In a Survation poll published today based on fieldwork from 22-26 May, as the Dominic Cummings story dominated media reporting, this admittedly small but entertaining, sub-poll of 87 Scots gives us this: Con: 9.89% Lab: 19.19% LD: 7.63% Greens: 1.84% SNP: 48.35% Undecided: 13.11% Readers will correctly note the limited reliability of a sample of 87 at only 20 times more reliable than a Reporting Scotland street survey by Glen Campbell. Taking away the undecided, the SNP share is 55.52%. For entertainment value the Conservative share should not be adjusted. Also, the undecided are never undecided about the Tories. Also … Continue reading Poll suggests Scottish voters have abandoned the Tories as they fall to less than 10% and SNP surge to 56%!

Once more, Sir John Curtice Professor of Politics at Strathclyde University, lets his Unionist preconceptions blind him to the truth. Psephologists or bean-counters, like Prof Curtice, as they are often known can be a bit narrow in their thinking and he has missed the obvious here: Scots think the FM, the Scottish Government and NHS Scotland have done a far better job of coping with the crisis than their UK/English equivalents because they just have, objectively, and because too many of them don’t believe the propaganda coming at them daily from, especially, BBC Scotland, the Herald and the Scotsman. Here’s … Continue reading Coronavirus: Views reflect fact Scots do not trust BBC or press

The Scottish government benefits from a halo effect whereby credit for what is done well in Scotland is attributed to Holyrood and blame for poor performance is laid at the door of Westminster. (Sir John Curtice, professor of politics at Strathclyde University) This astonishing statement is the only explanation offered for the results of an Ipsos MORI poll for BBC Scotland which suggests overwhelming approval for the FM, the Scottish Government and NHS Scotland, in their handling of the crisis and condemnation for the UK Government. This graph sums it up: I can’t direct you to the source so you’ll … Continue reading Stunning level of approval for Scottish Government’s covid response in new poll ‘analysed’ to insult your intelligence

From the Scottish Government news website on 20th May: Constitution Secretary Michael Russell has called for the Scottish Government and Parliament to be given a formal role in future UK trade deals. Responding to the Second Reading of the UK Trade Bill in the House of Commons today, he said the draft legislation did nothing to protect Scotland’s interests. Mr Russell said: “It is to Scotland’s detriment that this Bill is required at all. We would be economically stronger as members of the European Union, benefiting from its worldwide trade deals. “Instead the UK must try to replace those agreements … Continue reading UK Trade Bill fails to protect Scotland’s interests

From Legerwood: I am a bit puzzled by the numbers quoted as having been discharged in March. I have seen them quoted elsewhere too. Public Health Scotland collects data on the monthly numbers of delayed Discharges and the reports are published on the ISD Scotland web site. According to their Feb 2020 report there were 1627 patients delayed in hospital at the census point which is the last thursday in the month. The March 2020 report stated there were 1171 delayed patients at the census points. That is 456 patients discharged. https://www.isdscotland.org/Health-Topics/Health-and-Social-Community-Care/Publications/index.asp?#2674 Apparently Health and Social Care also count delayed … Continue reading Were far fewer patients transferred to care homes in March?

Helping the currently distressed Scottish Tory leader with a little distraction, the Herald’s David Bol lets him say: Everyone desperately wants Scotland’s plan to exit lockdown quickly and safely to work, but it won’t happen unless the testing system is up to scratch. There’s no getting away from the fact Nicola Sturgeon said there would 2,000 contact tracers recruited by the end of this month. Now she’s rowing back on that pledge significantly, and it sounds like she’s getting her excuses in early for having significantly fewer. The SNP’s approach to testing has been botched from the outset, and continued … Continue reading Herald goes to Jackson for complete fabrication on ‘SNP testing’

Tom Gordon today: Asked if she believed that sending more than 900 untested hospital patients into care homes may have been a contributory factor in the crisis, she said: “If I apply hindsight to that, I come to a different conclusion.” At the briefing, the First Minister tried to row back on the comment, saying she had been speaking “in general terms”. But she was then reminded that she had in fact been asked specifically about the 921 delayed discharge transfers. Then asked if patients might have gone into care homes, contracted the virus there and subsequently died, she replied: … Continue reading Herald’s Tom Gordon has become a parody in effort to blame First Minister for care home deaths

We haven’t discussed just how much, and there is, of course, an argument that we wouldn’t need additional taxes because we’d save so much on the outrageous fees needed to generate profits but, in principle, there’s a massive majority in this wee snap, self-selecting survey in favour of the idea. Here are the comments: Continue reading More than 90% would pay more tax to nationalise care homes

The First Minister and the Health Secretary have both now been open and honest enough to admit that had they known then what they know now, they would not have moved more than 900 elderly, but fit enough for discharge, patients into care homes without them first being tested. It was a well-intentioned act to protect hospitals against a surge of covid cases that many believed might happen and against a background of expert opinion, from Public Health England, that the risk of infection in care homes was ‘very unlikely.’ The First Minister and the Health Secretary are right to … Continue reading First Minister and Health Secretary admit to a human error. Will the care home owners admit to anything? Will Tom Gordon tell the truth?

Why is he in a lab coat when he retired in 2003?! Does he sneak in at night to wear a white coat and play with the test tubes and the Bunsen burners? John Boothman, Head of News and Current Affairs at Pacific Quay in 2014, before being moved out of the way after allegations of bullying, wrote in the Times yesterday: The scale of coronavirus testing planned by the Scots government is “totally inadequate” and a tenfold increase in testing capacity would be an “absolute minimum requirement to cope with what is needed”, according to the leading epidemiologist Professor … Continue reading Retired BBC Scotland Head of News gets retired Prof to moan about Scotland again