In February 2015, Alan McGee, Creation Records Founder, wrote: Drumchapel [Michael Shanks came second in 2017] has long been a Labour stronghold and is home to some of the most appalling poverty and deprivation you will ever see. It did also once have a decent MP in the shape of the ex-first minister Donald Dewar, who at least used to be seen out and about in the area and did indeed campaign and do his best for his constituents. But sadly, the values of Labour seem to have died with Mr Dewar. A friend of mine lives in this scheme … Continue reading Rutherglen & Hamilton West – Vote Labour and get what they got in Drumchapel and Ayrshire – SFA

Rachael Reeves, Shadow Chancellor was in the constituency with Anas and Sir Keir but didn’t apparently hang about to see the candidate who looks a bit too lefty, going by his gear there, for Sir Keir’s tastes. Shanks is becoming famous for not being ‘against’ things like returning to the EU when he used to be and should be well for. The handbag? ‘No case for banker tax’ Reeves accepting £1250 handbag from investors is tip of iceberg. Shadow Chancellor Rachel Reeves accepted a £1,250 ‘handbag and contents’ for giving a talk to an investors’ ‘forum’ run by a multimillionaire, … Continue reading Rutherglen and Hamilton West – Would Michael Shanks not be ‘against’ the Shadow Chancellor’s gift handbag worth 4 months of child benefit to each of nearly 2 000 families in Lanarkshire?

Thanks to Karen Irving for alerting me to this. In Nova Scotia, a province of Canada, population 971 000, 15%, 148 000, have no doctor or nurse practitioner registration. https://www.thecoast.ca/news-opinion/nova-scotias-primary-care-waitlist-surpasses-148000-30972160?fbclid=IwAR3Fr24aRy7ZV13wwr_GZDB3IVugwRPRv_ewsFLn_SrGSJnsF9io8s2dvHU There are 5.8 million people registered with a GP in Scotland despite the population being only 5.4 million. Scotland’s media have no reports of unregistered people. https://publichealthscotland.scot/publications/general-practice-demographics-data-visualisation/general-practice-demographics-data-visualisation-up-to-31-december-2022/ Canada has a GDP of $54 350 per head. Scotland has a GDP of $42 182. So we have a far better ferry service and more GPs? Where will it end? Continue reading Wealthy Canadian province has a real GP crisis

From the 1st to the 3rd August 2023, CalMac ferries have been operating at 97.99% reliability, across up 520 sailings a day, by 33 vessels, to more than 50 ports. The few cancellations have mostly been on the Ardrossan to Campbelltown sailings where it is actually quicker to do the journey from Glasgow to Campbelltown by road. How are things in that advanced affluent nation, Canada, where BC Ferries operate in calmer, warmer waters than CalMac? BC Ferries’ fiascos all its own doing: https://www.chemainusvalleycourier.ca/editorials-opinion/editorial-bc-ferries-fiascos-all-its-own-doing-1673005 Source: https://www.calmac.co.uk/calmac-performance-data-browser?date=13%2F08%2F2023 Continue reading CalMac averaging 98% reliability in August

In Labour leader, Anas Sarwar’s City of Glasgow region schools, in 2023, only 28.6% got the A pass in Higher mathematics they would need to get into subjects requiring that, at the higher status universities. That was down from the 29.6% who got an A in the 2019 exams and down from the 36.2% who got an A in the pandemic no exams assessment in 2022. Sarwar and his parents it seems, had a solution to that kind of failure but it wasn’t the kind of solution Labour leaders used to profess – they went private. Sarwar’s old school, Hutchesons’ … Continue reading Rutherglen & Hamilton West by-election – Labour leaders prefer to go private for their schooling and get the results they feel entitled to

This is a rehash of the Scotsman and the Herald in April platforming uncritically a trade union convenor as useful idiot to attack the SNP in government: According to the Scotsman on April 3: A top medic has warned “no practice is safe” after one of Scotland’s largest GP surgeries folded – warning it is “a tipping point which could spread across the country” and lead to the collapse of NHS Scotland.https://www.scotsman.com/health/gp-practice-closures-could-lead-to-the-collapse-of-nhs-scotland-warns-top-medic-4089414 Let’s deal with the ‘folded’ practice. It hasn’t. From NHS Grampian before the Scotsman piece was published: Alex Pirrie, Partnership Manager for Central Aberdeenshire, said: “Inverurie Medical Practice … Continue reading GP closures – there was a time when the Times questioned teeny trade union surveys

In classic ‘scare the old folk with infantile maths‘ style, the Scotsman detects soaring numbers but S4 statistics pupils chorus ‘Daaad…that is so insignificant….let me sleep.‘ There are more than 65 000 nurses in Scotland. The Scotsman’s 583 applying for jobs overseas last year is 0.89%, less than 1 in a 100. Two years ago they tell us, it was half, say 292, 0.45%. Really, how are we doing relatively speaking, for nurses? From 2021: What’s the UK Labour view? This: Continue reading Nurses seeking work overseas barely grows from 0.45% to 0.9% of the more than 65 000

From BBC UK yesterday: The health secretary has invited the Welsh and Scottish governments to discuss how best to tackle NHS waiting lists, as millions wait for hospital treatment across the UK. Steve Barclay accused them of having worse delays than England in some cases – but they disputed the figures. Mr Barclay also said he was open to Scottish and Welsh patients being treated in England. The government said under Labour in Wales more than 73,000 people have been waiting at least 77 weeks for treatment, and under the SNP in Scotland more than 21,600 people have been waiting … Continue reading Stephen Barclay’s advice is ‘just don’t have waiting time targets’ as Scotland beats his cancer waiting times by 30%