Rab Bruce's Spider

by Rab Bruce’s Spider   Mastodon: @RabBrucesSpider1@Mastodon.Scot BlueSky: @RabBrucesSpider.Bsky.Social X/Twitter: @RabBrucesSpider     In these days of AI-generated misinformation, it’s often hard to tell whether a news story has any foundation in fact. To be fair, even following supposedly reputable news outlets can often leave you misinformed. However, I still check my RSS newsfeed app every day, browsing through headlines from a variety of mainstream media outlets, alternative media organisations and even a few bloggers. I do try to get a variety of perspectives, which means I am often confronted with a right wing view of a story. And some of them are so barking mad I often wonder whether AI is responsible.   This morning, for example, I picked up on a few interpretations of news which left me shaking my head in despair. I think it is only fair that I spread some of the gloom around, if only to make me feel better. My apologies to anyone who is ...

by Rab Bruce’s Spider   Mastodon: @RabBrucesSpider1@Mastodon.Scot BlueSky: @RabBrucesSpider.Bsky.Social X/Twitter: @RabBrucesSpider     John Swinney’s announcement that he intends to impose price caps on supermarkets selling basic essential foodstuffs has caused quite an uproar. On the City AM website the other day, I saw one writer describe it as “ludicrous” and “insane”. It was the usual anti-Scottish diatribe we have become so accustomed to, and I wonder how the author feels now that news has emerged that the UK Government has been in discussions with supermarket bosses about price caps.   Needless to say, the supermarket bosses have come out strongly against this idea, and the UK Government now seems to be back-tracking quite vigorously.   But is this policy a good idea? Or is it just a bad idea because greedy capitalism demands that the public must be exploited for every penny? Interestingly, a little research suggests that the UK Tory...

by Rab Bruce’s Spider   Mastodon: @RabBrucesSpider1@Mastodon.Scot BlueSky: @RabBrucesSpider.Bsky.Social X/Twitter: @RabBrucesSpider     Over the next few days, I’m sure we’ll see every political party putting its own spin on the results of the election. As expected by most people, the SNP fell well short of a majority of seats, but the Greens did particularly well, perhaps because more Yessers appreciated that voting SNP 1 & 2 was almost certainly going to result in their List vote being wasted.   There are a couple of positive things we can take from the outcome. First, the SNP won more seats than all the BBC-backed parties combined, and when you add in the Green seats, there is a very strong majority in favour of Scotland becoming a normal, self-governing country.   I did try to listen to the election coverage provided by BBC Scotland but it really was tough to sit through. What was noticeable was that they kept banging on about the S...