English as opposed to UK data are not always easy to find but @UKCovidStats does show it. It seems like there is a reluctance to expose them and you can see why. England has just over 10 times the population of Scotland, so all things being equal, they should have had around 20 new infections yesterday but they had 572! So, the population-adjusted infection rate, yesterday, was 28 times higher. OMG. The Scottish Government is still using the 5 to 1 figure from last week based on 7 day averages. The above are just one-day figures but I doubt things … Continue reading As the infection rate yesterday in England soared to 28 times higher per head of population than in Scotland, pray* for our neighbours

By Sam When the corona virus came to the UK the government was moved to action. “A new, dedicated unit has been set up to focus on securing supplies of PPE, while ensuring that specifications match clinical need, supply chains are secure, fraud is mitigated and the best value for money is achieved in a high demand market.” https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-personal-protective-equipment-ppe-plan/covid-19-personal-protective-equipment-ppe-plan This is one result of that effort. https://yorkshirebylines.co.uk/the-truth-about-the-billion-pound-ppe-procurement-fiasco/ “On 1 April an order for £10m was placed with Medco Solutions Ltd, a London-based company that apparently only incorporated on 26 March, three days after lockdown, with a share capital of just £2.” … Continue reading Chocolatiers and suppliers of pigeon netting: The Johnson regime’s choices for PPE supply

No, it’s not another rightist, Unionist, pressure group headed-up by a failed Labour candidate with a name like Pauline Nish, it’s great news about the inclusiveness increasingly characterising the curriculum in Scottish schools. My own education as recently as the late 1960s was a narrow exercise in high British culture and British imperial history and geography. By the end of the 20th Century, the curriculum had been broadened to include the social and cultural history of the majority of those in schools. Modern Studies in particular has helped to produce a generation who know more useful things about the society … Continue reading Scotland First!

Just as Australia’s intelligent response to an outbreak in one state, Victoria, led to that state shutting its border with its neighbour, New South Wales, to protect them, offered a sensible strategy for England and Scotland, so New Zealand now offers a solution to the issue of Scots returning. In the Guardian today: New Zealanders could be blocked at their own border after the government moved to slow the pace of international arrivals due to Covid-19. Mounting pressure on New Zealand’s Covid-19 border regime has forced the government to ration places for New Zealanders entering the country. Jacinda Ardern’s government … Continue reading New Zealand shows us how we might cope with Scots returning

As Professor Sridhar has made clear, the Scottish and English governments have diverged dramatically in their coronavirus strategies. In England, to an extent covertly, the strategy seems to be allow the virus to circulate but at levels low enough for the NHS to cope and using local lock-downs, as in Leicester, to cope with spikes. In Scotland, quite explicitly, the strategy is to limit to a minimum, the number of people exposed to the virus and to then use track and trace to shut down outbreaks. Here’s how Professor Sridhar put it: Holyrood and Westminster are pursuing fundamentally different coronavirus … Continue reading Not only has the SNP Government strategy reduced deaths to one fifth of those in England it will uniquely protect thousands more from long-term symptoms

I’ve looked and all I can find is a reference to Edinburgh airport, in the Daily Record, but no sign of any actual boss brave enough: A spokesman said: “Another day and yet more dithering from the Scottish Government.” Gary’s ‘followers’ clearly don’t read him for enlightenment. They said: Who has accused them of dithering? Just since, you know, we’d like some facts with our ‘news’ Did the airport bosses complain to the people responsible for port entry and the air bridges policy, namely the UK Gov Home Office? You mean the Foreign owners of airports in Scotland. Doris’s American pals. … Continue reading Gary Robertson accused by honest folk of just making stuff up

In the Herald today Andy Maciver, Director of Message Matters and a former Head of Communications for the Scottish Conservatives writes, with no mention of his baggage, of course: TO WRITE about Scotland’s constitutional politics is to open oneself up for opprobrium. On a good day, that will just be from one side, although more often than not censure is in duplicate. Inasmuch as truth is relevant in the puerility of Scottish constitutional debate, I feel compelled to begin with my view on the matter. Opprobrium? Puerility? Impressive vocabulary of the kind that makes one ponder on the writer’s need to impress … Continue reading Tory spin doctor losing touch?

Brenda Steele Since The Times is behind a paywall, I  don’t really know much about how they spin the news but I do want to comment on the way this article by John Boothman is worded. Unlike the general way Boris’s trite sound bites are generally promoted in the MSM, this article is written with a more subtle air of doubts hanging over it. Thus we have convoluted phrases like: “Appears to have benefited from the perception” and gems like: “Three times as many people believe she has done a good job of leading the response to the pandemic, compared … Continue reading Former BBC Scotland head of news and bullying presents Scots as dupes

All graphs by Scotland Coronavirus Tracker: https://www.travellingtabby.com/scotland-coronavirus-tracker/ In the last 7 days, weeks after lock-down easing across England, the number of deaths per million population there is 10 times higher per head of population than in Scotland, yet the Tories remain in the lead in every opinion poll. Perhaps more significant as a guide to the future, the infection rate, below, is 5 times higher in England. The situation in Wales is even more worrying though much of this is concentrated in two meat processing factories: One of the most emotionally satisfying images is this graph below showing zero deaths … Continue reading Covid death rate in England now TEN times higher per head of population than Scotland

In the Herald today: A new opinion poll [YouGov] has shown that half of Conservative voters in England support English independence, but tell us something we don’t know. English Tories supporting English independence is about as surprising as Scottish nationalists supporting Scottish independence – in many ways, they come from the same source and feel the same feelings. The only problem, in both England and Scotland, is what on earth anti-nationalists can do about it. Spot the differences if you can. Mark Smith, it seems, cannot. Fascist vs Social Democrat, Racist vs Anti-racist, Anti-immigrant vs Pro-immigrant, violent versus non-violent, bigoted vs … Continue reading Herald’s Mark Smith accuses Scottish Nationalists of being as nasty as British ones