Tag: scotland

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Now there is another one – Labour Midlothian councillor stripped of the whip

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Anonymous Now there is another one , Labour Midlothian councillor Bryan Pottinger has been stripped of the Labour whip, on the 11 December , after what is now a second complaint that has been made about his behaviour. This is the second time an allegation has been made about him for two separate incidents and from two separate females. The Standards Commission for Scotland released their findings/conclusion on the first incident in 2023 relating to him. In 2023 a female councillor had alleged Pottinger had “behaved disrespectfully” and “had harassed her” in “making an “inappropriate comment about her underwear during a verbal exchange between them at a local event” It was determined by the Standards Commission for Scotland that “he … Continue reading Now there is another one – Labour Midlothian councillor stripped of the whip

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If you are a Labour councillor in Scotland and do not vote with the Tories against the SNP then you will  be suspended but if there are allegations of “sexual harassment” then no worries your job is safe

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Anonymous Apparently “Labour in Scotland received Cammy Day complaint ‘almost two years’ before suspension”. The complaint being a “sexual harassment complaint” against the Edinburgh Labour council leader Cammy Day, that is the same Edinburgh Labour council that suspended two of it’s Labour councillors for not voting with the Tories. So if you are a Labour councillor in Scotland and you do not vote with the Tories against the SNP then you will get suspended, however if there are allegations against you of “sexual harassment” as a Labour councillor and leader, then no worries your job and place in Labour is safe, well that is until someone exposes that scandalous news. This is the same Labour party whose so called leader in Scotland … Continue reading If you are a Labour councillor in Scotland and do not vote with the Tories against the SNP then you will  be suspended but if there are allegations of “sexual harassment” then no worries your job is safe

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Why Scotland’s headline drug death figures are currently not based on a reliable measure

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Professor John Robertson OBA Media and opposition parties are morbidly determined to hang onto Scotland’s drug death status as a rare apparently objective stick to beat the SNP Government into submission with. Earlier this year, they were all irrepressibly delighted to hear that there was a 12% increase from 2022 to 2023, following disturbing, for them, reductions in each of the two previous years after nearly three decades of satisfyingly climbing figures.1 These National Records of Scotland data are based on post mortem blood tests and commonly presented as more reliable than the Suspected drug deaths in Scotland. The latter are collected … Continue reading Why Scotland’s headline drug death figures are currently not based on a reliable measure

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Safe drug consumption – handing the fruits of the SNP’s long efforts to Labour and hiding Glasgow and Scotland’s achievements

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Professor John Robertson OBA The Guardian above, painting a very Scottish initiative as belonging to the UK. UK Conservative governments have long refused, since at least 2019, requests from the SNP Government in Scotland, for permission to even pilot a safe drug consumption room. In 2021, long after the first calls were made, the Scottish Government published an evidence paper1 which made the strongest of cases for such facilities but still permission was refused. Labour leader, Sir Keir Starmer in 2023, made it clear he agreed and that he did not wish to see any changes in drug laws, if elected in … Continue reading Safe drug consumption – handing the fruits of the SNP’s long efforts to Labour and hiding Glasgow and Scotland’s achievements

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Rail performance – BBC Scotland seeking to frame and amplify a newspaper’s front page story

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By stewartb The iWeekend’s front page is reproduced prominently in the Scotland section of the BBC News website today. One has to magnify the picture on the web page to read the text immediately below the headline which notes: ‘… with Scotrail performing better than most’. This appearance of the I’s front page on the BBC site provides yet another ‘noteworthy’ example of editorial choices by the BBC in Scotland! On TuS on December 20 there was a post with this headline: ‘Too positive to be newsworthy? Scotland’s train cancellations found to be lowest of any country or region in Great … Continue reading Rail performance – BBC Scotland seeking to frame and amplify a newspaper’s front page story

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Imagine Calmac risked your life for corporate profit?

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People injured after P&O cruise ship involved in ‘weather-related incident’ in Mallorca As CalMac cancels sailings today, It’s worth remembering incidents like the above in 2023. Leaving aside weather cancellations for winds above 45knots, how does CalMac do, while keeping everyone safe? Take the much talked-about Arran service? 97% on time: chrome-extension://efaidnbmnnnibpcajpcglclefindmkaj/https://assets.calmac.co.uk/media/lbwmmqfn/arran-oct-24.pdf With the weather cancellations included, still 85%. I’ll leave you to check the others at: https://www.calmac.co.uk/en-gb/service-status/#/service-status How does the comparable BC Ferries in wealthy Canada do? There have been several deaths associated with BC Ferries, including the drowning of a worker in 2020 and the sinking of the MV … Continue reading Imagine Calmac risked your life for corporate profit?

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How a ‘Scotland Edition’ is completely off-track and failing to tell you that Scotrail is 96% on time

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Today’s iWeekend title page, clearly completely ignorant and unconcerned, to provide Scots with the truth. What is the truth? ScotRail has been named as one of the most reliable train companies in the UK in a new study. Analysis of official figures for the UK’s 24 major train operators, focusing on the percentage of train journeys either cancelled or delayed by 15 minutes or more, showed ScotRail with the fourth best performance. The study said on average 3.61 per cent of ScotRail journeys between January 2021 and September 2023 were seriously late or cancelled. The study was carried out by travel … Continue reading How a ‘Scotland Edition’ is completely off-track and failing to tell you that Scotrail is 96% on time

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3 years after SNP end all hospital parking charges, hospital staff in England pay more that £50 per week

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Frankly, I’m shocked to hear today, the BBC report that one English hospital has just announced free Christmas parking, only days after a Brighton hospital essential worker reported paying more than £50 per week. Yesterday, I parked free at the Golden Jubilee Hospital in Clydebank, never thinking for a minute than anyone paid to park for a hospital visit, these days. The SNP scrapped the charges in 2008. Surely Gordon Brown while PM then would have scrapped them in England too, as he ‘led’ the UK into the 2010 General Election, if he had any gumption, never mind compassion. He … Continue reading 3 years after SNP end all hospital parking charges, hospital staff in England pay more that £50 per week

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Too positive to be newsworthy? Scotland’s train cancellations found to be lowest of any country or region in Great Britain.

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By stewartb ‘Worst major train stations for cancellations named’ is the headline of a BBC News website article today (December 20). Despite being Great Britain wide in scope, the story features in the site’s news for England. The same story featured prominently in Radio 4’s Today programme (also on December 20), both in news bulletins and in interviews, including with a Westminster government minister. Although a Today presenter challenged the Labour minister about the benefit of rail run by the public sector in a part of England given its relatively high level of cancellations, the programme made no mention of … Continue reading Too positive to be newsworthy? Scotland’s train cancellations found to be lowest of any country or region in Great Britain.

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Hospital admissions – why are flu intensive care cases not ‘notably increased’ in Scotland but ‘risk overwhelming hospitals’ in England?

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Professor John Robertson OBA To set the scene for this report, do listen to John Grady MP for Glasgow East, corporate lawyer and holder of a typical Edinburgh University accent, above. If you can, then read on. From the Guardian yesterday: Surge in flu cases risks overwhelming hospitals in England, says NHS chief – Health service concerned that early ‘flood’ of infections will be made worse by family gatherings at Christmas…Last week 125 people were so seriously ill with flu they were being treated in critical care, almost double the 66 who were receiving life-or-death care because of the virus the week … Continue reading Hospital admissions – why are flu intensive care cases not ‘notably increased’ in Scotland but ‘risk overwhelming hospitals’ in England?