From the BBC today: The learning gap between rich and poor primary age pupils in England has widened for the first time since 2007, analysis of government data suggests. In the Holyrood magazine on 19th December 2019: Scotland’s Chief Statistician has today published a range of statistics, including those on school pupils’ achievement of Curriculum for Excellence (CfE) levels in reading and numeracy. The gap between the proportion of primary pupils in P1, P4 and P7 from the most and least deprived areas who achieved their expected levels in literacy and numeracy remains, although slight improvements have been made in … Continue reading SNP Government maintains progress on Primary attainment gap as it widens for first time in England

What is the news? Lots of care homes have temporarily suspended visits by relatives to elderly vulnerable residents in care homes where there has been a spike in infections in the surrounding area. So, that’s good isn’t it? Being cautious to save lives and acting quickly to do so? Have Monica Lennon and Miles Briggs been on to commend the public health directors? No? They’re still working out how they can get an attack on the SNP Government, out of this story? Once they have something, will the Herald publish it, even if it’s not really tenable? You will? What … Continue reading Latest: Public health directors act quickly to protect lives in spike areas

The Scottish Government requires NHS Scotland to measure the length of time people wait for treatment. The target is that 90% of eligible patients will begin IVF treatment within 12 months.   Never reported prominently by BBC Scotland despite an obsession with other NHS targets, the IVF service has hit its target for 5 years now, without fail and though with some delays, has maintained that, during the pandemic. The lack of media attention to this is remarkable given the very significant wider benefits of this service in terms of mental health. Those relatively new to the site may not have … Continue reading Scotland’s world-beating IVF service maintains 100% record despite Covid-19

Ooops, wrong photo. Here is the official one: Who is that to the left of Boris? There’s no one there. Move on. The Minister for the Union, second-left, with his two-tone (pink and white) team braced (spread?) for unrelenting war on the SNP. Will he bring to bear his track record as Minister for the Union? Remind us, what has he done since July 2019? Hmmm, nothing there. Wait, click on view all announcements: What, just that thing he did before visiting the islands? Try updated oldest: Ah, try clicking that transition box: Really? Nothing? Get me the webmaster! He’s … Continue reading After one year Minister for the Union reveals all! Well, OK, one, sort of

In the Herald today from David Bol: UNION bosses have accused the Scottish Government of “causing uncertainty and confusion” after announcing secondary school pupils will be required to wear face coverings – while all pupils will require the items on dedicated transport. It’s the Worcester-based NASUWT with an undisclosed, but judging by the EIS membership, tiny Scottish membership, again. I think they have little presence in Primary schools so may not know what they are capable of. So, 5 to 12 years-olds will have to learn that they only need to wear a mask on the bus but not in the … Continue reading Tiny teachers’ union bosses accused of failure to grasp simple concept

In the Herald yesterday: The number of abortions carried out in Scotland reached the second highest on record last year – with the number of pregnancies ended by women in their 40s increasing to a new high. Official figures showed there were 13,583 terminations carried out in 2019 – the highest total since 2008. On the same day, the Scottish Government reported: Teenage pregnancies in Scotland are at the lowest level since 1994, according to the latest statistics. In 2018, there were 29.6 teenage pregnancies per 1,000 women, down from 30.2 in 2017 and 54.7 in 1994. The gap in teenage pregnancy … Continue reading Is Herald backing pro-life campaign?

Jackson Carlaw was by no means the only critic jumping on the testing data as an easy target by which to blame the SNP Government, as he preferred to call it. All of the opposition parties and the MSM would use this data and blame the fact that not enough of our 5.4 million souls had been tested last week, on any death statistics they could get their hands on. From the outset, I doubted the value of mass testing. I’d read about unreliability, failure with the asymptomatic cases, the need to retest frequently the negative cases and the risks … Continue reading The Mass Testing Myth

Regulars here will remember the above Glasgow anaesthetist (right) prophesying infection doom after noticing wrongly placed hand-sanitisers, in her opinion as one who is not an infection control specialist in the QEUH. Her comments then went viral and she was interviewed or quoted on every BBC Scotland outlet. Needless to say, there is no breakdown in Nick Triggle’s report (left) for BBC Health today. He does claim that the research report from King’s College indicates that overall the infection rate in hospitals was low but we don’t hear of any differences between hospitals in the 4 nations or in Italy. … Continue reading Updated: Have Scotland’s hospitals infected far fewer with Covid-19 than most?

Using a report which seems to be more about the lack of transparency of the UK Government and SAGE, the Herald‘s Caroline Wilson uses it as an excuse to re-run fake news on the Scottish Government’s handling of the pandemic: That the re-opening of schools has resulted in a steady growth of cases is a lie. Other than in one school, the small increases (20 or so out of 800 000 pupils and staff returning) have been due to community transmission of people who also happen to be teachers or pupils at a school. Professor Sridhar has summed up the … Continue reading More of the same lies!

In the Herald today from Neil Mackay: Until recently, I’ve only needed the NHS for short, sharp interventions – a tonsillectomy, an appendectomy, x-rays and stitches for injuries and accidents. I’ve never – until this summer – needed the NHS long-term. I’m now, though, into my fifth week of living and breathing the NHS, and much to my sadness my view of our health service has changed. Mackay seems to have had a tough time. I don’t question his suffering. I genuinely hope he is recovered. It sounds like the staff were a bit tough on him as he struggled … Continue reading Why should we be interested in one man’s ‘bad’ NHS experience?