‘Deep disappointment’ at how Tories treat one of Scotland’s largest and longest-standing industries! By stewartb I see the Scotch Whisky Association (SWA) is having a go at the Tory government following the Chancellor’s Budget announcements! This is quite a change of tune: the SWA has been fulsome in its praise of the Tory government for trade deals post-Brexit – including the one with Australia condemned by many farmers. The SWA is clearly not happy with the Chancellor but what of the Tories in Scotland, what is the SWA’s view of the party’s ‘influential’ leader, Douglas Ross? Might we see an … Continue reading Whisky and the Tories

By stewartb I note the UK Chancellor’s intervention today in local government prioritisation in Scotland! He has announced: ‘£1.5 million funding to repair the Cloddach Bridge’. The bridge is located in Moray: the local MP is Tory leader in Scotland, Douglas Ross. From 10 February this year, on. the Scottish Tory Party’s website we learned: ‘Ross “disappointed” at Cloddach Bridge decision – but vows to explore new funding sources’. Ross asserts that Moray Council ‘do not have funding available for important local projects like this, is the fault of years of savage cuts to local authority budgets by the SNP-Green … Continue reading HM Treasury generously finances local project judged low priority by Moray Council!

Yesterday BBC Birmingham & Black Country told us: An NHS England investigation into claims of a toxic culture at a hospital trust has been described as lacking transparency and undermining trust. The Parliamentary Health Service Ombudsman also said there were “very serious” patient safety issues at University Hospitals Birmingham (UHB). https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-birmingham-64943657 Dark matters from the Black Country? A ‘toxic culture’ and ‘very serious patient safety issues.’ Heads must surely roll. The Health Secretary musty consider their future? Nope. There are no calls and the Health Secretary is not even mentioned. Why should he be mentioned? Day-to-day running is a matter … Continue reading Postcode lottery: How very serious patient safety concerns and a toxic culture is not the responsibility of England’s politicians

The above, from the Telegraph today: More migrants are held in hotels in Kensington than the whole of Scotland, it has emerged, amid Tory anger over the SNP not pulling its weight. Scotland has provided hotel spaces for just 500 migrants compared with 600 currently being housed in Kensington and Chelsea, even though the London borough has a population more than a 30th the size. It is understood that Wales has even fewer migrants in hotels than Scotland. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/03/14/snp-accused-not-pulling-weight-migrants-kensington-offers-hotel/ Don’t the Tories want us to prioritise refugees? The facts: Based on the above UK Government data, there have been 40 … Continue reading Telegraph accused of lying as SNP pulls weight by taking 4 times as many REFUGEES from Ukraine

I’m in before the BBC Scotland researchers and ahead of the press deadlines for tomorrow with this story they’re going to love: The ratio (Scotland:England) of monthly trend rates for wholly attributable deaths slightly increased from the start of the study period until the end of the pre-MUP period (Figure 1), indicating a worsening of wholly attributable deaths rates in Scotland compared to England. https://www.publichealthscotland.scot/media/18005/v1_mup-health-harms-briefing-paper_1004.pdf The headlines tomorrow? SNP drinks policy failure!? Whose side is Public Health Scotland on? None, they will say, we’re scientists. We just report the facts. What did they do? We describe changes over time in … Continue reading Another meaningless attainment gap useful only as fodder for the thick opposition

Long A&E waits and excess deaths – Royal College reveals remarkable, unreported differences across UK! By stewartb Candidly, this is a highly sensitive subject. In advance of what follows, and for the avoidance of doubt, excessively long waits in A&E in Scotland are unwelcome: they need to be eliminated. And ANY and ALL avoidable ‘excess deaths’ are deeply regrettable: the causes need to be eradicated. This blog post summarises new analyses from the Royal College of Emergency Medicine (RCEM) of 12-hour A&E waits in NHS England. It reports the Royal College’s assessment of excess deaths in England that it claims … Continue reading Excess deaths due to long A&E waits almost three times more common in England than in Scotland

Labour across the UK has committed to not increasing taxes to improve public services and protect the vulnerable. Anas Sarwar has joined them on the wagon. Carefully extracting the initial IFS comments on higher taxation for the better off in Scotland, hoping it’s a vote-winner, they ignore these consequences of that taxation, also from the IFS: Scotland has introduced two significant new benefits for families with children: the Scottish child payment (£25 per week) and Best Start grants (three lump-sum payments when children reach a certain age) – targeted at lower-income households. Primarily as a result of these, amongst the poorest … Continue reading Sarwar joins campaign to increase child poverty

Today, just after the Find out Now poll restored a Yes lead for the first time in 9 Nos since early January, Survation find an 8% lead for No and the Times insists the leadership battle is damaging support for the SNP. I can’t see the data tables yet, so I don’t know what the figure is for SNP as opposed to Yes support. Anyhow, like Savanta, Survation is a pollster with a strong tendency to find No support. They found No at 1% and 6% ahead, in the middle of the recent run of Nos, had no survey in … Continue reading Another pollster who rarely says ‘YES?’