Tag: news

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Scottish media accept that Israeli interference against the SNP may be true and accurate in 2026 while that from Russia on referendum irregularities in 2014 was clearly ‘fake and ‘inaccurate’

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Covered fairly widely in the Scottish MSM and by BBC Scotland last week: Scotland’s first minister was targeted by an Israeli firm spreading online disinformation before the Holyrood election, a French government agency has claimed. John Swinney and the SNP were allegedly targeted in accounts linked to BlackCore – a tech company claiming to “shape narratives” who French authorities accused of trying to smear pro-Palestine election candidates. Disinformation detection service Viginum said hundreds of fake accounts would leave co-ordinated comments on Swinney’s social media posts.Swinney had described the conflict in Gaza as a “man-made humanitarian catastrophe” and said a genocide by … Continue reading Scottish media accept that Israeli interference against the SNP may be true and accurate in 2026 while that from Russia on referendum irregularities in 2014 was clearly ‘fake and ‘inaccurate’

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Surge in e bike offences is exacerbation of wider county lines drug gangs plague from England

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From Aberdeenshire Live, last week: Fifty people have been charged in connection with a Police Scotland crackdown on illegal e-bikes in Aberdeen. The city’s Community Action Team identified 154 crimes during a three-week crackdown on illegal e-bikes, with dozens of people charged. Between Monday, May 18 and Friday, June 5, officers working on Operation Armour patrolled known crime hotspots, targeted offenders and gathered intelligence. The initiative followed an increase in reports from the public about illegal vehicle use across the city. https://www.aberdeenlive.news/news/aberdeen-news/50-people-charged-amid-huge-11007759 This is a further exacerbation of the county lines drug gangs plague, based in English cites, now into every corner of Scotland and … Continue reading Surge in e bike offences is exacerbation of wider county lines drug gangs plague from England

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My Party, My Choice – SNP Donors Speak Out

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By Jim Mennie Following Peter Murrell’s guilty plea for embezzling over £400,000 from SNP funds, opposition parties and sections of the media have called for a public inquiry and the “return of funds to donors”. A petition launched by SNP donors in 2024 made one clear point: donations to the SNP are voluntary, unrestricted gifts under UK law. Thousands of us who donated have already said publicly and privately that we do not want our money back. In fact, donations to the SNP have increased since the case concluded. This short ‘Have Your Say’ gives every member and donor the … Continue reading My Party, My Choice – SNP Donors Speak Out

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Where it counts, NHS Grampian is not ‘troubled’

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BBC Scotland, in their BBC Breakfast insert today, making much of NHS Grampian as ‘troubled‘, misses these key statistics below. The Hospital Standardised Mortality Ratio is a reliable measure of the extent to which a hospital is operating normally and safely. The large Aberdeen Royal is only 0.04% above the Scottish average of 1. Smaller hospitals can have less predictable figures but, again Dr Gray’s is within the normal, safe, range shown below: From Hospital Standardised Mortality Ratios January 2025 to December 2025 published today, the above chart and: No hospitals [including those of NHS Grampian] had a significantly higher standardised mortality ratio … Continue reading Where it counts, NHS Grampian is not ‘troubled’

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‘£38.6 million in party funding coming from unknown sources’

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By stewartb There are critical voices raised regarding the financing of politics in the UK but the issue seems to gain little immediate and certainly no sustained MSM attention. (A bit like wider electoral reform?) The Electoral Reform Society on February 19, 2026 published this: ‘Briefing on Political Finance’ (https://electoral-reform.org.uk/latest-news-and-research/parliamentary-briefings/briefing-on-political-finance/ ) It’s very revealing about political financing in the UK, and worrying for UK democracy especially in the context of Westminster’s FPTP voting system that can give so much power to a party achieving a minority of the popular vote, enabled by huge and often ‘dark’ donations and loans. Examples from the … Continue reading ‘£38.6 million in party funding coming from unknown sources’

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Something Wicked This Way Comes – Labour’s funding via hidden donation routes

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By Mark E. Saunders of “The Scottish Minuteman” https://www.facebook.com/profile.php/?id=61575625542197 Something Wicked This Way Comes Fraud within a political party is serious. Any organisation can suffer from a rogue individual abusing trust, and when that happens it should be investigated properly. But what should concern us more is not money disappearing from political party coffers through ordinary light-fingered theft, but money quietly entering through darker channels. There is a difference between a “dark element” of human nature and what is commonly referred to as “dark money”. The first is familiar. It arises through greed, dishonesty, or opportunism. The second is more corrosive. Put simply, it … Continue reading Something Wicked This Way Comes – Labour’s funding via hidden donation routes

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Scots human rights group winning UN recognition again reflects nearly two decades of SNP values in action but no credit given again

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Perhaps predictably, TFN (Third force News) uses an image of the UK human rights legislation rather than an example of one of the more ambitious Scottish Government initiatives to promote human rights here. They open with: Top grades have been endowed upon the Scottish Human Rights Commission (SHRC) by the United Nations. It is the fourth time the body has received the accreditation.   This award of A Status from the Global Alliance of National Human Rights Institutions (NHRIs) and the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights recognises the SHRC’s independence, authority, and broad statutory mandate … Continue reading Scots human rights group winning UN recognition again reflects nearly two decades of SNP values in action but no credit given again

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Police Scotland merger criticised by opposition parties has resulted in world leading detection rate and every homicide committed in Scotland since 2013 solved

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The Sun ‘newspaper’ this week has been milking Scotland’s dark history of murder, based entirely on offences which took place before the merger of Scotland’s eight regional forces. They have no choice to do so because not only has the murder level plummeted from 64 in 2012/2013, to 44 in 2024/2025, 33% in only 12 years, one of the lowest rates in Europe and well below that in England & Wales, every single cases has been solved. The merger as with every SNP initiative met with opposition and media criticism. In 2017, the Herald‘s Tom Gordonstoun told us: THE SNP Government has been accused of … Continue reading Police Scotland merger criticised by opposition parties has resulted in world leading detection rate and every homicide committed in Scotland since 2013 solved

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England’s drug gangs have been cuckooing the vulnerable in Scotland for years now

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There’s no mention of Scotland in the above BBC UK story today, but we’ve known for some time how present this plague is in Scotland: Regulars here will recognise the rarely enlightening thinktank headed up by Lord McConnell, Chris Deerin and their totally non-academic, guide-leader, BBC average housewife interviewee, Research Director, Alison Payne. In May 2026, they had the above and: The recent passage of a new criminal offence of cuckooing within the Crime and Policing Act marks a significant milestone after years of sustained advocacy by the Centre for Social Justice and Justice and Care. It is a reform … Continue reading England’s drug gangs have been cuckooing the vulnerable in Scotland for years now

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Before a Nation Loses Its Chance of Freedom, It Loses Its Confidence

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By Mark E. Saunders of “The Scottish Minuteman” https://www.facebook.com/profile.php/?id=61575625542197 This will be my final article on the SNP/Nicola Sturgeon/Peter Murrell saga. Not because there is nothing more to say, but because I have no wish to add more fuel to a fire that is already burning. Yes. Political parties must be scrutinised. Politicians must be held accountable. Nobody is beyond criticism. That is the beauty of a healthy democracy. But what I am now witnessing goes far beyond that.  As I watch the endless stream of anti-SNP memes, AI-generated cartoons and social media derision — fed relentlessly by a 24-hour news cycle — … Continue reading Before a Nation Loses Its Chance of Freedom, It Loses Its Confidence