In quite a long interview with Glen Campbell, we see: Prof Skea, who was born in Dundee and went to Edinburgh University, is a member of the bureau of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and the UK government’s Committee on Climate Change. He was also chair of the Scottish government’s Just Transition Commission, which looked at how to fairly manage the move to greener ways of living. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-58928933 Strangely, we hear/read nothing of the latter activity. You’d think Glen would have asked him how well that is going? Maybe he did but the answer wasn’t for us to … Continue reading Will Scotland’s ‘exemplary’ climate change progress get a mention?

The Observer reports: Doctors are warning that accident and emergency departments are on the “edge of a precipice”, with patients forced to wait in ambulances for up to 11 hours outside hospitals. Paramedics across Britain have reported up to 20 ambulances queuing outside hospitals to transfer patients into emergency departments operating at full capacity.  https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2021/oct/16/ae-crisis-leaves-patients-waiting-in-ambulances-outside-hospitals-for-11-hours They do say ‘across Britain’ but the 7 examples they give are all in England. And yet, Scotland’s media talk confidently of a crisis in A&E, ambulance delays and the British Army coming to save us. I thought I’d try to help BBC Scotland find … Continue reading BBC Scotland cannot find images of patients waiting outside A&E departments

Robert Kilgour, above, clearly knows what is coming, as investigators pore over the evidence of malpractice in the private care homes – overcrowding, understaffing, failed infection control and reliance on agency staff. Kilgour’s campaigning began as far back April 2020 when he criticised a pay rise for staff and we discovered his Tory donations and role in the No campaign. Continue reading Private care home owner group sense the danger

So, our NHS is in trouble? The evidence? 50% more nurses and midwives than England, significantly more GPs and consultants. Nearly twice as many beds and admissions falling way below the February peak. Far lower total infection and death rates. Higher vaccination rates and far higher for teenagers. No surge in cancer deaths. Less than 2% of surgery postponed due to resources reasons. A&E performance far better that England and far far better than Wales. The buck for all the above stops with the SNP? Letter writer Richard Richardson seems to be a professional freedom of information request writer with … Continue reading Our NHS is NOT in trouble because of SNP decisions

I suppose with its shrinking audience, that formerly ‘throbbing organ’ of news, the Herald, just doesn’t like to be reminded of its own flaccid state but, really, is this really cringey? Just human, normal? I’d laugh. The old ones are the old ones? The herald writer’s partner is challenged? Continue reading Herald wins ‘sad award of the year’

I know, the corporate media always put the attraction of readers and online clicks, before accurate public information, though they like to pretend the opposite. Health correspondents seem particularly prone to the scare story. For good scientific reasons there was uncertainty about the safety of vaccines for pregnant women and their babies. It takes time to gather enough data to make a safe recommendation. Does McCardle suggest experts should have just recommended a practice they could not support with hard evidence? Had we now data revealing more deaths among the vaccinated pregnant women, imagine the Herald’s headline. What evidence does … Continue reading Was the increased ICU care of pregnant women in the Delta wave a good sign, saving lives?

On the 12th, Scottish Conservative transport spokesman Graham Simpson, left, fed the Telegraph this, on the attempts by the Scottish Government to prevent strikes during the UK Government’s hosting of COP26 in Glasgow: Simpson said: Nicola Sturgeon and her SNP government are clearly feeling the pressure of Cop26 looming with strikes set to take place. This is a last-ditch attempt to redeem themselves. Passengers will see through this façade. The SNP appear to have suddenly found the money to avoid an embarrassment on the world stage, but have been unwilling to do the same for passengers who have suffered months … Continue reading It only takes a day or two for the Tory mind to jump track

Hospital admissions are falling from more than 1 000 in September to 900 yesterday and way below the more than 2 000 in February. Staff absences have fallen for several weeks and are also far below the peaks. Infection levels have been plummeting for weeks to the lowest level in the UK by some way and vaccination levels are the highest in the UK. So far, we’ve had soldiers doing, at best, 1% of vaccinations in June, driving 1.8% of non-emergency only ambulances in September, and now we hear that 86 personnel will boost NHS Scotland’s staffing of 160 000 … Continue reading 0.05% more staff? It’s just not convincing

I hesitate to comment on just what is happening in Wales, but Scotland remains the only part of the UK where new Covid cases continue to fall despite events such as the recent Scotland match watched in thousands of pubs and currently putting one of my progeny in strict isolation. Scotland’s leading vaccination programme will have been at least a part of this. Continue reading Covid cases falling only in Scotland

Wolverhampton South East MP Pat McFadden has not called for the UK Health Secretary to resign despite ‘About 43,000 people in England and Wales may have been wrongly told their Covid-19 test was negative because of errors at a private laboratory.‘ How many Covid deaths are now due to unsuspecting folk going home convinced it was safe to hug their granny? Wolverhampton’s other two, Tory, MPs are silent and no politician is blamed in the report. Regulars know what is coming next. From BBC Scotland in November 2020: So, with an error of a less serious nature, in Scotland, it’s … Continue reading Wolverhampton MP does not call for heads to roll