Tag: scotland

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Anti-immigrant hate crime arrests at protests/riots in England are running at 300 times the level in Scotland

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From BBC Scotland yesterday: Police have issued a warning about hate crime and violent disorder after hundreds of people gathered outside a property in Glasgow. The protest, during which windows were said to have been smashed, took place in Tormusk Road, Castlemilk, at about 18:50 on Wednesday. It follows another incident on Tuesday when police were called to a large gathering of people who had gathered outside a block of flats in Lamlash Crescent in the Cranhill area. A Police Scotland spokesman said: “Violence, disorder, hate crime and threatening behaviour that poses a risk to safety is not legitimate protest. Anyone who … Continue reading Anti-immigrant hate crime arrests at protests/riots in England are running at 300 times the level in Scotland

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Scotland’s ambulances between 2 and 3 tines faster thousands of times but Daily Record finds another case to to deflect you with

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The Daily Record today, above: On 26 June 2026: There are some minor problems in comparing the data for England and Scotland but you can be sure that were they to favour the former, they’d be widely reported. Here’s why they’re not: In January 2024, BBC UK made direct comparison possible: Via the BBC’s How long do patients wait for an ambulance? app, we can confirm that the average waiting time for a Scottish ambulance was 8 min and 46 secs: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-59549800 Also, from BBC UK on 14 December 2023: Average response times of more than 38 minutes for category two emergency calls such as … Continue reading Scotland’s ambulances between 2 and 3 tines faster thousands of times but Daily Record finds another case to to deflect you with

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The Strange Geography of Self-Determination – The Polar Bear and the Unicorn

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By Mark E. Saunders of “The Scottish Minuteman” https://www.facebook.com/profile.php/?id=61575625542197 According to 11 Downing Street, when it comes to Greenland, democracy is simple — the future of Greenland should be decided by the people of Greenland. It should not be determined by Donald Trump. Not by any occupant of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. Not by Washington. Not by whoever happens to have the biggest economy, the biggest military, or the loudest voice in the room. And most people would probably agree. After all, a nation, or a people, should have the right to determine their own future. It seems a pretty straightforward democratic principle, doesn’t it? … Continue reading The Strange Geography of Self-Determination – The Polar Bear and the Unicorn

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Truth be told even Scotland’s ‘most dangerous’ place is less so than 27 of them in England and far less so than 18 of them

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The Daily Record yesterday had the above and: Scotland’s “most dangerous” areas have been named as part of a new list put together by security experts, with one of the country’s major cities placing first. The city was described by the experts as having “startling figures across the board”, with overall crimes figures rising by more than 5 per cent. On Tuesday, July 7, ProFM Group shared a roundup of Scotland’s 15 most dangerous destinations using official data from the Scottish Government Data Repository. The experts expressed this as a rate of the number of crimes per 10,000 residents, which is the … Continue reading Truth be told even Scotland’s ‘most dangerous’ place is less so than 27 of them in England and far less so than 18 of them

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Top UK researchers applaud SNP’s ‘impressive’ yet ‘affordable’ achievements in reducing poverty

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I’m grateful to Dottie once more, for spotting this and alerting us to it. This report is part of the research programme of ‘Safety Nets: Social security for families in a devolved UK’. We are the first comprehensive, four-country study of the devolution and localisation of social security in the United Kingdom. The project team spans eight universities, Child Poverty Action Group and the Resolution Foundation. Our work is funded by the Nuffield Foundation, an independent charitable trust with a mission to advance social well-being. It funds research that informs social policy, primarily in Education, Welfare and Justice. This very … Continue reading Top UK researchers applaud SNP’s ‘impressive’ yet ‘affordable’ achievements in reducing poverty

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For the fiftieth time SNP government works respectfully with a health union to avert strike action and loss of life ‘setting it apart’ from other UK nations

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There isn’t a precise record of this but I make it, conservatively, around 50 distinct strike actions and more than 100 days lost over the last 5 years, in NHS England and, in NHS Scotland, none, zero. What is the situation with consultants in Scotland? BMA Scotland has been in discussions/negotiations with the government. A recent pay offer for consultants is now being put to members in a consultative vote (not a formal strike ballot). https://www.bma.org.uk/our-campaigns/consultant-campaigns Earlier in 2026, BMA Scotland launched a pay survey and warned that failing to improve on the independent pay review body (DDRB) recommendation could … Continue reading For the fiftieth time SNP government works respectfully with a health union to avert strike action and loss of life ‘setting it apart’ from other UK nations

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Students in England ‘mis-sold’ loans as Nurse students there owe £77k and those in Scotland get a £10k bursary – what effect might that have on training numbers?

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BBC UK today has: Comparing student loan repayments to phone contracts or cinema tickets “amounted to mis-selling” by government, a group of MPs has said. In a new report, the Treasury Committee also said students were not told clearly enough loan terms could change retrospectively, and called for a U-turn on the decision to freeze the income threshold at which some graduates start repaying their loans. The student loan saga has run for years in England but rarely surfaces in Scotland. Here’s why: Let’s take the situation in nurse education. The Guardian in January 2026 had: Helen Lambert borrowed £57,000 … Continue reading Students in England ‘mis-sold’ loans as Nurse students there owe £77k and those in Scotland get a £10k bursary – what effect might that have on training numbers?

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As Ayr remembers the tens of thousands of Scots who died in the Battle of the Somme a reminder that ‘It can be said with certainty that men born in Scotland did suffer disproportionately more deaths during the First War’

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In the Ayr Advertiser today, the above and: From July 1-13, 140 silhouettes are being displayed in Wellington Square to commemorate the 110th anniversary of the Battle of the Somme. 1 From the National Records of Scotland in January 2001: The Battle of the Somme was a mass allied offensive of the First World War by the British and French armies against the Germans. Conceived by General Haig, the prelude to the attack was a week-long bombardment of the German lines. Over 1.5 million shells were fired, in an attempt to destroy the German defences and allow the allied armies … Continue reading As Ayr remembers the tens of thousands of Scots who died in the Battle of the Somme a reminder that ‘It can be said with certainty that men born in Scotland did suffer disproportionately more deaths during the First War’

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How have we known for at least a decade that Scotland’s maternity services were not troubled like those in NHS England? More than three times per head, the cost of settling negligence lawsuits in NHS England

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In the Guardian 19 February 2026, the above and: The NHS will have to spend more money settling lawsuits involving negligence during childbirth after a supreme court ruling that lawyers said puts right a “historic injustice”. The court ruled on Wednesday that children in England who suffer catastrophic injuries while they are being born can claim damages for future earnings they would otherwise have had. The ruling on “lost years damages” means that children whose life expectancy is shortened can recover compensation for being unable to work. It comes amid mounting concern at the rising cost of medical negligence to the NHS in England – its liabilities have … Continue reading How have we known for at least a decade that Scotland’s maternity services were not troubled like those in NHS England? More than three times per head, the cost of settling negligence lawsuits in NHS England

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Patient sexually assaulted and killed in her bed, six staff jailed including surgeon for sexually assaulting five colleagues and a culture of systemic bullying and harassment in Blackpool hospital but neither health secretary nor government blamed and BBC ignore it – imagine that had been in Inverness?

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You could be forgiven for thinking that NHS England’s worries were confined to maternity services and to NHS Nottingham with its criminal police investigation labelled perversely ‘Operation Perth.’ After decades of centre-right, cost-cutting, government and unprotected by a centre-left SNP government, protecting public services from the worst of austerity politics, all public services in England are struggling badly and to a greater extent than, as TuS reveals on a daily basis, their equivalents in Scotland. The above claim can be checked by searching here: Just type in ‘NHS’ or ‘waiting’ or ‘crime’ or…………… On 4 December 2025, we reported an … Continue reading Patient sexually assaulted and killed in her bed, six staff jailed including surgeon for sexually assaulting five colleagues and a culture of systemic bullying and harassment in Blackpool hospital but neither health secretary nor government blamed and BBC ignore it – imagine that had been in Inverness?