Last week Scottish Government committed firmly to free higher education tuition, was ignored by ALL news media, but this week BBC Scotland prefers to tell you about London-based thinktank’s doubts

Please Support Talking-up Scotland at:https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/support-talking-up-scotlandClick on the above. BBC Scotland today with London-based Institute [just a bunch of lads really] for Fiscal Studies doubting whether Scotland can continue to afford free higher education tuition for all and ignoring this from last week: I searched for news media coverage to get only this response: The Times Higher Education, read only by some academics, has this below but as you can see above this important news is being hidden from the electorate: ‘We’re looking at all parts of the system – except tuition fees’ https://www.timeshighereducation.com/news/were-looking-all-parts-system-except-tuition-fees The THE article by Helen Packer is actually not at all supportive … Continue reading Last week Scottish Government committed firmly to free higher education tuition, was ignored by ALL news media, but this week BBC Scotland prefers to tell you about London-based thinktank’s doubts

Scottish Government report on ‘Five years of Scottish Child Payment’ totally ignored by ‘our’ media

Please Support Talking-up Scotland at: https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/support-talking-up-scotlandClick on the above. Scottish Child Payment has supported more than 241,000 parents and carers since its launch five years ago, helping put over £1.3 billion into the pockets of low-income families. An increase to the payment for children under one will be introduced during 2027/28, estimated to benefit around 12,000 children and could be worth an extra £500 a year for each eligible child. The payment, which is only available in Scotland, provides families with £27.15 a week, rising to £28.20 from April 2026, for every eligible child under 16.  Latest figures show more than 322,000 children are … Continue reading Scottish Government report on ‘Five years of Scottish Child Payment’ totally ignored by ‘our’ media

What kind of miserable wee s***e had the meanness of spirit to ask how much it cost to send the New York mayor an SNP baby box and which media outlet do they work for – what’s your guess?

Please Support Talking-up Scotland at: https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/support-talking-up-scotlandClick on the above. On the 23rd January, someone wrote to the Scottish Government to ask: Please provide copies of any internal correspondence, submissions, briefings or approvals relating to the decision. Please provide the total cost incurred by the Scottish Government in producing, packaging and sending the Baby Box. They got a reply on 4th February and it was published yesterday. https://www.gov.scot/publications/foi-202600503409/ In the correspondence you can see that the Social Justice Secretary Shirley-Anne Somerville had seen Mayor Mamdani express a desire to introduce a similar baby box in New York. Sharing his views on … Continue reading What kind of miserable wee s***e had the meanness of spirit to ask how much it cost to send the New York mayor an SNP baby box and which media outlet do they work for – what’s your guess?

95% of Scotland’s schools in good condition up from only 62% under Labour and they struggle to do anything about it in England after 19 months in government

and need refurbishing or even replacing, according to a group of MPs in a report that’s out this morning. Please Support Talking-up Scotland at:https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/support-talking-up-scotlandClick on the above. That’s the message on BBC Breakfast this morning. What’s the situation in Scotland? This but you won’t be hearing it elsewhere: By stewartb School estate statistics 2024 provides statistics for context and perspective. It follows a BBC Scotland article on the corporation’s News website on 12 October headlined: ‘Child safety fears as ‘repaired’ ceiling falls at neglected school’. Now don’t get me wrong, no one should have a piece of wood or plasterboard … Continue reading 95% of Scotland’s schools in good condition up from only 62% under Labour and they struggle to do anything about it in England after 19 months in government

Today Scottish Government commits firmly to free higher education tuition for all but not one mainstream media outlet covers this important news because…..it shines in reducing financial barriers and debt-related harms, fostering broader participation and a societal ethos of education as a right

Please Support Talking-up Scotland at:https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/support-talking-up-scotlandClick on the above. The Times Higher Education, read only by some academics, has this below but as you can see above this important news is being hidden from the electorate: ‘We’re looking at all parts of the system – except tuition fees’ https://www.timeshighereducation.com/news/were-looking-all-parts-system-except-tuition-fees The THE article by Helen Packer is actually not at all supportive of the Scottish Government, foregrounding the views of critics so, even hear the SNP election campaign is being questioned. How does Scotland’s free university tuition system compare with other systems charging students thousands in fees in terms of wider societal … Continue reading Today Scottish Government commits firmly to free higher education tuition for all but not one mainstream media outlet covers this important news because…..it shines in reducing financial barriers and debt-related harms, fostering broader participation and a societal ethos of education as a right

Scotland’s schools narrow attainment gaps across the board and ‘most deprived’ 14/15 year-olds make major strides in literacy

From Achievement of Curriculum for Excellence (CfE) Levels, 2024-25 published on 9 December 2025: The statistics also provide information on the gap in attainment between pupils from the most and least deprived areas of Scotland: For literacy, there was an increase in the proportions of primary pupils (P1, P4, P7 combined) that achieved the expected level, from both the least deprived and most deprived areas with a larger increase in the most deprived areas. As a result, the gap reached its narrowest ever level of 19.4 percentage points. For primary numeracy, the gap narrowed to 16.6 percentage points, which was … Continue reading Scotland’s schools narrow attainment gaps across the board and ‘most deprived’ 14/15 year-olds make major strides in literacy

Literacy and Numeracy at record highs in Scotland’s schools

Support Talking-up Scotland -In this election year in Scotland, the 90% pro-Union media and their sponsors in the opposition parties will do everything they can to undermine the pro-independence parties. Thought vastly outnumbered, we will do our very best to counter their lies and get you, every day, the true stories and the sources of evidence to prove them. Help us if you can at https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/help-talking-up-scotland-get-the-facts-for-you From the National Standardised Assessments for Scotland National Report for Academic Year 2024-2025, published today, we can see the one year results but no trends. This is a classic example of a task where … Continue reading Literacy and Numeracy at record highs in Scotland’s schools

BBC Scotland desperately keen to headline their hoped for ‘closure of almost every school in Scotland’ and confront the minister but then keep quiet when the teachers clearly can’t be bothered to strike

BBC Scotland, 15 January 2025 from first thing. This captured at 10am. The following day it remained the headline story in the BBC Scotland inserts in BBC Breakfast. One of the teaching unions, the NAS UWT, had already given up because not enough members had voted but the BBC team still seem hopeful today that they might get some bad news they can connect to the Scottish Government. It’s now an hour or so since the comedic EIS announcement: The EIS announced that its recent statutory industrial action ballot on teacher workload has become a victim of soon-to-be repealed elements of UK … Continue reading BBC Scotland desperately keen to headline their hoped for ‘closure of almost every school in Scotland’ and confront the minister but then keep quiet when the teachers clearly can’t be bothered to strike

95% of Scotland’s schools in good condition up from only 62% under Labour yet Herald platform Anas Sarwar to accuse SNP

The Herald today, above, joining the daily anti-SNP drip from the 95% Unionist media in Scotland, with the above evidence-free reporting and, of course, ignoring the key role of local councils in maintaining school buildings. Here’s the evidence on school buildings: By stewartb This provides statistics for context and perspective. It follows a BBC Scotland article on the corporation’s News website on 12 October headlined: ‘Child safety fears as ‘repaired’ ceiling falls at neglected school’. Now don’t get me wrong, no one should have a piece of wood or plasterboard fall on or near their head, anywhere. And especially no … Continue reading 95% of Scotland’s schools in good condition up from only 62% under Labour yet Herald platform Anas Sarwar to accuse SNP

London-born, entirely England-educated, nephrologist with no understanding of Scotland’s 500 years plus history of universal free-education thinks he can tell us what to do

Sir Peter William Mathieson, above, born in Colchester, educated entirely in England with only a medical science degree, and principal of the university where anti-working class Scots bias is the norm1, is on BBC Scotland today to tell us: Edinburgh University’s principal says Scottish students should be asked to pay towards their tuition, as the sector is in “danger” under the current system. Prof Sir Peter Mathieson said that Scotland – where undergraduate tuition is free for most students – could adopt a “graduate repayment scheme” based upon salary. Mathieson insisted Scotland’s funding model was “not sustainable”, but said he … Continue reading London-born, entirely England-educated, nephrologist with no understanding of Scotland’s 500 years plus history of universal free-education thinks he can tell us what to do