Yet another new blog

Yes, I mean the political opposition. Not the opposition in Westminster. That's their business. I mean, the opposition in Holyrood, the Tories, although I notice the Scottish TV news on BBC and STV always lumps them together with Labour and gives them an interview each before bothering to talk to anyone from the Scottish Government. Occasionally, the LibDems get an interview but there will be a whole flight of Elon Musk satellites flying over Scotland before the Greens get a word in. So what do the opposition do? As far as I can make out, if the current Scottish Government collapses, the Tories will take over, be in a position to discard all the previous government's policies and start to put their own policies in place. The only problem is, as far as I can see, the Tories have no policies. Not one. No views at all on education, health, employment, agriculture, fishing, sport, the police, local government or anything else. They do have very strong views on independence an...

Question: How do you  feel about journalists?  On Facebook on Wednesday 23 April 2020 , Gus Simpson compiled this list of questions that were asked by journalists at the Scottish Government daily Press Conference. The people they were questioning were the politicians and public health staff who have been working on our behalf for - what? - 5? 6? 8? - weeks now.  As usual, the questioning started with Scotland's ' national ' media : BBC - “Were you too slow?” STV - “Too little too late?” BBC Radio Scotland - “Have we cancelled too many routine procedures?” Daily Record - “You have bowed to pressure from the media...” P&J - “Concern about PPE in care homes” The Herald - “Are care homes too slow to refer residents to hospital?”  (A repeat question) The Scotsman - “Will Scotland participate in a one-minute silence for NHS staff?” The Courier - “Should we expect care home deaths to increase next week?” Is it just a tradition tha...

I was going to write about Boris Johnson. You know the stuff. Did he really have the virus? Is he dead? If he's not, where is he really? Did he have a nervous breakdown and go into hiding? Will he resign any time now? If he does, what batshit crazy right wing prime minister will the Tories foist on the UK in his place? And then, the ultimate question: do we care? I will admit I've been waiting for a while now for the coronavirus to kill off some major celeb. I thought it might shock people (not in Scotland) to behave better. A few minor celebs have died - and I was really sorry to hear we'd lost Tim Brooke Taylor - but I was quite surprised when Prince Philip suddenly issued a statement last week. I don't remember what it was about but you can google it. For weeks now, several friends and I have been convinced he had snuffed it and the UK government was saving the funeral for a huge UK re-opening celebration. If you're a royalist and decide to stop reading rig...

That's the title of a column by Ruth Wishart in today's National. I'm a big fan of Ruth Wishart: she writes well, and usually stays 'on topic,' as journalists would have it. The problem I have with this column is she doesn't answer her own question. Who could hold the UK government to account over their failings in the management of the Covid 19 epidemic?  Well, let's start with Westminster. Where is the UK parliament during this disaster? On holiday, as far as the voters can see. Awarding themselves an extra 10,000 quid as well. (And no, I don't think that's what's happening but politicians are held in such low esteem that voters expect them to be on the fiddle and just make the occasional pointless complaint when they see it happening). The biggest problem the voters have with the UK Parliament is really that its members have no power. Tory party members seem to have been shut up by the party managers. They have a good life - nice salary,...

Some blogposts just write themselves: when you've spent an evening watching numpty TV journalists, dressed in black, solemnly telling us how brave Boris Johnson is when we know they're just waiting for him to snuff it to keep the viewing figures up, it's easy to put pen to paper in a blind rage. But this week, I think we've all got beyond that stage. We know Johnson's illness, and a lot of other people's illnesses, can be laid firmly at the door of his cabinet thanks to indecision, delay and incompetence. We also know now that the UK is going to have the highest death rate from Covid-19 of all European countries - and that's according to international agencies like the World Health Organisation. We won't have the highest death rate in the world though. That looks like being the prize won by an indecisive incompetent in the USA, who shut down the US pandemic unit in the Centre for Disease Control in 2018 and would dearly love to do the same for the W...

I don't join in those sessions that tell us to 'clap for the NHS'. Not because I don't value the NHS and the people who work in it. Just before Christmas, I was taken to the Southern (don't make me call it the QE-whatever) with 14% kidney function left after a flare-up of colitis. And I left a fortnight later, not exactly in fine fettle, but a lot better than when I went in. And that wasn't due to a fancy building or fancy equipment. It was thanks to the staff, some of whom - nurses, doctors, cleaners - told me as they changed my bed for the fifth time that day: 'I love my job.' My objection to the clapping is that I can't stand the sight of the Tories outside 10 Downing Street - one of them infected with the coronavirus but no doubt not getting treated by the NHS - clapping away, almost as if the Tories weren't responsible for the deaths of NHS staff during this pandemic because they have failed to budget for the masks, gloves and gowns needed...

I don't know many Tories - at least, not many people that will admit to being Tory. But a friend of mine has attracted one to his Facebook page and this Tory pops up all the time, distracts everyone from the issue in hand and rants constantly about things that are frankly irrelevant. He won't read this. And if he did he wouldn't comment. He doesn't seem to read anything I write on my friend's page. He will read and answer comments by my friend (male) and his male friends. But he ignores me. I'm not saying the guy's a misogynist but, as we say, walks like a duck, quacks like a duck... Anyhow, today's topic for discussion was Universal Income. That's (sorry if I'm patronising you here) the plan to abolish all benefits and give people a personal income by allotting them a share of the national wealth on a weekly basis. Theirs to use as they see fit. No form-filling. It would be an entitlement. So much income for an adult, a lesser sum for each c...

I'm a Scottish Green. I share Green principles of fairness and tolerance which are far enough to the left to satisfy my wish for Scotland to become an independent social democrat republic. That's never been my view of the SNP, which strikes me as lacking in left-wing beliefs. In fact, to be honest, the SNP doesn't seem to have a lot of beliefs, other than independence, although it's done a great job on moving us closer to that goal in the last 20 years. For about 10 years, I've lent my vote to the SNP at certain elections in hopes of changing how Scotland is governed. Other people have no doubt done the same. However, about 3 weeks ago, I thought of jumping ship and joining the SNP. That was about the time that the Coronavirus began its deadly journey across the world. The Scottish Government was - in my opinion - doing a good job: the First Minister, backed by the health minister, the head of Public Health Scotland and party stalwarts like John Swinney and M...