A shambles, a bourach and a farce or BBC bias at it’s most venal? Right from the off, it’s clear that Reporting Scotland staff are going to turn a judicial judgement in favour of the Scottish Government and against club owners into something to subvert another pandemic measure designed to save lives. We hear little of the Judge, Lord Burns, his name not mentioned, and his conclusion ignored: [It is] an attempt to address the legitimate issues identified in a balanced way. https://www.holyrood.com/news/view,douglas-ross-critcises-vaccine-passport-plans-as-judge-refuses-to-delay-scheme Surely that was the starting point if you want to tell viewers what has happened? But no, … Continue reading Reporting Scotland taking sides with club owners and the Tories against a judge, the government, and us

We need read no further, the headline tells all and is all wrong, very wrong, again. I’ve been drawn into rebutting Mackay’s scare stories more times than I care to remember. Should you have a perverse notion to read them try this: https://talkingupscotlandtwo.com/?s=Mackay Perhaps one of his most deranged was this in January 2020: Echoing the mad language of Lord NATO Robertson, he ignored the facts from Scotland’s top historian and researcher: So, probably wasting more time than I should, is there any evidence for, in particular, the second part of his claim. He is correct to say we have … Continue reading Neil Mackay paid to be oh so wrong again?

Regular visitors here will know that, according to research by the charity Crisis, the homeless rate in Scotland is about half that in England and the lowest in the UK. Full details here: https://www.crisis.org.uk/about-us/media-centre/worst-forms-of-homelessness-less-common-in-scotland-than-england-research-finds/ In the media reporting, limited of course, the other main homeless charity, Shelter, have not commented, yet once more they appear (above) to criticise the SNP Government. A cursory read tells you that the Times headline is inaccurate nonsense but, equally, Shelter’s communication’s guy seems to deliberately misinterpret the phrase in Scottish Government funding contracts: No part of the grant shall be used to fund any … Continue reading Reasons to doubt Shelter Scotland’s agenda

By Jaunty Jock: Our contacts in BBC Scotland HQ at Passive Queue in Glasgow, the Herald and Scotsman offices tell us that three health correspondents have had to take sick leave, due to stress caused by the SNP Government’s massive reduction in Scotland’s infection rate (above). It is feared, across Scotland’s MSM, that Scotland will have the lowest infection rate in the UK in the next day or two, having falling below a surging Wales and having caught the stalled Northern Ireland. All eyes are on England as they too surge again and Scotland drops like a stone toward their … Continue reading Are BBC Scotland, Herald AND Scotsman health correspondents all off sick due to stress?

On Brighton’s seafront, has the Labour Party ever been so remote, geographically and ideologically, from Scotland? Who advised him to use this analogy? Will this Brown-inspired blood and soil notion help fuel a Labour revival in Scotland? See this from 29th August 2021: He’s not looking that popular ‘up here.’ In April 2017, Corbyn was ever so slightly more popular at 24 to 57: https://d25d2506sfb94s.cloudfront.net/cumulus_uploads/document/ny1kfo8x0u/InternalResults_170420_Favourability_W.pdf In Holyrood polls after Starmer’s appointment in April 2020 and Sarwar’s in February 2021, Scottish Labour still stuck in 3rd behind the weak Conservative leaders Carlaw and Ross. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opinion_polling_for_the_2021_Scottish_Parliament_election To return to the question, that’ll … Continue reading Will Scotland give more blood for this odd Labour leader whining nasally from the distant shores of England?

Not for the first time, I report an area where I have no expertise and, this time, no strong hunch other than that this might be another insensitive use of tragedy, by our MSM, to bash the SNP Government. When I read that this inquiry has been ‘delayed’ for 13 years by both Labour and SNP administrations, I wonder if that is because there was legitimate debate about the value of holding one. BBC Scotland’s reporting is simple, it was wrong to do so. I had a look around and found this quickly: Inquiries fail abused children: Inquiries are mostly … Continue reading Were there legitimate reasons for questioning the setting up of a Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry?

Ignoring all the epidemiologists and psychologists, BBC Scotland rely on the expertise of ‘senior political communications specialist’, UK Hospitality guy and Neil Oliver lookalike, Leon Thompson: He told BBC Radio’s Good Morning Scotland programme: “One of the critical factors that has not really been talked about is just how ready the public is for the introduction of these passports. I would say they are not ready at all. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-58733492 But, but senior political communications specialist, in February 2021, 7 months ago: The Serco Institute’s discussion paper, Public Opinion & Vaccine Passports, outlines findings that show the public back vaccine passports being used in a … Continue reading BBC Scotland’s hospitality bosses ‘not ready’ to admit they know ‘little’

I have a Google alert for reports on Scotland. Today the above story in the Denbigh Free Press and the Evening Standard were in 2nd and 3rd place. BBC Scotland seems strangely disinterested. The Herald does have a wee piece on it but don’t seem to see it as headline worthy. The Denbigh Free Press report: The proportion of people suffering from the worst forms of homelessness in Scotland is about half as high as in England, campaigners have claimed. Almost one in 100 households in England (0.94%) were experiencing what the charity Crisis called “forms of core homelessness” – … Continue reading LATEST: Homeless rate in Scotland about half that of England

In the New Statesman yesterday, we read without their expected incredulity: North Sea oil companies receive more money from the government than they pay in taxes The UK has given firms including Exxon and Shell hundreds of millions of pounds in rebates. https://www.newstatesman.com/energy-climate-tech/2021/09/north-sea-oil-companies-receive-more-money-from-the-government-than-they-pay-in-taxes Why should we not be surprised to hear this? Well back in 2019, we could read this: And even further back, we could see this: Only the UK does not apparently make a profit from oil extraction. Over the longer period the UK has stopped making a profit quite recently: So, oil stops becoming profitable after 2015? … Continue reading Scotland’s oil wealth was not stolen it was given away