The biggest party in Aberdeen City Council is the SNP with 18 but the Tory (10) and Labour (9) groups have combined to keep them out of power. Think about it. A left-of-centre party keeps another left-of centre party out of power by allying with a right-of-centre party. The people of the City who voted for left-of-centre policies, 27 to 10 get right-of-centre policies. Aberdeen Labour don’t give a for their voters because of their deeply huffy, irrational hatred of the SNP, which has replaced them, because the local voters have tired of their incompetence and corruption. The Labour councillors … Continue reading Aberdeen Labour join the Nasty Party in huffy attack on Scottish Government

Stillbirths tell you a lot about a country. Poorer and more unequal countries have higher levels. Scotland, thanks to the legacy of the Union, has stubborn levels of poverty and inequality yet a low stillbirth level. This is due, in the main, to the quality of care mothers receive, countering the effects of poverty and inequality. In 2017, BBC Scotland reported that the rate per 1 000 live births in Scotland was 4.72, in Nordic countries it was 4.3 but for the UK it was 5.61. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-40366637#:~:text=Scotland%20is%20close%20to%20the,deaths%2C%20according%20to%20a%20report.&text=The%20rate%20of%20stillbirths%20and,of%204.3%20in%20Nordic%20countries. In Scotland, stillbirths have been falling dramatically from 2011 in the years of … Continue reading Stillbirths 55% more common in England and Wales than in Scotland

In the Guardian today: His [Prof Ted Baker, chief inspector of hospitals for the Care Quality Commission] remarks come as more than 2,000 cases of potentially avoidable baby deaths, stillbirths and brain damage are being investigated at a number of hospital trusts. The majority occurred at Shrewsbury and Telford hospital NHS trust since 2000, but an investigation has also begun into 40 similar cases in East Kent hospitals trust and into 150 cases at two maternity units in south Wales. https://www.theguardian.com/society/2020/sep/29/english-hospitals-have-not-learned-lessons-of-past-maternity-scandals Two thousand! Yet in Scotland, one, just one, case where the Health Secretary does not make the details of the death public due … Continue reading 2 000 avoidable baby deaths yet no call for this man’s head

‘Our’ media have had so many headlines to worry you with, as cases increase and campus lock-downs delight them but there are other headlines of great drama that they won’t share with you. Look at that shocking map: 68 deaths in one day in England but no deaths for second day in Scotland! Deaths in England are averaging 35 per day but less than 1 in Scotland. England has 10 times the population s: Covid death rate in England is more than three times higher than in Scotland! It’s not just England. New Covid deaths today: USA 344 France 81 … Continue reading Bloodied but doing so much better

In Wings yesterday: The weekend just past saw a convulsion as big as any we can ever recall witnessing on Yes social media, triggered by a series of tweets by Nicola Sturgeon which caused an extraordinary negative reaction out of all proportion to their ostensible content. The reason was that the First Minister – who had remained silent about countless episodes of hideous misogynistic abuse aimed from her own side at MPs and MSPs like Joan McAlpine and Joanna Cherry – had chosen to suddenly leap into action in defence of the toxically divisive horror that is Glasgow councillor Rhiannon Spear after … Continue reading Growing wings of imagination?

A BBC Scotland reporter asks: How do you respond to claims that official guidance was changed a few weeks ago with the effect of encouraging a return to campus. The source of the claim is not given. Leonard? Sarah Smith? Provoked once too many times perhaps, the FM goes straight for the deliberate misrepresentation of the facts and provides the evidence to forensically dismantle the claim. Not a first time but quite a rare example of the kind of fightback many of us have wanted to see for some time. In quite a long response, she says: In terms of … Continue reading First Minister too politely slams reporter trying to blame her for student outbreaks

From the Scottish Social Attitudes Survey by ScotCen Social Research, based on a sample of 2 790 adults, published today: In 2019, 61% of people said they trusted the Scottish Government to work in Scotland’s best interests, compared with 15% who said they trusted the UK Government to do so. Substantially more people thought the Scottish Parliament was giving Scotland a stronger voice in the UK (61%) than thought it was givingScotland a weaker voice (5%). Similarly over half thought the Scottish Parliament was giving ordinary people more say in how Scotland isgoverned (56%) than thought it was giving them … Continue reading More than FOUR TIMES as many Scots trust the Scottish Government as trust Westminster

From NHS Scotland today: Uptake rates remained high in Scotland; over 96% of children had received each routine [MMR] immunisation by the time they were 12 months old, apart from the rotavirus vaccine†, which had 94.1% uptake. https://beta.isdscotland.org/find-publications-and-data/population-health/child-health/childhood-immunisation-statistics-scotland/ No part of Scotland had less than 95% uptake of MMR: In England MMR immunisation has been below the 90% target for the last two years with London and several other areas at a dangerously low 83%. This level risks a measles epidemic. Continue reading Scotland at risk from border crossing of measles epidemic

From NHS Scotland: Between April and June 2020, 95.3% of the 7,195 people who started their first drug or alcohol treatment waited 3 weeks or less, an increase from the same quarter in the previous year (93.4%), which may be in part attributable to a fall in the number of completed waits during the quarter (10,560 in April to June 2019). https://beta.isdscotland.org/find-publications-and-data/lifestyle-and-behaviours/substance-use/national-drug-and-alcohol-treatment-waiting-times/ The target is 90% and NHS Scotland has been beating it for years, to widespread media inattention. Continue reading NHS Scotland beats drug treatment target again

From NHS Scotland today: 97.1% of patients started treatment within the 31-day standard [from decision to first treatment], compared with 96.1% in the previous quarter and 94.7% for quarter ending June 2019. There have of course been fewer cancer referrals since 2019 and the 62 day target, from referral to first treatment, was met by 84.1%. https://beta.isdscotland.org/find-publications-and-data/conditions-and-diseases/cancer/cancer-waiting-times/ Continue reading 97% of diagnosed cancer patients treated within 31 days