It’s only a sub-poll of 104, among a sequence putting support usually around 50%, but it’s the most recent and worth keeping in mind for subsequent polls as the Brexit disaster news emerges more fully. Based on 104, 18+ adults on the 14th -15th January, with the Opinium results from 6/7 January and 16/17 December in brackets: Con: 27% (31, 27) Lab: 9% (13, 21) Lib Dem: 0% (1, 3) SNP: 62% (52, 43) That’s only 3 sub-polls but there’s at least a bit of a trend there. Continue reading Opinium poll puts SNP up at 62% and Lib Dems sheepish at ZERO!

At times like this, The British Broadcasting Corporation likes to remind British subjects, living in Scotlandshire, of what they owe to ‘our boys.’ Telling the same story, the Herald, to be fair, called them ‘The Army.’ No doubt, I’ll be accused of over-reacting. Choosing to refer to them as the ‘British Army‘ as you would if they were in Afghanistan as opposed to Alford, doesn’t mean anything, does it? Researchers have shown that our unconscious makes decisions before our consciousness can think and that it then often rationalises the choices retrospectively. So, calling it the ‘British Army‘ when it operates … Continue reading British Army sent into Scotland to help deliver vaccine!

I rarely predict anything but this is, I think, a special moment in the history of the Labour Party in Scotland. There was a real Scottish Labour Party once. R B Cunninghame Graham, a strong supporter of Scottish independence, was its first MP, having defected from the Liberals in 1888, but by 1895 it had dissolved itself and most members followed Keir Hardie into the British Independent Labour Party. In 2019, Monica Lennon, above, defied the whip and abstained in a vote on a second Scottish independence referendum. She is thought to be, at least, in favour of the proposal … Continue reading Will Scottish Labour Do or Die?

This report opens with: Doctors (sic) leaders say the British Medical Association in Scotland said then claiming that the supply has been ‘patchy.’ Reading carefully, you find only one man’s experience, Dr Buist himself, is the basis for the claims. He is not ‘Doctors‘ nor is he ‘British Medical Association in Scotland.’ No doubt, in his position, he has been contacted by other GPs but had that been a flow of any size, surely he’d be able to tell us just how many had contacted him. That he wasn’t able to say his inbox was full, with 123 emails or … Continue reading Where is the evidence for this claim? Nowhere

Despite a constant barrage of negative reports, the First Minister is approved of by a majority of almost every sub-set of the electorate you could imagine, in this Deltapoll poll on the 26th to 30th December 2020. Asked: Putting everything else aside, for each of the following, do you think they are doing in dealing with the COVID-19 outbreak, very well, quite well, quite badly or very badly? We see: Spot the groups where a majority didn’t think she has done well? Out of 22 groups, only Conservative EU leavers thought so and only by 48% to 44%. How did … Continue reading Inverted Media Effect?

Headline story for BBC Scotland: Speaking on the BBC’s Politics Scotland programme, Dr Andrew Buist, who chairs the British Medical Association’s (BMA) GP committee in Scotland, said there was (sic) inconsistencies across the GP network. Dr Buist’s evidence was, of course, just from his own practice. He hadn’t any survey evidence. And the big news of the day, the biggest fall in reported infections since December 28th? Nowhere. And the Herald misses an open goal! They tell us the latest score but neglect to tell us it’s the lowest since last year. What a missed opportunity! Folk would pay for … Continue reading Lowest infection rate since last year missed!

Headlining in the Herald today: THE goal of immunising 400,000 Scots a week against Covid could be derailed unless more is done to cut “ridiculous bureaucratic hold ups” that are leading some would-be vaccinators to quit, clinicians have warned. It turns out ‘clinicians’ is a stretch and it’s only David McColl again. He’s upset about ‘a barrage of paperwork and training modules.’ Here he is in today’s Herald report: Here he is on 1st November 2020: Here he is in the Herald on 26th July 2020: No new up-to-date photo? That was a story where the words ‘only two’ should … Continue reading The same dentist has a moan again -Gimme the money!

From BBC Scotland’s slightly unnerving Fiona Stalker, tonight: ‘78 deaths have been registered in Scotland of people who had tested positive for Covid-19 in the last 28 days. That’s along with 1 753 new cases reported in the last 24 hours. That’s more than 400 lower than on the previous day, in a run of 10 days now where the 7-day average has fallen. The 7-day average death rate has also fallen for two days now. The infection and death rate in England remains twice as high as that in Scotland.’ Oh, OK, she didn’t say all that. Just the … Continue reading 78 DEATHS! 1 753 NEW CASES!

As BBC News, presumably informed by BBC Scotland, continues to talk of tough lockdown and allegedly increasing infection rates in Scotland, perhaps with relief that they are not alone, Scottish audiences may not know what the actual facts are. The 7 day infection rate has now been falling for 10 days, from 2 323 on January 7th to 1 753 yesterday. It’s still too high for comfort but a 25% fall over that time period offer some cause for cautious optimism. The infection rate has been falling in England too but remains more than twice as high as in Scotland. … Continue reading Infection rate average falls for 10th day in a row

Research by our Healthy Correspondent, Brian McGowan: More than 5,000 health and social care staff are booked to be vaccinated at NHS Louisa Jordan today (16 January) as part of a mass vaccination drive by NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde. The operation sees a team of 95 NHSGGC staff working in close collaboration with NHS Louisa Jordan staff to deliver up to 500 doses of the Pfizer vaccine per hour over the course of the day. Readers will remember Labour’s Monica Lennon desperately seeking something with this tweet: More than 5,000 health and social care staff are booked to be … Continue reading More for Monica: 5,000 staff vaccinated at NHS Louisa Jordan