News about David Hamilton

At this rate, Scotland is soon going to end up with more tsars than Russia. It was reported yesterday that, over the next two years, the Scottish Government may create seven new 'commissioners' - nicknamed 'tsars' - to add to the seven that already exist. On our behalf, these unelected high priests of Scottish public life already run the rule over issues such as the welfare of children and young people and the maintenance of human rights. They advise MSPs on the standards which the public apparently expect to be met. It now turns out that the Scottish Government is examining plans to create more of them, to cover - deep breath - victims, patient safety, old people, wellbeing, sustainable development, learning disability, and autism and neurodiversity.

After being caught out during a live radio interview, the SNP's information minister was forced to confess to using a 'auto delete' feature on WhatsApp. George Adam, the Parliamentary business minister, was discovered to be using the feature that deletes all messages within 24 hours. The revelation was made during a BBC Good Morning Scotland interview when he was trying to defend the Scottish government's record on transparency. The Scottish Information Commissioner declared at the weekend that he would investigate the 'concerning' procedure of deleting messages, which came to light as the UK Covid Inquiry sat in Edinburgh.

Scotland's information commissioner has opened a formal inquiry into WhatsApp messages used by the Scottish Government. Last week's UK Covid Inquiry raised'significant practice issues,' Hamilton said.

Both governments like to keep it tight. As with sausage making, the more people know what's going on, the better. The evidence in Scotland, on the other hand, has revealed what has been apparent for some time: a governing culture that is overtly and institutionally opaque.

The WhatsApp scandal has exposed the SNP's shabby and deceptive tactics used to hold voters in the dark once more.

YOU'VE RESOLVE: In a month, you will lose ten pounds in a month. YOU'D SEEK FOR: Losing five pounds in a month. YOU GET: At your local garage, you will be tempted by the three-for-two offer on family-size Galaxy chocolate bars, and you can put off your New Year's resolution until February. YOU RESOLVE: To run the 2024 London Marathon. VOTE FOR: THE 2024 London Half Marathon is a marathon run by a woman named Daisy. YOU GET: A stitch after 500 yards is whisked away to be wrapped in silver foil.

ANDREW PIERCE: Mark Harper's Department invested £121,000 in a year on IT software and furniture for employees working from home. No wonder that attendance was just 66%. The Home Office, which is struggling with Home Secretary Suella Braverman's flagship Stop the Boats legislation, only received a 31% turnout in the last week of May, which was still being criticized by the unelected House of Lords. Last week, the Department of Environment, Food & Rural Affairs only attained 29 percent. Were they all working on the farm?

Two daily tablets may be able to save some blood cancer patients from having to go through horrific bouts of chemotherapy. According to British studies, the drug, ruxolitinib (inset), can cause polycythaemia vera, a form of blood cancer, to persist for up to three years longer than conventional treatments. Around a third of patients with polycythaemia vera suffer severe chemotherapy side effects, including leg and throat ulcers, vomiting, and chronic exhaustion. David Hamilton, 84, who announced his polycythaemia vera diagnosis last year, is one of many patients.

RICHARD EDEN: The extraordinary event is chronicled in a new book called Charles: The King and Wales, in which the author, Huw Thomas, discusses the possibility that Charles might have seen him as Prince of Wales (left), being filmed at the wheel of his Aston Martin, was filmed around the globe. As the Severn Bridge (top right) - officially, the Second Severn Crossing, which Charles had opened in 1996, was re-named Prince of Wales Bridge in 2018, honoring 60 years since the Queen made him the Prince of Wales. Officials at Clarence House were 'up for it,' according to Thomas, Business Correspondent for BBC Wales, who claims that Charles would have been filmed crossing from England to Wales.

RICHARD EDEN: Terry Pendry, 72, could always be seen by Queen Elizabeth's side (photo) as she rode through the estate. He was involved in one of the most moving aspects of her funeral, riding Emma, her favorite horse, to say her farewell. Today at St George's Chapel, Pendry will be crowned a Military Knight. The position is unpaid, but it comes with a home in the castle's Lower Ward, which will be his for as long as he can perform his duties. For the majority of Knights, this brings them to an end of their days. According to a spokesman, "Her late Majesty would see this as fitting and be comforted."

After Vanessa Feltz, Paul O'Grady, Craig Charles, and Steve Wright - whose ages range from 58 to 68, the BBC has been accused of 'rank ageism.' Fearne Cotton, a highly rated Fearne Cotton (pictured), is expected to be added to the roster.