At 6.64%, Northern Ireland has vaccinated the most, England is 2nd at 6.25% and Scotland is third at 4.85%. The floors at Tory HQ and Pacific Quay are slippy with drool but…. The most important point to make here is that the Scottish Government strategy to prioritise the care home residents and staff is that which was clearly and firmly advised by independent experts at the UK Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation. Despite the logistical challenges imposed by the Pfizer vaccine, Scotland had 80% completion in care homes last week and is approaching 100% completion as I write. The … Continue reading Ahead of the curve that matters

I’ve been badgering Scotland-based profs Bauld, Sridhar and Reicher, who often say positive things about the First Minister, to go a bit further and to tell the whole truth on the BBC. They seem nervous. Prof Bauld shared the above today but, though based in Edinburgh and funded by you and me, she didn’t think to tell us where Scotland sits in regard to that graph. In my amateurish way, I’ve updated it for your information: You can see that the original version conceals the horror of England’s suffering under Johnson and the relatively better situation in Scotland. You don’t … Continue reading No, ‘we’re’ not and you’re the kind of expert we’re paying to tell us that

From Opinium based on 169, 18+ Scots on 14th and 15th January 2021: Which of the following are the most important issues facing the country? Please select up to three options. In the midst of a pandemic lockdown, the economic disaster that Brexit is becoming and all the understandable concerns about the economy, crime, housing, education and public services that may be directly affecting peoples’ lives on a day-to-day basis, 25% of Scots were prepared to list Constitutional Issues / Devolution in the top three most important issues facing the country. In no other part of the UK did that … Continue reading Who says Scots wouldn’t prioritise independence during this combined crisis?

It’s only a sub-poll of 104, among a sequence putting support usually around 50%, but it’s the most recent and worth keeping in mind for subsequent polls as the Brexit disaster news emerges more fully. Based on 104, 18+ adults on the 14th -15th January, with the Opinium results from 6/7 January and 16/17 December in brackets: Con: 27% (31, 27) Lab: 9% (13, 21) Lib Dem: 0% (1, 3) SNP: 62% (52, 43) That’s only 3 sub-polls but there’s at least a bit of a trend there. Continue reading Opinium poll puts SNP up at 62% and Lib Dems sheepish at ZERO!

At times like this, The British Broadcasting Corporation likes to remind British subjects, living in Scotlandshire, of what they owe to ‘our boys.’ Telling the same story, the Herald, to be fair, called them ‘The Army.’ No doubt, I’ll be accused of over-reacting. Choosing to refer to them as the ‘British Army‘ as you would if they were in Afghanistan as opposed to Alford, doesn’t mean anything, does it? Researchers have shown that our unconscious makes decisions before our consciousness can think and that it then often rationalises the choices retrospectively. So, calling it the ‘British Army‘ when it operates … Continue reading British Army sent into Scotland to help deliver vaccine!

I rarely predict anything but this is, I think, a special moment in the history of the Labour Party in Scotland. There was a real Scottish Labour Party once. R B Cunninghame Graham, a strong supporter of Scottish independence, was its first MP, having defected from the Liberals in 1888, but by 1895 it had dissolved itself and most members followed Keir Hardie into the British Independent Labour Party. In 2019, Monica Lennon, above, defied the whip and abstained in a vote on a second Scottish independence referendum. She is thought to be, at least, in favour of the proposal … Continue reading Will Scottish Labour Do or Die?

This report opens with: Doctors (sic) leaders say the British Medical Association in Scotland said then claiming that the supply has been ‘patchy.’ Reading carefully, you find only one man’s experience, Dr Buist himself, is the basis for the claims. He is not ‘Doctors‘ nor is he ‘British Medical Association in Scotland.’ No doubt, in his position, he has been contacted by other GPs but had that been a flow of any size, surely he’d be able to tell us just how many had contacted him. That he wasn’t able to say his inbox was full, with 123 emails or … Continue reading Where is the evidence for this claim? Nowhere

Despite a constant barrage of negative reports, the First Minister is approved of by a majority of almost every sub-set of the electorate you could imagine, in this Deltapoll poll on the 26th to 30th December 2020. Asked: Putting everything else aside, for each of the following, do you think they are doing in dealing with the COVID-19 outbreak, very well, quite well, quite badly or very badly? We see: Spot the groups where a majority didn’t think she has done well? Out of 22 groups, only Conservative EU leavers thought so and only by 48% to 44%. How did … Continue reading Inverted Media Effect?

Headline story for BBC Scotland: Speaking on the BBC’s Politics Scotland programme, Dr Andrew Buist, who chairs the British Medical Association’s (BMA) GP committee in Scotland, said there was (sic) inconsistencies across the GP network. Dr Buist’s evidence was, of course, just from his own practice. He hadn’t any survey evidence. And the big news of the day, the biggest fall in reported infections since December 28th? Nowhere. And the Herald misses an open goal! They tell us the latest score but neglect to tell us it’s the lowest since last year. What a missed opportunity! Folk would pay for … Continue reading Lowest infection rate since last year missed!

Headlining in the Herald today: THE goal of immunising 400,000 Scots a week against Covid could be derailed unless more is done to cut “ridiculous bureaucratic hold ups” that are leading some would-be vaccinators to quit, clinicians have warned. It turns out ‘clinicians’ is a stretch and it’s only David McColl again. He’s upset about ‘a barrage of paperwork and training modules.’ Here he is in today’s Herald report: Here he is on 1st November 2020: Here he is in the Herald on 26th July 2020: No new up-to-date photo? That was a story where the words ‘only two’ should … Continue reading The same dentist has a moan again -Gimme the money!