John Swinney 'from age of Taggart rather than Department Q', claims Labour minister
John Swinney is "from the age of Taggart" rather than Department Q, a Scotland Office minister has said.
Kirsty McNeill made the jibe about the two Scottish crime dramas in the House of Commons on Wednesday morning.
Taggart ran from 1983 to 2010, while Department Q came out earlier this year.
It comes after Labour Health Secretary Wes Streeting branded the First Minister an "analogue politican" in a row over Scotland's NHS app.
The comment was mentioned by Labour's Kenneth Stevenson during Scotland Office Questions.
The Airdrie and Shotts MP said: "It's refreshing to have a UK Government to committed to investing in and developing AI, in comparison to John Swinney and the Scottish Government, stuck in an analogue age, unable to even provide patients and staff with a functioning NHS app."
assessment.
"I'm afraid the First Minister is from the age of Taggart, when what's upon us is the age of Department Q."
There was little reaction from MPs in the chamber.
Scottish ITV series Taggart was known as one of the UK's longest running shows.
The hit programme, which had a total of 27 seasons, followed a group of detectives as they solved crimes around Glasgow.
The show became well-know for lead actor Mark McManus' catchphrase, "There's been a murder.
Edinburgh-based Department Q was released on Netflix at the end of May this year.
It has several Scottish stars including Chloe Pirrie, Kelly Macdonald, Shirley Henderson, Mark Bonnar and Jamie Sives.
The programme follows detective Carl Morck, who sets up a cold case unit following a shooting incident in which he was badly wounded.
Streeting blasted Swinney after it was announced England's NHS app it is expanding before Scotland has even managed to get its version off the ground.
The UK Government announced proposals to improve England and Wales' NHS app last week - saying it would give patients a "doctor in your pocket".
Scotland's version will only go on a limited trial earlier this year, with a full rollout not expected for till 2030.
England's app came out six years ago and the plans will be implemented by 2028.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Evening Standard
26 minutes ago
- Evening Standard
Ministers urged to explain plans which could re-establish Hong Kong extraditions
In a post on social media, she added: 'I urge the Government to give urgent reassurances on how this system will be safely managed and what protections will be put in place to ensure no Hong Konger, CCP critic or anyone targeted by the CCP will be extradited under the new arrangement.'
Spectator
26 minutes ago
- Spectator
Labour must confront the uncomfortable causes of immigration protests
That sound you hear is the penny finally dropping in Downing Street. Having spent the year since the horrific post-Southport riots blaming unrest over migration and asylum solely on misinformation and far-right groups, Labour appears to be realising the rot runs much deeper. Government officials, reports the Times, have warned the cabinet that Britain is 'fraying at the edges', after more protests outside of asylum hotels in Epping, Diss and now Canary Wharf (of all places). Angela Rayner is said to have told colleagues that immigration was having a 'profound impact on society', insisting the government needed to acknowledge 'real concerns' about rapid social change, twinned with a decaying economy. Indeed, the way Tory and now Labour governments have up to now dealt with the asylum issue would only make sense if it were designed to generate social conflict. The brunt of the small-boats crisis has been borne by some of the most poverty-stricken communities in the UK, purely because the hotel rooms there are cheaper and the glare of the London-based media is miles away. Then, locals' fears about the violent and sexual crimes committed by some of the men who have arrived illegally and unvetted are ignored, up until the point they spark a protest. Or worse. We've seen this time and time again. In Knowsley, in Merseyside, in February 2023; in Epping, now. A migrant is accused, or indeed charged, of sex crimes, leading to a protest, which then descends into mindless violence. In the case of Epping, the Ethiopian asylum seeker – whose arrest triggered last week's protests outside the Bell Hotel – was charged with three counts of sexual assault, one count of inciting a girl to engage in sexual activity and one count of harassment without violence. He'd racked up these offences after just eight days in the country. The protests in Epping – a leafy, prosperous Essex market town, populated by the old East End working-class-done-good – show this is clearly not just about poverty, either. There is now a deep sense of unease bubbling across society, about an asylum and migration system that has become an affront to common sense and a menace to public safety. And those who haven't imbibed the metropolitan multiculturalist script, which insists we all ignore the evidence of our own eyes, are now increasingly emboldened to voice their opposition. For a year, the government has refused to walk and chew gum at the same time on this issue. There is, of course, nothing that justifies the violence and racism we saw after Southport, or following otherwise peaceful protests since. Those on the right who cannot summon the minerals to condemn this bigotry, even when masked men are trying to push a flaming wheelie bin towards a Holiday Inn which has migrants inside, are engaging in their own form of moral cowardice. But only condemning this racism, or painting it all as some concerted 'far right' insurgency, as the government has, is clearly not enough, either. Whatever else you might say about them, the peaceful protests outside of that hotel in Epping are clearly not mini BNP rallies. Even the mainstream media have begun to concede this, with Sky News noting that Sunday's big demonstration was made up of 'families sat on the grass, multigenerations of them, kids playing in the sunshine'. 'Residents are simply angry about events that have unfolded here in recent weeks.' In voxpops from the demos and the town, residents seem ever-keen to insist they are not 'far right' and condemn the troublemakers who have also, inevitably, shown up looking to clash with police, attack hotel staff and abuse migrants in the street. By ignoring legitimate public anger, and the catastrophic policy failures that have produced it, the government has only created more space for those who want to leap on the asylum issue for their own despicable ends. The Labour government now has a choice. It can double down on decades of failed orthodoxies, while mumbling something about 'reasonable concerns', or it can rip them up those orthodoxies for the good of the country. Locking up rioters and condemning the uglier side of this unrest is the easy bit. Now is the time to end the mix of uncontrolled illegal immigration, govenment-compelled multiculturalism and official neglect of communities that has brought us to this precipice. Tough on riots, tough on the causes of riots.
The Independent
26 minutes ago
- The Independent
Jeremy Corbyn ‘getting 500 people a minute' wanting to join his new political party
Jeremy Corbyn said he is 'getting 500 people a minute' wanting to join his new political party. The former Labour leader launched a new outfit with Zarah Sultana that does not yet have a name, on Thursday (24 July), calling for a 'mass redistribution of wealth and power'. Asked what the new name of his party would be, Mr Corbyn said: 'We're going to decide when we've had all the responses, and so far the response rate has been massive. 'They've been coming in at 500 a minute wanting to support and join the new party.' He also said that he and Coventry South MP Ms Sultana are 'working very well together'.
