Tag: politics

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Dear auld Glasgow toon sees plummeting violence but try telling that to this lot

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BBC Scotland’s Debate Night indulged in slagging off Glasgow based on no figures whatsoever and one old dear remembering fondly the period from the 1930s to the 1960s when the city and its razor gangs earned its mean reputation well, with violence levels many times those today. One of them, an old guy with lovely hair, compared it with other cities in the UK. See the facts below. Luckily, at best around 15 000 souls watch this drivel, 2.5% of Glasgow’s population and 0.27% of Scotland’s population. It surely cannot survive the current cull. I lasted 2 minutes. Rape? Is … Continue reading Dear auld Glasgow toon sees plummeting violence but try telling that to this lot

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Labour Education Secretary gets mixed up and sets scene for English schools to fall further behind Scotland

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The above impending financial, then inevitably, educational chaos comes on the heels of research by the Institute for Fiscal Studies revealing how just far behind Scotland, in terms of the crucial funding of resources and staffing, England’s schools are. From Scottish school spending, teachers and pupil numbers Luke Sibieta Darcey Snape Published on 14 February 2025: https://ifs.org.uk/publications/scottish-school-spending-teachers-and-pupil-numbers Here are the Key Findings: Total spending on schools and early years education in Scotland increased by £1.7 billion or 27% in real terms between 2015–16 and 2023–24. Current plans for 2024–25 imply an effective real-terms freeze in total spending of just over £7.8 … Continue reading Labour Education Secretary gets mixed up and sets scene for English schools to fall further behind Scotland

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The triple lock on the state pension will go by 2030, ‘to help pay for a new national care service FOR ENGLAND.’ John Swinney says we’ll lose out and here’s why he’s correct

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BBC Scotland yesterday, trying desperately to distract from the main issue by getting FM John Swinney in bother with this: Will Swinney face a Holyrood probe? Let’s not be distracted. Here are the facts again: He says the triple lock on the state pension will go by 2030, ‘to help pay for a new national care service FOR ENGLAND.’ Will you support that, Scottish pensioners? ‘Barnett! Do you trust that? On Newsnight, 30 September 2026, the above was clear with the implication that Scottish pensioners will be impoverished to pay a new national care service in England. Scotland got a … Continue reading The triple lock on the state pension will go by 2030, ‘to help pay for a new national care service FOR ENGLAND.’ John Swinney says we’ll lose out and here’s why he’s correct

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As the media in Scotland wallow in the mire just how impressive is the Scottish Government’s Child Payment policy in the UK and across Europe?

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It has attracted strong praise from respected poverty experts, with some describing it as exceptional even by European standards. These are among the strongest attributable statements: Figure Quote and context Professor Danny Dorling, University of Oxford The David Hume Institute reported in August 2023 that he described the payment as creating “the biggest fall in child poverty anywhere in Europe for at least 40 years.” This is the institute’s account of his remarks at its event. David Hume Institute Chris Birt, Joseph Rowntree Foundation’s associate director for Scotland On its expansion in November 2022: “a watershed moment for tackling poverty … Continue reading As the media in Scotland wallow in the mire just how impressive is the Scottish Government’s Child Payment policy in the UK and across Europe?

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Russell Findlay has a ‘dangerously irresponsible’ obsession with the UK State

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By Liz S Tory HQ Puppet , the irrelevant Russell Findlay, has been mouthing of again on his favourite subject, Scottish independence. The BBC (of course) have an article where it states: “Scottish Tory leader Findlay says SNP’s indy ‘obsession’ is dangerously irresponsible”. Well one could say that Russell Findlay, as a Tory, has an obsession with the UK State and that is, for Scotland , a position that is “dangerously irresponsible”. Apparently “Findlay told the Conservative Party’s UK conference that while the United Kingdom continues to face “grave threats” from China, Russia and Iran, a divided UK would be … Continue reading Russell Findlay has a ‘dangerously irresponsible’ obsession with the UK State

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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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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