Tag: politics

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Inexperienced patient safety commissioner sides with tabloid’s anecdotal evidence against the reliable factual evidence of NHS Scotland’s superior maternity services

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In the Herald today: Scotland’s patient safety watchdog privately urged ministers to scrap their maternity taskforce over concerns it was failing to act with sufficient urgency, The Herald can reveal. Karen Titchener, the Patient Safety Commissioner for Scotland, wrote to Health Secretary Angela Constance in June recommending the Scottish Maternity and Neonatal Taskforce be discontinued and replaced with an independent, nationwide assessment of services. and these unfounded claims: https://www.heraldscotland.com/news/26431969.watchdog-urged-ministers-axe-scotland-maternity-taskforce/?ref=ebln&nid=1220&block=article_block_a&u=54f15f1382a35160f5f9fbd9de82faff&date=050826 Kitchener’s previous experience was in the US and in England. Her one peer-reviewed research paper is co-authored with 7 others in Utah and North Carolina, 10 years ago. Her claim that … Continue reading Inexperienced patient safety commissioner sides with tabloid’s anecdotal evidence against the reliable factual evidence of NHS Scotland’s superior maternity services

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Even before today’s results Scotland’s schools narrowed attainment gaps across the board and ‘most deprived’ 14/15 year-olds made major strides in literacy

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The gutter press today, above, with the same old un-educated claims. The facts: 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, … Continue reading Even before today’s results Scotland’s schools narrowed attainment gaps across the board and ‘most deprived’ 14/15 year-olds made major strides in literacy

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Only tiny 2% of terror referrals are in Scotland to rebut Labour scare story

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In the deeply untrusted Herald yesterday, the above, and: Scotland’s only ethnic-minority and Muslim MP has called on the Scottish Government to fund a cohesion strategy in the wake of last month’s violent far-right rally in Glasgow . Dr Zubir Ahmed said cuts to youth provision and to community policing meant the early warning signs of radicalisation were being missed. Does being ‘Scotland’s only ethnic-minority and Muslim MP’ mean you are well-placed to knowing what’s going in? Apparently not: Ahmed is trying to suggest terror referrals in Scotland are a serious problem just like in other parts of the UK and are being missed. … Continue reading Only tiny 2% of terror referrals are in Scotland to rebut Labour scare story

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From the wetter parts of Britain to the places that ‘actually need it’

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By Liz S Talking of “Fire” there is another huge problem in certain parts of the UK State , that is where droughts are also currently happening , all as a result of the greatly increased temperatures in some places within the UK state and also due to a lack of rainfall. There is a digital online travel platform called ‘Exploring GB’. They posted this on 28 July on Facebook: “Scotland gets huge amounts of rainfall, while parts of southern England regularly end up facing droughts and hosepipe bans”. “The Romans were transporting water over vast distances 2,000 years ago. Surely in 2026, we’re capable of getting water from the … Continue reading From the wetter parts of Britain to the places that ‘actually need it’

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There is no trusted journalism that matters in Scotland

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The Herald is owned by a corporation and serves the interests of that corporation including its preference for the stability of the UK within NATO. The empirical evidence is clear and can be trusted far more than the Herald’s unconvincing claims: Substantial empirical evidence from case studies, content analyses, and comparative work on these topics aligns with and supports the core predictions of Herman and Chomsky’s propaganda model. The model holds that structural filters (ownership, advertising, elite sourcing, flak, and ideology) systematically shape mainstream media performance to favor elite/state/corporate interests when those interests are relatively unified, limiting the range of … Continue reading There is no trusted journalism that matters in Scotland

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Environment body admits Dounreay (Caithness) decades-long nuclear leak cannot EVER be cleaned up

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The above, which I missed 15 years ago, popped up in social media recently to shock me with the candour of the headline. More on it below, after this. Last October 2025 we had: Inspectors raise Scottish nuclear plant with excess child leukaemia risk to an ‘enhanced level of regulatory attention for safety because of unsatisfactory site performance across numerous areas’ with 300 years to go until it’s ‘safe’ From the Chief Nuclear Inspector’s annual report on Great Britain’s nuclear industry October 2025, page 28: In July 2024, we increased NRS Dounreay to an enhanced level of regulatory attention for safety because … Continue reading Environment body admits Dounreay (Caithness) decades-long nuclear leak cannot EVER be cleaned up

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A ‘Box of Frogs’ plan for Scottish Independence

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By Mark E. Saunders of “The Scottish Minuteman” https://www.facebook.com/profile.php/?id=61575625542197 And Now For Something Completely Different A number of the anti-Scottish Independence media outlets have started reporting on a recent ‘proposal’ by former UK ambassador and Scottish independence campaigner Craig Murray.  Murray’s plan, described by some political pundits as “sinister”, suggests that the Scottish Government should simply declare an independence date without Westminster’s consent. Among his more controversial proposals are; the requiring civil servants to swear an oath of allegiance to a new Scottish state or face dismissal, encouraging Scottish citizens to occupy UK Government buildings and blockade military bases as part of a national … Continue reading A ‘Box of Frogs’ plan for Scottish Independence

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Prisons in England and Wales with only half the probation officers, releasing twice as many and having to recall twelve times as many prisoners, proportionally, as in Scotland

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Thanks to Dottie for alerting us to this. From the Parole Board for Scotland Annual Report 2024/2025 (2025/2026 not yet released), 2 386 prisoners were released. Of these, 282 were recalled to prison within 12 months, an 11.8% recidivism rate overall. https://scottishparoleboard.scot/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/Annual-Report-2024-2025.pdf All things being equal in terms of influencing facts such as the availability of social rent housing and access to probation supervision staff, you might expect the figure for England and Wales to be around 12 times higher – 28 632 and 3 384. However, according to Offender management statistics quarterly: October to December 2024, the the number … Continue reading Prisons in England and Wales with only half the probation officers, releasing twice as many and having to recall twelve times as many prisoners, proportionally, as in Scotland

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27% more officers help Police Scotland cope with fewer, far smaller and far less violent anti-immigration protests than in England

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is placing significant pressure on its officers. Another one of these stories that only appear in Reporting Scotland broadcasts and are not fully presented with evidence on the website – different editors? This one is based entirely on the opinion of a trade union leader. Anyhow, while not wishing to understate the importance and the pressures involved in dealing with anti-immigration protests in Scotland, there are some facts our taxpayer-funded public service broadcaster should be telling us. First, Scotland has the highest ratio of police officers per 100 000 population – 295. England and Wales forces have a lower combined ratio 235–241. … Continue reading 27% more officers help Police Scotland cope with fewer, far smaller and far less violent anti-immigration protests than in England

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Andy Burnham fails to put out Manchester wildfire after two weeks but luckily, unlike the one the Cairngorms, it’s neither ‘apocalyptic’, the fault of any government nor is it due to the absence of helicopters

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For a reader in Scotland there are quite a few things missing in the above BBC Manchester report two days ago: Wildfires across Greater Manchester are still burning a fortnight after they first started, the fire service has said. More than 100 firefighters and volunteers have been tackling the blaze on two fronts at Dove Stone, after the fire in Saddleworth merged with a fire at Tintwistle, and at Swineshaw. Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service (GMFRS) said specialists from across the UK had been drafted in to control any remaining hotspots. The fires in Greater Manchester and Derbyshire have burned … Continue reading Andy Burnham fails to put out Manchester wildfire after two weeks but luckily, unlike the one the Cairngorms, it’s neither ‘apocalyptic’, the fault of any government nor is it due to the absence of helicopters