Watching Lucy Worsley last night, I was shocked, deeply, to hear of the disastrous Counter Armada of 1599 when more than 20 000 lost their lives, twice the Spanish losses the previous year. Why shocked? I’ve been reading and watching accounts of the history, of most parts of the globe, for more than 50 years, on a daily basis. Why had I never seen even a mention of this event despite hearing on a yearly basis of the prior Spanish Armada and England’s heroic victory? I asked friends, some even more history buffs, and none knew of it. I tried … Continue reading 16th Century English Propaganda – so good even I (!) knew nothing of this event

Note: Thanks to Jim for alerting me to this. Based on the above UK Government data, there have been 40 343 applications by Ukrainian refugees to live in Scotland and 30 668 visas have been issued. All things being equal, with 10 times the population, you might expect there to have been 400 000 applications and 300 000 visas issued to live in England but there were only 86 000 and 77 000 respectively. Scotland has been, at least, four times as welcoming. The extent to which we are different has been discussed here before. Some of them: Scotland IS … Continue reading Scotland accepts FOUR times as many Ukrainian refugees

Two weeks ago, in the Express it was this: Outrage as Nicola Sturgeon forces Ukraine refugees onto CRUISE SHIP in ‘betrayal’ of plan Three days ago, it was this: Sturgeon’s cruise ship with rooms smaller than prison cells takes first Ukrainian refugees and even the Guardian went with: Calls for Ukrainians living on cruise ship in Scotland to be quickly rehoused. MS Victoria is temporary solution to host refugees but there are concerns about small rooms and seasickness Seasickness in harbour? Today, BBC Scotland cannot bear to headline the awful truth, for them, of life on the cruise ship but … Continue reading ‘Better than we could have dreamed’: The Ukrainians living a life of luxury on cruise ship in Scotland

While, it’s clear that full independence has paid off, in lives saved, for those otherwise comparable neighbours – Ireland, Denmark and Norway – devolution has enabled the SNP Government to save many lives by its quicker reactions, clear signalling and and greater popular trust. Being shackled to a maniac is always going to limit your ability to stay out of trouble. Continue reading SNP pandemic measures and popular trust continue to pay off in reduced deaths

When things are high in Scotland, they are headlined as the highest in the UK (Covid). When they are no longer the highest, they just ‘fall’. It’s now 1 in 20 in England, 1 in 19 in Wales and Scotland and 1 in 16 in Northern Ireland. Last week there were 1 in 15 or around 340 900 cases in Scotland. This week it’s around 280 000, 60 000 fewer! This from Good Morning Scotland in another dimension. Continue reading With 60 000 fewer cases Scotland now has second-lowest Covid rate in the UK

The above Guardian report today, has no mention of Scotland, immediately adjacent to Cumbria. Why would it? Sellafield is ‘safely’ at the very end of England, as far from London as possible. In 2015, even the Herald reported such risks: Radioactive waste from the Sellafield nuclear plant in Cumbria is contaminating shellfish hundreds of kilometres away on the west coast of Scotland, according to a new scientific study. Scottish researchers discovered traces of radioactive carbon discharged from Sellafield in the shells of mussels, cockles and winkles as far north as Port Appin in Argyll, 160 miles from the notorious nuclear … Continue reading Scotland’s waters at risk again from Sellafield dump

By Alasdair Galloway In today’s edition Tom Gordon suggests we are approaching the end point of Nicola Sturgeon’s time as First Minister and leader of the SNP. He may be right in this assertion or he may be wrong. I certainly wouldn’t adopt his certainty. Assuming she goes on to 2024, she would have been in the job for 10 years, or nearly as long as Thatcher and Blair, though much longer than any of the last four incumbents. Then again, the contemporary example is perhaps Angela Merkel, colloquially known in Germany as “mutti”. While I have to congratulate Mr … Continue reading The Gerald  – don’t criticise the talent!

So, based on the above NRS data, after a fall of only 1% in 2021, Scotland still has a drug misuse death rate 5 times that of England and 4 times that of Norway, the next highest in the EU. Why does it seem implausible? Well, first, it’s quite unusual to such a gap between negative health indicators in globally quite similar areas. Life expectancy or cancer death rates fluctuate but to nowhere near this extent. Second, the 1% fall doesn’t correlate with Police Scotland data which show that in 2021, there were 8% (116) fewer drug deaths overall than … Continue reading There’s just something implausible about this

With so many indicators of superior performance by Scotland’s public services, BBC Scotland and the newspapers have clung to this issue like a dark comfort blanket. Something’s up. Yesterday the Tories were warning the SNP not to spin today’s data as a success if the numbers are still ‘high.’ This morning Reporting Scotland told us the news, that the figures are coming, and gave us a heavy dose of ‘worst in the UK and in the EU’ in case we had forgotten. We also got the sister of an older (60 plus) drug user who had just passed away to … Continue reading One last cheer for the ‘worst drug deaths in the EU?’

Studiously ignored by the MSM though covered by local press and, only the increase in rapes, by the BBC, Police Professional reports: A total of 6.3 million crimes were recorded in the year to March 2022 – four per cent higher than the previous all-time high of 6.1 million in 2019/20. It is also up 16 per cent on 2020/21, when crime levels were affected by Covid-19 lockdown restrictions. The figures, which have been published by the Office for National Statistics (ONS), show knife crime, theft and domestic abuse all increased in the 12 months to March. Police-recorded offences of … Continue reading Media blackout on SNP success as crime surges in England & Wales