Scotland has one of shortest gynaecology waiting lists but gets BBC Scotland’s bad news while Northern Ireland with more than twice as many waiting doesn’t seem to need to know that

By Professor John Robertson OBA

BBC Scotland’s and BBC Northern Ireland’s main pages above – spot the difference?

Should Northern Ireland be told this? Maybe fewer women there are being left in pain?

See this from the BBC Health report:

Wow?

BBC England is not covering the story. BBC Wales is, as they should, but why is BBC Scotland’s news editor choosing it, given the above graph?

Is this just more of the thinking behind yesterday’s rape fake news?

See:

Today, the BBC Scotland News Editor (James Cook) chooses to include 2 rape reports in the 7 top stories. BBC England, Wales and Northern Ireland have none.

Will that just be because there were none to report?

There were 67 928 reported rape offences in England and Wales last year.1

There were 294 reported rapes and attempted rapes (rape offences) in Scotland, in the same year.2

There were, thus, 231 times (67 928 / 294) as many rape offences in England in Wales and even per head of population, rape offences were (231/11) 21 times as many.

The BBC in England has many such offences to choose to report but they do not. BBC Scotland struggles to find such reports but does.

Why does this matter?

Research shows that voters who are anxious about the world they live in, vote for parties who seem to stand for earlier, more stable, but imaginary of course, times and who oppose radical change.3 Scottish independence is unavoidably a bold, radical move.

BBC Scotland’s fear agenda does pay off and they work at it daily. See:

New Research finds BBC Scotland is twice as likely to politicise negative reporting, to platform opposition voices and to ‘accuse’ the devolved government.

Feeling bad living in Scotland? No wonder.

Sources:

  1. https://www.statista.com/statistics/283100/recorded-rape-offences-in-england-and-wales/#:~:text=Rape%20offences%20have%20increased%20dramatically,to%2067%2C928%20in%202023%2F24.
  2. https://www.gov.scot/publications/recorded-crime-scotland-2023-24/pages/6/
  3. https://wellbeing.hmc.ox.ac.uk/news/voters-feelings-matter-large-scale-study-highlights-predictive-power-of-negative-emotions-on-election-results/

Support Scots Independent, Scotland’s oldest pro-independence newspaper and host of the OBA (Oliver Brown Award) at: https://scotsindependent.scot/FWShop/shop/

The Oliver Brown Award for advancing the cause of Scotland’s self respect, previously awarded to Dr Philippa Whitford, Alex Salmond and Sean Connery: https://scotsindependent.scot/?page_id=116

About Oliver Brown, the first Scottish National Party candidate to save his deposit in a Parliamentary election: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oliver_Brown_(Scottish_activis

6 thoughts on “Scotland has one of shortest gynaecology waiting lists but gets BBC Scotland’s bad news while Northern Ireland with more than twice as many waiting doesn’t seem to need to know that”

      1. Oh ok, I was using the fb tab on the page but if I copy the message without the header it seems to be going through. I was accused of spreading spam! You couldn’t make it up!

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      2. Oh ok, I was using the fb tab on the page but if I copy the message without the header it seems to be going through. I was accused of spreading spam! You couldn’t make it up!

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  2. O/T From the Wales section of the BBC News website today (November 18): ‘Number of homeless people in Wales at record high’.

    The report has this: ‘Homelessness is at a record level in Wales and the number using temporary accommodation, such as B&Bs, has risen by 18% to 6,447 in 2023-24’ and ‘Homelessness is currently at the highest level since 2015 – 13,539 households in 2023-24, up 8% in a year.’ (my emphasis)

    And Newport ‘has the highest homeless rate in the country – it has risen by more than 50% over the past year to a record 1,359 households. In September 2024, 594 households lived in temporary accommodation at a cost of £6.5m to the city’s council, up £1.4m on the previous year.’

    ‘Steffan Evans from The Bevan Foundation said the percentage of social homes as the total of the housing stock had almost halved in 40 years.’

    How are such things even conceivable in a nation where the British Labour Party has for so long been governing in Cardiff? Perhaps British Labour Party politicians in Holyrood seeking our votes in 2026 should explain!

    There is NO pleasure in commenting on such record figures. And there is NO intention here to talk down Wales. The point of posting this will become apparent from what follows.

    The Scotland section of the BBC News website had this headline on August 29, 2023: ‘Child homelessness in Scotland hits new record high’.

    The article includes this: ‘Scottish Labour’s Mark Griffin said the Holyrood and Westminster governments “should hang their heads in shame at the scale of this crisis”.’ He added: “Tory economic chaos and SNP inaction means Scotland’s homelessness crisis has spiralled out of control – and it is our most vulnerable who are paying the price.’

    By the way, it’s notable that the BBC Wales article contains nothing from opposition politicians in the Senedd. The contrasts in how the BBC in Scotland and Wales go about their journalism just keep on being demonstrated.

    However, of even greater significance looking forward to Scotland’s electoral options in 2026, the hypocrisy of British Labour Party politicians in their dealings with Scotland seems to know no bounds. The reality is that a Labour government in Cardiff – with only devolved powers – has, unsurprisingly, been unable to counter the negative impacts on Wales of Westminster government – after all, “all roads lead to Westminster” (Wes Streeting MP)!

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  3. The Royal College report referred to in the main blog post has some notable content.

    Firstly, it reveals ONCE AGAIN that having the British Labour Party governing in Cardiff with devolved powers has been no more able – when it comes to the performance of the NHS – to counter the harms of Westminster than the administrations in Edinburgh or Belfast. Indeed the Royal College report reveals that whilst the waiting times performance of NHS Scotland is unsatisfactory, it is substantially better than that of NHS Wales.

    Also from the Royal College’s report, in addition to setting out many ‘demands’ for change from ALL governments across the UK, we also have this (with my emphasis):

    ‘The root causes of the crisis in gynaecology care are undoubtedly a combination of both NHS-wide long term issues and specific challenges experienced by gynaecology as a specialty. Funding, including the levels set across the UK, the short-termism of recent decisions and the lack of sufficient funding for NHS workforce and core infrastructure like estates, is at the heart of capacity issues. However, the continued lack of prioritisation of women’s health by Government – and gynaecology by extension – explains why gynaecology is so challenged as a speciality.’

    ‘Fundamentally, long term funding must be committed to ensure systemic issues are finally addressed. We are asking to UK Government to:

    Increase the levels of funding allocated to health across the UK, including increased funding in devolved nations. Because… we know waiting times have worsened across the UK and Barnett consequentials may not be sufficient to deliver what is needed to recover care in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

    ‘We think… whilst health is devolved, the Treasury must consider whether the level of funding given for health is adequate or sustainable to support healthy communities and economic growth.’

      So more recognition that ‘all roads lead to Westminster’ for NI, Scotland and Wales whilst within this Union. Meanwhile Unionist politicians in Scotland aided by their mainstream media allies ignore the evidence and repeatedly give voters here a different message – it’s all down to government in Edinburgh. The British Labour Party in the run up to elections for Holyrood in 2026 will hope voters never ask the question – ‘what’s been happening in Wales under Labour?’

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