Bob Lamont The “shocking” BBC Scotland headline is on instruction from London, “make smoke”, to cover increasing Tory embarrassment as public anger in England rises. James Cook has now helpfully posted an article “Scotland’s river sewage must be more closely monitored – charity” https://archive.ph/m6bpv – Worth reading for the mischievous interplay and context and numbers between UK and Scotland – “The Marine Conservation Society (MCS) says raw sewage was known to have been flushed into rivers and seas for 113,000 hours last year.”Then further down-“But analysis by the MCS suggests each of the 123 monitored overflows – out of a total of … Continue reading There are NO discharges of “raw sewage” or “dumping” into rivers or seas in Scotland, none, zero, zilch, nada!

By stewartb Too many of the political journalists that inform Scotland’s public serve up partial and partisan reports on a daily basis. Their output demonstrates an intent – and that of their editors and owners – to further the interests of the Union, to sustain the current constitutional status of the UK. As regular readers of TuS will be aware, this mission frequently taints their professionalism: reasonable critiques of their output expose a lack objectivity and a lack of balance when it comes to Scotland’s polity. Political journalism in Scotland is rarely presenting the voting public with ‘the best attainable … Continue reading On The Times in Scotland –  sometimes only ridicule suffices!

From Monday 8 May, there have been less than 300 cases of people hospitalised due to Covid and none in intensive care. For the last month and more there have been no BBC Scotland tales of overwhelmed hospitals or of opposition politicians demanding the SNP do something about it. Why is this not being reported? Pro rata, infection levels remain much higher in England and Wales: Wales with around 60% of Scotland’s population, has more cases hospitalised while England with 10 times the population has 18 times as many, twice the rate pro rata. Why is this not being reported? Continue reading Covid cases now only a tiny presence in Scottish hospitals? Is this not news?

From BBC Scotland, first thing today: An environmental charity has claimed that sewage was discharged into Scotland’s seas for more than 113 000 hours last year. The Marine Conservation Society is the charity in question. In March 2023, the Daily Record reported: Sewage dumped in Scotland’s rivers 14,000 times in 2022 – nearly 40 times a day https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/scottish-news/sewage-dumped-scotlands-rivers-14000-29592391 Also in March 2023, BBC UK had: Water companies released raw sewage into rivers and seas in England for more than 1.75 million hours last year. There were an average of 825 sewage spills into waterways per day, the data shows – … Continue reading Sewage discharges more than twice as common in England

From Scottish Renewables today: The report on the economic impact of six pumped storage hydro projects currently in development in Scotland found that they will more than double the UK’s pumped storage hydro capacity to 7.7GW, creating almost 15,000 jobs and generating up to£5.8 billion for the UK economy by 2035. The Economic Impact of Pumped Storage Hydro Report also found that these six projects, if constructed, will add 4.9GW to the UK’s existing capacity of 2.8GW and go over halfway towards achieving the 15GW of capacity that is expected to be needed by 2050. As an established and proven technology, pumped storage hydro will play … Continue reading Scotland to more than double the UK’s pumped storage hydro capacity!

The Herald is making much of this case on one private company employee but has yet to ever report the news on IVF everyone in Scotland needs to hear. This: Try searching ‘BBC Scotland IVF‘ and all you will get is stories of the experience of one or two individuals or of how an unvaccinated person was refused treatment during the pandemic. You won’t see this: The 90% standard was met, with 99.6% of patients attending a screening appointment within 52 weeks of referral. 98.9% of all patients waited 39 weeks or less to be screened, similar to the previous … Continue reading IVF – One private clinic failure but otherwise a 100% system in Scotland

In this headlining BBC Scotland report, all they have are quotes from two claimants for the new Scottish Adult Disability Payment and this: The roll-out of the Scottish government’s new Adult Disability Payment has seen “significant delays”, according to welfare rights groups. However, welfare rights campaigners, including Enable Scotland, said it was taking “far longer than it should” for decisions to be made on new applications – and longer than the waits previously seen for PIP. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-65611514 There is no actual quote from any representative of any group saying ‘significant delays.’ There is not even an actual quote from a … Continue reading Only two people waiting too long for disability payments is not ‘significant’

Headlining from BBC Scotland this morning: Repairs to the CalMac ferry fleet have cost more than £100 million in the last five years. That’s according figures released to the ferry operator…eh…by the ferry operator to the Scottish Lib..d…d…Lib Dems. They say the figures highlight a decade of poor planning by SNP ministers. So, a late addition, not rehearsed by the presenter? ‘In the last five years’ but ‘a decade of?’ Is that £100 million over five years a lot? £20 million per year? At the end of the report we hear that the Scottish Government has invested £2 billion in … Continue reading Lib Dems join the Ferry Fiasco hesitatingly as performance falls to only 99% on time

This morning, BBC Scotland tell us that the Corran Ferry will be back in service ‘shortly.’ What happened to the suggestions of MoD assistance, six weeks ago? Three weeks ago, we read from BBC Scotland: An assessment is ongoing over whether military help is the solution for Highland Council’s Corran Ferry. There has not been a car ferry on the five-minute crossing of Loch Linnhe in Lochaber for three weeks due to issues with the main vessel and a relief boat. It is the busiest single-vessel ferry route in Scotland and carries more than 270,000 cars each year. The Ministry … Continue reading Any comment from the MoD on the return of the Corran Ferry unaided by them?