First thing, headlined, by BBC Scotland today:
A record number of people have died in Scottish prisons in the past three years, despite promises from ministers to tackle the issue. A report seen by the BBC says more than 120 people died between January 2020 and September this year, including 29 by suicide.
Note the usual adding up to get a big number for a headline.
Prof Sarah Armstrong of Glasgow University then goes on to tell us:
And when you have such a high rate of death in prison, a higher suicide rate, a higher drug death rate than in English prisons, real questions are raised about the quality of that care.
I don’t know how accurate the claim is but what matters from my point of view is why BBC Scotland were so keen to headline a comparison with England when they have been so reluctant to compare Scotland’s better NHS waiting times, our better ambulance response times, better IVF access, less dangerous hospitals, lower Covid death rate, lower Covid death rate in care homes, better treatment of farmers, more trusted government, better flood defences, lower poverty levels, greater tree-planting, higher food production, far more affordable housing, most nurses and beds, lower crime rate, lower homicide rate…..lower Avian flu……?
Ah but the higher drug death rate!
For the moment.
Evidence of BBC hypocrisy on this was revealed recently when BBC Scotland’s Drivetime host, John Beattie shouted at Scotland’s top vet ‘SHEILA, SHEILA, SHEILA that’s whataboutery (sic)!’
Talking-up Scotland 
It sometimes feels unbearable doesn’t it? I feel heart sorry for anyone working in Scottish public services and the Scottish government ministers when nothing good is ever reported, just a constant stream of negativity. Yes there is always room for improvement but the zeal to present the Scottish government as failing, the bad news headlines and repetition are very wearing. I don’t want to block any source as I do think it is important to hear what other folk are saying but it’s a close thing some days
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Whitabootery ?
BBC Misreporting Scotland broadcasts more negative stories than any other country/region of the UK .
It has fought valiantly to maintain this No 1 position , even in the face of using statistics which some may see as ”dodgy” in the extreme and by quoting individuals who have a distant acquaintance with The Truth !
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Dear John
Do you think it would it be possible to draw up a table or graph, maybe at the end of 2022, which shows at a glance the latest comparable figures at that date for the various indicators you have mentioned above, plus perhaps something on education, for Scotland, England, Wales, and Northern Ireland? Quite a big job, I know, and really something which Scottish Government should do, but failing them I think you are best placed to do it since you have done so much work on this already and no doubt have a lot of the data to hand. An ‘omnibus’ table like this, if properly publicised, could have even greater impact than the individual blogs you so nobly continue to write. Just a thought!
Best wishes, John
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“Interesting” change in approach from BBC Scotland. More evidence that their approach seems to vary according to what suits their argument. A few things come to mind, why the focus on those particular years, which obviously include the pandemic? What are the actual figures including how did they calculate the prison population over that period? From doing a bit of digging on my lunch break it looks like about 1,000 prisoners died in English/Welsh jails during the same period. Using the data on current prison population the death rate is slightly higher in Scotland at 1.64% vs 1.24% (NB that is a bit of a back of the fag packet calculation so treat with caution) but I’m not clear how that has changed over time in Scotland.
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They gave the numbers for suicide deaths.
Did they by any chance give the numbers for Covid deaths?
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Two more recent clips to give you on BBC bias. On the last Q’ time discussing State Benefits who better to turn to than firstly the Scots guy on the panel and this evening on the main UK BBC news an item on a ‘UK report’ warning of a personal debt ticking time bomb so again who better than to get their experience lets turn to a Scottish family. All very subtle but clearly intentional to give the impression that most Scots are subsidy junkies and are suffering more at the hands of an uncaring Scottish Gov.
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