There are around 67 000 nurses and midwives in Scotland, 50% more pro rata than in England. There are around 4 400 student nurses and midwives, adding 6.5% to the total staffing. In their first year as full-time staff, they are still training and given limited responsibilities. I’m sure they’ll be a big help but as admissions fall to 877 from a peak of 2 053 in January and as ICU cases fall to the lowest level (56) since December 2020, there is no staffing crisis. Continue reading Not quite an army?

Not a word from BBC Wales as infections (4 469) surge to twice that of Scotland (2 297) despite have only just over half the population. BBC England is similarly disinterested as cases there (32 349) surge to 50% higher than in Scotland pro rata. BBC Scotland? Don’t be daft. Source: https://coronavirus.data.gov.uk/details/cases Continue reading BBC Wales accused of covering-up surge in cases

In a bizarre, toe-curling interview, the BBC reporter pranced and grimaced like a court jester before his highness and we got to hear that his favourite vehicle, an Aston Martin he has owned for 51 years, runs on what he described as “surplus English white wine and whey from the cheese process.” The heir apparently then revealed his empathy for those impatient for action but was not asked about his mum’s climate bill exemption: What a great question that might have been! Continue reading ..with my mum?

In April 2021, responding to a Scottish Government ‘admission’ that they had failed in “understanding the social care sector well enough” and “didn’t take the right precautions” in the early part of the pandemic, Scottish Labour leader and fully-qualified dentist, Anas Sarwar, rehearsed his unconvincing anger on behalf of anyone who he and his lads can convince that the Scottish Government has let them down in a health setting. Readers will remember his fondness for shouting the names of dead children at the First Minister, in TV debates. In April, neither of us seem to have spotted research, posted in … Continue reading Update: Anas Sarwar’s ‘basic common sense’ still wrong on hospital discharges

From SNP Media today: Details published by HM Revenue and Customs show that, from the period ending June 2021, Scottish exports had decreased by 14% in comparison to the previous year – the highest in the UK. England, Wales and Northern Ireland also saw a decline in exports – decreasing by 2.2%, 13% and 6.1% respectively. The overall value of UK trade in goods exports also decreased by 3.5% during the same time period. Scotland’s imports have also fell by 3.9% in comparison to June 2020 – with England’s decreasing by 2.3%, Wales’ by 10%, however Northern Ireland’s rose by 3.8%.  Commenting, the … Continue reading The ‘economic vandalism’ of Brexit

From BBC Scotland, ever the state broadcaster, this morning we hear of: A highland settlement whose population was moved during controversial clearances in the early 19th Century. Rosal in Strathnaver was emptied of its population between 1814 and 1818. Controversial? Like the debate over leaving the EU? Here’s a first-hand account by Donald Macleod, a native of Rosal, of the first Strathnaver clearances in 1814 [while highland soldiers were away in France to face Napoleon], It was known locally as the “year of the burning”. 15,000 people were cleared from the 1.5 million acre estates of the English Duke and … Continue reading Just ‘moved’ or ‘burned out’ during ‘controversial’ or ‘violent’ clearances?

In an interview with the BBC, reported in the Telegraph today, expressing disappointment that only 10% of 12-15 year-olds in England had been vaccinated because of the flawed government strategy of only doing it in schools, Prof Calum Semple OBE said: I can’t step on the toes of the policymakers [but] I do think some flexibility would be great. And I’m sure there are people thinking about it. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/global-health/science-and-disease/englands-slow-vaccine-rollout-children-risks-new-covid-spike/?utm_content=telegraph&utm_medium=Social&utm_campaign=Echobox&utm_source=Twitter#Echobox=1633787996 Really what sort of public intellectual is that? That’s what makes a real prof, challenging lazy uncritical thinking in the public interest, stepping on toes. Compared to Sridhar, Bauld and others … Continue reading Really? English profs ‘can’t step on the toes of policymakers?’

In the Telegraph today: England is vulnerable to a new spike in coronavirus cases because it is taking so long to inoculate children, experts have warned. While Scotland has vaccinated more than a quarter of all 12- to 15-year-olds and several European countries have vaccinated nearly all of them, England has only got first jabs to 10 per cent of the age group nearly a month after receiving the go-ahead. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/global-health/science-and-disease/englands-slow-vaccine-rollout-children-risks-new-covid-spike/?utm_content=telegraph&utm_medium=Social&utm_campaign=Echobox&utm_source=Twitter#Echobox=1633787996 The gap is actually greater than suggested above. Scotland has vaccinated 36% of 12-15 year-olds: https://www.opendata.nhs.scot/dataset/covid-19-vaccination-in-scotland/resource/9b99e278-b8d8-47df-8d7a-a8cf98519ac1 Why has England vaccinated so few? Devi Sridhar, a professor of global public health at … Continue reading History repeats itself as Tories botch vaccine rollout again

The level of new Covid infections is now 50% higher in England, 100% higher in Northern Ireland and 200% higher in Wales than in Scotland. BBC Northern Ireland has reported but has not noted any issue while BBC England and BBC Wales are more excited about Tyson Fury and local violence. This dramatic news is clearly not in the public interest as BBC Scotland busy themselves trying to blame the SNP for gas shortages in a country producing 4 times the supply it consumes. George Foulkes has, I sense, just blamed Nicola Sturgeon for getting the infection rate down on … Continue reading Sturgeon accused of cover-up as infection levels surge everywhere apart from in Scotland

BBC Scotland has no Covid news today and BBC UK has only the above good news. Could BBC Scotland have had this? So, in the last week, Scotland vaccinated around twice as many pro rata as the rest of Rumpuk. Newsworthy? Imagine, England was vaccinating twice as many as Scotland, we’d be lagging behind all over BBC Scotland. Continue reading Scotland’s vaccination rate soars to TWICE that of England!