Tag: business

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BBC Radio 4 Today on school leaver destinations ignores Scotland’s 96% success rate and England’s 40% higher youth unemployment

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Thanks to Frances McKie, once more for noting and researching this one. BBC Radio 4 Today this morning have been discussing today, the GOV.UK publication of: A major youth employment drive backed by £1 billion will help create 200,000 jobs for young people, alongside the biggest transformation of apprenticeships in a decade. It comes as apprenticeships starts amongst young people are down 40 percent in the last decade and almost one million young people are not earning or learning – a rise of 248,000 between 2021-2024. To be announced today (Monday) in a speech by Work and Pensions Secretary Pat … Continue reading BBC Radio 4 Today on school leaver destinations ignores Scotland’s 96% success rate and England’s 40% higher youth unemployment

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Scottish Government provides better support for business

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introduced in England by the UK Government. BBC Scotland today, with a story to suggest something is worse in Scotland than in England. There’s a debate in the Scottish Parliament tomorrow on business rates which they’ve managed to find someone to stand in a shopping street and try to present as a crisis that only exists in Scotland. The facts? Based on an AI search of 87 sources, Scotland’s system is often seen as more coordinated and interventionist. Summary Table Aspect Scotland England Better for SMEs? Rates Relief (Core Small Biz) Very generous (combined RV up to £35k+, 100% bands) … Continue reading Scottish Government provides better support for business

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A tale of BBC Scotland’s response to Scottish Government press releases – how widespread, how blatant is bias by omission becoming?

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By stewartb Each and every working day at 1600 hours, the Scottish Government sends out an e-mail headed ‘Daily news update’. This collates all press releases issued that day, presumably in part as an aid to journalists. You will often find one or more of the day’s topics referred to here on TuS. But by BBC Scotland or the wider mainstream media in Scotland? Not so much!  Is amplifying positive news from the present Scottish Government too much of a threat to Unionist politicians? Whilst the nature of BBC journalism in Scotland is well known to readers of this blog, … Continue reading A tale of BBC Scotland’s response to Scottish Government press releases – how widespread, how blatant is bias by omission becoming?

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Independent Water Commission for England and Wales – providing a partial and flawed assessment of significance of ownership for performance outcomes?

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By stewartb The ‘Independent Water Commission Final Report’ (aka the Cunliffe report) published on July 21 has a lengthy section examining any possible relationship between water company ownership and performance outcomes. British Labour Party politicians are at work with the mainstream media to allege poor performance of Scottish Water in order to convince the electorate that public ownership is ineffective and/or unnecessary. In this context, it’s worthwhile examining what the Commission’s report actually stated on this subject and worth assembling other relevant evidence to counter Labour’s talking down Scotland – again! From the Water Commission’s report From Para 693: ‘The … Continue reading Independent Water Commission for England and Wales – providing a partial and flawed assessment of significance of ownership for performance outcomes?

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More news you won’t hear – Over 98,000 children are now benefiting from new learning environments and over 10,000 people are benefiting from new affordable homes

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By cuckooshoe The SNP proposed a Scottish Futures Trust in their 2007 election manifesto. The Scottish Government owns the SFT which they established in 2008. It is an independent, arms-length company that works with the public and private sectors to maximize the benefits of infrastructure projects. “To further demonstrate the impact of our work, we produced this website with our ten outcomes detailed below. Within each of the outcomes, we have listed a number of facts and figures that reflect the quantitative impact our work is having. And across the ten outcomes, we have added 23 more case studies (on top … Continue reading More news you won’t hear – Over 98,000 children are now benefiting from new learning environments and over 10,000 people are benefiting from new affordable homes

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Reddit now bigger than x so important for Independence debate

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According to the Guardian today: Reddit, the American online discussion platform, has overtaken X to become the fifth most popular social media platform in the UK, according to the communications watchdog. Ofcom said Reddit, where users post on discussion threads within topic-based communities, was visited by 22.9 million UK adults in May this year, compared with 22.1 million on X. The figures make Reddit the fastest-growing large social media platform in the UK and represent a growth of 47% on the same period in 2023 https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2024/nov/28/reddit-overtakes-x-in-popularity-of-social-media-platforms-in-uk Readers may remember that I was banned from rScotland, in 2023, for repeatedly posting … Continue reading Reddit now bigger than x so important for Independence debate

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Arran – history of remarkable transformation enabled by a ferry service delivered by a publicly-owned company subsidised by tax payers across Scotland.

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stewartb How hard is it for companies operating on Arran – how hard relative to businesses elsewhere? The ‘Auchrannie Resort’ is one of the largest, plushest hotel, spa and leisure offerings to tourists visiting Arran. It must be one of the island’s largest companies and wholly dependent on its customers wanting to – and being able to – get to the island. On the home page of its web site its states: ‘Did you know that 750,000 journeys are made to and from Arran each year?’ The company web site describes its history in the following terms: ‘Auchrannie was acquired by … Continue reading Arran – history of remarkable transformation enabled by a ferry service delivered by a publicly-owned company subsidised by tax payers across Scotland.

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What does Scotland have? Look at this and try to keep your mouth shut

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From one of the many Anonymouses at Talking-up Scotland: What does Scotland have? What does Scotland have? We are only 8.3% of the UK’s population, 8.3 %! Remember!! 32% of the land area 61% of the sea area 90% of the fresh water. (There is more fresh water in loch Ness than In England and Wales combined!) 65% of the natural gas production 96.5% of the crude oil production 47% of the open cast coal production 81% of the untapped coal reserves 62% of the timber production 46% of the total forest area 92% of the hydro electric production 40% … Continue reading What does Scotland have? Look at this and try to keep your mouth shut

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Canadian airline has planes older than the oldest CalMac ferry and an average age 22% higher

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Thanks to one of our Anonymous readers for suggesting this. CalMac’s oldest large ferry, the MV Isle of Arran is 41 this year. The average age of a CalMac ferry is 24 years. From Airline Ratings in December 2023: Boasting one of the oldest passenger aircraft is Canadian Air Inuit with four 737-200’s averaging an age of 44 years. The airline also has a 737-300 aged 32 years and 15 Dash-8’s at an average age of 29 years. Three 737-800s aged just 11 years held bring the average fleet age for the airline down to 29.4 years. https://www.airlineratings.com/news/passenger-news/oldest-commercial-aircraft-still-flying/#:~:text=Inuit%20Air%2C%20Iran%20Air%20and,well%20over%2040%20years%20old.&text=Boasting%20one%20of%20the%20oldest,an%20age%20of%2044%20years I don’t … Continue reading Canadian airline has planes older than the oldest CalMac ferry and an average age 22% higher

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Why is Scotland’s cancer rate significantly higher than that in England – nuclear waste, nuclear power and nuclear weapons placed as far from London as possible?

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By Professor John Robertson In Scotland: In 2021, the rate, or risk, of new cancers also increased to 644 per 100,000 [around 700 for men and 600 for women (an increase of 3.1% compared with 2019). In England, in 2020, the rate for men was 590 and for women, 487. These are significant differences. There are several explanatory factors including smoking (England lowest 13%, Scotland next at 13.9%, N Ireland at 14% and Wales at 14.1%) and better NHS detection services but you have to wonder about the Sellafield reprocessing plant, the most toxic nuclear plant in Europe, seeping pollutants … Continue reading Why is Scotland’s cancer rate significantly higher than that in England – nuclear waste, nuclear power and nuclear weapons placed as far from London as possible?