In the Herald yesterday: The £10 a week payment for low-income families with children under six has been credited for lowering the need for food banks in Scotland compared to other parts of the UK.  Scotland is the only area of the UK that has seen a marked decrease in the number of emergency food parcels from food banks in the Trussell Trust network in the past six months, compared to the same period in 2019.  https://www.heraldscotland.com/politics/19744574.trussell-trust-scotland-sees-staggering-drop-levels-people-needing-foodbanks/ The data: The Herald report suggests: We see here another clear piece of evidence that the SNP is the only large party in Scotland with a commitment to act … Continue reading Scotland sees staggering drop in levels of people needing foodbanks, due to SNP policies

Writing 11 hours ago, before the Omicron variant’s presence in the UK was spotted and, at that hour presumably using yesterday’s information, the Herald’s health correspondent joins with the Express in an attempt to scare the excrement out of you: Quoted around the same time in the Telegraph, Prof Whitty, the UK Government’s CMO, said the new variant is less worrying than Delta. Writing 6 hours ago: Microbiologist Prof Calum Semple says vaccines are “still likely to protect you from severe disease”. The Omicron coronavirus variant is “not a disaster” and some people may be “hugely overstating the situation”, a … Continue reading Herald tries to have you ‘scared’ about the new variant and ignores Livingston again

The Herald makes no attempt to tell you anything useful, with: SCOTLAND has recorded 17 coronavirus deaths and 2,287 new cases in the past 24 hours, the latest Scottish Government figures show. The death toll under this daily measure – of people who first tested positive for the virus within the previous 28 days – now stands at 9,562. https://www.heraldscotland.com/politics/19746476.covid-scotland-2-200-new-cases-17-deaths-overnight/ 2 287 is down from 2 888 in the previous 24 hours and is the lowest number of cases since November 9th. There are 727 in hospital, down from more than 1 100 in late September and only 53 in ICU, the lowest … Continue reading As new variant arrives in UK infection rate in England soars to twice that in Scotland

Feeding English readers of the Times and the Spectatory with comfortable myths, the notion that Ross and Sarwar are teamed-up is one of his funniest. He writes: For the second week in a row, Douglas Ross used his time at first minister’s questions to ask about crime and Anas Sarwar used his to inquire into the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital’s disagreeable habit of allowing patients to catch deadly infections. And for the second week in a row, Nicola Sturgeon received a drubbing, a doing, a shoeing — call it what you will — that might be more widely remarked upon if … Continue reading Alex Massie still able to fool his bosses that he knows about Scottish Politics

True to form, stupid and exploitative, the Express describes the new Omicron (formerly a wrist watch for Buddhists) as ‘the most worrying’ when it’s not. The Telegraph has CMO England, Chris Whitty, saying the opposite: BBC UK has this: The Omicron Covid variant is “not a disaster” and some people may be “hugely overstating the situation”, a scientist advising the government says. Omicron has been labelled “of concern” by the World Health Organization, and is causing alarm among some scientists. But microbiologist Prof Calum Semple says vaccines are “still likely to protect you from severe disease”. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-59442141 Still no one is … Continue reading Not the most ‘worrying’ Covid variant

From SNP Media Embargoed till 00:01 27th November 2021: Addressing delegates at the SNP’s annual conference today (Saturday) Deputy First Minister John Swinney is expected to say: “We are now seeing a concerted attack on our parliament, from the very people who fought tooth and nail against it being established in the first place. “In a grotesque irony, the Tories are using something that the people of Scotland voted overwhelmingly against – Brexit – to undermine something they voted overwhelmingly for – the Scottish Parliament. “Through the Internal Market Act, The Tories have given themselves unfettered power to decide the rules of the … Continue reading ‘We are now seeing a concerted attack on our parliament’

In the Guardian today: GPs in England have voted in favour of taking limited forms of industrial action to protest against the government’s drive to force them to see patients face to face. The results led the profession’s new leader to warn ministers that “demoralised, broken and exhausted” family doctors may refuse to undertake some normal duties to show their anger. https://www.theguardian.com/society/2021/nov/25/gps-in-england-vote-in-favour-of-industrial-action Why only BMA England? Surely Scotland’s doctors are exhausted too? Their shop steward or ‘chief’, Lewis Morrison is often on the BBC telling us they are, based on no survey or not much of a survey: Could this from 2019 … Continue reading Why are Scottish GPs not voting for industrial action?

According to BBC Health but nowhere on the BBC Scotland website: The Royal College surveyed A&E departments across the UK between 8 and 14 November, receiving responses from 70 of about 230 units. During that week: 94% of clinical directors said that ambulances had been held outside their buildings at some point before patients could be taken into the hospital 61% said ambulances were being forced to queue every day About half of emergency departments said care had been provided to patients in non-medical areas such as corridors every day https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-59422292 For once, I managed to get the data but … Continue reading Royal College fails to find ambulances queuing outside Scottish hospitals

In the Scotsman today: Covid: Vaccine has saved almost 28,000 lives in Scotland, study says Thousands of people in Scotland are still alive today because of the coronavirus vaccine, a new study has said. What, I thought you said they were hiding the vaccine rollout success? They have praised it but have carefully avoided any comparison with, for example, England. Like this in that new study they clearly have looked at: Notice anything. Remember how Johnson brayed about the ‘UK’ world-beating vaccine rollout?’ Remember how he drooled over NHS Scotland’s supposed lack of resilience? Notice anything at the bottom of … Continue reading Scottish newspaper hides Scottish vaccine rollout success

The Herald today strikes fear into our hearts with this on the new Covid variant: They don’t however mention the evidence that the Valneva vaccine developed in Scotland may have the edge to combat new variants, as reported by Al Jazeera, more than two weeks ago: https://www.aljazeera.com/features/2021/11/9/valneva-covid-19-vaccine-why-it-might-be-a-game-changer Continue reading Scottish newspaper unaware of major vaccine developments less than an hour away