in ‘alternative parts of the country. This, from BBC 1 at 06:15am today, might be just another piece of Anglocentric reporting whereby the ‘country’ is England but with far more staff and beds per head of population, watch out for stories like the one below, from June 2022, being studiously ignored by Scotland’s MSM as they continue their preferred narrative of a crisis in NHS Scotland. Continue reading Is ‘overstretched’ NHS Scotland to be an ‘alternative part of the country’ for English patients?

By Alasdair Galloway Most commentators are of the view that if Nicola Sturgeon asks Boris Johnson for another S30 Order – precedent being the Edinburgh Agreement – the answer will be some variation of “No”, “Not now”, “Now is not the time” or “I see no demand for another referendum”. Or put short – NAW. At the same time, Nicola has made clear that a referendum must be “legal”. Interestingly, DRoss has made clear that his side would not participate in one that was illegal (does that leave him enough wriggle room, or is “illegal” the same as “not legal? … Continue reading How will Plan B B?

I try not to read Writer at Large, Neil Mackay, but that headline sneakily telling those who pay attention that he didn’t say that but that he’d like to suggest it’s actually true, needs a rebuttal. He even writes: What do those supposed UK data, almost certainly England & Wales data, have to do with an article clearly headlined as being about Scotland? Shoddy, lazy, dishonest? How about some facts? Cases reported to the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service in 2020-21 compared to 2019-20, show a statistically insignificant increase in hate crimes relating to sexual orientation . We don’t … Continue reading Neil Mackay’s big fib on homophobia in Scotland

In January 2021, as Anas Sarwar ran for leadership of the Scottish Labour branch, the shocking story below in the Daily Record, triggered no call for him to stand down. We’re talking about a convicted paedophile here. But, in Westminster, the Patrick Grady case, where no crime was committed, leads to a chorus of calls for the SNP leader at Westminster to go and to an endless media feeding-frenzy, days after it was closed. Continue reading Scottish Labour’s dark funding

Today, in the Herald we see the other side to Murdo Fraser’s trumpeting of a yard getting the maintenance contract for a ship they built. Isn’t that just normal? They surely know best how to maintain something they know so much about? More revealing but not likely to get tweeted by any Scottish cons, is this: Continue reading MoD ‘Bonanza’ for foreign businesses: The myth of UK Government support for Scottish defence work

By stewartb Conscious of being too ill-informed, I have just read through the formal case reports of the Westminster Parliament’s independent expert panels investigating complaints against, separately the SNP MPs Patrick Grady and Patricia Gibson. My immediate reaction? How is it possible that so little of what is evidenced and so little of the panels’ carefully considered judgements have appeared in media reporting? On second thoughts, of course I do know! I provide links to the two reports: I would encourage a quick read. If you have been relying only on corporate media, BBC and opposition politicians’ comments to inform … Continue reading ‘SNP sex scandals’: So little of the panels’ carefully considered judgements have appeared in media reporting

Why is Nicola Sturgeon in that insert, above? She is not quoted in the article. The Transport Secretary is not quoted either, nor is she the CE of Transport Scotland: So, an official might have suggested scaling back landings but we do noy, even for that official, have a quotable proposal. Returning to the First Minister being pictured as some how responsible for the words, perhaps, of an official in an ‘arms-length’ agency responsible to a department for which she has no day-to-day or tactical role in, this is demonising whereby the views of many are conflated with one high-profile … Continue reading Revealed: ‘Demon’ Sturgeon not Transport Scotland official , not even Transport Secretary

– Ofcom reveals dominant nature of complaints about the BBC By stewartb The UK communications/broadcasting regulator Ofcom has just (22 June) published the latest results in its review of ‘the BBC’s performance and our future regulation of it’. There are some notable findings based on Ofcom-commissioned research. See https://www.ofcom.org.uk/news-centre/2022/bbc-must-transform-the-way-it-serves-audiences Key research findings 1) In total, 11% of UK adults had cause to complain about the BBC in the last year. This is the highest level among broadcasters (6% for ITV, 4% for Channel 4). However, ‘around two thirds of UK adults who have cause to complain do not go on … Continue reading BBC more ‘biased and misleading/dishonest programming’ than ITV revealed by Ofcom

The largely similar Express and Scotsman attempt, once more, to undermine the SNP Government with a scare story devoid of meaningful evidence that readers might use to properly understand what is happening. Missing: First, there are already fewer ‘cops’ today but there can reasonably be fewer because there is far less crime: So, in 2008 crime was at the level of 725 per head of population and in 2021 was only 451, much, much lower, yet there were still as many cops? Second, on comparative staffing, from stewartb in 2021: By stewartb The House of Commons Library (HoCL) has just published a briefing paper entitled ‘Police … Continue reading Far less crime yet nearly as many officers and far more officers than in England

I make no excuses for Patrick Grady. He inappropriately touched a young member of staff. He should be punished but the Scottish MSM feasting on the case is also inappropriate, in the light of frankly more serious cases, where party leaders, it seems, need not resign: Continue reading Double standards: How on earth are Starmer and Johnson still in a job?