Free bus travel scheme extended

I’m beginning to see why some writers pick on politics and political writing as their subject – it basically means they can write any sort of crap without bothering about whether it is fact or fantasy, provided they can find someone that has made some sort of public comment or claim on the subject, regardless of whether it is accurate or just some sort of idle, politically motivated, point scoring remark.

A few weeks ago, the news carried an item suggesting that changes to the free bus travel scheme and a review would mean less people being eligible for the concession, and Scottish Labour jumped up and down with joy. Even though no details had been published by the Scottish Governement, they hinted that Alex Salmond could go down in history as the first minister who “shoved Scotland’s grannies off the bus”. That seemed to be important, and was noted here, and was skewed to be critical of the Scottish Governement.

The plans have now been published, and Scottish Labour is claiming a victory.

Duh… Excuse my being thick, but having only one working brain cell, it can’t see how anyone can claim victory when an unseen plan is published for the first time and its contents are made public. It might have been able to cope if the plan had been published, and then changed after a review, but that doesn’t seem to be the case here. So this posting is unashamedly skewed to be critical of Scottish Labour for making baseless claims.

The Scottish Government has confirmed that pensioners and disabled people will remain entitled to travel for nothing, at any time, on any bus routes, for any number of journeys. The review will assess the scheme introduced in 2006, and will look towards extending eligibility so that injured veterans in Scotland are able to benefit from free bus travel

I don’t care one jot about the political flag flown by anyone making announcements about important issues, but I do object to finding that that their deliberations are unfounded, and only aimed at making political capital. I may be reporting and quoting, but still find the inclusion of such baseless claims reflects badly on the site, even if it’s not directly responsible for them. The BBC might get away with it, being a national news service, but we don’t have that luxury, and operate at a more personal level.

It’s not possible to avoid reviewing items with a political content, and it’s probably not possible to review them without some sort of personal bias, although it’s to be hoped that any review of such items posted here will show that any scorn is poured on the subject, regardless of its political affiliation.