Douglas Chapman’s tweet, above, has drawn cringing resentment from Willie Rennie and Miles Briggs. They accuse him of dubious analysis, being tasteless and gloating.
I’d forgotten about the pair of them. They’ve been keeping a low profile. Rennie, of course, has been hiding away until the furore over his refusal to condemn the paedophile apologism of his old leader, David Steel, dies down. Briggs, sensibly, doesn’t want people thinking he might be connected in any way to his boss, Matt Hancock.
As for their attack on Chapman, what are the facts and what is it legitimate to say about them?
As in many reports here, Chapman’s purpose is clearly to attack the record of those Tory and Coalition governments responsible for wounding NHS England and not the poor souls now battling to cope with that legacy.
The coronavirus-related deaths in England are at least twice the level of those in Scotland. Once the English figures include all of those where it is mentioned on the death certificate, as well as just those from hospitals, the difference seems likely to be even greater.
Rennie describes this as tasteless. Does he really think we don’t know what he’d be saying if it was the other way round? If the death rate in Scotland was twice that of England, it would all over the Scottish media, there’d be shouted accusations in Holyrood and Rennie would be using it as evidence against independence at every opportunity and he’d get plenty of those.
Has Rennie forgotten the voting record of Lib Dem MPs in supporting austerity bills including the one to deny nurses a decent pay rise? Is it tasteless to remind folk of that now?
Rennie says the analysis is ‘dubious’ but we don’t hear any explanation as to why that might be. Does he think the death rates are not accurate? Does he think the A&E performances are not markedly different? Does he not believe there are 50 coronavirus assessment centres, unique to Scotland, diverting suspected cases away from GPs? All of these claims are easily authenticated.
As for Briggs, why does he think it is gloating to talk-up NHS Scotland? As with Rennie, he’d be quick to condemn if it was the other way round. Remember the gloating of his English colleagues and supporters such as former BBC Scotland, now Times writer, John Boothman, when Scottish drug deaths were revealed to be much higher than those in England?
The Herald finishes with:
‘It is thought population density partly explains the higher death rate in England.’
Only their own health correspondent thinks this. Central Scotland has one of the highest population densities in Europe and it is in those same areas where the lower mortality is based.
Footnote: I know Douglas follows this blog so I feel sure he can, if needed, quickly access the data to support his claim. Also, as you might expect in a tweet, he didn’t have space to raise the possibility of higher staffing in Scottish hospitals and in-house cleaning services creating cleaner environments, further contributing to the lower death rate here.
Talking-up Scotland 'Albatraz' 
How many ways can we all forget about Wee Willie and Miles? I’m glad you’ve listed a few good reasons. I’m afraid if I think too much about Willie and Miles I may give them some claim to fame, but alas, there I must stop…
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Scotland does better when England is not involved.
The politicians in Labour Lib Dem and Tory spread the dirty work around so that it’s not the same one of them that always has to be in the limelight this time it’s Rennie and Briggs that have had the call from Westminster to stand up and defend the defenceless , if they don’t do as instructed by Westminster they lose their support and their seat, it doesn’t half make them look foolish .
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One of many possible reasons why there is a differencein covid19 fatality rates in Scotland and England may be the relative incidence of the disease being caught within the huspitals. Not from pigeons. This extract is from Richard North’s blog post this morning.
“At that early stage, not much was known in Western countries about the extraordinary infectivity of the SARS-Cov-2 virus, but it was not long before Chinese academics and physicians were writing about concerns which had arisen regarding hospital-acquired infections.
The strategy adopted by the Chinese authorities to avoid further problems was to build what were called shelter hospitals in open areas such as stadiums or exhibition centres. As of 5 February – two days before the publication of the JAMA report, 12,000 beds had been built, serving around 9,000 in-patients.
Of particular interest and relevance to the UK, the Chinese reported that, by 22 February, 3,019 healthcare personnel were reported to have been infected. Among them, 1,716 had confirmed infection and five had died of Covid-19. In Wuhan city alone, there 1,080 healthcare personnel were infected. However, at the shelter hospitals, with more than 5,000 healthcare personnel, none had been infected between 5 February and 30 March.”
The Scottish government might wish to pay particular attention to this, perhaps.
Mr North has also caught a piece in the Irish Times by its London correspondent, Denis Staunton.
http://eureferendum.com/
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Negative pressure is the go-to strategy for the US Army conversion of confined spaces as temporary field hospitals…
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I like your fluent angry style in this report. Perfectly captures my own simmering frustration with all of the Rennie/Briggs brigade.
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Thanks. I was a bit gggrrrrr
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You can be sure that if the %s were reversed, Rennie, Briggs and the rest would be shouting it from the rooftops, the media would be in furious heads must roll ranting position, it’s a a shite state of affairs Tommy.
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Yes, what they say cannot be considered ‘political’, whereas anyone presenting an opposing point of view is ‘shamelessly politicising a situation of national concern in which we should all be pulling together.’ “National”, of course means “BRITISH” not like that squalid Scottish stuff of ‘separatists’.
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There is a preposterous assertion among the Brit Nat politicos and Brit Nat media commentators (which really means them all), that Scotland should refrain from “politicking” during the pandemic—at the same time when EVERY comment Jack-a -Tory Carlot makes, is to reference how Scotland MUST do EXACTLY the same as England does. Even when there are good reasons not to. (but don’t mention PPE supplies).
I hear on this mornings Radio 4 news that England’s fishing communities are to be supported by £10 million in funding. Good for them.
Because it had happened already in Scotland and N Ireland, but was NOT reported by Radio 4 or any other UK-wide BBC platform. The Boris Broadcasting to Colonies Corp, at its southern best.
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Thanks
Must follow that one up.
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Scotland in not allowed to do well in Unionists eyes ! .
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