Brian Wilson is: a former Scottish Labour Party politician. He was Member of Parliament for Cunninghame North from 1987 until 2005 and served as a Minister of State from 1997 to 2003. After standing down as a Minister prior to his departure from Parliament, he was asked by Tony Blair to act as the Prime Minister’s Special Representative on Overseas Trade. Having continued to take an interest in trade promotion, he was appointed to the newly re-established UK Board of Trade in 2017. He is also chairman of Harris Tweed Hebrides, a director of Celtic Football Club and Visiting Professor at the University of Strathclyde. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brian_Wilson_(Labour_politician) Wilson is a rabid anti-SNP commentator. He knows this below but … Continue reading Labour journalist allowed to hide Labour support for fishing ban with tasteless ‘clearances’ comparison

than any of the previous three. Reporting Scotland have this as a headline story. It’s not on their website but STV have: More motorcyclists died on Scotland’s roads in the past year than any of the previous three, police have said, as they launched a new safety campaign. Police Scotland’s annual motorcycle safety campaign started on Tuesday, with officers aiming to promote safe riding and raise awareness amongst other road users. The campaign comes as the force revealed 27 motorcyclists died on Scotland’s roads in 2022/23 – with 22 of them being killed during the months of April to September … Continue reading As deaths fall, Scotland is one of the safest places for motorcyclists to be on the road in the UK

The Times has a strange notion of what ‘middle-class’ actually means in Scotland. The median wage is £26 000. Even with two such in a household, it’s well below £75 000. How many earn over £75 000? Less than 1 in 10? Not quite ‘middle.’ How many Scots have a second home? We don’t know but there are around 70 000 second homes in Scotland, many owned by non-residents, out of a total of 2 650 000. Not quite ‘middle.’ Continue reading Yousaf NOT squeezing the ‘middle’: Increased tax on only the less than 10% with more than £75 000 and/or the tiny few with second homes

On BBC 1 this morning, the above horror statistics. Might Scots be justified in wondering in things are as bad here? If it was worse, we’d hear all about it as we do relentlessly with drug deaths: So comparing the rUK with Scotland is a useful thing to do it seems? The Scottish Cons are keen to make sure we are well-informed on this in the hope they might squeezer a vote or two out of shaming us. So, they’ll want to know how the knife crimes compare with Con-run England and Labour-run Wales? It’s not as easy as it … Continue reading Why are less than half the knife crimes not in the public interest when higher drug deaths are?

The Herald, Express, Scotsman and the P&J have the SNP and the Greens in the harpoon firing line as, with BBC Scotland, they once more find a reason to use the fisherman as ammo in their proxy wars. There’s something missing: Remind you of something else? The media coverage of the SNP gender recognition reforms, supported across the House? Continue reading Scottish Labour support for ‘fishing bans’ hidden by all Scottish media

I’ve seen a horse’s fundament and the well-dressed and articulate John Nicholson bears no similarity. I see a larger, more podgy and odorous form of a man there. ‘Preening and performative?’ A bit of borderline homophobia there? Kevin McKenna knows this: Public records in the Public Record Office, other than those to which members of the public had access before their transfer to the Public Record Office, shall not be available for public inspection until they have been in existence for fifty years or such other period, either longer or shorter, as the Lord Chancellor may, with the approval, or … Continue reading There is no recent evidence that MI5 is currently undermining the SNP because recent evidence is not declassified

Pete Wishart MP (SNP) in New York (above and below) spending time with the Scottish Tories, there to celebrate Great Britain. Does he seem a bit too settled and content in that company of Unionists? I’ve been tolerating Wishart and his chumminess for some time and getting on with more important things but these images are bit nauseating and cause me to remember what I wrote in 2020 when he flirted with Rees-Mogg and revealed how well he has settled in by expressing interest in becoming the Speaker: I wrote this last July. As Pete Wishart MP feuds with the … Continue reading Pete Wishart – An ‘Englishman’ in New York?

An unnamed SNP MP has been described, in the Express, as suggesting that the above OTT investigation in the Murrel/Sturgeon home was orchestrated by MI5. The Tory response: Scottish Conservative chairman Craig Hoy MSP said: “We know Nationalists like to blame Westminster for everything but even by their standards this is a breath-taking and bonkers suggestion. This extract from the transcript of a Scotland on Sunday piece in 2020, suggests otherwise: THE SNP was spied on by British secret service agents, previously classified Government files seen by Scotland on Sunday have finally proved. Claims of surveillance of nationalist politicians by … Continue reading UK security forces try to undermine movement dedicated to ending it? No! Surely not?

Continue reading Recent mock-ups – ferries, nurses and graphs

Isn’t that Herald headline a bit odd? The Army running ferries? BBC Scotland too, seem a bit hesitant to name the service. Are they thinking of Saving Private Ryan where the landing craft is full of soldiers? Is that the kind of vessel they imagine? One car at a time just dumped on the beach and left stuck? The UK Defence Journal had an idea on, 1 April, I think: It’s not a roll-on, roll-off ferry (RORO) though. You’re still in a wee landing craft or helicoptered onto the deck. It might have been a joke. That date? Does the … Continue reading Saving Private Port Ryan?