Rarely for someone active in social media, I get little criticism, next to no abuse, but in the last few days, I’ve been getting comments suggesting that on this issue, I’ve lowered my standards in some way.
Yesterday, I posted this:
As the UK death rate climbed to 55 from 35 only yesterday, the MSM seems quiet. With only 1 death in Scotland so far, the [crude] UK mortality rate is 4.5 times higher per capita. Even more concerning, with the rate in Scotland 1 in 171, the UK mortality rate for those hospitalised has worsened from 1 in 39 yesterday to 1 in 28 today, 6 times worse.
https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/country/uk/
Some readers have misunderstood. I am not commenting on the level of cases or of deaths but the ratio or percentage. England’s larger population and closer proximity to the centre of the outbreak means, of course, that they will have more cases but that does not mean that they should have a higher percentage of those admitted to hospitals dying. If they do, then either the hospitals are less effective or they are a more vulnerable population on admission, with typically shorter life expectancies and higher levels of other conditions. Wait, that’s the Scots. They should have the higher death rate.
I know this is sensitive. I know that things can change but I think there are good reasons to collate and to share this information.
- If there are differences in the rate of survival of those treated in hospitals, then that is clearly news which the public has a right to know.
- If the MSM are not covering these facts, then this blog should.
- If the MSM have been enthusiastic in blaming the Scottish Government for the higher drug death rate in Scotland, then it is balanced to criticise the UK Government for other higher death rates. Why were so few concerned about reporting drug deaths comparatively?
- If the prime Minister has, for cheap political point-scoring, publicly implied that Scotland may suffer higher coronavirus death rates because of the supposed ‘issues with resilience’ in its public services, then it is only balanced to use whatever evidence emerges to respond to that. There was widespread debate about the drug death data including regular attempts to blame and to humiliate the Scottish Government for them.
- Given that these data are a crucial measure of a critical health outcome, real journalism should investigate possible causes of patterns in them, such as the outsourcing of cleaning in one area but not others, differing levels of privatisation, differing A%E performance, differing staffing levels, differing government strategies.
Talking-up Scotland 'Albatraz' 
With you all the way on that John .
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Hear! Hear!
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Please keep doing what you are doing.
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Your blog is such a powerful antidote to the awful negativity that is coming from other bloggers , particularly in the comments from followers . Without going too far down a conspiracy theory track, I suspect saboteurs have entered the game .You appear to be relatively clear of “plants” , no doubt you been editing them out . Keep well , we need your clear voice,
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Thanks, friends. Have only blocked 2. Mostly I get that I ‘was a rubbish academic at that pretendy wee uni’ UWS.
Failed student?
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I would say so 😂
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In know way have you lowered your standards,if some comments are saying you have it just shows you have hit the nail on the head about the MSM.
As a way the Scotsman do front page caption PM tells………..and the other Sturgeon says………… all to often we see this sort of thing from MSM.
Keep up the good work you are doing.
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I’m a life long supporter of Independence & also a consultant hospital doctor. Your observations may be accurate but on the front line I don’t feel comfortable with this. It’s going to get messy south & north of the border & right now my colleagues in the English NHS are just that : my colleagues whom I support. I would not politicise this, but record the data & publish when the dust has settled, that will be the time to discuss possible variations within the different health services.
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Your colleagues could never be the target. The politicians are, for outsourcing cleaning, for the hostile environment?
When the dust has settled, it is then often brushed under a carpet?
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John, you ignored my observations completely.
This is not an issue which should be politicised.
Record & publish the data when it’s complete.
I suspect there will be marginal, if any differences.
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Of course we support the NHS staff in England. My daughter lives and works in England and, last year had major surgery. She and I are fulsome in our praise for the staff in hospital and in GP surgeries who treated her. They are suffering because of POLITICAL decisions made at Westminster, and it is the outcomes of these that are being criticised. The ‘league tables’ mentality has been used for nearly 25 years as an instrument of control over public services staff, with the selection of decontextualised data to criticise aspects of public services and, via their hyenas in the media this becomes an attack on health service trade unions and on individual departments of particular hospitals or Health Boards.
As someone who worked in public service for 40 years, I know the benefits of collecting data and analysing it rigorously as a means of identifying good practices (which is what most of the data actually show), of identifying places where outcomes are not as good as expected or by comparison to similar institutions. This is not intended to be to blame and identify the culprits, but to investigate further to see what factors might have brought about lower outcomes. In a few cases, it will be due to failures by individuals or teams, but, this should not be generalised to ALL staff or hospitals, which is what some media hyenas do – “Is it the tip of an iceberg???????”
I hope you can reassure your colleagues in England that we are not attacking them and that we are supportive of their efforts in what appear to be more trying conditions than those we appear to have in Scotland. Sadly, in Wales and Northern Ireland, things seem to be even worse.
All the best, David.
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But but but , that’s not what your colleagues and others south of the border do ?
They are happy regularly to participate in Scotland bashing in full knowledge of what they agree doing
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Come on, Terence! That is a ridiculous and unsubstantiatable assertion. I suspect you are a troll seeking to sew discord.
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Without wishing to detract from the gist of your argument, it is spurious to suggest that geography plays a significant part here. The difference in distance between mid Scotland and mid England from the source of the pandemic is marginal at best- unless you are implying that the centre is, say Heathrow Airport, as the location where the virus entered the UK. The higher incidence in England is more likely due to the greater number of people carrying the infection who have arrived there from outside the UK – be that from Asia or continental Europe. This in itself may reflect higher per capita income in England allowing more people to enjoy a ski-ing holiday in the Alps / northern Italy where they became infected and resulting in them acting as vectors for the disease.
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Facts are chiels that winna ding.
Although I would caution that things can change rapidly. I hope the UK government’s economic response to this crisis will change VERY rapidly! New Zealand has just announced a response package which is 4% of GDP.
As far as I can see, that’s almost 3 times bigger than the initial Rishi Sunak response!
That wee lassie in charge of NZ seems to be doing a good job.
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Is this about class? Can the underclass druggies be talked about without offence but the middle-class returning from winter breaks in Italy can not? Is one group guilty and the other not?
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You can rest assured that if the statistics suggested the opposite, that Scotland had higher proportions of fatalities, then the MSM would be all over it like a rash.
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As they were with the drug deaths.
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It must be good for you to know that they are watching , reading , so if you get angry responses like this take it as a sign that the other side are not as composed as they like to make out they are, they are often nasty and uncaring about how they portray Scotland and they tell lies knowingly, as you often point out, this is a propaganda war
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