Though at first sight Scotland comes in second, to Greater London, in this EY Attractiveness Survey of Foreign Direct Investment, 2019, the two are almost equal per capita. The population of Greater London is around 1.6 times greater than Scotland, the number of jobs created in Greater London works out at 1.7 times greater so, as near as damn, the level of job creation is about the same per capita and given the unfair advantages London derives from being the capital, Scotland wins! Origins of FDI projects in Scotland: the US retains its lead … In 2019 the US remained … Continue reading Scotland leads UK on foreign investment jobs

In the wake of evidence of higher death rates among BAME staff in England, this has been published by the RCN today: The latest RCN member-wide survey shows that for nursing staff working in high-risk environments (including intensive and critical care units), only 43% of respondents from a BAME background said they had enough eye and face protection equipment. This is in stark contrast to 66% of white British nursing staff. There were also disparities in access to fluid-repellent gowns and in cases of nursing staff being asked to re-use single-use PPE items. The survey found similar gaps for those … Continue reading No evidence for BAME nursing staff experiencing greater PPE shortages in Scotland

Why in England are ministers able to call for inquiries into health trusts’ handling of crises but in Scotland opposition leaders are platformed calling for inquiries into the ‘SNP’ government’s handling of performance into boards or private providers which they are not directly responsible for? Regardless of how this has come about, the effect is propaganda. In Scotland: In the midst of fabricated stories of the FM needing to be being pressurised into holding an inquiry, by the likes of Leonard and Carlaw, Scotland’s media persist in their unique habit of picturing her and her health secretary as the images … Continue reading Only in Scotland: Why is this the face of a scandal of deaths in a private care home which fails inspection?

It looks like this is meant to attract readers who want to be informed on how these ‘alarming’ results might affect how ‘we’ go about exiting lock-down. You get an early indication, however, of where ‘we’ are going with this report: Given that the UK’s death rate from Covid currently ranks third highest in the world behind Belgium and Spain (555 deaths per million compared to 574 per million in Spain and 815 per million in Belgium), it is hardly a success story. Hmmm..is the death rate in Scotland just the same, so not really that important to mention, in a Scottish … Continue reading Why does the Herald’s health correspondent have no Scottish data or even a ‘decent’ Scottish photo to inform ‘us’

From Ipsos MORI, yesterday, based on a poll 1 000 16+ respondents, 66% of Scots want another independence referendum within 5 years. This compares with the Panelbase poll in March which had 49% saying there should not be another referendum in the ‘next few years.’ Continue reading Increase in support for second independence referendum

If there was to be a General Election in the United Kingdom in the near future, when it is safe for an election to be held, for which party would you vote?   With support across the UK holding up at 43%, in this poll by Redfield & Wilton on 27th May, with a Scottish sample of 135: Con: 16% Lab: 22% LD: 12% SNP: 47% Green: 1% This seems to confirm the damaging effects of Cummingsgate or Barnard Castle Portcullis, on Tory support in the last few days. This was apparent in the Survation poll giving the Tories less … Continue reading Third poll confirms collapse in Scottish Tory support and strong preference for A N Other as PM

This gives evidence of what MAY be a lead indicator of an emerging ‘problem’ for England’s management of the pandemic. It follows this posted earlier by the TuSC: Source: https://talkingupscotlandtwo.com/2020/05/27/did-the-ve-day-celebrations-cause-excess-deaths-in-england-to-climb-again/ The latest (last updated on week 21, 2020) EuroMOMO graphs of Z-scores i.e. its standardised international measure of ‘excess mortality’ used by among others Public Health England as a surveillance tool, is revealing. Source: https://www.euromomo.eu/graphs-and-maps/ The EuroMOMO graph indicates that the downward trend of England’s level of ‘excess deaths’ has stalled in the latest weekly assessment. This was from what was England’s exceptional, its ‘extreme’ (EuroMOMO’s description) high in European … Continue reading Thanks to the UK Government, the downward trend of England’s level of ‘excess deaths’ may have stalled

New cases of coronavirus in care homes have now fallen dramatically to a daily average of 65, from 89 in the previous week and 109 in the week before that: 20th to 26th May average: 65 13th to 18th average: 89 6th to 12th average: 109 https://www.gov.scot/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-trends-in-daily-data/ Continue reading Dramatic slowing in spread of coronavirus in care homes

The Editor takes full responsibility for the headline. By stewartb: ‘ROLL UP, ROLL UP …. GET YOUR ‘PERSPECTIVE’ HERE! Covid-19 testing, care homes and New Zealand For anyone following media reports and the comments of some opposition politicians in Scotland, you could be persuaded that Scottish Government ministers aided by Scotland’s public health institutions, Scottish Government officials and independent advisors must have all got this ‘Covid-19 testing in care homes’ issue so wrong – exceptionally and uniquely, even wilfully, wrong – by implementing an approach that is completely at odds with international practice. Is this justified? This is where ‘perspective’ … Continue reading Message for Carlaw and Leonard: New Zealand’s care homes did not expect asymptomatic cases to be tested but THEY were expected to isolate them for 14 days

The above graph was tweeted by Glyn Hughes (@SquashedBox) and shared with me by arosie69. It seems to show that most objective measure of the impact of covid-19,excess deaths, has begun to climb in England and Wales after apparently beginning to fall. In the week ending 15th May, there were 4 247 excess deaths compared to 3 382 in the previous week after falling from 7 758 and 11 437 in the previous two weeks. While firm conclusions cannot be drawn at this stage, the increase has been linked with the VE Day celebrations on 7th May and unclear messaging … Continue reading Did the VE Day celebrations cause excess deaths in England to climb again?