Four Seasons Health Care was a British provider of health and social care services. It also owned The Huntercombe Group, a provider of inpatient mental healthcare and brain injury rehabilitation as well as care home operator brighterkind. Four Seasons, as it is today, was created both organically and by the buying out of smaller chains of care homes and rebranding them, as evidenced by the takeovers of Tamaris (formerly Quality Care Homes) and Bettercare. At its largest it was the second-biggest care home operator in the UK. Set up in 1988 by Robert Kilgour, it opened its first care home, Station Court in Kirkcaldy in Fife, … Continue reading Tory donor who will fund lawsuit to help SNP victims get money embezzled by Peter Murrell back should have spent that money years ago on improving his failing care homes

From Ipsos today, funded by Sky TV News, its massive 378 000 ‘survey’ of social media comment on maternity services ‘across the UK‘, appears to suggest (above) that discontent is greatest in Scotland: The prevalence of predominantly negative sentiment signifies an existing tension in society about the experience of maternity care in the UK, with little difference in the pattern by nations (Scotland had a slightly higher share of negative than Northern Ireland, which had a slightly higher share of positive) It’s nonsense and, regardless of it’s serious scale, no doubt cost and the Ipsos banner, I could teach 11 … Continue reading Sky TV’s maternity survey is not just massive it’s massively useless and staggeringly wrong in suggesting NHS Scotland has problems – here’s why

Thanks to Dottie for alerting me to this. From Socialist Worker yesterday, the above and: Macie was 14 when she was sent to a children’s home. She was allowed outside for only 15 minutes a day—or more if she did jobs such as cleaning.  Macie, now 18, explained, “People can just go buy a house, make a company, copy and paste off Google some safeguarding procedures and stuff.” And “then social services just pay them to put children in there”, she told the Financial Times newspaper.  Macie is right. Vulnerable children are now treated as nothing more than investment opportunities.  Each … Continue reading Unregistered/illegal/rip-off children’s homes and carers are not found in Scotland due to mandatory registration and active enforcement.

Extract from Speech by Energy Minister Stephen Gethins in the Scottish Parliament on Thursday 28 May 2026: Scotland is one of the most energy rich countries in Europe having won the natural lottery twice, once with hydrocarbons and again with abundant renewable resources. People in Scotland face increasing energy bills (with another increase just yesterday) and a cost of living crisis – in a country that produces far more energy than it consumes. Just for context hydrocarbons that have sent £400 billion to the Treasury in London with little in return and no long-term planning – a finite resource with … Continue reading ‘It’s Scotland’s Energy’: Energy Minister’s Speech completely ignored by most media

From Safer Communities and Justice Statistics Monthly Data Report: May 2026 published yesterday, the above graph and: Number of victims of homicide at the lowest level since 1976. There were 45 homicide victims recorded by the police in Scotland in 2024-25, a 21% decrease from 2023-24 and a 24% decrease from 2015-16. https://www.gov.scot/publications/safer-communities-and-justice-statistics-monthly-data-report-may-2026/pages/statistics-on-crime-in-general/ All things being equal with 11 times population you might expect England and Wales to have had 495 but the equivalent figure was 522, 27 more, 5.4% more. https://www.bing.com/ck/a?!&&p=dc22c4cd59914421eb573e9096017b41e7f889377ded8e03d5883c7f9beef0d2JmltdHM9MTc3OTkyNjQwMA&ptn=3&ver=2&hsh=4&fclid=040f0c0f-8f6f-69bb-36d4-18948ed46872&u=a1aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cub25zLmdvdi51ay9wZW9wbGVwb3B1bGF0aW9uYW5kY29tbXVuaXR5L2NyaW1lYW5kanVzdGljZS9hcnRpY2xlcy9ob21pY2lkZWluZW5nbGFuZGFuZHdhbGVzL2xhdGVzdA&ntb=1 Scotland’s homicide rate was, as recently as 2023/2025, higher than in England and Wales, but has since been lower … Continue reading Who will ever tell you this? Murder in Scotland now at the lowest level since 1976 and the lowest in the UK due to targeted interventions by Scottish Government