Of course, Brexit and the Tories’ hostile environment don’t get a mention. Around 10 000 care workers in Scotland in 2018, were EU nationals, nearly 6% of the workforce. https://www.gov.scot/publications/contribution-non-uk-eu-workers-social-care-workforce-scotland/ BBC Scotland’s report on their website and broadcast last night and perhaps today too, makes no mention of the B word. It does mention that care workers have gone to better pay and conditions jobs, delivery driving and supermarkets – think about that. Amazon? Why are the care services not paying better wages and offering better conditions? We know now that the larger corporate homes were at maximum occupancy and … Continue reading Care staff shortages a Union disbenefit

Only in the TV broadcast at 6pm, reported nowhere on their website, STV tell us: The number of young people waiting more than a year to be seen by mental health services [CAMHS] has doubled in the past 12 months. https://player.stv.tv/episode/46mh/stv-news-glasgow The most recent data from Public Health Scotland is for the quarter ending 30 June 2021 and published on 7 September – not exactly latest news? Here are the data: Look bottom right and note 9.5% waited 53 weeks or more in the quarter ending June 2020 and 9.9% did so in the quarter ending June 2021 – not … Continue reading STV miscalculating or distorting mental health data for a cheap scare story

Reader, Pentlander, has alerted us to bottom feeding by the BBC news flounders to turn this into an anti-French narrative where we are loyal to the UK, regardless of the facts: BBC are not telling us that Macduff Shellfish is a subsidiary of Clearwater, a company from Nova Scotia. A search on the internet shows pictures of the trawler as a Grimsby boat back in 2011. It seems to get around a bit. Indeed GY in big figures on its bow is the first and last letters of that port. Also, Macduff have previous in being where they shouldn’t be: … Continue reading UPDATE: BBC Scotland trawling illegally for the UK with a Canadian boat?

From SNP Media: The SNP has said Scottish pensioners are being hammered by Tory cuts and broken promises – as new analysis shows pensioners will be £2,600 worse off on average because Rishi Sunak scrapped the Triple Lock on state pensions at the UK Budget. Analysis from former UK Pensions Minister Sir Steve Webb shows pensioners will lose £520 next year, and a cumulative £2600 over the next five years, as a result of the decision to scrap the Triple Lock. With the OBR forecasting inflation will rise by over 4%, it means millions of pensioners could end up with a … Continue reading Scottish pensioners hammered by Tory cuts and broken promises

A committee of MPs has lambasted the UK government’s approach to nature, saying it is failing to stem huge losses of plants and species. Their report says that the UK has the lowest remaining levels of biodiversity among the world’s richer nations. The MPs say the government spends far more on exploiting the natural environment than it does conserving it. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-57655098 Continue reading Eco-friendly and eco-unfriendly farts?

As the Covid case rates soar to 850 per 100K in parts of West Wales, Hywel Dda University Health Board said visitors would only be allowed with prior arrangement in some instances, such as end of life and critical visits. The rate in Scotland is currently 45 per 100K. No health board representative, no Government politician (Labour), are called upon to comment. The soaring infection rates are not blamed on government pandemic measures. The clear implication is that the people are to blame. In Scotland when a health board is responsible for a decision: Continue reading No calls for resignations as cases in West Wales soar to TWENTY times Scottish average and Welsh health board bans visitors?

Hi John, You may have heard the phrase ‘journalism in the public interest’ – which is often mis-used by The Ferret and other media. This means we pretend to work in your interest but more the Scottish Labour Party, at all times and think long and hard, after consulting Unionist politicians, about the issues we should investigate. Our aim is to bring negative change by exposing the SNP. Last week, for example, we published our How Green is Scotland? SNP hatchet job, with the pro-Union corporate Herald which distorted a range of environmental issues and ignored any positive ones, including … Continue reading My Ferret Newsletter needed correction

Scotland’s weekly increase in new Covid cases has fallen to 22nd in the world, with Wales, England and Northern Ireland still charting strongly. On deaths, Scotland is 34th, below Wales and Northern Ireland, and falling toward that of England’s unreliable data. On vaccinations, we’re 18th, ahead of Wales on 21, well ahead of England on 27 and Northern Ireland on 33rd. Scotland’s media are not covering this but are worrying about a Covid surge, they wish, after COP26. Continue reading Scotland drops out of TOP TWENTY!

In this typically Anglocentric BBC report today, England is only mentioned once so you might be excused for thinking that the 400 000 discharges of raw sewage into rivers, due to heavy rain, included Scotland. It doesn’t. On the 3rd of August 2021, BBC Scotland, informed us: The number of recorded sewage spills in Scotland’s rivers and seas has increased by 40% over the last five years, new figures show. The figures the utility firm does have show that last year there were a total of 12,725 “spill events” – up 40% on 2016. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-58040852 Note that grudging ‘the figures … Continue reading England dumping sewage into rivers more than THREE times more often than Scotland

Thanks to that early bird @msm_monitor for drawing my attention to these data. England has ten times the population but was doing less than 10 times the booster jags on 15th October. Other than the 16th and the 23rd, Scotland has done more, pro rata, than England. On the 25th, Scotland did, pro rata, 40-50% more than England. And, cumulatively, two things. One, we’ve still done more pro rata. Two, they were counting third jabs to the vulnerable which were not boosters which explains how they supposedly started before the JCVI guidelines could be adopted. Continue reading Scotland has been doing more booster jags and many more for 8 out of 10 days!