In the National yesterday: Scotland’s national clinical director has described how the country’s Covid-19 case rate is “dramatically falling”. Speaking to the BBC‘s Today programme, Professor Jason Leitch said: “We had five out of the top 10 local authorities in the UK, now we have none in the top 150. He’s correct, look at this fall to almost the lowest rate, starting 26 days ago: Note, he’s speaking to a UK radio show, not BBC Scotland, but look at those jumping out headlines. In any normal media world, journalists would pounce on those words from a national clinical director, no less, and … Continue reading Do case rates falling fast make no sound on Pacific Quay?

Alex Massie doesn’t understand. There’s a line that isn’t a first but, in this case, his lack of understanding and the conclusions he draws are more wrong than ever. Massie went to private boys boarding school, Glenalmond College in Perthshire and was ‘educated’ (degree subject not mentioned) at Trinity College, Dublin. Despite this, he seems not to have read any of the research on the nature and the reasons for Scotland’s current high drug death rate and simply accepts that the current party of government is responsible for everything including phenomena that may, on further investigation, have longer roots, going … Continue reading Researchers show Scots CAN blame decades of Tory/Labour policies and not SNP for its drug death toll

BBC Wales tell us that an asthma sufferer died despite the efforts of her family who made three 999 calls for an ambulance. There is no mention of any politician, far less the Welsh Health Secretary or the First Minister, anywhere in the report. The opposition Conservatives and Plaid Cymru make no call for any resignations. But in Scotland, in 2019, when the Health Secretary does not make public the details of a child death in a hospital because of patient confidentiality, we see this: The contrasting manner of reporting of BBC Wales and BBC Scotland is one of the … Continue reading BBC Wales fails to politicise health tragedy again

(Long Read) By stewartb This is prompted by an earlier blog post on TuS entitled ‘The Daily Record blaming Nicola and failing to inform on drug deaths’. That article contains the evidence which should end the recycling of context-free ‘SNPbad’ charges over drugs but just like A&E waiting times, PISA education scores, pigeon droppings and many more topics besides, of course it won’t! Regrettably neither will this contribution but let’s come at the subject on a different track anyway – for information and interest! One is mindful when making comparisons between UK nations of risking the charge of whataboutism. However, … Continue reading Tory government and drugs policy: no legal reform for England, no devolved powers for Scotland, so no reform in Scotland – life in the ‘suck it up’ Union!

Long thought to be one of the blunter pencils in the Tory pencil box, Annie Wells has apparently told ‘The SNP’ to ‘get a grip after figures show worst A& E waiting times since 2018.’ I’ve just watched the FM’s tired but funny response to the lack of intelligence shown by members of the opposition parties and journalists in assessing the vaccination rollout figures for the 40-49 year-olds, so Wells’ lack of grey matter is just more of the same. So, 78.7% of 26 193 attendances in the week-ending 18 July 2021 were seen in 4 hours. In the previous … Continue reading Annie Wells told to go back to school

Tokyo’s population is 14 million. They had 2 848 cases yesterday. The UK has a population of 66.65 million, 4.8 times higher. It had 25 000 cases yesterday, 8.8 times more. Might that put the situation in Tokyo into perspective? Might this graph put the wider situation in Japan into perspective? Remember the BBC TV images from these other places where the virus was causing havoc? Continue reading No context in Tokyo

In that home of at best coolness re independence, Insider, we read: Business activity has risen in Scotland as the wider economy continues to reopen. The Addleshaw Goddard Scottish Business Monitor, published in partnership with the University of Strathclyde’s Fraser of Allander Institute, indicates optimism about the volume of business, employment levels and turnover over the next six months. More than 500 Scottish firms responded to the survey, and the proportion of businesses which have somewhat or very high confidence that they will continue trading through the next six months, has risen from 82.6% in the final quarter of 2020 to 91.8% … Continue reading 92% of hospitality businesses confident of survival after learning to combine all sorts of tables

This is an old one, answered many times before. The Record View (16?) knows nothing it seems of the city it inhabits. Why are they so wrong about drug deaths in Scotland? Three reasons: Drug deaths statistics are counted differently across the UK. This spike in deaths is largely among older addicts, know as the Trainspotting Generation and they are the victims of Tory economic policies, NOT Nicola, in the 1980s. The Scottish Government has beaten the waiting time targets for drug treatment. Drug deaths are counted differently in Scotland and England: The statistics come from a source which compares … Continue reading The Daily Record blaming Nicola and failing to inform on drug deaths

Typically disinterested in anything that some might perceive as good work by that SNP Scottish Government, the Scotsman ignores the fact that we have the lowest infection rate in the UK and digs furiously for something they might get you worried about. They miss this: Most of Scotland is almost free of the virus. Note the contrast with the North of England where Labour mayors run the show. Here’s the first page of the data with the top 17 most infected areas: Here’s the 18th page of 17 areas. Midlothian is in at 301st most infected area. Notice the Midlothian … Continue reading Covid Scotland: Here are the 300 areas with higher Covid rates than anywhere in Scotland

Again, in the wake of the the early-bird(s) at MSM Monitor, I have something to add to their excellent alert. Stephen Montgomery, Bar Steward and GMS regular go-to-guy for undermining the Scottish Government’s pandemic strategy, is well known to us at TuS. In April, on one of his earlier forays with BBC Scotland: In the wake of the Herald headlining their campaign for ‘Eating out, dying out’, BBC Scotland have headlined the need for Scotland to copy England’s approach to pandemic control by opening pubs earlier. Here he is in few of his media appearances: Stephen Montgomery, who owns the … Continue reading Good Morning Scotland! It’s our regular alcohol consumption pusher!