There have been a few articles this week relating to the corporate press and media.The worldwide media where Prime Ministers and Presidents consult with media moguls in the run up to general elections and presidential campaigns.At that level the media literally can make or break governments and change the outcome of democratic election processes. Continue reading “Why we need a local free press and citizen journalism.”
Over the holiday period when many news outlets go into ‘standby mode’ some stories appear to fill a gap. One such story was of the spread of the ‘conurbation’ or an extended urban area, typically consisting of several towns merging with the suburbs of a central city.
It has been speculated that eventually, judging by satellite images like the one above, the cities of Glasgow,Edinburgh,Stirling and Falkirk will one day merge to form one mega city. Putting aside the cultural differences of Glasgow versus Edinburgh, salt and vinegar versus salt and sauce, its interesting as the New Year begins to ponder some of the other issues around this subject.
In this ‘bleak mid-winter’, chest infections, viral infections, increased levels of influenza type symptoms have peaked even before Christmas and New Year. On top of that we have an ageing population and a thing called multi-morbidity.In other words as people live longer they suffer from more than one , sometimes several different conditions at once.
The media on the other hand do not want to deal with ‘whole systems’ approaches to health.They cannot cope with reporting on community based responses to combatting loneliness among older people or the massively successful recovery movement in Scotland working to help people in recovery from alcohol and drugs dependence .
The medias main ‘capacity’ for thought is that of the sausage factory approach, a simplistic Accident and Emergency one door in and one door out and how long it takes before you get home.People are seen as objects on a production line to be measured by ‘time and motion’ processes in a bean counting exercise.
View full article here
“If you’re going to have a moment of clarity, an epiphany, a lightbulb moment, the Pentland Firth is, I suppose, as good a place as any. I’d been struggling to understand the position of the dirty dozen, the thirteen Britnat Tories in Scotland, over the Withdrawal Bill.”
https://theorkneynews.scot/…/farming-mattersnow-isnt-it-ir…/
shared by Fiona G
shared on behalf of Tom Stow (Fiona G)
“Austerity is a cruel and politically motivated agenda that results in us all suffering. We see disabled deaths rise, we see higher levels of child poverty, we see higher levels of working poor all whilst the rich friends of the Tories are getting richer; richer on the back of our suffering. This on top of the shameful Rape Clause supported by Ruth Davidson! Let’s show them we are a community who have compassion and care, let’s show them we will defend our poorest and most vulnerable!”
We will make our presence known at the Conservative Conference this March!
Join us on Tuesday the 13th of February, 6pm, Ma Cameron’s, Aberdeen City Centre to share ideas and meet some like minded people.”
https://www.facebook.com/events/159358304847334
An audit report for our twitter account shows that 99% of our 3325 followers are genuine (only 24 fake). Excellent result for us.
– Martin
Mini Editorial.
People are getting sick of Brexit we hear.An excellent blog posted this morning tells us that is what Westminster wants.They want Scotland to go back ‘in the box’ be compliant and not ask anymore questions.
This week we are seeing that Brexit is nearing the ‘end game’ at least from a Scottish perspective.
The lies from Davis and Mundell are being exposed by a Scottish Government which has already done the sums.When the UK government refuses to reveal the impacts of Brexit you know we are in trouble.
Even a soft Brexit it was revealed would cost £39 billion a year and a loss of 700,000 jobs.Thats if we stay inside the single market- that gets a 2% drop in GDP. The ‘middle’ option would see 5% lower GDP and £99 billion less per year, and it also comes with a loss of 1,750,000 jobs.
Under a ‘no deal’ scenario favoured by many Brexiteers,the job losses goes up to a staggering 2.8 million and £158 billion less per year
Not only are the Tories split over these ‘options’ they are also in the process of dismantling their NHS and with Brexit look set to dismantling the devolution settlement for Scotland as well as Wales. Total self destruct mode.
Now would be a good time for Scotland to launch our lifeboat to escape the chaos and destruction of Tory Britain. Independence referendum any time soon please. G
