From: SNP Westminster Press Office: The SNP has accused Boris Johnson of “giving the green light” to rampant Tory sleaze and corruption, after a statement today from Geoffrey Cox revealed that the Tory chief whip approved steps for Cox to take advantage of lockdown rules to vote in the Commons by proxy so that he could go to the Caribbean to work. In his statement responding to the mounting criticism over his decision to spend up to a month in the British Virgin Islands earning hundreds of thousands of pounds while working to defend the tax haven against a Foreign Office inquiry into corruption, Geoffrey Cox stated: “As to … Continue reading SNP has accused Boris Johnson of “giving the green light” to rampant Tory sleaze and corruption

From SNP Media: The SNP has today called on Douglas Ross to “come clean” over corruption as the Scottish Tories refused to reject tainted donations and distance themselves from dark money. As revealed today, the Tories have failed to hand back tens of thousands of pounds in donations from two firms linked to criminal activity. The Tories have also refused to rule out taking more donations from such businesses in the future. And the stench of sleaze and corruption from Westminster is spreading to Scotland with more reports of so-called “dark money” donations to an anti-independence campaign group which supported … Continue reading ‘Tainted and dark money a test of Ross leadership’

This desperate schadenfreude by the UK MSM regularly headlines apparently appalling Covid death rates in other places – India, Brazil, USA with the effect for some of hiding the scale of the tragedy in the UK and especially in England and Wales. Raw numbers in a big country like Russia can make great headlines for the Guardian or for the BBC and, unwittingly or otherwise, protecting the Johnson government from the criticism it deserves. See this: Continue reading Russia’s Covid deaths soar to well below UK level

In Energy Live News yesterday: Energy market regulator Ofgem has decided to proceed to the Final Needs Case stage of the regulatory approvals for two electricity transmission links that will connect Scotland and England along the east coast. More specifically the ‘Eastern HVDC’ (EHVDC) project aims to construct two High Voltage Direct Current (HVDC) links, each with an expected capacity of 2GW. At an estimated cost of £3.4bn for the two links, the EHVDC project is predicted to become the largest electricity transmission investment project in the recent history of Britain. Once commissioned, the project is expected to alleviate constraints … Continue reading Scotland to power 3 MILLION homes in England and Wales

From cuckooshoe: Under new electoral law, a term now lasts five years. The Nursing Times quotes a Scottish government spokesperson http://www.nursingtimes.net/news/workforce/nurse-staffing-shortfall-in-scotland-now-at-record-high-08-11-2021/ “Thanks to nine consecutive years of staffing increases we have an extra 25,000 staff working in our health service, an 11% increase in qualified nurses and midwives and a steady rise in places on pre-registration nursing and midwifery undergraduate training programmes,” There’s more.. In August the Scottish government abolished NHS dental charges for everyone under the age of 26. http://www.gov.scot/news/removal-of-nhs-dental-charges-for-all-young-people/ “Free treatment for people aged under 26 will take effect immediately and there is no “opt-in” required. Those who … Continue reading This type of story can be linked to the local council elections in May 2022

From stewartb ‘Once more BBC Scotland feasts on a single case and attempts to make a wider crisis out of it.’ Indeed. This is now a common practice in BBC Scotland’s journalism. (It’s also much loved by Labour politicians!). When set alongside BBC Scotland’s characteristic ‘perspective bypass’ in its reporting and when reinforced by ‘bias by omission’, it delivers a potent ‘public service’! In an article in the US magazine Wired in 2017 (by Emily Dreyfuss) we learn that: ‘The human brain has a built-in tendency to conflate the aberrant with the norm. The news industry—and certain politicians—know this all … Continue reading Explaining BBC Scotland’s ‘fish-eye lens’ view

infection….forced to go private. https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/live/bbcone Starting at 6:26am, repeated 5 or 6 times on BBC 1 TV, no doubt as many times on Good Morning Scotland radio, 3 times on Reporting Scotland from 1.30 to 10.30pm but, intriguingly not on the website, BBC Scotland’s third of only three stories is a complaint from ‘a number of women’ about having to go private to get treatment. In the third of three negative reports completely dominating the coverage, much is left unanswered. This is based on ‘a number of women who spoke to BBC Scotland.’ The number is of course not revealed. … Continue reading From Sarwar’s in-laws or Alex Cole-Hamilton’s activists?

added costs and extra hassle for businesses. https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/live/bbcone Starting at 6:26am, repeated 5 or 6 times on BBC 1 TV, no doubt as many times on Good Morning Scotland radio, 3 times on Reporting Scotland from 1.30 to 10.30pm but, intriguingly not on the website, BBC Scotland’s second of only three stories is a complaint from opposition parties about the vaccine ‘passport.’ In the second of three negative reports completely dominating the coverage, much is left unanswered. The source is this: As recently as 22 September, Scottish Labour were ‘ridiculed for opposing vaccine passports’ in the Times, after it emerged … Continue reading BBC Scotland masking Labour stupidity

and causing the country embarrassment. https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/live/bbcone Starting at 6:26am, repeated 5 or 6 times on BBC 1 TV, no doubt as many times on Good Morning Scotland radio, 3 times on Reporting Scotland from 1.30 to 10.30pm but, intriguingly not on the website, BBC Scotland’s headline story is a complaint from campaigners about one city low emission zone. In the first of three negative reports completely dominating the coverage, much is left unanswered. For context, the World Health Organisation was reported by BBC Health in 2018, listing the UK’s 40 most polluted towns and cities. None were in Scotland. Scunthorpe … Continue reading Scotland avoids ’embarrassment’ of being in UK top 40 polluted towns and cities list

Once more BBC Scotland feasts on a single case and attempts to make a wider crisis out of it. The tragic tale of a young nurse fleeing the Covid ICU wards to return to Ireland tells us little about the circumstances of the other 55 000. That they only have one, tells us something potentially quite positive about the resilience of NHS Scotland. In an effort to beef up their argument, BBC Scotland contacts a union rep and tells us: Hilary Nelson, a ICU nurse and safety representative with the RCN, said the pay deal was critical for attracting more … Continue reading One nurse burned out is tragic but not a national crisis