In a snap poll yesterday, by the TuSC Agency for Public Opinion Research, there was a massive majority agreeing with the question, only 2 unsure and just 1 disagreeing. The self-selecting sample does, of course, limit the reliability of the findings to just about 20 times more reliable than a Reporting Scotland vox pox in Sauchiehall Street where all four of those prepared to talk, think Nicola’s to blame……for anything at all. https://twitter.com/ProfJWR/status/1264303481873141772 Footnote: Dear ‘No’, don’t worry about it. You’re entitled to your opinon and we respect that. We would never reveal your identity to be @MurdoQueens11 UPDATE from … Continue reading Snap poll finds only ONE Scot who does NOT think most Covid-19 deaths were caused by Tories

By stewartb: I’d like to highlight the work of two academics from Nuffield College, University of Oxford published (18 May) on coronavirus in Europe. Source: Aron and Muellbauer (2020) Measuring excess mortality: England is the European outlier in the Covid-19 pandemic. VoxEU.org, Centre for Economic Policy Research. They join a growing group of independent researchers and analysts identifying the importance of the ‘excess mortality’ metric when assessing the impact of the pandemic. They join a growing group pointing out that on this crucial metric England – not the UK  – is the clear OUTLIER. The authors do warn of the … Continue reading Is it making the news (yet) where they are? ‘England eclipses European countries in excess mortality scores’

By some way, the Scottish sub-sample of around 140, wanted to see the career psychopath, as even another Tory (David Cameron) referred to him, booted. Remember, this was asked before reports of his second visit to his parent’s farm, after returning, recovered, to London and of his family trip to mingle with the crowds in ‘popular tourist destination’ Barnard Castle. A local graduate was not amused at all: The local MP had called the Home Secretary the day after the Cummings story broke. Did she mention him in the call? Continue reading Scots most keen to kick Cummings out

Disappointingly, I’d say, with a narrow majority still thinking immigrants should have to pay to use NHS, more Scots are opposed to the idea than in other parts. Perhaps, if the question had been: ‘Do you think that immigrants including those working in the NHS and in care, should, or should not have to pay to use the NHS?’ Continue reading Scots least mean about forcing migrants to pay for health care

By some way, Scots seem less likely to want to get away from their own backyard, given an extra holiday. Perhaps the Scottish sub-sample of around 140 has been accidentally biased toward Portobello, St Andrews and Ayr? Continue reading Grass is not greener for most Scots?

By sam: Health inequalities are about life expectancy and whether lives will be free from disability and,if not, how long lives are lived free from disability. Until the Thatcher government, Scotland’s health inequalities were much like those in the rest of Europe. After Thatcher, Scotland was regarded as the “sick man” of Europe though we have recovered a little from that tag to be less affected than some parts of the UK. https://news.liverpool.ac.uk/2014/02/12/thatchers-policies-condemned-for-causing-unjust-premature-death/ Dr Alex Scott-Samuel and colleagues from the Universities of Durham, West of Scotland, Glasgow and Edinburgh, sourced data from over 70 existing research papers, which concludes that … Continue reading Scottish Conservatives have long-failed Scotland and this pandemic is just the latest example of that failure

By stewartb: The article in The Scotsman on 22 May under the headline ‘The idea that Scotland has handled Covid well is a PR con job’ was no doubt carefully constructed – let’s use the term ‘fabricated’ –  by its author, Kevin Christie. The article is typical, perhaps a classic, of its genre. But why does it deserve such an accolade? Simply because, as is common nowadays, it has been comprehensively demolished by a ‘mere’ citizen journalist fully exploiting the research resources of … just ‘himself’! When the TuSC reports on ‘NINE ways Scotland HAS handled Covid-19 pandemic better’ and moreover … Continue reading Why pay to be disrespected and patronised? …. aka ‘the mystery of The Scotsman’s readers’

Published to great acclaim from, only, Ian Murray and Jackie Baillie, Socialists for NATO and Nuclear Weapons, I’ve already explained just how useless the above report is: https://talkingupscotlandtwo.com/2020/05/23/tory-mps-for-morningside-and-helensburgh-trick-scientists-for-labour-into-blaming-the-snp/ One paragraph, however, is worthy of special attention. On page 5: They only published this two days ago. They must have known how comedic this paragraph is. Did NHS Scotland run out of anything? They don’t mention any of the many successful attempts to manufacture more ventilators and gowns within Scotland after the attempts by the UK Government to grab them all. Were the 300 to 1 000 unused beds in the … Continue reading Scientists for Labour obliged to drop the facts as they become inconvenient for attack on SNP

Hah! What are Baillie and Murray doing chatting to socialists? I bet Daniel, Soryia and Rubio are a bit less keen on nuclear weapons and NATO bombing in the Middle-East than those two Blairites are. Daniel likes Bernie Sanders and Evo Morales a lot and Soriya likes Jeremy Corbyn. Remind me, what do Baillie and Murray think of Corbyn? Needless to say, they think they’ve found another stick to beat the SNP with and will use socialist research if need be. The report in question was produced by Scientists for Labour. I’m OK with that and the Scotsman do mention … Continue reading Tory MPs for Morningside and Helensburgh trick Scientists for Labour into blaming the SNP

With his personal trust rating, in YouGov’s January poll, at only 8% and support for his party leader’s Coronavirus unlocking strategy at only 9% in May, Jackson Carlaw must now deal with two damning exposures of how his party’s handling of the crisis has clearly brought the deadly virus to Scotland in the early days of the outbreak. While BBC Scotland and the Scottish newspapers have been keen to characterise the outbreak at the Nike Conference on 26 March, and the decision of Public Health Scotland to protect the privacy of the ten or so Scots who attended, as a … Continue reading Scottish Conservatives FAIL to defend Scotland against pandemic!