Talking-up Scotland

Even if Reporting Scotland, STV and the ‘Scottish’ press do their worst to keep the ‘Five Trials of Alex’ show running for months, to compete with Game of Thrones, how likely is Paul Hutcheon’s prediction, popular with other Yoons, that it will wear the SNP administration down?

Well it clearly hasn’t done so far as the most recent YouGov poll puts the SNP up at 40%, in a position to increase their seats by around 10, from 35 to 45 with Labour likely to become almost extinct again:

But, wait, can we learn anything from the past? Remember the Great SNP Civil War of August 2018? It must have been a big thing back then. Look at the mass coverage:

Surely that must have dented the popularity of the SNP? Let’s check the opinion polls in the period immediately after it:

Oooh, the SNP crashed down to as low as 36.5% in the October Survation poll! Oh, no, they seem to have recovered toward the end of the month, back up to 40%. They’re still at 40% with a bigger sample and that would give them an extra 10 seats, back up to 45. Worse still, Labour look like collapsing to 21% and get only one MP. Well! You’d think nobody was reading Paul or the Scotsman!

You have to admire their tenacity if not their mendacity. Remembering nothing and apparently learning nothing, each new juicy ‘SNP crisis’ sets them off again, like a pack of yapping jackals, with more daft predictions. They just don’t get the basic fact that the SNP, fixed hard to the philosophical principle that the desire for independence is of its essence and non-negotiable, will survive any personnel changes or other superficial set-backs. It’s not like the other parties, for whom there is no such equivalent. These are their values. If you don’t like them, they can change them.

Wait, what about the wider independence movement? Surely, those non-SNP folk must get scunnered by Sturgeon and Salmond?

Average? 47.4%? That’s dangerous. I’m going to phone MI5. What’s their number? It begins 007?

86.4% of 26 000 patients were seen within 4 hours in the first week of January 2019. This compares very favourably with January 2018 when only 77.8% of just over 25 000 were seen in 4 hours.

Note: I have used BBC Scotland editorial guidelines in rounding the numbers above.

No January figures are available for NHS England but, in December 2018, only 79.3% were seen in 4 hours.

https://www.england.nhs.uk/statistics/statistical-work-areas/ae-waiting-times-and-activity/ae-attendances-and-emergency-admissions-2018-19/

 

In November 2018, the average number of beds occupied per day due to delayed discharges was 1,464. In October, the daily average was 1,526. This reduction represents an improvement of 4.06%.

Click to access nr_181025_nhs_overview.pdf

Despite massive ongoing increases in demand (see above) throughout 2018, for inpatient appointments requiring beds, and subsequent social care arrangements, NHS Scotland has been able to reduce the use of beds due to delayed discharges.

Note: BBC Reporting Scotland editorial guidelines were used in the above selection and description of percentage changes.

https://www.isdscotland.org/Health-Topics/Health-and-Social-Community-Care/Publications/2019-01-15/2019-01-15-DelayedDischarges-Summary.pdf?44175356627

 

There have been several reports here of the Scottish Government’s plans to link Scotland, economically and culturally, with Scandinavia and the wider Arctic Circle countries. See:

Scotland’s Nordic-Baltic Co-operation

SNP Government making new links to North and East in preparation for Brexit failures by UK Governmen

Scotland moves closer to the Arctic Circle

Now, we read in Energy Voice, today, of a physical link to Norway with a two-way energy cable:

‘Plans for a giant energy cable linking the north-east with Scandinavia could be given the go ahead this week. The North Connect Project will link Peterhead to Norway with a 415-mile cable, and it is hoped the move can boost the renewable markets in Scotland and Europe. The link will have a capacity of 1400MW and will go under the North Sea from Simadalen in Norway to a site near Boddam.’ The interconnector will allow energy to be shared between Scotland and Norway, meaning hydro power from Norway can be transferred to Scotland when local renewable sources such as wind power cannot meet demand, and vice versa for periods where Norwegian sources are struggling.’

The cable will be funded by Marine Scotland which is the part of Scottish Government that is responsible for the integrated management of Scotland’s seas.

https://www.energyvoice.com/otherenergy/190729/peterhead-to-norway-energy-cable-plans-expected-to-be-approved/

 

Though WhatDoTheyKnow.com, a ‘small digital charity’, may be as it claims, acting ‘as critical friends to institutions of power’, and trying to ‘make change in the world by building things on the web that show how the world could be better’, in its questions of UK government departments or of the corporations. However, there is contrasting evidence that it, through a few covert partisan volunteers, has been operating in the interests of the UK State and British Nationalist parties in Scotland and against those of the SNP and the Scottish Government.

Remember these requests merely add to the enormous number of Holyrood Committee questions posed openly by the British parties in Scotland and used to feed our MSM:

Lib Dems providing seasonal ferret cover at BBC Scotland and STV

The full set of FOI requests made by WhatDoTheyKnow.com, of the Scottish Government, can be seen here:

https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/body/scottish_government

Readers will note, in only these few recent examples, the potential of these requests for our ‘MSM’ to be able to use the answers in pursuing their agendas.

The First Minister stated on her Twitter feed in August 2018: “In this case, unlike in some previous cases, the investigation into complaints about Alex Salmond has not been conducted by the SNP and no complaints have been received by the party.” What previous cases does she refer to, and how were these complaints brought to her attention?

I note that today the First Minister stated that “the answer to Brexit was for Scotland to become an independent country”. Could you provide details of any economic impact assessments that have been carried out that show how Scotland would be effected by leaving the EU and the UK at the same time . Please note that this is not specific to the EU referendum but also includes analysis carried out for the Scottish Independence Referendum.

The case of DeeAnn Fitzpatrick received widespread media interest in May 2018. Her case drew swift condemnation from social media users and members of the nation’s highest office.The first minister asked the permanent secretary to conduct a full review of the circumstances of the case – including to ensure that there is a positive working culture in Marine Scotland. When will this review of this case be completed and made public?

Walter James Wolffe QC is a senior Scottish lawyer who has served as Lord Advocate since 1st June 2016. He was appointed by the current First Minister. Since his appointment, has Lord Wolffe been consulted by the SNP in a separate capacity other than as Lord Advocate to the Scottish government? If this was indeed the case, please provide full and complete records on when and on what basis these consultations took place.

Scotland’s 32 councils have managed budgets well over the last year but face a difficult time ahead, says the Accounts Commission. One of the most significant issues for councils continues to be resources. In 2017/18, funding from the Scottish Government reduced by 2.3 per cent in real terms. Will you provide full details of the funds from Barnett paid by Westminster, but withheld from councils by the Scottish Government during the period 2017/18.

What measures are put in place and protected in order that all politicians and including the 1st minister remains accountable to the public and who is responsible for keeping this accountability in check.

Please provide a list of all loans made to third parties by the Scottish Government for amounts in excess of £1.5m in the period 1 January 2016 to 17 August 2018. Please exclude loans made to other government agencies.

_________________________________________________________________________________

Perhaps readers can further enlighten us on this topic?

 

‘But what effect will it have? If previous attempts to take out senior SNP politicians is anything to go by then this smear will pass without any significant damage to the SNP.’ Indyref2

 

 

 

I can’t hide my feelings either

Will Reporting Scotland tell us that ‘hedge funds are slashing their bets’ on Scotland’s oil prices falling?

There are some great headlines there and below with bull and bear graphics, designed for anyone….other than the folk at Reporting Scotland.

In Live Mint today:

‘Crude oil’s rally is starting to sweep away the pessimists. After starting 2019 on a cautious tone, hedge funds last week slashed bets on falling Brent crude prices to the lowest level since mid-November, as they looked to get out the way of a recovery that pushed oil back into a bull market. Wagers on increasing prices climbed the most in a month. The global benchmark surged last week, as the U.S. and China made progress in trade talks and Saudi Arabia reaffirmed its commitment to head off a supply glut. Money managers have turned alternately bullish and bearish on the rally in recent weeks, but the evidence for a sustained move higher is getting harder to ignore, said Mark Waggoner, president of Oregon brokerage Excel Futures Inc. Brent has gained more than 20 percent since hitting an 18-month low in late December. Brent net-long positions — the difference between bullish and bearish wagers — climbed 3.8 percent to 158,146 options and futures contracts in the week ending Jan. 8, the ICE Futures Europe exchange said on Friday.’

https://www.livemint.com/Money/IgziVB9Tgp36UiiYGDZRAJ/Oil-bears-get-out-of-the-way-as-crudes-rebound-takes-hold.html

After reading that, did you want to don a pinstripe and red braces, run through an office and slam-dunk a ball into a net? I kind of did. I’ve already slashed my bets.

Smile Douglas!

‘Ah, but…’

STFU!

Footnote: I’m not suggesting that Fraser should be ‘put out to grass.’ He’s one of the Yes campaign’s more useful sleepers.

In the Herald today, we read:

‘A “disgraceful” number of Scots are struggling to pay their rent or mortgage – with the number rising by nearly a third in the last two years. That is the view of Shelter Scotland which commissioned research which found that around one in eight (12%) Scots are sweating over covering their accommodation costs – up from nearly one in ten (9%) when the same survey was done two years ago.’

The Herald and ‘disgraceful’? Why do they fit together so well?

Alongside the SSPCA, Shelter is my preferred charity. I’ve left hundreds of books, admittedly fewer kids’ bicycles and sacks of clothes, so I’m not having a go at them. However, as recently as 2016, we see Shelter England saying this:

So, 1 in 8 Scots are struggling to pay rent or mortgage while 1 in 3 were struggling in England when Tory austerity still had more years to go? I appreciate the two research surveys were not asking exactly the same question, but I feel sure they tapped into the same problem reasonably comparably.

The Joseph Rowntree Foundation has already, in 2018, pointed to an obvious reason for any difference:

‘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.’

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

 

 

 

I don’t know how those excellent fact-checkers, Ferret, managed to copyright their name when the wee gang of Scottish Lib Dems are such determined wee burrowers into the Scottish Government, digging up fact after fact, snuffling and pouncing on anything they can pass to the NoMedia. Are they on commission BBC Scotland, STV? Both went with the same headline story of stuffed Scottish prisons with no real attempt to provide any useful detail so, I’m guessing Liam McArthur kind of wrote the whole thing for them so that they could enjoy their holidays.

He’d clearly been planning it, since he hit gold, to his wee mind, with the answer to this one he posed on the 10^th of December 2018 and got an answer to from Humza on the 8^th January 2019. Did it really take five days to write this?

Here’s the question and the answer:

Question S5W-20504: Liam McArthur, Orkney Islands, Scottish Liberal Democrats, Date Lodged: 10/12/2018

To ask the Scottish Government what the (a) occupancy, (b) occupancy rate and (c) capacity has been in each prison in (i) 2017 and (ii) each month in 2018.

Answered by Humza Yousaf (08/01/2019):

I have asked Colin McConnell, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS), to respond. His response is as follows:

The following tables provide a breakdown of the Average Occupancy, Capacity and Occupancy rate of each Scottish prison in 2017 as well as each month in 2018.

SPS has a responsibility to accommodate those sent to us by the courts. The data shows the occupancy levels of each establishment when measured against design capacity. The design capacity and operational capacity of establishments are different and can change for reasons of policy, maintenance and changing operational requirements.

December 2018 (Average Prison Population 7877) (Data up to 16 December 2018)

Name	Average Occupancy	Design Capacity	Occupancy Rate
Addiewell	699	700	100%
Barlinnie	1371	987	139%
Cornton Vale	93	114	82%
Dumfries	188	176	107%
Edinburgh	886	867	102%
Glenochil	691	668	103%
Grampian	463	552	84%
Greenock	225	263	86%
Inverness	127	93	137%
Kilmarnock	499	500	100%
Low Moss	769	784	98%
Open Estate	171	284	60%
Perth	696	631	110%
Polmont	458	758	60%
Shotts	541	538	101%

To get this wee morsel, Liam had to ask lots of other questions which turned out not to be newsworthy for him. Try searching for Liam with a space after it, at:

http://www.parliament.scot/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx?SearchType=Advance&DateChoice=3&SortBy=DateAnswered&Answers=OnlyQuestionWithAnswers&SearchFor=AllQuestions&ResultsPerPage=1000

His name comes up 60 times! How many civil servants is he keeping in work?

Anyhow back to the table above. You’ll see with the detail, that in fact, only 2 out of 15, Barlinnie and Inverness have significant overcrowding and that six have over-capacity. Are those being crowded, kept there because they and their relatives want that proximity to home?

Despite the detailed figures, BBC Scotland and STV gave us those stupid Liam-generated headlines above and comments like:

‘Five prisons out of 15 were at, or beyond, their capacity at the start of 2018 – the figure rose to nine by the end of the year.’ (BBC).

‘The majority of Scotland’s prisons were at or beyond their maximum capacity last month, figures have revealed.’ (STV)

Remind us, what is wrong with a tax-payer-funded service operating at or very near capacity? Had they all spare capacity, we know what the Lib Dem headline would be.

Finally, on a lighter note, Liam’s frantic burrowing and the flights to Edinburgh may be damaging his brain. See this:

Try sleeping now!

 

 

*Chill mathematicians! I know you can’t have more than 100%. I’m using BBC Scotland guidelines on headlines.

From FinTech Scotland on Friday:

FinTech Scotland has confirmed that the number of innovative fintech SMEs based in Scotland has grown by three times to over eighty in the last twelve months. The announcement comes on the first anniversary since the formation of FinTech Scotland, a joint initiative by a number of financial services firms, University of Edinburgh and Scottish Government. The growth in the new fintech enterprises focused on reinventing financial services has been driven by both new start-ups and existing fintech firms moving to Scotland. In addition, the number has also been bolstered by early stage Scottish technology firms expanding their proposition into financial services.

https://www.fintechscotland.com/fintech-scotlands-first-anniversary-heralds-a-growing-fintech-economy-across-scotland/

What we can and should do:

Can Edinburgh’s high-tech expertise steal some of London’s financial business post-Brexit?

Glasgow’s lower costs and supply of technology graduates tempting financial services firms away from London

Why we should do it:

How London’s bloated financial sector sucks the lifeblood of the Scottish and rUK economy