Talking-up Scotland

Going back to only June 2018, we can see a litany of lies from Reporting Scotland on, for example only, school exclusions, crime gangs, obesity, hospital infections and most recently on violent crime.

On June 4, 2018, I wrote on how RS were exaggerating gang violence in Scotland by failing to report on the data revealing that only a tiny proportion of the UK gangs were operating here.

How many GANGSTERS are preying on the financial fears of pensioners? BBC Scotland and Herald care not, as long as they can scare us

 

Also, in June, I wrote to protest their coverage of increasing rates of obesity which failed to note important recent research, revealing the forecast for Scotland to be more positive due to Scottish Government policy interventions and to point to an error suggesting that the growth in obesity was actually a growth in morbid obesity. In the case of the second part only, they apologised to me but did not publicly retract. The damage was done.

BBC Scotland on obesity: My complaint, their tiny grudging acceptance

 

Starting also, in the Summer of 2018, RS had devoted much time to the opposition attacks on P1 assessment. However, it was only in February 2019, that I was able to evidence the lack of substance in these attacks:

How Scotland’s media INVENTED a tear-sodden crisis of P1 assessment

 

In September, despite their small apology in June, they repeated the same lies and distortions on obesity:

BBC Scotland once more hide SNP Government’s policy success to create scare on obesity in women

 

In October, I wrote to correct errors in their statistics and to question their interpretation of research seriously exaggerating school exclusions of pupils with autism. In this case they even apologised to me but did not publicly retract and so the damage was done by then.

Is this a first? Reporting Scotland’s editor apologises fully for errors in reporting on alleged school exclusions of children with autism

 

In February 2019, I wrote about the misleading language used in reporting of hospital infections to suggest that these had killed when they had been at worst only contributory factors, I got another apology but, of course no public retraction and the offences continued after it.

Reporting Scotland editor apologises for Jackie Bird being wrong and ‘has a word with her’

 

Perhaps most visible of these lies have been those they told repeatedly about hospital infections. For a fuller account, see:

How Reporting Scotland INVENTED a crisis of infected hospitals for us

 

Finally, today, RS used a familiar deception, as they had done with morbid obesity, to suggest a rise in violent crime when it had actually fallen and when Police Scotland had actually headlined that it had fallen.

Now Reporting Scotland LIES about violent crime RISING when it FELL

 

These are, of course, only some of the detectable lies biasing their coverage. Far more influential will be their daily editorial decisions often sub-conscious, to report or to not report, as suits their Unionist agenda.

When I say ‘influential’ I mean it. Along with the unionist propaganda called ‘History’ which most of us were conditioned by in school and perhaps at university, we have been subjected to the ‘carpet bombing of our minds’, endlessly, day-after-day, with reports, both triumphalist and devious, in documentary and in drama, suggesting that Scotland is too wee, too poor or too stupid to go it alone.

In liberal democracies, this flow of ideas worms its way into the mind to produce a generalised conservatism and resignation, far more effectively than does the all-too-obvious propaganda of the totalitarian state. The people of Soviet Russia knew not to trust their media. Too many Scots still believe they can trust Aunty Beeb!

Some readers of this throbbing organ are, I know, uncomfortable with this and some have even said they do not share TuS reports because the url has ‘thoughtcontrolscotland’ in it. I understand the fear of being sniggered at and accused of being a conspiracy theorist, but I stand with the insights of Noam Chomsky and I know that Unionists have lost the argument when a cheap insult is all they have left.

Why there is thought control in liberal democratic Scotland and perhaps less in North Korea?

 

 

What is Reevel thinking?

This is the latest in a series of lies by Reporting Scotland on, for example, gangs, knife, crime, obesity and hospital infections. I’ll summarise in the next post today.

Last night, Jackie Bird opened confidently with:

‘Violent crimes, excluding sexual offences, has risen in Scotland over the past year.’

Reevel Alderson, looking quite uncomfortable, then quite hesitantly repeated the lie:

‘But I suppose the headline, of this snapshot is, as you say, that there has been a rise in non-sexual violent crime.’

Yet, in the introduction to the Police Scotland report, we read:

‘Overall violent crime is down 1.6 per cent however Group 1 Crimes (non-sexual violent crimes) have increased.’

What has happened here? Well, both have missed something important out. Bird should have said:

‘Group 1 Violent crimes, excluding sexual offences, has risen in Scotland over the past year.’

This does matter, because in 2016/2017, beyond the Group 1 crimes which did increase, there were 106 662 crimes including common assault, threatening and abusive behaviour and racially aggravated harassment/conduct and, in 2017/2018, these offences reduced to 99 314, a fall of nearly 7%.

Now, some will say that this is just an error and that my criticism is mere pedantry but by missing out ‘Group 1’, they turned a fall in violent crime into a rise in violent crime with an unavoidable consequence for the thoughts of viewers. Subtly, for some, this kind of reporting, repeated over years, suggests a country which cannot run its own services effectively.

Further, the report by RS, left out several other pieces of information which would have presented a more accurate view of crime trends in Scotland. From the Police Scotland report:

‘Crime is down and detection rates are up according to new figures published by Police Scotland.There were over 3,000 fewer (Group 1 to 5) crimes recorded in Scotland by the end of the third quarter of 2018-19, down 0.4 per cent year on year and 2.5 per cent down on the five year averageDetection rates for Group 1 to 5 are up to 50.4 per cent from 49.3 per cent from the same time last year. The report also reveals a higher proportion of people are satisfied with how Police Scotland dealt with incidents, with 81.4 per cent either “satisfied” or “very satisfied” compared with 80 per cent last year.’

https://www.scotland.police.uk/whats-happening/news/2019/february/quarter-3-management-nformation-report-published

Sources:

https://www.scotland.police.uk/assets/pdf/138327/232757/445136/management-information-force-report-quarter-3-2018-19

 

 ‘They don’t always report the news, though they like to pretend they do. Sometimes they just make it up.’

My own words a few days ago as the moral panic and scare story around hospital infections generated primarily by Reporting Scotland, became apparent:

How Reporting Scotland INVENTED a crisis of infected hospitals for us

Now, after Freedom of Information releases, we can see that the supposed widespread fear and anxiety, around the assessment of P1 pupils, last year, had all the lack of substance of most moral panics or scare stories. We’ve already reported today on the lack of evidence of parents, teachers or academics being sufficiently concerned as to write and condemn the testing, leaving us with only the unsubstantiated pronouncements of those typical moral guardians and careerists, opposition politicians, teacher union leaders, parent groups and those journalists imbued with unionist positions. See these for more detail:

Only 4 teachers write to Swinney or Sturgeon on the P1 tests and only one of those is opposed to them

Only two academics wrote to Swinney and Sturgeon on P1 testing, both to approve and one looking for a job

Only three parents write to Swinney or Sturgeon about P1 testing and none report a child stressed

Now everyone, including the Scottish Government, knows that an essentially media-bound frenzy is not the objective basis for a national review but such is its power, they agreed to one:

To repeat myself, this is a classic moral panic and a classic scare story with political and base human emotions, not science or reason, at its origin. The reporting and not the presence of fear and anxiety among pupils, parents and teachers, caused the inquiry.

In this case, unable to ‘lay a glove’ on the most competent and popular government in Scotland’s history, the corporate media in cahoots with the opposition parties and union leaders, is using Schools to conduct a proxy propaganda war against the whole idea of an independent Scotland capable of running its own systems.

When they cannot find a real problem within an infinitely improvable public service such as education or health, where such do often emerge, they are prepared to go well beyond any form of responsible journalism, to actually construct part of the reality of their readers’ lives.

 

 

Teacher 1 wrote to support the scheme but suggested more flexibility in the timing:

As a former primary school HT I wholeheartedly support assessment of pupils throughout their school years to ascertain their strengths and learning needs.

Teacher 2 wrote, by hand (!), to cast serious doubt on the character of those current teachers and union leaders moaning about the tests:

Teacher 3, with 40 years of experience, was angry about the tests:

‘I am watching the current debate on P1 tests. Your comment regarding “tears” of a young child during the test is no big deal because children cry in school all the time (admittedly, I’m paraphrasing, but it is exactly the essence of your message), makes me despair. Your flippant attitude for the well-being of our youngest learners is despicable and demonstrates the enormity of your ignorance regarding early education.’

Teacher 4 was all for the tests:

As a teacher who had 20 years of experience, I think you should stand firm about the P1 tests. I am disappointed that the other parties will vote against you. If some of the children were crying it may have been because some tension in the teacher was transmitted to the child. Perhaps, if it was presented as a game and called an assessment there would not be so much hostility. Other countries realise that education is the key to future prosperity for its citizens. As far as I can see the test is pretty minimal and it is important to see how the child is progressing.

So, one out of four teachers, one out of three parents and no academics, write to complain about the P1 assessment? People are angry! Clearly it’s a crisis!

 

 

https://www.gov.scot/publications/foi-19-00270/

We’ve heard that ‘all the evidence is against P1 testing’ yet only two academics bothered to write to the Education Secretary or to the First Minister. They were not at all critical:

Academic 1:

I wish you well in persuading your colleagues in the Scottish Parliament that your policy is responsible, progressive and necessary. Ask them to imagine a health service without diagnostic assessment. Why then should we embark on the most critical learning years of a child’s life without a description of the communicative abilities the child brings to school?

Academic 2:

I am writing about the Scottish National Standardized Assessment, and more generally about how the Scottish Government manages assessment processes and results. This is not a letter of complaint, but an offer of assistance.

So, three parents, only one critical, and now only two academics, neither critical. Could the opposition to the P1 testing be a product, only of a media/trades union campaign?

 

 

The applicants asked for the following information: ‘for any letters or emails from parents to John Swinney or Nicola Sturgeon on P1 testing/assessment from 1 September 2018 to 23 January 2019.’

Parent 1:

I showed the pictures to [redacted – exemption applies] and asked if he remembered doing this test and he said yes that he’d done it twice, at the beginning of the year and then at the end. He thought it was really fun! Said he did it on the iPad with his teacher, she told him he did really well. I knew he’d be tested in the year and was told it was only to identify learning gaps or difficulties for the teacher.

Parent 2:

I write as a mother of a P1 pupil in our local comprehensive school with a plea to scrap the relatively new practice of testing children at this stage in their schooling. All evidence points to the results having no validity and serves only to put unnecessary and damaging pressure on our youngest at a vulnerable and impressionable part of their lives.

No mention of their child’s actual reaction is offered.

Parent 3:

As a parent who has a son who had in his early years special educational needs I understand and fully appreciate the need and requirement for proper assessment in order to ensure his development.

Again, no mention is made of the child’s reaction.

https://www.gov.scot/publications/foi-19-00269/

So, not much evidence of stress-out parents or children?

Once again, we’re grateful to Shadowy Health Secretary, Miles Briggs, for exposing the SNP government’s failure to make more use of the private agencies which most Tories favour and often have shares in. See this parliamentary question and answer:

NHS Scotland has reduced spending on private agencies for locum neurologists by nearly 9% in one year. A near 10% increase in the FT staffing of neurologists must be helping.

What, the Scottish Tories are against NHS Scotland wasting money on private agencies? I don’t know what to think now.

(c) GETTY: Look, up there, it’s Tony!

A sub-poll of 90 Scots, for Deltapoll and the Mail on Sunday, with fieldwork on 21^st to 23^rd February 2019, found SNP support steady at 41% and seems to reinforce four previous sub-polls giving them between 40 and 44%:

Conservatives  26%

Labour             26%

Lib Dems         5%

SNP                  41%

But, but, but, when they asked this question:

look what happens:

Conservatives  29%

Labour             13%

Lib Dems         2%

SNP                  45%

TIG                   9%

While the new Independence Group gets 9% and the Tories climb to 29%, the SNP reach a figure, 45%, which in a first-part-the-post system with the opposition further split like this, would enable them to almost wipe-out the opposition.

Also, look at the Lib Dem vote as half of them appear to have been drawn away from Willie, to Chuku and Chums. I know, tiny sample, but if anything like this happened more widely, they’d be in real trouble. In the Northern Isles, the already compromised Carruthers, would be out.

Click to access MoS-Deltapoll190223_pdf.pdf

 

East Ayrshire bucking the trend or…

TuS is grateful for this Freedom of Information request made to SNP-dominated East Ayrshire Council by Jacob Catrine.

There were 510 incidents of school violence across East Ayrshire’s 50 schools in 2016/2017. In 2017/18 this had fallen by nearly 6% to 480 incidents.

https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/violent_incidents_towards_staff?nocache=incoming-1313393#incoming-1313393

The Freedom of Information request to East Ayrshire Council was made by a ‘Jacob Citrine.’ There is a village called ‘Catrine’ in East Ayrshire. There is also a kind of jewellery called ‘Jacobs Citrine’ produced by a Jewish family called ‘Jacobs’ in Reading. I’m going no further with this, in case I tread on the Labour anti-semitism problem.

 

In a predictably canny piece of writing, of the kind academics prefer, there are, however, one or two clear indicators that divorce from the UK might be much less troublesome than Brexit is. As when looking for a dropped toy in a ball swamp, you need to stay calm and sharpen your vision for phrases that go beyond the hesitancy and qualified reservations, to suggest something promising.

On the economy, Hughes writes:

‘[S]cotland would lose a significant net fiscal transfer from the UK on independence. But the costs of Brexit – impacting on the UK even before it leaves the EU – are, according to most studies, many times bigger than this. And the UK would still have to pay some amount to the EU to participate in the various programmes and agencies that Theresa May has indicated it may wish to.’

On trade agreements:

‘Scotland would not face the challenges the UK faces to replicate or replace all the EU’s international trade agreements and other treaties. Rather it would join those agreements once it acceded to the EU.’

On the, for the UK, thorny issue of Ireland:

‘[T]here is no independence equivalent to the challenge posed by the Northern Ireland backstop to Brexit politics.’

So, overall, leaving the UK, even after 300 years, looks considerably less problematic for Scotland, than leaving the EU does:

‘Compared to Brexit, it is likely there would be less uncertainty along a number of key dimensions if Scotland were aiming to rapidly join the EU. Much of Scotland’s future relationship with the UK would then be determined by the UK-EU relationship (which might hopefully be clearer in the next 2-4 years as the UK transitions out of the EU).’

https://www.scer.scot/database/ident-10268

This is from a leading academic, whose boss, Professor Michael Keating, is one of those federalists who seem prepared to remain tied to the foreign policy of a post-imperial delusional Britain led by people like that Hunt who recently insulted the Slovenes and those many who think the Irish are getting a bit uppity and need reminding who is in charge.

I’m guessing someone like this might allegedly be the one who might have sidled up to Nick to say: “The Irish really should know their place.”