Talking-up Scotland

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/may/20/racism-on-the-rise-since-brexit-vote-nationwide-study-reveals

Needless to say, there is no mention of any breakdown across the parts of ‘the nation’ and I doubt I’d get one (‘Oh the ‘regional’ samples are too small to be valid!’) but, fortunately we have many other recent sources of data telling us that there has been no surge of racism here. Indeed, the evidence is of falling racism generally. Don’t let the reporting of the Old Firm or the words of Scotland’s few Tory/Labour nutjobs deceive you.

See this:

‘Racial crime remains the most commonly reported hate crime. There were 3,249 charges reported in 2017-18. This continues the downward trend since a peak of 4,547 charges reported in 2011-12 and is the lowest annual total since consistent figures became available in 2003-04.’

http://www.copfs.gov.uk/images/Documents/Statistics/Hate%20Crime%202017-18/Hate%20Crime%20in%20Scotland%202017-18.pdf

For more evidence, see these recent examples:

Racist hate crime charges in Scotland fall by nearly half

Only ONE report of RACIST behaviour by a teacher in FIVE years in SCOTLAND? That must be wrong. Find more!

Glasgow Herald’s nauseating attempt to distort truth about Scotland and racist violence

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

New evidence that Scotland is less anti-Semitic than non-Scottish parts of UK*

BBC Scotland reporting the news on racism NOT where you come from

12 reasons why Anas Sarwar is wrong about Scotland’s racism problem….other than in the Scottish Labour Party?

As hate crime falls in Scotland and soars elsewhere, STV and BBC Scotland report fake news of an increase

 

Another poll? SNP still ahead? Thought so…munch…munch

The polls are coming fast and furious and saying the same thing – SNP secure and well in front, Brexit a damp squib in Scotland and Con/Lab beaten.

So, YouGov/DataPraxis, for 8-17^th May with a big Scottish sub-poll of 796, for Westminster:

• Con 18
• Lab 13
• Lib 9
• SNP 42
• UKIP 1
• Green 5
• Brexit 9
• Ch UK 0

SNP support at 40 or above despite Brexit, seems pretty settled now, poll after poll, at a level now that almost wipes the board apart from the Liberal refuge in the far north and coastal Fife.

For EU election voting intentions:

• Con 10
• Lab 10
• Lib 7
• SNP 38
• Green 11
• UKIP 2
• Brexit 20
• Ch UK 2

There’s a wee Brexit surge for the EU elections but some of it from UKIP and damaging  ConLab but well below the 40% surge for them in middle England.

https://d25d2506sfb94s.cloudfront.net/cumulus_uploads/document/hpztu0aw1o/YouGov_Datapraxis.%20Best%20for%20Britain%20and%20Hope%20Not%20Hate_190517_1w.pdf

Remember this?

Perhaps inspired by that fine young Scottish guy in TV’s ‘The Bodyguard’, Ross Thomson seemed to have pledged selfless loyalty to Tory succession candidate, Boris ‘the Bear’ Johnson. Now Steven Kerr, MP for….? I don’t know, has come out for Michael Gove:

Steven is a long-time admirer of Michael ‘the Teddy Bear’ Gove and is clearly a prophet of his future greatness, describing him last year as ‘man-of-the moment!’

Michael was very impressed? Will he be needing his own man at the Governor’s office?

 

 

 

No surprise, they don’t mention Scotland at all. With a sample size of 1 000, over-18s only, but a tiny Scottish sub-sample of 58, on 17^th May, we get:

https://www.survation.com/daily-mail-18-05-19-final-tables/

So, it’s not reliable at all on its own and with Labour at 25%, seems a bit more out-there. Regarding the SNP and Brexit figures, the Ipsos MORI one for 10^th to 14^th May 2019 gave:

• Con 7%
• Lab 16%
• LibDem16%
• SNP 42%
• Green 8%
• UKIP 2%
• Brexit 8%

https://www.ipsos.com/sites/default/files/ct/news/documents/2019-05/pm_-_tables.pdf

6% or 8%, it matters little to the MSM of course:

Bill Bowman (North East Scotland) (Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party) asked the Scottish Government what action it has taken to improve the average band D Energy Performance Certificate rating in the residential housing sector.

Kevin Stewart provided this information:

1. By the end of 2021, we will have allocated over £1 billion pounds since 2009 on tackling fuel poverty and improving energy efficiency.
2. This year alone we have allocated £145 million to improving the energy efficiency of Scotland’s building stock.
3. 46% of dwellings were rated C or better in 2017, up from 24% in 2010.
4. The number of dwellings rated below band D reduced from 27% in 2010 to 13% in 2017.

https://www.parliament.scot/S5ChamberOffice/WA20190517.pdf

Earlier reports on progress in this respect are:

Once more the SNP’s progressive housing policies are helping Scotland weather the storm of Tory austerity

In an announcement on the 13th March, a group called ‘Warmworks’ claimed much credit for a ‘scheme for fuel poor hitting its 5K-customer milestone, a boost for jobs and skills in Scotland and balancing efficiency and support. ‘Warmworks Scotland’ has just…

SNP Government launches new fuel poverty pilot scheme to enhance existing scheme which has already improved 100 000 homes.

22 rural households will take part in a pilot project designed to find ways of reducing fuel poverty. The pilot will take 12 months and £300 000 will be invested in it.  Advisers from Home Energy Scotland (HES)…

SNP Government leads the way again, on high energy efficient homes for Scotland

© scottishhousingnews.com I’ve been writing plenty about the robust health and future prospects of Scotland’s renewables and oil & gas energy sectors. Of course energy efficient homes are another important part of the overall strategy.

 

 

There’s another headline Reporting Scotland should have chosen. With a somewhat under-stated headline, Power Technology, reported today:

‘Scotland led investment in independent renewable projects in Great Britain (GB) last year, according to the seventh annual Energy Entrepreneurs report by energy group SmartestEnergy. Out of the £158m invested in 80 projects across GB in 2018, more than £116m was invested in Scotland (73.4%). The report found that 85% of new, independent renewable projects were established in Scotland. Out of a total of 329MW of new installations, 276MW was added in Scotland, compared with 49MW in England and 4MW in Wales. There are 1,239 independent renewable projects in Scotland which generate £500m worth of electricity per year. Scotland is also a leader in independent energy storage, with a 36% share of the 4.9GW in the energy storage planning system.’

https://www.power-technology.com/news/scotland-britain-independent-renewable/

(c) The Engineer

Well down the ‘page’ in Insider today, this candidate for headlining, across the Scottish media

‘Scotland exports renewables expertise to 72 countries’

That’s newsworthy isn’t it. It’s been a few years since I worked with first-year BA journalism students, but I feel they’d have been all over that one:

‘Jamie! 72! That’s going in the headline!’

Here’s an extract from the Insider piece. Let me know if you hear about it anywhere else in our NoMedia:

‘Bottom of Form

More than 70 countries across the world are benefiting from Scotland’s knowledge of renewable energy, a survey suggests. Industry body Scottish Renewables found that businesses have exported renewable energy goods or services to a total of 72 countries. The most popular export destination was the US, with nine of the 15 Scottish headquartered businesses which responded to the survey exporting to the States. This was followed by Canada, Germany, Ireland and Sweden, equally, with eight companies exporting to each country. Renewables exports to other countries include Afghanistan, Angola, Brazil, Fiji, Kazakhstan and Singapore.’

https://www.insider.co.uk/news/scotland-exports-renewables-expertise-72-16154007

 

Nah nah Nicola! I don’t need any policies when I can just complain about yours!

Just after a BBC 1 report on incontinence, we hear that the Scottish Tories have revealed something to BBC Scotland:

‘Hospital waste from … (embarrassed hesitation?) … Scotland, is being sent to Wales for disposal after the collapse of a scandal-hit firm, the Conservatives have revealed. The Tories say sending the waste to Wrexham makes a gimmick of the First Minister declaring a climate emergency.’

Remember that an editor decided to headline this story because the Tories suggested it was a story and because it fits the agenda. S/he approved the link being made between a serious government policy statement and a company doing what any company in the borderless UK, apparently loved by both the BBC and the Tories, can do, trade within those borders. Did the Tories consider that this might actually be an example of the UK’s ‘broad shoulders’ which they often enthuse about? There is no real story, at an adult level, here but only a childish equivalent of:

‘Ah hah! You said your family were going vegan, but I saw your mum buying dog food!’

This is naked propaganda.

The Tories, like Labour, have allowed Westminster to dump the most horrific waste in Scotland for at least 100 years!

The SG report is here:

The Global Climate Emergency – Scotland’s Response: Climate Change Secretary Roseanna Cunningham’s statement: https://www.gov.scot/publications/global-climate-emergency-scotlands-response-climate-change-secretary-roseanna-cunninghams-statement/

 

 

This is the third sub-poll where the only differences can be seen in the map for England and Wales.

From Ipsos MORI for 10^th to 14^th May 2019:

• Con 7%
• Lab 16%
• LibDem16%
• SNP 42%
• Green 8%
• UKIP 2%
• Brexit 8%

https://www.ipsos.com/sites/default/files/ct/news/documents/2019-05/pm_-_tables.pdf

As with the previous two, the SNP takes 53 and the Lib Dems appear to take 5 (?) I can’t see what the 59^th is in the Flavible map but I’m sure it’s not Mundell! As for the Brexit/UKIP damage, the Tories seem to pay the price here by themselves.

 

Here are the opening lines:

‘Scotland’s charities have reported hundreds of serious concerns about their own organisations to regulators since 2016, it has emerged. The 318 “notifiable events” reported over that period include cases of fraud, bullying and sexual abuse. They include 29 allegations of sexual misconduct, nearly a third relating to the Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry. Further down we see that only 29 ‘had some element of potential sexual misconduct’ but even in quite a long report on the website we never hear how many employees there are so that we can see how common or rare these offences are.

The third sector in Scotland employs an estimated 138,000 people (headcount) or 83,350 Full Time Equivalent workers so even if we accept that 318 offences means 318 offenders, that works out at 0.2%. as for those cases which ‘had some element of potential sexual misconduct’ the figure is 0.02%.

Here’s a story worth telling:

There are more charities per head of population in Scotland than any other UK nation. Levels of third sector activity are particularly high in rural areas, where local support services, village halls, and recreation groups are at the heart of their communities.

https://scvo.org.uk/post/2014/04/03/scvo-scottish-third-sector-statistics

For quite limited evidence on BBC employees see:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BBC_sexual_abuse_cases