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Starmer says he will stay on as PM encouraged by smaller losses in the London region after losing Wales and Scotland. Reform got 26% of the vote for 30% of the local councils seats for local government in Britain, Conservatives at 20% and Greens at 16%. SNP was leading in Scotland and Plaid Cymru in Wales, leading to a fragmented result for parties across the country.

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SNP to win 63 seats to be largest in Scotland, Reform no seats in Scotland, Labour losses in Scotland.

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Reform with 27% of the vote, Conservatives second at 20%, Greens third at 16%, in local elections in Britain in May 2026. Reform Party is strongest in pro Brexit areas. It performed well in areas won by Boris Johnson of the Conservatives. Labour does better in London compared to rest of country, and loses in Wales and Scotland. Liberals make no gains. Starmer holds onto the premiership in a fragmented Britain after the Mandelson scandal.

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Caroline Schmitt describes the situation in Scotland just before the general election. Scottish voters rejected Brexit with 62% voting "no." Here Scottish National Party manifesto is cited about the loss of 80,000 jobs in a hard "Brexit," and the sentiment in Scotland about the way Theresa May has handled the situation.

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England play Croatia and Scotland play Brazil in World Cup draw. DJT is awarded the FIFA Peace Prize.

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Britain's Labour party sees a big opportunity in Scotland with the divided SNP. Mr. Humza narrowly edged out Forbes for leader of the SNP party in the election to replace Nicola Sturgeon. Labour could win 20 seats north of the border putting Mr. Starmer in No.10, say some Labour party leaders. Labour sees that it has been left out of Scotland's parliament and government for far too long with a cost of living crisis and need for public services.

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DJT will meet EU's Von der Leyen in Scotland to iron out differences remaining to get to a US EU Trade Deal. Following the one with the UK and Japan this would be a signifcant win for the president and show that his tariff policies are working when flexibility is added and negotiations are speeded up. It also benefits European relations with the US on many fronts, not just in talk as has happened before but in real improvements in sharing of responsibilities.

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For the first time we hear of "period poverty" in advanced European countries. Scotland charities say there is "period poverty" in Britain as the pandemic hurts incomes across Scotland. Women and girls not having money to buy sanitary products needed during menstruation. The Scottish parliament passes a Period Products Bill to ensure all women have free sanitary products, the legislation costing about 10 million pounds.

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The Labour party takes the Rutherglen parliament seat from SNP with Labour's Michael Shanks winning twice the votes of the SNP candidate. Scotland can now lead the way to a Labour government. In his speech Keir Starmer, Labour's leader said he would put Scotland at the "heart of a Britain to last." Labour stands for working people across all these islands, "there is nothing more important." That Labour stands for an argument for Britain, an old partnership perhaps, but a flame now reignited to  face a modern flame of insecurity." On the Scottish nationalists and their party the SNP Starmer said- "Once again they will wave away the lessons of history, try to present nationalism as a bridge to the world. We have to remind them that it can barely provide a ferry to the Hebrides."

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Agreement signed by Britain's prime minister Cameron and Alex Salmond of Scotland for a referendum by the end of 2014 on greater autonomy for Scotland or independence.

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Plans by the Scottish National Party to hold a referendum in 2014 on the issue of independence from Britain. Polls by ComRes, Ipsos Mori and YouGov have generally shown the range of support of 29-36%. A more recent poll in Oct 2011 by ComRes showed 49% of Scots support independence. The other option to independence is a greater transfer of powers from Britain to Scotland. The Cameron government wants such a referendum held earlier when the sentiment for independence is not as strong. The Scottish National party won a majority of seats in the Scottish parliament in the last elections.

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Gordon Brown outlines Scotland's shared interests with the rest of Britain at the time of a referendum on Scotland's independence. He describes Scotland's key role in the shipping industry and the industrialization of Britain, the period since the loss of the shipping industry, and the search for alternative sources of employment and development in a period of globalization. A key figure for Brown is the average income of people in Scotland, which is similar to that of its neighbors in England, showing that development has kept pace with the rest of Britain. For Brown it is these social and economic rights that underpin the union of different ethnic peoples and heritage of Irish, Scottish and English origins.

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Yousaf Humza comes from a family that immigrated from the Punjab state in Pakistan in the 1960's to Scotland. His grandfather worked at a Singer sewing machine factory in Clydesbank, and his father worked as an accountant. He studied for a Masters degree in Arts at Glasgow University and entered politics as a parliamentary assistant to Alex Salmond and Nicola Sturgeon during the early days of the SNP. He held several ministerial positions before becoming First Minister. He is a Sturgeon loyalist who defeated challenger Elizabeth Forbes 52% to 48% in a close election for leadership of the SNP party.  His election is seen as a transitional period in the same way as Rishi Sunak's winning the leadership of the Conservative party after Boris Johnson like Nicola Sturgeon lost support. This is because of divisions within the SNP and in the Conservative party, and the rising popularity of Labour during a cost of living crisis after the ravages of the pandemic had affected working families in many ways. Both are from Punjab province of the British and the two provinces of Punjab in independent India and Pakistan. In fact the election of Humza as SNP leader and First Minister, the defeat of Elizabeth Forbes, provides Labour with an opportunity to win as many as 20 seats in Scotland for Keir Starmer of Labour to make it to No. 10 Downing Street, according to reports in The Times. ...

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Mr Yousaf Humza, the newly elected head of the SNP party is from the progressive wing of the party, continuing the work of former first minister Nicola Sturgeon.He was elected by 50 votes to 48 for Forbes who represents the socially conservative pro-business part of the SNP. The attention is now focused on how he can help people in Scotland with the cost of living crisis and public services, as Scottish independence has dipped in popularity. Labour, Liberals and Conservatives had two thirds of the Socttish parliament till 2011. In the last election Labour had just one MP. Labour can now structure its appeal to Scottish voters around the cost of living crisis as parts of the SNP feel being in the opposition for a change is in the long term interests of the party. 

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Where does US president DJT get his "good genetics" for his health? It comes from his mother's side where for generations his grandparents and previous generations were fisherman on the shores of the northern British Isles islands. Specifically Tong, a village on the island of Lewis in Scotland. These were rugged coastlines where fisherman fought hard to make a living in the 19th century. His mother immigrated from Scotland to the US as a young girl seeking a better life. She later married a up and coming builder of homes in New York state.

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By winning the Glenrothes byelection by a large margin, Labor's candidate, a headmaster in the school Gordon Brown attended, and where Gordon Brown and his wife Sarah campaigned personally, showed that Gordon Brown is winning support from the UK public through his handling of the economic crisis in the UK. And also for his leadership to American and European governments that were faltering in the early period of the crisis in October 2008, till Brown took decisive action to recapitalize Scottish and other English banks, something the Americans and Europeans later followed. The Scottish candidate was in favor of independence for Scotland, and whether Scotland benefits by independence from England was put in doubt after two of Scotland's leading banks including the Royal Bank of Scotland were rescued by Gordon Brown's government.

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England lose to West Indies at Wankhede stadium in Mumbai in T20 World Cup 2026. England have to win over Italy and Scotland to stay in T20 final 8.

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Of the over 400 cases of rickets in Scotland most are in the Greater Glasgow area. Rickets is a disease of poverty and malnutrition.

Dr Chris Williams, joint chair of the Royal College of General Practitioners Scotland, says: “Generally preventable conditions such as these are indicative of Scotland having the lowest life expectancy in the UK, while other environmental factors such as a colder climate may contribute to these outcomes, as well.

“As a society, more needs to be done to protect individuals on low incomes from products that have low nutritional value or that are likely to lead to malnutrition if relied upon instead of healthier alternatives.”

Similar problems exist in parts of the US and other parts of Europe with a general decline in health, and rising cases of malnutrition or poor nutrition, bad choices, use of packaged food, in the population.

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Brexit and Scotland's referendum both have similar consequences economically for Britain and Scotland. This hurts both countries in unwinding relationships built over many years, unwinding 44 year membership for Britain, and 310 year union for Scotland. Britain exports to EU are 45% of total exports, and for Scotland the number is 63% for exports to the rest of the UK.  Scots benefit about 1200 British pounds more for average citizen than a average citizen of UK, and pay 400 pounds less to the government. Scotland would start with a 90% debt to GDP ratio if it takes a proportionate share of UK government debt from the beginning of independence. Fidler correctly points out the economic risks to Britain and Scotland which are being ignored or not fully taken into account by politicians.