Tag: snp

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Little evidence SNP is financially silencing charities

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By Professor John Robertson, OBA According to the Herald today: Charities reluctant to condemn SNP decisions in fear of being ‘financially silenced’ Typically, the headline is based on one source – Clare MacGillivray, director of Making Rights Real (MRR). I share her concerns about the SNP leadership on this matter: but see little sign of the phenomenon she describes. Indeed, just this year, these three charities have attacked the Scottish Government/SNP revealing signs of and agenda: Read in full at: https://talkingupscotlandtwo.com/?s=charity+ And, Shelter, serial attacks. See in particular: https://talkingupscotlandtwo.com/2024/08/10/do-the-national-branch-offices-of-campaigning-charities-not-understand-devolution/ Source: Support Scots Independent, Scotland’s oldest pro-independence newspaper and host of the OBA (Oliver Brown … Continue reading Little evidence SNP is financially silencing charities

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Scotsman blames SNP for balancing books on teacher numbers but still keeping best conditions in world and best staffing level in the UK as pupils numbers plummet

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By Professor John Robertson, OBA Every year, the Scottish Government monitors the number of teachers and pupils in the system, predicts future demand and adjusts teacher training place numbers to take account of this, with a view to not having too many teachers or overspending in one area of its fixed budget. Sensible? Last year, they were able to say: In Scotland, the number of primary school pupils peaked in 2017 at around 400,000 pupils before decreasing to around 390,000 in 2021. Estimates using 2018-based population projections show a continued decrease each year to around 355,000 in 2027. 1 and have … Continue reading Scotsman blames SNP for balancing books on teacher numbers but still keeping best conditions in world and best staffing level in the UK as pupils numbers plummet

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Winter Fuel Allowance – Unite Union legal action against UK Government is kept on BBC Scotland website to misinform

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By Anonymous BBC Website Scotland Business page. Headline article on this page “Unite union may bring legal action over winter fuel payments” it is 6th article on this Scotland Business page. Click on the article then it shows it to be in UK Politics page ? But not on the Scotland Politics page but the UK Politics page. However if you click on UK Politics page this story is not on there ????? The article’s content is clearly relating to the UK government as it refers to Rachel Reeves and Labour , however the first paragraph is ambiguous as to which government it is that Unite Union are considering legal action against at it … Continue reading Winter Fuel Allowance – Unite Union legal action against UK Government is kept on BBC Scotland website to misinform

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Rachel Reeves’ barefaced lie about NHS Scotland and the Daily Record’s campaign to make Anas Sarwar your First Minister

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As the Daily Record amplifies the British Labour Party Chancellor’s lie about NHS Scotland, how often will it leave readers misinformed in order to support the Party? By stewartb The campaigning strategy of the British Labour Party to win the 2026 Holyrood election is becoming clearer. The performance of NHS Scotland will figure prominently. Politicisation and negative messaging about healthcare in Scotland has been pursued relentlessly by the Labour leadership for years: meanwhile the greater woes of NHS Wales under a Labour government in Cardiff are never acknowledged by Labour politicians whether in Holyrood or Westminster. It remains important to … Continue reading Rachel Reeves’ barefaced lie about NHS Scotland and the Daily Record’s campaign to make Anas Sarwar your First Minister

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British Labour Party is well advanced in inserting its attack lines for the 2026 Holyrood election in public consciousness via our, sorry their, media

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By stewartb ‘Neither Dr Kennedy nor the Guardian writer wished to put their comments into perspective’. Context and perspective when it comes to matters concerning the Scottish Government/NHS Scotland are no go areas also for BBC Scotland, STV, The Herald, The Scotsman, the Daily Record, even Channel 4 News etc. and that’s before we look at the sources these media outlets rely on in the British Labour Party. the Tories and the Lib Dems in Holyrood. No context, no perspective, endless, repeated negativity and bias by omission – a rich and powerful brew! Amongst all this, the British Labour Party … Continue reading British Labour Party is well advanced in inserting its attack lines for the 2026 Holyrood election in public consciousness via our, sorry their, media

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Just a complaint, no charges but Alex Salmond has been the top story on the Politics page of BBC Scotland website since 3 November while the Labour council leader actually charges fades within hours

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By Anonymous Another BBC ‘Blink and you miss it’ headline at the top of their Scottish pages of their website when it is considered to be too #BAD a story connected to another political party who are in opposition to the SNP. While many headlines concocted by the BBC and so promoted as being connected to, as in linked to a #SNPBAD story, well as articles they stay (high) up on the BBC website for days on end, sometimes with different versions of the same story via a variety of articles in the Scottish pages of their BBC website. For example on their Scottish Politics page the top story is still a story connected to a … Continue reading Just a complaint, no charges but Alex Salmond has been the top story on the Politics page of BBC Scotland website since 3 November while the Labour council leader actually charges fades within hours

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Stephen McCabe’s previous abusive behaviour

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By Anonymous Someone online had bookmarked something else relating to Stephen McCabe. “Labour councillor Stephen McCabe last hit the headlines when he sent a letter to Michael Gove urging the Tory minister to bypass Holyrood” Is there no end to this guy doing both the wrong and the worse thing ? Rhetorical Q obviously. Seems he, McCabe, put country before party when he wrote to Michael Gove. However the only problem with that was that he put another country, UK/England, before his own country Scotland. (Also we know that with his party , Labour, they also put another country before Scotland , so I guess McCabe was also considering his own party too as well … Continue reading Stephen McCabe’s previous abusive behaviour

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‘Business will bear the brunt of Labour’s record tax raising UK budget’ says the Scottish Chamber of Commerce as it calls on the Scottish Government to help – even more spend on mitigating Westminster’s decisions?

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By stewartb The Scottish Chamber of Commerce (SCC) has published its response to the British Labour Party’s UK budget: ‘SCC Response to Autumn Statement – SCC call on Scottish Government to utilise consequential funding to support economic growth’. Source: https://www.scottishchambers.org.uk/press_policy/scc-response-to-autumn-statement-2/ In it we find this: ‘… Chief Executive of the Scottish Chambers of Commerce (SCC) said: “We welcome the additional £3.4 billion of funding for Scotland but as always the devil is in the detail, and we need to see a full breakdown of how this will be utilised to support economic growth.” Adding: “As we look ahead to the … Continue reading ‘Business will bear the brunt of Labour’s record tax raising UK budget’ says the Scottish Chamber of Commerce as it calls on the Scottish Government to help – even more spend on mitigating Westminster’s decisions?

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If the Scottish Socialist Party can stand in all 8 regions, they can provide the overall pro-independence majority

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The latest Norstat poll for the Times, post Budget, gives the SNP 51 MSPs, Labour 29, Tories 16, Reform 12, Lib Dems 11 and Greens 10 putting a pro-independence majority in doubt. Pollsters do not ask about the Scottish Socialists because they have not stood since they lost their 6 regional seats in 2007, after an internal split. However, things have changed as Labour head to the right, losing mass support, and the SNP drift toward the centre, creating a big gap on the left for voters who want democratic socialist policies including progressive taxation, council tax replacement, Waspi women … Continue reading If the Scottish Socialist Party can stand in all 8 regions, they can provide the overall pro-independence majority

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Premature and low birth weight babies surge in Scotland due to UK austerity – While poverty rates are ‘considerably higher’ in England thanks to SNP efforts, Labour risk making things worse again

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By Professor John Robertson OBA In the Guardian today: The introduction of UK austerity policies has been associated with a striking increase in the number of babies in Scotland being born smaller or earlier than expected, data suggests. Researchers believe cuts to social security benefits and services are key to understanding these trends, which have hit families living in the poorest neighbourhoods the hardest. and further down: Given that post-austerity poverty rates are actually fairly considerably higher in England, the expectation is that we will have seen similar trends there. https://www.theguardian.com/society/2024/nov/02/uk-austerity-policies-premature-low-birth-weight-babies-scotland The Labour government’s early actions on, for example, keeping the two-child benefit cap … Continue reading Premature and low birth weight babies surge in Scotland due to UK austerity – While poverty rates are ‘considerably higher’ in England thanks to SNP efforts, Labour risk making things worse again