You’ve gotta laugh. It’s not just Macwhirter posing with his new suit these days, it’s his pose these days as the voice of sensible, moderate, reason and Yes/No flippability. This is the man who can see through that SNP Govermnent’s actual competence to the ‘con-trick’ it must be, because George Foulkes or Gordon Brewer told him it is. Now, he thinks that the Scottish Tories have spines because one has resigned his government post and their leader has been dragged out at last to, kind-of, maybe, with the greatest respect, suggest, perhaps, that Dominic Cummings should consider his position, as … Continue reading Talking of backbones, none of you have much of one

In the Herald today: SCOTLAND has “missed” more than 70,000 tests in the past two weeks as concerns persist about the nation’s vital test, trace and isolate strategy that is due to go live tomorrow. It comes as the Royal College of Nursing Scotland, has told ministers it had noted the “increasing divergence” in testing policy between the Scottish and UK government and believed that the nation “needs to match England” on the extent of testing. How did the RCNS tell ministers? in some ‘note put forward and seen by the Herald.’ Why on earth would such a thing not be … Continue reading Does nursing union really want Scotland to copy England’s testing con-trick?

From YouGov for the Sunday Times, with fieldwork on 25th and 26th, with a Scottish sub-sample of 152 18+ adults and with the poll on 18th-19th results in brackets: Con: 20% (25%) Lab: 16% (15) LD: 3% (4%) SNP: 54% (51%) Greens: 4% (2%) This reinforces the results of the smaller Survation poll [87], for the overlapping dates of 22nd to 26th May, giving the SNP 55%. It suggests erosion of the Tory vote due to the Cummings saga though less dramatic than the 10% return in the Survation poll. The Lib Dems look simply irrelevant if slightly more alive … Continue reading Pro-Indy parties at 58% – Lib Dems get 3% and go home to prepare for the end

BBC Scotland Business website is so short of real business reports they’ve had to pad out with three repeats from the Politics site. Surely Douglas Fraser checks out the business mags for this kind of thing: From Insider today: More than 90% of rural business owners are confident they can reopen safely after Covid-19 restrictions are lifted, according to a report by Scottish Land and Estates (SLE). The survey of 250 firms found 56% are confident they can reopen all of their business safely, while 36% are confident part of their business can restart while adhering to social distancing measures. The … Continue reading Someone tell Douglas Fraser: 90% of rural businesses are confident!

Brenda Steele: I’ve been thinking about what has led to the lack of trust as reflected in the Survation poll here: https://talkingupscotlandtwo.com/2020/05/26/coronavirus-views-reflect-fact-scots-do-not-trust-bbc-or-press/ Perhaps a watch of this briefing – specifically to the questions from the press – might explain the public’s attitude.  https://mobile.twitter.com/scotgov/status/1264881311262617600  FM NicolaSturgeon. holds a press conference on #coronavirus 25/5/20 I took the trouble to listen a second time and make notes – not a pleasant task, I can assure you. This is my assessment: Within this briefing there were repeats of essentially the same same question  There were repeats of questions that have been asked at previous … Continue reading The offal quality of Scottish journalism

In a Survation poll published today based on fieldwork from 22-26 May, as the Dominic Cummings story dominated media reporting, this admittedly small but entertaining, sub-poll of 87 Scots gives us this: Con: 9.89% Lab: 19.19% LD: 7.63% Greens: 1.84% SNP: 48.35% Undecided: 13.11% Readers will correctly note the limited reliability of a sample of 87 at only 20 times more reliable than a Reporting Scotland street survey by Glen Campbell. Taking away the undecided, the SNP share is 55.52%. For entertainment value the Conservative share should not be adjusted. Also, the undecided are never undecided about the Tories. Also … Continue reading Poll suggests Scottish voters have abandoned the Tories as they fall to less than 10% and SNP surge to 56%!

Once more, Sir John Curtice Professor of Politics at Strathclyde University, lets his Unionist preconceptions blind him to the truth. Psephologists or bean-counters, like Prof Curtice, as they are often known can be a bit narrow in their thinking and he has missed the obvious here: Scots think the FM, the Scottish Government and NHS Scotland have done a far better job of coping with the crisis than their UK/English equivalents because they just have, objectively, and because too many of them don’t believe the propaganda coming at them daily from, especially, BBC Scotland, the Herald and the Scotsman. Here’s … Continue reading Coronavirus: Views reflect fact Scots do not trust BBC or press

The Scottish government benefits from a halo effect whereby credit for what is done well in Scotland is attributed to Holyrood and blame for poor performance is laid at the door of Westminster. (Sir John Curtice, professor of politics at Strathclyde University) This astonishing statement is the only explanation offered for the results of an Ipsos MORI poll for BBC Scotland which suggests overwhelming approval for the FM, the Scottish Government and NHS Scotland, in their handling of the crisis and condemnation for the UK Government. This graph sums it up: I can’t direct you to the source so you’ll … Continue reading Stunning level of approval for Scottish Government’s covid response in new poll ‘analysed’ to insult your intelligence

From the Scottish Government news website on 20th May: Constitution Secretary Michael Russell has called for the Scottish Government and Parliament to be given a formal role in future UK trade deals. Responding to the Second Reading of the UK Trade Bill in the House of Commons today, he said the draft legislation did nothing to protect Scotland’s interests. Mr Russell said: “It is to Scotland’s detriment that this Bill is required at all. We would be economically stronger as members of the European Union, benefiting from its worldwide trade deals. “Instead the UK must try to replace those agreements … Continue reading UK Trade Bill fails to protect Scotland’s interests

From Legerwood: I am a bit puzzled by the numbers quoted as having been discharged in March. I have seen them quoted elsewhere too. Public Health Scotland collects data on the monthly numbers of delayed Discharges and the reports are published on the ISD Scotland web site. According to their Feb 2020 report there were 1627 patients delayed in hospital at the census point which is the last thursday in the month. The March 2020 report stated there were 1171 delayed patients at the census points. That is 456 patients discharged. https://www.isdscotland.org/Health-Topics/Health-and-Social-Community-Care/Publications/index.asp?#2674 Apparently Health and Social Care also count delayed … Continue reading Were far fewer patients transferred to care homes in March?