The head [convenor] of Scotland’s doctors union says the NHS is haemorrhaging crucial staff. The BMA’s Iain Kennedy says action’s needed to keep under-pressure health service workers. ‘They’re telling me they they’re not sure if they can go on much longer.’ No doubt all day today across BBC Scotland, TV, radio and the website, we’ll be hearing the above story with not a trace of any numbers or trends in those numbers to help us decide if we can trust this trade unionist any more than say someone from the RMT or the EIS. BBC Scotland is supposed to fact-check … Continue reading ‘They’re telling me’ is not adequate evidence for the national news

From Brian Wilson, in the Herald today: THE SNP’s treatment of local government has been consistently brutal. Year after year, funding was cut in real terms, both for capital projects and service provision. Freedom to innovate and meet the needs of its own communities was steadily whittled away. https://www.heraldscotland.com/opinion/23213753.snps-sustained-brutal-assault-local-government/ Wilson, a minister under Tony Blair’s New Labour from 1997 to 2003, seems to have forgotten his own role in slashing local government funding. From the Guardian in 1998: The Blair government is on course to spend relatively less than any administration since that of Harold Macmillan 40 years ago, according … Continue reading How Brian Wilson’s Labour cut local government spending below that of Thatcher

For the second day running the Herald gives the Scottish Lib Dumbs a platform to show just how liberal and dumb they can be with the facts. Yesterday, like a well-past-it boxer ACH claimed they were making a come back, the facts, no recovery in the polls despite the collapse of the Cons. Today, we read, barely able to keep a straight face: SCOTLAND is facing a “sharp crisis in mental health staffing”, the Lib Dems have claimed, as new figures obtained by the party revealed more than a quarter of senior posts have not been permanently filled. Freedom of information requests … Continue reading 97% of ‘top’ psychiatric roles being carried out by somebody qualified to do it

From the Herald’s Mark Smith today showing all the hardness of a former Eastenders actor writes: SO this is it. There’s just a few hours to go before the Gender Recognition Act becomes law and there’s a crowd outside the Scottish Parliament singing and chanting and cheering and jeering and I’m right in the middle of it – the banners and placards and angry faces – wondering how we got here and what happens next. I’m worried, I have to say. https://www.heraldscotland.com/opinion/23212200.mark-smith-frontline-trans-war/ Was he scared one of them might shove her merkin in his face? Much as they would have loved to … Continue reading Herald’s Mark Smith does a Ross Kemp and gets out of Holyrood before a few elderly feminists ‘kick off’ and thrust their merkins at him

After a year in the cockpit of his four-seater biplane, ACH has engineered a ‘bounce back’ from their Holyrood election ‘blow.’ Evidence? As much as there has been for Sarwar’s Scottish Labour recovery: 6.9% in the May 2021, election. 7 or 8% recently as the Cons collapse but they switch to Starwar Labour. Lib Dems bypassed by disgruntled Cons finding comfort in Labour well to the right of the SNP? What a slap for the frankly creepy ACH? Continue reading Lib Dems ‘bounce back?’ They haven’t even gained from the Tory collapse

In the Scotland edition of the i today, we read that Patricia Hewitt, a former Labour (New) minister has recommended, in a review, that NHS England just abandon targets. They’ve been ignoring a few, such as hospital-onset Covid figures, and fiddling others, such as A&E waiting times, for years now, so this is a the logical conclusion to their strategy. That a former Labour (New) minister chaired the review, tells us that Labour shares the Cons’ desire to just hide the collapse of state-provided health care, and will say nothing. The BBC, not even BBC Health, and UK press (not … Continue reading England gives up on NHs targets in a media and opposition silence

I know, get ye a life! It’s Christmas you old saddo! I couldn’t resist this one though. It’ll only take a minute. On Friday 23 December we had the above triumphal Telegraph piece sticking it to those unions. I responded then with: Drugs, criminals, and ‘illegals’ flooding in, in ultimately ’embarrassing’ blow to UK Government? And sure as you like, today I get this wee gift: Emails reveal that people suspected of crimes such as carrying a false passport, drug smuggling, people trafficking and victims of modern slavery cannot be stopped by members of the armed forces if they hold … Continue reading Army running criminals through airports ‘better than usual’

In yet another sub-poll, Scottish Labour lag behind UK Labour at 24% compared to 46%. The Cons just beat the Lib Dumbs at 7% to 4%. The SNP come in at only 55%! https://peoplepolling.org/tables/202212_GBN_W51_full.pdf#subsection*.12 This makes around 13 out of 17 sub-polls telling us that Scottish Labour’s appeal is half as strong as UK Labour. See: Continue reading Santa disappoints Scottish Labour at 24% Cons 7% SNP 55%

Professor John Robertson OBA The table above, makes clear the scale of loss, not at first apparent in percentages, and the significantly higher Covid death rate in England [145 per 100k people] compared to Scotland [123 per 100k). Had Scotland’s pandemic response strategy been managed by the UK Tory government, 14%, 1 867, more might have died. 23 December 2022, I posted: On 21 December 2022, there were only 8 patients in ICU in Scotland but 174 in England, nearly twice as many per head of population. Even in Wales with a smaller population, there were more, 10. Throughout November … Continue reading Evidence that free asthma prescriptions in Scotland may have saved thousands from a Covid death

stewartb I see the BBC News website now has an article in its Scotland section entitled: ‘Scottish government to ‘impose’ pay deal on nurses’. Notably, amongst expressions of outrage from the RCM’s leadership, it also includes this: ‘Wilma Brown from Unison, who, along with Unite had accepted the last offer, told BBC Scotland the implementation of the pay deal was “FULLY AND GRATEFULLY RECEIVED” and was overdue.’ (my emphasis) But the article also includes this: ‘SCOTTISH LABOUR CALLED ON MR YOUSAF TO RESIGN. Health spokesperson Jackie Baillie said: “I asked Humza Yousaf yesterday whether he would refrain from imposing a … Continue reading Nurses pay: Jaw-dropping, level of hypocrisy being displayed by the Labour leadership in Scotland