From SNP Media: The SNP has said that Scottish Labour are failing voters with their refusal to  “get off the fence” on vital issues facing Scotland as the party fails to stand up to the Tories in Westminster. With polls today showing that despite the sleaze surrounding the Tories, Labour are completely failing to have an impact, SNP Depute Leader Keith Brown said Scotland needed experienced leadership that could stand up to the Tories and protect Scotland from Westminster cuts, not politicians or parties that sit on the fence. Anas Sarwar has faced criticism for evading questions on Labour’s position … Continue reading Labour are completely unable to stand up to the Tories and to keep Scotland safe

By Alex Lee-MacDonald Polling consistently shows the public believes the Scottish Government has handled the coronavirus pandemic significantly better than the UK Government but it has become a common refrain among media commentators that the public’s interpretation is (to quote John Curtice) “generous”. The BBC’s Glenn Campbell even went as far as to say the UK and Scottish Governments have had “similar outcomes”. Official Statistics though tell a different story and back public opinion – England has a death rate per capita of around 1990 per million, which is about 40% higher than Scotland at around 1400 per million*. This suggests a significantly … Continue reading Should Scotland should have had a significantly higher Covid death rate than England?

On only one of the BBC’s web pages and down at the bottom: With the UK no longer part of the European Common Fisheries Policy, it now deals directly with Norway – which is not an EU member state – on fishing matters. The two countries agreed last year to a post-Brexit system of co-operation, including annual negotiations on quotas and access to each other’s waters. But a deal for 2021 proved impossible, despite weeks of talks. UK Fisheries chief executive Jane Sandell complained that the UK government had failed “even to maintain the rights we have had to fish … Continue reading Only Norwegian cod in your fish supper now as BBC Scotland hide fishing industry disaster from you

In February 2021, Michael Gove promised: But, from UK Fisheries on 22nd April: Since Brexit, the UK has failed to deliver a single access agreement with our coastal neighbours. The Government’s Scorecard is getting worse. Kirkella is tied up, and our crews have no work. The UK must make these deals if we are to save distant-waters fishing in the north-east of England. Right now we have no access agreements with our coastal neighbours, Norway, Greenland, Iceland and the Faroes, yet we’re offering trading partners like Norway tariff-free access to our valuable market for fisheries products, and getting nothing in … Continue reading Ross to drink that cup of sick as Gove and Johnson let fishing deal slip out of their hands?

Scottish Bank Headquarters, past, present and future:  a potted history of 21st century banking in Scotland.       By A Retired Bank Manager While Nicola Sturgeon suspended work on the economics of independence in March last year to concentrate on tackling the Covid pandemic, this hasn’t stopped the UK government encouraging its friendly think tanks and business contacts to speak out against Scottish self-government during the Holyrood election campaign. The latest to do so is the chief executive of the UK state owned NatWest Group, Alison Rose, who threatened to remove a token brass plate from Gogarburn in Edinburgh to London. Senior … Continue reading UK government ‘encourages’ business contacts to speak out against Scottish self-government during election campaign

From SNP Media today: The SNP has accused Scottish Tory Leader Douglas Ross of being “engulfed in Tory cronyism” – after admitting to directing thousands of pounds of taxpayers’ money to a personal friend when he was an MSP. In an interview with the Herald, Douglas Ross confirmed he used Holyrood expenses – footed by the taxpayer – to cover £7,000 worth of rent on an Edinburgh flat which was half-owned by a refereeing colleague.  The property in question – valued at £265,000 – was initially bought by Ross’ referee chum Hugh Dallas and another individual in December 2016.  The … Continue reading Douglas Ross ‘directed taxpayer’s money to a friend’

From reader Alex Lee-MacDonald: Exactly, actual Education experts like Prof Mark Priestley and Dr Marina Shapira argue that the big “decline” in Maths in PISA came in 2006 before the introduction of Curriculum for Excellence- see https://mrpriestley.wordpress.com/2019/12/06/what-do-the-pisa-results-tell-us-about-scottish-education/. Supposed declines since then are not statistically significant (maybe UK education systems should be better at teaching journalists statistical literacy!) The declines between 2003 and 2006 actually seem pretty odd to me and I would probably guess they are due to sampling methods. PISA is clearly seriously flawed and I was disappointed the Institute for Government gave it so much weight (though to be … Continue reading Has the Institute for Government been primed to try to influence the Scottish elections by providing ‘oven-ready’ bad news?

The Institute for Government has clearly been primed to try to influence the Scottish elections by providing ‘oven-ready’ bad news for the MSM to pass on to voters just in time. On the 31st March they announced, ignoring all the sounds coming from the EU, that we’d wait 10 years to join the EU and only yesterday we were told that, based on estimates, breaking away from the UK would leave Scotland facing sizeable fiscal deficits. Today it’s this: Declining scores for Scottish pupils in maths and science can plausibly be blamed on Curriculum for Excellence (CfE), according to a major … Continue reading Declining scores for Scottish pupils in maths and science can plausibly be blamed on Tory austerity.

It’s a story not featuring even on the BBC Scotland website but Reporting Scotland opens with: The family of a Scottish woman who died after falling from a balcony in Benidorm four years ago today have (sic) called for Scotland to adopt a new system for investigating unexplained deaths. Kirsty Maxwell’s parents say if Scotland had coroners like those of (sic) England and Wales, they would have received far more help when she died. Instead they were left to cope almost entirely by themselves. Where has this come from, at this time? There is to be a new MTV documentary … Continue reading Reporting Scotland ambulance chasing into an election

On the 9th February 2021, Savanta ComRes for the Scotsman returned the first No majority in nearly a year. The Scotsman had misled readers with its reporting of the data but even after weighting it still did suggest a No lead. Since then, we’ve had almost exactly as many No as Yes leads and a wee cluster of apparent No leads in the last 5. But 2 of the last three have been for the Scotsman and done by Savanta Com/Res. Look back over the body of results since Savanta ComRes’s first in February and there’s a pattern. 6 out … Continue reading The Scotsman’s pollsters can always find enough NO voters