Wednesday 15 January 2014

PAT ON THE BACK FOR SCOTTISH GOVERNMENT... FROM THE DAILY RECORD!

It's not that often that I feel the need to share an editorial column from the Labour supporting and Britnat "Daily Record", but I feel this is one our government can be proud of.

When the opposition press is praising you, you have indeed done well.
Fergus Ewing
THE true test of any civilised society is how it treats its most vulnerable members and by that yardstick yesterday was a very good day for Scotland.

Two announcements by the SNP Government showed an enlightened and caring attitude to people that need it most.

First, Enterprise Minister Fergus Ewing revealed disabled workers thrown on the scrapheap by the closure of Remploy factories would be given a new lease of life with another company.

Hours later, Veterans Minister Keith Brown outlined plans to create a veterans commissioner to fight the corner of ex-servicemen and women as they adjust to civilian life.

Keith Brown
Both moves should be warmly welcomed by anyone with a shred of decency.

The public were rightly outraged when the UK Government cruelly condemned hundreds of disabled Scots to the dole queue when they axed Remploy factories.

Now Scottish Government support means 26 workers who were made redundant have been given new jobs with a textile factory who will supply nurses’ uniforms for the NHS.

This is exactly how public contracts should be used – in the way that best benefits society as a whole.

The setting up of a veterans’ commission is also a far-sighted move that ensures those who have risked their lives for their country overseas are not abandoned when they return home.

Brown, a former Royal Marine, gained inspiration for the move on a recent trip to Canada, where a similar post has been successfully operating for some time.

It is an important step in improving the support provided to ex-servicemen and women who often face serious challenges getting jobs, houses and medical support.

It will take more than one appointment to stop discrimination on civvy street against our former troops. But it is a good start.

Together these announcements send a powerful message that Scotland is still a place that looks after its own.
I feel particularly strongly about the closing of Remploy factories by a government which insisted that their reason for persecuting sick and disabled people was that it was good for them to be forced into work (or rather, given the economic realities, lose benefits). 

It was, they said, nothing to do with saving money. It was everything to do with making the lives of people with disabilities better.

They seemed unable to come up with an explanation then for saving money by closing these factories which they said were running at a loss, thereby throwing people, who have even greater difficulties than the majority of us getting work, on the dole. 

The utter hypocrisy of their morally repugnant actions was deplorable, particularly as much of the work done in these factories was relocated abroad! What happened to British jobs for British workers?
Esther McVile (especially posed for John Brownlie)
Still, with IDS and Esther Mcvey in charge, what would you expect other than moral repugnance?

There is a limit to the amount of money the Scottish government has at present to spend on these matters. They have already spent a very considerable amount trying to alleviate the worst excesses of other DWP policies. 

Let's hope soon that the likes of these two will have no more say in the looking after of our most vulnerable people.
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Thanks to Cynical Highlander for pointing me in the direction of this video, also from the "Daily Record". I've not always been a fan of Jim Sillars, but he's talking a lot of sense here. 

22 comments:

  1. I agree Tris it is great when a unionist leaning paper can't help itself and comes out in support for the Scottish government. Mind you they still can't help themselves sometimes.

    http://wingsoverscotland.com/the-incredible-vanishing-story/

    I just wish they would do what we all expect of our journalists and that is to investigate stories fully and report the truth instead of half truths and outright lies.

    The article about veterans and Remploy does the Daily Record good but the article I linked to by Stu just shines the torchlight light of incompetence upon them. If they want to be taken seriously then they must really up their game and treat all articles to the same level of scrutiny. Still for them to do that they would have to come out and openly support Scottish Independence I suppose. I guess they can't quite swallow that pill, well at least not yet but maybe soon eh? LOL

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    1. Ah... I see Stu had also praised them, just to be sucker punched...a lot like I was.

      However, clever Stu went on to point out that who ever wrote that story was lying through their teeth.

      The headline is, as he says, bollocks and bears no relationship whatsoever to the story.

      Ho Hum....

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    2. Makes you question if they understand the term INVESTIGATIVE journalism. From the pieces that both you and Stu have done apparently not! That said I still hold out hope that they might still jump ship from SS Broken Britain.

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    3. Clearly no investigation... and not much journalism.

      Sloppy reporting.

      Not sure though, Arbroath, that I my work quite deserves to be put in the same category as Stuart's!!!

      He's a pro and , quite frankly, a real boon to the YES side, uncovering lies, researching the truth and writing fluently...and fearlessly.

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  2. Sorry to go o/t But just watching BBC and ex sec of defence for the U.S
    opines that the UK'S defence budget reductions harm the "special relationship" as the UK will no longer have "full spectrum capabilities"
    anyone hear a nail getting hammered in a coffin just now? Tridents on the way out no matter what the vote in September,


    btw/ oo/t nice cans Esther, just a pity you've got the morals of an ally cat

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  3. Dear Mr King

    Reference CAS-2494761-JCFWLJ

    Thanks for contacting the BBC.

    We understand you feel it’s inappropriate to schedule English football coverage on BBC Scotland, as you believe the level of interest or viewers would not justify the broadcasting of programmes like ‘Match of the Day’.

    The BBC is a national broadcaster and BBC One is a national television channel, albeit Scotland, like Wales and Northern Ireland have their own continuity and some local-only programming, like ‘Sportscene’, on BBC One Scotland. ‘Match of the Day’ is also a national programme thus can be seen by everyone - and there remains a huge demand from all over the UK for it the programme, indeed that's perhaps why it's one of our oldest and longest-running programmes.

    We disagree with your view that not many people in Scotland are interested in seeing Premier League highlights on the BBC because it is incredibly popular around the entire globe, and it's worth adding here that of course Scottish football like all other home nations enjoys a mix of both local and national coverage across the BBC too. The Premier League is no longer just English football clubs with Welsh involvement of course, and we understand there are calls to the governing body to permit future involvement by other UK nations.

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  4. We're naturally sorry to learn that you feel MOTD is "imposed" by the BBC on Scotland but we can't agree: the programme is provided to all viewers right across the UK by the BBC like any other national programme whereby audiences can choose whether they wish to watch it or not based on their own personal and individual tastes and preferences.

    This is the very premise of being a "broadcaster", in that the BBC endeavours to serve the whole of the diverse United Kingdom but as a broadcaster by definition our approach has to be somewhat "broad" thus requiring a degree of compromise by all parties. That being the case, there is no way that we can possibly hope to match every single individual viewer's own personal and subjective expectations, demands, preferences or tastes but we hope that viewers generally are comfortable and happy with our general approach.

    Other audience feedback doesn't suggest to us that your views are widely shared thus we have to deduce that audiences, generally speaking, are happy with how these things work and appreciate that it's not a question of foisting anything on anyone but simply providing a service to national audiences as best we can to try and best reflect audience expectations.

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  5. You refer to "Scottish licence fee payers’ money" and describe the broadcasting of MOTD in Scotland as a misuse, but we must explain that we do not separate TV Licence fee revenue based on geography as you are perhaps suggesting. All revenue is aggregated and used to fund the entire BBC which centres of national programming alongside specific local services such as Scotland-only programming across BBC One Scotland and BBC Two Scotland and other outlets such as BBC Radio Scotland...

    Clearly you dislike MOTD and/or the Premier League as a premise and we're sorry to hear that, but as explained we cannot agree with your view that the programme shouldn't be broadcast nationally including in Scotland. Like any audience member, you of course have the right to choose not to watch the programme yourself, but we believe many, many Scottish viewers greatly value and enjoy the programme every week and they rightly expect the BBC as the UK's national public service broadcaster to provide them with this coverage.

    Please be assured we’ve registered your concerns on our audience log. This is a daily report of audience feedback that's made available to many BBC staff, including members of the BBC Executive Board, programme makers, channel controllers and other senior managers.

    The audience logs are seen as important documents that can help shape decisions about future programming and content.

    Thanks again for taking the time to contact us.

    Kind Regards

    Andrew Hannah

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  6. this guy Hanna's rant was so long I had to publish in several posts as you cant put up more that 4096 characters at a time, all I said was I see no reason for rthe BBC to put on MOTD in Scotland during a bank holiday, (I think he took it personally)but not to be outdone I ranted right back at him,

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  7. In you response dated 12/01/14 you stated that MoTD was "incredibly popular around the globe" was exactly the (parochial) response that one would expected the BBC would have avoided,

    I can assure you the vast bulk of the population of the (country) of Scotland are not sitting on the edge of their seat waiting to see highlights of Aston Villa v Millwall in spite of your belief.

    it is advisable not to conflate the U.K as a country which it clearly is not ,
    the condescending attitude displayed in your response does your corporation no credit and you would be better employed studying the statistics of Scottish licence fee payers contributions 300million where as the expenditure of the BBC actually IN Scotland is SUBSTANTIALLY less, as a result Scotland is fed a diet of programming skewed towards the expectations of England which is a totally unacceptable situation and one which should be addressed as a matter of urgency by the BBC as its very existence depends on it responding to the people who pay for its output with care and consideration, and not with a "we know best " attitude so clearly displayed in your pathetic response.

    I do hope I haven't hurt his feelings :)

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    1. First of all...I'm sorry about the size of the reply boxes John.

      Someone asked me the other day to look into it, and I did, without any positive results. If anyone knows how it can be done, could you please let me know. I use Google Chrome, the most compatible system for Google Blogger.

      You're right about, not just the English football and MotD, but programming in general, as far as I can see. (Although I watch almost no tv, and certainly there must be months go by without me ever seeing any BBC tv.)

      English Cricket is something that annoys me, for no good reason, when I'm listening to the radio news. That's a small matter, but the number of things I have to listen to about education, health, crime, prisons, environment, etc etc which are nothing to do with me, and don't affect me renders more than half the news, quite literally, foreign.

      Of course I have an interest in foreign news, but not the minutia of of what is, for the BBC, some domestic news.

      And often it isn't made clear that this news is only relevant to England or England and Wales.

      I also get hacked off at being told "the health secretary" is doing something. Hunt is the English heath secretary. Thank heaven his idiotic pronouncements have no bearing on anything that happens here.

      The BBC is essentially an English broadcaster. It makes patronising little deviations to its English content to cover odd items that occur in Scotland. As Munguin says when that sort of thing happens... Oh Look, Tris,...we've made the grown up news!!

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    2. Oh I wasn't having a go Tris I was just annoyed that myself taking up so many posts

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    3. LOL Don't worry about that :)

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  8. Stick it to the man John.

    Just like the other John would like to stick it to Esther...

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    1. HA ha ha

      why do you think duck tape was invented :)

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    2. Munguin is shocked!!! He's had to go lie down!

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  9. I have no interest in this young(ish) lady. Now if it had been Cathy! Wait a minute, did someone say morals of a alley-cat? Hmmmm!

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    1. I thought that would spark an interest...

      In fairness, and to show total balance however, I am instructed by Munguin's legal team, that i should at some point in the not too distant future put a a photograph of Liam Fox in his underwear.

      There's something to look forward to!

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    2. PS... amazing what filters on cameras can do....

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  10. I see the vile worm of a man IDS (If you could call him a man) has come out and said its far to early to say that, his baby the Bedroom Tax is responsible for the vast increase in rent arrears, of councils around the UK

    Despite several reports pointing to this very thing, IDS said it will take at least 2 years to see if it (Bedroom Tax) is indeed having a detrimental affect on housing associations rent arrears.

    Now I'm no economist, or financial expert, infact I don't even have a Maths O'level. But even I can see the damage that this vile tax is having on society, the pain and suffering its causing to the poor and disabled is deplorable to say the least.

    So for IDS,(The lowlife he is) to say we need two years, to see the effects of the bedroom tax is pathetic, what a joke Westminster has become, sadly the jokes on us until 18th of September.

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    1. You don't need much in the way of qualification in maths to work out that if you add £7 or whatever it is, to someone's weekly rent, when they are living on the breadline and unable to afford food and heat... they are going to go into arrears.

      Even someone as profoundly stupid as IDS should be able to work this out.
      But as IDS has spent his life making a mess of things and never ever taking responsibility for any of it, don't expect him to start now.

      One day he will get what's coming to him. I hope it's sooner rather than later.

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