Talking-up Scotland

 The EHRC Report: Is Britain Fairer? Was published today though the press had an early look and reduced 208 pages of text to quite small reports essentially finding only bad news for Scotland:

So, I’ve been through it and shamelessly cherry-picked some bits of relatively good  news mostly missed by our Nomedia and, sometimes, I’ve had to insert things the EHRC missed. I should note smugly that there are few cherries to be picked for England and wales.

Children:

There has been some progress in Scotland and Wales in enabling children to challenge legal decisions made by education authorities about support needs and school exclusion. There has not been similar progress in England.

The overall exclusion rate is on the rise in England and Wales. It is falling in Scotland.

In England and Wales, the proportion of children attending special schools, rather than mainstream education, has increased marginally. In Scotland, it has decreased slightly.

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Scotland’s ‘Attainment Challenge’ was introduced in 2015. An evaluation of the Attainment Scotland Fund, which is targeted in the most deprived areas, found that it had led to an increased overall commitment to tackle the attainment gap.

See also:

Educational attainment gaps much smaller in Scotland than in England after 10 years of SNP government: JRF Poverty Report Extract 6

97% of Scotland’s head teachers expect attainment gap to close over next five years thanks to SNP government funding

However, the UN has voiced concerns about the education of disabled children in the UK. In 2017, it reviewed the UK’s progress against the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD). It expressed objections to the UK’s growing reliance on special schools (this is more of an issue in England than elsewhere) and claimed that the education system is not yet equipped to deliver high-quality, inclusive education in mainstream settings. According to the UN, the UK should commit to ensuring all disabled children receive an inclusive education (UNCRPD, 2017). In Scotland there already exists a legal presumption that a disabled child will receive a mainstream education.

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Higher Education:

In Scotland, there is a substantial section of higher education provision not included in UCAS’s figures. This is mostly full-time higher education provided in further education colleges, which represents around one third of young, full-time undergraduate study in Scotland.

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See also:

More students from the most deprived parts of Scotland are entering Higher Education but, once again, BBC Scotland attempts to mislead us

Security in Rented Accommodation:

A draft Bill to ban letting agent fees in the private rental sector was introduced to UK Parliament in November 2017 and the Welsh Government consulted on a similar move in the same year, although no new legislation has been proposed (such fees were banned in Scotland in 2012).

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Social Security:

 

Part III of the Scotland Act 2016 devolved powers over some parts of the social security system to the Scottish Parliament, including the power to create new benefits, top up benefits in newly devolved areas, and administer benefits differently (e.g. splitting UC payments between individual members of a household).

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See also:

More evidence of becoming a better nation as SNP ‘future-proof’ social security

The Welfare Reform and Work Act 2016 replaced binding targets for England andScotland to reduce child poverty in the Child Poverty Act 2010 with a new duty on the UKGovernment to report annually on ‘life chances’ indicators relating to worklessness andeducational attainment. It also removed the measure of poverty based on family income. The Child Poverty (Scotland) Act 2017 reintroduced these income-based targets and set statutory targets to reduce child poverty by 2030.

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The Social Security (Scotland) Act 2018 includes a right to independent advocacyfor individuals who require assistance due to an impairment, restrictions on private-sector involvement in medical assessments and a duty on the Scottish Government to consider the effects of inflation with disability and employment-injury assistance.

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Homelessness:

In Scotland, the number of homelessness applications to local authorities decreased from a peak of 57,672 in 2008/09 to 34,570 in 2016/17. This reduction is likely to be caused by Housing Options and homelessness prevention strategies adopted by local authorities, rather than by changes in the underlying drivers of homelessness (Scottish Government, 2017a)

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See also:

As the number of the employed yet homeless soars in Southern England it is falling and much lower in Scotland

Poverty:

The proportion of children living in poverty in 2015/16 was lower in Scotland (26.0%) than in both England (29.9%) and Wales (34.1%).

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Health of Prisoners:

The NHS does not collate information from prisoner health screenings to understand if there is unmet need (NAO, 2017c). During 2016/17, access to health services was impeded by the reduction in the number of prison officers and restrictive regimes leading ultimately to increased waiting times (HMCIP, 2017a). In contrast, the prison admissions process in  Scotland was found to be robust in helping to identify healthcare needs (Scottish Parliament, 2017b).

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Infant mortality:

In England and Wales, the infant mortality rate in 2016 was 3.8 deaths per 1,000 live births, an increase from 3.7 deaths per 1,000 live births in 2015. The infant mortality rate had been following a downward trend since the 1990s, until 2015, where the rate began to increase (ONS, 2018). In Scotland, the infant mortality rate in 2016 was 3.3 (per 1,000 live births) (181 deaths), similar to rates for 2014 (3.6) and 2015 (3.2); lower than England but higher than Wales (National Records of Scotland, 2017).

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See also:

Scottish stillbirth and early infant death rates lowest in the UK and approaching lowest in the world

Public confidence in the criminal justice system:

The 2016/17 Crime Survey for England and Wales has reported that half (53%) of adults

aged 16 and over are confident that the criminal justice system (CJS) as a whole is effective and about two-thirds (68%) are confident that the CJS as a whole is fair (ONS, 2017a)….In Scotland, approximately three in four people were confident that the system allows all those accused of crimes to get a fair trial regardless of who they are (78%) and treats those accused of crime as innocent until proven guilty (72%); and that everyone has access to the justice system if they need it (75%) (Scottish Government, 2018a).

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Violence and abuse:

The number of race hate crimes recorded by the police in England and Wales increased by 67% from 2013/14 to 2016/17 The number of racially aggravated offences recorded by the police in Scotland decreased by 27% from 2,712 in 2013/14 to 1,993 in 2016/17 (Scottish Government, 2017c).

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Between 2013/14 and 2016/17, the number of sexual offences recorded by the police increased by 89% in England and Wales (to reach 121,450) and by 26% in Scotland (to reach 10,822) (ONS, 2018b; Scottish Government, 2017c).

The number of race hate crimes recorded by the police in England and Wales increased by 67% from 2013/14 to 2016/17 (Home Office, 2017a)….The number of racially aggravated offences recorded by the police in Scotland decreased by 27% from 2,712 in 2013/14 to 1,993 in 2016/17 (Scottish Government, 2017c).

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The % of people experiencing violence and abuse in 2016/17

Disabled: England 13.8%; Scotland 4.1%

Women: England 7.4%; Scotland 3.5%

Pages 139 and 40

Imprisonment:

The Scottish Government announced a new justice strategy in 2017, acknowledging that

female imprisonment grew at a faster rate in the decade to 2012 than for men and noting the benefits of women’s community justice services (Scottish Government, 2017b).. According to the Scottish Prison Service (SPS), the population of men and women in custody have both fallen steadily from their peak levels in 2011/12, decreasing by 7% and 22%, respectively (SPS, 2017a).

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Child Cruelty and Neglect:

Although there were increases in both England and Wales in the number of cruelty and neglect offences across this period, there was a decrease in Scotland.

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In 2016/17, the rate of children held in the youth secure estate was 20.0 per 10,000 population in England and Wales, compared with 14.0 in Scotland.

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The % indicating trust in most people in their area – 61.4% in Scotland but only 42% in England

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Feeling they belonged in the immediate neighbourhood- 61.6% in England and 77.6% in Scotland

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Right that’s enough. I’m knackered more than the average Brit.

https://www.equalityhumanrights.com/sites/default/files/is-britain-fairer-2018-pre-lay.pdf

 

As I work on a larger post on the Equality and Human Rights Commission report which has been already covered in full negativity for Scotland, by our Nomedia, I came across these startling graphs on pages 138 and 139.

Violence against women is more than twice as high in England and violence against the disabled is more than three times as high in England. You’ll remember Reporting Scotland’s sensationalised and decontextualized report on hate crimes including those against the disabled which I reported and complained about:

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

Complaint to BBC Scotland on poor quality of coverage of hate crime

While any such abuse is to be deplored, these sharp differences, given Scotland’s historical statistics and stereotypes, still used by English comedians, should surely be noted. I feel sure that FM Richard Leonard, in a parallel universe, would want to stand in the reflected glow of this.

 

Audit Scotland’s report today has been seized upon by our Nomedia to continue their proxy war against the SNP Government. See below for their all-too-predictable ‘perspective’. It is all a matter of perspective. From my perspective here’s the first part of the bigger story. Look at the above graph from the report.

In the 11-year period since the SNP came to power, there has been a staggering 34.9% increase in demand for inpatient appointments and, in only one year since 2017, there has been a proportionally even greater increase of 11.9%. All of this has taken place against a background of general funding cuts to the Scottish government’s budget. See this statement for just the year ahead:

The UK Government’s budget does not represent a good deal for Scotland, as a consequence of a real terms cut to Scotland’s revenue block grant of over £200m next year.

Commenting on today’s UK Government budget Finance Secretary Derek Mackay said that Scotland is being “short changed”.

Despite a commitment of over £300m resource funding for the NHS in England this year, Scotland will receive only £8m in consequentials in 2018-19 due to UK cuts elsewhere.

Of the additional money the UK Government announced as being added to Scotland’s budget, over half of it – £1.1bn – are financial transactions which the Scottish Government cannot spend on frontline public services, and which have to be repaid to the Treasury.

https://beta.gov.scot/news/budget-falls-short-for-scotland/

The performance of SNHS has fallen since 2016/17 by in most cases, very small and in nearly every case, by single, figures, against this background of a double-figure increase for inpatient services and of sustained Tory cuts.

http://www.audit-scotland.gov.uk/uploads/docs/report/2018/nr_181025_nhs_overview.pdf

Bear in mind, NHS England has largely given up the ghost on meeting targets.

Headline reporting by BBC Scotland has been predictably selective:

 While the report by BBC Scotland does mention increased demand, this is done with little prominence.

In Insider yesterday:

‘Research prepared for Tech Nation and UK Government’s Digital Economy Council shows the UK is home to 15 tech companies worth $1bn – with Edinburgh producing twoBottom of Form. UK cities including Edinburgh are competing head to head with Europe’s biggest capitals in the creation of ‘tech unicorns’, according to a new analysis of company growth.’

https://www.insider.co.uk/news/tech-unicorns-edinburgh-uk-technation-13462823

This news comes after two earlier announcements trumpeting Edinburgh’s role in tech developments:

Edinburgh’s technology sector increases by more than three times UK average

Edinburgh best place for technology in UK?

 

Kate Garroway and Derek Draper

Probably no variety of ‘border’ – hard, soft, frictionless or herbaceous can fully protect us from the furious sense of entitlement of the BritNat elite. Legislation covering balanced broadcasting did not stop ITV being wantonly inaccurate in this interview with Nicola – see link and snippets below:

https://www.scotsman.com/news/itv-censured-over-inaccuracies-in-interview-with-nicola-sturgeon-1-4818204

(Pains me to admit it but the Scotsman report seems pretty fair – bare bones only here)

ITV censured over inaccuracies in interview with Nicola Sturgeon

ITV have been rapped over an interview with First Minister Nicola Sturgeon where claims were made the SNP would have to impose austerity if Scotland became independent.

Ms Sturgeon immediately attempted to correct the error but Ofcom found she was “dismissed or ignored” by Shephard and his co-host Kate Garraway.ITV were forced to make an on air apology following the interview on June 8 this year.

At one stage, Shephard waved a piece of paper at Ms Sturgeon and claimed he was reading directly from the report (Sustainable Growth Commission report).

In their written ruling, Ofcom said: “We recognised that Ms Sturgeon sought to correct the inaccuracy on a number of occasions during the interview. However, in each case, her correction was either dismissed or ignored by the presenters.“For example, as described above, Mr Shephard responded to Ms Sturgeon’s initial correction by reiterating the original inaccuracy. Later, when Ms Sturgeon said “the report does not say what you said”, Ms Garraway interrupted and told her to ‘answer my question’.

“This potentially left viewers with an erroneous impression that Ms Sturgeon was either unclear about the contents of the report or deliberately misrepresenting its findings.”

The broadcaster was also found in breach of guidelines by Ofcom for failing to make the on air apology until four weeks after the interview was broadcast.

Might this have been a simple mistake made in the ‘heat of an interview’ as ITV argued? – Maybe – but let’s just check the formbook shall we?

The ‘Kate Garroway’ involved in the interview has an interesting connection. She is married to Derek Draper. Does the name ring any bells? The Blair Govt ‘LobbyGate’ perchance? – see snippets from Wicki below:

In 1998, while still working as a director at GPC Market Access, Draper was caught on tape, with Jonathan Mendelsohn, boasting to Greg Palast – an undercover reporter from The Observer posing as a businessman – about how they could sell access to government ministers and create tax breaks for their clients. When the tabloids got hold of the story, they dubbed it “Lobbygate”. On the recording, Draper said that “there are 17 people who count in this government … [to] say I am intimate with every one of them is the understatement of the century.” Palast also wrote that Draper said, regarding his motivation: “I just want to stuff my bank account at 250 pounds an hour…”

Next piece of evidence:

Draper was the founder and editor of LabourList.org, which was launched in January 2009. On 11 April 2009, it was reported by The Daily Telegraph that Gordon Brown’s special adviser, Damian McBride, had sent a series of emails to Draper discussing plans to set up a blog which would be used to post false rumours about the private lives of senior or prominent members of the Conservative Party and their spouses. These smears would have included sexual and personal fabrications against MP Nadine Dorries, Conservative leader David Cameron and his wife, Samantha, and Shadow Chancellor George Osborne and his wife Frances.

Draper later apologised for his part in the affair. Although in his reply to McBride’s email he had described the idea as “absolutely totally brilliant”.
Draper married GMTV presenter Kate Garraway in 2005.

Maybe Kate Garroway has been taking some lessons from old DD? – Just a thought.

(c) argunners.com

Much as I love songs, I don’t often get poetry. My brain seems suited to a more literal world of data, ‘hard’ evidence and so on. However, I seem to get Carol Ann Duffy. Maybe it’s because she was born in the Gorbals?

This poem commemorates Armistice Day in 1918 and seems worth sharing.

The Wound in Time
It is the wound in Time. The century’s tides,
chanting their bitter psalms, cannot heal it.
Not the war to end all wars; death’s birthing place;
the earth nursing its ticking metal eggs, hatching
new carnage. But how could you know, brave
as belief as you boarded the boats, singing?
The end of God in the poisonous, shrapneled air.
Poetry gargling its own blood. We sense it was love
you gave your world for; the town squares silent,
awaiting their cenotaphs. What happened next?
War. And after that? War. And now? War. War.
History might as well be water, chastising this shore;
for we learn nothing from your endless sacrifice.
Your faces drowning in the pages of the sea.

© Carol Ann Duffy, 2018

Coincidentally there’s a new film with almost the same name:

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4352354/

‘Set in Spanish Harlem and Negra, pressured by a suspicious mother, an amorous co-worker, and a strange bedfellow battles to keep a childhood secret from unraveling while a restless spirit and the African gods of Santeria seek justice.’

Ronan Point, London, 1968

In the Independent today:

‘Hundreds of tower blocks across UK at risk of collapse, say experts. Government urged to investigate ‘bigger issue than Grenfell’ as defects identified in more than 41,000 flats.’

In a very long news article, running to nearly 2 000 words, around 30 locations with the, at risk, Large-panel-system, are mentioned, but none are in Scotland. Once more, it’s not clear whether the writers have just conflated England with the UK, whether there are LPS tower blocks in Scotland, similarly at risk, or whether the often-stricter Scottish building regulations have led to their non-use or to a safer modified use.

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/tower-blocks-collapse-risk-grenfell-safety-government-a8592436.html

I’ve searched for information but can only find this

‘Early problems with inadequate structural continuity of the panel joints resulted in the progressive collapse of Ronan Point high-rise flats in London due to a gas explosion in 1968. This resulted in revised design codes and strengthening or demolition of vulnerable buildings in Scotland and elsewhere.’

Historic concrete in Scotland, Historic Scotland, March 2013

I appreciate that this report is far from conclusive so would welcome, as always, further evidence from readers.

 

D J Tulloch Jnr

Talking-up Scotland managed to get an exclusive interview with Duncan Jock Tulloch Jnr, former aide to the US President, before both of us lost consciousness on a trip to one of Scotland’s distilleries. Having just seen BBC Scotland’s dramatic disclosure of English-based gangs taking over the drug-trade in Fraserburgh and Peterhead, the great, great, great-grandson of a Peterboro’ (sick) fisherman, was incensed and so upset, he had to drink even more. TuS manage to get this however:

‘The English are not your friends, believe me. They’re bringing drugs. They’re bringing crime. They’re rapists. And some, I assume, are good people!’

and:

‘The border is wide open for cartels and terrorists. Secure your border now. Build a massive wall and deduct the costs from English taxation!’

TuS has already researched and published on this topic. See:

Better together? As crime falls in Scotland, English drug gangs invade Scotland. Build a wall?

What do YOU think? Does Scotland need a hard border with England? Should there be a wall? How high? Who should pay for it? What percentage of the English are good people? Write in and tell us what YOU think. For the best letter there’ll be a smiley face.

On reflection, I suppose the beard was a good idea.

From mysterious reader, Ludo Thierry:

Clearly the Global Warming effects have fried Fluffy Mundell’s remaining handful of neuronal material. Back in 2014 in full Better Together mode the then Scotland Office Minister Mundell was quoted by Severin Carrell in the Guardian (so it must be true) that “.. only a very small proportion ” of other EU member states’ catches came from Scottish fishing waters (see link and snippet below):

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2014/apr/28/alex-salmond-fisheries-eu-scotland

Alex Salmond’s fisheries threat to EU alarms industry

Salmond claimed 12 countries could be barred from Scottish waters if an independent Scotland was refused EU membership

Severin Carrell, Scotland correspondent
Mon 28 Apr 2014 19.14 BST

Mundell said “… The truth is, only a very small proportion of other member states’ catches are taken from Scottish waters..”

Now, 4 years on in 2018, Fluffy is identifying the operations of other EU member states’ fishing fleets in Scottish fishing waters of such import that he is suggesting that ending EU access to the Scottish Fisheries at the earliest possible date is “..essential..”. (reported on the beeb – so it must be true) – link and snippet below:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-business-45913511

Theresa May has said the Brexit transition period could be extended “for a few months” if needed.

But Mr Mundell has told the BBC he wants assurances any extension to the transition would not delay exit from CFP beyond the agreed date.

He said that leaving the CFP in December 2020 is “essential”.

Mr Mundell said that he wanted to make sure the arrangement was at the centre of thinking as EU deal negotiations reach a conclusion.

He said: “Leaving the CFP is an essential part of leaving the EU. Many people here in Scotland voted to leave the EU because they wanted to leave the CFP.

Somehow Fluffy something doesn’t seem to add up – Now – I wonder what that might be?

Photograph: Arnulf Husmo/Getty Images

There have now been five predictions of oil at $100 per barrel:

A fifth prediction of oil rising to $100 per barrel for Scottish oil, suggests pre-tax revenue of around $1 trillion!

It is currently trading at $80pb:

https://www.energyvoice.com/oilandgas/184252/brent-trades-near-80-as-saudis-talk-down-crude-supply-risk/

According to the Financial Times in January 2018:

‘Industry estimates suggest there are still about 20bn barrels of oil and gas left to be exploited in the North Sea and while its longer-term production outlook is in decline, it is right now, in the words of Mr Kirk, “healthily mature”.’

https://www.ft.com/content/1e57dd38-01f2-11e8-9650-9c0ad2d7c5b5

So, not counting the billions of barrels west of Shetland or the gas, North Sea oil revenue, pre-tax, alone could be as high as $2 trillion between now and 2050.

That gives us plenty of time to gain independence and get some serious tax revenue before the end of the oil era.