From Alasdair Galloway The utter venality of the GMB action over the weekend to reinstate strike action is difficult to exaggerate. Let’s put to one side (for now at least) the obvious intention of embarrassing the Scottish Government in front of the whole world, and thus support (they think) their chums in the Labour Party. I am not suggesting this is not relevant – far from it – remember who Richard Leonard is married to. My point is that the GMB position is weak enough without making that charge. First of all, something which seems to be getting forgotten is … Continue reading The GMB and Venality

…modern rehabilitation for offenders according to the prison watchdog. Using their renowned editorial guidelines, BBC Scotland have gone with this headline extraction from the annual report for 2019/2020. Then right at the end: for the swift action and the low number of deaths from the virus. Just out of interest, I thought I’d compared that sequencing and emphasis with the press release: I can’t seem to find it online. Here’s last year’s: First three paragraphs all praising pandemic measures and, of course: The decisions taken by the Scottish Government and justice partners in conjunction with Health Protection Scotland (HPS) to … Continue reading SNP praised for ‘low number of virus deaths’ in prisons during pandemic

I haven’t looked at the text. The headline is enough. He has to be kidding or worryingly lacking in self-awareness. This is the man who wrote: From Neil Mackay in the Herald in January 2020 (Who are these unnamed dark forces above?) I wrote then, equally disturbed by Mackay’s mythologyzing of facts: From Lord Robertson in 2014 From Professor Tom Devine in 2018 Neil Mackay may be ‘Scotland’s Columnist of the Year’ but he’s feck all use as an investigative reporter. Does ‘columnist just mean ‘blether?’ This is pathetic clickbait to make us anxious and cling to the Union but based on … Continue reading Neil Mackay’s lack of self-awareness hurts

Anas Sarwar only registered as a living wage employee, as an MSP not as director of his family firm, when he announced he was standing for Labour leader in 2017. Herald reports whether he made “any money from this company at all”, he replied: “I don’t take remuneration from the company.” However, according to UWS records filed at Companies House, Mr Sarwar was entitled to £333,000 of dividend income between 2003 and 2015, based on his shareholdings. His wife Furheen was entitled to a further £196,000 based on her shareholdings. In total, the couple were entitled to almost £530,000 up … Continue reading But still not pay them the living wage?

Planned industrial action by bin workers in Sheffield has been suspended to allow them to consider an improved offer from their employer. GMB members at Veolia Sheffield had voted to strike over pay and changes to their terms and conditions. The action had been due to take place on Monday and would have affected more than 200,000 homes in Sheffield, according to the union. The union said members would vote on the new pay deal next week. It said the two-year deal would give workers a 3% rise in the first year and a further 3% the following year. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-south-yorkshire-59089443 … Continue reading A Tale of Two or Three City’s Rubbish

In 2004, the Glasgow University Media Group revealed the power of media to distort, even reverse reality, in a study, Bad News from Israel, of TV coverage of Israel/Palestine. Most striking was the fact that after watching BBC TV broadcasts covering Palestinian protests against Israel, only 8% of 300 young people sampled, thought that the Palestinians were the original inhabitants of the land, that they had been expelled from their homes in a civil war and that most of the Israeli population were migrants who had arrived from Europe, in the second half of the 20th Century. 92% thought that … Continue reading Bad News from Scotland: How former enemies the BBC and the GMB came together in a marriage of convenience

On Friday, we heard: Drew Duffy, GMB organising and equality officer, said: “We have received a new offer from COSLA that will be subject to a two-week consultation of our members from Monday, November 1, during which we have agreed to suspend strike action. https://www.glasgowtimes.co.uk/news/19682424.glasgow-bin-strikes-cop26-cancelled-last-minute-cosla-pay-rise-offer/ Yet somehow only 48 hours or less later, over a weekend when to my knowledge bin collectors do not come to work to inform their union reps: GMB Scotland secretary Louise Gilmour confirmed the strike was back on. She said: “The council has failed to give our members the proper time and space to consider the 11th hour … Continue reading GMB and Labour trash Glasgow

In the last hour, we heard: Bin strikes during the COP26 climate summit will go ahead after part of a £48m offer was rejected by one union. The walk out by cleansing and refuse staff in Glasgow will begin at 00:01 on Monday. GMB Scotland said Glasgow City Council had failed to give members “proper time and space” to consider the offer. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-glasgow-west-59113839 More than two days earlier we read: PLANS for binmen to strike in Glasgow during COP26 have been ditched after a last-minute pay rise offer from COSLA.  The umbrella body – responsible for all councils in Scotland – made … Continue reading Did Scottish Labour betray Glasgow and beg the bin men leaders not to accept?

In an otherwise quite fair report, from Reporting Scotland, making clear that this is a UK-hosted event which will expose its record on the environment, Patricia Espinosa, Executive Secretary UNFCC, used an intriguing choice of words: A Scottish Poet Robert Burns once wrote ‘Now is the day, now is the hour.’ https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/live/bbcone She refrained from the full verse: Now’s the day, and now’s the hour;See the front o’ battle lour;See approach proud Edward’s power—         Chains and slavery! Espinosa said this in 2019 Congratulations, Scotland, for demonstrating bold leadership on #ClimateAction passing a law to reduce emissions by 75% by 2030 and … Continue reading COP26 introduced with ‘Scot’s Wha Hae’ to comment on UK hosts?

10 000 additional officers arriving in Scotland have been warned by our police chief, of Police Scotland’s values and approach, including a commitment to enabling and upholding human rights. I’m sure Police Scotland want to see no images like this: I’m not sure that Conservative Leader Douglas Ross will be happy with that briefing: In this outburst in Holyrood, Ross raised that old canard that the protestors would block ambulances when they have made clear that they would not and do not. As for zero tolerance, we saw that in the policing in London (image above) of a women’s vigil … Continue reading Zero tolerance for heavy-handed policing by cross-border officers?