In August, the chief executive of Glasgow Airport said:  ‘We are seeing more job losses than we saw in the demise of the coal industry in the 1980s.’ Those words resonated strongly with me. All four of my great grandfathers and one of my grandfathers were coalminers. The current circumstances do seem dire. From the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) in May 2020[1]: In 1980 global international arrivals were 277 million but by 2019 they had reached 1.5 billion, nearly four times greater. The SARS outbreak in 2003 reduced the level of arrivals by only 0.4% and the financial crash in … Continue reading Is Covid-19 changing Scottish tourism more than any other event in history?

As Police Scotland and relatives begin action against care home owners HC-One, a not-very-academic attempts to revive the dis-proven ‘discharges theory.’ Headlining in the Herald today: CARE homes were treated as if they were hospitals and the pandemic heightened prejudice against “poorly paid but knowledgeable” staff who should not be blamed for death rates and system failures, an elderly care expert has said. Professor June Andrews, who is a Fellow of the Royal College of Nursing, said there should have been greater government consultation with the care sector before key decisions were made such as the transfer of elderly patients … Continue reading Is this the last attempt to blame SNP Government for care home deaths?

For months, the Tusker has been rebutting media reports attempting to lay the blame for the care home deaths at the door of the SNP administration and, in particular, the Health Secretary. Regular readers will have seen the same unsupported rumours of PPE shortages, of inadequate testing and of hospital discharges, supposedly causing the deaths and calling on the Health Secretary to resign. The ‘pile-on‘ has been led by the Scottish opposition parties and their loyalist media in Scotland and even by the UK media fooled by Ian Murray into making the same accusations. The Tusker has responded to more … Continue reading Police Scotland and relatives see past the attempts to blame the Scottish Government

You see the word NEWS at the top there? Why, yesterday, did BBC Scotland offer us this retrospective summary of deaths associated with coronavirus, going back to 12th March, with dramatic graphs and misleading headings like: Why is the total number of deaths higher than Scottish government figures? Why do they not offer us this current news with comparative data to help us understand the Scottish data and to answer these questions? Such as these: How dangerous is travel to and from N W England with less than twice the population but with nearly 5 times the infection level? Why … Continue reading Reporting Past Scotland

Feeder Brian McGowan: From NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde: Over 400 health research trials have restarted and 51 new ones commenced by the health board as part of its recovery plan. NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde has between 9,000 and 10,000 patients participating in research studies each year. 140 of the projects are related to cancer research, led by the Beatson West of Scotland Cancer Centre (BWoSCC). This includes the BWoSCC being the first site in the UK for a trial of a new cervical cancer drug, tiragolumab. This drug works by stimulating the body’s immune system to fight against … Continue reading Over 400 health research trials restart

From stewartb: I suspect no-one, anywhere in Scotland has anything but sympathy and concern for Care Home residents, their families and also for Care Home staff at the front line. However, the way the BBC is covering the complaints of the ‘campaign group’ Care Home Relatives Scotland is rightly being challenged here. What follows is based on reading the BBC News online Scotland page. (https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-54174558 ) “They (this group) say restrictions introduced in the wake of the pandemic are damaging.” Candidly this is such a fatuous statement that any professional journalist repeating this needs to take a good close look at … Continue reading Two sharks jumped!

40 of Care Home Relatives Scotland‘s 360 Facebook members gather to protest about their lack of access to care homes, to visit relatives. Headlined all day today by BBC Scotland, these ‘campaigners‘ represent a tiny percentage of those affected. There around 35 000 residents in care home in Scotland: Click to access 2018-09-11-CHCensus-Report.pdf Those 40, at most, protesting above, represent 0.1% of the number of residents. However, if we take into account all of those related to or friends of those 35 000, they may be as little at 0.01%. Given that so few relatives and friends of the 35 000 … Continue reading Reporting Scotland’s cruel deception

Again, in today’s briefing a ‘Scottish’ reporter is clearly more aware of the UK minister’s statements about England than he is about what is happening where he is based. Tim Backshall asks: ITV News reported concerns within the UK Government that if the 6 person rule doesn’t start to make a difference in the next two weeks then tougher restrictions may be needed. Is that your assessment here in Scotland? So, is Tim following the Scottish media, the Scottish Government’s announcements? Like so many, he seems to think like a foreign correspondent who can only see Scotland in the mirror … Continue reading Tim ‘nice’ but dim?

From a young BBC Scotland reporter, in the coronavirus briefing today: Matt Hancock has said that he’ll ration testing in England. Given that you’re responsible for deciding who gets tested in Scotland’s allocation how do you prioritise that. For example. is it routine testing for care home staff or is it symptomatic people in hot-spots in the community? So, getting the idea for a question from the UK minister and what happens in England, is becoming all-too-common, as we’ll see with subsequent questions. This tells you something, something disappointing, in the focus of a reporter based in Scotland. Are they … Continue reading Do your homework! You’re in Scotland!

Headlining six times between 6am and 9am, on BBC Scotland inserts in ‘Breakfast‘, no doubt on Good Morning Scotland (can’t bear to listen – Clydebuilt?) and, to come, three times on Reporting Scotland: Families are to lobby MSPs about improving “cruel” care home visiting arrangements. The Care Home Relatives Scotland group wants more access for relatives in care homes to improve the quality of life for residents. They say restrictions introduced in the wake of the pandemic are damaging. Care Home Relatives Scotland does not really exist in any formal sense. It has no website. It has a Facebook presence … Continue reading Call for ethical reporting on care homes