Statement by Mike Russell Problems for Scottish companies ‘multiplying’ in first four weeks.The scale of the damage caused to Scottish businesses as a result of the UK Government’s Brexit deal has been set out by Europe and External Affairs Secretary Michael Russell. In a statement to parliament Mr Russell said companies had been left ‘toothless’ following the UK Government’s move to make itself – deliberately and permanently – a third country with a more distant, more expensive and less advantageous trading arrangement with its former EU partners.Mr Russell said the Scottish Government would continue to do all it could to … Continue reading Mike Russell: Scotland’s ‘Brexit disaster’

A BBC Scotland reporter doing such a job on a UK Tory leader is a rare thing so we find it difficult to explain but it’s worth preserving here given the treatment it is likely to get at the hands of the Reporting Scotland editor, tonight. Michael Gove: Vaccination and Brexit GMS: Wednesday 03 February 2021: 08m10 Presenter: Gary Robertson Well let’s speak to the Cabinet Office Minister, Michael Gove who joins us now. Good morning to you. Michael Gove Good morning, Gary. How are you? Presenter I’m good, thank you. This offer of help in the vaccination programme, have … Continue reading Robertson vs Gove: The Full Transcript

It’s no wonder that Michael Gove would not admit to how many care home residents have actually been vaccinated when told that Scotland had done 98%. At the end of 2020 and until the 10th of January, the reported number of confirmed and suspected Covid-related deaths was actually slightly higher in Scottish care homes but then things began to change. In the week ending the 17th January, the level was the same, 1341 in England and 137 in Scotland. England has 10 times the population. However, in the following seven days there were 2 364 cases in England and only … Continue reading 2 000 dead: The price of england’s ‘world-beating’ vaccine strategy

This anonymous reported pushed into the headlines is classic tabloid journalism. If you haven’t got a story, make one one up. We read: The chief executive of Glasgow and Aberdeen airports criticised the Scottish government for not involving the industry in its discussions. Derek Provan insisted there had been “no engagement” over policies which have now “completely shut down our airports”. And only then: The Scottish government said work was ongoing on the details, and it “will obviously talk to the aviation sector” before announcing its final plans. Provan is a just a rentagob who regularly leaps or is pushed … Continue reading Scottish government says work ongoing and will talk to airports before announcing final plans

Have we made some basic error giving the vaccine to too many care home residents? I mean 98%, do they really need that much? I know, let’s send the British Army in to take blood from them, if they have any, and use it to inject younger folk in the poorer areas? I bet the Europeans haven’t thought of that! Now what other help can they give us? Well, we haven’t killed as many overall. We haven’t infected anywhere near as many. Hospital acquired infections are far lower than in England. Could the armed forces herd together infected folk and … Continue reading Can you take the vaccine back from the old folk?

It’s all about choices. The editor and the senior reporters at Pacific Quay know what to do, what to choose. Sensing the scavenger breath of the Scottish Tories on their necks and knowing how best to get on, in this state broadcaster, they don’t even consider these two key facts which the public has a right to know: Yesterday, NHS England did 20% fewer vaccinations than Scotland. NHS Scotland is behind England because it has now vaccinated 98% of care home residents. We still don’t have reliable data from NHS England. Already, deaths in English care homes are surging to … Continue reading Reporting Scotland in full propaganda mode on vaccine roll-out

From Wallace Lockhart, setting us up for the FM Briefing at 2.15 pm today: When we look at comparisons with UK neighbours, it does appear there is a slight gap growing between Scotland and other nations. He then went on to use the overall figures, for all over-16s, to reveal us to be behind. Clearly he didn’t know or didn’t want to know about the last 24 hours. From the UK Government website, the number of vaccinations done in the last 24 hours: For the umpteenth time, England has ten times the population so, if they were going as fast … Continue reading LATEST: NHS England does 20% fewer jags than Scotland in last 24 hours!

I don’t, I’m sure, need to remind you of the current SNP media pile-on using supposed failures to roll-out vaccinations as quickly as the supplies become available. Since the beginning of the year, we’ve read of thousands of doses unused after being allocated. Sometimes, from alternative media sources, we discover that ‘allocated’ supplies might still be in a warehouse in England or still on the road somewhere. Going by the headlines, you’d think all was going smoothly elsewhere in the UK, so this New Statesman report, four days ago, is intriguing: Data released inadvertently suggests millions of vials of vaccine … Continue reading UK Vaccine Shambles as 10 MILLION doses languish in warehouses

The headline is a clear lie. This was a survey of pupils’ feelings, not of the actual results of their time in school, in terms progression to further educational or career opportunities. I appreciate that the researchers did not write the headline but they were no doubt keen for the publicity and approached the Herald with the bad news they knew they’d like. There’s no account of the research methods in the Herald report but it’s in the University of Dundee press release minus, of course, the wording of the questions they put to 16/17 year-olds. In total, 1044 senior … Continue reading Untrue! FAIL

Here’s the thing. On the rollout to those not living in care homes, Scotland is behind England. Why? As readers know, we followed the JCVI advice and spent much of our energy getting the difficult task of vaccinating the most vulnerable done. It’s 98% done. It will never be 100% done. Some residents cannot be done for health reasons. NHS England has sent another letter offering to get it done by the 15th February. They’re not done. Based on their record so far, they won’t be done then either. When Scotland was putting in the effort to save lives in … Continue reading BREAKING: Scotland IS falling behind England