on whether to take strike action later this year. The British Medical Association says pay has continued to fall and is also calling for more annual leave and better recognition for working anti-social hours. it’s less than a month since resident doctors in England ended their most recent strike. The pay dispute saw tens of thousands of resident doctors take part in the industrial action. It was their 15th strike since 2023. BBC Breakfast this morning had the above. How does this compare with the situation in Scotland? Have the media operating in Scotland ever reported the above contrast? Find … Continue reading As NHS England’s senior doctors vote on strike action only weeks after the junior ones finished their 15th strike with billions spent and millions of ops cancelled the story that ‘your’ media will not tell you

From RNZ yesterday: Maritime NZ says there was a clear knowledge gap in how a steering console worked aboard the Aratere ferry ahead of it running aground nearly two years ago. KiwiRail had been ordered to pay a fine of $375,000 and $25,000 costs after pleading guilty to charges under the Health and Safety at Work Act 2015 today. The ship ran aground during a freight sailing from Picton to Wellington on 21 June 2024. No injuries were reported among the 39 crew and eight passengers aboard. Maritime NZ said an investigation found failures in KiwiRail’s change management processes for training and … Continue reading New Zealand ferry operator fined $400 000 for failing to train crew to hold down a button for five seconds to disable autopilot and avoid running aground

There’s the result for the ‘shock’ Labour win over the SNP in the Western Isles. BBC Scotland seem not to publishing the actual numbers, the raw data, though they do mention that, the winner: MacKinnon, who works in community development and manages a community-owned trust in Carloway on Lewis, won by 154 votes. Only 154? I can’t help but wonder how many voted for Kenny Mackenzie of the Alliance to Liberate Scotland? It was 159! Am I alone in being frankly p****d off by that? Continue reading Shooting ourselves in the foot – how a fringe group handed Labour an SNP seat in the fight against Reform UK

The Sunday Post, above today makes much, much too much, of one case of sepsis where diagnosis was later than it might have been. What does it tel us about the wider situation, the ‘news’ dare I say it? Nothing. There is, in the Post, of course, no fuller explanation of the situation with regard to sepsis, in Scotland, just the one wee story. Here it is: How under Scottish Labour, hospitals were ‘death traps’ of hospital acquired infections and how Nicola Sturgeon sorted it The prevalence of HAI was 4.9%, 2.5%, 6.1% and 1.2% in acute, non-acute, paediatric and … Continue reading Sunday Post fails to tell us how an SNP Health Secretary made sure hospital-acquired sepsis levels would fall way below the level under Labour

From Isle of Wight County Press yesterday, the above and: Conservative MP Joe Robertson has taken to social media to blast Isle of Wight ferry firm Wightlink after spotting a return vehicle ferry fare costing more than £500 during the Isle of Wight Festival. The Isle of Wight East MP said the operator had “smashed the £500 barrier” by charging £511.50 for a return car journey across The Solent. “It’s an absolute insult,” he wrote. “So, it’s around the Isle of Wight Festival time, but £500 shouldn’t be allowed at any time — and we know the ferry companies are … Continue reading Music festival-goers in England asked to pay TWELVE times the fare for a ferry crossing barely a QUARTER of the distance AND have less fun