Glasgow’s ‘Super-hospital’ is safer than the average in Scotland much safer than many in England and has been so for many years – this is a BBC ‘Witch hunt’
the entire Queen Elisabeth University Hospital campus in Glasgow should be risk assessed. Who is this safety expert? for the Scottish Hospitals Inquiry and says it’s incredibly difficult to say whther the hospital is safe or unsafe for all patients. Only yesterday, we had confirmation in the form of official mortality statistics that the QEUH is safer than average in Scotland and far safer than several hospitals in England. See: Looking back over the years to the period of the Inquiry, here are the facts confirming the safety and rejecting Poplett’s attention seeking: In August 2025, BBC Scotland returned with … Continue reading Glasgow’s ‘Super-hospital’ is safer than the average in Scotland much safer than many in England and has been so for many years – this is a BBC ‘Witch hunt’
All CalMac routes in full service by Friday but will that be reported?
From STV today, the above and: CalMac has revealed a timeline for all major vessel routes to return to service after a number of ferries required repairs. MV Hebrides is due to return to service on the Little Minch on Wednesday afternoon following work to address a leak on her bow visor seal, which came at the end of her planned annual overhaul. By the end of this week, CalMac expects all major vessel routes to have planned levels of service. https://news.stv.tv/scotland/calmac-reveals-timeline-for-all-major-vessels-to-return-to-service-following-challenging-few-weeks It’s what they’ve been screaming for this last three years but will they tell anyone? BBC Scotland currently … Continue reading All CalMac routes in full service by Friday but will that be reported?
Canadian state with twice Scotland’s GDP builds fewer than half the number of new ferries for its lifeline island services
From CBC News yesterday, the above graphic and ‘Highway on the Sea’: How decisions made about B.C. Ferries decades ago led to problems today – After building 12 major vessels in its first 21 years of operation, B.C. Ferries has only managed to build five major vessels that managed to consistently work in the 45 years since — resulting in stagnating capacity as older ships have retired. https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/bc-ferries-deep-dive-2026-9.7193809 Despite having roughly twice the GDP of Scotland, British Columbia (Canada) has built only 3 ferries in the last 20 years, compared to10 built for CalMac. ‘We don’t live in Canada‘ some … Continue reading Canadian state with twice Scotland’s GDP builds fewer than half the number of new ferries for its lifeline island services
‘Botched Bass Strait [Tasmania] ferries’ overspend budget is greater than for Glen Sannox & Glen Rosa hybrid ferries but media coverage is the opposite
Above, the sharply contrasting MSM media coverage of two very similar ferry projects. From The Advocate, yesterday: A bungled delivery of two Bass Strait ferries, in which the vessels were finished before a berth was ready, has cost $717 [£360m] million more than an original business case. And the overall cost to taxpayers will be even higher, with bailout money and the price tag for ongoing temporary berths not included in the figure. https://www.theadvocate.com.au/story/9245119/botched-bass-strait-ferries-717-million-over-budget/ How do the two projects compare? Once you normalize the accounting treatment, the Tasmania and Scottish ferry disasters become much closer than the headline numbers initially … Continue reading ‘Botched Bass Strait [Tasmania] ferries’ overspend budget is greater than for Glen Sannox & Glen Rosa hybrid ferries but media coverage is the opposite
Glasgow professor and poet watches BBC Scotland News ‘to see how the enemy is working’
From a BBC Scotland interview with Prof Alan Riach (above) on the 10th November 2025, the text: Listen at: Alan Riach (b.1957) Poet and Professor of Scottish Literature, Glasgow University. BornAirdrie, Lanarkshire, studied at the Universities of Cambridge and Glasgow, worked at theUniversity of Waikato, New Zealand, 1986-2000, returned to Scotland 2001. Books includepoetry: The Winter Book (2017), Homecoming (2009), Wild Blue: Selected Poems (2014),The MacDiarmid Memorandum (2023); criticism: Representing Scotland (2005), HughMacDiarmid’s Epic Poetry (1991), and co-authored with Alexander Moffat, Arts ofResistance: Poets, Portraits and Landscapes of Modern Scotland (2008), described in theTLS as ‘a landmark book’. His 734-page … Continue reading Glasgow professor and poet watches BBC Scotland News ‘to see how the enemy is working’
No hospital postcode lottery in Scotland as Glasgow’s giant is revealed as one of safest in Scotland and far safer than several of NHS England’s really troubled hospitals
From Hospital Standardised Mortality Ratios January 2025 to December 2025 published today, the above chart and: No hospitals had a significantly higher standardised mortality ratio than the national average. HSMR acts as a signal, highlighting hospitals where mortality is higher or lower than predicted. This prompts hospitals to review their care processes, check for possible issues and identify areas for improvement. In Scotland, the national HSMR is set at 1.00. A hospital with an HSMR less than one has fewer deaths observed than predicted within 30 days of admission, whereas an HSMR greater than one indicates more observed deaths than … Continue reading No hospital postcode lottery in Scotland as Glasgow’s giant is revealed as one of safest in Scotland and far safer than several of NHS England’s really troubled hospitals
Frigate fiasco as Royal Navy has only five (33%) functioning frigates
Thanks to Legerwood for alerting me to this. In the Telegraph yesterday: In 35 years at sea, HMS Iron Duke only ever fired her guns in anger a handful of times. She did so to hit a gun battery during the war against Colonel Gaddafi in Libya in 2011, and before that while seizing drugs in the Caribbean in 2009. For a Type 23 frigate, designed in the 1980s to take on the might of the Soviet navy, it was small-scale stuff. But at a time when the Cold War seemed long over, it was a reminder that a well-resourced … Continue reading Frigate fiasco as Royal Navy has only five (33%) functioning frigates
Ad Hominem Attacks
By TuS friend and helper, Frances McKie, from a letter to the Times she does not expect to see published: From football to politics, most of us eventually learn that targeting the opponent- instead of the goal- is foul play. It is also the mark of fear, desperation and- most importantly- losers. Scotland has been witnessing such behaviour since September 19th 2014 when, apparently, according to her loyal servant, David Cameron, Queen Elizabeth the First of the UK “purred” with relief that Westminster’s grip on what is more or less the ” last colony” was still- just- intact. However, in … Continue reading Ad Hominem Attacks
Former Labour MP who allegedly threatened to give a woman ‘a doing’ to advise Malcolm Offord
By Liz S I read this yesterday. The former Labour MP, Ian Davidson, who lost his seat in 2015 to the SNP, has now taken up a role as adviser to Malcolm Offord following the Scottish elections. Davidson was selected in 2017 and also in 2019 to be the Labour candidate but failed to win yet again. So what possible political advice could Davidson provide to Offord ? Well in October 2011 the BBC reported that: “An SNP MP has withdrawn from a Commons committee over allegations that she was threatened by its Labour chairman” (Ian Davidson). “Dr Eilidh Whiteford, the MP for … Continue reading Former Labour MP who allegedly threatened to give a woman ‘a doing’ to advise Malcolm Offord
Talking-up Scotland 