What did the Labour First Minister know about racism and misogyny in Strathclyde Police in 2005?

The BBC Scotland reporting this morning has: The mother of Emma Caldwell is to meet the first minister on Tuesday to call for a public inquiry into the investigation of her daughter’s murder. Margaret Caldwell wants a judge to look into the failings by police in the case. Iain Packer was jailed for life on 28 February for the murder of Emma as well as 11 rapes and multiple sexual assaults against a total of 22 women. The Scottish government has said it will consider a public inquiry. After the verdict, Police Scotland apologised for how the original inquiry was … Continue reading What did the Labour First Minister know about racism and misogyny in Strathclyde Police in 2005?

How little Labour did for the social housing market when in power in Scotland compared to the SNP

By NMRN “This is not the first time Shelter has mounted a campaign of deliberately context-free misinformation against the Scottish Government” It is also amazing how in a GE year that the volume is being ramped up….against the Scottish government by certain organisations ……a surreptitious disguise that could be then assumed as another ‘Friends of Labour’ ….and thus (another)’Enemy of the SNP’ …..another critic (to join the many pro UK ranks)……. Given the media’s current #SNPBAD and then also their #GiveLabourAnotherChance badly cloaked and very much partisan political marketing within Scotland….to shore up more support for labour and less support … Continue reading How little Labour did for the social housing market when in power in Scotland compared to the SNP

‘In a piece of self-aggrandisement BBC Scotland journalist Samantha Poling is implying that she solved the murder’

Image – Scottish Sun Alasdair Macdonald The media, with justification, are focussing on the failure to arrest the killer of Emma Caldwell in 2007. This was, indeed, a shocking failure of policing. This occurred during the period when police forces in Scotland were run locally and the force responsible here was Strathclyde Police. Police Scotland had not yet been created. It was Police Scotland which solved this crime. However, the media are not making much of that. As far as they are concerned the ‘police’ are responsible ergo Police Scotland is responsible and this enables them to blame the Scottish … Continue reading ‘In a piece of self-aggrandisement BBC Scotland journalist Samantha Poling is implying that she solved the murder’

Police Scotland maintains world leading detection rate as every homicide committed in Scotland since 2013 has been solved

This site costs nothing to run so donate to our friends at  https://www.broadcastingscotland.scot/donate/ Many thanks to Andrew Wilson for alerting me to this: From Police Scotland today: Every homicide committed in Scotland since 2013 has been detected by Police Scotland, new figures confirmed today. In 2022-23, all 52 homicides committed in Scotland were detected. Latest statistics from Scottish Government, published today, show the number of homicides committed in Scotland continues to reduce. Police Scotland’s 100 per cent homicide detection rate means that every one of the 605 murders committed since the inception of the single national service in 2013, has … Continue reading Police Scotland maintains world leading detection rate as every homicide committed in Scotland since 2013 has been solved

The risk of trans men – today’s big moral panic

This site costs nothing to run so donate to our friends at  https://www.broadcastingscotland.scot/donate/ In my long time in Higher Education and among my family and friends, I’ve never heard a young woman express concern about trans women (former men) or opposition to the Scottish government’s proposed gender recognition reforms. These trans women are remembered as gentle, sensitive and more than any other group in our society, the most brutally abused. In police recording, no doubt a massive understating of the phenomenon, they suffer physical assaults far more often, and verbal assaults, by the day. The media, of course, neglect this … Continue reading The risk of trans men – today’s big moral panic

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

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

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

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

Scotland training far far more doctors than rest of UK

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

In Wales mysterious ‘decision-makers’ to blame for care home ‘genocide’

This site costs nothing to run so donate to our friends at  https://www.broadcastingscotland.scot/donate/ From BBC Wales today: Discharging untested patients to care homes during the Covid-19 pandemic was “a form of genocide”, a front-line doctor has said. Intensive care doctor Laura McClelland said three things still made her angry four years on from the start of the pandemic. She added doctors had little option but to discharge patients as they struggled to “rustle up” carers who were willing to risk their lives for minimum wage jobs. She was speaking ahead of the UK Covid inquiry’s three-week visit to Wales, which … Continue reading In Wales mysterious ‘decision-makers’ to blame for care home ‘genocide’

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

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