Reader George S Gordon alerted me to this. All feeds welcomed! If you try to argue that Scotland is becoming a fairer country than its big neighbour, the MSM media and opposition politicians will be infuriated at this display of ‘unjustified exceptionalism’ even anti-Englishness, somehow. Talk of this kind here, has been a bit sidelined, for obvious reasons, but this announcement, to my knowledge ignored elsewhere, is special. Do share it. Opinion piece by Cabinet Secretary for Social Security, Shirley-Anne Somerville. From this week, thousands of families across Scotland will start to get letters telling them they are entitled to … Continue reading A Fairer Scotland? Scottish Government tries to do it better on poverty but ‘our’ media is silent

Lisa Summers repeats the myth that the Scottish Government in the face of SAGE advice, the UK Government’s refusal to consult on the 4 Nations approach, the opposition and media embrace of that UK-wide approach and the late devolution of the actual power to do so, was nevertheless responsible for the timing and this the early death toll. This is an unconscionable [shockingly unfair or unjust] lie. BBC Health has reported the ONS findings revealing England to have had the highest level of coronavirus deaths in Europe. These are the total figures for the period from between the end of … Continue reading Reporting Scotland’s high coronavirus death rate: That was then but this is now

By Brenda Steele: Here is how one part of the foreign press reported a WHO Briefing: The novel coronavirus is neither seasonal, nor does it occur in waves, the World Health Organization (WHO) said Tuesday. WHO spokeswoman Margaret Harris said in answer to questions at the twice-weekly UN press briefing held virtually in Geneva that the COVID-19 virus likes all weathers unlike influenza, even though many people think it is seasonal. “And even though respiratory viruses, in the past, did tend to do this, you know, different seasonal waves. This one is behaving differently. This one is one where we … Continue reading UPDATED: The unbelievable truth: How Nicola ‘gets it’

At today’s Holyrood briefing, Jackson Carlaw made much of the UK statistics watchdog’s criticism of the First Minister’s assertion that coronavirus rates in England are five times higher than Scotland. This week they are demonstrably 4.7 times higher. Any fool can check that. That they are, was not the issue for Carlaw but that the Office for Statistics Regulation has supposedly ‘damned’ the SNP because the statistics they used were problematic, for them as pedants. The watchdog had two concerns. From BBC Scotland: It said the first minister had used data from an unpublished estimate of the prevalence of the … Continue reading Office for Statistics Regulation accused of pedantry, conservatism and political bias

Regulars here will know that I and many of you have batted this stuff back with evidence more than once. I wonder if the First Minister’s refusal to contradict the accusers with the same evidence just invites more or is her strategy more intelligent than that? Anyhow, terrier-like as always, the notion that ‘she’ faces ‘serious questions’ over ‘the death toll in Scotland’s care homes’ is sheer nonsense. I’m not going to refer to the evidence here. It’s all in the blog archives. All points made can be backed up. Once more, the initial death toll in care homes and … Continue reading Scotsman editorial and Ian Murray blame Sturgeon and repeat care home death myths

Things are going a bit crazy around here, in my wee study. In addition to all my usual sources, the 20 or so sites I check daily, I’m getting up to 40 emails a day suggesting things I might write about and, under posts, many extended responses suggesting the same or perhaps which are worthy of being re-posted. I also, get ideas tweeted at me and shared with FB. I am NOT complaining. I love it but there is now real danger of missing things, misunderstanding and offending friends of the site. So, never ever be offended. If you think … Continue reading Reminder: Never be offended if I don’t respond to something

Hallwood did his PhD at Aberdeen in 1988 and his first degree at Hull. He is clearly not an expert on the UK economy judging by his recent, unusual, publications: The FT published his letter as clickbait, I’m sure and I suspect he is better ignored but it is a remarkable idea that an academic, these days, seems to believe that England subsidises Scotland. Does Scotland in Union have a US branch? Affiliated with the CIA? Continue reading Did US academic learn to despise Scotland after meeting Pennington at Aberdeen University?

So, 13 days without one death confirmed, no new admissions into intensive care for three weeks now, and Dan goes for the 8 suspected deaths, some of whom had tested positive more than 28 days before, in the previous week, because the total passes a neat, rounded number. Not only is the headline a cheap selection from the range of possible headline information, to try to alarm and to attract readers, but it is also inaccurate. The 4 200 represent the combined confirmed and suspected cases. The ‘death toll‘ can only meaningfully refer to confirmed deaths but, of course, these … Continue reading STV cub reporter goes for full tabloid shock misrepresentation of reality

In the Herald this morning, why is the First Minister the face of a viral outbreak in Scotland’s largest health board? Is there no top administrator, no infection control expert, no image of the area or of its major hospitals? Why is the First Minister the face of redundancies? Is there no chief executive, no trade union leader, no image of one of the industries or one of the towns it is based in? Here’s what an outbreak looks like in Leicester: And in Belfast: And in Wales: Here’s what redundancies look like outside of Scotland: It’s not just the … Continue reading Only SNP leaders are the faces of disaster