I wish the SNP government ministers would emphasise the fact that their freedom of movement and policy making is constrained by the UK government. It seems that there is a hubris amongst MSPs that they can achieve more than is actually possible
I suspect that actually the individual states of the USA have more power than Holyrood.
Western conventional medicine appears to overlook other medical traditions as not being scientific. Perhaps the likes of Reiki and Reflexology are valid but that our scientific knowledge has not yet reached that far.
Science has a habit of complacency which suffers periodic disruption. This happened with Einstein a century ago and, from what I read, is perhaps happening again as new telescopes and other tools bring new insights.
There is one word that can be attached to most of the actions of many public bodies especially the UK government. One example is the fact that Scotland actually produces more green electricity than the UK can use because the power lines to England which consumes the most energy are inadequate. Brexit and the entire saga of the present confusion with regulations and restrictions is basically down to the incompetence of the Brexiters. We currently have a shortage of tomatoes. Apparently we used to grow large quantities under glass but they were excluded under the latest energy price capping scheme and so are no longer operational. Oh well!!!
I saw an advert for BUPA health insurance the other day listing what it offered. The list including 24 telephone advice was exactly what the NHS should offer and used to. Why having paid National Insurance all my working life should I now be expected to pay further insurance for basic health provisions?
Brexit has meant the local car wash no longer employs foreign nationals. Instead the other day the crew was all local young lads. Unfortunately I have rarely encountered a more lacklustre, unenthusiastic lot of workers who really did not do a very good job.
What IS the world coming to? I had a scam call the other day and the scammer got neither my name nor my gender right. Even the scam people can’t get the staff!
However, I rarely get these calls now. About a year ago I got one of the regular “car crash not your fault” calls. I immediately asked the caller “Which one?” All the scammers must have been alerted to that crazy guy because since then I have not had a single similar call. And I had at least another half dozen replies I wanted to use!!
Keir Stammer seems intent on making an election victory as difficult as possible. Jeremy Corbyn was, I guess, the victim of a very sophisticated smear campaign and certainly not the left-wing ochre so many suggest. His main policy proposals appear to be socialist but surely that is what the Labour Party should stand for. His idea to make broadband free was, in the light of the pandemic, quite sensible. It would make access to public services a much more level playing field. As it is he will certainly alienate more voters than he gains.
Nicola Sturgeon has resigned. This spells the end of any hope of Scottish independence in the immediate future. Perhaps it was already too late as most of the real benefits such as those enjoyed by Norway and its oil fund are already out of reach.
It occurs to me that probably the most insecure part of anyone’s environment is their bank account. Online the banks really have very little means of checking a user’s identity other than very old fashioned security questions and their own computer systems are way behind the curve of modern security procedures. Even your phone more than likely recognises your face and perhaps your fingerprint as well.
Reading about Norway’s wealth fund of more than $1 tn it is quite sickening that Scotland could have had a similar sized fund if we had only treated our oil as Norway did theirs. As it is all that wealth has disappeared down the rabbit hole of privileged corruption. Just thinking about it makes my blood boil.
In spite of teaching Maths, I have never understood why it should be treated as a core subject. Numeracy and arithmetic, yes but why algebra? I know it is an essential tool in many areas but so is Physics and that is a subject choice in senior school. I would much prefer to see data science and statistics as core. Now I have heard Sir Adrian Smith, President of the Royal Society, say the same thing. I am obviously in good company.
Questions and Reflections 