H. L. Mencken: ‘The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary.’
Permanent job placements in Scotland have risen for the first time in five months in a positive sign for the labour market. The figures in the latest RBS Report on Jobs for November also show Scotland is performing better than the rest of the UK. According to the report, the report’s Permanent Placements Index – which aims to track trends in the number of permanent jobs – rose from 46.3 in October to 50.8 in November.
I got this back-to-front having spotted McCardle’s fibs in the Herald and reported on it here, before I discovered that Alex Cole-Hamilton had asked a parliamentary question about it, a few days beforehand, to feed her the idea:
Alex Cole-Hamilton (Edinburgh Western) (Scottish Liberal Democrats): To ask the Scottish Government what action it is taking in response is to reports that doctors are retiring before reaching the state pension age because of overwork.
‘Patients should get appointments with GPs lasting at least 15 minutes rather than 10, according to the Royal College of GPs. In a report, it warns nearly 40% of GPs in Scotland feel overwhelmed by their workload at least once a week.’
Neither the report by the Royal College of General Practitioners. Fit for the future: a vision for general practice. May 2019. nor its compendium of evidence contain any such phrase. The word ‘overwhelmed’ does not appear at all and the word ‘workload’ is never associated with ‘Scotland’ or indeed with any figure but, in the BBC report (only), we see this:
‘RCGP Scotland chairwoman Dr Carey Lunan said: “Nearly 40% of GPs report that they feel so overwhelmed by their daily tasks that they feel they cannot cope at least once per week.’
The claim seems to be based entirely on an interview with Dr Lunan. We do not know whether she refers to the whole sample or to some Scottish sub-set available to her. Neither the report nor the compendium of evidence provides any raw data broken down into a Scottish sub-set. There is, of course, no methodology offered.
Perhaps there is another report, unspecified by the BBC or by Dr Lunan. I’d be happy to see and consider it, especially its methodology, but the RCGP only seem to have this one.
Scotland is mentioned in the report but only in positive sense. See these:
Page 8: In Scotland, 83% of people rate the overall care provided by their GP practice positively.
Two and a half years since Grenfell, it is a silent scandal how little has changed. The images of the cladding crackling and dripping from the Bolton student block is a shameful reminder that thousands of homes are still not safe. There have been eight significant residential fires since Grenfell. And today tens of thousands of people are still living in buildings wrapped in dangerous combustible materials. It’s on our homes, our hospitals, our care homes and our schools.
In a parliamentary question at Holyrood on Monday, David Stewart (Highlands and Islands) (Scottish Labour) asked the Scottish Government what plans it has to ban combustible materials on the outside of high-rise or high-risk buildings.
The answer was reassuring contrast to the lack of comparable action in England:
From 1 May 2005, Scottish building regulations have required cladding on domestic buildings with any storey over 18 metres to be non-combustible or to pass a large-scale fire test (BS 8414 and BR 135).
The Scottish Government have just completed a review of building regulations. Advice from the national and international panel of experts was that there was no need to change mandatory standard 2.7 that requires fire spread on the external walls of a building to be inhibited. Guidance that came into force on 1 October embraces a range of measures to improve fire safety which will make Scotland’s high-rise buildings even safer. These include:
• Further restricting the use of combustible materials on taller buildings, applying provisions that previously applied to buildings over 18 metres to all buildings over 11 metres to align with fire-fighting from the ground;
• Tighter controls over the combustibility of cladding systems on hospitals, residential care buildings, entertainment and assembly buildings regardless of building height;
• Introducing evacuation sound alerts, floor and dwelling indicator signs and two escape stairs in all new high-rise domestic buildings.
We have also made a commitment to introduce a mandatory requirement to install sprinkler systems in all new build flats, certain multi-occupancy dwellings and social housing from 2021.
We’ve been having a wee surge at factcheckSCOTLAND/TalkingUpScotland2 since last Friday, and as the election looms, but the audience for a smug little report today on Norovirus surging everywhere but in Scotland is swelling ominously toward 3 000 readers all by itself and none of us here get why.
I’ve told you Andrew, harassing me like this just increases SNP support.
Two sub-polls for the more reliable YouGov and Ipsos MORIon the same days giving 50% and 52%:
Ipsos MORI with 130 Scots adults on 2-4 December
Con 22%
Lab 12%
Lib 12%
SNP 50%
Green 0%
Brexit 2%
YouGov with 146 adult Scots on 2-3 December
Con 25%
Lab 11%
Lib 7%
SNP 52%
Green 2%
Brexit 0%
They’re just sub-polls with all the usual qualifications but two of them getting pretty similar results for all three big parties suggests something we can, perhaps, get a wee buzz from.
Only one week to go and the SNP are still strong in the polls despite the daily health scares on BBC Scotland. What can they do? FGM? No! Surely, they wouldn’t try to exaggerate that.
On Reporting Scotland last night, we heard an extended report into the dreadful phenomenon of FGM. The reporter told us that ‘medics in our cities’ had reported more than 200 cases in the last two years.
According to Police Scotland there were 28 cases in 2018. The official figures for 2019 are not yet released.
A Freedom of Information request to police Scotland revealed the above. If such crimes were occurring with similar frequency across the UK, as they are in Scotland, then the figures for the UK would be around 12 times greater They are not.
There were nearly 2 000 cases of FGM in England in just the first three months of 2019 suggesting a shocking 8 000 per year 286 times as many or 22 times as many per capita as in Scotland.
And, ‘medics in our cities?’ The BBC editorial guidelines tell them not to rely on single or unattributed sources. Their Royal Charter obliges them to inform. So, failed on both counts.
Based on a Scottish survey published in July 2019, we can see that while overall levels of satisfaction with the quality of the service offered by GPs did not differ significantly, it is in the ease of access that the Scottish system seems to be performing much better:
‘Patients should get appointments with GPs lasting at least 15 minutes rather than 10, according to the Royal College of GPs. In a report, it warns nearly 40% of GPs in Scotland feel overwhelmed by their workload at least once a week.’
Neither the report by the Royal College of General Practitioners. Fit for the future: a vision for general practice. May 2019. nor its compendium of evidence contain any such phrase. The word ‘overwhelmed’ does not appear at all and the word ‘workload’ is never associated with ‘Scotland’ or indeed with any figure but, in the BBC report (only), we see this:
‘RCGP Scotland chairwoman Dr Carey Lunan said: “Nearly 40% of GPs report that they feel so overwhelmed by their daily tasks that they feel they cannot cope at least once per week.’
The claim seems to be based entirely on an interview with Dr Lunan. We do not know whether she refers to the whole sample or to some Scottish sub-set available to her. Neither the report nor the compendium of evidence provides any raw data broken down into a Scottish sub-set. There is, of course, no methodology offered.
Perhaps there is another report, unspecified by the BBC or by Dr Lunan. I’d be happy to see and consider it, especially its methodology, but the RCGP only seem to have this one.
Scotland is mentioned in the report but only in positive sense. See these:
Page 8: In Scotland, 83% of people rate the overall care provided by their GP practice positively.
There are no negative comments regarding GPs and their workloads anywhere in the 60 pages of the Compendium of Evidence.
McArdle’s previous big fibs:
GP contractors
In the desperate struggle for readers and clicks, the Herald tries to make something negative out of nothing at all:
‘The latest workforce statistics show that more GPs than ever before are being paid a salary instead of earning their income as an independent contractor, in a sign of the strain facing the profession.’
From my lefty perspective on the NHs and other things, that looks like good news. We don’t want any more ‘independent contractors’ motivated by profit, do we?
2. Unsafe staffing pressures
On the 28th November, she told us that there were ‘unsafe’ staffing pressures on nurses, based only on a dodgy trade union survey, and despite Scotland having 50% more nurses than the UK figure:
In October she claimed that ‘half of older doctors were planning to quit’ yet only 167 out of 8 000 did in 2017-2018 and that was down from 185 the previous year:
Hospitals in England closed more than 1,100 beds in the past week because of the winter vomiting bug norovirus. Data shows higher than average levels of norovirus in November. One of the mostcommon stomach bugs in the UK, it can be spread very easily in the community.
In the 19th paragraph:
Wales and Northern Ireland have also seen an increase in vomiting and diarrhoea or flu-like illnesses over the last few weeks, particularly in schools and care homes.
In the 23rd and last paragraph:
‘In Scotland, there has been no increase in norovirus cases in hospitals so far this winter.’
First Minister, after 12 years in power, why have YOU not been able to leave mental patients languishing for months?
This extended BBC report at 6 and on the website had not a word of blame for Health Secretary Hancock nor for any politician at all yet in Scotland two days ago, ONLY the SNP are to be blamed and all of the opposition parties are to invited to blame them:
Scottish Liberal Democrat health spokesperson Alex Cole-Hamilton reiterated demands for increased investment and called for the Scottish Government to publish its overdue integrated workforce plan, setting out how it intends to meet the NHS’s staffing needs.
He said: “Just last week the government denied there was a mental health crisis. Today, the length of time children and young people are waiting for treatment is the worst on record. Performance has plummeted.
“The SNP government is failing a generation of young people and the consequences of their waiting up to two years for treatment are heart-breaking. Problems that start small are becoming crises as help arrives too late.”
The Scottish Greens called for an urgent review of CAHMS.
Alison Johnstone MSP said: “When young people in distress cannot access treatment when they need it, something has gone terribly wrong.
“The Scottish Government needs to review this situation urgently and ensure services are getting the support they need to meet demand, or Scotland’s young people will continue to suffer.”
Scottish Labour’s health spokesperson Monica Lennon MSP said: “These new figures reveal what we already know – on access to mental health services, the SNP are failing Scotland’s young people.
“It’s just not good enough that in 2019 thousands of young people have waited over four months to be seen by specialist mental health services, and hundreds have had to wait over a year.
“At a time when we know youth suicides have been increasing these figures should shame SNP ministers into action.”
Scottish Conservative mental health spokeswoman Annie Wells said: “This is yet another appalling failure from an SNP government that’s been distracted by issues elsewhere.
“Ensuring our young people have access to thorough and prompt mental health treatment should be a priority for this nationalist government.
“Instead, it spends all its time grandstanding and trying to break up the UK.”
Hi John – Newsnet.Scotland carrying some useful associated info today – Good to see such a respected business figure in the fishing industry cut through all the britnat media spin and come out to publicly back SNP policy (and that the P+J carry the story). Also useful info re. quadrupling of sales value of nephrops catch over a 4 year period. Link and snippets below:
William Tait snr of Fraserburgh-based Klondyke Fishing Company called on fishermen to now back the SNP at the general election on 12th December according to a report in the Press & Journal.
In 2013 the combined value of North Sea and West Coast Nephrops landings amounted to £18,185,000. In 2017 combined landings had risen to £72,393,000. Within just 4 years the value of Scottish Nephrops landed quadrupled in value.
The market for Nephrops is Europe, and small fishermen rely on this market to earn a living. Any interruption in getting their product to market will have devastating consequences, on top of which, UK fishing businesses outside the Single Market will be required to provide paperwork and veterinary certificates for every catch sold at market or bought by one of the main processors.
H. L. Mencken: ‘The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary.’
H. L. Mencken: ‘The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary.’
H. L. Mencken: ‘The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary.’
H. L. Mencken: ‘The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary.’
