During the 1837 General Election, voters in Hawick attacked Tory supporters and threw 11 of them in the river. The pro-Liberal crowd then besieged Tory supporters in a tower and bombarded them with stones. The Liberal candidate then won the seat by only 44 votes. Violence at UK elections was common throughout the 18th and 19th centuries. In the 20th Century: Clement Attlee, speaking at St Andrews University in April 1947, was showered by pepper released from a box which had been installed directly above the platform by a group of students……The catalogue of British political assassinations stretches back to … Continue reading No evidence that next election will be any more nasty

Ed: My metaphors are murder? By stewartb I didn’t watch BBCQT from Inverness but did catch comments and clips on twitter. Looks to have been a more balanced audience – if not panel – with pro-indy voices making good points, coherently and eloquently. However, one clip I watched was of the contribution of a Tory ‘activist’ in the audience and it triggered this comment. It concerns the constantly repeated Unionist refrain: ‘Scotland’s failing education system’. This is an only too obvious tactic. It’s well know from psychology that repeating something many times reinforces the message and – unless contrary information … Continue reading Inverness Tory tries to ‘gaslight’ Question Time audience with volley of diarrheal comments

In the Herald today, Ema Sabljak, clearly not one of the pro-Union big beasts like Gordon, Wilson, Monteith or McWhirter: Mistakes made at the outset in the construction of two ferries delayed by over five years saw money “effectively wasted” on rebuilding units, the chief executive of Caledonian Maritime Assets Ltd (CMAL) said. Kevin Hobbs claimed that the issues were down to a “catastrophic failure” of management, not a failure of the workforce. https://www.heraldscotland.com/politics/20246475.cmal-boss-claims-money-effectively-wasted-mistakes-ferry-fiasco/ Further down we read: Management, eh? Remind me who was the person whose butt was located where the buck stopped? Jim McColl? Yeh that’d be the … Continue reading McColl blamed for ferry fiasco

Scottish Labour clearly has trouble recruiting researchers or Anas Sarwar, fully qualified dentist, doesn’t care about the facts. Both? Repeating myself again, but to get a quick response in, see these posts from June 7th: The key initial Quality Performance Indicators for Melanoma Cancer, have been met in 2020/2022, for more than 96% of those referred. This is up from 91.5% in 2018/2019 and beats the 90% target by some way. https://www.publichealthscotland.scot/publications/melanoma-cancer-quality-performance-indicators/melanoma-cancer-quality-performance-indicators-patients-diagnosed-between-july-2018-and-june-2021 And from June 28th: Leaving aside the fact that ‘Sturgeon’ is neither the responsible head of a health board nor is she the Health Secretary, the Herald report … Continue reading Sarwar ‘dividing’ Scotland with fake news

In a report on action by police officers and covering the First Minister’s responses to Douglas Ross, married to a serving officer, that response is edited, summarised and placed in the 20th paragraph, as: She said officers in Scotland were paid more than in the rest of the UK, there were more police officers per head of population in Scotland than in England, and the policing budget was due to rise by £40.5m this year. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-62001386 Here’s what she actually said: Policing clearly is a priority for this government. It has been for every day, month, year that this government … Continue reading BBC burying the First Minister’s answers

He’s accused of groping other MPs in a private members’ club and he’s called Pincher? And he whips the backbenchers into line? No. You’re having us on. From BBC UK today: Tory deputy chief whip Chris Pincher has resigned from the government, as a newspaper alleged he groped two men at a private members’ club. In his resignation letter, he told the PM he “drank far too much” and “embarrassed myself and other people”. Witnesses told the BBC he was seen “extremely drunk” at the Carlton Club, the Conservative Party members’ club in London on Wednesday night. The BBC has … Continue reading A tale of two Westminster whips – one SNP and one Tory

In response to an earlier piece on the Herald’s misrepresentation of Greater Glasgow and Clyde setting aside funds to defend cases of alleged failures in childbirth cases. By stewartb It’s my view that ‘whataboutery’ is a very different thing from pointing to relevant evidence from elsewhere in order to obtain context and/or perspective. When a ‘big’ number is used it is reasonable – indeed logical – to seek to ascertain whether the number is indeed ‘big’, and by implication ‘bad’, relative to an appropriate comparator. In a peer reviewed paper in the British Medical Journal in 2020 entitled ‘Clinical negligence … Continue reading NHS England paid £2.4BN in clinical negligence cases

By stewartb There’s no getting away from it, once Scotland is independent it will still share an island with whatever the rest of the dissolved Union opts to call its new state. With the pandemic, the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the present stresses in the global economy, it seems timely that mature nation-states with shared values and regional proximity are in the process of restating commitments to co-operation. The five Nordic states, the Faroes Islands, Greenland and Åland have all just done so, recognising the benefits of working more closely together in times of crisis. The Ministers for Nordic … Continue reading After Scotland’s independence, is a better togetherness feasible?

Reporting Scotland are reported to be not hot on the trail of the above story just as they have been cool, long-term, on the truth of Police Scotland’s successes. Since the merger of Scotland’s eight regional police forces into a national single force in 2013, Police Scotland have made considerable progress in the development of a modern, successful, and forward-thinking Police Service. These achievements have largely been overlooked by the Scottish media and have seen little media coverage as Scotland’s TV and press which has focused on a small number of high-profile failures. So, what is the good news about … Continue reading Police Scotland NOT in special measures but SIX English forces are

From Caroline Wilson, headlining in the Herald today: By Caroline Wilson, headlining in the Herald today, a cheap and inaccurate account. The £280 million is insurance against claims by parents where, tragically, their child died in the process of being born. There is as yet no evidence that any of these cases will be settled against the health board. Further down we read that only £27 million in total was actually paid out last year. There is a different, more accurate, more sensitive headline of the kind an adult might compose. We read: Scotland’s largest health board is facing a multi-million compensation bill … Continue reading Cheap reporting of serious matters: Greater Glasgow and Clyde Health Board is average again