@johnjakson19.bsky.social
Scottish Independence Supporter. Left Leaning Politics.
Reposted
Even when Scotland is praised on the world stage the SNP gets no credit
Financial agencies applaud Scotland’s economy, but all we get is sneering. Govts need held to account but credit where credit is due
It shows how meaningless the quality of our debate has become
In @heraldscotland.bsky.social
Financial agencies applaud Scotland’s economy, but all we get is sneering. Govts need held to account but credit where credit is due
It shows how meaningless the quality of our debate has become
In @heraldscotland.bsky.social
Even when Scotland gets a global thumbs-up financially the SNP get zero credit
In Scotland, any news – even good news – is subjected to partisan point-scoring. It means we repeatedly fail to have the debates we really need,…
www.heraldscotland.com
November 14, 2025 at 5:06 PM
Even when Scotland is praised on the world stage the SNP gets no credit
Financial agencies applaud Scotland’s economy, but all we get is sneering. Govts need held to account but credit where credit is due
It shows how meaningless the quality of our debate has become
In @heraldscotland.bsky.social
Financial agencies applaud Scotland’s economy, but all we get is sneering. Govts need held to account but credit where credit is due
It shows how meaningless the quality of our debate has become
In @heraldscotland.bsky.social
Reposted
In the year to 2023, BBC Scotland issued more error corrections than all of the broadcaster’s other UK regional and national offices combined,overwhelmingly as a result of inaccurate criticism of the Scottish Government.'
@weegingerdug.bsky.social, via The National
archive.is/rbSc6
@weegingerdug.bsky.social, via The National
archive.is/rbSc6
November 14, 2025 at 9:00 AM
In the year to 2023, BBC Scotland issued more error corrections than all of the broadcaster’s other UK regional and national offices combined,overwhelmingly as a result of inaccurate criticism of the Scottish Government.'
@weegingerdug.bsky.social, via The National
archive.is/rbSc6
@weegingerdug.bsky.social, via The National
archive.is/rbSc6
Reposted
I will wait for what the Treasury used to call a Fiscal Event but has now been renamed as the Great Despeculation Event on 26 November after 12.30 GMT
Today’s Budget speculation is that yesterday’s Budget speculation was wrong bit.ly/3XfQmfX and will be replaced by other speculation, probably- or maybe not
Rachel Reeves scraps budget plan to increase income tax
Chancellor was considering breaking Labour’s manifesto pledge but has backed down over fears it would anger mutinous MPs and voters
bit.ly
November 14, 2025 at 8:13 AM
I will wait for what the Treasury used to call a Fiscal Event but has now been renamed as the Great Despeculation Event on 26 November after 12.30 GMT
Reposted
Today’s Budget speculation is that yesterday’s Budget speculation was wrong bit.ly/3XfQmfX and will be replaced by other speculation, probably- or maybe not
Rachel Reeves scraps budget plan to increase income tax
Chancellor was considering breaking Labour’s manifesto pledge but has backed down over fears it would anger mutinous MPs and voters
bit.ly
November 14, 2025 at 8:10 AM
Today’s Budget speculation is that yesterday’s Budget speculation was wrong bit.ly/3XfQmfX and will be replaced by other speculation, probably- or maybe not
Reposted
Tonight we have a Memory Montage Workshop for 18–30 year olds. Inspired by Jaune Quick-to-See Smith’s memory map paintings, this workshop, led by artist Junaina Valappil, invites participants to collectively re-imagine a map of Edinburgh
Book now. www.tickettailor.com/events/fruit...
Book now. www.tickettailor.com/events/fruit...
November 13, 2025 at 1:16 PM
Tonight we have a Memory Montage Workshop for 18–30 year olds. Inspired by Jaune Quick-to-See Smith’s memory map paintings, this workshop, led by artist Junaina Valappil, invites participants to collectively re-imagine a map of Edinburgh
Book now. www.tickettailor.com/events/fruit...
Book now. www.tickettailor.com/events/fruit...
Reposted
We're looking for 3 freelance artists to deliver innovative, inclusive & accessible creative projects with young people. Youth ART Connects will support young people aged 16-24 who are underrepresented within the cultural sector.
Deadline: 17.11.25, 5pm
www.fruitmarket.co.uk/about-us/rec...
Deadline: 17.11.25, 5pm
www.fruitmarket.co.uk/about-us/rec...
November 13, 2025 at 11:07 AM
We're looking for 3 freelance artists to deliver innovative, inclusive & accessible creative projects with young people. Youth ART Connects will support young people aged 16-24 who are underrepresented within the cultural sector.
Deadline: 17.11.25, 5pm
www.fruitmarket.co.uk/about-us/rec...
Deadline: 17.11.25, 5pm
www.fruitmarket.co.uk/about-us/rec...
Reposted
Today's @thecommonweal.bsky.social Daily Briefing
The tax gap is less to do with overtaxing the rich or mismanaging the Scottish economy and more to do with the fact that UK sucks all of its wealth into London.
But, ScotGov signed the deal that made this worse.
www.commonweal.scot/daily-briefi...
The tax gap is less to do with overtaxing the rich or mismanaging the Scottish economy and more to do with the fact that UK sucks all of its wealth into London.
But, ScotGov signed the deal that made this worse.
www.commonweal.scot/daily-briefi...
Scotland’s tax gap is the Scottish Government’s own stupid fault — Common Weal
Audit Scotland has published a study on the differential impact between the amount Scotland's tax system was expected to rise and how much it actually rose. It is likely that most people in Scotland...
www.commonweal.scot
November 13, 2025 at 11:12 AM
Today's @thecommonweal.bsky.social Daily Briefing
The tax gap is less to do with overtaxing the rich or mismanaging the Scottish economy and more to do with the fact that UK sucks all of its wealth into London.
But, ScotGov signed the deal that made this worse.
www.commonweal.scot/daily-briefi...
The tax gap is less to do with overtaxing the rich or mismanaging the Scottish economy and more to do with the fact that UK sucks all of its wealth into London.
But, ScotGov signed the deal that made this worse.
www.commonweal.scot/daily-briefi...
Reposted
My latest blog article No, independence supporters’ well documented compaints about BBC bias on the Scottish constitutional question are nothing like Trump's attacks on freedom of the press.
weegingerdug.wordpress.com/2025/11/12/n...
weegingerdug.wordpress.com/2025/11/12/n...
No, independence supporters’ compaints about BBC bias are nothing like Trump
There is certainly no love lost between supporters of Scottish independence and the BBC. It is however egregious I’m-not-a-nationalist-I’m-British bollocks to suggest, as former Labour …
weegingerdug.wordpress.com
November 12, 2025 at 3:04 PM
My latest blog article No, independence supporters’ well documented compaints about BBC bias on the Scottish constitutional question are nothing like Trump's attacks on freedom of the press.
weegingerdug.wordpress.com/2025/11/12/n...
weegingerdug.wordpress.com/2025/11/12/n...
Reposted
'What’s actually happening here is that powerful politicians and their allies who control the majority right-wing press in Britain are incensed that they can’t control the broadcast media and the BBC as they do the print media.'
Mike Small, via @bellacaledonia.bsky.social
Mike Small, via @bellacaledonia.bsky.social
Fake News and the War on the BBC
The war on the BBC by Britain’s right-wing press has been a constant for the past thirty years, attempting to threaten and control the public broadcaster to yield to their political agenda. T…
bellacaledonia.org.uk
November 12, 2025 at 11:00 AM
'What’s actually happening here is that powerful politicians and their allies who control the majority right-wing press in Britain are incensed that they can’t control the broadcast media and the BBC as they do the print media.'
Mike Small, via @bellacaledonia.bsky.social
Mike Small, via @bellacaledonia.bsky.social
Reposted
A couple of the kittens my girlfriend has been fostering
#CatLovers #FelineFriends #CatLife #PurrfectCompanions #MeowMoments
#CatLovers #FelineFriends #CatLife #PurrfectCompanions #MeowMoments
November 12, 2025 at 10:05 AM
A couple of the kittens my girlfriend has been fostering
#CatLovers #FelineFriends #CatLife #PurrfectCompanions #MeowMoments
#CatLovers #FelineFriends #CatLife #PurrfectCompanions #MeowMoments
Reposted
Revealing division in my timeline between (1) my insider friends who have lived privileged lives who are very keen that we defend the BBC and think it's important it survives and (2) my outsider friends who feel (at best) ambivalent about the BBC's survival.
November 11, 2025 at 7:44 AM
Revealing division in my timeline between (1) my insider friends who have lived privileged lives who are very keen that we defend the BBC and think it's important it survives and (2) my outsider friends who feel (at best) ambivalent about the BBC's survival.
Reposted
The BBC is no longer trusted in Scotland and hasn’t been for at least a decade.
Anybody in this country (🏴) who still bleats about the BBC being a paragon of public service broadcasting is either delusional or must have been unconscious for the last ten years.
Anybody in this country (🏴) who still bleats about the BBC being a paragon of public service broadcasting is either delusional or must have been unconscious for the last ten years.
November 11, 2025 at 4:29 PM
The BBC is no longer trusted in Scotland and hasn’t been for at least a decade.
Anybody in this country (🏴) who still bleats about the BBC being a paragon of public service broadcasting is either delusional or must have been unconscious for the last ten years.
Anybody in this country (🏴) who still bleats about the BBC being a paragon of public service broadcasting is either delusional or must have been unconscious for the last ten years.
Reposted
Robbie Gibb was appointed to the BBC Board by Boris Johnson, was an editorial advisor for GB News, and worked as Theresa May's Director of Comms.
He is not impartial or neutral. The government should remove him from the Board immediately to protect the BBC's independence.
He is not impartial or neutral. The government should remove him from the Board immediately to protect the BBC's independence.
November 11, 2025 at 1:00 PM
Robbie Gibb was appointed to the BBC Board by Boris Johnson, was an editorial advisor for GB News, and worked as Theresa May's Director of Comms.
He is not impartial or neutral. The government should remove him from the Board immediately to protect the BBC's independence.
He is not impartial or neutral. The government should remove him from the Board immediately to protect the BBC's independence.
Reposted
This is what Tories, Labour & UKIP/Reform or whatever Farage calls his entities, are for.
Who are they representing when they support this?
If who you vote for supports this, it's time you shifted your vote.
Who are they representing when they support this?
If who you vote for supports this, it's time you shifted your vote.
Headline from a serious and long working paper on the economic impact of Brexit. Possible that this has been feeding into OBR and HMT discussions?
November 10, 2025 at 12:27 PM
This is what Tories, Labour & UKIP/Reform or whatever Farage calls his entities, are for.
Who are they representing when they support this?
If who you vote for supports this, it's time you shifted your vote.
Who are they representing when they support this?
If who you vote for supports this, it's time you shifted your vote.
Reposted
Reminder that Tim Davie, who's just resigned as BBC Director-General, stood in an election for the Tories in Hammersmith, was deputy chairman of the Hammersmith and Fulham Conservative Party and in 2020 spent his first day in the job visiting BBC Scotland in Glasgow.
November 9, 2025 at 6:46 PM
Reminder that Tim Davie, who's just resigned as BBC Director-General, stood in an election for the Tories in Hammersmith, was deputy chairman of the Hammersmith and Fulham Conservative Party and in 2020 spent his first day in the job visiting BBC Scotland in Glasgow.
Reposted
March 2024: We launch a complaint against the IEA
12 days later: Charity Commission dismisses our complaint
May 2024: We complain about that decision
1 year later: The regulator opens an investigation into the IEA
This week: The Charity Commission says the IEA must change
https://goodlaw.social/8vmm
12 days later: Charity Commission dismisses our complaint
May 2024: We complain about that decision
1 year later: The regulator opens an investigation into the IEA
This week: The Charity Commission says the IEA must change
https://goodlaw.social/8vmm
Charity Commission: IEA must change to address political bias | Good Law Project
After a formal complaint from Good Law Project, the charities regulator has told a radical rightwing think-tank to act on transparency and balance.
goodlaw.social
November 8, 2025 at 7:02 PM
March 2024: We launch a complaint against the IEA
12 days later: Charity Commission dismisses our complaint
May 2024: We complain about that decision
1 year later: The regulator opens an investigation into the IEA
This week: The Charity Commission says the IEA must change
https://goodlaw.social/8vmm
12 days later: Charity Commission dismisses our complaint
May 2024: We complain about that decision
1 year later: The regulator opens an investigation into the IEA
This week: The Charity Commission says the IEA must change
https://goodlaw.social/8vmm
Reposted
Reposted
UK electricity bills up 163% since 2008. Wages haven't.
6.1m households in fuel poverty, £4.43bn debt
Profiteering: Energy sector average profit margin 23%, grid sector 38%, gas extraction 58%.
Profit last year £30bn. 128,000 a year die in fuel poverty.
No govt checks profiteering.
6.1m households in fuel poverty, £4.43bn debt
Profiteering: Energy sector average profit margin 23%, grid sector 38%, gas extraction 58%.
Profit last year £30bn. 128,000 a year die in fuel poverty.
No govt checks profiteering.
Electricity bills increased 163 per cent since 2008 as energy price cap rises - research - Insider Media
New analysis of UK energy costs showed that the average annual household electricity bill increased by 163 per cent between 2008 and 2024, reflecting a steep rise in household energy costs…
www.insidermedia.com
November 9, 2025 at 7:54 AM
UK electricity bills up 163% since 2008. Wages haven't.
6.1m households in fuel poverty, £4.43bn debt
Profiteering: Energy sector average profit margin 23%, grid sector 38%, gas extraction 58%.
Profit last year £30bn. 128,000 a year die in fuel poverty.
No govt checks profiteering.
6.1m households in fuel poverty, £4.43bn debt
Profiteering: Energy sector average profit margin 23%, grid sector 38%, gas extraction 58%.
Profit last year £30bn. 128,000 a year die in fuel poverty.
No govt checks profiteering.
Reposted
This is a truly awful idea which I fully expect the useless Labour Govt to approve.. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
ITV in talks to sell television business to Sky
The talks focus on ITV's free-to-air channels as well as its streaming service, ITV X.
www.bbc.co.uk
November 8, 2025 at 4:25 PM
This is a truly awful idea which I fully expect the useless Labour Govt to approve.. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Reposted
Reposted
Deputy Prime Minister David Lammy says at #PMQs that the SNP are "a national security threat.' Repeating words said by Defence Sec John Healey & Scottish Sec Douglas Alexander. Desperate stuff from a govt which cannot categorically say China is a threat to the UK.
November 5, 2025 at 12:41 PM
Deputy Prime Minister David Lammy says at #PMQs that the SNP are "a national security threat.' Repeating words said by Defence Sec John Healey & Scottish Sec Douglas Alexander. Desperate stuff from a govt which cannot categorically say China is a threat to the UK.
Reposted
If the UK Government truly believed that the SNP are a threat to national security then they'd move to make them a proscribed organisation.
Since they're not, they're evidently lying.
Since they're not, they're evidently lying.
Scottish Secretary Douglas Alexander has said that he believes the Scottish Government is a threat to 'national security' as he blasted the SNP's position on defence spending
Douglas Alexander says Scottish Government is 'threat to national security'
www.thenational.scot
November 5, 2025 at 1:28 PM
If the UK Government truly believed that the SNP are a threat to national security then they'd move to make them a proscribed organisation.
Since they're not, they're evidently lying.
Since they're not, they're evidently lying.
Reposted
Calling parents/carers of babies under one! On Monday morning join an informal talk about Adam Barker-Mill's exhibition PhotoSynthesis 2 in a relaxed atmosphere, with space to talk & think about art & meet like-minded parents and carers. Fuss & feeding expected.
www.tickettailor.com/events/fruit...
www.tickettailor.com/events/fruit...
November 5, 2025 at 5:34 PM
Calling parents/carers of babies under one! On Monday morning join an informal talk about Adam Barker-Mill's exhibition PhotoSynthesis 2 in a relaxed atmosphere, with space to talk & think about art & meet like-minded parents and carers. Fuss & feeding expected.
www.tickettailor.com/events/fruit...
www.tickettailor.com/events/fruit...
Reposted
Whenever politicians talk about "efficiency" in public services, they almost always mean "cuts" and not "an investment here will cut failure demand there".
For example, a Universal Basic Income is more efficient than the cost of the poverty it'd eliminate.
thecommongreen.scot/2024/03/01/a...
For example, a Universal Basic Income is more efficient than the cost of the poverty it'd eliminate.
thecommongreen.scot/2024/03/01/a...
A UBI Is Now A Moral Imperative
“The solution to poverty is to abolish it directly by a now widely discussed measure: the guaranteed income.” – Martin Luther King Jr. (This blog post previously appeared in Common Weal’s wee…
thecommongreen.scot
November 4, 2025 at 8:28 AM
Whenever politicians talk about "efficiency" in public services, they almost always mean "cuts" and not "an investment here will cut failure demand there".
For example, a Universal Basic Income is more efficient than the cost of the poverty it'd eliminate.
thecommongreen.scot/2024/03/01/a...
For example, a Universal Basic Income is more efficient than the cost of the poverty it'd eliminate.
thecommongreen.scot/2024/03/01/a...