Reporting Scotland’s Westminster Political Correspondent, David Porter, must be part-time given his 2-3 minutes per day, but still doesn’t know that civil servants are by very definition not independent. Ms Sue Gray, second permanent secretary at the Cabinet Office, 40 years in Westminster, charged with telling Boris if he was at a party, is most definitely in with the bricks. Despite that, David Porter tried to tell us she was independent. Words fail. Continue reading Not independent

So the ‘by the end of this session‘ missed from the Herald headline and, of course, a grasp of reality missing from the rest. In August 2021: Education Secretary Shirley-Anne Somerville has confirmed discussions with local government are underway to deliver the ambitious commitment, which will benefit 700,000 children. https://www.gov.scot/news/devices-for-700-000-children/ Discussions with local government? Discussions within local government departments? Orders go out? Suppliers deliver? After 40 years in education, I’m pleasantly surprised to hear they’ve actually got some to deliver by this stage. Seven months to go, all discussions done and orders placed. It’s all deliveries now and no real … Continue reading Free computers for schoolkids programme on track

There are, on average, 15 Primary pupils per teacher and 12.5 Secondary pupils per teacher in Scottish schools. In England, there are 21 Primary pupils per teacher and 16 for every Secondary teacher. So, the workload in England is around 33% higher. That’ll be a real ‘crisis?’ Anyhow, a four day week is the preferred choice by workers, and the bairns too. Who’d have thought? BBC Scotland and the Herald will be ignoring the above data and empathising with the teachers. Then before you know it, they’ll have a hard-pressed mum and Tory activist (not mentioned) shrieking about how impossible … Continue reading A Unionist dilemma

Currently going the MSM rounds, the above platforms a single partisan activist group’s views to add to the politicisation of Scottish education. A friend of TuS, Robert Martin, sent us this One person’s opinion, I know, but that’s usually enough for RS, GMS or Drivetime. Continue reading Additional needs resources: Scotland leads the way

By Robert Martin I noticed Robin McAlpine was critical as were Alba supporters, general theme was Scotland sold down river again. However I saw this on another site: BP announcing some positive benefits to NE Scotland Following on to yesterdays fantastic announcement of £700 Million from the renewable energy leasing round going direct into Scottish coffers (since the law changed), with an estimated further £25 Billion investment and jobs to come over the next decade or so, BP one of the 17 successful bidders announcement today of new jobs and investment in Scotland….. BP: As a result of the successful … Continue reading Scotland sold down the river again?

By stewartb The latest overall A&E waiting times performance statistic against the 4-hour standard in Scotland is disappointing. It is less poor than the latest for NHS England but its still poorer than one would have hoped/wished for. Intuitively, it seems to me (a non-expert in this field) that the variability in this statistic both across Scotland in any given week and between hospitals/ Boards over relatively short periods of time merits closer analysis than opposition politicians or the corporate media deploy when issuing their ‘scandal’ cries. Candidly, this variability merits closer analysis and explanation than NHS Scotland or the … Continue reading ‘What would he say about his party’s stewardship of NHS England and its A&E provision?’

In Midwinter, week-ending 9th January 2022, NHS Scotland’s A&E department’s saw 67.4% of attendances in 4 hours, down from 71.6% in the previous week. It is a sign of pressure on the service but it’s important always to put these figures in perspective. A direct comparison with other UK services is not possible for the above week because NHS England and Wales only report monthly and Northern Ireland reports quarterly. So, in December 2021, NHS England saw 61.2% in 4 hours. NHS Scotland saw 73.52%. In Wales, 67.63% were seen in 4 hours in November 2021. No more recent data … Continue reading Shameful politicising of best emergency services in UK

Doing the Scottish Cons’ work for them, pretending the FM is a barrier to popular demand, the Times, Telegraph, Express and Metro tell the story that fits the Unionist agenda and deliberately ignore a huge piece of news: With the latest developments in Scotland’s offshore wind industry, our renewables revolution is powering ahead. Billions will be invested in high quality green jobs and Scotland’s just transition to net zero, as 17 new offshore wind projects got the go-ahead. The 17 new offshore wind projects, announced as part of the ScotWind auction, have a combined potential capacity to generate up to 25GW (gigawatts) … Continue reading Tory press ignores renewables revolution to back Douglas Ross going clubbing

A wee change for me in that this doesn’t go to Reporting Scotland. Continue reading BBC Complaint re Panorama: Britain’s Killer Roads

On BBC Panorama ‘Britain’s Killer Roads’ last night, we hear: The figure for people killed on our roads is 1 600 a year….For the past decade it stayed broadly the same but in 2020, the death rate rose by 5% – the most significant increase in 40 years. https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m0013mvc/panorama-britains-killer-roads These are Department of Transport data for 2020 in England and not for Britain as a whole. That they went up in 2020, a time of reduced traffic due to the pandemic is remarkable. In Scotland? Some 1666 people were either killed or seriously injured on Scotland’s roads last year – … Continue reading England’s Killer Roads?