Talking-up Scotland

The Mental Welfare Commission has reported that 71 young mental health patients were still being treated in non-specialist wards in 2015/2016, down from 207 in the previous year. The 71 represent only 1.6% of the total of 4 436 young mental health patients being treated. I understand it’s still 71 too many but hope that I can assume that the treatment in a non-specialist NHS Scotland ward would still be kind and informed by visiting psychologists.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-41653326

I have not read any disturbing reports of mental health patients in Scotland being treated as badly as in crisis-ridden NHS England where there is currently an acute shortage of adolescent mental health beds. The consequences can be cruel treatment in private hospitals with poor recruitment methods and/or inadequately trained staff or patients having to travel hundreds of miles away from their families to find a bed. See these two examples:

‘Vindictive’ hospital staff ‘taunted’ young psychiatric patients at: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/10/14/vindictive-hospital-staff-taunted-young-psychiatric-patients/

Hundreds of English mental health patients forced to travel hundreds of miles to Scotland for treatment, due to bed shortages

As far as I can see, NHS Scotland with Scottish government support is working to prevent any comparable crisis. See:

NHS Scotland to train 800 more mental health nurses as NHS England loses more than 6 000 under the Tories

• Thanks to Ludo for alerting me to this story.

There has been some negative talk of the North Sea in recent months including from a very ‘green’ Edinburgh University professor but leaders in the industry have known better. In particular, they have realised that new technologies will have a part to play in extending the life of fields. See:

An Edinburgh University Professor says North Sea oil and gas has only ten years left while the Wall Street Journal describes it as an ‘oil hot spot’ and Oil and Gas UK doesn’t recognise his figures. Who’s right?

The Captain field, 90 miles off Aberdeen was discovered in 1977 and 40 years later is producing 24 000 barrels of oil and 3 million cubic feet of gas per day. Now the majority owner, Chevron, plans to pump polymers in to make the oil less viscous and thus flow more easily. Recovery is expected to be increased by 5-7% using this method. It’s thought the same technology could also extend the life of other North Sea fields

https://www.rms-recruitment.co.uk/2017/10/exclusive-interview-chevron-approves-new-lease-of-life-for-north-seas-captain/

Mainstream media reporting on the North Sea rarely seem to be aware of this kind of thing.

The First Minister will speak on this topic at Scotland’s Inclusive Growth Conference in Glasgow. She has already made quite a clear association between equality and productivity in saying:

‘That is why we are focusing on fair work, encouraging employers to boost productivity by investing in their workplace and paying the living wage.’

We already know, from the work of Kate Pickett and Richard Wilkinson in their research for the 2009 book ‘The Spirit Level: Why More Equal Societies Almost Always Do Better’ of the strong correlations, in ‘rich’ societies, between levels of equality/inequality and several indicators of good health in those societies. In brief, they show that unequal societies have lower educational outcomes, higher drug use and homicide rates, lower trust and higher rates of mental health problems. The authors do not suggest that more equal societies are more productive but it seems logical that unhealthy, violent, drug-abusing societies will be less productive, by virtue of having a relatively smaller population of able workers and relatively lower levels of resource to invest in it. I’ll come back to this below but first here is a selection of the graphs from the book highlighting the strength of the correlations between inequality and negative social outcomes:

 

So, what about productivity. Well fortunately other researchers have looked into this. See this from the OECD:

‘OECD research has found that high levels of inequality may impact growth negatively by causing a lack of investment in human capital among low income families. This could also affect productivity growth in our economies.’

http://www.oecd.org/social/productivity-equality-nexus.htm

What this suggests is the need for investment in education but, more than that, investment in a wide range of initiatives designed to reduce inequality including a living wage for all workers and efficient and affordable transport to both enable low income workers to travel to work and to enable families to engage in the wider culture of the society thus providing their children with the cultural capital they need to succeed in the largely middle-class environments they will meet in university and in many workplaces. It also suggests the need for a benefits system which offers dignity, the same aforementioned opportunities a living wage offers and a free and effective health service that low income families can access in order to maintain the health requirements for employment. Despite the constraints of limited devolution of power, the Scottish Government is working toward these conditions in a way not apparent in the actions of Westminster.

(c) dailyrecord.co.uk

A new survey based on factors such as the levels of congestion and crime and on the quality of transport, healthcare, energy and productivity put London in first place. I’d have though Edinburgh and Glasgow would have scored higher than London on a few of those, especially on congestion, crime levels and healthcare. Presumably the massive investment in economic activity and thus productivity in London was mainly responsible for their rating.

Here’s the top-ten table:

1. London
2. Edinburgh
3. Glasgow
4. Bristol
5. Manchester
6. Brighton & Hove
7. Liverpool
8. Oxford
9. Birmingham
10. Milton Keynes

The full report summarised in the Scottish Financial News indicates that the two Scottish cities did well across most of the criteria and gives these examples:

‘Edinburgh’s 16-year smart city journey, for example, has allowed the city to learn from mistakes (such as disparate maintenance of systems and control of systems by separate council units) and apply its ‘One Council’ principle in order to better deliver citizen services.’

and:

‘The traffic system [Glasgow] is integrated with emergency services, helping save lives. Meanwhile a £24 million grant was used to plan smart CCTV rollout, using artificial intelligence to detect suspicious objects and terrorist activity.’

This report follows earlier studies rating Edinburgh and Dundee highly:

More bad news for Ruth and Kezia: ‘Edinburgh is most active UK city for innovation outside London’

Silver medal and second in list of best places to start a new business 2017, it’s….. Edinburgh? No, it’s Dundee. Sit down Edinburgh.

http://www.scottishfinancialnews.com/14855/edinburgh-and-glasgow-second-only-to-london-on-smart-city-uk-leaderboard/

Scottish care workers have been receiving the Living Wage of £8.45 per hour since October 2016 and will now receive the same rate for all ‘sleepover hours worked. This will make a big difference to around 40 000 workers. Most are women.

https://news.gov.scot/news/pay-boost-for-carers

In England, after a Unison-led employment appeal tribunal, workers must be paid the National Minimum Wage of £7.50 per hour instead of the fixed rate of only £29.05 or £4.60 per hour for a whole night caring for two vulnerable adults.

http://www.communitycare.co.uk/2017/07/20/care-worker-pay-quick-guide-sleep-shifts-row/

Just another small example, from many, that Scotland is just a wee bit different?

In Scotland, 58 000 new mothers every year to get baby box worth £160 but Labour are not completely happy

Scotland takes nearly 26% of Syrian refugees settled in UK with only 8% of the UK population

Though we already have the highest rate of donors in the UK, Scottish government to introduce soft opt-out system for organ donation. Does this tell us something more?

(c) comedy.co.uk

Reported in the Holyrood Magazine:

‘The number of people out of work in Scotland rose by 9,000 to 113,000 in the three months to August, while the same figures also showed a rise in the employment rate. The Scottish unemployment rate was 0.3 per cent higher than the previous quarter and now stands at 4.1 per cent, while the employment rate rose to 75.3 per cent. Across the UK the number of jobless fell but the rate remains higher than in Scotland at 4.3 per cent.’

The Employability Minister reminded us that Scotland continues to outperform the rest of the UK and the Fraser of Allander Institute in a rare moment of optimism said the figures were ‘robust’. They even went on to say: ‘These data represent some good news for the Scottish economy with continued growth in the employment rate.’ They couldn’t keep it up though and remembered to say something negative: ‘Nevertheless, the relatively fragile economic growth experienced over the past two years in Scotland remains a concern, as do wider indicators of the health of the economy.’ You’ll know, this is guff if you’ve read some of the earlier posts here such as:

Why Scotland’s looming recession is a figment of the imagination and propagandising

Good news for the Scottish economy again! Big rise in permanent jobs and starting salaries climb in Scotland

Foreign investors seem more likely to create jobs in Scotland

‘Wave of new jobs hits the North Sea’

Scottish businesses showing signs of greater health than those in the rest of the UK

But, but, are the June to August figures not more to do with at least some of around a quarter of a million full-time students returning to the job market and don’t they make any other assessment of economic health impossible? University exams finish in May and courses start again in September. There’s no way I can tell, as far as I can see, of knowing how many of them signed on as unemployed, how many got invisible casual jobs and how many of them got proper jobs over the summer months but they are counted if possible. See this:

‘Are full-time students included in the headline youth unemployment figures? Yes, anyone who meets the internationally agreed definition on unemployment is deemed to be unemployed – crucially this is regardless of whether or not they are enrolled in full-time education. As a result, a full-time student looking for part-time work would be counted as unemployed. In Oct-Dec 2011 for example, it is estimated that approximately 35% (36,000) of unemployed 16-24 year-olds in Scotland were also in full-time education.’

http://www.gov.scot/Topics/Statistics/Browse/Labour-Market/FAQ/YouthUnemployment#Are%20full-time%20students%20included%20in%20the%20headline%20youth%20unemployment%20figures?

Maybe, among non-students, unemployment fell and employment rose even more? I expect a more erudite reader will be on soon to enlighten us all.

https://www.holyrood.com/articles/news/unemployment-and-employment-figures-both-rise-scotland

There has been an 11.7% increase in trade mark applications and a 13.6% increase in registrations from 2015 to 2016. Reported in the Scottish Business News Network, ‘intellectual property specialists, Marks & Clark used the above quote. We can see this as just another indicator of the robust nature of the Scottish economy. Though much has been made of the 0.1% growth in the economy in Quarter 2, the MSM have quickly forgotten the 0.8% growth in the previous three months which was four times the UK figure. There have, of course, been many other indicators of health in falling unemployment, increasing employment, Scottish business enjoying its longest run of expansion in nearly two-and-a-half years, companies across Scotland seeing increased employment numbers alongside growing new business and orders and the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) finding a majority of UK firms aiming to increase the number of highly-skilled jobs in the next few years. See:

Good news for Scotland’s economy

Scotland in recession? No, the economy is growing. Are the Fraser of Allander Institute and its media followers talking through holes in their bahookies?

We also see, the Scottish Government working to make sure Scotland can face the uncertain post-Brexit future with some confidence. See:

SNP leadership on hectic northern hemisphere mission, from the Baltic to Canada and a’ pairts atween thaim, to save Scottish Economy from Tory incompetence

In addition, we have evidence the Scottish Government knows what it’s doing in:

The Auditor General strongly, with no qualifications, commends the Scottish Government on its ‘sound’ management of the economy. The lowest under-spend since devolution.

Returning to the trade mark applications, we had an increase from 2 448 to 2 736 (11.7%) In Wales, it was 1 372 applications in 2015, rising to 1 431 in 2016 (4%) and in Northern Ireland it was 508 to 565 (11.2%), and its registrations rose from 409 to 447 (9.3%). For the UK as a whole, the report only had the increase over the five years from 2011 to 2016. It was a 62% increase in that period so if we crudely assume an average, we get around 12 to 13% growth per year which suggest the Scottish growth is only slightly lower. Given the enormous concentration of economic activity in London and the South-East, that seems evidence of quite strong performance in Scotland.

https://sbnn.co.uk/2017/10/17/scottish-firm-says-trade-marks-rise-indicates-encouraging-climate-indigenous-food-drink-makers/

(c) BBC

Our mainstream media and Unionist politicians love any evidence they can find that Scots are pretty much the same as the English and so don’t really need autonomy. However recently, we’ve had:

Scots more likely to give to charities, to volunteer or to sponsor others

and:

Who said Scots were not more left-wing than those in the rest of the UK?

As for racial crimes, I’ve already noted differences in:

Bias by Omission: Has Scotland witnessed a spike in post-Brexit hate crime – or not?

Scotsman headline is untrue: hate offences against Jews in Scotland are extremely rare by contrast with the rest of the UK?

Returning to the headline, I think we have contemporary evidence of quite a significant difference between levels of racial crime. According to the Independent yesterday:

‘Hate crimes have rocketed by almost a third in the UK in the past year, with unprecedented spikes around the EU referendum and terror attacks recorded by police. New figures released by the Home Office confirm victims’ reports of a dramatic increase in incidents motivated by attackers’ hostility towards their race, nationality, religion or other factors. Data from police forces across England and Wales showed there were almost 80,400 hate crimes recorded in the 2016/17 financial year.’

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/hate-crimes-eu-referendum-spike-brexit-terror-attacks-police-home-office-europeans-xenophobia-a8004716.html

Official figures, for Scotland, released in June 2017 tell a very different story of post-EU referendum, post terror attacks.

‘There were 3,349 charges reported in 2016-17, 10 percent fewer than in 2015-16, and the lowest number reported since 2003-04.’

http://www.copfs.gov.uk/media-site-news-from-copfs/1559-hate-crime-in-scotland-2016-17-report-released

Not only are racial crimes falling in Scotland as the soar in England and Wales, they are also at a much lower level in the first place. In Scotland, in 2016/2017, there was one racial crime for every 1582 people. In England and Wales there was one racial crime for every 696 people. The rate in England and Wales is thus more than twice as high as it is in Scotland.

In the bill, as it stands, powers currently devolved to Scotland would be handed back to Westminster from the EU, in the first instance. Westminster would then devolve these again to the Scotland or perhaps they wouldn’t. There would be no guarantees and already we’ve had Michael Gove refusing to guarantee that the current £700 million of funding for forestry, hill farmers and crofters would automatically be devolved. This is only one of many devolved powers in the areas of agriculture, environment and economic planning which the Scottish Government suspect the centralist-minded Tories would prefer to see returned to Westminster. David Mundell has also said that not all powers would be returned to Scotland. It has even been suggested that the ban on fracking in Scotland could be reversed as powers return to Westminster.

The Scottish and Welsh governments seem likely to refuse consent unless the bill is amended to explicitly guarantee currently devolve powers. According to the SNP, 111 powers are at risk. The Welsh government have identified 64 powers they could lose. Here are the 111:

1.Agricultural Support

2.Agriculture – Fertiliser Regulations

3.Agriculture – GMO Marketing & Cultivation

4.Agriculture – Organic Farming

5.Agriculture – Zootech

6.Animal Health and Traceability

7.Animal Welfare

8.Aviation Noise Management at Airports

9.Blood Safety and Quality

10.Carbon Capture & Storage

11.Chemicals regulation (including pesticides)

12.Civil judicial co-operation – jurisdiction and recognition & enforcement of judgments in civil & commercial matters (including B1 rules and related EU conventions)

13.Civil judicial co-operation – jurisdiction and recognition & enforcement of judgments instruments in family law (including BIIa, Maintenance and civil protection orders)

14.Civil judicial cooperation on service of documents and taking of evidence

15.Criminal offences minimum standards measures – Combating Child Sexual Exploitation Directive

16.Control of major accident hazards

17.Cross border mediation

18.Data sharing – (EU fingerprint database (EuroDac)

19.Data sharing – European Criminal Records Information System (ECRIS)

20.Data sharing – False and Authentic Documents Online (FADO)

21.Data sharing – passenger name records

22.Data sharing – Prüm framework

23.Data sharing – Schengen Information System (SIS II)

24.Efficiency in energy use

25.Elements of Reciprocal Healthcare

26.Elements of the Network and Information Security (NIS) Directive

27.Elements of Tobacco Regulation

28.Energy Performance of Buildings Directive

29.Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) Directive

30.Environmental law concerning energy planning consents

31.Environmental law concerning offshore oil & gas installations within territorial waters

32.Environmental quality – Air Quality

33.Environmental quality – Chemicals

34.Environmental quality – Flood Risk Management

35.Environmental quality – International timber trade (EUTR and FLEGT)

36.Environmental quality – Marine environment

37.Environmental quality – Natural Environment and Biodiversity

38.Environmental quality – Ozone depleting substances and F-gases

39.Environmental quality – Pesticides

40.Environmental quality – Spatial Data Infrastructure Standards

41.Environmental quality – Waste Packaging & Product Regulations

42.Environmental quality – Waste Producer Responsibility Regulations

43.Environmental quality – Water Quality

44.Environmental quality – Water Resources

45.Environmental quality – Biodiversity – access and benefit sharing of genetic resources

46.Equal Treatment Legislation

47.EU agencies – EU-LISA

48.EU agencies – Eurojust

49.EU agencies – Europol

50.EU Social Security Coordination

51.Fisheries Management & Support

52.Food and Feed Law

53.Food Compositional Standards

54.Food Geographical Indications (Protected Food Names)

55.Food Labelling

56.Forestry (domestic)

57.Free movement of healthcare (the right for EEA citizens to have their elective

procedure in another member state)

58.Genetically modified micro-organisms contained use

59.Good laboratory practice

60.Harbours

61.Hazardous Substances Planning

62.Heat metering and billing information

63.High Efficiency Cogeneration

64.Implementation of EU Emissions Trading System

65.Ionising radiation

66.Land use

67.Late payment (commercial transactions)

68.Legal aid in cross-border cases

69.Migrant Access to benefits

70.Minimum standards -housing & care: regulation of the use of animals

71.Minimum standards legislation – child sexual exploitation

72.Minimum standards legislation – cybercrime

73.Minimum standards legislation – football disorder

74.Minimum standards legislation – human trafficking

75.Mutual recognition of professional qualifications

76.Mutual recognition of criminal court judgments measures & cross border cooperation –

European Protection Order, Prisoner Transfer Framework Directive, European

Supervision Directive, Compensation to Crime Victims Directive

77.Nutrition health claims, composition and labelling

78.Onshore hydrocarbons licensing

79.Organs

80.Plant Health, Seeds and Propagating Material

81.Practical cooperation in law enforcement – Asset Recovery Offices

82.Practical cooperation in law enforcement – European Investigation Order

83.Practical cooperation in law enforcement – Joint Action on Organised Crime

84.Practical cooperation in law enforcement – Joint investigation teams

85.Practical cooperation in law enforcement – mutual legal assistance

86.Practical cooperation in law enforcement – mutual recognition of asset freezing orders

87.Practical cooperation in law enforcement – mutual recognition of confiscation orders

88.Practical cooperation in law enforcement – Schengen Article 40

89.Practical cooperation in law enforcement – Swedish initiative

90.Practical cooperation in law enforcement – European judicial network

91.Practical cooperation in law enforcement – implementation of European Arrest

Warrant

92.Procedural rights (criminal cases) – minimum standards measures

93.Provision of legal services

94.Provision in the 1995 Data Protection Directive (soon to be replaced by the General

Data Protection Regulation) that allows for more than one supervisory authority in

each member state

95.Public sector procurement

96.Public health (serious cross-border threats to health)

97.Radioactive Source Notifications – Trans-frontier shipments

98.Radioactive waste treatment and disposal

99.Rail franchising rules

100.Rail markets and operator licensing

101.Recognition of insolvency proceedings in EU Member States

102.Renewable Energy Directive

103.Rules on applicable law in civil & commercial cross border claims

104.Sentencing – taking convictions into account

105.State Aid

106.Statistics

107.Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) Directive

108.Tissues and cells

109.Uniform fast-track procedures for certain civil and commercial claims (uncontested

debts, small claims)

110.Victim’s rights measures (criminal cases)

111.Voting rights and candidacy rules for EU citizens in local government elections

 

When you see the full list like this, I think the potential damage to devolution becomes clear.

Finally, what difference will Scotland refusing consent make? If the Tories refuse to amend the bill to satisfy the devolved administrations and they then refuse consent, the UK Parliament could block the Bill but only if the DUP and the Scottish Tories break ranks. If that does not happen the bill will go through, politely noting the dissent from Scotland and Wales, and perhaps be implemented as it stands. You could argue, of course, that this would create a constitutional crisis and be a gift to the Yes campaign. Of course, Brexit may not happen at all. See these:

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/brexit-latest-might-not-happen-morgan-stanley-report-city-forecast-eu-economists-a7930296.html

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/brexit-latest-news-uk-leave-eu-euro-lord-michael-heseltine-tory-peer-conservative-single-currency-a7959836.html

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2017/jul/28/britain-should-fight-for-second-brexit-referendum-malta-pm

(c) PH

Ruth has at last noticed that some of her MSPs are not ‘up-to-scratch’ and wants to replace them with higher calibre candidates for the next election. She’ll have a hard time finding any. We don’t need to go near the accusations of paedophilia levelled against several senior UK Tories to realise this is a party which has always had a flexible view of morality. It attracts the wrong sort for any decent democracy.

You’ve probably heard of the most recent case where MSP Finlay Carson, spokesman on the digital economy, paid his own company, co-run by his brother, a four-figure sum to build his website using a ‘free-to-use’ content management system. He then claimed the costs as expenses.

Before the last Holyrood election, I posted a list of some of reasons Ruth must have been aware before then to enable her to avoid some of these ‘people’:

Donald Gatt elected to Keith and Cullen stood for UKIP before and commenting on free meals for P1 pupils, is reported to have said that those who cannot afford to feed their children should use a contraceptive.

Neil Graham, a Paisley councillor, had his contact details on a leaked BNP database. I downloaded that myself at the time and found a near neighbour on it!

Ian James, for Strathtay, was reported to have praised a speech by UKIP MEP Steven Woolfe and bemoaned the lack of characters like Enoch Powell in the tory Pary leadership campaign.

Most pathetic was Fife teacher Kathleen Leslie (above) who described Nicola Sturgeon as a “drooling hag”, a “wee fish wife” and a “walking horror show”. This is a teacher, a role model for young people, who teaches what…..English? Is she that braw hereself

Ken MacBrayne for Benbecula and North Uist, Roxana Iancu for Glasgow and George McIntyre for midlothian were caught in time and dropped, after anti-Muslim rants by them were allegedly identified.

Finally, David Wilson of Inverclyde was reported to have asked gay people to out themselves during a public meeting during which a donation to an LGBT group had been moved.

There have been more cases since including, recently, Millionaire Alexander Burnett threatened with the loss of parliamentary privileges for tabling questions designed to help his own business interests.

Here are links to more of the evidence:

Phew, Scottish Tories are still bigots, racists [and penis fantasizers]. I was worried they might be changing.

Open Democracy Expose bad smell in funding of Scottish Tories

I told you. Tories cannot contain their inherent nastiness.