Talking-up Scotland

From Infrastructure Intelligence, on 5^th April 2019 and reported by ….?

‘Work on the fifth electrified route between Scotland’s largest cities has been celebrated after being completed on time and on budget. Not only will it mean a reduction in noise and better air quality for those who live and work near the railway, the upgraded line will allow for the introduction of modern, electric trains from May and more seats on services between Glasgow Central and Edinburgh. Funded by the Scottish Government, the investment was made to add resilience and capacity into the network to cater for projected growth in passenger numbers from towns such as Livingston and West Calder into Edinburgh in the east and from Cleland and Shotts into Glasgow in the west.’

http://www.infrastructure-intelligence.com/article/apr-2019/%C2%A3160m-rail-electrification-between-glasgow-and-edinburgh-completed-time

 

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 (21%) and Jeremy Corbyn (17%). Interestingly, support for ‘BoJo’ is particularly high in the North East at 30%, while unsurprisingly Nicola Sturgeon takes precedence in Scotland with 23% of the votes.’

https://www.citibase.com/uk-smes-call-for-snap-election-after-brexit-takes-place-as-confidence-in-government-drops/

What about Ruthie? Isn’t she tipped for FM and PM? See these reliable and authoritative predictions:

I was going to say she’d need to give up the drink but Churchill never did.

For some reason we don’t get to see who came second or third or fourth in the Scottish sub-set.

Is this another wee bit of evidence that Scots are a bit different. Regular readers will know that I’ve been wittering on agreeably about this notion that Scotland is different enough in terms of the commonality of values such as collectivism over individualism to add that factor to its rationale for independence. Of course, it’s not an essential requirement to justify independence and there are many Scots (Tory supporters) who might be better swapped with ‘nice’ English folk, but it does seem important to our NoMedia for them to want to undermine it all the time:

BBC News tries to spread knife crime crisis into Scotland to tell us: ‘You’re no different. Don’t get any ideas!’

As religious hate crime soars by 40% in one year in England and Wales, Reporting Scotland struggles to keep up

Here are some only of the many reports here on related matters:

Abuse of women and the disabled far higher in England than in Scotland

Less homicide, less knife crime, less domestic violence, safer cities and now much lower alcohol problems: should Scotland’s old stereotypes be sent south?

Racial hate crimes increase by 33% in England & Wales while falling by 10% in Scotland: Who says we’re not different?

Scottish Muslim students far less likely to report abuse or crime?

Terror de-radicalisation referral rate in Scotland less than one third per capita of that in England

Only in Scotland! ‘A review of small country’s approaches to public policy reform in response to economic, demographic and other pressures found that only in Scotland could this ‘golden thread’ be so clearly discerned’

Scientific evidence that Scots tend to be different from the other groups in rUK?

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

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

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?

80 000 lowest paid workers in NHS England still on poverty wages as NHS Scotland follows Scottish Government policy to pay a living wage to all public-sector employees

Scottish care workers to receive Living Wage for ‘sleepover’ hours while English care workers receive only the National Minimum Wage.

From a Scottish Prison Service Freedom of Information request, there were 9 sightings of drone activity near Scottish prisons in 2016. Of these, two resulted in packages being found in the grounds. In 2017, there were 12 incidents but only one package found within the grounds.

In 2018, the level of activity had plummeted to one incident, at Barlinnie, on Hogmanay, with 4 packages found. Officials have denied reports that these contained coal, black pudding, whisky and photographs of Idris Elba.

http://www.sps.gov.uk/FreedomofInformation/FOI-6321.aspx

Only a local poll but still worth cheering yourself up with. Tories 4^th on only 11% and behind even ailing Labour. Further cheer can be found in its close proximity to Ruth Davidson’s Edinburgh Central.

In the impartial Courier today:

‘Dundee has scooped another prestigious award by being named Scotland’s Best Place to Live 2019. The poll, which will be published in this week’s Sunday Times, puts Dundee ahead of Leith and Stockbridge in Edinburgh, Port Appin in Argyll, Mull and the trendy Finnieston area of Glasgow.’

Earlier reported triumphs for Dundee, reported here:

‘Dundee Born and Read’, Evening Telegraph talking-up SCOTLAND OUTPERFORMING UK!

Yeh, yeh, Craig David likes Dundee too but what I really like is the avoidance of the ‘Too much tourism, SNP bad’ trope spreading around. Just as Scotland needs migrants, Dundee and many parts of Scotland welcome tourists and Dundee…

Dundee is best in Europe!

I know that Dundee, Independence City, has its challenges so I’m always up for reporting good news there. From Insider today: ‘Video games degrees at Abertay University in Dundee have been ranked best in Europe for the fifth year in…

‘Dundee Named Europe’s Most Visionary Electric Vehicle City’

In DIGIT today: ‘The World Electric Vehicle Association has named Dundee as Europe’s most visionary city for electric vehicles (EVs). At a ceremony in Kobe, Japan, the association presented Dundee City Council with an ‘E-visionary award’ for its pioneering initiatives…

Is Dundee ‘punchin’? The only UK location in Lonely Planet’s top ten

I’ve had cause to report several times recently on Dundee apparently punching above its weight. See these: Glasgow only UK city to make New York Times top ten cities to visit. Dundee makes CNN’s most design-savvy…

Glasgow only UK city to make New York Times top ten cities to visit. Dundee makes CNN’s most design-savvy list with Tokyo and Paris

From the STV News website: ‘As part of its annual travel list, the publication [New York Times] has compiled a rundown of 52 must-visit cities in 2018. Glasgow was in tenth place and the only city…

 

 

Unusually, Kantar’s recent Westminster Voting Intentions poll doesn’t have a regional breakdown to allow consideration of the Scottish sub-poll. Readers will know that 6 out of the last 8 sub-polls have put SNP support in 45-50% range, up from the consistent 40-41% range in the previous 6.

When I asked to see the data, I was told:

‘Unfortunately, in each of our polls we have under 100 respondents from Scotland. This means that the voting intention estimates are very imprecise (we have estimated that the margins of error around each figure could be as much as +/- 10%pts). As such I am not able to share these results externally.’

Not able? Their Scottish subset was 102 from an online sample of 1 172 between 4^th and 8^th April 2019. The results were:

‘Kantar voting intention polls (4^th – 8^th April 2019) show Conservative 32% (-9 vs Mar 2019), Labour 35% (+4 vs Mar 2019), Lib Dems 11% (+3), UKIP 7% (+1), SNP 5% (nc), Green 4% (-2), Plaid Cymru 1% (+1), Other 6% (+4).’

https://uk.kantar.com/public-opinion/politics/2019/more-than-half-of-uk-public-want-final-brexit-deal-to-be-put-to-public-vote/

The 5% figure is high and caught my attention. 5% of 1172 is 58.6. 58.6 is 57% of 102.

I know, sub-polls are unreliable but with 7 out of the last 9 (nearly 1 000 people) now suggesting 45% to 50% and perhaps more, after a long period of stasis at 41%, is there really nothing here?

 

(c) People Make Glasgow

In Insider today

Following an inaugural CBRE study in 2017 and using the same methodology to compare 65 cities throughout the UK, the new report provides an update on the top 25 locations for companies in the tech sector. Manchester remains in first position with Glasgow second and Edinburgh retaining its third spot. Commentators suggest that the proximity between Edinburgh and Glasgow, rather than the competitive distance, is helping both cities, with many in the tech and creative industries happy to live in Glasgow and work in Edinburgh, or vice versa.

Factors contributing to the very strong rankings scored by both Glasgow and Edinburgh are highlighted in the report.  These include high concentrations of tech businesses and tech professionals, generational diversity and a strong creative arts legacy. The two cities are also advantaged by high levels of educational attainment and access to a number of world-class universities, with strong research and computer science degree rankings. 

Both cities have a large ratio of millennials (Edinburgh 28.5% and Glasgow 24.2% of the population) and a high proportion of the population qualified to NVQ 4 or above (Glasgow ranks third and Edinburgh fifth out of 65).

https://www.insider.co.uk/news/glasgow-edinburgh-named-among-top-14280586

Previous good news on the Scotland’s cities:

Edinburgh 10th out of 100 global cities for job opportunities

Above New York and Berlin, Edinburgh has come tenth out of 100 top global cities, for ‘opportunities.’ Here’s what organisers, Movinga, say about their criteria: ‘The research tackles three key areas: economic strength for start-ups and established businesses, standard of…

‘Edinburgh and Glasgow in top five cities to work in UK’

They came third and fifth with London and Manchester at 1 and 2. Frankly, I’m astonished that anyone thinks London would a better place to live. This is, of course, from Insider. Here’s a short extract and the…

Scotland’s big cities boom

Yes, from Insider again, today: ‘Edinburgh’s office market has enjoyed a strong second quarter after a slow start to the year, according to new figures. Office lettings between the first and second quarter rose 150 per cent to 351,916 sq…

‘Edinburgh tops list of most influential small cities in Europe’

From Insider magazine, again, today: ‘Scottish capital scores high on economic output and the aspirations of its workforce. Bottom of Form  Top of Form Bottom of Form Edinburgh has been ranked first among its peers in a new…

Less homicide, less knife crime, less domestic violence, safer cities and now much lower alcohol problems: should Scotland’s old stereotypes be sent south?

It’s been more than 80 years since ‘No Mean City’ was set in Glasgow and comedians, including our own, continue to base their humour on an image of a violent, drunken people but the last ten years have…

Scotland’s university cities by far the safest places to send your children

I’ve just reported on falling domestic violence in Scotland and the increasingly inaccurate nature of the stereotypical view of Scots and Scotland as violent. The Complete University Guide has published some shocking data which was too large to fit into…

Glasgow only UK city to make New York Times top ten cities to visit. Dundee makes CNN’s most design-savvy list with Tokyo and Paris

From the STV News website: ‘As part of its annual travel list, the publication [New York Times] has compiled a rundown of 52 must-visit cities in 2018. Glasgow was in tenth place and the only city…

Scotland’s cities ally to exploit hydrogen-based technologies. Scotland’s Unionist media ally to ignore it

An alliance between Scotland’s seven cities – Aberdeen, Dundee, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Inverness, Perth and Stirling – set up to develop a wider economic and environmental strategy will focus on hydrogen-based technologies. Aberdeen already has Europe’s largest fleet of hydrogen-fuelled buses,…

Edinburgh and Glasgow come second and third in survey of UK cities’ ‘smartness’

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…

As major global cities like London struggle with pollution, levels in Scotland have dropped by more than 66% since 1990. Has this contributed to falling crime levels too?

 

When I saw this, I was immediately surprised and then suspicious:

Labour 9 points ahead? Aye right, so they are! Then I looked at the Scottish sub-poll to see this!

Away! This is so out there it’s unbelievable. The trend in the last 12 or so sub-polls has put Labour below 20%, as low as 15%, and the SNP consistently over 40% but tending, in the last 7, to between 45% and 50%. Where did they get their sample? A care home for old/Old Labour Party members?

Who are Hanbury Strategy?

Of course, nearly all of the polling companies are profit-making businesses run and staffed by privately-educated Oxbridge graduates with elite connections but Hanbury seems especially ‘inside.’ See this from Financial News in June 2017:

‘As financial executives scramble for clarity on the new UK government’s Brexit plans, Barclays has joined a small club of City firms that have hired a little-known consultancy with ties to the highest echelons of British politics. The UK lender has become the latest financial institution to sign up for the advisory services offered by Hanbury Strategy, an unlikely partnership between Ameet Gill, the influential pro-Remain former director of strategy for Number 10 and a special adviser to then Prime Minister David Cameron, and Paul Stephenson, the pro-Brexit former communications director for campaign group Vote Leave.’

Gill has previously been reprimanded by the Office of the Advisory Committee on Business Appointments for unapproved contacts.

https://www.fnlondon.com/articles/barclays-joins-clients-of-elite-secretive-political-strategy-firm-20170613

 

 

 

Once more Reporting Scotland return to their long-running campaign inflating a small number of hospital infections known to have been only contributory factors in death to produce a crisis. They have repeated, over and over, the notion that these deaths have come ‘after’ the infections leaving viewers to make a causal connection which is clearly not there.

Tonight, we hear from the reporter: ‘We know that the infection was one of a number of factors that contributed to their death’ but this does not prevent further repetition of the implied causal connection.

Dr Alan Mather, Chief of Medicine tells us, 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 baby and, perhaps to get the reporter out of his hair, 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.

Then we heard from the reporter: ‘Staphylococcus aureus is quite a common bacteria (sic).’ It’s a bacterium!

From the above published today:

‘The child health programme is offered to all children in Scotland. The programme includes screening for specific medical problems, provision of routine childhood immunisations, and a series of child health reviews. Health Visitors usually provide reviews for preschool children. The reviews involve assessment of children’s growth and development, and provision of advice and support for children and their families. A review for children aged 27-30 months was introduced in Scotland in April 2013.’

This report published today, tells us that the percentage of children recorded as having any developmental concern has declined steadily from 19% in 2013/14 to 15% in 2017/18.

Most dramatic and encouraging has been a decline in children with a concern about their emotional/behavioural development in NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde, from 14% to only 8%.

https://www.isdscotland.org/Health-Topics/Child-Health/Publications/2019-04-09/2019-04-09-Child-Health-27m-review-Report.pdf?

Why is this happening?

Poverty lies at the hearty of problems in the care for children’s development

In 2018, The Joseph Rowntree Foundation had this to say about the Scottish Government’s intentions to reduce child poverty:

‘The Scottish Government’s commitment to building a social security system that has dignity and respect at its core and offering routes into employment for those currently excluded from the labour market, could change the family incomes and prospects of thousands of children for the better.’

 

Differences with non-Scottish Parts 1: Less vulnerable to benefits cuts

‘The IFS found that low-income families in Scotland currently have a higher proportion of their income coming from earnings than low-income families in some (but not all) parts of the UK, so have a lower proportion of income that is vulnerable to benefit cuts compared with some of the hardest-hit regions of the UK.’ (Hood and Waters,2017). 2

 

Differences with non-Scottish Parts 2: Fewer large families

‘In addition, one key change to UK benefit policy – the two-child limit on tax credits and Universal Credit– will particularly hit families with three or more children born after 6 April 2017. The IFS analysis found that Scotland has proportionally fewer families with three or more children than elsewhere in the UK, and around half the proportions found in Northern Ireland and the West Midlands.’ (Hood and Waters, 2017). 3

 

Differences with non-Scottish Parts 3 and 4: Higher increases in median income and less relative poverty

Note: The predicted dramatic increases above neglect impact of further welfare devolution to SNP Government:

‘Many of the key drivers of changes in poverty have been felt UK-wide. However, the Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF) has supported some research that showed a clear rise in Scottish median incomes relative to the rest of the UK from around 2003/04 and a relatively bigger improvement in the relative poverty rate from 2004/05.’ (Bailey, 2014).

Persistent poverty refers to children who have been living in relative poverty in three out of the last four years – a measure of the number of children who have been in poverty for a prolonged period of time.

 

Differences with non-Scottish Parts 5 and 6: Stronger decreases in poverty rates and increases in employment

‘The research identified strong decreases in poverty rates for the working-age population compared with the rest of the UK, alongside improving employment rates, especially for families without children. Over the period from 2000/04 to 2008/12, Scotland saw a bigger reduction in out-of-work families compared with the rest of the UK and similar growth as the rest of the UK in ‘intermediate work intensity’ (‘partly working’ families). 8

 

Differences with non-Scottish Parts 7 and 8: Affordable rents and mortgage costs

‘The analysis also pointed to more affordable rent and mortgage costs relative to income than in England, with social rents being 20–25% lower in Scotland by 2012/13. As a result, poverty after housing costs, compared with before housing costs, rose by a smaller amount than in England.’ 8

 

SNP Government Initiatives

‘In the coming months, the Scottish Government will launch two strategies that could make a crucial difference for our society. The first is an action plan on halving the disability employment gap, and the second is an action plan on the gender pay gap that is due to be published by the end of the year. This could be transformational for tackling poverty.’ 9

https://www.jrf.org.uk/report/poverty-scotland-2018

 

March 15^th 2019, we hear of the ongoing commitment of the SNP government, despite the Westminster constraints, to go beyond words and to act:

‘Vulnerable families are set to benefit from new funding to support households in financial hardship. Seven projects aimed at tackling child poverty will receive a total of £450,000. The money is a part of the ‘Every Child, Every Chance’ Innovation Fund, which is jointly supported by the Scottish Government and The Hunter Foundation. The fund aims to support innovative approaches which could have an impact on reducing child poverty by 2030. The projects range from job training and a befriending service, to school-based mentoring and support for lone parents. One of the successful projects is Stepwell, a social business based in Inverclyde, which provides support to people in the local community with health and finance issues as well as training and employment opportunities.’

https://news.gov.scot/news/funding-to-tackle-child-poverty