BBC Scotland this morning: A freeze on ferry fares for some of the country’s island communities has been extended, the Scottish government has announced. Ticket prices on the Northern Isles, Clyde and Hebrides ferry networks will be held at current levels from October until March 2024. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-66039376 Below, well below, in a media ‘Davy Jones Locker’, sunk: BBC Scotland reporting the ferry fare freeze announced by CalMac, 2nd bottom, 2nd left, and not using the word ‘some’. Below, BBC Highlands and Island, also not using the ‘some’ but placing the report after their headline story based on three islanders reporting … Continue reading Why is BBC Scotland hiding the ferry fare freeze then suggesting it is only for ‘some’ islands?

Na h-Eileanan Siar – economic positives are not hard to find! By TuS Chief Research Officer, stewartb Candidly, in the absence of an objective, balanced mainstream media, economic, social and environmental progress anywhere in Scotland since 2008 receives precious little news coverage. Even ‘our’ public service broadcaster does little to inform us of positives about Scotland: gaslighting has become more the norm.  And because of this, voters may find it difficult to judge the merits or otherwise of the negatives about the economy of Na h-Eileanan Siar now being proclaimed by some: assertions by loud voices made without media challenge … Continue reading Not reported – How Scotland’s Islanders have stayed and thrived under SNP Government and with CalMac’s help

Yesterday CalMac had 520 planned sailings to nearly 40 locations and only 2 of those failed to be on time. Those 2 were on the Oban to South Uist crossing and we heard yesterday around 9 am that the MV Lord of the Isles will be returning to that service earlier than expected. BBC Scotland has yet to report the good news for the islanders Brittany Ferries, with 9 planned sailings to 5 locations managed 87.5% on time. Sources: https://www.calmac.co.uk/calmac-performance-data-browser Continue reading CalMac Ferries expected to hit 100% reliability after hitting 99.6% yesterday

Above, another Labour MSP tries to weaken the case for independence by casting Scotland, all of it, as essentially a coloniser and a full partner with England’s elites, in that venture. Anas Sarwar tried the same last August and Sir Prof Tom Devine, another qualified supporter of independence, defended him. The answer to Choudhury MBE is the same as it was for Sarwar and Devine: I hesitate to correct Professor Tom Devine in his defence of Anas Sarwar. Once compared with Prof John Curtice, a writer said he was like a premier league footballer and I was like a third-team … Continue reading Labour Member of the British Empire again tries to cast all of our ancestors as colonisers in the same venture

From CalMac at 9.23am but still not being reported by BBC Scotland: MV Finlaggan is out of her deferred dry dock a day early and on her way to Islay freeing up MV LOTI for South Uist. Dry dock 2023/24 for our 35 vessels starts in just 6 weeks with a budget more than double 2017 to ensure resilience. Thank you for your patience. @CalMacFerries Did they have another story planned for tomorrow? Do they not follow CalMac? Continue reading MV Lord of the Isles to return to South Uist ahead of schedule

Apart from the 4 on the Oban to South Uist crossing, CalMac only had cancellations on the popular Gourock to Dunoon route. 12 out of only 58 sailings were cut, leading to suggestions from one not very reliable source, ‘JackieB‘ that this would cause a mass exodus from both places. Up to 7 people known to our source in Dunoon have said that ferry unreliability has made peninsular life untenable and they’re thinking of moving permanently to Gourock. Coincidentally, up to 7 people known to our source in Gourock have said they cannot live a good life in old age … Continue reading 12 out of 58 sailings cancelled poses existential threat to life in Gourock AND Dunoon

From Public Health Scotland today: 7,716 referrals to community-based services started treatment during the quarter. Overall, 92% involved a wait of three weeks or less. Nationally, the Standard was met for referrals to community-based services across all substances: problematic use of drugs (95%), co-dependency (93%) and alcohol (90%). https://www.publichealthscotland.scot/publications/national-drug-and-alcohol-treatment-waiting-times/national-drug-and-alcohol-treatment-waiting-times-1-january-2023-to-31-march-2023/ The target for drug and alcohol treatment has been met for five years, every quarter: I can find no trace of even one time that BBC Scotland has mentioned this remarkable achievement. In June 2022, they did tell us this: Scotland’s addiction services have failed to achieve key targets that were … Continue reading The missing target – 92% wait less than 3 weeks for drug or alcohol treatment but BBC Scotland have never reported it

Between the spring of 1788 and summer of 1790 fifty seven complaints were made to London Magistrates by women alleging that they had been molested and stabbed [on the buttocks] by an individual stranger in public. https://eprints.soton.ac.uk/412011/1/LIBRARY_COPY_PhD_Thesis_Final_Formatted_Version.pdf Reports of ‘lady bottom cutters’ then spread like wildfire across the newly emerging mass media in the form of daily newspapers. While it cannot be shown that there were no actual incidents of bottom cutting, initially, the media-amplified spread has been described as one of the earliest example of a ‘moral panic‘ where mass media take reports of deviance, construct them into a … Continue reading From lady bottom cutters to ferry fiascos – the imagined worlds that damage us all even those who write them into being

Some years ago, Frankie Boyle wondered: ‘How can we teach the Afghans about democracy? I know, let’s send them a prince to shoot at them from a helicopter!’ Today, inspired by his late mum’s part-clearing of one landmine and hugging one drug addict, it’s: ‘How can we solve the problem of homelessness? I know, let’s send them a prince with several plush properties and hundreds of empty bedrooms!’ What can go wrong? What could the Windsors do next? ‘How can we stop fox hunting? I know, let’s send them a princess who….ah, no that won’t work.’ ‘Well, how can we … Continue reading Harry Potter and the Windsor Nuts

Above, what the headline should have said. Below what BBC Scotland chose: UK could be starved of energy, says North Sea boss You have to read beyond the headline to see: The UK is at risk of being “starved” of North Sea energy leaving it reliant on imports, a major oil and gas producer has told the BBC. Ithaca Energy said Labour’s pledge to ban new oil and gas exploration in the North Sea and current taxation policy was “spooking” investors. Last week, Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said a Labour government would not grant licences to explore new fields in … Continue reading Protecting Scottish Labour as their policy ‘spooks’ North Sea energy investors