parents about the results of an independent inquiry. The inquiry was into how the authority handled attacks on children. The council in question, Borders, is Conservative-led with 14 Conservatives and 8 independents out of a total of 34. Reporting Scotland does not mention that detail. Imagine it was an SNP council? Continue reading A Scottish Conservative Council is facing questions?

Just as it seemed Team GB would be coming back from Beijing with no medals at all, the two curling teams have made the finals and are guaranteed a medal. All eight are Scots but BBC Scotland have just reported on the women’s success without mentioning that once: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/winter-olympics/60430107 Continue reading Scots to win all Team GB’s Winter Olympic medals?

By stewartb As a regular reader of the BBC News website (no mocking please!) I have developed the habit of  considering the ‘style’ and ‘structure’ of the writing and not only its substantive content. The former can influence how the latter is framed and therefore affect how a news story comes to be understood by us, the consumers of the output. There is a little illustration today from BBC Scotland’s journalism – an indicative example you might say! It’s from a lengthy article on the BBC News website’s Scotland page about a housing association and a tenancy dispute. I offer … Continue reading Indicative of BBC Scotland’s quality?

Much is made of Scotland having the highest prison population. The European media is 103.2 per 100 000. Scotland’s was 146.6 in 2020, having fallen from 150.4 in 2010. As with violent crime, reputations change slowly, such that despite a 50% fall in violent crime in Scotland in the last 10-15 years, comedians still characterise it as stereotypically violent. In 2020, there were 167 prisoners per 100 000 population in England and Wales, already significantly higher than in Scotland. Today, we read in the Guardian, that after 12 years of Conservative rule and soaring crime rates, Dominic Raab has announced … Continue reading Scotland’s prison population to fall well below pro rata that in England and Wales

Unsafe and past their best, Scotland’s nuclear power stations are not wanted by the people. We have massive gas production, four times our needs, even greater renewable wind generation with prospects of powering the entire UK. The bills are going up because we are not independent and able to exploit our own natural resources and because we are, despite them, subject to the lack of modelling or even cigarette pack scribbling, of the Tories in Westminster. Somehow, we must share the costs of Russian gas just as we shared the cost of Saudi oil – because we’re in the UK. Continue reading SNP modelling has nothing to do with bills

Like the pensions scare, this rehashed set of rumours that, somehow, major corporations will flee an independent Scotland for England, is particularly wrinkled and fousty. Yesterday it was Babcock International’s boss just making clear that they wanted a good relationship with an independent Scotland and that if they didn’t get one, they’d be off. They say that to everyone. The clue is in the word ‘International.’ Babcock. According to the Times yesterday: The Royal Navy engineer has spent £32 million to buy out the 50 per cent of Australia’s outsourced Naval Ship Management business that it does not own from … Continue reading Defence firms care nothing about borders between liberal democracies

By stewartb We are learning that the ‘Better Together’ scaremongering playbook of 2014 is to be revisited on the people of Scotland. No surprise there! We also have signs of the length that the corporate media in Scotland will go to make their distinctive (mission-driven?) contribution to these scares. This is to highlight one blatant example. It’s not even from the irredeemable Daily Express but, sadly, from the Daily Record. Fool me for hoping for better! The background Within hours of the UK Prime Minister visiting Rosyth, the CEO of Babcock International is commenting on a threat to his company’s … Continue reading How is this ethical journalism – news manipulation to deceive?

By stewartb There is nothing to celebrate, nothing to be smug about, when another place’s publicly funded healthcare system is in deep trouble. This should be the case wherever that unfortunate place is, including England! However, as Scotland’s NHS is berated endlessly for its performance by the corporate media, BBC Scotland and of course Labour, Tory and Lib Dem politicians,  it seems perfectly reasonable to take every opportunity to put all their negativity within some sort of ‘context’. It is reasonable to look for ‘perspective’. A recent (15 February) publication by the House of Commons Library (HoCL) gives such an … Continue reading A new resource for comparative analysis – the House of Commons Library reports NHS England’s performance

Childish, playground, journalism from Reporting Scotland again. What their own website said 5 hours ago: The UK’s Joint Committee for Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) officially backed the rollout of jabs to youngsters on Wednesday afternoon. But the Scottish and Welsh governments had already announced they would go ahead, having seen draft guidance. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-politics-60402499 Wales did officially commit yesterday evening. The Scottish Government clearly took a bit longer with the JCVI advice and committed around lunchtime today. There is no evidence they were watching to see what Wales would do. Why on earth would any adult think they were waiting to … Continue reading And England is following Scotland?

In a fine piece of investigative journalism, the most recent edition of Private Eye compares PPE purchasing in the pandemic, in England and Scotland, to reveal significant differences. In crude terms England paid between 29% more for facemasks and 67% more for aprons. London spent £12bn compared to Scotland’s £300million. The differences are attributed to Scottish Enterprise staff being sent to, for example China, to inspect products and increasingly working with Scottish manufacturers such that by April 2021, 88% of PPE was produced in Scotland, using Scottish raw materials. Private Eye concluded: ‘The DHSc’s London-controlled PPE ‘cell’ was dishing out … Continue reading Private Eye reveals Scottish Government’s PPE purchases far less costly