On June 2, the Tusker began to rebut the unfounded claims that the care home deaths were the result of the discharge of hospital patients into those homes. We did not have several research studies, then, identifying the true cause, just the single case of the Skye care home and the evidence from a large Public Health England study. The outbreaks in care homes were due to temporary care workers. We also, of course, could point to the lack of a single research study suggesting the discharges had been responsible. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/may/18/agency-staff-were-spreading-covid-19-between-care-homes-phe-found-in-april Since then, we have rebutted the same accusations from … Continue reading How many more times son? It was not the hospital discharges.

I’m trying not to think of Kirsty Wark’s upsides, any sides really. The exclusive interview with Raheem will of course appeal to the many Scots whose only experience of watching international football these days, even on Scottish Television, is of the England Games. Dad, Jamie at school says there’s a Scotland team. He’s wrong isn’t he. I’ve never seen one on the teevee. Best of all in the Sunday Times Scotland, front page, a report entirely about NHS England but presented as being about ‘The NHS.’ On the Over80s denied intensive care, this is based on a documented triage system … Continue reading Sunday Times Scotland headlines English health care scandal

Apologies for the mixed metaphors but I’m not to blame. In the Herald today: JOHN Swinney has been accused of allowing the exams fiasco to “fester for days” after newly-released correspondence revealed he was inundated with a dossier of criticism from parents and pupils before eventually signaling a U-turn. The Education Secretary faced calls to quit after thousands of pupils saw their teacher estimated marks downgraded through moderation from the SQA – before a change of heart led to the original grades being allowed to stand. This all comes from a Scottish Conservatives Freedom of Information request. I cannot find it to … Continue reading Swinney ‘Inundated’ by ‘Blitz’ of at least three emails!

Guy Stenhouse, I know ‘who?’ writes in the Herald today to argue that the independence question should be different next time, even though the UK Government and the Electoral Commission approved the last one after changing what the SNP Government wanted from: Do you agree that Scotland be an independent country? to Should Scotland be an independent country? Stenhouse argues that the first version was biased and that the second was a gift to the Yes campaign. Then he tries to argue, I think, that the possibility of responding with the ‘powerful’ word ‘Yes’ was an attempt to ‘manipulate‘ voters. … Continue reading Sources matter and we need to know whY this guy is

In the Herald today: A £29m contract to maintain and service a large chunk of Scottish Government-owned lifeline ferries has been awarded to an English shipbuilder over a Scots company that has been supporting vessels on the Clyde for over 100 years. Concerns have been raised over how the deal to maintain and service six Scottish Government owned lifeline ferries was given to Merseyside shipbuilder Cammell Laird over Aberdeen-headquartered Dales Marine who have operations in the Garvel Dry Dock in Greenock. Last time I looked we were still part of the United Kingdom. Even if we were independent wouldn’t CalMac … Continue reading OUTRAGE as Herald headlines Anti-English views

Children are being sexually exploited in almost all parts of Scotland, according to the first national study of the problem. First thing in the morning and then with a further 20 or so doses throughout the day, across BBC Scotland, TV and Radio, plus who knows how many other mentions elsewhere, this is what Scotland is today according to an editorial choice in Pacific Quay. The researchers found: Cases have been identified in all but five of Scotland’s local authorities. There are so many questions to ask of the state broadcaster here. The headline is sort of geographically accurate, as … Continue reading Scotland: Too wee, too poor and with too many paedophiles too!

Little useful analysis from the BBC Scotland report: Earlier, the UK’s national statistician said there was “no question” that the UK was experiencing a second wave of coronavirus cases. Professor Sir Ian Diamond, from the Office for National Statistics (ONS), told the BBC’s Andrew Marr show: “I think there is no question we are in a second wave. We are seeing infections rise very quickly.” He said that in England about one in 130 people had the virus, with estimates for Scotland and Wales being “a little lower” and in Northern Ireland “a little higher. Even if we were to get … Continue reading BBC Scotland uses England’s top statistician to inform us inadequately on trends here

BBC Scotland has been super-spreading this story: The Bishop of Paisley has called for a 24-hour “circuit breaker” to be put in place on Christmas Day, amid warnings of a “digital Christmas”. In the Sunday Times, John Keenan compared the idea to the Christmas Day truce during World War One. Before I could get my act together, regular Tuskerer stewartb spotted the flaw in the Bishop’s thinking: Just heard about the cleric from Paisley who is arguing that the Scottish Government should remove Covid-19 restrictions for Christmas Day. This headlined BBC Scotland’s TV news tonight. To support his argument, he … Continue reading Hear the one about the Bishop and the Super-spreader?

The Tusker’s rise and fall has puzzled me and a few of its readers. I have a Calvinist disposition to blame myself now for the fall, after having also quietly condemned myself too, for the sin of pride in the surge to May. A friend has drawn my attention to an explanation which I have shied away from for fear of being accused of paranoia: Even my blog [Craig Murray] has never been so systematically subject to shadowbanning from Twitter and Facebook as now. Normally about 50% of my blog readers arrive from Twitter and 40% from Facebook. During the … Continue reading Has the Tusker been shadowbanned?

In Holyrood, last Friday, Monica Lennon (Central Scotland) (Scottish Labour) asked the Scottish Government what its response is to reported concerns by the Royal College of Emergency Medicine that lack of capacity in hospitals will lead to A&E delays and ambulance queues. Click to access WA20201023.pdf The RCEM study does not offer a ‘regional’ breakdown and is based on a sample of only 89 senior clinicians, representing up to 110 Emergency Departments. https://www.rcem.ac.uk/RCEM/News/News_2020/RCEM_outlines_actions_to_tackle_crowding_in_A_Es_.aspx We’ve seen Royal College surveys before with tiny or zero Scottish samples then picked up by opposition politicians or Scottish media to use as evidence of problems … Continue reading Labour MSP attacks NHS Scotland with English research findings