From Survation with a poll of 1682 in the UK and a sub-set of 157 Scots for 26-27 October: UK: Con 26.8% Lab 51.2% Scotland: Con: 12% Lab 27.8% SNP 54.4% https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opinion_polling_for_the_next_United_Kingdom_general_election Signs perhaps of a partial, post Sunak, Con recovery at 30% in England but little sign of either a Labour surge or a Con recovery in Scotland. This follows People Polling on 26 October with 99 Scots, which had Labour at 37% (51% in UK) but Cons at only 7% with SNP at 47%: https://peoplepolling.org/tables/202210_GBN_W43_full.pdf#subsection*.12 Techne, also on the 26-27 October, do not have a Scottish sub-poll. Small … Continue reading Another sub-poll casts doubt on Labour surge post Sunak in Scotland as SNP hit 54%

From BBC Health today: On Friday 21 October, Cameron Stone, 20, arrived at Gloucestershire Royal Hospital by car after being referred by his GP. He had been unable to keep food and drink down for a week and was dehydrated with a painful abdomen. “A&E was chaotic – more like a supermarket queue than a hospital,” said his mother, Debbie Barnfield. Cameron was put on a drip in A&E. Ten hours later he was moved to a small side room with other patients and given a reclining chair on which to spend the night. “He was absolutely shattered and had … Continue reading ‘I wouldn’t bring a member of my family to this [English] hospital,’ says medic but neither local Tory MP nor Labour opposition are interested

IMAGE: ADOBE STOCK From increasingly ‘regular’ contributor, Alasdair, definitely not George, Galloway For me, this started from watching ‘Politics Today’ (BBC2) on Wednesday 20th October (Truss’s final PMQs). You can find it here https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m001d98k/politics-live-19102022. There is no need to sit through the whole thing. The part I am interested in – a rant by the then Northern Ireland Minister, Steve Baker – comes toward the end, starting at 1 hour and 31 minutes. His argument is that since the National Insurance Act 1911 (not a typo – 1911!) there has been “100 years of reckless spending promises that couldn’t be … Continue reading Really Angry!

BBC Scotland, followed no doubt by the ‘Scottish’ newspapers tomorrow, has headlined this as a crisis for the SNP Government as 7 SNP MSPs voted against ‘Scottish government plans to make it easier for someone to change their legally-recognised gender.’ Whether or not these plans are justifiable or not is clearly a controversial matter but the media coverage is simple. The SNP was divided, as were the Conservatives, where Jamie Greene and Sandesh Gulhane voted in favour. Only Scottish Labour, who whipped to support the legislation, recorded no votes against, making them the party most supportive of the legislation. Watch … Continue reading Will women’s groups condemn ‘whipped’ Scottish Labour for their undivided support of gender recognition plans?

One of the Scotsman’s dafter headlines today suggesting that Police Scotland might rely on England. I’ll be quick. Crime: In the year ending June 2022, the police in Scotland recorded 285,974 crimes. This was 5% lower than the 300,747 crimes recorded in the year ending June 2021, and 5% lower than the 301,376 crimes recorded in the year ending June 2018.https://www.gov.scot/news/recorded-crime-in-scotland-year-ending-june-2022/#:~:text=In%20the%20year%20ending%20June,the%20year%20ending%20June%202018. In England & Wales in the year ending March 2022 overall crime returned to and exceeded pre-coronavirus pandemic levels. The 6.3 million crimes recorded was 4% higher compared with the year ending March 2020. https://www.gov.scot/news/crime-almost-halved-over-the-decade/ All things being equal, … Continue reading Reliance on England: With half the crime and 50% more officers?

Scotland’s largest health union has suspended its strike ballot of NHS staff and is consulting on a revised pay offer. The Scottish government made a fresh proposal on Friday that would see a hike of £2,205 per worker. Unison has announced it will suspend plans to ballot its members on industrial action to consider the deal. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-63406877 Good news for NHS Scotland, reassurance for worried patients and relatives, and headlines for BBC Scotland, the Herald, the Scotsman and the Daily Record? Maybe. In England, lives are still at risk, so it’s the prominent story: It’s the same in Wales but BBC Wales, … Continue reading SNP Government make breakthrough on Unison strike threat but you’d never know it

The Herald today has a classic example of the selective use and description of statistics to get a story, to malign a health board and to accuse government of failure to recruit nurses. Let’s start with the facts. The Herald headlines: Nurses are resorting to whistleblowing channels to highlight staff shortages in Scotland’s biggest health board, as unions warn the national picture is “critical”. The number of employee complaints investigated by NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde has doubled this year, figures show. Then this: Figures show the health board investigated 29 whistleblower complaints from April 2021-2022, with 14 related to hospitals, nine designated … Continue reading Fake news on Glasgow NHS whistleblowers

Scotland’s National Dailies current sales. Scotland’s National Sundays current sales. In 2015 after they had fully embraced the Union and mounted a campaign to steal independence with a programme of fear based on lies: In 2015, the Scotsman was at 25 000 and the Herald was at 35 000: https://dailybusinessgroup.co.uk/2015/08/scots-newspaper-sales-take-further-hit/ Quartered and thirded! TuS gets between 1 000 and 2 000 readers per day with a staffing of less than one old guy and two occasional volunteers. Many use ‘decimated‘ casually but to pedants like me that’s just a titchy, 1 in 10 or 10% cut when as you can … Continue reading Scotland’s Unionist newspapers: Not just decimated but redigendum uno dimidium

From Redfield & Wilton today with a sample of 2 000 including 180 Scots, when asked ‘Which issues would most determine how you would vote in a General Election, if there were to be one tomorrow? You may select up to three’ , 60 of the Scots chose the 16th and last in the list, ‘Scottish Independence/The Union.‘ None of the Welsh sub-set of 100 were interested and only 16 in England chose it. The big two for all groups were the Economy and Health with Education and Taxation next. We don’t, of course know why these choices were made. … Continue reading In England only 1 in 125 care much if Scotland leaves the Union. In Wales it’s SFA

Throughout 2020 and into 2021, Scottish Labour tastelessly weaponised the inevitable reductions in cancer treatment, especially surgery, to protect vulnerable patients from a deadly virus. The ‘tsunami of cancer deaths‘ featured in multiple headlines as Scottish Labour flaunted their faux compassion. Some time ago, I wondered when this wave might appear in the NRS mortality data. It seemed not to but my attempts to get an answer from medics and researchers were met with silence. I guess they feared being associated with the notion that some, at least, cancer surgery or other treatment is not saving lives. The most recent … Continue reading Contrary to Labour scare-mongering there was no tsunami, not even a ripple, of cancer deaths after treatment cuts