Tag: news

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Audit Scotland satisfied with SNP ferry contract awards

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This site costs nothing to run so donate to our friends at  https://www.broadcastingscotland.scot/donate/ Scotland’s narrowest ferry correspondent cannot hide his huff as Audit Scotland decide not to carry out further inquiries into the new ferry procurement procedures. In 2022, they had concerns but, according to the Herald today (unsourced), they appear to have accepted that due process was followed. Here’s the end after all the hissyfitting: Audit Scotland previously questioned why a builder’s refund guarantee – which would protect the buyer – was not part of the contract with Ferguson Marine despite usually being a mandatory consideration. But Audit Scotland … Continue reading Audit Scotland satisfied with SNP ferry contract awards

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100 000 children to be kept out of poverty in 2024-25 as a result of Scottish Government policies

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This site costs nothing to run so donate to our friends at  https://www.broadcastingscotland.scot/donate/ From the Scottish Government today: The First Minister has welcomed analysis which estimates 100,000 children will be kept out of relative poverty in 2024-25 as a result of Scottish Government policies. Updated modelling of the cumulative impact of policies such as the Scottish Child Payment indicates the relative child poverty rate will be 10 percentage points lower than it would otherwise have been. Speaking after joining a Book Bug session at Drum Brae Library Hub in Edinburgh with the Cabinet Secretary for Social Justice, Mr Yousaf highlighted estimates … Continue reading 100 000 children to be kept out of poverty in 2024-25 as a result of Scottish Government policies

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Latest crime statistics too nice to talk about

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This site costs nothing to run so donate to our friends at  https://www.broadcastingscotland.scot/donate/ From the Scottish Government yesterday: The police in Scotland recorded 302,076 crimes in the year ending December 2023. This was 5% higher than the 287,678 crimes recorded in the year ending December 2022, but 2% lower than the 308,434 crimes recorded in the year ending December 2019. https://www.gov.scot/publications/recorded-crime-scotland-year-ending-december-2023 I’ve had to get the above graph from June 2023 to reveal the trends – more than 300 000 fewer crimes per year reported than at the end of Thatcherism and around 150 000 fewer since the SNP took … Continue reading Latest crime statistics too nice to talk about

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Two Labour men who would not dare to ask Keir Starmer to copy this to take 5 million English kids out of poverty

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This site costs nothing to run so donate to our friends at  https://www.broadcastingscotland.scot/donate/ Today, from the Scottish Government but nowhere on BBC Scotland: Scottish Child Payment was helping the families of more than 327,000 children at the end of December last year, official statistics have shown.  The £25-a-week payment helps families as part of a wider package of Scottish Government actions to tackle child poverty and support people during the cost of living crisis.  The figures published today show more than 4,000 extra children were being supported since the previous quarter – the fourth consecutive rise.  Scottish Child Payment launched … Continue reading Two Labour men who would not dare to ask Keir Starmer to copy this to take 5 million English kids out of poverty

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Affordable housing completions in Scotland soar above rest of UK but Labour/Con/Lib Dem unholy coalition in Fife get on BBC Scotland with a different story

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This site costs nothing to run so donate to our friends at  https://www.broadcastingscotland.scot/donate/ As BBC Scotland delights today in the irony of the one housing officer, in Fife, who had to declare herself homeless after her private landlord decided to sell, their extended report has, of course, no context. Here is some. The above graph speaks for itself. Since the SNP came into power in 2007/2008, when Labour Scotland’s affordable housing completions were only just above those in Labour England, the Scottish level has climbed and stayed way above that in Con England and even further above that in Labour … Continue reading Affordable housing completions in Scotland soar above rest of UK but Labour/Con/Lib Dem unholy coalition in Fife get on BBC Scotland with a different story

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Scotland training far far more doctors than rest of UK

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This site costs nothing to run so donate to our friends at  https://www.broadcastingscotland.scot/donate/ Many thanks as, often before, to Dottie for alerting me to this. From the Guardian yesterday: Ministers have dramatically stalled plans to double the number of doctors being trained in England by 2031 in a move that has caused dismay across the NHS, as well in medical schools and universities, the Observer can reveal. In June last year, ministers backed a long-term plan to expand the NHS workforce and pledged, amid great fanfare, to “double medical school places by 2031 from 7,500 today to 15,000, with more medical school places in areas … Continue reading Scotland training far far more doctors than rest of UK

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Shock – Welsh teachers union doesn’t sacrifice its members’ interests to help Labour

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This site costs nothing to run so donate to our friends at  https://www.broadcastingscotland.scot/donate/ By stewartb In TuS yesterday: ‘the EIS union, whose leaders have regularly misrepresented their members interests to help Scottish Labour’ Given the reference to the EIS and given its general negativity towards the Scottish Government, it’s instructive to look at an example of how the equivalent of the EIS in Wales frames its ‘wants’ from the Welsh Government (with my emphasis). From the website of the National Education Union (NEU): ‘The crisis in funding for schools and colleges in Wales. Motion 22 – NEU Cymru members highlight … Continue reading Shock – Welsh teachers union doesn’t sacrifice its members’ interests to help Labour

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55 County Lines drug gangs from England exploiting vulnerable Scots but our media keep quiet

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This site costs nothing to run so donate to our friends at  https://www.broadcastingscotland.scot/donate/ From the Daily Mail on February 3rd 2024 but ignored by Scottish media: The Scottish Mail on Sunday can reveal at least 55 gangs have been identified operating north of the Border – more than double the number in 2020. County lines is the phenomenon whereby drug dealers from cities expand their operation by crossing county borders into smaller towns and rural areas. Gangs from parts of England have forced youngsters and vulnerable adults – aged from 14 to 77 – to smuggle packages of heroin, crack … Continue reading 55 County Lines drug gangs from England exploiting vulnerable Scots but our media keep quiet

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Junior doctor strikes again – Why we want less Scottish news and more from England

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Above, BBC Scotland’s interests specially chosen for you. Below, the really big story everywhere else in the UK but not to be mentioned by BBC Scotland, even though to do so might reassure thousands of the elderly, vulnerable and confused, that it is OK to contact NHS Scotland, to go for an appointment with confidence or, of course, to think something positive about the SNP in government: 10th strike by junior doctors, 50 plus days of doctor strikes across England with more than a million missed appointments, 50 000 plus excess deaths and strikes all across the UK, except in: … Continue reading Junior doctor strikes again – Why we want less Scottish news and more from England

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Ofgem rules against Baillie and Foulkes

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This site costs nothing to run so donate to our friends at  https://www.broadcastingscotland.scot/donate/ Jackie Baillie MSP (Labour) and Lord George Foulkes (Labour) succeeded in sabotaging the First Minister’s Covid updates. Foulkes bragged about stopping folk from hearing important information because that was bad for the image of his dud party, Labour. 4 people, presumably including Baillie and Foulkes or their staff/pals, wrote to Ofcom accusing BBC Scotland of bias in favour of the Scottish Government. Friend of TuS, Brenda Robb wrote to BBC Scotland, under Freedom of Information, asking to see the communication around the above decision: I have listened … Continue reading Ofgem rules against Baillie and Foulkes