Above from YouGov (https://x.com/YouGov/status/2051609021153415554/photo/1) with John Swinney added by me in top position, based on this from Ipsos Source: https://www.ipsos.com/en-uk/scots-unimpressed-holyrood-campaigns-give-snp-edge Continue reading John Swinney is most popular leader in Europe – not just fewer murders than Denmark but a more popular leader too
From Delayed discharges in NHS Scotland monthly Figures for March 2026, published today: The average number of beds occupied per day due to people delayed in hospital was 1,923 in March 2026. Compared to the previous three months, this is less than in February 2026 (1,984), January 2026 (1,973) and December 2025 (1,967). Source: https://www.publichealthscotland.scot/publications/delayed-discharges-in-nhsscotland-monthly/delayed-discharges-in-nhs-scotland-monthly-figures-for-march-2026/main-points/ Comparisons are not straightforward but NHS Wales reported ‘cumulative days delayed around 57,500′ in March 2026. https://www.gov.wales/nhs-activity-and-performance-summary-february-and-march-2026-html Almost 2 000 per day so just higher than in Scotland, despite Wales only having around three fifths of the population. Continue reading Delayed discharges – steady fall in beds ‘blocked’ for third month in a row, in NHS Scotland, much fewer proportionally than in Labour Wales
From Cancelled planned operations Month ending 31 March 2026 published today, the above and: There were 28,454 operations planned to take place across NHS Scotland. This is 12.8% higher (+3,228) than the number planned in March 2025 (25,226). Over the course of the last 12 months, from April 2025 to March 2026 (307,272), there was a 7.2% increase (+20,756) compared to the previous 12 months (286,516). This reflects the post-Covid pandemic trend of generally increasing planned operations. The latest figure is the highest number of operations planned to take place in the post-pandemic period and [only] 3.3% lower (-961) than … Continue reading Scottish hospital operations climb almost to pre-pandemic levels with 98% efficiency and only 4 years after ‘the most extreme combined health and economic crisis in the last century’
From Police officer quarterly strength statistics: 31 March 2026 published tody: Scotland’s Chief Statistician has published statistics on Police Officer Quarterly Strength, which gives the number of full-time equivalent police officers employed by Police Scotland. The key findings of the statistics are: there were 16,430 full-time equivalent (FTE) police officers in Scotland on 31 March 2026 and this is an increase of 196 FTE police officers (+1.2%) from the 16,234 FTE police officers recorded at 31 March 2007. https://www.gov.scot/publications/police-officer-quarterly-strength-statistics-31-march-2026/ You can see in the graph above how overall crime in Scotland has plummeted since 2002 but, crucially, has continued to … Continue reading By any measure (four of them) crime really is way down under the SNP yet they maintain 200 more police officers than the last Labour Government in 2007
Lesley Riddoch in her early April 2026 podcast said on the ferries crisis (literally) I’ve got to say personally, I’m sick of hearing people on the mainland ‘attack islanders’ for simply expecting that they can be connected. Just to remind you we all live on an island, and it would be a bit like saying Scotland’s a bit too expensive to include in UK national systems so let’s just charge them more. We wouldnae, would we?’ Who are those ‘people’ attacking islanders then? Turns out it’s me! ‘I’m probably gonna lose some friends on this because I am absolutely sick … Continue reading The Great Scottish Ferry Inconvenience Media War
