Like the pensions scare, this rehashed set of rumours that, somehow, major corporations will flee an independent Scotland for England, is particularly wrinkled and fousty. Yesterday it was Babcock International’s boss just making clear that they wanted a good relationship with an independent Scotland and that if they didn’t get one, they’d be off. They say that to everyone. The clue is in the word ‘International.’ Babcock. According to the Times yesterday: The Royal Navy engineer has spent £32 million to buy out the 50 per cent of Australia’s outsourced Naval Ship Management business that it does not own from … Continue reading Defence firms care nothing about borders between liberal democracies

By stewartb We are learning that the ‘Better Together’ scaremongering playbook of 2014 is to be revisited on the people of Scotland. No surprise there! We also have signs of the length that the corporate media in Scotland will go to make their distinctive (mission-driven?) contribution to these scares. This is to highlight one blatant example. It’s not even from the irredeemable Daily Express but, sadly, from the Daily Record. Fool me for hoping for better! The background Within hours of the UK Prime Minister visiting Rosyth, the CEO of Babcock International is commenting on a threat to his company’s … Continue reading How is this ethical journalism – news manipulation to deceive?

By stewartb There is nothing to celebrate, nothing to be smug about, when another place’s publicly funded healthcare system is in deep trouble. This should be the case wherever that unfortunate place is, including England! However, as Scotland’s NHS is berated endlessly for its performance by the corporate media, BBC Scotland and of course Labour, Tory and Lib Dem politicians,  it seems perfectly reasonable to take every opportunity to put all their negativity within some sort of ‘context’. It is reasonable to look for ‘perspective’. A recent (15 February) publication by the House of Commons Library (HoCL) gives such an … Continue reading A new resource for comparative analysis – the House of Commons Library reports NHS England’s performance

Childish, playground, journalism from Reporting Scotland again. What their own website said 5 hours ago: The UK’s Joint Committee for Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) officially backed the rollout of jabs to youngsters on Wednesday afternoon. But the Scottish and Welsh governments had already announced they would go ahead, having seen draft guidance. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-politics-60402499 Wales did officially commit yesterday evening. The Scottish Government clearly took a bit longer with the JCVI advice and committed around lunchtime today. There is no evidence they were watching to see what Wales would do. Why on earth would any adult think they were waiting to … Continue reading And England is following Scotland?

In a fine piece of investigative journalism, the most recent edition of Private Eye compares PPE purchasing in the pandemic, in England and Scotland, to reveal significant differences. In crude terms England paid between 29% more for facemasks and 67% more for aprons. London spent £12bn compared to Scotland’s £300million. The differences are attributed to Scottish Enterprise staff being sent to, for example China, to inspect products and increasingly working with Scottish manufacturers such that by April 2021, 88% of PPE was produced in Scotland, using Scottish raw materials. Private Eye concluded: ‘The DHSc’s London-controlled PPE ‘cell’ was dishing out … Continue reading Private Eye reveals Scottish Government’s PPE purchases far less costly

Official figures from EuroStat show Scotland has the best-educated population in Europe, showing that the our education system has improved and performed better under the current SNP Scottish Government. With 50.4% of the population educated to degree-level, Scotland leads Denmark with 48.6%, Finland with 47.5% and Luxembourg with 47.1%. In the UK, Wales has 41% and Northern Ireland has 40.6%. No separate figures for England are offered but the UK has 44.7%. Notably, in the period of SNP-rule, the figure for Scotland has climbed from 36.1% to 50.4%. In 2008, Scotland was 5th. Continue reading Most educated in Europe

The latest results from Electoral Calculus, the most accurate pre-poll predictors in 2019, predict a clean sweep of Westminster seats for the SNP, wiping out the all of the Tories and, sweetest of all, taking down British Nationalist Edinburgh South MP, Ian Murray. I’m not sure about whether the prediction takes into account the particular nature of Orkney & Shetland, where, much as we’d like to see Carmichael go, he might still hang on. UK-wide, the poll predicts a Labour win but 9 short of an overall majority. Perhaps they could do a deal with the DUP? Continue reading At last! Ian Murray predicted to lose

Needless to say, the Scottish Cons have pounced on the news that employment in Scotland is only 74.1% compared to the UK’s 75.5% Leaving aside the obvious factor, how the over-resourced South-East sucks employment opportunities to it and away from the North, there is simple demography. 19.3% of Scots are over 65, compared to 18.5% in England and 18.6% across the UK. The median age of Scots is 42.1, compared to 40.2 in England and 40.4 across the UK. Simple. https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/populationandmigration/populationestimates/bulletins/annualmidyearpopulationestimates/mid2020#age-structure-of-the-uk-population Continue reading Why employment should be slightly lower in Scotland

Tom Gordon tells us: Waiting time performances in Scotland’s A&E departments have deteriorated for a second week running after showing a brief improvement last month. The latest official figures showed more than a quarter of people attending casualty had to wait longer than the four-hour target for treatment. https://www.heraldscotland.com/politics/19924803.scottish-e-waiting-times-suffer-wholly-unacceptable-decline/ Who said ‘wholly unacceptable decline?’ The Scottish Tories, of course. What is Gordon’s deteriorating performance, ‘for a second week running?‘ WE 9 Jan 67.4% WE 16 Jan 74.9% WE 23 Jan 77.7% WE 30 Jan 75.6% WE 6 Feb 74.4% https://www.publichealthscotland.scot/publications/nhs-performs-weekly-update-of-emergency-department-activity-and-waiting-time-statistics/nhs-performs-weekly-update-of-emergency-department-activity-and-waiting-time-statistics-week-ending-6-february-2022/ Deteriorating, statistically insignificant variation or even improving? Note, they improved … Continue reading The best emergency services in the UK ‘by a mile’ not declining at all?

The perverse case of what Scotland voted for countered by a government it rejected A long read by stewartb This is prompted by a recent (January 2022) report from the Fraser of Allander Institute (FAI), entitled ‘Modelling packages to meet Scotland’s child poverty targets: scenarios, benefits and trade-offs’. The FAI analyses the potential for the use of devolved policy levers by the Scottish Government as it aims to meet the target in the Child Poverty (Scotland) Act 2017 of reducing relative child poverty to 10% by 2030/31. The research shows up several things of note including how different interventions in … Continue reading Reducing child poverty