Three veteran ferries to be sold though still serviceable exposes the Scottish media’s fake ferry news
The Scotsman today has: Veteran CalMac ferries could be cruising the Med rather than the Minch under plans to give them a new lease of life after being finally retired from service in Scotland. Three of the west coast operator’s largest vessels, which are up to 42 years old, are due to be decommissioned over the next year before being sold or scrapped for recycling. This is simple re-treading of the notion that CalMac ferries are old and thus unreliable. It’s a myth undermined in the whole possibility of these same vessels still being usable in calmer waters. The ‘ageing fleet‘ line … Continue reading Three veteran ferries to be sold though still serviceable exposes the Scottish media’s fake ferry news
Rapists and sex offenders among 5 000 prisoners to be released early only in England – SNP Government will not release any such offenders early in Scotland
Thanks to Dottie for alerting me to this. In the Guardian yesterday: Opponents of plans to release rapists and sex offenders early from prison have “no solutions” to halt the criminal justice system’s possible collapse, David Lammy has said. Under pressure from Labour MPs – including the former safeguarding minister Jess Phillips – to curb the early release scheme, the deputy prime minister said failing to implement it could leave no capacity across jails in England and Wales in November. Killers, rapists and sex offenders will be among more than 5,000 prisoners freed early from September. They include those convicted of manslaughter, rape, grievous … Continue reading Rapists and sex offenders among 5 000 prisoners to be released early only in England – SNP Government will not release any such offenders early in Scotland
Pupils missing school for half the year is between 40% and 80% more common in England than in Scotland
The Herald today, gleefully has: The number of Scottish pupils missing more than half of the school year has almost doubled in five years. Around 400 classrooms could be filled by the 12,402 pupils who were absent at least 50% of the 2025-26 school year, with almost 6,000 more children now severely absent compared to five years ago, analysis by The Herald can reveal. 12 402 eh? So if things were the same pro rata, per heid, with 10 times the population etc in England, they’d have 124 020. The 2025/2026 data for England has not been published yet but … Continue reading Pupils missing school for half the year is between 40% and 80% more common in England than in Scotland
Never mind Barnett, the Lower Thames Crossing to cost Scots taxpayers between £300m and £1bn!
In the Guardian today: The UK’s public spending watchdog has said it plans to investigate the Lower Thames Crossing, as campaigners voice concerns over the rising costs of one of the UK’s largest infrastructure projects. The head of the National Audit Office (NAO) said he anticipated the agency would “examine and report” on the planned £11bn road tunnel between Kent and Essex, and that work to monitor the project had already started. It emerged last month that £174m of additional public money was being made available for the scheme, which is estimated to cost more per mile than the HS2 high-speed rail link from … Continue reading Never mind Barnett, the Lower Thames Crossing to cost Scots taxpayers between £300m and £1bn!
Glasgow disorder orchestrated by individuals not from Scotland
In the Glasgow Times, two days ago: Disorder in Glasgow this week has been branded as “disgraceful” and is said to have been ‘orchestrated by individuals who are not from the city’. Protests took place outside homes in the Cranhill and Castlemilk areas earlier this week after claims spread locally and online that ‘suspected sex offenders’ were living there. A significant police response was deployed to both incidents to try and control crowds who could be heard shouting “get them out” and ‘no peace for the beast’ at the properties. David Kennedy, the general secretary of the Scottish Police Federation, which represents rank-and-file … Continue reading Glasgow disorder orchestrated by individuals not from Scotland
SNP’s progressive policies have not destroyed growth and may have helped
Thanks to Dottie again for this one: From What can Scotland teach Andy Burnham about devolution? Scotland’s economy has outperformed its neighbours in Future Economy Scotland yesterday, the above and: and: and my favourite: and: Taken together, the evidence is difficult to dismiss. Whether measured by GDP, productivity, earnings, disposable income or the prevalence of low pay, Scotland has generally outperformed the UK since devolution. Across most of these measures, it sits at or near the top of the UK’s league table. None of this proves that devolution itself caused these stronger outcomes. Scotland’s economy differs from England’s in important ways, and … Continue reading SNP’s progressive policies have not destroyed growth and may have helped
UK may follow US lowering nuclear safety standards to increase worker risk of cancer by 20%
From the highly-respected Scientific American, yesterday: A proposed rule from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) would ease the standard for low-dose radiation exposure. The NRC argues the change will bring more clarity to the nuclear industry, but the health effects of this rule on the public are not so clear. And if the change takes effect, then people living near nuclear facilities could be exposed to higher doses of radiation than they are currently. For workers, the proposed NRC limits would put nuclear employees at a higher risk of cancer than that tolerated by other occupations, says David Richardson, a radiation … Continue reading UK may follow US lowering nuclear safety standards to increase worker risk of cancer by 20%
The Wretched of Scotland’s Independence Movements
While AI has often been taught to favour broadly establishment positions, reinforced by their dominance of the media landscape it relies upon, I have found that, if you keep your wits about you and counter those positions with evidence you have, it will often come to offer a more independent evidence-based answer than you will get from even the most respected but all-too-human academic, like me. Based on the evidence from the time such as the lack of a formal act of union, the unbroken, largely unchanged continuation of the parliament in London and the end of such in Scotland … Continue reading The Wretched of Scotland’s Independence Movements
16th/17th Century English Propaganda – so good even I (!) knew nothing of this event
Hearing that a 17th Spanish galleon replica is to visit Ayr in August this year, I had one of those memory flashes. This: Watching Lucy Worsley in December 2022, 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. Following the defeat of the Spanish Armada in 1588, Queen Elizabeth I of England sought to exploit Spain’s temporary naval vulnerability. The English Armada, also called the Counter Armada or the Drake–Norris Expedition, was launched on 28 April 1589 during the undeclared Anglo-Spanish War (1585–1604) … Continue reading 16th/17th Century English Propaganda – so good even I (!) knew nothing of this event
Don’t mention Sir Francis Drake or Walter Raleigh to these Spanish sailors
When I saw the above I couldn’t but think ‘Time heals all wounds?’ Why? There’s no mention in the blurb above of the deep irony of a replica Spanish merchantman of the 17th Century making it to Ayr without it having been captured and plundered on the way by one of England’s piratical heroes of the day like Drake or Raleigh. How much in ships and booty did Elizabethan England steal from Spanish ships? Elizabethan England (under Queen Elizabeth I, 1558–1603) conducted widespread privateering against Spanish shipping as a mix of state-sponsored warfare, economic strategy, and profit-seeking. Privateers like Francis … Continue reading Don’t mention Sir Francis Drake or Walter Raleigh to these Spanish sailors
The 'Unstoppable' Talking-up Scotland 