Tag: snp

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Scotland’s state schools – in 2007, 37.6% of pupils in bad or poor condition buildings, in 2024 it’s just 5.1%.

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East Dunbartonshire Council’s brand new £34.9m Additional Support Needs School – Woodland View – opened to pupils on Friday 18 August 2023. By stewartb This provides statistics for context and perspective. It follows a BBC Scotland article on the corporation’s News website on 12 October headlined: ‘Child safety fears as ‘repaired’ ceiling falls at neglected school’. Now don’t get me wrong, no one should have a piece of wood or plasterboard fall on or near their head, anywhere. And especially no one wants children to be at risk from such an incident in a school. It’s a legitimate BBC local … Continue reading Scotland’s state schools – in 2007, 37.6% of pupils in bad or poor condition buildings, in 2024 it’s just 5.1%.

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BBC double standards on the death of a politician – There was no mention of expenses cheat or cynical class betrayal when Alister ‘Serial Second Home Flipper’ Darling died and Alex Salmond had only praise for him, but when Alex Salmond died, he had a ‘less pleasant side’ it seems

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There’s no mention of Darling’s move from the hard left to the Blair Cabinet. There’s no reference to his role in a divisive referendum campaign. There’s no mention of his 2007 mistake in the loss of 25 million British Citizens personal data or of his failure to protect 5 million low earners in 2008 from becoming worse off after a tax rate reduction that only benefited the better off or, most shocking, when he changed the designation of his second home four times in four years, allowing him to claim for the costs of his family home in Edinburgh, and … Continue reading BBC double standards on the death of a politician – There was no mention of expenses cheat or cynical class betrayal when Alister ‘Serial Second Home Flipper’ Darling died and Alex Salmond had only praise for him, but when Alex Salmond died, he had a ‘less pleasant side’ it seems

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London Deputy Mayor comes up to repeat urban myth of job flight to south as 12 500 flee north to fairer Scotland in just last year

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The Scotsman tells us today: Exclusive: SNP must narrow Scotland-England income tax gap in Budget, says City of London. The City of London Corporation said there were ongoing concerns in the financial sector SNP ministers should act to narrow the income tax gap between Scotland and England when they set out their spending plans later this year, the governing body for London’s financial district has said. Chris Hayward, policy chairman at the City of London Corporation, said there were ongoing concerns within the financial sector over the tax regime. He is due to meet First Minister John Swinney today. RUBBISH … Continue reading London Deputy Mayor comes up to repeat urban myth of job flight to south as 12 500 flee north to fairer Scotland in just last year

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53 redactions to protect Angus Robertson from scrutiny is the real and ONLY SNP scandal

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We all know that the Alex Salmond case, the camper van, the HQ decoration and the never ending SNP ‘fraud’ investigations were and are deliberate UK security services conspiracy attacks on the SNP, but their own circling of the wagons to protect Angus Robertson is a total self-inflicted cock-up. From an information request and response under the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002, published today: Information requested 1. The minutes of Angus Robertson’s meeting with Israel’s Deputy Ambassador to the UK which took place on 8 August 2024. Please also include the full list of attendees and any decisions that … Continue reading 53 redactions to protect Angus Robertson from scrutiny is the real and ONLY SNP scandal

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Latest Scottish sub-poll has SNP 8 points clear and Reform ahead of Tories

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Just a sub-poll of only 122 but it comes as the SNP humiliate Scottish Labour in 4 local by-elections in Perth and in Dundee, just after an Ipsos poll puts Anas Sarwar well behind both Swinney and Forbes in the popularity stakes and two weeks after a full Survation poll showed the SNP had caught Scottish Labour in period that should normally have been honeymoon period for the latter. We’ll need more evidence for confidence in a full SNP recovery but things are looking shaky for Sarwar. As for the Cons, Reform were only 3 points behind them, two weeks … Continue reading Latest Scottish sub-poll has SNP 8 points clear and Reform ahead of Tories

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Royal College of Emergency Medicine opts NOT to share own analysis with Scotland’s voters – that A&E performance in NHS Scotland is best in UK by FAR!

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By stewartb Let’s begin by taking back control of the ‘framing’ from BBC Scotland: ‘A&E performance by NHS Scotland is indeed by far the best in UK’. The Scotland section of the BBC News website on 4 October ran one of its regular features on the state of A&E services within NHS Scotland. The article was constructed around the remarks of the Vice President for Scotland of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine (RCEM). It followed a common pattern – negative, in parts alarmist, reported uncritically and without context or perspective. And being a BBC Scotland article, it omitted that … Continue reading Royal College of Emergency Medicine opts NOT to share own analysis with Scotland’s voters – that A&E performance in NHS Scotland is best in UK by FAR!

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Wales and Scotland – Labour’s double-think

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Anonymous Labour exceptionalism Where we the public are expected to believe that only Labour in Wales, and now also Labour as the new UK government, have difficult barriers/obstacles that they alone must overcome because of the failings of others but never ever is it to be regarded as a failing(s) by their own hand. Yet alternatively , Scotland, whose government has the same status as Labour in Wales, as in they too are a devolved government , are somehow , as a Scottish devolved government, those who must accept 100% liability and all blame for any obstacles and barriers that they have been faced with and still are faced with , via decisions made (imposed), by the supposed ‘Big Daddy of all governments within the UK’ as in the … Continue reading Wales and Scotland – Labour’s double-think

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Anas clearly cannot count or read – did he mean the forgotten 4.1%?

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Pau Hutcheon in the Daily Record tells us: Anas Sarwar says the ‘forgotten 60%’ of young people who do not attend university will be his priority as First Minister. He says Scots should not be defined by their school grades. Forgotten 60%? What is his source? Clearly not this: The number of young people in work, training or further study three months after the end of the school year has reached a record high of 95.9%. The Attainment and Initial Leaver Destination statistics 2022-23 also show that the gap between those from the most and least deprived areas progressing after … Continue reading Anas clearly cannot count or read – did he mean the forgotten 4.1%?

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Scotland’s homeless surge is due to UK Home Office failures and not ‘failed and distracted SNP government’ as it falls among all but very recent immigrants

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Thanks to AR for alerting me to this. BBC Scotland’s report, Homeless people living in temporary accommodation hits record high, yesterday, on homelessness increases in Scotland, focusses on one case of a mother and child, the statistics indicating ‘the highest since Scottish government records began in 2002‘ and platforming Miles Briggs, Conservative Housing Spokesperson and Scottish Labour’s Mark Griffin, to say: Scottish Conservative housing spokesman Miles Briggs said the “scandalous figures should be a source of shame for SNP ministers”. He added: “After 17 years of this failed and distracted SNP government, it is clear that they are part of … Continue reading Scotland’s homeless surge is due to UK Home Office failures and not ‘failed and distracted SNP government’ as it falls among all but very recent immigrants

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Hospital where 4 babies were fed contaminated food and one died, had ‘entirely unsafe system’ but Health Secretary not to blame

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By Professor John Robertson OBA Thanks to Dorothy for alerting me to this: In the Guardian today: An NHS trust that gave four newborn babies contaminated feed has admitted that it was operating “an entirely unsafe system” at the time they became infected. The admission came during evidence by a senior doctor at Guy’s and St Thomas’ trust (GSTT), who led its investigation into the outbreak, during an inquest into how one of the very premature babies died. Not in the Guardian report, any mention of the then Conservative Government or the Conservative Health Secretary at the time, or of any comment by … Continue reading Hospital where 4 babies were fed contaminated food and one died, had ‘entirely unsafe system’ but Health Secretary not to blame