In the Herald today: This would be embarrassing for some of us. Trying to show off with a clever reference based on an architectural movement when you clearly know nothing or perhaps care nothing for accuracy. See that ‘exposed, unpainted concrete’ bit? By definition RAAC has to be covered to stop water/frost penetration softening and cracking it and allowing corrosion of the reinforcing metal bars. ‘Brutal’ concrete had to be the very best, the hardest, the toughest. There are some schools in the Brutalist style but they seem to be all in Japan and, notably, have not crumbled: https://architizer.com/blog/inspiration/collections/brutalist-classroom-9-schools-that-embrace-concrete/ The … Continue reading Scotland’s RAAC has been kept dry and so is not ‘crumbling’

Kevin McKenna’s report this morning in the Herald is, to be fair, in the ‘opinion’ category as it should be because it wouldn’t survive a collision with the evidence. From YouGov on 8 August 2023: Even at this difficult time for the SNP, McKenna’s view is way out. For Westminster, Holyrood Constituency and Holyrood Regional votes, the SNP has a bigger share of the C2DE (manual workers and the unemployed) than Labour and almost three times that of the Cons. Indeed for the Holyrood ‘headline’ vote the SNP is far ahead of Labour, 42 to 29. Labour, indeed, seems to … Continue reading Fact – the SNP IS the people’s party

Today BBC UK has: The parents of a teenager who died in hospital two years ago are calling for patients to be given the right to an urgent second opinion, if they feel their concerns are not being taken seriously by medical staff. Martha Mills, who would have been 16 today, died after failures in treating her sepsis at King’s College Hospital. An inquest said she could have survived had her care been better. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-66676770 In nearly 1 400 words there is no reference to any politician, government or opposition. In 2016, BBC Scotland had: The mother of a 10-year-old girl … Continue reading BBC England’s non-political reporting shown to be far superior to BBC Scotland

Douglas Alexander asks for it. Labour on crime: When Harold Wilson’s Labour came to power in 1964, there were around 160 000 crimes recorded across Scotland. By the last year of the Labour/Lib Dem alliance at Holyrood, in 2006, that figure had almost tripled to more than 400 000! After 16 years of SNP rule that figure had fallen steadily year-on-year to less than 300 000 in 2023. At the same time, in England and in Wales, with the Conservatives in control in England and Labour running devolved government in Wales, crime surged. By 2023, there 94 crimes for every … Continue reading New Labour record truly was a study in impotence and failure – just a few examples

The Herald has covered the story, just (above) but it’s getting no coverage at all on the front pages anywhere else in the MSM on the day when the date for the Rutherglen & Hamilton West by-election might be announced. Just as the bullying, misogynistic and child grooming Labour politicians are being kept off BBC Scotland reports [https://talkingupscotlandtwo.com/2023/09/02/the-the-bully-and-the-child-groomer-bbc-scotland-shield-labour-in-run-up-to-by-election/] and the schisms and pathetic u-turning by Scottish Labour [https://www.politico.eu/article/all-of-keir-starmers-u-turns-in-one-place/] are being hidden, so this positive news about the SNP candidate is being ignored and downplayed. The SNP candidate vying to become the next MP for Rutherglen and Hamilton West has pledged … Continue reading SNP by-election candidate will table plan to scrap two-child benefit cap and rape clause but no one must know!

From BBC England but not on BBC Scotland, this morning: Britain’s busiest railway stations with the highest rates of cancelled trains this year have been revealed. As of 31 July, Huddersfield has had more than 5,500 scheduled trains cancelled – the highest rate at 13%. BBC analysis of National Rail data also shows that almost half of the trains that ran across Britain were at least one minute late. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-66664323 There’s a link to the survey which reveals no Scottish stations in the worst 100 for cancellations and delays until Edinburgh at 48, Glasgow Queen Street at 68 and Glasgow … Continue reading Worst ‘most cancelled’ 40 UK railway stations – NONE in Scotland

From UK polling Report (YouGov) this morning, the above overall results, with the SNP down only one overall. Based on this poll, the SNP are predicted to win: Banff and Buchan (Con, Duguid) Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk (Con, Lamont) Dumfries and Galloway (Con, Jack) Dumfriesshire, Clydesdale and Tweeddale (Con, Mundell) Moray (Con, Ross) West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine (Con, Bowie) and to lose: Airdrie and Shotts, Coatbridge, Chryston and Bellshill East Lothian* (Alba, Macaskill) Glasgow North East (Anne McLaughlin) Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath* (Alba, Hanvey) Midlothian Rutherglen and Hamilton West (Independent, Ferrier) https://pollingreport.uk/seats Continue reading Latest Westminster poll has SNP beating Jack, Ross and Bowie and be only 1 down overall

By Alasdair Galloway Not content with objections to getting the Civil Service to fulfil its customary role of supporting their elected government, Foulkes is intent on stopping “illegal” International spending by the Scottish Government, according to the Sunday Herald this morning (https://www.heraldscotland.com/news/23763615.lord-foulkes-challenge-illegal-overseas-spending-snp-ministers/). The cost of maintaining Scottish international offices in 2022/23 in China, the USA, Canada, France, Ireland, Germany, Belgium and Denmark was £7 million. Foulkes considers this ultra vires.   Indeed, the report quotes him as having a 5 point plan:  1. Follow up the Simon Case Review to find what action has been taken  2. Challenge the spending on … Continue reading Foulkes – Dinnae say you weren’t warned 

By Alasdair Galloway I see from the National that George is up to his old tricks of making life more difficult at every turn for the Scottish Government, which in the political arena is fair enough. The role of the Opposition is after all, to oppose, but the reality of George’s recent interventions is that they are very dangerous. He is quoted on Twitter/X: “When @UKHouseofLords returns on Monday I will be intensifying my campaign to stop illegal spending by @scotgov.” There are two obvious problems with this. First that campaigning for independence has been an SNP staple since it … Continue reading George Foulkes’ recent interventions are very dangerous

By cuckooshoe In the Scotsman 31 January 2009: TEN thousand Scots schoolchildren are being educated in crumbling and condemned state schools that will not be rebuilt for many years because of chronic cash shortages. As you can see from these two paragraphs, even then the (minority) SNP Scottish Government made the right call – Major councils and teaching unions laid the blame for the crisis at the door of the Nationalist government, claiming its dogmatic refusal to accept private finance was consigning a generation of Scots children to miserable schooldays and sub-standard education. A Scottish Government spokeswoman said: “The Scottish … Continue reading Crumbling schools – 14 years ago SNP minority government rejected Labour PFI schools contracts that had encouraged the use of cheap concrete