Tag: news

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Nine SNP initiatives to tackle child poverty all unique to Scotland and all of them not news for you apparently

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From: Tackling Child Poverty Delivery Plan: Progress Report 2025-26 published yesterday to the above MSM response: Steps taken in the past year to further strengthen the support available to families include: This is in addition to our continued investment in actions delivered over the life of this plan, including devolved employability support, free bus travel for under 22s and disabled people, and our package of social security payments including the Scottish Child Payment. Source: https://www.gov.scot/publications/tackling-child-poverty-delivery-plan-progress-report-2025-26/pages/3/ In short, these steps are Scotland-only measures designed to tackle child poverty within the devolved framework. They do not apply elsewhere in the UK, though … Continue reading Nine SNP initiatives to tackle child poverty all unique to Scotland and all of them not news for you apparently

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‘Reports of My Death Have Been Greatly Exaggerated’ and ‘Burnham putting Scotland back in its box’

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By Mark E. Saunders of “The Scottish Minuteman” https://www.facebook.com/profile.php/?id=61575625542197 While the band strikes up Hail to the Chief in Makerfield and the Prime Minister spends a nervous weekend contemplating his future at Chequers, sections of the Scottish press are once again falling over themselves to predict the death of the Scottish independence movement. The instrument of execution this time? Andy Burnham. According to Herald columnist and occasional prophet Neil Mackay, Burnham represents the SNP’s nightmare: a popular Labour leader who restores faith in Westminster and pulls the political rug from beneath the feet of the Scottish National Party and its supporters. It is an … Continue reading ‘Reports of My Death Have Been Greatly Exaggerated’ and ‘Burnham putting Scotland back in its box’

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As effectiveness of the new UK Labour government plan to protect victims from released prisoners is revealed to be failing, a former Scottish MP and former senior police officer explained the more effective Scottish system more than two years ago

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From the Western Mail 12 May 2026, the above image and: A MAN punched his fists through the kit­chen win­dow of his former part­ner’s house and threatened to murder her before tak­ing her by the throat and squeez­ing, a court has heard. Alex Thomas had only been out of prison for a mat­ter of days when he attacked the woman in her own home. Source: https://www.pressreader.com/uk/western-mail/20260512/281754160949044?srsltid=AfmBOoqFwQYiCXNV8WvWaCzWS66IFxf79j9_SJdB7fRphldnxLtOEm8t In August 2025, the UK Labour Government set out plants to prevent this kind of thing> Today’s latest ‘back-of-a-cigarette-packet‘ plan by the UK Labour Government to protect victims from released violent offenders has been … Continue reading As effectiveness of the new UK Labour government plan to protect victims from released prisoners is revealed to be failing, a former Scottish MP and former senior police officer explained the more effective Scottish system more than two years ago

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In Scotland, twice as many ‘probation officers’ and so only a tiny fraction of the re-offending level

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In the Guardian today: The public is “at direct risk” from unsupervised ex-offenders because probation officers in England and Wales are being asked to cope with excessive workloads, a union has said. As ministers prepare to release and monitor tens of thousands more prisoners this autumn, Napo’s executive has declared for the first time that it has no confidence in managers at the probation service. In a worrying development for the government, the union is threatening to launch industrial action in three months’ time unless members receive increased support and pay. James Timpson, the prisons minister, told MPs last week that the … Continue reading In Scotland, twice as many ‘probation officers’ and so only a tiny fraction of the re-offending level

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Why does BBC UK report an English drug gang terrorising Aberdeen but BBC Scotland hide it?

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From the Scottish Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service yesterday: Victor Kihu, 24, recruited men from deprived areas in England to sell and supply Class A drugs from several properties in a cross-border county lines illicit practice known as cuckooing.  Prosecutors from the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS) gathered evidence which showed Kihu exercised control over multiple addresses to oversee the drug-trafficking scheme.  He directed others to purchase and sell cocaine and heroin while using the homes of susceptible individuals as a base for his criminal conduct.  He was a member of an organised crime group known as Harlem which operated between Aberdeen, Glasgow and Inverness.   and: “Victor Kihu deliberately targeted people … Continue reading Why does BBC UK report an English drug gang terrorising Aberdeen but BBC Scotland hide it?

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Scotland’s pharmacy scheme ‘the model for England’ may reduce shortages problems

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In the Guardian today: Britons [sic] are facing some of the “most severe” shortages of NHS medicines on record including common painkillers, epilepsy drugs and HRT, health leaders have warned, even forcing some patients with impaired digestive systems to skip meals. The National Pharmacy Association (NPA) has warned that medicine shortages pose a “serious risk to patient safety”. The Royal College of GPs has also raised concerns about the impact medicine shortages have on patients, GPs and pharmacists. Source: https://www.theguardian.com/business/2026/jun/18/nhs-patients-face-worst-drug-shortages-on-record-say-pharmacists-and-gps BBC Breakfast 29 May 2026 told us the Scottish Government has long put in place a better model for pharmacies, repeatedly covered here but never in the … Continue reading Scotland’s pharmacy scheme ‘the model for England’ may reduce shortages problems

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TORY OIL AND GAS PROMISES IN ABERDEEN SOUTH: EMPTY RHETORIC FROM A PARTY OF WASTE

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By JimMennie As Aberdeen South goes to the polls today, Tories are still attempting to pitch themselves as the saviours of North Sea jobs. Their candidate and national figures claim they alone will “get Britain drilling” and reverse decline. The reality is starker. The long-term drop in oil and gas employment has been driven primarily by global markets, a maturing North Sea basin with smaller, costlier fields, and the inevitable energy transition — factors no Westminster government fully controls. Their own record of squandering billions in public money makes these promises ring hollow for voters who have lived through the … Continue reading TORY OIL AND GAS PROMISES IN ABERDEEN SOUTH: EMPTY RHETORIC FROM A PARTY OF WASTE

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UK Labour deny England’s under-22’s the ‘transformative benefit’ of Scotland’s free bus scheme as it hits more than 300 million journeys

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From Transport Scotland yesterday, the above and: Children and young people in Scotland have now made over 300 million free bus journeys since the Scottish Government introduced free travel for under-22s. Since January 2022, the scheme continues to transform how young people are traveling by bus, saving people money, supporting greener travel, and boosting the economy by opening up access to education, jobs, and leisure. Over 80% of eligible young people have access to the scheme through a National Entitlement Card or Young Scot National Entitlement Card. Source: https://www.transport.gov.scot/news/over-300-million-free-bus-trips-made-by-young-people-across-scotland/ What’s happening in England, Sir Keir? Thanks to Dottie for alerting me to … Continue reading UK Labour deny England’s under-22’s the ‘transformative benefit’ of Scotland’s free bus scheme as it hits more than 300 million journeys

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After two decades of SNP Government far fewer per head young Scots are not in employment, education or training (Neets)

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BBC Breakfast today had the above headline story of 1 012 000 16 to 24 year-olds not in employment, education and training. All things being equal, with 8% of the population, you’d expect the figure in Scotland to be around 81 000. Scotland does not publish a single official NEET figure for the full 16–24 age group using the same definition as the UK-wide Labour Force Survey (LFS). Instead, it focuses on a more comprehensive Annual Participation Measure (APM) for ages 16–19 and the figure for that is around 9 000. https://www.skillsdevelopmentscotland.co.uk/media/2y3ex4it/2025-annual-participation-measure-statistics.pdf On the basis of the above, the Scottish … Continue reading After two decades of SNP Government far fewer per head young Scots are not in employment, education or training (Neets)

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On by-election day BBC Scotland ask Scottish Government to comment on a survey of Scottish radiology heads’ opinions despite hard evidence of diagnostic waits plummeting and to far below those in NHS England

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for patients across Scotland, according to the Royal College of Radiologists. 60% of cancer centre and radiology department leaders who responded to their report said that staff shortages are causing patients’ conditions to worsen. The president of the Royal College said the findings should be causing alarm bells. The above story is another direct feed to Reporting Scotland, not being covered in greater detail elsewhere, not even on the BBC Scotland website. The Health Secretary is contacted and expected to respond to what is a partial, self-selecting, survey of opinion and not actual performance statistics. Here are some facts: 1. … Continue reading On by-election day BBC Scotland ask Scottish Government to comment on a survey of Scottish radiology heads’ opinions despite hard evidence of diagnostic waits plummeting and to far below those in NHS England