Quickly, former New Labour minister Brian Wilson and former Jack McConnell SPAD, Susan Dalgety have long rancid trails of nasty and ill-informed attacks on the First Minister behind them in the pages of the Hootsman. They belong on the right there. If you enjoy badly-written horror stories with disgusting homophobic and misogynistic overtones, try here: https://talkingupscotlandtwo.com/?s=Dalgety https://talkingupscotlandtwo.com/?s=Wilson Most readers will find these upsetting. Anyhow back to the Secondary Teachers Association which maybe represents 6 500 of Scotland’s 53 400 teachers, 12%. 1 711 responded in a self-selecting thus unreliable, ‘squeaky wheel’ sample, 26% of their members or 3% of all … Continue reading Andy Robertson guffaws as headteachers’ union fails statistics test and New Labour hacks in the ‘right place’

From the Courier today: Mick Green has been arrested and charged with two separate incidents against children. Police said the allegations date back to 2006 and 2011. He will appear in court at a later date. The 70-year-old was elected as a Conservative councillor in 2017 and represents the Glenrothes North, Leslie and Markinch ward on Fife Council. Following his arrest, he was suspended by the Conservative party and will remain suspended until the outcome of the court case. A police spokesperson said: “A 70-year-old man has been arrested and charged with two separate incidents of non-recent sexual offences against children that … Continue reading Tory councillor facing allegations of child sexual offences – watch the reporting

Anecdotally, the evidence published here has been used by some writers to the letters pages at the Herald, Scotsman and elsewhere. The Herald today had this: I recognise the content but it’s written with a bit more style than I tend to offer. This, it seems, was inspired by Phillipa Whitford’s demolition of the BBC’s Clive Myrie: Dear readers, have a go yourself? Continue reading ‘Independence for Scotland would have saved many lives’

From SNP Media: Scottish Ministers will enter structured talks with the Scottish Green Party, supported by the civil service, with a view to reaching a formal Co-operation Agreement. The initiative is part of a refreshed pledge to change politics in Scotland for the better by working with opposition parties to find the best solutions to the toughest of problems, First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has said. In the weeks leading up to the next Parliamentary Recess talks will be ongoing and focus on agreeing policy areas which the government and the Scottish Green Party will co-operate on. During a statement to … Continue reading Scottish Government and Scottish Greens try to reach formal Co-operation Agreement

From Number Cruncher Politics with 1 001 18+ on 27th and 28th May 2021: All Con 44% Lab 32% LD 7% SNP 5% PC 1% Green 8% Reform 2% This 12% lead is the same as the average lead in the previous four polls before Cummings spoke. Scotland Con 24% Lab 3%! LD 5% SNP 55% PC 0% Green 8% Reform 3% A pro-Indy lead of 63 to 37 but with a small sample of only 85. Continue reading Tories unharmed by Dom and Indy parties surge

In the Herald today: MATT HANCOCK has disputed claims he mishandled care home discharges and said the Scottish Government had the “same issues” to deal with as he did. Speaking to MPs this morning, the health secretary was put under pressure to explain the allegations made against him yesterday by former senior aide Dominic Cummings. He’s right, we did have the same issues. To make sure hospitals were not overwhelmed and to protect the vulnerable more at risk in hospitals than back in care homes, NHS Scotland and NHS England discharged patients, some not tested, more quickly from hospital wards back into … Continue reading In defence of Matt Hancock

In the Herald, from Tom Gordon: NICOLA Sturgeon has effectively accused Boris Johnson of adding to the death toll from coronavirus by failing to take quick and decisive action during the pandemic. Despite Scotland broadly mirroring the lockdown south of the border, the First Minister said “bitter experience” had shown the importance of “responsible decision-making” by leaders. I’ve just read a letter by friend of TuS, Leah Gunn Barrett, rebutting the same suggestion by Ian Murray and using TuS-sourced evidence. It’s typically well-put so why reinvent the wheel: Tom Gordon tries to assign equal blame for the UK’s catastrophic Covid deaths on Holyrood, knowing full … Continue reading Tom Gordon knowingly repeats the lies about pandemic control

For three years now this story, with the parents ‘probably’ groomed by Anas Sarwar, has returned to MSM reports at least eight times, according to my records. Most recently in the days before the election, Anas Sarwar shouted ‘what about Millie Main’ as a debating point with Nicola Sturgeon. Today, 27th May 2021, the story of the death of one child has returned to headline for BBC Scotland in the above ridiculous terms. On May 3rd, in time to not help Labour’s vote at all, it seems, Reporting Scotland headlined the story. As for the cause of death, it was … Continue reading Sarwar nominated for creepiest politician of the year

The evidence they work for everyone: The largest review ever undertaken, of 349 research studies, from across the globe though mostly in Europe, carried out by the Centre for Criminology at the University in South Wales in 2017, found that ‘safe’ or ‘supervised’ injection rooms significantly reduced drug-related harms, dramatically cut mortality and offered a range of benefits for the wider population, in terms of reduced crime, nuisance in public spaces, violence and trafficking. https://gov.wales/sites/default/files/publications/2019-01/180320atisn12038doc2_0.pdf Today from SNP Media On the 50th anniversary of the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971, the SNP has pledged support for the all-party campaign to … Continue reading Renewed calls for drug consumption rooms.

Virtually all Scottish MSM ‘SNPbad‘ headlines like the one above take little effort to rebut. This is about the decision to build a shared campus in Edinburgh. The alleged ‘fire‘ is no more than corks from a pop-gun as one professor and one anonymous or invented spokeswoman misread ‘a general presumption‘ as ‘a manifesto commitment‘ and a ‘pledge‘. Here it is: So, if there was wider agreement in the Gaelic-speaking community, you’d think there’d be more than one prof and a rep not prepared to come out into the open. Are they representative? Would there be enough bairns in Edinburgh … Continue reading Unrepresentative and ill-informed on bilingualism?