Tag: uk

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Violent Wolverhampton drugs gang arrests in Edinburgh not in public interest here apparently

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From PA Scotland yesterday (the above is a Wolverhampton-based gang; perhaps the same one but there are several): Six men have been arrested as part of a day of action targeting “county lines” drug supplies into Edinburgh. Detectives said the men, aged 38, 30, 29, 24, 22 and 21, were arrested in Edinburgh and Wolverhampton on Wednesday and charged in connection with various drug offences. Police said small quantities of crack cocaine, heroin and cannabis, along with a four-figure sum of cash, were recovered during the operation. Detectives from Edinburgh have made a number of arrests in a day of action aimed … Continue reading Violent Wolverhampton drugs gang arrests in Edinburgh not in public interest here apparently

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Shock – Welsh teachers union doesn’t sacrifice its members’ interests to help Labour

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This site costs nothing to run so donate to our friends at  https://www.broadcastingscotland.scot/donate/ By stewartb In TuS yesterday: ‘the EIS union, whose leaders have regularly misrepresented their members interests to help Scottish Labour’ Given the reference to the EIS and given its general negativity towards the Scottish Government, it’s instructive to look at an example of how the equivalent of the EIS in Wales frames its ‘wants’ from the Welsh Government (with my emphasis). From the website of the National Education Union (NEU): ‘The crisis in funding for schools and colleges in Wales. Motion 22 – NEU Cymru members highlight … Continue reading Shock – Welsh teachers union doesn’t sacrifice its members’ interests to help Labour

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In Wales mysterious ‘decision-makers’ to blame for care home ‘genocide’

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This site costs nothing to run so donate to our friends at  https://www.broadcastingscotland.scot/donate/ From BBC Wales today: Discharging untested patients to care homes during the Covid-19 pandemic was “a form of genocide”, a front-line doctor has said. Intensive care doctor Laura McClelland said three things still made her angry four years on from the start of the pandemic. She added doctors had little option but to discharge patients as they struggled to “rustle up” carers who were willing to risk their lives for minimum wage jobs. She was speaking ahead of the UK Covid inquiry’s three-week visit to Wales, which … Continue reading In Wales mysterious ‘decision-makers’ to blame for care home ‘genocide’

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Can anyone recall any interrogation of witnesses or any media assessment around the ACTUAL content of key Cabinet papers?

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stewartb ‘Could the Covid inquiry reshape the UK?’ – this is the headline above a piece by James Cook on the BBC News website today. Mr Cook is of course BBC Scotland’s political editor whose team of journalists has been working hard to amplify the alleged ‘significance’ of WhatsApp messaging more than anything else in news reports on the Covid Inquiry’s Edinburgh sessions. Having feasted on the Inquiry’s references to WhatsApps, Mr Cook seems to have belatedly become aware of the journalistic relevance of ‘perspective’. He writes today: ‘ Not so many years ago many of the conversations now under … Continue reading Can anyone recall any interrogation of witnesses or any media assessment around the ACTUAL content of key Cabinet papers?

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Does BBC refuse to release viewing figures for Reporting Scotland because they’re even worse than we’d guess?

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The response to my FoI requesting the viewing figures for Reporting Scotland, below. Note that they freely tell us the tiny figures for the Seven and the Nine, broadcast only in Scotland, on the BBC Scotland channel. What are they hiding? I think we know. British Broadcasting Corporation Information RightsWogan House, 99 Great Portland Street, London, W1W 7NY bbc.co.uk/foifoi@bbc.co.uk John Robertson10 January 2024 Dear John,Freedom of Information Request – RFI20231614 Thank you for your request to the BBC dated 16 December 2023 seeking thefollowing information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (‘the Act’):“Please provide me with the annual viewing … Continue reading Does BBC refuse to release viewing figures for Reporting Scotland because they’re even worse than we’d guess?

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Post Office Scandal – Just one more result of the Labour PFI curse

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By Frances McKie The Post Office Scandal has surely cast terrible doubt on the UK Justice System. Without open, determined,  legal action against the lies, persecutions, blackmail and silencing of the victims, it will be very hard to restore public trust. Furthermore, before the public inquiry  into the lethal consequences of the Fujitsu Horizon  contract  comes to an end, it is vital that  Gordon Brown , Tony Blair,  Hilary Armstrong and  all those associated with the imposition of  PFI  contracts on vital public services throughout the UK are required to give an account of their responsibility, under oath . This … Continue reading Post Office Scandal – Just one more result of the Labour PFI curse

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England – 307 flood warnings and 500 flood defences delayed and no Labour promise to help

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Imagine this was in Scotland. According to BBC Politics, but not headlined anywhere else: Rishi Sunak is being urged by opposition parties to do more to help areas in England affected by flooding. Hundreds of homes have been evacuated following heavy rainfall, with flooded roads and railway tracks causing travel disruption. Labour said the PM should set up a “taskforce” to manage the response, and set out what support will be available. He is also coming under pressure to visit flood-hit areas. The Liberal Democrats said he should go to affected areas to “see for himself the devastation caused by … Continue reading England – 307 flood warnings and 500 flood defences delayed and no Labour promise to help

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Better Together BMA Scotland shop steward doesn’t call for GP staffing in Scotland to be lowered to UK average

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In the Guardian today: The leader of Scotland’s doctors has called for rural GPs to get higher pay and special status to cope with a critical shortfall of medics in the Highlands, islands and rural counties. I have no doubt there are shortages in Scotland’s rural areas. I’m guessing there always were, even before the flood of middle-class settlers used to urban-levels of staffing and ambulance waiting times, from Central Scotland too before you accuse me of Anglophobia, arrived to age self-importantly in our glens and on our islands. The Guardian writer does not, of course, wish to put this … Continue reading Better Together BMA Scotland shop steward doesn’t call for GP staffing in Scotland to be lowered to UK average

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Special constables make up only 2.4% of the force and are barely usable yet the Herald and the Lib Dumbs imagine ‘alarm’

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In the Herald today: Alarms have been raised that Police Scotland’s special constabulary is heading for “extinction” as new figures revealed there are almost 1,000 fewer officers on the beat than a decade ago. Data provided to the Scottish LibDems shows 409 special constables were in the force in 2022-23, compared to 1,394 in 2013-14 – a fall of 985. As always with the Lib Dumbs, you never get the revealing percentage – there are 16 613, up from 16 570 last year, police officers so their 409 special constables, unpaid volunteers, represent only 2.4% of the force. As for … Continue reading Special constables make up only 2.4% of the force and are barely usable yet the Herald and the Lib Dumbs imagine ‘alarm’