Talking-up Scotland

I’ve just posted a piece in our occasional series on the differences between Scotland and rUK in terms of core values such as collectivism, economic justice or perhaps even environmental sensitivity. Now I read this in Energy Voice today, from UCL researcher, Francis Shaw:

‘There’s no doubt my research definitely found a difference between European headquartered companies and the American companies, but I think there’s a wider issue of companies reflecting the culture in which they’re immersed.’

He did open with a reference to a European context, but I think it’s fair to say that most of those employees are based in and around Scotland resulting surely in that being the dominant influence. He goes on:

‘If you think about what makes up a large international company; it’s shareholders, it’s employees and customers who are all members of society. So, they also reflect society, and society’s values are not static, they change all the time. Where a company is based will have an impact and that’s what I’ve seen from my research.’

For more see:

https://www.energyvoice.com/oilandgas/north-sea/198743/north-sea-oil-and-gas-firms-more-engaged-for-energy-transition-top-academic-claims/

 

From Insider today:

‘Scottish Gas owner Centrica is joining calls on the Government to introduce mandatory paid leave for workers who also have caring responsibilities. Chief executive Iain Conn has written to the chief executives of the UK’s 100 largest employers to encourage more support for carers. Centrica said it believed companies could save up to £4.8 billion a year in unplanned absences and a further £3.4 billion in improved employee retention by adopting flexible working policies to support those with caring responsibilities.The firm is announcing a change to its carers policy, giving employees more paid leave, without using annual allowances. It will now offer 10 days’ paid leave to all carers followed by another 10 days that can be taken if matched with annual leave.’

https://www.insider.co.uk/news/scottish-gas-owner-calls-carers-15005134

I’ve been reporting for some time now, not so much recently, on the notion that Scotland is different from rUK in terms of the predominance of more collectivist, communitarian values. The above report seems to reinforce the idea that there might be something in this contributory factor to the drive for independence. Here are some earlier reports:

Are Scotland’s employers also different – more willing to pay a decent wage?

We’ve already seen that Scotland has 28% of the UK’s living wage employers yet only 8% of the population, that NHS Scotland will pay a living wage to all employees and that Scottish housing associations will do the same. See…

With 1 in 4 living wage employers already in Scotland, the Scottish Government aims to make this a ‘Living Wage Nation’

There are around 3 500 living wage employers across the UK with 28% of them in Scotland but the Scottish government is clearly not satisfied and has launched an ambitious plan to turn Scotland into a ‘Living Wage Nation. Here’s…

8% of the UK population and 28% of living wage employers. More evidence that we are different enough to want to run the whole show?

Porridge and oats specialists, Stoats, has just been named as Scotland’s 1 000th Living Wage-accredited employer. There are around 3 500 across the UK with 28% of them in Scotland. https://news.gov.scot/news/1-000th-living-wage-employer This 8% of the population but a…

Another difference as UK small and medium-sized business people prefer Boris while Scots prefer…

From Citibase: ‘Despite making numerous incendiary remarks and being at the heart of a ‘civil war’ among his own party, 23% of SMEs would still like to see Boris Johnson as the next Prime Minister, closely followed by Theresa May…

Another difference between Scotland and rUK?

Note: Found this in my drafts folder, forgotten I know it’s not a necessary condition for the Scots to be really different from their neighbours to then deserve independence but, if it’s there, it can help in articulating a rationale…

NHS England’s new motto: Who is laike us? Dem few and they err awl daid!

Anoher difference between Scotland and rUK? I know it’s not a necessary condition for the Scots to be really different from their neighbours to then deserve independence but, if it’s there, it can help in articulating a rationale which helps.…

Scottish Government support for small businesses superior to that in non-Scottish parts of UK

 

Some senior SNP figures have foolishly allowed the NoMedia in Scotland to associate independence supporting online activists with the monsters who are threatening mainly women politicians with actual violence. See this example:

Does anyone think this abuse came from a Cybernat? Virtually all of the serious online abuse comes from misogynists, racists and fascists. To allow Scotland’s lively sometimes ‘dirty-minded’, but democratically-aligned activists to be lumped together with these people is shameful. This is apparently the work of a ‘Cybernat’:

It is crude and offensive, but it is just a joke. It’s a very long way indeed from a threat of actual violence and our politicians including those who recently praised the self-centred, hypocritical and dim-witted Dugdale (Ooooh he called her a bad name!) tell me that they are getting a bit too cosy in their shared wee bubble to properly represent those who elected them. What next, an SNP MP campaigning to be the Speaker of the House of Commons? Oh, OK too far that time.

 

From Reporting Scotland last night:

‘Drug-related deaths in Scotland are two and a half times higher than the rest of the UK.’

That would be a huge difference and straight off the bat as they say, it’s just not very plausible just as ‘Crime in England is two and a half times higher than in Scotland‘ or ‘Road deaths in Wales are two and a half times higher than in Northern Ireland’ would cause you to stop and think. Any undergraduate would know that there are almost certainly serious differences in the way the data has been collected and presented then investigate that.

The ONS statistics used by Reporting Scotland, 934 deaths or 172 per million do, at first sight, seem to suggest the rate is two and a half times higher but do not take into account regional variations within England (below) and come from a source which compares these with English data which are not gathered in the same way. See this telling example on page 47:

‘It follows that some deaths could (in theory) be counted differently in, say, Scotland and England. For example, a death from intentional self-poisoning by an uncontrolled substance would be counted in Scotland (but not in England) if a controlled substance was present in the body but was not believed to have contributed to the death (because the presence of the controlled substance would not be recorded in the data for England).’

Perhaps contributing to this problem deaths are more likely to be recorded as suicide in Scotland:

Unlike Scotland, in England and Wales, whether a death due to injury is classified as intentional or accidental depends on information provided by coroners. Narrative verdicts from coroners often do not provide information on whether the injuries were due to intentional self-harm, were accidental or were of undetermined intent. In these circumstances, coding rules mean that classification of the death defaults to ‘accidental’, and therefore suicides may be underestimated in England and Wales (and therefore also the UK).’ 

https://www.scotpho.org.uk/health-wellbeing-and-disease/suicide/data/uk/

Given England’s much greater population and diversity, a direct comparison with Scotland is meaningless. See these deaths per million regional figures:

https://cassioburycourt.com/2019/03/heatmap-shows-areas-in-england-wales-with-the-highest-drug-misuse-deaths/

Should the English data be collected in the same way as the Scottish data would the level still be much higher or higher at all than in, eg, Northern England or Wales?

Also important is a comparison of these levels of death with other causes. Remember for Scotland it’s 172 in a million people but here were 228 alcohol-related deaths per million in 2017.

https://www.nrscotland.gov.uk/statistics-and-data/statistics/statistics-by-theme/vital-events/deaths/alcohol-related-deaths/main-points

There were 1 851 smoking-related deaths in 2015.

http://www.healthscotland.scot/health-topics/smoking/smoking-prevention

I’d offer to help but most undergraduates could do this.

Get your fears FRESH today!              Vacancy: Depute Head of Security/ Door Women

Self-parody Award Winner!                         Big Fib Award Winner!

Yeah, it’s Mr Grey!

To be fair, they did cover the big march yesterday!

My late father-in-law, a construction worker from Donegal, bought the Express because the Daily Record was a ‘Rangers paper!’ He still voted Labour, so maybe none of the above matters?

 

BBC Scotland’s Disclosure Team have stumbled upon gangs of ‘Asians’ feeding mass flocks of pigeons near Scottish hospitals. BBC Scotland’s Sport and Terror Correspondent, Bernadette McLaughlin, sister and auntie, respectively, of BBC Scotland football consultants, Brian McLaughlin and Brian McLaughlin, told us:

‘This is a shocking new development as ISIS in Glasgow (ISISIG) seeks to add a ‘contributory factor’ to the many already ‘associated with’ patients dying ‘after’ they might have been ‘in contact with’ a fungus which might have come from some pigeon ‘shit.’ Scottish Labour have demanded that the Scottish Government now reconsider its hasty decision to licence airguns.’

The Disclosure Team had been following suspected Scottish White Supremacists, Celtic Connections, but, as in the recent case where they followed the wrong lorry of wee calves all the way to Spain before they realised their mistake, they found themselves following a group claiming to be the family of a ‘consultant paediatrician’ at the hospital. Unphased, the team observed the children in the group feeding feral infected pigeons and found out from them, that they and others, had done the same at another Glasgow hospital. Though at first, satisfied that these children had no terror connections, the team had second thoughts when their ‘father’ emerged humming a Beatles tune and telling his children how much he loved ‘The Beatles.’ Readers familiar with terror reporting will know of course that this is code for support of ISIS and its English Jihadi killers known as ‘The Beatles.’

The BBC Team have passed on their observations to GCHG, MI5, MI6, AC12, CIA, FBI and the polis. They now plan a new documentary with the possible title:

‘How Glasgow’s Jakies are combatting its Jihadis by shooting their suicide pigeons.’

 

 

In a parliamentary question last week, Tom Mason (North East Scotland) (Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party) asked the Scottish Government for what reason ScotRail’s annual average figures record that one in five trains arriving or terminating at Aberdeen station are more than five minutes late.

Michael Matheson replied that performance problems at Aberdeen are particularly disappointing given the unprecedented increase in service level, rolling stock and infrastructure investment for Aberdeen. Over the last few periods, 8 out of 10 trains have arrived at Aberdeen Station within PPM. However, it isn’t surprising to note that over half of the performance issues (55%) impacting Aberdeen services over the last year is down to Network Rail’s infrastructure issues. As I have said on many occasions it is critical that all parts of the railway system are delivering on contract and regulatory requirements to improve service reliability for passengers.

https://www.parliament.scot/S5ChamberOffice/WA20190502.pdf

In an interview, Haines said:

‘Since my first job as a left luggage clerk at London Victoria I’ve been passionate about improving the services that the railways provide to customers and the wider economy.’

https://www.railmagazine.com/news/network/former-south-west-trains-md-haines-to-succeed-network-rail-s-carne

Who said social mobility had stopped?

Is it possible that Haines is too demoralised by his pay, only £588 000+, to do the job properly? Look out for the Scottish Conservatives telling Nicola Sturgeon to get on with her day-job, stop relying on Westminster and pay the man a Scottish supplement.

Here’s what Iain McWhirter wrote in 2014:

Iain McWhirter of the Herald has between getting some unwarranted abuse on Twitter recently. A twitterer whose opinion I usually agree with has defended him and suggested that his federalism is a respectable position to take. I’m not so sure. Simply, by definition, federalism means that you accept the foreign policy and the military strategies of the supra-state, Britain. This means you must accept some responsibility for the bloodletting, the creation of dysfunctional states and the consequent blowback of mass migration and terror in Europe. Thus, Iraq, Syria, Yemen and Libya are yours. You must accept the meaningless deaths of Scottish soldiers and the bombing of civilians by our pilots. You must accept the nuclear weapons on the Clyde and dumping of nuclear waste around Scotland with the health risks that produces. You must pay for the aircraft carriers which cannot defend us but only project power into the lives of others less powerful. You must accept the gross inequality and the power of an aristocracy which both disgusts and demoralises. I could go on but isn’t federalism, with all this, just as bad as imperialism itself? Maybe it’s worse, because because you’re choosing in full knowledge, to stay with an abusive partner only because you fear a reduction in your living standards.

Following on from the above headline, the Scotsman piece has:

‘The three premature babies died at Glasgow’s Princess Royal Maternity Hospital after contracting the Staphylococcus aureus blood stream infection. The boy passed away after catching a fungal infection caused by pigeon droppings at the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital in Glasgow.’

https://www.scotsman.com/health/msps-demand-action-after-7-hospital-infection-deaths-this-year-1-4920005

Here’s what Dr Alan Mather, Chief of Medicine said of the three baby deaths, in a BBC Scotland interview on April 9^th, being careful to pause and to emphasise the actual cause of the deaths:

‘There was cluster of deaths of babies that were very premature and that’s the key element of this. Sadly, three very premature babies have died as a result of the prematurity but were also infected with this organism.’

 

He’s clearly saying that the extreme prematurity killed the babies and acknowledging that it had an infection too which along with a number of other factors may have played a part, but the baby died because it was very premature.

 

In all of the other cases, the fungal infection was described as one of a number of contributory factors.

 

As with the earlier Reporting Scotland coverage, this is very poor quality journalism misleading the public and triggering undue anxiety.

I don’t need to tell readers that the early years of education, pre-school, are critical in stimulating perhaps ensuring later development and that lack of funding for, especially, those children from deprived backgrounds, can seriously limit their ability to reach attainment levels comparable to their more affluent peers, for the rest of their lives.

So, the dramatic increases over the last ten years, resulting from Scottish Government decisions, are hugely important. Lib Dem MSP, Tavish Scott, ‘Master of Expenses’ at Holyrood, is to be applauded for bringing this to our notice.

Here are the data for the budget allocation changes per child:

https://www.parliament.scot/S5ChamberOffice/WA20190501.pdf