From Public Health Scotland – Scottish pregnancy, births and neonatal data dashboardA new home for maternity and neonatal data visualisations, published today: In 2024 there was a slowing of the rate of increase in the number of terminations undertaken in Scotland. There were 3% more terminations undertaken: 18,710 compared to 18,242 in 2023. This compares to a 10% increase in demand on services in 2023.1 The termination rate is 17.9 per 1 000 women. The rate in England & Wales will shock. 20324 data has been delayed but in 2023 it was 23 per 1 000, up from 21.1 the … Continue reading Abortion rate shocking 28% higher in England than in Scotland is one more sign of what has been achieved these 19 years

The Daily Record, still campaigning for Labour has this from the Lib Dem’s Alex Cole Hamilton, today: The number of people waiting more than 12 hours in A&E in the country has soared by more than 7000 per cent in a decade, the party said, with waits over four, eight and 12 hours the second worst since records began. Since 2016, waits longer than 12 hours increased by 7354 per cent – from 988 cases to 74,393 – according to its analysis of Public Health Scotland figures. https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/scottish-news/scotland-ae-waits-over-12-36569946 Why have they done these utterly daft percentages based on just adding up over 9 years … Continue reading Alex Cole Hamilton and Daily Record conceal massive 10 000 reduction in 12-hour A&E waits this year with infantile sums

In the Guardian today, not being covered by Scottish media so far: The number of employed people in the UK has fallen, particularly in shops, restaurants, bars and hotels, reflecting weak hiring, while private sector wages grew at the slowest rate in five years, official figures show. Figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) showed the number of employees on payrolls fell by 43,000 in December from the previous month, to 30.2 million – the biggest monthly drop since November 2020. The rate of unemployment remained at a four-year high of 5.1% in the three months to the end of November, … Continue reading Unemployment rate in UK now nearly 40% higher than in Scotland means hundreds of thousands more Brits would be in work with SNP competence in government

By stewartb I’d like to draw attention to an interesting line of argument being promoted by the Fraser of Allander Institute (FAI) in its ‘Scotland’s Budget Report 2026-27’ (January 9, 2026). In Chapter 1 on ‘Fiscal Outlook’, the FAI goes to great lengths in seeking to undermine the claim that the Scottish government balances its budget. It states: ‘.. an interested observer will be surprised to hear that the apparent definition used by the Scottish Government of a balanced budget includes borrowed funds. When the Budget Bill is set out and in outturn, the Scottish Government’s expenditure plans are “funded” and fit within the limits … Continue reading Why is this Glasgow think-tank now, for the first time, trying to cast doubt on the SNP’s balanced budgeting in the months just before an election?

Thanks to Bernadette for alerting me to this: From SMA UK 5 September 2025: We are absolutely delighted to hear the news that NHS Scotland will be adding SMA to their newborn screening programme in an evaluative and research capacity with the aim of the first baby being tested in early 2026. External funding will be used to help purchase specialist testing equipment for the Scottish Newborn Screening Laboratory in Glasgow, and with only one testing site in the country, this means that every baby born will be screened for SMA, approximately 45,000 each year (45,763 live births in 2024). With … Continue reading Good news about Scotland’s babies ‘our’ media missed

In August 2024, I wrote to my new MP, Elaine Stewart (Labour) in Ayr on energy security and bills in Scotland. Today, 20 months later, I get a reply in which she writes: What the SNP could do to help deliver energy security is drop its ideological block on nuclear which rejects the creation of well-paid jobs, apprenticeships, and reliable low-carbon energy. The Nuclear Industry Association reported more than 10,000 new nuclear jobs being created in the last year alone – the SNPs stance is clearly untenable and is holding Scotland back when it comes to clean power.   In this, she aligns herself with the UK Labour … Continue reading Ayrshire Labour MP backs new nuclear power stations that have made Scotland the ‘Cancer Capital of Europe’

In the Herald, today in a clear and sickeningly cynical election run-up: Anas Sarwar has called for a criminal investigation into Nicola Sturgeon and managers at NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde after the board’s eleventh-hour admission that contaminated water at the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital probably caused serious infections among vulnerable patients, including children with cancer. The health board’s U-turn, revealed in closing submissions to the Scottish Hospitals Inquiry, comes after years of denying any link between the hospital’s water system and a cluster of infections that contributed to multiple deaths and left dozens of patients seriously ill. Sarwar has been ‘working with‘ the parents for near on 10 years and … Continue reading Neither Nicola Sturgeon nor any member of the Scottish Government has ever denied any link between hospital water systems and infections that may have contributed to deaths but neither have they ever groomed the parents of a dead child