Thanks to Brenda Steele for drawing my attention to this essentially ‘green’ set of ideas from Common Wealth. The contrast with the hissy fits, hatchet-jobs and rants we get far too often now from Common Weal and especially their Great Leader, could not be sharper. It’s full of ideas for things to do, as yet not achieved by the SNP Government, but offers them with intelligence and respect. It recognises and applauds what it has done in its constrained circumstances. Before coming to those, a quick word about one of the authors, Laurie Macfarlane, who also writes for Open Democracy, … Continue reading UK-based Common Wealth puts ‘our’ Common Weal in the shade

In an astonishing show of duplicity on Drivetime tonight, the new Scottish Conservative leader, Douglas Ross, cunningly exploited the words of a National Farmer’s Union representative to attempt to conceal the very real fact that he had voted against a parliamentary amendment designed to protect food standards in imports to the UK. The rep was asked if any MP had ever voted to reduce food standards and of course said ‘no’, because, of course they had not voted for that but had voted not to introduce safeguards to stop that happening. Then interrogated by Gary Robertson, Ross ignored the repeated … Continue reading Gary Robertson sorts Douglas Ross out but Glen Campbell is not going there

So, MSPs have staff just as MPs do. Why will he not need staff if he moves? ‘Potentially’ means not very likely but it’ll do for a story, even a headline. A headline? No. Don’t be daft. Is this anti-SNP bias? Don’t be paranoid, they’d do it for Tories too wouldn’t they? Nope. No mention of his staff. He’s probably just going to take his current staff with him. You know the Tories, caring. Ruth’s going to the Lords. I feel sure she’s taking all her Edinburgh staff with her. She wouldn’t just dump them. She’s a Tory, caring. That … Continue reading Daft anti-SNP headline of the day!

Story Feeder: Brain McGowan: Not on Reporting Scotland Down but here on The Tusker, from NHSGGC: Following the success of Glasgow’s only Injection Equipment Provision (IEP) van, funding has been granted for an additional mobile unit to help tackle the city’s drug crisis by providing crucial healthcare and harm reduction services. The van, funded by the Scottish Drug Deaths Taskforce will act as a key touchpoint for people who use drugs to engage with the health service within Glasgow HSCP. Primarily providing injecting equipment to minimise the transfer of blood-borne viruses (BBV) and maximise harm reduction, it will also carry … Continue reading Another Scottish attempt to reduce drug deaths goes unmentioned

In a boast of his independence to protect Scotland, the new Scottish Tory leader has been able to get away with making a claim to do something that would be unnecessary if he had not already voted to enable it, unchallenged, of course, by any media. In May, he and all his Tory colleagues at Westminster voted, under pressure from their whip, against an amendment made by other Tories (!) to protect food standards in the UK. Here’s what The Scottish Farmer had to say: SCOTS TORY MPs were on the rack this week, after voting against a crucial amendment … Continue reading New Scottish Tory leader says he’d vote against something he’s already voted for to ‘throw farming constituents under the bus’

As they almost disappear off the opinion polls, I do wonder if it’s worth commenting on the Scottish Lib Dems but when they offer this kind of thing up, I think, oh well, what’s ten minutes? Yesterday, the Daily Record rumbled Mike Rumbles (above), still in Tuscany after two months, three weeks after Holyrood reconvened, missing important committee meetings and, of course, neglecting his lock-downed Aberdeen constituents: https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/politics/lib-dem-msp-facing-furious-22599504 Of particular interest to The Tusker, alerted by a reader, is this on the 29th August. Did he sneak back in under the Record radar? No. Has Public Health Scotland required him … Continue reading Rumbled: Lib Dem ‘locked down’ in Tuscany

Two readers, responding to a piece contrasting BBC Scotland’s intensive focus on the virus with that of the BBC in England and in particular the North-west, seeming to ignore it, have commented on what they feel is a ‘different mindset‘ among English tourists abroad and among locals in the North-west. One, based on experience flying out of and back into Edinburgh to more than one part of Europe, wrote: Edinburgh flights have been inundated with people from England many favouring Edinburgh instead of Manchester . I’ve been on overseas flights and seen it. Even though wearing a mask throughout the … Continue reading Covid-19: Have the Tories created a different less-concerned mindset in England?

While BBC Scotland go once more for ‘scare your granny with Covid infections‘ even though they’re mostly in one area connected with a factory outbreak, BBC Int’North is dreaming through the pandemic unconcerned: With a population less than twice that of Scotland, N W England has surged to between 3 and 4 times the infection rate. BBC England will be all over that story to inform the folk living there: No? Oh well, BBC Manchester then? No, Lancashire then? Liverpool? Surely? What, a box connected to the Beatles? Do they want people to just go on as if nothing has … Continue reading England’s most infected area says ‘Pandemic? What Pandemic?’

The above rant offers nothing of value to the debate on Scottish independence yet a newspaper calling us to support it’s ‘trusted, quality journalism’ publishes it. The author is bitter and supposedly fears for his children yet, judging by an Express article in 2014, seems to have been writing this kind of thing to ‘several national newspapers‘ for years now. He has allegedly suffered abusive replies but has not reported any to the police. I strongly support his right to comment on politics in Scotland but does he not see that unsubstantiated insults like the ones above will provoke others, … Continue reading Herald publishes letter calling SNP ‘cancerous’

From research published today by the University of Stirling: Care homes in England experienced the highest increase in excess deaths at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic compared to those in the rest of the UK, according to new research. A study – co-ordinated from the University of Stirling’s Management School – found that care homes in England recorded a 79 percent increase in excess deaths, compared to 66 percent in Wales, 62 percent in Scotland and 46 percent in Northern Ireland. https://www.stir.ac.uk/news/2020/august-2020-news/care-homes-in-england-had-greatest-increase-in-excess-deaths-at-height-of-the-covid-19-pandemic/ The lower level in Northern Ireland may reflect the later onset of the pandemic peak there and/or effects of … Continue reading Research reveals deaths during Covid-19 peak were 27% higher in English care homes