From Redfield and Wilton on 10 April 2023, Scots seem far more likely than those in other parts of the UK to turn out and vote. Should we be proud of this? Should our media celebrate this? Do we have politicians more worth voting for? Continue reading Scotland most democratic in UK

Governor General in Scotland, Alister Jack has just announced sending a minister and ‘team’ to the annual Tartan Week celebration in New York after more than a decade of SNP ministers effectively monopolising it.  Scottish Governor’s Office Minister for…..we don’t know….John Lamont and Murdo Fraser’s Uncle Bobbie will lead the ‘King’s Team’ for the mission The Herald’s Tom Gordonstoun has been named as the public relations chappie for the visits and will be recycling the all-grey, back-to-front, Jack McConnell kilt at events in NY. Continue reading LATEST: Scotland Office announces team to end SNP monopoly of New York’s Tartan Week

This yesterday, from the very new (March 2023) Election Predictor is a dramatic outlier prediction of a collapse in SNP Westminster support with: Labour 27 seats (+26) SNP 20 seats (-28) Lib Dems 6 seats (+2) Conservatives 6 seats (no change). On the same day, Polling UK had this: 51 SNP seats and a tiny handful of Labour (1), Con (3?) and LD (4?). The most recent mainstream poll analysis from Electoral Calculus has the SNP at between 36 and 49 seats: https://www.electoralcalculus.co.uk/prediction_main.html So, who or what is Election Predictor and what are they up to? It’s looking for patrons … Continue reading Is Election Predictor’s SNP collapse just ‘Cyber troop activity?’

On December 2019, the SNP vote share was 45% yet in the 40 polls prior to that, not one reached 45% and many in the preceding 2 or 3 months failed to predict more than 39%. In contrast, the Con and Labour predictions in the preceding 6 polls were mostly higher than their eventual share of 25.1% and 18.6%. Might a similar thing be happening now, as the last 20 or so polls have the SNP at best 40% and often less than that? Today Polling UK, using a different methodology from all of the other pollsters, reports the above … Continue reading Westminster SNP boost after ’14 police vans and 1 big tent?’

Above the header for BBC Scotland’s newspaper front page summary with, notably, none repeating the 34th edition of Reporting Scotland’s ‘Ferry Fiasco’ this morning. Note the ‘NHS in crisis?’ It comes only from the wee story, top-right, in the Herald: Look closer: It’s a UK poll with apparently a ‘regional breakdown but no figures on that breakdown on the front page. Two days earlier, the same writer in the Herald had: Ambulance waiting times poll ‘not reflective of Scotland’ with still no breakdown of the data. Wonder why? I’ve had a look but can’t find the data tables – readers? Continue reading BBC Scotland and the Herald pasting England’s NHS ‘crisis’ onto Scotland

South of Scotland, List, not really elected by anyone, not really Ayr MSP, Sharon Dowey is almost on the books at the Daily Record doing an impersonation of BBC Scotland’s Unhealthy Correspondent, Lisa Summers. Here is some of her recent work: Dowey is notably absent today as Public Health Scotland tell us that University Hospital Ayr saw 67.4% of admissions to A&E in 4 hours, up from 59.7% in the previous week and 55.4% in the week before that. The people of Ayr deserve to know the facts. Why won’t the Daily Record and the Scottish Cons tell them? Source: … Continue reading Huge improvement in A&E waiting times at Ayr Hospital disappoints local unelected MSP

In another of their freedom of information media feeds, the Scottish Cons reveal again their deep cynicism. From STV today: More than 1,700 schools in Scotland contain asbestos, a Freedom of Information request has revealed. Some 1,745 primary, secondary and special schools across the country currently hold the toxic substance. Asbestos is a naturally occurring fibrous material that was used in a variety of buildings for its anti-corrosion and heat-resistant qualities. But the material was banned in the UK in 1999 after it was found to be carcinogenic, meaning it can cause cancer. The Scottish Conservatives, who released the figures … Continue reading Scottish Tory hypocrisy over asbestos

With no apparent sense of irony, the Herald, increasingly ‘low-end’ these days, joins the Daily Mail in the sheugh, in its ‘expose’ of Peter Murrel’s ‘state-of-the-art’ mobility home. What does any of that mean anyway? Not modest enough for someone paid from member-fee income? Armoured? With a built-in safe to hide dosh and dodgy docs in? When Clement Attlee had a caravan that could be towed around, no one suggested he was getting above himself or perhaps using it to tour high security sites on behalf of Stalin, even the Daily Mail. Is anybody trying to visit the 92-year-old whose … Continue reading Are only ‘high-end’ and ‘state-of-the art’ camper vans worth seizing?

In the above: It is the story of politicians ideologically hostile to regulation. In the 1980s, Margaret Thatcher’s government swept away virtually all building regulation, promising instead, in the words of her minister Michael Heseltine, “maximum self-regulation” and “minimum government interference”. In plain English, leave companies to manage their own affairs. Even this did not go far enough for David Cameron, who in 2012 made a New Year pledge to “kill off the health and safety culture for good”, launching a new swath of regulation cuts, including to fire safety inspections. https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/apr/09/stark-vision-of-grenfell-reveals-so-much-about-elite-really-rules-us To be fair, thanks to Old Labour in Scotland and … Continue reading How Old Labour and the SNP saved us from collapse

You’d think with his origins in Northern Ireland and his fishy name, Sharkey would know better than to say ‘in this country’ for the Anglocentric Guardian. A quick factcheck tells us: The flows and levels in Scotland’s water environment are currently at good or better condition in 90% of rivers, lochs and groundwaters. This is up from 88% when we published the second RBMPs. https://www.environment.gov.scot/our-environment/water/scotland-s-freshwater/ Why is this the case? Does Scotland show there is an alternative to this system? Scottish Water is a wholly public entity directly accountable to the Scottish Parliament. It offers lower bills than any of … Continue reading 90% of all UK water and 90% of it clean!