Scotland has reported 11 962 new cases and 13 deaths in the same period as England’s record-breaking performance enabled by the Johnson regime’s ‘open-house’ policy. Per head, the infection rate is 34% higher and the death rate 37% higher, in England. Savid Javid must be very, very, proud. Cameron McNeish has reported Aviemore full of English folk. Have all the locals gone to Carlisle? LATEST: Dumfries pub-owner tells BBC Scotland: ‘I hope that wee Hitler Nicola Sturgeon is happy!‘ She might be. Continue reading Scotland ‘odd one out’ as cases struggle to keep up with England’s ‘tsunami’

From stewartb It’s really becoming too easy to counter the journalistic output from BBC Scotland. But whilst it’s possible to counter the substance, it’s much, much harder to counter the amplification afforded by the BBC’s reach. On substance, I’d like to add my ‘easy’ tuppence worth. This is from the RAC Foundation’s web site on road spending by national government. We learn that inflation adjusted current road expenditure (i.e. OPEX not CAPEX) by UK ‘Central Government and Public Corporations’ fell from £1,569 billion in 2008/09 to £0.962 billion in 2017/18 before rising to £1,529 billion in 2019/20. What is the … Continue reading ‘More concerned to inform us of the content of a Tory press feed’

Thanks to iamsoccerdoc for sharing these comments, far more punchy than mine, on the above dross from Alan Rodent: iamsoccerdoc: I couldnt resist this dreadful story. Here is the exchange I have had so far on their forum. Note the use of “disgusting” without justification Dr Douglas McKenzie 4 hrs agoUser ID: 1009260What a load of parochial tosh. The reason “national” news outlets haven’t picked it up is because it isn’t the “horror” that Scottish Labour want it to be. Yes, there have been problems but the hospital as a whole is one of the best performing in Scotland. And … Continue reading What the readers thought of the ratty piece on QEUH

It’s been ages since we’ve seen Anas shouting about dead babies in a Glasgow hospital. In the festive spirit, remembering that other baby perhaps, Alan Roden (almost the perfect surname for the job?) pops up to breath new life into the story with the interesting idea that London-centric broadcasters are ignoring a great story. Yeh, they’re biased against Scotland! Didn’t I tell you? Here’s a bit of his ‘thinking‘: Completely ignoring the expert opinion, the stats showing that the QEUH has slightly better than average mortality rates and clinging to the notion that ‘after‘ is at all akin to ‘because … Continue reading Roden, former Daily Mail editor and Labour adviser tries to resuscitate dead baby story for Sarwar

I’ve just done the BBC reporting of this Conservative seasonal feed. The figures are shocking but not in the way they hope. They’re shockingly inadequate because they include infantile adding up to get big numbers for headlines and no trends. There’s more detail than Reporting Scotland had, but once more, there are, critically, no trends revealing change one way or another. Readers wonder, is it getting worse or better? Are Scotland’s roads safer or less safe, after 12 years of SNP control of budgets and policies? They deserve to know. Answer 1: the casualties and death toll has fallen significantly … Continue reading Road death tally is not due to need for upgrades

are in need of a cash boost to bring down the number of accidents on these routes. Figures obtained by the Party revealed almost 2 000 accidents took place on roads including the A9 and the A96 in the past 5 years, 100 of them leading to fatalities. https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/live/bbcone 31.12.21 at 07:31 The Season of Freedom of Information continues after three by the Lib Dems and one by Scotland in Union, all faithfully misreported by the BBC and the Herald and all sorted here in the last few days. Notably, no fuller account appears on the BBC Scotland website. No … Continue reading Scotland’s trunk roads are far safer under SNP than Tories

Bias by omission can be as effective as the distortions in that which is reported Today, in the Record, we read: English families are being asked to travel to Scotland to get a PCR test as shortages continue to hit the country amid a spike in coronavirus cases. One woman from Kirklees in West Yorkshire, who asked not to be named, told Yorkshire Live about her own fears and said: “My family are currently trying to get PCR tests as (we) have covid symptoms and the nearest place to get a PCR test is in Scotland. Yorkshire Live also tried to access a PCR … Continue reading BBC Scotland only sees Scots travelling to England for health service

The total number of COVID-19 cases reported to ARHAI Scotland this week (week ending 5 December 2021) was 20,014. Of these, 28 (0.1%) were reported as definite hospital onset (first positive specimen date was 24 or more days after admission to NHS board). In the previous week (week ending 28 November 2021) there were 60 (0.3%). Even if we put together the definite, probable and indeterminate cases, only 0.6% of those may have been caught in the wards. Even at the peak in January, with many more admissions daily, only 1% of cases were definitely picked up on the wards … Continue reading Scotland’s hospitals’ huge success in keeping Covid off wards

At the beginning of December 2021, the Johnson regime seems to have decided to return to their thinking in March 2020, when he said on TV: ‘Perhaps you could take it on the chin, take it all in one go and allow the disease, as it were, to move through the population, without taking as many draconian measures. I think we need to strike a balance.‘ The current refusal to follow the three devolved nations with their stricter measures and the bullish insistence today that Scots are welcome to party in England on the 31st, confirms the return of the … Continue reading Tories gamble with lives as hospitalisation soars to twice that in Scotland

First the ‘fire’. What a surprise, dumb-dumb bullets from a failed dentist and a failed farmer. The Herald prides itself on its professional values and being trusted so the above will be balanced by a prof or two? Nope. I’ll get them for you. Recently: Since the early stages (2 May 2020): In terms of communication going forward, I must say I think the Scottish Government has been far better and more transparent than some other parts of the world, including Westminster, from my personal view, but the communication needs to be nuanced. So, in Scotland, the first thing we … Continue reading Sturgeon warmly praised by real experts. Herald binned.