On re-opening schools: if only it was as easy and risk free as opposition politicians imply By stewartb Any notion that the Scottish Government does not wish to see all schools back to ‘normal’ as quickly as possible makes no sense. But where Covid-19 and public health, and especially the welfare of the country’s children, are concerned why would anyone NOT have the ‘precautionary principle’ front and centre of every consideration? The safety of pupils, school staff and the wider community must be paramount in planning for schools to re-open as we all play a part in seeking, progressively to … Continue reading Why Carlaw and the ‘mums’ in his inbox are all wrong on school-opening

Alex Bell, former adviser to Alex Salmond has popped up today in the Herald and the Courier to tell us that John Sweeney is weak, hapless and must go. In the Courier he says: The Nats (SNP) say it is because London won’t give them any more money. That’s like saying we lost the game of football because the opposition didn’t give us more chances. It’s a cowardly line of reasoning, an argument which asks you to feel pity for Scotland – poor us, the neighbours are so mean. In the P&J, in April he annouced: Sturgeon’s more a follower … Continue reading ‘I am bitter. It’s all I have really.’ Alex Bell and the SNP

Ignoring, the factory workers dying at almost twice the level of social care workers, Helen McArdle has pounced on what seems like an opportunity to revisit the PPE shortages which were not. https://www.nrscotland.gov.uk/files//statistics/covid19/covid-deaths-report-week-24.pdf See it? Why why does McArdle think social care workers were more likely to catch the virus than the ICU staff? They would have caught it from the residents and the folk they care for at home. Run the presses! No wait, the old folk didn’t pass the virus to the workers. We know that it was the other way round now, especially if they were agency … Continue reading Health correspondent’s sneaky strategy to revive the PPE shortages lie

Who said dithering? Oooh, I wonder could be that Jackson Carlaw, trusted by only 8% of Scots while the FM has 84% approval ratings? You can smell BBC Scotland’s agenda. Choosing to headline the Tory leader’s theatrical outburst rather than any facts and, to the right, ‘racist thugs.’ Really, speech marks? They were chanting racist abuse at asylum seekers from other countries. What more evidence do you need? Remember the BBC has a charter requiring it to inform us, so how widespread is this view that the FM is dithering? Is there evidence we could look at, BBC Scotland? No? … Continue reading Trusted by 84% but accused by two men trusted by only 8% and 6% and reported by a distrusted state broadcaster

For the second time in a week racist thugs have attacked peaceful protesters in George Square. Allegedly, the National Defence League, the rioters, have been heard to sing Rule Britannia, clearly stating their identity as British Nationalists. One group shouted illegal racist comments and attacked both peaceful protesters and the police, leading to arrests, while the other group, Glasgow No Evictions, was forced to abandon its protest and was led away by the police. There are no reports of arrests among this group. BBC Scotland had this to say: Anti-riot police have separated rival groups of demonstrators in Glasgow city … Continue reading BBC Scotland’s cowardly and dishonest labeling of both violent racists and their innocent victims as merely ‘rivals’

Here’s the key comment, from the Health Secretary today: One of those assumptions being the level of infection, prevention and control measures in residential settings across adult and social care which should flow from the national infection, prevention and control manual – but as we appreciated quickly, needed sufficient additional support to ensure that they were in place. Care homes have been dealing with infection control based on isolation of those infected or suspected of infection, for decades. There are flu outbreaks in care homes most years. It was a reasonable expectation that they would know what to do. The … Continue reading Or ‘We trusted the private care home owners to do what they they were paid to do?’

In Energy Voice today: Plans for a mammoth onshore wind farm have moved a step closer to becoming a reality after receiving £580million backing. SSE Renewables announced its final investment in the 103-turbine Viking Onshore Wind Farm yesterday. As the lockdown measures are eased, the number of workers offshore will steadily increase. Scheduled for completion in 2024, the 443 megawatt (MW) project will be the UK’s largest onshore wind farm in terms of electricity output. It is understood the development, which will cover 17,396 acres across Shetland’s central mainland, could create around 400 jobs at peak construction, with a further … Continue reading Another massive windfarm means Scotland can soon power 4.5 million of its 2.25 million homes

The above two, yesterday and today, a Tory and a Labour politician masquerading as ‘worried parents’ on BBC Scotland, to attack the SNP Government, are not unusual. Just based on recent cases exposed here, we’ve seen: The only GP unable to access PPE turns out to be an in-law of Labour’s Anas Sarwar. UKIP candidate, Billy Mitchell, appears three times as an audience member on Question Time in Scotland and shouts at the SNP panellists. Regularly appearing in the Herald and/or Scotsman, with no mention of their political affiliation, attacking the SNP Government: Brian Monteith, Brexit MEP and former Con … Continue reading Scotland’s media failing to disclose background biases

In Project Scotland today: THE Scottish construction industry is to receive £78 million as part of the Scottish Government’s £230 million Return to Work package, with the aim of stimulating the economy. This includes £40 million for regeneration projects and £20 million for roads maintenance. The Scottish Government revealed the package is funded by the ‘reallocation of underspends’ from schemes interrupted by the Covid-19 crisis. Finance secretary Kate Forbes said, “The impact of Covid-19 has been enormous on both businesses and individuals and the Scottish Government has so far spent more than £4 billion tackling its effects. We are also … Continue reading Finance secretary finds £78 million for construction but BBC Business not attracted to that optimistic tone

In Scotland, in the last two years, hospitals have become hot-beds of infection and these infections have been linked to patient deaths. Though none have been shown to have been killed by the infections, the stories are told in melodramatic, simplistic terms implying that they were. You can tell that this is fake news because they were telling no such stories in such a frenzy, before, when infection rates were objectively higher, and because the English media are not telling the same story despite evidence of even greater problems, revealed in inspections there. What is different here, is that the Great Scottish Hospital Health Crisis … Continue reading Hospital building faults ‘did not CAUSE deaths’