For a better laugh, go to the link above and read the many interesting and imaginative suggestions offered to the Scotsman’s Norfolk-born and Southern-educated Connor Matchett, as he punts the notion that saying ‘we expect to have given second doses to all 40-49 year-olds‘ is the same as a target to do so. Is any politician in the other parts of the UK being blamed for the same level of performance in not being able to force the ill-informed, lazy or perhaps really busy, to attend even though they’ve had a bright blue envelope through their doors? No. Of course … Continue reading Scotsman’s Norfolk Correspondent reliably thick woolly thinker

The excellent, perceptive and fast MSM Monitor, as often, makes the point before I can. They describe what Reporting Scotland does as ‘theatre‘ rather than ‘news‘. That’s spot on. Effective propaganda needs to go beyond factual news to dramatize the carefully selected themes such as ‘failure‘ to hit a target even though it is not a target, even though the same performance in England, Wales and N Ireland, is not presented there as a failure and, of course, even though that supposed failure has been cherry-picked from a wider context of greater success than in those other places. So, a … Continue reading Reporting Scotland: Shouting ‘Theatre!’ in a crowded fire

By stewartb In December 2013, even the BBC was straying off message in terms of the ‘benefits’ of hosting – and piling loads of money into – an Olympic Games and associate elite sports people. (https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/olympics/25356001 ) Reviewing the aftermath of the London Olympics it reported:‘.. what cannot be avoided by policy makers is this simple statistic: Almost 18 months on from the London Olympics and the number of people playing sport once a week has increased by only 200,000. ‘This is a disappointingly small return for the billions of pounds of investment pumped into the staging of the Games and … Continue reading ‘There is no direct link between the profile and popularity of a sport at the elite level and participation at the grassroots’

Adam Peaty hopes kickstarting Great Britain’s gold medal rush at Tokyo 2020 can lift the mood of the nation after revealing he has spent every day of the last 18 months “almost in the dark”. EXCLUSIVE: Swimmer Adam Peaty is the overwhelming favourite to bag gold for Team GB in the 100m breaststroke and knows ‘I have the whole country behind me’ Maybe I should feel bad about this but the Olympics have always seemed like a mega school sports day and I hated those. Did once come third in the climbing over the Grangemouth stadium wall to get out event, in 1968. … Continue reading Disappointing reaction to Peaty Gold

The above regular item on the BBC Scotland website is full of data. It’d be around 10 pages printed but it doesn’t include the comparative infection rates for the 4 UK countries. I don’t have the evidence but didn’t it have them before, perhaps when we were performing badly? Anyhow, luckily the FT does: Scotland, at 27.8 cases per 100 000, below Wales at 28.3 and miles below England 61.1, is no longer Covid capital of the UK. BBC Scotland are expected to give this great news a great big body swerve and find something bad that will keep Douglas … Continue reading LATEST: Scotland has lowest infection level in UK

Gillian Crawford or Bowditch whose pessimistic writing on an independent Scotland’s economic prospects has had such a negative reaction in the last few days surprises with her self-perception as, first, an optimist and then just a storyteller. Her Twitter motto is ‘Live without fear’…..of writing nonsense? Gavin Esler’s quick assessment of her long and detailed ‘analysis’ as simply ‘vacuous’ was about right. Wings’ 2016 assessment of her work as ‘dull’ and ‘brainless’ reinforces the view. In the 143 published articles listed in MUCK RACK for her there is no mention of supply chains, buying power, economy, economics, trade or business. … Continue reading The optimist who only lives with fear for Scotland

By stewartb The Institute for Government (IfG) has just published an assessment of the UK government’s plans to replace EU structural funds – including the EU’s European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and the European Social Fund (ESF) – with its new ‘UK Shared Prosperity Fund’ (UKSPF).   What is playing out here is an illustration of clear direction of travel since Brexit. For devolutionists or federalists amongst supporters of the Union it should provide a stark and long overdue reality check. For supporters of ‘aggressive Unionism’, it will no doubt cause rejoicing. For independence supporters it should ring (again) all … Continue reading An example of ‘aggressive Unionism’ – sign of things to come! (Long Read)

In the Herald today: Nicola Sturgeon has been accused of a “humiliating” failure to meet a key vaccine target. Labour and the Conservatives said the Scottish Government is set to miss its target of having all 40 to 49-year-olds vaccinated by today.  In June, Ms Sturgeon told MSPs: “By July 26, we expect to have given second doses to all 40 to 49-year-olds, and by August 20, all 30 to 39-year-olds will have had a second dose.” But figures show that, as of July 24, just 75.8 per cent of 40 to 49-year-olds have had both doses, while 90.7% have had … Continue reading As SNP Scotland pulls ahead of Tory England in vaccine rollout, Scottish Labour and Tories accused of being pathetic

Almost a year ago, the R number was the preferred tool for the likes of Nick Robinson when he used it to cast doubt on the Scottish Government’s pandemic measures. It seems to have been dropped these days but it’s still being published. I note, today So, the R number is much lower in Scotland than in all the other non-Scottish parts of the UK. Does it matter? Yes, an R number above 1 means the virus is still spreading. The Scottish Government’s strategy and our compliance with it are working. Sarah Smith: ‘Scotland is the best!!‘ Continue reading R number HIGHER in England than Scotland

The Gillian Bowditch piece in the Times yesterday has attracted the expected response that Scotland is indeed big enough and smart enough to cope without the interference of the moral and economic cripple next door. That is, of course, true on many counts but misses the real point, that it is the UK which is the wrong size for these times. More than 10 years ago, David Goodhart Founder and Editor of Prospect magazine hit it on the nail: The nation state is too big for the local things, too small for the international things and the root of most … Continue reading The UK: Both too big and too small