In the Herald today, we read news of a surge in mumps cases: Figures published today reveal that 853 cases of the contagious viral infection were detected between January and the end of March this year – more than the 784 recorded in the whole of 2019. The writer, typically, accepts the idea that the lower uptake of the MMR vaccine is UK-wide and will explain this surge in Scottish cases. There’s a problem with this. The MMR immunisation rate in England has fallen for the fourth year in a row to only 87% with in some areas only 67% … Continue reading Mumps: Another reason for border controls?

The situation in Greater Glasgow and Clyde is worrying but can be contained. There have been 91 cases in NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde in the last 24 hours. The population is 1.2 million. The infection rate is thus 7.58 per 100 000. Here are the data for the worst affected parts of the UK yesterday. GGC does not make it: Continue reading Covid 19 Perspective: The Greater Glasgow spike is relatively small

Readers will remember Oliver’s suggestion that a second independence referendum was a cancerous presence, that FM Alex Salmond was ‘round‘ and that Professor Tom Devine looked like an old man in the Muppets. It’s ironic that Oliver bemoans comments on his appearance when unable to come back at academic criticism he, himself, quickly falls back on personal abuse. Most entertaining, however, in the light of his choice of ‘cancerous‘ to describe the democratic wishes of millions, and his defence of the racist TV historian David Starkey, is his assertion that he has held “very middle of the road” views all … Continue reading Neil Oliver’s ‘middle of the road’ cancerous thoughts

As support for Scottish independence seems to be consolidating at around 54%, up from around 45% in the previous year and with, perhaps, further growth to come in the wake of job losses due to a hard Brexit and from observing further pandemic chaos in England, the Scotsman struggles to find something positive in this poll. YouGov asked 1 530 English adults what they think should happen with Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. Perhaps with memories of IRA bombs, only one in four wanted to keep Northern Ireland. 51% wanted to keep Wales but only 46% wanted to keep Scotland. … Continue reading Or ‘Majority of English people not fussed if we stay or go’

At 7:10am, GMS had Kevin Corbett on to argue for no more lock-downs and the freedom to go where you like without a face mask. They did interrogate and challenge his views but why did they have him on in the first place? Some listeners may have been persuaded by him, may then follow his advice and put themselves and elderly relatives at risk. There is no meaningful debate now on this issue. The evidence is in and all governments agree. See this from 8th July: Oxford COVID-19 study: face masks and coverings work – act now https://www.ox.ac.uk/news/2020-07-08-oxford-covid-19-study-face-masks-and-coverings-work-act-now Corbett is … Continue reading ‘False balance’ and ‘bothsidesism’ on Good Morning Scotland

From a YouGov poll on 8th June: From the First Minister in a recent briefing: Since the 22nd June, Test & Protect teams have contact traced more than 900 positive cases. Of the people identified as requiring contact tracing, only 3 individuals out of 925 couldn’t be contacted. In other words, teams have traced 99.7% of those positive cases which is a quite remarkable achievement and based on that work, the teams have also traced more than 5 000 contacts and they have been successful in contacting 98.8% of those individuals. https://talkingupscotlandtwo.com/2020/08/19/latest-scotlands-test-and-protect-teams-contact-trace-99-7/ And in a stunning performance only just lower … Continue reading Johnson’s test and trace is world-bottoming as Sturgeon’s team hit 99%

In the above report, more than a year ago, Annie Wells said: The SNP has had control over health and justice for 12 years, yet hasn’t managed to bring in anything that comes close to dealing with this problem. As these figures show, whatever drugs strategies it has adopted have only made things worse. What more evidence do we need that this SNP government has failed every single one of these vulnerable people who’ve lost their lives to ruinous drug addiction. In November of that year the Scottish Affairs Committee, cross-party but chaired by the SNP called for a radical … Continue reading UK Government fails Scotland’s drug victims

Despite the Scottish media headlines warning of higher infection rates, strangely contrasting with relative silence on BBC UK, the situation is less bad here than it might appear. I am, of course, not suggesting that we can relax. This relatively better situation was hard-earned and must be protected. However, the rate of infection remains low across most of the country, most of the time, with headline increases due to spikes appearing in one or other area then fading away. Looking at the last seven days, above, the daily increase was in single figures, sometimes zero, everywhere but in the Glasgow … Continue reading Coronavirus Update: Despite recent spikes Scotland still managing pandemic better

In a poll of mostly independence supporters, 80% have confirmed that they DO think ‘Sturgeon’ (sic) IS serious about independence planning. Prompted by the suggestion that ‘No one thinks she’s serious’, Twitter followers of The Tusker were asked: ‘Do you think the First Minister’s independence plans are serious?‘ Of the 4 906 then following on Twitter, 2 020 responded and after 21 hours, 80.1% had selected ‘Yes‘ indicating that the notion was well wide of the mark. Judging by the very rare occurrence of anti-independence comments seen in responses to 14 300 tweets over 6 years, it seem reasonable to … Continue reading 80% of Independence supporters in poll DO think First Minister is serious

As the PM urges folk back to work and Nick Eardley tweets about Scotland having the most new cases of coronavirus since May, England’s dreaming goes on unaffected, by it too having the most new cases since May. Tell them Nick! BBC Scotland has 4 stories to keep us one edge while BBC England only has 1, about Scotland! Keep em scrared, keep em biddable. Continue reading England is dreaming while only Scotland must worry now