Maybe Tom Gordon will try to blame some junior for writing the above headline but that won’t wash. Jeane Freeman identified care home staff as one of the obvious sources of coronavirus infection in care homes. She did not blame them. It’s just a clickbait headline or maybe an attempt to set the workers and their union against the Scottish Government. You probably guessed that anyway. The workers, low-paid and insecure, may well have gone to work with symptoms. They will have done so afraid of losing income they really need to survive. Some will have been forced to work … Continue reading Herald writer blamed for sad decline of journalism

In the Herald today: PUBLIC confidence in the Scottish Government has been “shattered” because of the “cover-up” of an early outbreak of the coronavirus in Scotland, according to Labour’s Ian Murray. The Shadow Scottish Secretary insists that questions are mounting for ministers north and south of the Border over the decision to continue with mass gatherings across the UK following the outbreak at the Nike conference in an Edinburgh hotel in late February. How can he keep a straight face? The party of government in Scotland, utterly dominant in the 2019 election and his party wins only one seat in Scotland, based … Continue reading I shouldn’t laugh but the plot here is pretty shoogly

From Brenda Steele: Why did Ian Murray accuse Nicola Sturgeon of Cover-up?  No doubt had she announced announced it immediately on being informed of the positive test for the Nike employee she would have been accused of scare-mongering and breaking data protection laws!  Such cheap shots from the only Labour MP in Scotland do not impress.  It certainly does not convince me that the Labour Party is fit to govern. In the Edinburgh Evening News and Scotsman last Wednesday: Ian Murray accuses Nicola Sturgeon of ‘cover-up’ over Edinburgh Nike conference outbreak. Nicola Sturgeon has been accused of covering up an … Continue reading Why did Ian Murray accuse Nicola Sturgeon of Cover-up?

There had been 1 438 covid-related deaths in care homes up to 10th May: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-52214177 There seem to be no data breaking these down into council, voluntary and private care homes, so the following set of media reports, from an exhaustive search, is the only source we have at the moment. At best this gives us an impression of the situation and should not be considered a definitive answer to the question in the headline. I should declare an obvious bias here in my ‘research agenda’. I suspect that when all the data are in, the answer will be ‘yes’ … Continue reading Are most deaths in private care homes?

From sam: The impact of Thatcherism on health and wellbeing in Britain This 2013 report argues that “Thatcher’s governments wilfully engineered an economic catastrophe across large parts of Britain”” Here’s the link to the academic bit. The link to the Liverpool University review is first. https://news.liverpool.ac.uk/2014/02/12/thatchers-policies-condemned-for-causing-unjust-premature-death/ “Dr Alex Scott-Samuel and colleagues from the Universities of Durham, West of Scotland, Glasgow and Edinburgh, sourced data from over 70 existing research papers, which concludes that as a result of unnecessary unemployment, welfare cuts and damaging housing policies, the former prime minister’s legacy “includes the unnecessary and unjust premature death of many British … Continue reading How Thatcherism planted the seeds of death today

The Herald’s Westminster, not Health, correspondent helps Scotland’s three minority parties in a desperate attempt to score points by articulating for them a weaponised account of the situation with regard to testing in care homes. It’s a deeply problematic piece of writing full of factual errors and key omissions generating what is essentially propaganda aimed at undermining the SNP. I say SNP because Jackson Carlaw is allowed to say: It’s obvious that care homes are the frontline of this crisis and the SNP have been slow to respond.   Before coming on to the other ‘politicians’ headlined, the ‘facility bosses’ … Continue reading Herald leads Jackson, Richard and Willie ‘ambulance-chasing’ into care homes for the elderly

ED: Headline entirely my responsibility By Brenda Steele: The Scotsman’s Gina Davidson [former Labour SPAD and speech-writer] should have already known the full details as this earlier article, by Katharine Hay, shows: https://www.scotsman.com/health/coronavirus/scottish-government-reveals-day-day-account-and-details-edinburgh-nike-conference-covid-19-outbreak-2851046  dated 12th May The Scottish Government has issued a day-by-day account of what happened during the Edinburgh Nike conference following reports of it being “Ground Zero” for COVID-19. To my mind this shows how difficult Test, Trace, Isolate is – given the fact that the individual did not get tested until AFTER they had left Scotland as related by this from the above article “The individual was not based … Continue reading Former Labour SPAD, speech writer and Scotsman hack deliberately misleads on the Nike conference infections

Jonathon, that’s not the English flag! I wanted the English flag! I know THEY think it is the English flag but that’s the one for the UK. No, the UK and England just seem like the same thing but not everyone agrees they are. I give up. In the Herald today from Features Writer, Mark Smith: Happy birthday to me (messages of goodwill c/o The Herald in the usual way). I hope you’ll also allow me to summarise the five political decades I’ve lived through. The 1970s: chaos. The 80s: the necessary revolution of Thatcher. The 90s: the necessary revolution … Continue reading Mark Smith just writing any old thing he likes but let down right at the outset by his pictures editor (14)

Scotland cannot officially scrap this surcharge for its migrant workers even those working for NHS Scotland but it can, and seemed to last year, turn a blind eye, when payments are not made: From March last year: ‘Three-quarters of NHS hospital trusts in England are using private debt firms to chase treatment costs from overseas patients and refused asylum seekers in a practice branded “inhumane” by critics, the Observer can reveal. Data released under the Freedom of Information Act shows that 77 of 102 hospital trusts have used private debt firms to pursue ineligible patients. Of 60 trusts that provided patient numbers, 8,468 patient debts … Continue reading It cannot be scrapped in Scotland but is a blind eye being turned to migrant health surcharge debt?

We’ve known for a week now that the first minister only became aware of the outbreak when cases were confirmed around March 2. She did not know the venue. Here’s what she said: Why would we have been trying to cover anything up? We were reporting figures on this. I stood up here every single day to be as open and transparent with you, the public, as possible. There is no interest in covering these things up, so that is nonsense. And actually, I don’t know where that accusation comes from, but it sounds like highly politicised nonsense as well. Ian Murray … Continue reading Scotsman headlines repeat of tired and highly politicised nonsense