Quite Frankly [sic], I thought ‘merde’ when I read this. In a Freedom of Information response published yesterday, after only 16 days of deliberation, the Scottish Government has rejected the idea [anon] of restoring the Auld Alliance with France. Here’s the main part of the response: To confirm the Scottish Government has no plans to restore the Auld Alliance in the event of Scotland becoming an independent country.I have included some additional context about Scotland’s international priorities, including enhancing our relationship with France. Scotland is a nation with a rich international history and sees an increased role for itself on the international stage … Continue reading Dernière: SNP fails Francophiles with rejection of restoration of Auld Alliance

The Herald’s headline seems to be based on this statement in the original TUC report: Across the UK, 58% of social care workers are paid less than the real living wage of £9.30 an hour. In Scotland, the figure is 43%. But, the TUC report, in the notes, based on ONS data for Scotland in 2019, tells us that ‘the typical hourly rate for care workers‘ is £10.03 per hour. http://www.stuc.org.uk/media-centre/news/1440/time-2-pay-key-workers-undervalued-underpaid-but-going-the-extra-mile How the 43% figure was calculated is not clear. The TUC is, of course, ignorant of the four points below and while the Herald mentions Jean Freeman’s intervention in … Continue reading Many more Scottish care workers paid Real Living Wage than in ‘UK’

After reading in the Guardian on 29th April: ‘Third of UK Covid-19 patients taken to hospital die, study finds‘, I emailed the Chief Investigator of the research team, Professor Semple, to ask for a Scottish breakdown of the data. https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2020/apr/29/study-finds-a-third-of-uk-covid-19-patients-taken-to-hospital-are-dying He passed the request on to a Scottish member of the team who provided me with this: At the moment in Scotland: To compare like with like, I have restricted this to patients who were admitted at least 2 weeks ago (this is a week later than the overall cohort), in order to enable most patients to finish their hospital … Continue reading SHOCK: Covid-19 mortality rate IN Scottish hospitals HALF that of UK average

BBC UK and the Herald yesterday were happy to accept the UK Government’s claim to have surpassed the covid-19 testing target, few thought they would achieve, a few days earlier. Did none think to investigate the veracity of their claim? The Herald just loved it because they could then use it as a stick to beat the Scottish Government with. The Health Service Journal’s investigative reporters, clearly of a different standard, were not so easily fooled. Yesterday they wrote: Revealed: How government changed the rules to hit 100,000 tests target The government has changed the way it is counting the … Continue reading Hancock DID NOT hit testing target: BBC and Herald fall for UK Government’s deception

Introduction The focus on one retired professor as a prime source of Coronavirus expertise by parts of the corporate media and amongst some in the Brit Nat/Unionist clique is unwarranted but unsurprising!  However, the Talking-Up Scotland Collective would rather introduce readers to the current, internationally renowned and diverse, research capability present in Scotland and to the contributions it is making during this global public health emergency. International collaboration on drug trial Researchers from the University of Dundee’s School of Medicine are partnering with global biopharmaceutical company Insmed Incorporated to conduct trials of brensocatib, a drug being developed to treat lung … Continue reading The Not-Pennington Profiles – Issue Three of an occasional series

There’s not really any arguing with four polls in four months, all with 1 000 plus samples, and all with support at 50% or above. Second vote support was at 45%. Westminster support was at 51%. The increase in the last one seems likely to owe something to the assured performance of the First Minister in covid briefings. There were early signs of widespread approval for her at the end of March: https://talkingupscotlandtwo.com/2020/03/31/approval-for-nicola-sturgeon-high-among-snp-lib-dem-and-labour-voters/ We can probably see the same effect in the Survation poll yesterday putting trust in the Scottish Government at 70% while the UK Government scored 54%. Continue reading YouGov put SNP at 54% in fourth full Holyrood poll with support at 50% or above

All talk of replacing the First Minister is surely dead. On top of polls from the end of March, revealing her to be massively popular with SNP supporters but also approved of by most Lib Dem and Labour supporters, and yesterday’s poll showing her government to be far more trusted than any of the others, YouGov‘s full poll yesterday, based on fieldwork on 24-27 April, is even more encouraging. In terms of making the right decisions on coronavirus, 71% of Scots are confident in her while only 40% are confident in Boris Johnson. Approval for the Scottish Government’s handling of … Continue reading The Sturgeon Effect?

Dr Chung is a media regular with shock headlines like yesterday’s piece for the BBC: Scotland’s NHS ‘can’t go back to the way it was’ Recently, we’ve seen: Top Scots doctor reveals patients stuck on trolleys for 24 hours in A&E meltdown It’s like waiting for a ‘tsunami’ says top emergency doctor … It’s like waiting for a ‘tsunami’ says top emergency doctor predicting dramatic coronavirus surge in Scotland SNP attacked over year of missed NHS targets Yet on the very last lines of the BBC report, yesterday, we see: ‘More A&E patients were also seen within four hours in … Continue reading Top Accident and Emergency consultant knows how good NHS Scotland is but confuses us with mixed messages

New Survation poll of 3 000 UK adults between 16th to 23rd April, on trust in institutions, puts the Scottish Government well ahead of the other UK governments but, best of all, at 70%, way ahead of BBC News on 52% and Sky News on 44%. Here’s the data: Note, only the NHS in the midst of a pandemic beats the Scottish Government. Has covid-19 denied the SNP Government top spot? And, had the poll been taken more recently, after another week of covid-19 briefings, with the Scottish media making right big bahookies of themselves, who knows how wide the … Continue reading NO SHOCK: Poll has Scottish Government far more trusted than BBC Reporting Scotland

Throughout April, the FT has been exposing the stark truth about covid deaths in the UK and, in particular in England, suggesting with tragic confidence, a figure well in excess of 40 000 more than a week ago: https://www.ft.com/content/67e6a4ee-3d05-43bc-ba03-e239799fa6ab With all recorded Scottish covid deaths at 2 272, 5 days later, this suggests a death rate around twice that per capita in the UK. While the reasons will be complex and many, Scotland’s more resilient NHS with higher staffing, fewer prior hospital infections, such as norovirus, due to inhouse cleaning, better PPE provision, 50 assessment centres diverting cases away from … Continue reading Scotland’s covid-19 death rate stays at HALF UK level as value of mass testing is challenged