Early this morning we heard:
‘The Scottish Government needs to take urgent action to stop the equivalent of a classroom of children a day falling into poverty according to a leading (sic) think tank. IPPR Scotland calculates that without new measures being introduced, 50 000 more children will be affected by 2024. It’s calling on the government to bring forward plans to introduce a new family income supplement. The Scottish Government says it will report progress on the supplement next month.’
GMS has hours in which to report fully so, there was no excuse for missing this key point:
‘The new family income supplement is an attempt to compensate for Tory austerity.’
As for the IPPR Scotland, back in 2014, we could read:
‘The Charity Commission has concluded that the charitable think tank the Institute for Public Policy Research “exposed itself to the perception that it supported the development of Labour Party policy” when it launched a document earlier this year.’
Remember this was the pre-Corbyn, centre-right New Labour Party being referred to.
Moving on to Director, Russel Gunson, see this from the Scotsman in 2007:
‘Two parliamentary researchers, Kezia Dugdale, who works for the Labour MSP Lord Foulkes, and Russell Gunson, who works for fellow MSP Claire Baker, were seconded to Ms Alexander’s office last night to replace Mr Marr on a temporary basis before a permanent replacement can be found. Mr Marr’s departure followed the exit of Brian Lironi, who quit after apparently finding it difficult to work for the Scottish Labour leader. A party spokesman said two new spin doctors would be appointed by the end of the year, in place of Mr Lironi, and it was hoped to replace Mr Marr soon after that.’
Gunson clearly has a long association with the Labour Party, not mentioned on the IPPR site or anywhere else, and even spent some time in the jungle of Labour Party politics as stand-in spin doctor with Kez. I smell a rat, like the ones we saw all over Kez’s face a year or two ago. Actually, it’s probably Lord Foulkes I smell.
And, it’s clearly not over, see this Dugdale email only two years ago:
LabourList Daily Email
Everything Labour. Every weekday morning.
Post Tagged with: “Russell Gunson”
7th December, 2016 10:25 am
https://labourlist.org/tag/russell-gunson/
Next time you see the IPPR (Scotland) called ‘a leading think tank’, in an attack on the SNP, remember this.
Finally, what did GMS not tell us today? See:
Is there less poverty in Scotland: Will BBC Scotland INFORM us?
New pregnancy and baby payments to offset Tory austerity in Scotland
Why Scotland has 8% of the population but 0% of the UK’s worst places for child poverty
Child poverty WAS and IS caused by policies of the UK government.
As Joseph Rowntree looks on, SNP Government ACTS to reduce child poverty with £450 000 grant
Talking-up Scotland 
Since it seems that every single think tank out there is “leading”, is it a case of too many chiefs and not enough Indians? Maybe we should ask them who they believe they lead.
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Angusskye,
A good point regarding the word ‘leading’. It is a favourite media device to add spurious ‘authority’ to their propaganda. It is almost always used, for example, along with private schools. They are always ‘top’ or ‘leading’
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More like leading-on?
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Poverty is a scourge of a large section of the population and actions must be taken to alleviate it and, eventually, eradicate it. So any feasible proposals to foster this are to be welcomed.
However, when this is being used, cynically, to attack the SG by Good Morning Scotland, principally, and, possibly, by Scottish Labour then it is reprehensible.
I have no doubt that there are those within Scottish Labour who are sincere in their commitment to creating a better society, but the attitude of so many ij positions of power within the party, particularly the MSPs, has been oppositionist and unconstructive for more than 10 years.
With regard to BBC Scotland, News and Current Affairs, as you have demonstrated over many years, there is a consistent anti-Scottish, anti-SNP, anti-Holyrood stance and an increasingly pro-Ruth Davidson (Conservative and unionist Party). There is, undoubtedly a pro-Labour attitude by several in BBC Scotland, but, I think that the pro-Tory stance has become more prominent, particularly with regard to the ‘precious, precious’ union. Since so much of poverty has been a result of Tory policies, then the decontextualised quote from the IPPR is infamous.
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Reblogged this on Ramblings of a 50+ Female.
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