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‘Horrifying’ scale of child-on-child sexual abuse in schools cannot be confidently transferred to Scotland

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In the Guardian today: Lawyers and campaigners have condemned the “horrifying” scale of child-on-child sexual abuse in schools after a Guardian investigation revealed thousands of sexual offences against under-13s, including multiple rapes, are reported to police every year. Close to five sexual crimes against children aged 12 and younger were recorded on average by police every day in primary and secondary schools in England and Wales, according to Guardian analysis of police data for 2021-25. https://www.theguardian.com/education/2026/oct/04/child-on-child-sexual-abuse-schools-england-and-wales Directly comparable figures are not available. However, sexual offences based on police records published in government outlets are. In the year ending March 2026, … Continue reading ‘Horrifying’ scale of child-on-child sexual abuse in schools cannot be confidently transferred to Scotland

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Scotland’s predicted child poverty will perhaps be ‘missing a legally binding target’ at 21.8% but England’s 31.5%, 44% higher (!) is hidden from your eyes by James Cook

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and the Scottish Government’s on course to miss legally binding targets to cut poverty ‘by a wide margin.’ That’s come from the Joseph Rowntree Foundation’s annual report. Child Poverty is not headlining on any of the other BBC News websites. Only James Cook is on it. The Joseph Rowntree Foundation has not reported separately on child poverty this year in any of the other UK nations despite it having been much higher in all of them other than Scotland and with little prospect of falling in them. In January 2026, the JRF (different authors) said: Child poverty rates in Scotland … Continue reading Scotland’s predicted child poverty will perhaps be ‘missing a legally binding target’ at 21.8% but England’s 31.5%, 44% higher (!) is hidden from your eyes by James Cook

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Revealed: Unlike in Scotland, UK Government quietly dropped plan to prepare England for wildfires and fire crews do not have the proper protective gear

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Above, a lightly-clad firefighter working in Dunwich heat next to a nuclear power station. In the Guardian today: The government quietly scrapped plans to prepare the countryside in England for wildfires, it has been revealed. This was despite new data showing fire crews do not have the proper protective gear to tackle them. This summer has been a potent reminder of the scale of the threat posed by the climate crisis, with the UK experiencing record-breaking wildfires after punishingly hot and dry weather turned large parts of the countryside into a tinderbox. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/oct/04/government-dropped-plan-england-countryside-wildfires Scotland already has a published Strategic Action … Continue reading Revealed: Unlike in Scotland, UK Government quietly dropped plan to prepare England for wildfires and fire crews do not have the proper protective gear

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Little evidence for a looming A&E ‘winter crisis’ in Scotland

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The above graphs show a steep rise in the number waiting longer than the 4, 8 and 12 hour targets, in full emergency departments in Scotland, after the pandemic and then stabilising around the same seasonal peaks and dips since then. 1 While there are, always multiple explanations of the same phenomenon, globally, independent academic researchers (links below) have identified the ‘differences that make a difference:’ Pandemic after-effects locked the system into a worse equilibrium. Staff sickness, burnout and vacancies remained high even where headcount later rose. Infection-control steps, testing and cohorting slowed flow and some of that friction persisted. … Continue reading Little evidence for a looming A&E ‘winter crisis’ in Scotland

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“WE need oil and gas, WE need nuclear, WE need renewables, we need to get serious.”

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By Liz S STV News reports: “Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch is adamant that, despite Andy Burnham’s defence of the United Kingdom earlier this week, Labour is not serious about keeping the Union intact“ “keeping the Union intact” ? What Union would that be ? STV also mentioned that “Burnham has long been criticised for snubbing Scotland – after excluding it on his August summer ‘listening’ tour” . Mind you when do we ever see Kemi Badenoch, current Tory HQ leader, make a conscious effort to come up regularly to Scotland to reaffirm her supposed support for Scotland within the UK … Continue reading “WE need oil and gas, WE need nuclear, WE need renewables, we need to get serious.”

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What can Burnham learn from Scotland’s social care system?Scotland is the obvious comparison says FT

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Here’s the gist of the above: The article’s argument is that Scotland’s free personal care model is the closest working version of what Andy Burnham is proposing. Burnham has said that if Labour wins the next election he will create a National Care Service: person-centred, starting in the home, where “everyone contributes and everyone is covered,” meant to give peace of mind, protect savings, and value care workers. Scotland already does part of this. Free personal care has existed since 2002 for over-65s and, since 2019, for all adults assessed as needing it. As under Burnham’s outline, people still pay … Continue reading What can Burnham learn from Scotland’s social care system?Scotland is the obvious comparison says FT

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Burnham’s promises, just like Keir Starmer’s, soon begin to either fall away or just never materialise

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By Liz S Andy Burnham was interviewed by Laura Kuenssberg on Sunday 27 September. Kuenssberg reminded him that “in July 2026 you said he would go as fast as you can in sorting out care for the elderly and vulnerable for England, Social Care. Where have you got to 3 months later” ? Burnham’s response “We are making really good progress”. Then Burnham started to speak about his Dad and also about when he was formerly an MP, where he mentioned that his Gran was going through the Care system and so as Health Secretary he remembered saying “We shouldn’t … Continue reading Burnham’s promises, just like Keir Starmer’s, soon begin to either fall away or just never materialise

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If there is a crisis in Scotland’s maternity wards why are negligence pay-outs only a third of those in England and why is the Scotsman report double-counting incidents to get a big headline number?

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The Scotsman is desperately trying to build a reputation on death and despair in maternity wards. So far, it’s shoddy, fail, do not resubmit, leave the course. In classic churnalist mode, they’ve just added up incidents treating unlike things as if they were the same type of incident because the boards themselves do not use one shared set of terms, to get a big number for the headline. A serious (or significant) adverse event is the incident itself: something that could have caused, or did cause, harm. A serious/significant adverse event review (SAER) is the investigation commissioned afterwards. The article’s … Continue reading If there is a crisis in Scotland’s maternity wards why are negligence pay-outs only a third of those in England and why is the Scotsman report double-counting incidents to get a big headline number?

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England running scared of independence, THEIR independence that is as UK Parliament petition fails to attract?

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Important: This a UK-wide petition sent all constituency offices across the UK. Launched on 9 June 2026, nearly 4 months ago, the above UK Parliament approved petition reveals some enthusiasm for English Independence but only really in Scotland. What are they afraid of? By Liz S A petition online that someone has created for a “Referendum on English Independence”. What is especially delicious is some of the main reasoning behind its instigation. That reasoning behind this petition is sourced from what UK politicians and UK media keep claiming to be true in relation to Scotland, that is that spending (by … Continue reading England running scared of independence, THEIR independence that is as UK Parliament petition fails to attract?

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If England has ‘more than TWO MILLION homes at risk of flooding’ how many will Scotland have?

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In the Guardian today: More than two million people in England are unaware their properties are at risk of flooding, as the UK braces for a wet and stormy start to the winter, according to the Environment Agency. Experts say the next three months are more likely than usual to be wet and windy – due to a combination of large-scale weather patterns and the “subtle” impact of a supercharged El Niño – increasing the risk of flooding. However, the EA warned on Wednesday that people in a third of the six million properties most at risk of flooding are … Continue reading If England has ‘more than TWO MILLION homes at risk of flooding’ how many will Scotland have?