We know objectively that hate crime based on race or ethnicity is in sharp decline in Scotland in contrast to the situation in England. Scottish Labour, BBC Scotland and their pet academics work to try to undermine that good news which might benefit the electoral prospects of the SNP and the Yes movement. Here are the facts based on official statistics: Racial crime remains the most commonly reported hate crime, but the number of charges reported has decreased by 37% since a peak in 2011-12. There were 2,880 charges reported in 2018-19, 12% fewer than in 2017-18 and the lowest … Continue reading Common Space, Labour and BBC collude to present unreliable research undermining Scotland’s achievements in reducing hate crime

It’s been some time since my last complaint. I get weary. However, their schoolboy errors in reporting wildlife decline statistics has triggered this complaint. I’ll let you know what happens: Continue reading Complaint to BBC Scotland on inaccurate reporting of wildlife decline

I wasn’t expecting that. I’ve been wondering WTF they could possibly choose. In the end I went for the suitable sneery Prof Tomkins as the best choice, for the Yes movement. Then I though, creatively that maybe the entitled but disappointed Prince Anas might cross over. Not for a minute did I think of the gold-medallist and third-place candidate in the 2015 general election where he did get 12.5% of the vote in Kilmarnock and Loudoun. Then in the Scottish Parliament election of 2016, his support surged to 19.2% but this still left him in third place: At the time, … Continue reading Have Scottish Tories whittled down the candidates for leadership to ‘Thickest politician in Scotland?’

Appalling! The report does not make the above statement anywhere. The report states quite clearly at the beginning: It is not appropriate to compare indicator trends between countries as data from different taxonomic groups have been used. Fergal has done just that. Mendacious or stupid or both? Looking more deeply into the report we find that you can meaningfully compare the figures for some species but that these are favourable to Scotland: Trends do vary across the UK countries and generally farmland birds are faring better in Scotland, where on average they have increased since the 1990s. Our State of … Continue reading BBC Scotland News accused of complete lies about wildlife decline

True to their useful (awful) form, BBC Scotland has misrepresented and already dodgy piece of reporting by a single partisan source. First, the actual report by the Federation of Small Businesses does not use the word ‘evaporate.’ In August they told us that it had been ‘battered.’ This is BBC Scotland hyperbole from a dark place in the subconscious thinking of state broadcasting reporters.   Second, the FSB research sampled 1 245 small businesses across the UK. The Scottish sample, unstated, will be 8% or 100. The FSB in Scotland has around 19 000 members. https://www.fsb.org.uk/standing-up-for-you/national-offices/scotland The sample is 0.52% … Continue reading Confidence in BBC Scotland business reporting further ‘evaporates’ as they misrepresent an already unrepresentative study

(c) https://www.cemvoscotland.org.uk Ludo Thierry Meanwhile the SNP Scottish Govt doing the Day Job Thing has resulted in more than 46,000 children in Scotland managing to access enhanced care hours almost 1 year in advance of the due start dates: Link and snippets from news.gov.scot site below: (Natch, I found nil mention of this new data being carried on the beeb Scotland website). https://news.gov.scot/news/early-years-expansion Thousands of children already benefiting from additional hours. More than 46,000 children across Scotland are already benefiting from extra hours of high quality early learning and childcare almost a year before the full roll out of 1,140 … Continue reading 46,000 children in Scotland managing to access enhanced care hours almost 1 year in advance of target

From Ludo Thierry I wonder if the Hootsmon found room for this good news story from Scotland (carried on the Scottish Legal site – but the beeb Scotland website managed not to carry it): Link and snippets below: https://www.scottishlegal.com/article/record-number-of-calls-received-anonymously-by-charity-crimestoppers Independent charity Crimestoppers has received a record number of reports from across Scotland over the past year. There has been a 6.3 per cent increase in anonymous tips sent to Police Scotland, to 14,534 and a 45 per cent increase over the past three years. There was also a 39.5 per cent increase in arrests, to 738 while 13 people were … Continue reading Huge increase in Scots helping to solve crimes

(c) Sky News From Ludo Thierry Pritti Patel’s Home Office’s attempt to deport/imprison (for 6 months) a wonderful young Glaswegian/Taiwanese medical doctor from her hugely appreciated medical work in Liverpool dropped. Huge congratulations to everyone who signed the petition and helped shame Pritti into dropping her plan to deport/imprison Dr. Chiang. Link and snippets below: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-merseyside-49904500 The Home Office has reversed a decision to order a young doctor to leave the country. Mu-Chun Chiang, who has lived in the UK for 13 years, was told that due to an “administrative issue” she had to leave or face up to six … Continue reading The Home Office has reversed a decision to order a young doctor to leave the country.

‘It turns out that social science has a lot to say about which protests are likely to be effective. My research shows that social movements can indeed create long-lasting political change.’ (Mazumder, Harvard, 2017) ‘Flag-waving populists’ are harming the cause? Does she mean those many thousands, women, men, young, older, peaceable, smiling, dog and bairn-accompanied, marchers at AUOB events in every town across the country? It seems she does. Are they ‘populists?’ Really? Aren’t populists, these days, generally thought of as right-wing, racist, misogynistic, homophobic, militaristic, chaps, like UKIP, Brexit? As for the Indy marchers, aren’t they often opposed to nuclear weapons, … Continue reading Why has Scotsman’s ill-informed art critic condemned thousands of peaceful Indy marchers?

The Scottish Child Payment will see £10 per week paid to lower-income families in receipt of qualifying benefits1 for every child aged under 16 years old. While the JRF offers advice on further improvements to the Scottish Child Payment, it was particularly supportive of the initiative saying, today: Following a great deal of work in advance of the Scottish Government’s announcement, including campaigning by a significant coalition of poverty-focused organisations in Scotland, we were pleased that the analysis and ideas in our first report had in many ways been reflected in the Scottish Government’s announcement. We believe the Scottish Child … Continue reading Joseph Rowntree Foundation praises SNP initiative on child poverty