every day last week – the highest since the start of the pandemic. https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m0013g09/reporting-scotland-lunchtime-news-14012022 A few hours or so after I pointed out their kiddy arithmetic error in just adding up the daily figures and getting more than 50 000 off, one third of all staff and five sevenths of nursing staff, Reporting Scotland was presenting the correct daily figure but still with that wee ‘every day last week’ to imply a new 7 000 each day. You can just hear that whiny wee voice when they find their error has been revealed: ‘If we just say the real number … Continue reading Yes but it was the same people most days

every day last week – the highest since the start of the pandemic. https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/live/bbcone Well they sorted out their arithmetical errors from the this morning: but they still haven’t, in a long report, informed us how close to the highest we now are or what percentage of the highest, today’s figure is. I’d like to know that. Wouldn’t you? It’s down to 7 174 on 11 January 2022, from 9 340 on 7 April 2021. A 23% difference suggests they needed to wait a bit longer for this to be a story? And what percentage was off? 7 174 out … Continue reading Better but still a FAIL

BBC Wales today, above. BBC Scotland today, below: The evidence: Does Scotland deserve no praise because we did have such a high rate to fall from? The pattern: Continue reading BBC Wales backs Wales again

BBC Complaints – Case number CAS-7061170-W8T5K4 NHS Scotland staff absences  In the Reporting Scotland insert we were told that ‘about 50,200 NHS staff were off work in the week to 11 January.’ There are only just over 70 000 nursing staff altogether. The official figure for that week was actually 7 174: https://www.gov.scot/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-trends-in-daily-data/Your staff have added up the daily figures for 7 days to get a big headline number but in so doing counted the same people up to 7 times.Not only is this embarrassing for a well-staffed department but it is in danger of creating unnecessary anxiety about attending hospitals and … Continue reading BBC Complaint: Counting the absent up to seven times to get a headline

to the 11th January. https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/live/bbcone When I saw that ‘about 50 200’ this morning, I thought two things. First, there were 160 000 staff in Scotland in September 2021 and more than 50 000 of them were off in one week? The average 12 year-old pupil has been taught to recognise the implausible and go back to the numbers again. Second, why ‘about?’ Surely the official figures will be precise? The website has more but not better: Covid-related absences in the NHS are at their highest levels since April 2020, the month after the first virus case was confirmed in … Continue reading BBC Scotland’s numeracy: Am I missing something here?

Four years after the Times first released the story of Labour’s Barry Gardiner and just as Johnson and the Queen need a little distraction, MI5 re-release the story of the Chinese spy funding a Labour shadow minister. What next? In 2015, David Leask, thought by some to be MI5’s man at the Herald gave us the above. No doubt MI5 have something tenuous on an SNP figure stashed away for another rainy day. If they go for the obvious line that any relationship with China supports their denial of self-determination to Tibet and, thus, weakens our case for independence, it’s … Continue reading After Barry Gardiner, what next from MI5? Drop another dead donkey on the SNP?

By stewartb NHS A&E waiting times performance is a recurring topic here on TuS.  We know that the weekly releases of data for meeting the 4-hour standard in Scotland is also common feature of BBC Scotland’s news coverage – well at least it is when the latest release records a decrease in performance, however small.  Improvements in overall performance or exemplary performance by individual hospitals or health boards aren’t newsworthy it seems. The waiting times performance of A&E in Scotland includes two sets of statistics, one just for ‘Main’ emergency departments (reported weekly) and the other for ‘All’ emergency departments … Continue reading BBC reporting of A&E statistics: Failure to understand or deliberate misrepresentation?

Raw sewage, microplastics and slurry are coursing through all of England’s rivers, putting health and nature at risk, a parliamentary report concludes. Agriculture and water companies are the biggest contributors to this “chemical cocktail”, the Environmental Audit Committee warns. Car tyre particles, oils and wet wipes are also clogging waterways. People across the country using rivers for activities ranging from sports and swimming to fishing risk falling ill from bacteria in sewage and slurry. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-59955624 There’s only one comment about Scotland in the report: Scottish Water is publicly-owned and directly accountable to Scottish ministers. https://committees.parliament.uk/publications/8460/documents/85659/default/ Will that have mattered we … Continue reading Every single river in England too dirty to even paddle in!

By Alasdair Galloway John’s recent publication of an SNP Media piece (https://talkingupscotlandtwo.com/2022/01/11/electricity-transmission-charges-england-subsidised-scotland-to-pay-465m/) focuses rightly on the charging regime imposed by National Grid on generating plants to carry their electricity. The SNP claim that Scotland is paying £465 million a year to put electricity on the grid, but England and Wales get a £30 million subsidy. The reason for this is that a plant in the North of Scotland (Peterhead for instance) would pay £7.36 MWh while one in the south (Torness) would pay £4.70. In England and Wales the (average?) charge is but £0.49p and certainly there are some areas … Continue reading When will the lights go out?

By Alasdair Galloway This morning Tom Gordon in the Herald performs his one trick pony trick of talking about the First Minister. I think he might be a bit annoyed, for he suggests that she is in danger of “making a fool of herself”, and that after all is Tom’s job. I might have written a letter about it, but I have had far too many letters critical of Uncle Tom hit the spike to be bothered, so I wrote this instead hoping that John would not take the same view as Drew Allan. You can find the article here … Continue reading Uncle Tom drops a bomb