As with the Herald, we see the usual pro-Union knee-jerk selection of an image of a senior SNP politician to frame a health story. So, so different from the negative framing of working-class trade unions like the NUM or the RMT back in the 80’s, the GP reps are platformed uncritically, evidence-free, to undermine a major SNP Government programme. Remember, Scotland’s has far more GPs per head than England – 76 per 100K compared to only 58 per 100K. If they can’t cope with a bit more F2F, like they did only just over a year ago, what hope is … Continue reading Scotsman turns SNP £1bn package into Sturgeon vs GPs conflict

Here’s the Herald, today, picking out one hospital and selecting one or two cases from hundreds to imply a wider crisis and, as only the Scottish media do, putting a politician in the frame. Remember the Herald’s claim? This falls well short of ‘trusted’ or ‘quality.’ What are readers to make of A&E in their area from such selective sensationalism? Don’t go? Take a chance? Here’s a more useful, informative and trusted piece of information: In July 2021 (most recent comparable data) NHS Scotland saw 80% in 4 hours or less, compared to only 67% in NHS England. Some Welsh … Continue reading The Herald’s rotten cherry picking and politicising of the NHS

Some of us will remember how the transition from heavy traditional industries to newer technologies in the 1980s was handled by the Tory regime of Margaret Thatcher – sudden mass unemployment, destroyed communities and a legacy of drug and alcohol abuse still with us today. The oil money used to pay the costs. Today, 40 years later, as the oil industry enters its last days, the Scottish Government soon to be joined by Green Party ministers, ignores the Tory/Telegraph accusations of ‘extremism’ targeted at the Greens and does what they should have done had they cared about anyone, invests in … Continue reading Scotland’s ‘extremist’ coalition government moderates Thatcher economics

From BBC Northern Ireland: A review of the work of a former locum consultant radiologist in the Northern Trust has, so far, identified discrepancies in a total of 43 cases. The trust says six of these are at the most serious level, and could have had “immediate and significant clinical impact” on patients. A full lookback review of 13,030 radiology images began in June. It came after the General Medical Council raised concerns about the locum consultant radiologist’s work. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-58329138 Who is to blame? The trust’s medical director, Seamus O’Reilly, explains what happened but is not accused of anything. Richard Pengelly, … Continue reading Once more no calls for heads

In the week-ending 1st August (most recent data) 7 850 patients were reported for Covid. Only 1, one, had been infected in a hospital. That’s an astonishing performance in infection control across 279 hospitals. This data is hardly ever reported. BBC Scotland’s Lisa Summers will tweet excitedly if the graph goes up at all. At this level, the only way is up. Watch for it. NHS England deals with this by not reporting at all but a study published in Hospital Healthcare Europe suggested a figure of 10% over the first wave: https://hospitalhealthcare.com/covid-19/over-1-in-10-covid-19-infections-were-hospital-acquired/embed/#?secret=U9pV1osZUKAdvertisements Continue reading Only 1 out of 7 850 Covid cases was picked up in hospital

I wondered how long they would take. 3 days. 3 days ago, infection levels in Scotland caught up and surpassed for the first time in two months, those in England. The Herald has not asked why they were so low, the lowest in the UK, for most of the pandemic, nor for that matter why they are currently far lower than in Northern Ireland. Perhaps the most important questions never asked are based on these facts: Why has Scotland had the lowest overall infection rate? Why has Scotland had the second lowest overall death rate? Why has Scotland vaccinated more … Continue reading Why were Covid cases in Scotland so low compared to England for almost all of the pandemic?

I am/was a prof so my opinion counts, on anything at all. I like Janey Godley. She makes me laugh so she must be a good comedian too but she’s wrong on this. Connolly was very funny at first but soon lost touch with us, started sounding a bit Kelvinside and then began to despise our smallness, our ‘pretendy wee parliament.’ Boyle is the sharpest tool in any box. This is the man who, after the referendum, told a crowd, that he knew more than half of them were cnuts. This is the man who, wondering how we might teach … Continue reading ‘Funny’ prof says ‘Boyle far better than Connolly’

You might think the BBC’s practice of shielding child rapists and abusers was a thing of the past, a legacy of the Saville era, but they remain protective to this day. In the above report today, you’ll find no mention of the fact that Anthony Hampton is a Tory. Indeed I had to do a bit of scouring the press to find out, though I had guessed it to be likely. In April 2020: See him, down at the bottom? Hidden away and not one mention of his party allegiance anywhere in the BBC reporting. I searched for a sign … Continue reading BBC still hiding Tory child sex abusers

By stewartb For regular visitors to this site, that question will seem odd – and redundant! But it has just been asked. I stumbled across it a few weeks ago in a headline in The Telegraph (15 July) above an article written by former Scottish Labour MP Tom Harris. We’re given Harris’ answer upfront: ‘Only if he ignores the hard-Left’.  Locating his piece, Harris adds: ‘Labour has a chance to establish a presence in Northern Ireland, and unequivocally reject the pro-unification SDLP’.  The background of course is the longstanding comradely relationship between the UK Labour Party which doesn’t stand candidates … Continue reading ‘Can Keir Starmer make Labour a truly Unionist party?’ – long read

Reporting Scotland’s grudging report on the Scottish Government’s clear promise to have a judge-led independent review into all aspects of the pandemic, months ahead of the UK Government, allows an ambulance-chasing, disreputable solicitor representing a small group of families to cast doubt on the Scottish Government’s attitude to the families. We are told: A prominent (sic) solicitor in Scotland acting on behalf of members of what is know as the Covid Bereaved Families for Justice Group (how many?) has welcomed the inquiry but says it must be an independent panel and leave no stone unturned. He also said families must … Continue reading ‘Sturgeon’ promised that more than three months ago!