Reporting Scotland’s grudging report on the Scottish Government’s clear promise to have a judge-led independent review into all aspects of the pandemic, months ahead of the UK Government, allows an ambulance-chasing, disreputable solicitor representing a small group of families to cast doubt on the Scottish Government’s attitude to the families.
We are told:
A prominent (sic) solicitor in Scotland acting on behalf of members of what is know as the Covid Bereaved Families for Justice Group (how many?) has welcomed the inquiry but says it must be an independent panel and leave no stone unturned. He also said families must be at the heart of the inquiry process of the inquiry if it is to be effective and meaningful.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/live/bbcone
On May 12th 2021, the FM said:
It is vital this inquiry covers all aspects of the impact and handling of the pandemic, and that bereaved families of Covid-19 victims have a say in shaping its scope.
https://prod.news.stv.tv/politics/sturgeon-bereaved-families-must-have-say-in-covid-inquiry?top
As for the ‘prominent’ solicitor, he certainly has been. On August 2nd, I wrote this:
According to the Times today:
A lawyer representing the families of people who died in care homes has demanded a separate Scottish public inquiry into what he called the “state killing” of thousands of elderly residents during the pandemic. Peter Watson, solicitor advocate at PBW Law in Glasgow, said that the Scottish government must atone for mistakes it has itself acknowledged. Watson will give a lecture called “State Killing” at Nova Southeastern University, in Florida, about the government errors that contributed to more than 3,000 care home deaths, a third of all the deaths in Scotland.
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/call-for-covid-inquiry-into-state-killing-in-scottish-care-homes-xx0kn2zsr
Watson was suspended from the judiciary in 2015 after his former law firm – Levy & McRae, was one of several companies being sued by Heather Capital’s liquidator, Ernst & Young, after the hedge fund’s collapse in 2010. Watson was a director of a company called Mathon Ltd – a key part of the Heather empire. The collapsed hedge fund Heather Capital – run by lawyer Gregory King is now the subject of a Police Scotland investigation and reports to the Crown Office. You can read more at:
https://petercherbi.blogspot.com/2015/03/capital-judge-as-top-judge-suspends.html
Watson was also legal advisor in 2018 to former Scottish Conservative Party vice chairman Richard Cook when BBC Northern Ireland Spotlight investigation linked him to the so-called ‘Dark Money’ Brexit scandal.
I offer the above as background to Watson’s current project to make a killing from court cases brought against the Scottish Government for alleged responsibility for unnecessary care home deaths during the pandemic.
Regular readers, like me, will wonder why he is not planning to pursue the care home owners, on the basis of the clear evidence that many failed to implement proper infection control within places for which they had responsibility to do so. All of the Care Inspectorate reports are freely available on line and a paralegal’s bairn can find the sections mentioning these failures.
The frankly bizarre and disgusting suggestion of ‘state killings’ will take even less time to disprove. While the Health Secretary’s puzzling admission that mistakes were made with regard to hospital discharges, has clearly caused some not-too-bright lawyers to drool, the evidence that these discharges caused no outbreaks and thus no deaths, perhaps even reducing deaths after improved infection control in care homes receiving discharged residents, is numerous and uncontested.
The evidence of a greater number of deaths in the larger, crowded care homes reliant on agency staff travelling from site to site, is also easy to locate.
I’ve done it too many times to count. Just search the blog for ‘care home deaths‘ and you’ll see it.
As for the status of Nova Southeastern University in Florida, try Googling ‘Nova Southeastern University Florida scandal’
Lots to read.
Talking-up Scotland 
What is really very sinister here is that this very dodgy sounding ‘solicitor’ is being given a rather prominent voice at the BBC and STV.
As we all know, ‘state killings’ could hardly be more despicable a term to use in this context, in Scotland, about the Scottish government.
‘State killings’ means murder by the state, deliberate, calculated oppression and murder of their own people. To compare, actually worse, to liken that dreadful crime by terrible regimes around the globe, to the ScotGovs’ handing of Covid re care homes, just makes me sick to my stomach. Some less well informed people will believe this accusation as having some grounding, and really, perhaps Nicola Sturgeon should in fact start court action or something, because it’s a serious accusation to make about her or any of her ministers in the Scottish government.
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The ‘Times’ as well, I have an older friend who reads that nasty rag. He will believe this utterly disgusting accusation being touted, just sickening.
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Och it’s the BBC mantra isn’t it, if it’s SNP negative it goes in..
The stupid aspect of this compo-chaser is he can’t possibly win without proving culpability of SG with a clear chain of evidence.
I’m convinced this is as Kilgour before, an attempt to smear by inference, as in ‘state killings’, but consider who the “state” actually are.
Which leads to your own “While the Health Secretary’s puzzling admission that mistakes were made…” comment –
The template for the emergency procedures over Covid was set in statute by Westminster – I suspect few would now consider the specific instruction over tested/untested patients being decanted as other than fundamentally flawed, but hindsight is wonderful.
I do not recall any such honesty exampled by the then UK Health Secretary Horny Hancock, but there again they never met.
Weird prompt – Think Herbie Hancock, Possibilities, may be up next….
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I now call to the dock
SS Grupen Fueher
The right honorable gentleman
Boris Johnson
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I would not have instigated an inquiry unless, there was the legal right to call witnesses–that these witnesses would be under oath, and a guarantee of full disclosure of relevant documents from all sources, north and south.
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The lawyers take the most of any settlement.
The Post Office scandal. The lawyers received most of the damages settlement. People were put in prison when they had not committed any crime. It destroyed and ruined people’s lives.
Covid victims should sue the Chinese and US government. Responsible for releasing the virus.
The Scottish Gov has done a good job of keeping the virus down. If people followed the clear rules and guidelines,
The Westminster Gov is responsible for pandemic training and policies. They were unprepared and negligent. More concerned with getting Brexit done to destroy the economy.
The unionist lawyers should sue the UK Gov. Instead. Illegal dark money connections. The UK Gov getting sued endlessly for fraud and illegal behaviour embezzling public monies. Breaking International and killing people.
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The evening news has just sat on this story.
Don’t want to embarrass Boris, do we?
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On Channel 4 News this was reported factually without any of Mr Jenkins’ customary innuendo regarding the SG. He emphasised that this decision put pressure on the PM and the FMs of NI and Wales to do likewise.
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