Tag: scotland

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Scottish Labour – a parcel of rogues

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LEAH GUNN BARRETT The new Scottish Labour MP Michael Shanks will speak at the Scotland in Union Burns supper later this month. Quelle surprise.  During the by-election campaign Shanks said the constitutional debate was something ‘we have to completely ignore’ because it’s too divisive. Yet he’s voicing full-throated support for the failing union, because those are his orders from London. Scottish Labour is controlled by its English masters and if Shanks and his fellow Scots MP Ian Murray don’t fall in line with the unionist ‘better together’ lies, they can’t be members of the English Labour club with all its remunerative perks.  As a reward for his fealty, … Continue reading Scottish Labour – a parcel of rogues

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CalMac is the only decent ferry service in the world

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It’s chaotic out there on the seas, as regulars here will know. BC Ferries in Canada can’t get crew to run their aging fleet but can make huger profits. Washington State Ferries has just told their customers they’ll have to grin and bear it for six years with only half of their boats serviceable, until they get new vessels built. Kingston Ferries in Lake Ontario, Canada, are still using the old ferries two years after two new vessels built in Romania arrived unfit for service. Condor Ferries in the Channel Islands can’t get a boat that will run for any … Continue reading CalMac is the only decent ferry service in the world

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Labour MP claims ‘UK’ has 50% of Europe’s tidal energy – will he be mocked for dodgy statistics

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Readers may remember Andrew Neil in the Express mocking a claim in a National headline which had mistakenly left out the word ‘stream’ from ‘Scotland has more tidal power capacity than the rest of the world combined’ There was a bit of a pile-on, as expected. I clarified the claim here: Yesterday in the House of Commons, Mick Whitely (Lab) claimed: The UK, more than any other country in the world, is uniquely positioned to harness the power of its tides. Ten per cent of the world’s tidal resources, and half of Europe’s, are found in Britain.  Tidal Range Energy Generation … Continue reading Labour MP claims ‘UK’ has 50% of Europe’s tidal energy – will he be mocked for dodgy statistics

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7 years after the evidence and 4 years after the SNP call for them ‘UK’ researchers find that safe consumption areas work

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In the Guardian today: Thousands of lives could be saved if safe rooms were set up in UK cities where people could be supervised while they get high, the world’s largest review of the effectiveness of drug-consumption rooms and overdose-prevention centres (OPCs) has found. “OPCs can help save lives in an urgent and growing drug-death crisis in the UK,” said Dr Gillian Shorter, reader in psychology at Queen’s University Belfast, who worked with academics at the universities of Oxford, Kent, East Anglia, West London and Bristol on the study.  https://www.theguardian.com/society/2024/jan/11/drug-consumption-rooms-could-save-thousands-of-uk-lives-study-finds No Scottish researchers despite the Scottish Government having called for … Continue reading 7 years after the evidence and 4 years after the SNP call for them ‘UK’ researchers find that safe consumption areas work

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Poisoned Waters: The War Between BC Ferries in Canada and its workers but in Scotland….

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From the Penticton Herald, today: A four-letter expletive ended talks aimed at bringing peace between BC Ferries and its union — and better service for travellers. It was Nov. 28, and union leader Eric McNeely had just logged in to a video conference call with two company executives. The stakes were high. The company and the union had accused each other of intransigence and lying in a series of memos to employees. The meeting ended badly. McNeely said he left the call after Dean Dobrinsky, the corporation’s executive director of labour relations, told him and another union official to “just … Continue reading Poisoned Waters: The War Between BC Ferries in Canada and its workers but in Scotland….

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‘Exposing Scotland to risk’ – Some reflections on the devolved fiscal settlement

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By Alasdair Galloway Once Scotland took powers over income tax a settlement with the UK became necessary for several practical reasons However leaving boring practicalities to one side, this arrangement offers political opportunities to Westminster. For one thing it puts the risk entirely on to Scotland because if the Scottish economy operates less well than the UK average, the income tax allowed for in calculating the block grant will be greater than what is actually raised by the Scottish Government. If, on the other hand, Scotland does outperform the UK average, then there will be a windfall for the Scottish … Continue reading ‘Exposing Scotland to risk’ – Some reflections on the devolved fiscal settlement

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Should Scotland follow Ireland, Denmark, Portugal or Slovakia

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By Alasdair Galloway Jill Stephenson, retired Prof of Modern German History at Edinburgh University, but for our purposes an indefatigable defender of the Union while equally contemptuous of Independence, has a letter in this morning’s Herald, which illustrates some important issues, not least the limitations of infantile Economics. I have to admit that I was concerned about Humza Yousaf’s use of Denmark, Finland and Ireland as comparators to illustrate Scotland’s potential if independent. The main point of contact between Scotland and these three countries seems to me to be population size, but beyond that comparisons become more difficult. For instance, … Continue reading Should Scotland follow Ireland, Denmark, Portugal or Slovakia

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Midwife shortages in Scotland between only two-thirds and a tenth of those in other parts of the UK

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From BBC Health today, but BBC Scotland focusing on Fatal Accident Inquiry (FAI) into the deaths of three babies in North Lanarkshire and avoiding its use as context: A former midwife has told the BBC she quit because she could not live with herself if she provided poor care. Hannah Williams says staff shortages meant she kept patients safe, but sometimes only “by the skin of her teeth”. We did a Freedom of Information (FOI) request to 106 trusts with maternity units. We asked how many full-time midwife posts they were budgeted to have in the summer of 2023 – … Continue reading Midwife shortages in Scotland between only two-thirds and a tenth of those in other parts of the UK

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Crime and Policing – How Scotland’s media hide our successes

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On the Today programme, a BBC Radio 4 interviewer enthuses about the reduction in knife crime and homicide in Scotland over nearly two decades, as he interviews Will Linden Depute Head of the Scottish Violence Reduction Unit You can hear the whole interview, around 53 mins in, at: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m001v3bj BBC R4’s interests comes against the background of high levels of knife-related deaths in England and, today, the actor Idris Elba’s call for a ban on sales which he says the Conservative Government has neglected: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-67903124 BBC Scotland and the newspapers are not interested in this but, rather, focus on two … Continue reading Crime and Policing – How Scotland’s media hide our successes

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SNP not accused as real firearm offences grow to TWICE as high in England & Wales than in Scotland

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STV today have Scotland’s biggest firearm scare story: Police who were called out to investigate reports of a possible firearm in Glasgow discovered the item in question was a toy. https://news.stv.tv/west-central/police-scotland-called-out-to-reports-of-a-firearm-in-glasgow-find-toy That prompted me to check the facts. First in Scotland: In 2021-22, the police in Scotland recorded 273 offences in which a firearm was alleged to have been involved, a decrease of 23% from 2020-21 (353 offences) and down 20% from 2019-20 (341 offences), In England & Wales: The police recorded 6,645 offences involving firearms in the year ending June 2023, a 13% increase compared with the year ending June 2022 (5,860 … Continue reading SNP not accused as real firearm offences grow to TWICE as high in England & Wales than in Scotland