Devolved First Ministers offer expert advice on tackling poverty to UK Ministers but BBC Scotland won’t be telling you about that when they have a 32 year-old murder and Andy’s buses for you
Published earlier today but as yet nowhere to be seen on BBC Scotland – Joint letter from the Scottish and Welsh Governments calling on the UK Government to scrap “punitive” welfare policies, adopt plans to cut energy bills, and to further devolve powers to help drive continued progress in tackling poverty, posted in full here: To: The Rt Hon Pat McFadden MPSecretary of State for Work and Pensions To: The Rt Hon Lucy Powell MPSecretary of State for Education 20 October 2026 Dear Pat and Lucy, We are writing jointly to congratulate you on your appointment and to restate our … Continue reading Devolved First Ministers offer expert advice on tackling poverty to UK Ministers but BBC Scotland won’t be telling you about that when they have a 32 year-old murder and Andy’s buses for you
English Media say maternity care there is in a doom loop (no ”) but no matter how ‘our’ media try Scotland is not having England’s maternity crisis – It’s just a review
In the Guardian today, the above with notably no speech marks around ‘doom loop’, and: The NHS Alliance has announced that up to 20 of the country’s 155 smaller, consultant-led maternity units, mostly in rural or coastal areas, might have to close, since their safety is in question. The problem – which will seem very pressing and obvious to anyone about to give birth, yet quite abstract and manageable to anyone who isn’t – is that those areas aren’t teeming with alternatives. There are women in Devon whose maternity hospital has been temporarily closed, whose next nearest hospital is 53 … Continue reading English Media say maternity care there is in a doom loop (no ”) but no matter how ‘our’ media try Scotland is not having England’s maternity crisis – It’s just a review
Sepsis – STV today failed to tell us how an SNP Health Secretary made sure hospital-acquired sepsis levels would fall way below the level under Labour and that in England
From STV News, Calum Loudon, yesterday, the above and: NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde has been ordered to apologise to a patient after they developed sepsis and required surgery to remove their spleen following treatment for a kidney infection. The Scottish Public Services Ombudsman (SPSO) found failings in the follow-up treatment provided to the patient, who was readmitted to hospital around five weeks after being discharged. The patient, referred to as C in the report, had initially been admitted to hospital for treatment for a renal abscess, a collection of pus caused by an infection in the kidney. They complained … Continue reading Sepsis – STV today failed to tell us how an SNP Health Secretary made sure hospital-acquired sepsis levels would fall way below the level under Labour and that in England
Preparing for today’s lies about Covid deaths in care homes in Scotland 5 and FINAL – 3 700, 9% more Covid deaths per head in England’s care homes
The above today caught my eye because I feel sure the various authorities in England and, of course, the Conservatives. we using a smaller number before. Given their long history of fiddling A&E and drug deaths data, let’s, nevertheless let them have the above. I’ll be quick. What was the equivalent figure for Scotland. Here’s the worst one: Care Inspectorate: 3,774 notifications of COVID-related deaths of care home residents from 16 March 2020 to 31 March 2021. Nearly all (3,761) were in homes for older people. This includes residents who died in hospital or elsewhere, and short-stay residents. https://covid19.public-inquiry.uk/documents/inq000507855-report-from-care-inspectorate-titled-covid-19-related-deaths-in-care-homes-2020-21-care-homes-for-adults-and-older-people-in-scotland-dated-26-05-2021/ So … Continue reading Preparing for today’s lies about Covid deaths in care homes in Scotland 5 and FINAL – 3 700, 9% more Covid deaths per head in England’s care homes
Preparing for today’s lies about Covid deaths in care homes in Scotland 4 – How and why Scotland had fewer Covid deaths than England – short video
Evidence here: https://talkingupscotlandtwo.com/2026/02/16/as-covid-inquiry-reconvenes-today-a-reminder-of-how-fm-nicola-sturgeon-and-the-scottish-government-kept-excess-mortality-here-at-one-third-lower-than-the-uk-average-saving-thousands-despite-the-d/ Continue reading Preparing for today’s lies about Covid deaths in care homes in Scotland 4 – How and why Scotland had fewer Covid deaths than England – short video
Preparing for today’s lies about Covid deaths in care homes in Scotland 3 – Why Scotland’s higher PERCENTAGE of care home deaths was entirely expected because we had fewer deaths OVERALL
All the necessary data to explain the above is deep in the bowels of the 14 000 or so Talking-up Scotland archives. I could have dug it all up and posted an answer later today but then I thought, what do I keep Grok AI (I imagine a Raven-like familiar) for? I asked him: Compare the percentage of Covid deaths which were in care homes in England and Scotland from March 2020 to February 2022? He did and then I asked: Is this an entirely expected and not negative outcome given that England had overall a much….. before hitting <RETURN> … Continue reading Preparing for today’s lies about Covid deaths in care homes in Scotland 3 – Why Scotland’s higher PERCENTAGE of care home deaths was entirely expected because we had fewer deaths OVERALL
Preparing for today’s lies about Covid deaths in care homes in Scotland 2 – In the murderous first phase of the pandemic, they were 21% lower than in England & Wales
In the Guardian 19th July 2020, six months after Boris Johnson’s incompetence and callousness allowed the virus free access t the UK and just over three months since the SNP Government got devolved authority for the pandemic tactics, here is what happened to care home residents. In a piece broadly sympathetic to the First Minister and Scotland’s Covid strategy, the Guardian writers seemed to feel the need for ‘balance’ and to use anything they can find even if it’s wrong. Truth, fairness and accuracy are what readers need. You wouldn’t expect to have balance on a piece about the health … Continue reading Preparing for today’s lies about Covid deaths in care homes in Scotland 2 – In the murderous first phase of the pandemic, they were 21% lower than in England & Wales
Preparing for today’s lies about Covid deaths in care homes in Scotland 1 – How Jeanne Freeman saved thousands of lives
In BBC Scotland’s retrospective comment on Jeanne Freeman’s time as Health Secretary, they write: Freeman stood beside Sturgeon in press conferences throughout the next year. There would be praise for their calm stewardship and she was there at the start of the vaccine roll-out. But the decision to discharge elderly hospital patients to care homes during the first few weeks of the pandemic without a requirement for a negative test was one which hung over Freeman for the rest of her time in politics and beyond. The worst mortality rates were later seen within care homes as the virus spread … Continue reading Preparing for today’s lies about Covid deaths in care homes in Scotland 1 – How Jeanne Freeman saved thousands of lives
Burns had no connection to the slave trade and wrote the most powerful words against it
The Times titillates with a headline today designed to cast doubt on the basis for Scots’ love for Robert Burns. There is nothing there. In short, direct or indirect economic benefit from Caribbean slavery was widespread among the artistic, collecting, and intellectual classes of the period. Burns’ case—an abandoned plan in period of despair with no material outcome is nothing of substance by comparison with the documented ownership, inheritance, investment, and patronage links of figures such as Beckford, Turner, Raeburn, and Reynolds. Many of us will look back with sadness, perhaps shame, at episodes in our lives or of those … Continue reading Burns had no connection to the slave trade and wrote the most powerful words against it
Why does the Royal College of Emergency Medicine avoid comparisons with Scotland when they reveal England to be the ‘Capital of Deadly Long Waits?’
In the Herald today: More than 30,000 NHS waits are still longer than a year despite a Scottish Government pledge to eradicate them by March. Last year, First Minister John Swinney set a target of March 2026 for no patient to wait longer than a year for their treatment. Important I’m sure but: Why A&E should take priority if resources force a choice Mortality evidence is clearer and more immediate for A&E delays. Excess deaths in the low tens of thousands annually are estimated from long emergency waits; equivalent quantified mortality impact is not shown for the current scale of … Continue reading Why does the Royal College of Emergency Medicine avoid comparisons with Scotland when they reveal England to be the ‘Capital of Deadly Long Waits?’
