Latest news with #RecordView
Daily Record
18 hours ago
- Politics
- Daily Record
Intervention has reopened wounds in Scottish politics
Record View says there will be some in the SNP who will be quietly hoping the hype around Sturgeon's book dies down quickly. It's been almost a year since Alex Salmond 's death but the former first minister 's legacy continues to be a contentious topic. Nicola Sturgeon never reconciled with her political mentor after he was arrested and charged with multiple counts of sexual assault in 2020. Salmond was ultimately cleared in court but he never forgave those in his former party that he viewed as betraying him. His allies believe there was a conspiracy against him and have vowed to continue fighting to clear his name. So it's in that context that Sturgeon has published her long-awaited political memoir this week. Extracts published over the weekend have seen the former first minister try to claim that it was Salmond who leaked details to the press of a Scottish Government investigation into his behaviour. That's prompted a furious backlash from Salmond's allies, who firmly believe the leak came from Sturgeon's camp. Regardless of who is right, the squabble is unedifying and does not reflect well on Scottish politics. There will be some in the SNP who will be quietly hoping the hype around Sturgeon's book dies down quickly. With the party desperate to hold on to power at next year's Holyrood election, the last thing it needs is to get bogged down in another row over its two most famous former leaders. John Swinney has a big enough job on his hands without the public being reminded of how divided some of his former colleagues are. It's in everyone's interest that this row is put to bed once and for all. Join the Daily Record WhatsApp community! Get the latest news sent straight to your messages by joining our WhatsApp community today. You'll receive daily updates on breaking news as well as the top headlines across Scotland. No one will be able to see who is signed up and no one can send messages except the Daily Record team. All you have to do is click here if you're on mobile, select 'Join Community' and you're in! If you're on a desktop, simply scan the QR code above with your phone and click 'Join Community'. We also treat our community members to special offers, promotions, and adverts from us and our partners. If you don't like our community, you can check out any time you like. To leave our community click on the name at the top of your screen and choose 'exit group'. Each penny counts It's outrageous that a firm at the centre of a £6million NHS corruption scandal was still carrying out work for one health board three years after they were first charged. NHS Lothian carried on using the services of Oricom until March last year. It comes after four men were jailed for a total of 29 years in June following a major investigation into the award of lucrative NHS contracts to the Ayrshire-based telecommunications firm. At a time when the health service is under pressure like never before, bosses should be double-checking where each and every penny is being spent. Taxpayers' cash certainly should not be handed over to a firm where employees were fleecing the health service. Contracts with Oricom should have been ripped up as soon as there was any suspicion over its activities. Bosses at NHS Lothian must answer as to why this situation was allowed to continue.
Daily Record
3 days ago
- Business
- Daily Record
Processing Scots waste abroad is tipping point, we should recycle here
Record View says recycling is carried out in the name of the environment but the climate footprint of exporting waste must be huge. Diverting waste away from landfill and boosting recycling rates are, undoubtedly, the correct courses of action. Climate change is the biggest catastrophe facing the world and all countries, big and small, must rise to the challenge. Glasgow has historically had a poor record on recycling and has upped its game of late. The city's recycling rate for 2024 was 30.6 per cent, up from 27.2 per cent in 2023, modest progress. But our story today on how Glasgow's domestic waste is being reprocessed abroad is a cause for alarm. This country's infrastructure is so poor that our largest city is sending waste to locations such as Spain and Germany. We should be recycling our own waste and yet we are having to boost recycling rates by sending paper and plastic to the continent. Such an approach fails on multiple fronts. Glasgow council has made huge cuts over the years but is shelling out millions to reprocess waste overseas. Recycling is carried out in the name of the environment but the climate footprint of exporting waste must be huge. And supporting jobs in Spain inevitably means Scottish firms who could construct their own reprocessing plants are losing out. SNP politicians talk a good game about how climate change presents a great opportunity for creating the jobs of the future. But this talk is cheap when those jobs are overseas. Scottish waste should be processed in Scotland and this woeful practice must end. Join the Daily Record WhatsApp community! Get the latest news sent straight to your messages by joining our WhatsApp community today. You'll receive daily updates on breaking news as well as the top headlines across Scotland. No one will be able to see who is signed up and no one can send messages except the Daily Record team. All you have to do is click here if you're on mobile, select 'Join Community' and you're in! If you're on a desktop, simply scan the QR code above with your phone and click 'Join Community'. We also treat our community members to special offers, promotions, and adverts from us and our partners. If you don't like our community, you can check out any time you like. To leave our community click on the name at the top of your screen and choose 'exit group'. If you're curious, you can read our Privacy Notice. Legend's legacy Sir Chris Hoy is already a hero to Scots for his sporting excellence and Olympic gold medal haul. But since being diagnosed with terminal prostate cancer he has taken on an even greater role in the life of our nation. Working with his wife, Sarra, Chris is determined to save lives by making sure more men get checked for this disease. Caught early it can be treated and managed. But as Sir Chris knows only too well, the disease can often go unnoticed and then becomes difficult and sometimes impossible to eradicate. That is why the cycling legend met with First Minister John Swinney and Health Secretary Neil Gray yesterday. He wants GPs to proactively contact men known to be at higher risk – for instance, due to a family history of prostate cancer – to offer an early test. That demand is reasonable, achievable and should be introduced as a matter of urgency. It will certainly save lives - and could be Chris's most enduring legacy.
Daily Record
6 days ago
- Politics
- Daily Record
Must do better on rich-poor attainment gap as Sturgeon pledge 'in tatters'
Record View says the report card is clear – the SNP government is failing to narrow the attainment gap according to a timescale it set out itself. A week is said to be a long time in politics, which makes a decade seem like an eternity. Party leaders of all persuasions would prefer if the public couldn't recall the big promises they made around election times. But some policy pledges are so massive they can't just be quietly ignored when events render them redundant. Flush from another Holyrood election victory in 2016, Nicola Sturgeon's SNP government told Scots that narrowing the poverty attainment gap would become a key ambition. It would take years but we would eventually see children from the poorest backgrounds doing just as well in their exams as those from the richest. The 10-year anniversary of that historic commitment is now less than 12 months away, but the poverty attainment gap stubbornly persists. The tiny amount of progress made this year is nowhere near good enough. When it comes to National 5s and Highers, the richest kids still do better. The attainment gap remains around 17 per cent, just as it was last year. This is not to ignore the very successes achieved by pupils across the country. More youngsters are finding their way to universities. That's a positive. But when governments ask voters to judge them on their education record – as Sturgeon famously did – they must be judged accordingly. And the report card is clear – the SNP government is failing to narrow the attainment gap according to a timescale it set out itself. Promises cost nothing. But voters don't forget when they are not met. Firefighter fears A firefighter is a public servant that people living in Scotland should hope they never have to rely on. These heroes are first to respond when a blaze is ripping through a family home or a business. They are also first on the scene during horrific road traffic accidents. But cuts to this vital service have seen response times rise over the course of a decade. And now the trade union representing firefighters has warned median response times may jump to 10 minutes. Such a rise would be a disaster because a fire can do untold damage in a short space of time. The union believes a rise is likely due to cuts to fire stations under consultation by the single fire service. They believe these cuts pose a huge threat to public safety. SNP ministers must intervene to ensure any savings do not trigger a rise in emergency response times.
Daily Record
02-08-2025
- Politics
- Daily Record
Scots schools must continue to invest in libraries to protect children's futures
Glasgow City Council is considering removing librarians from 30 schools, but Record View demands that they think again. School libraries play a crucial role in expanding the minds of pupils. Not every child grows up in a house with books. For some youngsters, a school library is where they discover a lifelong appreciation of books. So it's deeply concerning that Glasgow City Council is considering removing the position of librarian from its 30 secondary schools. While there are no plans to close the libraries, the loss of such experienced professionals would be devastating. In these financially straitened times, all local authorities must make difficult decisions to balance their books. But it seems perverse that cutting cash from the school libraries budget would even be considered in the first place. Councils are being forced into these choices by a council tax freeze that has devastated local services. The freeze was brought in by the SNP to try to tackle soaring household bills. This was considered a vote winner by successive first ministers and enjoyed widespread support. Now the freeze has been lifted and bills have gone up again but the damage done to local services is still being felt. But before councils resort to measures like removing librarians from our high schools, they must think of the impact on young people. This generation of high school pupils has already lost years of schooling through the Covid lockdowns. They deserve to have their services protected – especially those which help them expand their horizons. Libraries can play as crucial a role for kids as classrooms. They deserve investment – not cutbacks. The city council must think again and keep its librarians. He's Don a U-turn Stock markets around the world slumped again as US President Donald Trump announced new tariffs on more than 90 countries. Trump is touting tariffs as the answer to trade deficits with other nations – but clearly the move will slow the global economy and devastate jobs. During his visit to Scotland last weekend, it appeared that Trump was on a more reasonable course. It may have been the sea air at Turnberry and Aberdeenshire that made him mellow, as he appeared to open a window of opportunity to get a deal done on whisky tariffs. But now he's back on the warpath and using the threat of tariffs to get his own way with countries that should be allies. It's typical of this erratic, unpredictable figure that he would say one thing one week, and something different the next. The world will be much safer and more prosperous place when his time in office finally ends.
Daily Record
01-08-2025
- Daily Record
Record View: We all deserve to be safe at work
Today's Record View looks at the rise in workplace deaths in Scotland. We all deserve to be safe at work never in doubt. But Scotland has experienced a spike in recent years of workplace deaths. And now a new report has shown that Scotland has more of these tragedies than any other part of the UK. The rise means there is now nearly one death for every 100,000 workers. Among those victims was Clive Hendry, 58, who was crushed between a boat and a floating pontoon at the Highland fish farm where he worked. Speaking about the new figures, his wife has revealed the heartbreak of losing her husband at work - where he should have been protected. Her story - and all of those workplace fatalities - should be a wake-up call to employers and politicians. All of these deaths were avoidable and with the right measures in place we should be able to eradicate such accidents. Unfortunately under the Tories workers rights were eroded - with health and safety seen as nothing more than 'red tape' getting in the way of making money. Thankfully, one of Labour's first jobs in government was bringing in a new Workers' Rights Bill - which will give added protections to millions of employees. Sadly that bill is not yet law, and will not take effect on the ground until next year at the earliest. Until it comes in, we have to hope that companies will recognise that improvements are needed to keep Scotland's workforce safe. Those that fail to look after the safety of their employees should be dragged through the courts. Maybe the threat of jail time will be enough to make bosses realise that life is more precious than profit. Join the Daily Record WhatsApp community! Get the latest news sent straight to your messages by joining our WhatsApp community today. You'll receive daily updates on breaking news as well as the top headlines across Scotland. No one will be able to see who is signed up and no one can send messages except the Daily Record team. All you have to do is click here if you're on mobile, select 'Join Community' and you're in! If you're on a desktop, simply scan the QR code above with your phone and click 'Join Community'. We also treat our community members to special offers, promotions, and adverts from us and our partners. If you don't like our community, you can check out any time you like. To leave our community click on the name at the top of your screen and choose 'exit group'. If you're curious, you can read our Privacy Notice. FM's indy gamble John Swinney's new strategy to bring about an independence referendum, revealed in Monday's Daily Record, has sparked lively debate. The First Minister has said the trigger for a second referendum can only be the SNP winning an outright majority of seats at next year's Holyrood election. He has raised the bar compared to Nicola Sturgeon, who said a pro-indy majority of SNP and other parties would be enough. Now Dennis Canavan, a prominent independence supporter, has warned that the strategy is high risk. He points out that a majority has only been achieved once since the Scottish Parliament came into being and that was in the heyday of Alex Salmond. Canavan has a point and it seems highly unlikely that after 19 years in government the SNP will repeat Salmond's success. Swinney certainly cannot be accused of lacking ambition. But in aiming high for his party, the First Minister may have taken independence off the table for many years to come.
