threats to their physical and mental safety.” The analysis is based on the evaluation of five indicators: the political context, … Continue reading UK press freedom lower than in most of Europe

By stewartb It is right to draw comparisons between Scotland and Wales on this and other matters. For as long as we are within the Union this is relevant for various reasons including but not limited to: (i) testing UK political parties for consistency over policies and actions (as here with Labour and Wales), and (ii) because of the wider effects of powers and policy decisions over financing held in Westminster. (I look forward to the day when we compare the performance of an independent Scotland’s government and our public services against benchmarks in places such as the Nordic countries!) … Continue reading English councils’ funding 26% lower

BBC Scotland’s senior reporter, James Cook, chooses library closures in Glasgow, potholes and climate change as key issues for voters. Typically, he offers no evidence for these choices though we can all see the value of the first two if you want to support Scottish Labour on an election day. Cook knows, of course, that the cost of living crisis and Partygate are the real issues likely to affect the vote. Why has he avoided writing about them? Continue reading Scotland Editor misses the obvious

In the Herald, on an election day, a platform for Scottish Labour to display, once more, their lack of self-awareness and all-round dimness: ANAS Sarwar has urged voters to remove the SNP’s “puppets” from councils to allow the reversal of budget cuts and rebuilding of communities. https://www.heraldscotland.com/politics/20114918.scottish-labour-urges-voters-cut-strings-off-snp-puppets-today/ I’m guessing he means that SNP councillors are puppets of the SNP Government but surely he knows that as soon as he mentions ‘puppets’, we are all reminded that he is only the branch manager in Scotland for Keir Starmer’s rightist UK Labour Party. Here he is with his puppet-master. Keir needs no strings. … Continue reading The Labour Puppet