Researcher: Douglas, the report says repeatedly ‘We are not making recommendations about Scotland.’ Fraser: They won’t read the report and if they do, so what? From BBC Scotland yesterday: Private care homes are getting some of the heat for the spread of coronavirus and high numbers of residents’ deaths. That has led to claims they should be in public hands, and that they are raking off excess profits. There are examples of that. But the wider problem seems to have more to do with under-funding than profiteering. Indeed, private care homes in Britain are struggling with unsustainably low levels of … Continue reading Douglas Fraser sneakily applies England-only recommendations to Scotland and sides with the private care home owners

By rosie andrew: Sunday Times readers have been spared a few weeks of Michael Glackin’s monotonous attacks on the Scottish Government but he’s back to-day with his usual partisan comments on Scotland’s “declining economy” forgetting that the UK economy shrunk by a record 5.8% in March alone. Prior to Boris Johnson trashing the country, the Scottish economy was predicted to grow by 0.8% GVA in 2020 before picking up to 1.4% in 2021 https://www.ey.com/en_uk/growth/ey-scottish-item-club-winter-forecast-2020 Unlike other oil producing countries, Scotland doesn’t have the powers to diversify by making massive investments in alternatives such as hydrogen fuel cells https://fuelcellsworks.com/news/norway-unveils-its-hydrogen-strategy/. And we all remember … Continue reading Michael Glackin’s monotonous attacks on the Scottish Government

In the Herald today: The leader of the Scottish Conservatives has called for a rescue plan for high streets hit by the coronavirus pandemic. Jackson Carlaw said the Scottish Government should take “radical” action to ensure the future of shops and high streets, which were already struggling before Covid-19 However, Carlaw’s call for a left-of-centre party, like the SNP, to save businesses was met with shocked responses from his followers. One was heard to call out: No, Jackson you were a big entrepreneur yourself, lead us! It’s true, he was. See this in the Herald on 10th October 2003: A COLLAPSED company … Continue reading Jackson Carlaw offers consultancy service to Scotland’s High Street stores if they’ll help him sell 22 paintings

By sam: Speaking of “mistakes” by government. https://www.independentsage.org/test-trace-missing-75-of-cases/ “The Independent SAGE welcomes the government’s decision to release the first figures from its Test & Trace system but it is extremely concerned that it is picking up contacts from only 25% of estimated symptomatic infections. The government’s own SAGE committee says that 80% of the contacts of all symptomatic cases must be found and isolated in order to stop the virus spreading further. According to the committee’s calculations, the government’s Test and Trace picked up only one quarter of cases in its week, well below what is required to manage the … Continue reading Not so ‘world-beating’: England’s Test and Trace system ‘missing 75% of cases’

By sam: The research, as it makes clear, has not yet been peer reviewed.These are the conclusions it makes. https://virological.org/t/preliminary-analysis-of-sars-cov-2-importation-establishment-of-uk-transmission-lineages/507 “The key conclusions of our analysis are as follows: The UK epidemic comprises a very large number of importations due to inbound international travel2. We detect 1356 independently-introduced transmission lineages, however, we expect this number to be an under-estimate. The speed of detection of UK transmission lineages via genome sequencing has increased through time. Many UK transmission lineages now appear to be very rare or extinct, as they have not been detected by genome sequencing for >4 weeks. The rate … Continue reading The Conservative Government’s failure to control airport arrivals caused 100% of Scotland’s covid-19 deaths

In the Aberdeen Evening Express, this morning (?), we read: Mistakes were made by the Scottish Government from the start of the coronavirus outbreak, the leader of the Scottish Tories has said. Jackson Carlaw’s comments come in the same week as a report from academics at Glasgow, Edinburgh and St Andrews universities suggests that “a lack of robust measures” to stop travellers from other countries entering Scotland may have “accelerated the course of the outbreak”. Those of you already wide awake when you read this will have spotted at least two things. First, Carlaw is correct in that the Scottish … Continue reading SHOCK: Jackson Carlaw ‘correct!’

This drawn to my attention by Brenda Steele. Maurice Smith, editor of the supposed pro-Independence Newsnet.scot, wrote in The New European, on the 12th, to regurgitate the same theory we’ve seen from Sarah Smith, Macwhirter, Maclelland, the FT, the Guardian and others, that the Scottish Government’s superior handling of the Covid-19 crisis is a con job. The story opens with: The Scottish first minister is considered to have had a ‘good crisis’ yet is facing many of the same criticisms as Boris Johnson. She is, but only from opposition politicians and media sympathisers. Experts like professors Sridhar and Bauld and … Continue reading Why is Newsnet.scot editor peddling discredited anti-Sturgeon stories

Deficient understanding, lack of communication, ‘excluded’ and an ‘afterthought’ By stewartb: The Institute for Government is “the leading think tank working to make government more effective”. It has a board consisting of 11 members: two lords, two baronesses, five knights and two other members without ‘gongs’ (yet) but who play senior roles in the civil service. It is a think tank that may be politically neutral but it is tightly wedded to the British Establishment. This makes the conclusions in its recent report on the workings of Westminster government during the Brexit process all the more revealing and notable. Source: Jack … Continue reading New revelations – Westminster’s attitude to devolution laid bare

Last night on BBC 1 Sarah Smith joined the campaign to suggest that all is not well under the alleged veneer of the Scottish Government’s competence. Studiously ignoring the facts: Deaths three times higher in England in last week: https://talkingupscotlandtwo.com/2020/06/11/calls-for-border-controls-as-the-r-number-falls-again-in-scotland-but-potentially-infected-hordes-are-crossing-from-worst-infected-areas/ Infection rate 42% higher in England: https://talkingupscotlandtwo.com/2020/06/11/calls-for-border-controls-as-the-r-number-falls-again-in-scotland-but-potentially-infected-hordes-are-crossing-from-worst-infected-areas/ Care home deaths 30% higher in England: https://talkingupscotlandtwo.com/2020/06/13/good-morning-scotland-still-lets-alister-jack-lie-bare-faced-to-its-shrinking-audience-about-care-home-deaths-being-double-in-scotland/ R number lower in Scotland than all parts of England: https://talkingupscotlandtwo.com/2020/06/11/calls-for-border-controls-as-the-r-number-falls-again-in-scotland-but-potentially-infected-hordes-are-crossing-from-worst-infected-areas/ Smith manages to find some care home owners to report anxiety about lack of staff testing. In this campaign based on testing, Smith and those feeding her such as Carlaw are deliberately ignoring the … Continue reading With their Nike scare story now debunked BBC Scotland push the Tory care home testing myth

After three full polls from YouGov and Opinium with the SNP support at 54%, this smaller (103) Ipsos MORI sub-poll, for 5th to 10th June, gives them 58% with both Labour and Cons at 19%. Support for the the performance of the PM, at 27% in Scotland, is just over half that of other parts and for Keir Starmer at 38%, is still the lowest by 10%. https://www.ipsos.com/ipsos-mori/en-uk/starmer-achieves-best-satisfaction-ratings-leader-opposition-blair Continue reading New sub-poll puts SNP at 58%