The Scottish Liberal Democrat spring conference has today backed a package of proposals to “fix overwhelmed mental health services for good”.
As part of the party’s call to put recovery first, the seven-point plan will:
Increase the number of training places for psychiatrists and clinical psychologists, especially those specialising in CAMHS;
Add counsellors to NHS workforce planning so their skills can help more people;
Expand the trained counselling workforce through new bursaries and training routes to widen access;
Fully resource mental health services through a target for them to receive 15% of future health spend increases;
Make every health service contact count through enhanced signposting to existing counsellors and third sector resources;
Provide new community services that young people can access with their families;
Restart and ramp up mental health first aid training with a new aspiration that every workplace should benefit.
Scottish Liberal Democrat health spokesperson Alex Cole-Hamilton MSP said: “It’s time for Scotland to put the recovery first and fix our overwhelmed mental health services for good.
“That means increasing the number of training places for psychiatrists and psychologists. We need to dramatically expand the number of counsellors and get the health service to help them tackle mental health problems in communities, schools and workplaces.
“The Scottish Government’s mental health strategy was years late and short on ambition. Even before the pandemic struck we had a record number of children waiting over a year for help.
“Scottish Liberal Democrats have consistently championed our national mental health. Already this year our research has shown the toll it is taking. We’ve led Parliament in declaring a crisis and secured £120 million more for services next year. But it needs the full weight of our proposals and a government that will put recovery first to fix this for good.”
Scottish Liberal Democrat mental health spokesperson Rebecca Bell said: “This election is about putting the recovery first and that can only happen if we put both physical health and mental health at the core of the recovery.
“Far too often mental health services are reliant on third sector provision with only a short- term funding commitment from the government. Meanwhile the Scottish Government cancelled training for mental health first-aiders during the pandemic despite similar courses continuing to run elsewhere in the UK.
“These first-aiders can make all the difference, for example, someone to talk to at work when they start feeling unwell, before problems get worse. At the same time 1 in 8 specialist positions in child and adolescent mental health are unfilled, with young people in long queues waiting for treatment whilst they and their families are desperate for help.
“It’s time for a radical change. Scotland needs this realistic investment in order to achieve the long-term solutions we require to emerge from this crisis. You shouldn’t have to wait years for mental health support, any more than you should for cancer or a broken leg.
“These proposals from Scottish Liberal Democrats demonstrate our commitment to making Scotland a mental health world leader.”
Asked to depict a scientist, too many children draw a white man with ‘mad professor’ hair. Former primary school teacher ABBY HARPER of education resource experts PlanBee says why not show them that science and technology has always been the domain of brilliant, creative women?
10 women trailblazers in science
Mary Anning: geology rocks
Anning was a palaeontologist and a fossil collector. She was born in 1799 in Lyme Regis, Dorset. She collected fossils with her father. When he died, Mary sold them to help her mother pay off debts.
Among the fossils Anning discovered were:
● A 5.2 meter-long skeleton of an Ichthyosaur, the first to be found.
● A Plesiosaurus skeleton initially considered too good to be genuine.
An interesting fact about Mary Anning
Even though she found lots of fossils and was an expert in the subject, she was often not credited with her finds. Women were not allowed to be members of the Geological Society of London until 1904, 57 years after she died.
Anning is now starting to get the recognition she deserves: a statue of her is to be erected in Lyme Regis after a successful campaign by 13-year-old local teenager Evie Swire, and a film about the life of Anning, ‘Ammonite’, starring Kate Winslet, is due out later this year.
Ada Lovelace: switched-on programmer
The daughter of poet Lord Byron and Annabella Milbanke, Lovelace was born in 1815 in London. She became interested in Charles Babbage’s machines, which were designed to calculate mathematical tables mechanically, removing the errors that can appear when calculations are done by humans. Although Babbage’s machines were never built, Lovelace’s notes are an important part of early computer programs.
An interesting fact about Ada Lovelace
She has a computer programming language named after her: Ada.
Marie Curie: prized Nobel laureate
Marie Curie was a Polish-born physicist and chemist. She is well known for working with her husband Pierre as they discovered the radioactive elements Polonium and Radium. In 1903 Curie became the first woman to win a Nobel Prize for her involvement in research on radiation. In 1911, she became the first person to win a second Nobel Prize, this time for her work towards the discovery of Polonium and Radium.
It is believed she died from the effects of long-term radiation exposure.
An interesting fact about Marie Curie
One of Curie’s daughters, Irène Joliot-Curie, also won a joint Nobel Prize in Chemistry with her husband – for their discovery of artificial radioactivity.
Rosalind Franklin: DNA discoverer
Franklin was an English chemist whose work was essential to understand the complex structure of DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid), the molecule in the cells of all living things that contains the genetic code. The code can determine things like skin, hair and eye colour as well as other traits which we inherit from our parents.
Franklin took the first X-ray picture showing that the DNA molecule was shaped like a double helix. This photo was used by other scientists to discover the structure of DNA, without clearly naming her as a contributor.
The work that led to the discovery of the double-helix structure of DNA was awarded a Nobel Prize in 1962 – but the award went three men, and Franklin’s work went unacknowledged.
An interesting fact about Rosalind Franklin
Australian astronomer John Broughton discovered an asteroid and named it ‘9241 Rosfraklin’ in tribute to Franklin.
Jane Goodall: primate pioneer
Born in London, Dame Jane Goodall is considered the world’s foremost expert on chimpanzees and is best known for her life-long study of chimpanzees and their social interactions in Tanzania.
Through hours and hours of careful watching, sketching and note-taking, Goodall was one of the first to observe a chimpanzee using tools to fish termites from their mounds. She was also one of the first to observe chimpanzees hunting for meat and gnawing on animal bones, debunking the theory that chimps were herbivores.
An interesting fact about Jane Goodall
Instead of numbering the chimpanzees as was the custom at the time, Goodall named the chimps. David Greybeard was one of the first she named. Others included Gigi, Mr McGregor, Goliath, Flo and Frodo who eventually kicked Goodall out of the troop when he became the leader.
Mae C. Jemison: out of this world
Mae Carol Jemison became the first black woman to travel into space in 1992.
Born in the US, Jemison graduated from university with a degree in chemical engineering before earning her medical degree. Jemison was part of the 1992 STS-47 mission during which she orbited the Earth 127 times! She was in space for almost 200 hours during which she conducted experiments on the effects of weightlessness on herself and the crew.
An interesting fact about Mae C. Jemison
Jemison is a huge Star Trek fan. Whilst she was in space, she would often open communications by saying “Hailing frequencies open” which is a quote from the show. She even appeared on an episode of Star Trek in 1993.
Maggie Aderin-Pocock: star quality
Maggie Aderin-Pocock was born in north London in 1968. She is a space scientist and has a passion for sharing and educating both adults and children about space and other areas of science.
She co-presents “The Sky at Night” as well as appearing on many children’s TV shows too!
An interesting fact about Maggie Aderin-Pocock
Aderin-Pocock was diagnosed with dyslexia at age eight. She struggled at school but was passionate about science.
Mary Somerville: astronomical achiever
Somerville was a Scottish scientist who studied mathematics and astronomy. She was jointly admitted as the first female member of the Royal Astronomical Society. Her work focused on the sun’s radiation effects on Earth’s substances and many have agreed that her later works and books lead to the discovery of the planet Neptune.
She was passionate about supporting women in education and fighting for their civil rights. At one point she was Ada Lovelace’s tutor and friend.
An interesting fact about Mary Somerville
She features on the new Scottish £10 note.
Sarah Gilbert: Covid vaccine hero
Sarah Gilbert is a British vaccinologist and professor of vaccinology at Oxford University. She specialises in the development of flu vaccines and has been working on new ways to create vaccines for over 10 years. During the 2020 COVID19 pandemic, she co-developed a much-needed vaccine with the Oxford Vaccine Group.
An interesting fact about Sarah Gilbert
Gilbert would often work from very early in the morning (4am) to late at night.
Elizabeth Garrett Anderson: medical marvel
Elizabeth Garret Anderson was the first woman in Britain to qualify as a physician and a surgeon. Born in London, Garret was initially taught by her mother, as there was no school nearby. When she was sent to boarding school at age 13, Garrett was upset by the lack of science and mathematics at her all-girl boarding school.
It is said that Garrett was inspired by an entry in the English Woman’s Journal which talked about the first female doctor in the US, Elisabeth Blackwell. This spurred Garret into meeting with Blackwell and opening up the path to medical careers for women
Through private study, Anderson obtained a certificate in anatomy and physiology. She finally obtained her licence to practise medicine in 1865.
An interesting fact about Elizabeth Garrett Anderson
Garrett was not allowed to work in a hospital, so in 1865 she opened her own practice in London.
New 1% NHS pay offer is “a real terms pay cut” and “hammer blow to morale”, says union body
All key workers deserve a decent pay rise, says TUC
The TUC has released new analysis which shows how major groups of NHS workers will be much worse off in real terms in 2021-22 than in 2010.
The analysis shows that following the government’s decision to offer NHS staff a pay rise of just 1% in 2021-22, nurses’ pay will be down as much as £2,500 in real terms compared to a decade ago.
The picture is bleak for many other NHS staff too:
Porters’ pay will be down by up to £850
Maternity care assistants’ pay will be down by up to £2,100
Paramedics’ pay will be down by up to £3,330
Real terms pay loss since 2010
Occupation
Pay 2010
Pay 2010 in 20-21 prices (CPI)
Agenda for change 2020-21 pay
Pay 2021-22 (1% proposed increase)
Real terms pay loss 2010-2021
Porters
£16,753
£20,383
£19,337
£19,530
-£852
Medical secretaries
£18,577
£22,602
£21,142
£21,353
-£1,249
Nursery Nurse
£21,798
£26,521
£24,157
£24,399
-£2,122
Maternity Care Assistants
Speech and Language Therapy Assistants
Team coordinators
Nurses
£27,534
£33,500
£30,615
£30,921
-£2,579
Community nurses
Radiographer Specialist
£34,189
£41,597
£37,890
£38,269
-£3,328
Paramedic
Source: TUC analysis of NHS Agenda for Change Pay scales
The TUC analysis also reveals that NHS workers across many occupations and pay bands will suffer a real-terms pay cut in 2021-22.
For example, an experienced nurse or midwife (NHS band 5) will a face an annual real-terms pay cut of up to £153 in 2021-22 as a result of the planned 1% increase.
Unions have described the latest pay offer to NHS workers as an insult to their hard work and dedication during the pandemic.
TUC General Secretary Frances O’Grady said: “Our brilliant NHS workers have put their lives on their line to get Britain through this pandemic.
“It’s time we cared for them the way they have cared for us.
“That means giving them the decent pay rise they deserve – not a pathetic 1% increase. After years of real-terms pay cuts the government’s latest offer is a hammer blow to staff morale.
“This boils down to political choices. Ministers have chosen to spend hundreds of millions on outsourcing our failed test and trace system and on dodgy PPE contracts. But they have chosen not to find the money to give nurses, paramedics and other NHS workers fair pay.
“Boosting pay for NHS key workers will help our local businesses and high streets recover faster – because their customers will have more cash to spend. And that will help other workers get a pay rise too.”
BACKLASH
Four major unions – the BMA, the Royal College of Nursing, the Royal College of Midwives and UNISON – have written an open letter to the Chancellor, expressing their dismay at the 1% pay offer made to health workers.
In the letter they ask him to reconsider the recommendation, made to the NHS pay review bodies yesterday, that NHS staff receive a 1% pay rise.
The letter goes on to say: “The proposal of a 1% pay offer, not announced from the despatch box but smuggled out quietly in the days afterwards, fails the test of both honesty and fails to provide staff who have been on the very frontline of the pandemic the fair pay deal they need.
“Our members are the doctors, nurses, midwives, porters, healthcare assistants and more, already exhausted and distressed, who are also expected to go on caring for the millions of patients on waiting lists, coping with a huge backlog of treatment as well as caring for those with COVID-19.”
The unions make clear that the Government should demonstrate that it recognises the contribution of the hundreds of thousands of workers who have literally kept the country alive for the past year and call upon the Chancellor to, “make the right choice”.
With nine weeks to go until the Scottish Parliament Election, Edinburgh’s citizens are being urged to think about how they are going to vote.
People living in the capital will join voters across the country to elect MSPs to represent them at Holyrood on Thursday, 6 May.
While most people who registered to vote in the last UK Parliamentary General Election will still be eligible to take part in the Scottish Parliament Election in May, first time voters or anyone who has since moved house will need to make sure they are registered.
On polling day there will be additional hygiene and distancing measures at polling places to keep voters and staff safe. These include a fresh pencil for each voter, protective screens for polling staff, one-way systems in some venues and limits to the number of voters in polling places at any time.
If voters do not want to go to a polling place to vote they have the option of voting by post. Anyone can apply for a postal vote and this should be done as soon as possible.
Andrew Kerr, Chief Executive of the City of Edinburgh Council and Returning Officer for the Edinburgh constituencies and the Lothian Region, said: “We have experienced a real enthusiasm for taking part in the democratic process in this city over recent years and we want this to continue for the forthcoming Scottish Parliament Election.
“We’re encouraging people to think now about the way they vote and make sure they’re registered in plenty of time. Polling places will be safe places to vote but you may want to consider using a postal vote.
“More postal votes would help us reduce the impact of social distancing measures and any hesitancy among voters who don’t want to attend polling stations or risk queuing. We would also suggest you apply now to make sure the application can be processed in plenty of time.
“Anyone unsure about how to register, where to vote or how to vote by post can find more information on the Council website.”
Voters have a range of options for casting their ballot – in person, by post or by appointing someone they trust to vote in their place, known as a proxy vote. For those who choose to vote in person, polling stations will be following all public health guidance on 6 May.
The deadline to register to vote is midnight Monday 19 April, to apply for a postal vote the deadline is 5pm on Tuesday 6 April, and for a proxy vote the deadline is 5pm on Tuesday 27 April.
Find out more about voter registration and the election, including the safety measures we’re taking to ensure polling stations are safe and covid secure, on the Council’s website.
Those who were looking to vote in new local councillors will have to wait, though – the local government elections won’t be held until 5th May 2022.
Staff and volunteers at a mental health and wellbeing charity have received a £2,000 donation from Amazon Development Centre Scotland in Edinburgh.
Health in Mind has been promoting mental health and wellbeing in Scotland since 1982. The charity provides a wide range of services such as Peer Connections Edinburgh, which helps adults who want to improve or manage their mental health by spending time with a peer volunteer that has their own experiences of mental health recovery.
The charity also runs iThrive Edinburgh, an online resource hub for the people of Edinburgh that provides information on mental health and wellbeing.
The donation from Amazon will go towards supporting their vital work in Edinburgh, including our Peer Connecting Service and Equal Access, which supports people from ethnic minority communities
Commenting on the donation, Graeme Smith, Managing Director at Amazon Development Centre Scotland, said: “We are pleased to support the great work of Health in Mind with this donation.
“The staff and volunteers go the extra mile to ensure the people of our community struggling with their mental health are supported.”
Lynne Stanford, Fundraising Manager from Health in Mind, said: “We want to say a huge thank you to Graeme and the Amazon team for this donation.
“It means a great deal to us to have this support at this time – COVID-19 has had a huge impact on people’s mental health. This donation helps raise awareness and importance for the support we provide and ensures we are here for people when they need us the most.”
Amazon Development Centre Scotland has been based in Edinburgh since 2004 and is responsible for devising and growing innovations that bring new levels of choice and convenience to hundreds of millions of customers around the world.
It houses teams of leading engineers, scientists, designers and product managers who work on everything from interactive user interface design to large-scale distributed systems and machine learning. The team is currently recruiting for a number of positions including software developers, engineers and applied scientists.
The donation was made as part of the ‘Amazon in the Community’ programme, whereby the company supports the communities around its operating locations across the UK.
Community donations are one of a number of ways in which Amazon is supporting communities across the UK during COVID-19.
Throughout the pandemic Amazon has provided students with free online STEM resources and supported virtual classrooms with no-cost resources from AWS. The company has also teamed up with charity partner Magic Breakfast to deliver over 3 million healthy breakfasts to disadvantaged children around the UK.
For more information on how Amazon is supporting the UK during COVID-19, click here.
Science practicals filmed for Education Scotland and BBC Bitesize offering
Academics from Edinburgh Napier’s teacher education programme have been helping bring science into the home for thousands of secondary school pupils in Scotland.
The University’s Dr Colin McGill (above), Dr Fiona Savage and Dr Eric Easton have worked with Education Scotland and the BBC Bitesize team to film a number of practical experiments to ensure that pupils studying science subjects continue to learn as lockdown restrictions remain in place.
Work with Education Scotland commenced last Autumn, with a selection of practical experiments filmed within the laboratories at Edinburgh Napier’s Sighthill campus.
These films – which saw the team work with Ian Stewart, a Chemistry teacher from Beeslack Community High School in Midlothian – are available via YouTube, West OS and Glow – Scotland’s nationally available digital environment for learning – as part of the National e-Learning Offer (NeLO).
In addition to supporting the development of these films for NeLO, Ian also teaches on the Senior Phase Study Support programme run via e-Sgoil for NeLO.
The content covered in the videos is broad, ranging from general science activities such as making a pH indicator from red cabbage for S1-S3 pupils, to videos to support learning at National 5 and Higher Chemistry such as measuring the average rate of a chemical reaction and testing carbonyl compound.
Dr McGill has also recently completed further filming for the BBC Bitesize platform.
Filmed over three days again at the University’s Sighthill campus, Dr McGill teamed up with Education Scotland and Ian Stewart to devise around 30 – 40 video ideas for Chemistry and the sciences.
This content was aimed at the Broad General Education (BGE) sciences curriculum all the way up to Higher Chemistry and included demonstrations on testing for gases, electrolysis and cracking alkanes. The BBC Bitesize filming was co-ordinated by Education Scotland.
Edinburgh Napier’s Dr McGill was delighted to play a part in supporting teachers through the on-going pandemic. He said: “I think these tools are very important to help pupil learning during the pandemic.
“It’s impossible for many practical activities to be done remotely so this at least gives pupils an opportunity to see the practical activity taking place and to then apply their learning from watching the activity.
“Teachers have been amazing during this pandemic and I would argue that the work they have put in to support their pupils is hugely underestimated, so if these videos have gone some way to help reduce their workload in any way then that is a huge positive for me.
“If and when things start getting closer to normal, these videos will still be very valuable for pupils to go over a practical that they carried out in class, or to support pupils who are absent from school for any reason.
“The technical support from Bill Surrage and Sandra Dunbar has allowed this practical work to take place – I’m really grateful to them for the support they have provided. I’m also really grateful to everyone that has made safe access to the Sighthill campus possible.”
A selection of the Education Scotland videos can be viewed on YouTube here or can be accessed via the NeLO supported resources blog.
Edinburgh Napier’s Professional Diploma in Education (PGDE) courses are designed by teachers, for teachers. The programme specialises in Biology, Chemistry, Maths or Physics, allowing students to become a secondary school teacher.
Each subject is accredited by the General Teaching Council for Scotland.
More information on the programme can be found here.
That’s the message from NSPCC Scotland, which says to deliver on long-held policy aspirations and to make Scotland a country that fully respects children’s rights, the new Scottish Government needs to radically transform early childhood.
Ahead of May’s election, the charity has outlined its call for a £100m Fair Start Fund to be invested in public services, as the country emerges from the pandemic, to support the emotional wellbeing of babies’ and their families. This will ensure that all young children in Scotland receive nurturing care and thrive; not just survive.
The charity is setting out its calls as it holds its UK flagship How Safe conference online, which brought together a panel of guest speakers who discussed mental health in pregnancy and the child’s first year, and the impact of the pandemic.
Despite overwhelming evidence that people’s experiences in early childhood lay the foundations for their future health and wellbeing, and over a decade on from the Scottish Government’s Early Years Framework, there is still a massive gulf in the support young children need, and the support they receive.
NSPCC Scotland research shows that before the pandemic hit, there were very few services across the country that specifically addressed the emotional and developmental needs of infants or children under the age of two1.
Research undertaken during Covid-19 has underlined how closely attuned a young child’s mental and emotional wellbeing is with that of their parents. A UK-wide survey by Parent-Infant Foundation, Best Beginnings and Home Start found that six in 10 new parents shared significant concerns about their mental health and a third of parents reported that interaction with their child had changed2.
Also, a Public Health Scotland survey found a clear association between a child’s wellbeing and their parents mental and emotional health during the lockdown period3.
It is vital to scope out the level of need among young children and families and ensure that sufficient community and specialist services are available across Scotland to support very young children’s social and emotional development.
“With plans to incorporate the UNCRC into Scots law, which places the rights of all children, including babies, on a statutory footing, it is vital we radically transform early childhood in Scotland – a challenge we urge the new government to fully embrace.
“We recognise that advances in early years policy have been made in Scotland in the last decade but this needs to be matched with funding. Huge investment is needed to ensure that all children in our country are offered the best start in life. Also, it is imperative that those who have experienced early adversity, including the effects of the pandemic, receive the specialist mental health support they and their carers need to heal and move on.”
NSPCC Scotland’s Fight for a Fair Start campaign is calling on the public to back its petition urging the next Scottish Government to invest heavily in early childhood.
Fight for a Fair Start is supported by Jo Malone London who have also funded direct services to new and prospective parents, focusing on support with their mental health problems, to help them develop secure and healthy relationships with their children.
The frontline role of women across Scotland in dealing with the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic is to be celebrated as part of a virtual event, to be held on International Women’s Day.
The event, being organised by the Scottish Women’s Convention and the Scottish Parliament will be held on Monday (8 March), in the Scottish Parliament’s ‘virtual chamber’.
The experiences of those working at the heart of tackling the pandemic, including Erin Moffat, a critical care nurse; Cynthia Osayamwen, a care assistant; Clare McInally, a trade unionist; Mary Boyd, a student nurse and Pam Duncan-Glancy, a disability, equality and human rights activist, will be heard.
Women of all ages, and from across Scotland are being invited to sign up for this free event and to listen to a line-up of interesting and engaging speakers, who have all played vital roles in the fight against coronavirus.
The event will be chaired by Linda Fabiani, Deputy Presiding Officer. She said: “Women have undoubtedly risen to the many challenges that Covid-19 has thrown at them, often juggling so many different priorities, at home, at work and in their communities. I am delighted that this event will allow us a virtual platform from which to celebrate and recognise their many achievements.
“This annual event is usually held in our Debating Chamber, with hundreds of women joining us in person. Whilst we can’t do that this year, we will continue to help support women, acknowledging the challenges they face and their collective hopes and aspirations for the future.”
Other speakers addressing the event will include:
• Linda Bauld, Professor of Public Health, The University of Edinburgh; • Elaine C Smith, one of Scotland’s best-known performers; • Monica Lennon MSP, Scottish Labour Party spokesperson on Economy & Fair Work; • Shirley-Anne Somerville MSP, Cabinet Secretary for Social Security & Older People; • Alison Johnstone MSP, Co-leader of the Scottish Green Party; • Caron Lindsay, Scottish Liberal Democrats spokesperson for Equalities. • Margaret Mitchell MSP, Shadow Minister for Community Safety.
Those attending will also hear a pre-recorded video message from the First Minister, Nicola Sturgeon MSP.
Agnes Tolmie, Chair, Scottish Women’s Convention, said: “This year our event is being held online and this enables us as an organisation to reach out to more women than ever before bringing women together from different cultures and backgrounds across Scotland and Internationally to celebrate all of their achievements during the current Pandemic.
“The SWC have been showcasing Women in Scotland’s contributions since January with daily nominations in the run up to this event and what it has highlighted is the far-ranging achievements of women during one of the most difficult periods in our history.
“Women make up more than 50 per cent of the Scottish population and have been hardest hit by COVID but looking at the wonderful work Women in Scotland have been doing, we thought we should use our event to celebrate them. We look forward to an evening of inspiring and motivational contributions which highlight women achievements during this time”
Taking place on Monday (8 March 2021), from 6pm until 8pm, the event is free to attend and can be accessed as below:
Yesterday The Majority, with the support of Scotland Matters, UK Union Voice and over 250 donors who contributed to a crowdfunding campaign, launched the #ResignSturgeon campaign, the first in a series of campaigns leading up to the Scottish Elections on May 6.
The campaign started with :
Three digital billboards
Glasgow – Clydeside Expressway (access near Lidl on Castlebank St)
Edinburgh – Slateford Road (next to Jewson)
Aberdeen – Market Street (at Union Square)
A #ResignSturgeon banner towed behind an aeroplane flying over:
The Scottish Parliament Building in Holyrood and Edinburgh City Centre
Glasgow City Centre and Finnieston Crane area
The campaign is a message to Nicola Sturgeon to ‘take responsibility for her Government’s catastrophic handling of the Alex Salmond Harassment Inquiry, which cost the taxpayer well over £500,000 in damages to Salmond plus hundreds of thousands of pounds more in Scottish Government legal fees, as well as the cost of the ongoing inquiry’.
The group says Nicola Sturgeon hasn’t taken responsibility: ‘She has not fired anyone. The whole of Scotland is talking about her collusion, corruption and cover-up, instead of health, education and jobs. She must resign so the country can move on.’
The campaign message — #ResignSturgeon— is part of an ongoing grassroots hashtag campaign on Twitter that has had hundreds of thousands of retweets and responses and regularly appears on Twitter’s ‘trending’ lists of the social network’s most popular hashtags.
The campaign is funded in part by donations to a crowdfunder, run by The Majority, that has raised almost £6500 to date. https://donorbox.org/billboard-campaign
Mark Devlin of The Majority: “We represent the silent majority of people in Scotland, who are angry and frustrated by Nicola Sturgeon’s shenanigans bringing international shame on Scotland.
“The Scottish public deserve a Parliament and First Minister above reproach and want the Scottish Government to focus on health, education, jobs and the pandemic.
“Instead we have a First Minister misleading parliament, breaking the ministerial code and withholding information from an inquiry into her government’s unlawful, unfair and biased actions against Alex Salmond, all while totally neglecting her day job.”
Alan Sutherland from Scotland Matters: “We call on the First Minister to do the right thing for Scotland: resign and let us focus on recovery from the pandemic.
“She has done great damage to our country and Parliament’s reputation, here and abroad, by conducting an undignified, very public dispute with her former SNP colleague, while preventing the Salmond enquiry from seeing evidence that is crucial to a proper investigation.”
The Majority says it is Scotland’s leading anti-Nationalist media. Since its founding in June, 2020, it has grown to almost 50,000 social media followers.
It aims to unite Scotland’s anti-Nationalist majority; say NO to IndyRef2; Expose Nationalism as a toxic ideology; Support effective anti-Nationalist politicians; and criticise media appeasement.
Figures show 154 speed related collisions in Edinburgh and the Lothians in 2019
A powerful new campaign by The Scottish Government and Road Safety Scotland* to tackle the serious issue of speeding, has launched with a clear message for all drivers – There’s no excuse for speeding.
There were 154 speed related collisions in Edinburgh and the Lothians in 2019, with contributory factors including exceeding the speed limit, travelling too fast for the conditions and careless/reckless driving.1
Latest figures show that speed is a contributory factor in 15% of all fatal and serious collisions in Scotland – a total of 848 collisions, 42 fatalities and 244 serious injuries.2
The majority of people (at least occasionally) exceed the legal speed limit:
39% of people admit to exceeding the speed limit by 5mph in 30mph zones at least once in the past year
27% admit to exceeding the speed limit by 5mph in 20mph areas in the last year
40% of drivers think it is safe to exceed the speed limit slightly on motorways
11% admit to having driven at least once in the past year at 90mph on the motorway.3
Cabinet Secretary for Transport, Infrastructure and Connectivity, Michael Matheson said: “Speed is a key priority for the Scottish Government and an integral part of the Road Safety Framework to 2030. Speeding is a severe problem that causes too many fatal and serious collisions every year.
“A collision involving speed affects more than just you and your car – it also has an impact on your family, the victim’s family, the emergency services, and people who witness it. The message of this campaign is clear – speeding is always a risk. However you chose to try and justify it, it’s still speeding and there’s no excuse for it.”
Police Scotland officers hear many excuses from speeders:
The catalytic converter warning light had come on, so I was trying to clean it out
I`ve just bought the new “Call of Duty” and I`m desperate to get home and play it
Why didn`t you stop the car in front, he was going much faster than me
There were no workmen near the road
You should be here at nine o`clock, they are much faster
I was going to miss my Tee off time, it`s the club championship today.
The most common excuses include running out of petrol, the road being quiet, and other traffic also being perceived as exceeding the speed limit.
Assistant Chief Constable Mark Williams, Police Scotland,said: “The dangers of speeding are well known and have been shown time and again as being a significant factor in fatal and serious injury collisions.
“Every other day on our road Police Officers see first-hand the devastation that speed-related collisions can cause, the faster you drive the less time you have to react to hazards.
“There is no excuse for speeding and despite the clear risks involved, a minority of drivers are still willing to risk their lives and the lives of others. If you are caught speeding or you are involved in a collision, you could lose your licence, face a substantial fine and receive a criminal record which could result in you losing your job, or even a prison sentence, so the risks are not worth it.”
The Scotland-wide campaign highlights some of the excuses commonly used by drivers to justify their speeding behaviours, while reminding those behind the wheel that, if they’re caught, they could face severe penalties.
Running across multiple platforms including TV, radio and digital, the poignant new advert depicts the harrowing aftermath of a car crash while emphasising that it doesn’t matter if you think you’re only speeding ‘a little bit’ – there’s no excuse for speeding. You can watch the advert here.
