Three months ago, angered by Lord Offord of Reform’s claim that he had ‘bounced up to him’ seeking to collaborate against the SNP, Anas had some harsh words for Lord Offord.

Did he know then that Lord Offord’s wee brother would be inviting him to speak at a a do on dentistry? How will that go?

A surprise inclusion in the website of Vermilion, a private dental company owned by Dr David Offord, who I think, both born in Greenock. might be the brother of Baron Malcolm Offord of Garvel (and Reform UK).

Vermilion hold a symposium every two years at which Anas Sarwar is a principal speaker.

As with the medical side of the NHS, Sarwar has for many years been pushing the idea of a two-tier dental system. https://www.sdmag.co.uk/2025/12/08/must-it-be-this-way/

Is there a two-tier system?

In the Guardian 16 March 2026:

Almost a third of people in England now use private dentistry, with a sharp rise in the number of poorer households forced to pay for fillings and extractions. The scarcity of NHS care means the proportion of people turning to private dental services jumped from 22% in 2023 to 32% late last year, the health service’s patient watchdog found. https://www.theguardian.com/society/2026/mar/09/nhs-dental-crisis-private-dentist-patient-incease-england

We’re hearing nothing even vaguely similar from the media in Scotland and you can be sure they’d love it if they could.

Here’s why:

Nearly twice as many Scots have access to an NHS dentist as those in England

The above table from Public Health Scotland today, reveals a very high level of access to free NHS dental treatment in Scotland – 90% of children and 97% of adults with 100% access for some age groups.

Source: https://www.publichealthscotland.scot/publications/nhs-dental-data-monitoring-report/nhs-dental-data-monitoring-report-quarter-ending-september-2025/

When I searched for equivalent data for England, what I found shocked me. From the ONS in September 2024:

Overall, 52.1% of adults reported having an NHS dentist, 34.2% have a private dentist, 13.5% did not have a dentist and 0.2% used a dental hospital.

Females were more likely (54.1%) than males (50.0%) to have an NHS dentist, while males were more likely (16.0%) than females (11.1%) to not have a dentist.

Those aged between 16 and 24 years were significantly more likely to have an NHS dentist (70.9%), compared with all other age groups; meanwhile those aged between 25 and 44 years were significantly more likely to not have a dentist compared with all other age groups. https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/healthandsocialcare/healthcaresystem/bulletins/experiencesofnhshealthcareservicesinengland/september2025#dental-care

Imagine this was the other way round? BBC Scotland would have us sick to the back etc….