In the Herald today by Tom Gordon: THERE are “no legal shortcuts” to a second independence referendum and Nicola Sturgeon’s mandate for one is “legally irrelevant”, two leading academics have said.Writing for the UK Constitutional Law Association, the pair said trying to hold a referendum without the UK Government’s cooperation would be a “non-starter”. It’s wrong. Here’s what they say: Similarly, the Scottish Government’s mandate to hold a referendum – though politically important – seems legally irrelevant. These are academics. Using ‘seem’ rather than ‘is’ matters. They know that all forms of law are subject to interpretation, selection and change. They know … Continue reading Herald’s Tom Gordon misreads expert opinion on Indyref2: ‘The Independence of a country is not a matter of domestic law it is a matter of international law’

From reader, Contrary: The current crowdjustice crowdfunder: https://www.crowdjustice.com/case/the-scottish-people-vs-the-uk/ Says: “It is our intention to lodge an action by ordinary members of Scotlands general population against the UK Government when they refuse or ignore a formal request from the First Minister of Scotland for an order under Section 30 of the Scotland Act to devolve the powers necessary to hold a second independence referendum.” Well, it turns out that Johnson has every intention of refusing the section 30 order. All the section 30 order does is transfer temporary and limited constitutional powers to the Scottish government for the duration of a … Continue reading Why we should resist the Referendum Criteria Bill

In an authoritative manner today, on BBC Scotland, we heard: ‘Bosses at Ferguson shipyard were to blame for the delay and spiralling cost of two new CalMac ferries, according to the chief executive of the government agency which placed the orders. Kevin Hobbs, of CMAL, also rejected calls for the unfinished ferries to be scrapped and the work started again.’ The interview with Hobbs came many months after the damage had been attempted on the SNP Government with serial coverage blaming it for the delays. We saw a similar pattern in stories such as the NHS Tayside breast cancer story … Continue reading Will Jamie ‘Urban Myths’ Greene now apologise for wrongly blaming SNP for ferry delays?

In April 2019 we heard 7 times on BBC Breakfast, 3 times on Reporting Scotland, endlessly on GMS and in depth on the website: Doctors are raising concerns that changes to GP contracts will lead to a drop, in immunisation rates among adults and children in rural areas. MMR and flu injections traditionally given at local doctors’ surgeries are to become the responsibility of clinics set up by health boards. It turned out that only one pony-tailed doctor was making the claim. In late September 2019, they didn’t tell us that the MMR vaccination rate in Scotland is 97% and … Continue reading Reporting Scotland don’t own up that their April ‘SNP threaten rural babies with MMR’ story was wrong

Regular critic of the cause, Mark Smith turned up to walk with the 80 000 on Saturday in Glasgow and seems not to have been recognised by even one of them. Either that or they decided not to encourage him by giving him any attention or worse, abuse, that he might then have been able to write about. Judging by the photo most seemed to give him a bit of space. Was he asking strange questions? He certainly has a strange perspective on what a march of this kind might be like: ‘Which takes us to Argyle Street and the … Continue reading Herald’s Mark Smith hates that folk shout and wave flags at a protest march but most of all hates not been recognised and is wrong about street protest not working

Speaking to Andrew Marr this morning, the ever-impressive Irish Deputy Prime Minister, Simon Coveney, said: ‘When I read in much of the British media around the approach that needs to be taken by a British Government; ‘to take on the EU’; ‘to defeat them’ and ‘to stand up to them’, this is the language of enemies not friends. We need to move away from that. Both sides in this negotiation in the next stage of Brexit has a vested interest in working together, not to try and outmanoeuvre each other. We need to put in place, from a trade perspective, … Continue reading ‘This is the language of enemies not friends’ Coveney’s common sense for Brexit applies to Scexit too

McLellan offers his dark knowledge to the Scottish Tories to help them deceive the electorate. McLellan is a real establishment figure: ‘John McLellan has been a City of Edinburgh Conservative councillor since 2017 and was director of communications for the Scottish Conservatives in 2012-13. He has edited The Scotsman, the Edinburgh Evening News and Scotland on Sunday and is currently director of the Scottish Newspaper Society’ Perhaps too scary to mention, he has also served as a member of the Government’s Defence, Press and Broadcasting Committee (https://www.scotns.org.uk/about/). Continue reading Tory Councillor pretends to be Scotsman journalist again

Is a temporary stay in B&B an ‘ordeal?’ How common is this in Scotland relative to other parts of the UK? The Scotsman The Guardian article today does not, of course, present any Scottish breakdown but the Shelter research study from 2018 does: Click to access The_housing_crisis_generation_-_Homeless_children_in_Britain.pdf That more than 9 000 children were in B&B or hostels in England is shocking and 90 times higher than in Scotland. The rate in Labour Wales, with half the population is also, pro rata, 5 times higher than in Scotland. The table above, also reveals that the total number of homeless children in Scotland … Continue reading Scotsman headlines but does not inform on practice that is 90 times more common in Tory England

In the Herald today: COMPENSATION paid out by Police Scotland to staff and the public has hit a new high, nearly doubling in four years to top £3m a year. the Herald can reveal. In 2019, the force paid out £3.31m in damages as a result of 227 claims, up from £1.725m from 250 claims in 2015 and a 65% rise on the previous year when there were £2.61m in claims. BBC Scotland did this same story 8 days ago, revealing the ‘concerns’ to be only those of the Scottish Tories and, down the page, letting PS remind us that this was a ‘tiny percentage’ (0.3%) … Continue reading Concern as Herald misses chance to inform us on Police Scotland success

As Winter 2019/20 didn’t really bite that much, there was nevertheless widespread chaos across three NHS regions. Strikes by nurses and ‘winter pressures’ caused mass cancellations and abysmal A&E statistics in Northern Ireland and Wales. In England, despite attempts to conceal the awful truth, A&E performance was at ‘third-world’ level in some areas. On average, only 68% were seen in A&E within 4 hours compared to 81% in Scotland. Operation cancellations due to non-clinical reasons in Scotland increased from 2 to 2.4% in Scotland while ALL operations were cancelled in parts of Wales. Yet none of the BBC reports from … Continue reading 4 health services but only BBC Scotland allows a Miles Briggs to froth against SNP