From Public Health Scotland today, on babies with a serious congenital condition. You can see the figures begin to climb as the Tory austerity policies began to kick in. In 2015, the Scottish Government announced a plan for government with the following statement: We will create a fairer country. We will promote a proper living wage, fair work and use new powers to improve the welfare system, mitigating some of the worst impacts of the UK Government’s cuts. https://www.gov.scot/publications/programme-government-2015-16/ In 2019 alone, £100 million was been spent to mitigate the effects of UK Government austerity. Social Security Secretary Shirley-Anne Somerville said: We … Continue reading Scottish Government mitigations reducing birth defects

From Public Health Scotland (PHS), information on Hospital Standardised Mortality Ratios (HSMRs) for the period October 2017 to September 2022. Should any hospital have a higher mortality rate than that predicted, you would see a blue dot for it on or above the upper red line in the chart below. None has. Notably, given the repeated attempts by opposition parties and their friends in the media to portray it as failing, Glasgow’s QEUH (extreme right blue dot) continues to perform, based on hard evidence and not Anas Sarwar’s shouty comments on TV, as one of the safest in the country. Continue reading Glasgow’s super-hospital continues to be one of safest

Leah Gunn Barrett In the Scotsman on 6 February 2022: My response not published: Martin O’Gorman is wrong again. Inflation doesn’t automatically occur when a government spends more on productive areas of the economy that enhance the wellbeing of its people like the NHS, education, or a green new deal.  After WWII, John Maynard Keynes demonstrated that when the Attlee Labour government increased public spending in health, education, housing, transport and energy, private investment was generated to meet the additional demand. The result was robust growth and full employment, the ‘golden age’ of the post-war UK economy that was emulated … Continue reading Letters they don’t print – Inflation doesn’t automatically occur when a government spends more

I can see no hard evidence of a further surge at the moment, in published data, but I’d be surprised if it isn’t there when we get the 2022/2023 data later in the year. Recent reports of a surge in hate crimes against the transgender community are largely based on the figures for 2021-2022 , preceding the worst of the media/Tory feeding frenzy we’ve seen in the last few months. Will it have been worth it in anyway? Well, if you’re kind of human, clearly not, but if your deepest desire is to weaken the SNP and the FM, regardless … Continue reading Poll reveals increased attacks on trans people have been worth it for some creeps

England & Wales have roughly 11 times the population yet all forms of reported hate crime are higher in England & Wales. Most strikingly, race-based offences, in 2022, were three times more common and transgender cases five times more so. I dread to think how the trans gap may have narrowed after this disgusting politicising and demonising of the transgender community and the First Minister by our deeply cynical and amoral opposition and their media pals. Sources: Continue reading Hate crime running at up to five times higher in non-Scottish parts of UK

I was alerted to the above by reader Dorothy (Dotties Phone) in a tweet by always Anglocentric Dr Deepti Gurdasani, saying: For those who think the UK is an incredibly ‘tolerant’ and inclusive place and what happened in Knowsley isn’t representative, please look at the hate crime stats over the past few years. They don’t paint a picture of ‘tolerance’ and inclusivity. https://mobile.twitter.com/dgurdasani1 I couldn’t help but remember that the trends in Scotland are, in some aspects, down: I’m hoping the increase regarding disability reflects great confidence in reporting. As for the increases in sexual orientation and transgender identity offences, … Continue reading Hate crime drops in Scotland as it surges elsewhere

You’d be forgiven for thinking that these two would have little in common given their writing about Scottish independence in the past, but men’s troubles have clearly brought them together to fight a common enemy – the SNP, Nicola and those trans folk who, for some reason still to be admitted, have them anxious and angry. Today in the Herald, Tom Gordon surprises us with: Influential? In January 2021, Stu wrote: Agreeing with Tom Gordon from the Herald is a position that we really don’t like to find ourselves in, readers. But we can’t find fault with a single word … Continue reading Tom Gordon and the Rev Stu Campbell long-term buddies?

10 or more explanatory reports here: https://talkingupscotlandtwo.com/?s=child+poverty Continue reading Child poverty across the UK – a picture tells the story of 15 years of SNP government