A quick reminder of the facts before looking at the above, by the Herald’s Helen McArdle: From Public Health Scotland yesterday: During May 2023, there were 24,125 operations planned to take place across NHS Scotland. This represents an increase of 21.6% compared to the 19,840 planned for April 2023 and is 10.2% higher than the number planned a year previously in May 2022 (21,895)….475 (2%) were cancelled by the hospital due to capacity or non-clinical reasons. https://www.publichealthscotland.scot/publications/cancelled-planned-operations/cancelled-planned-operations-month-ending-31-may-2023 Here’s a key extract from the Herald front page: Let’s be clear about that ‘500’ in the headline. 475 procedures were postponed due … Continue reading Herald’s shameful distortion of surgery facts, in Scotland’s 98% NHS, will scare the elderly and vulnerable

By cuckooshoe We know prior to the Treaty of Union, Orkney and Shetland were Crown Dependencies of Scotland. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/1669_Act_for_annexation_of_Orkney_and_Shetland_to_the_Crown “The 1669 Act of Annexation was a Parliamentary Act passed by the Parliament of Scotland to establish Orkney and Shetland’s status as Crown Dependencies following a legal dispute with William Douglas, 9th Earl of Morton, who held the estates of Orkney and Shetland.” And https://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/england-scotland-and-treaty-union-1706-08 “The finalized ‘Articles of Union’ were signed at Whitehall on 22 July 1706 and formally presented to Queen Anne the following day. They were considered by the Scottish Parliament during October 1706-January 1707, and an Act … Continue reading Does Orkney and/or Shetland becoming Crown Dependencies (again) pave the way for an end to the Act of Union?

Orkney Island Council have launched a debate into the constitutional status of its territory. https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m001nl7p/the-nine-03072023 On BBC Scotland’s Nine last night, council leader James Stockan, Member of the British Empire, was interviewed and told us that a ‘vox pop‘ along the street found support for ‘alternatives.’ The MBE and its significance for this issue was not mentioned. The vox pop was allowed to stand unchallenged despite the last census in 2011, indicating that the share of people in Orkney who said they identified as Scottish only was exactly the same as the national average, 62.4%.  He also mentioned ferries but … Continue reading Shock as historians discover Orkney joined the UK 182 years before it even existed!

From Public Health Scotland today: During May 2023, there were 24,125 operations planned to take place across NHSScotland. This represents an increase of 21.6% compared to the 19,840 planned for April 2023 and is 10.2% higher than the number planned a year previously in May 2022 (21,895)….475 (2%) were cancelled by the hospital due to capacity or non-clinical reasons. https://www.publichealthscotland.scot/publications/cancelled-planned-operations/cancelled-planned-operations-month-ending-31-may-2023/ This is stunning, headline news, but it just doesn’t fit with ‘our’ MSM agenda, obsessed with ferries and laughable stories of Orkney leaving the UK. Continue reading Massive, 22% increase in operations carried out, in one month, highest since pandemic yet BBC Scotland ignores it

The MSM is awash with gleeful tales of Orkney seceding from Scotland, regardless of actual evidence that more than 60% identify as Scottish only. I’m just waiting until someone finds evidence that Norwegian ferries are more reliable. I can’t find any. Maybe they don’t have to publish data daily like CalMac? I can find however: Norwegian authorities are warning shipowners and operators about the dangers associated with lithium-ion battery systems after a fire and subsequent gas explosion on board a diesel-electric ferry in Norway. The small fire was reported October 10 in the battery room of the Norled passenger ferry MF Ytterøyningen. … Continue reading Orcadians should think twice about unmanned overturning or burning Norwegian ferries

The Record’s statistics person (14) has added up the motorcycle accident data over 10 years to get a number big enough to talk about, by their abysmal standards of course. 25 motorcyclists died in 2022, 5 fewer than the previous year. Looking at the more useful trend data, overall motorcyclist casualty data on Scotland’s roads increased by 2% in 2022 but overall road casualties have fallen by 47% since 2000. Source: chrome-extension://efaidnbmnnnibpcajpcglclefindmkaj/https://www.transport.gov.scot/media/53510/key-reported-road-casualties-scotland-2022.pdf Continue reading Scotland’s road casualties fall by 47% in 20 years and motorcyclist deaths fall by 20% in 1 year

With the return of the 4 Oban to South Uist sailings, on the 1st July, CalMac is now operating at 100% reliability to several very small populations, in the Skye, Raasay and the Small Isles group, heavily subsidised by the taxpayer. In the Herald last December: THE £185.5m-a-year of taxpayers money used to subsidise ferry services would “better deployed” according to a consensus of responses to transport inquiry. Scotland’s media, committed to informing the people of Scotland are not reporting the 100% service. Brittany Ferries will manage 6 of its only 7, massively profitable, Channel crossings today, 86%. Sources: https://www.heraldscotland.com/news/homenews/23207252.185m-a-year-scots-ferry-subsidy-should-better-deployed/ https://www.calmac.co.uk/calmac-performance-data-browser?date=03%2F07%2F2023 Continue reading After months at only 96% CalMac’s ferries to remote islands operating at 100% reliability

Only another cosy Reporting Scotland/Herald feed headlined this morning, not reported anywhere else in the MSM, Dr Iain Kennedy, leader of the doctors’ union the BMA: 48% say they are afraid to speak up. We’ve been here before so many times with trade union surveys based on tiny, self-selecting, samples, utterly unreliable, but not challenged by journalists. There are around 9 700 GPs and hospital consultants in Scotland. The Herald, laughably, write that the survey ‘examined 592 doctors.’ Examined? I think not. They sent an email to the above 9 700 and perhaps even to the junior doctors. Only 592 … Continue reading Tories’ favourite doctor back again to reveal 97% not afraid to speak up about patient safety

By stewartb – a long read This is the second blog post commenting on the initial (50 page long) report to emerge from an ongoing Review of the UK Constitution by the Institute for Government (IfG) and the Bennett Institute for Public Policy, University of Cambridge. Source: Jack et al. (2022) A framework for reviewing the UK constitution. Institute for Government report 50pp. (https://www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/sites/default/files/publications/framework-reviewing-uk-constitution.pdf ) The aim of the Review is to examine the purpose of constitutions; to assess how the UK constitution fulfils that purpose; to highlight problems with the UK’s constitution that are now being revealed; and to … Continue reading The UK constitution – England and the concentration of ‘virtually unlimited’ power!