Reading this in the Herald, a longtime favourite in North Korea, Kim Jong-un had no reason to doubt it: Scottish Conservative leader Ruth Davidson is “likely” to be Scotland‘s next first minister, her deputy has said. Jackson Carlaw insisted it was “perfectly possible, if not in fact now likely” that she would lead the next Scottish Government. Seeing an opportunity for fraternal relations with Scotland’s leadership, perhaps even intermarriage, un proceeded to undermine the No camp. Continue reading SHOCK: North Korean leader supported Scottish independence because he thought Ruth Davidson WAS First Minister

From Martin Williams in the Herald today: SCOTLAND will emerge from the coronavirus lockdown unhealthier, with four out of five people reporting an increase in harmful habits, including smoking, drinking and unhealthy eating, a new study has found. Only just over a third (35%) of Scots answering a new YouGov survey plan to shake off their new habits after lockdown. And in spite of a rise in online fitness classes and government encouragement to get outside to exercise, over one in four of Scots said they had actually exercised less than before lockdown began. I’ve requested breakdown data but with no luck so … Continue reading Coronavirus survival rate confirms Scotland no longer ‘Sick man of Europe’

According to a report in the Guardian yesterday: Temporary care workers transmitted Covid-19 between care homes as cases surged, according to an unpublished government study which used genome tracking to investigate outbreaks. And from BBC Scotland’s website only: The company at the centre of a care home coronavirus outbreak on Skye says a total of 207 residents have died in its Scottish facilities. HC-One said it had recorded 1,002 suspected or confirmed cases of Covid-19 to date in its 56 homes. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-highlands-islands-52706376 HC-One have already admitted that they bussed in staff from as far away as Kent their Scottish homes, … Continue reading Did corporate care home employers use untested agency staff to spread the epidemic throughout Scotland?

From stewartb: We’ve been told we’re ‘better together’ but this strongly indicates otherwise. The purpose of this is to aggregate and amplify findings from a series of recent House of Commons Public Accounts Committee (PAC) reports. It reveals not only the extent of Westminster government failings in the delivery of infrastructure projects but also the apparent inability of the House of Commons to hold this government to account and improve its performance following what are evidenced, repeated mistakes. (For context, the PAC presently has a majority of Tory MPs.) £1.35 billion lost through avoidable mistakes We learned recently from the … Continue reading Westminster government with ‘money to burn’ – why should Scotland care?

On the UK BBC News last night, Sarah Smith says: And the Scottish Government say that like all of the the UK nations they base their advice on expert advice that they are given and that it’s go nothing to do with politics but it has been obvious that Nicola Sturgeon has enjoyed the opportunity to set her own lock-down rules and not have to follow what’s been happening in England or other parts of the UK but the gamble is whether or not people will continue to support her taking a different path when they’re living under more stringent … Continue reading Sarah Smith stirring it up again, based on a sociopathic self-assessment projected onto Nicola Sturgeon

Maybe Tom Gordon will try to blame some junior for writing the above headline but that won’t wash. Jeane Freeman identified care home staff as one of the obvious sources of coronavirus infection in care homes. She did not blame them. It’s just a clickbait headline or maybe an attempt to set the workers and their union against the Scottish Government. You probably guessed that anyway. The workers, low-paid and insecure, may well have gone to work with symptoms. They will have done so afraid of losing income they really need to survive. Some will have been forced to work … Continue reading Herald writer blamed for sad decline of journalism

In the Herald today: PUBLIC confidence in the Scottish Government has been “shattered” because of the “cover-up” of an early outbreak of the coronavirus in Scotland, according to Labour’s Ian Murray. The Shadow Scottish Secretary insists that questions are mounting for ministers north and south of the Border over the decision to continue with mass gatherings across the UK following the outbreak at the Nike conference in an Edinburgh hotel in late February. How can he keep a straight face? The party of government in Scotland, utterly dominant in the 2019 election and his party wins only one seat in Scotland, based … Continue reading I shouldn’t laugh but the plot here is pretty shoogly

From Brenda Steele: Why did Ian Murray accuse Nicola Sturgeon of Cover-up?  No doubt had she announced announced it immediately on being informed of the positive test for the Nike employee she would have been accused of scare-mongering and breaking data protection laws!  Such cheap shots from the only Labour MP in Scotland do not impress.  It certainly does not convince me that the Labour Party is fit to govern. In the Edinburgh Evening News and Scotsman last Wednesday: Ian Murray accuses Nicola Sturgeon of ‘cover-up’ over Edinburgh Nike conference outbreak. Nicola Sturgeon has been accused of covering up an … Continue reading Why did Ian Murray accuse Nicola Sturgeon of Cover-up?

There had been 1 438 covid-related deaths in care homes up to 10th May: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-52214177 There seem to be no data breaking these down into council, voluntary and private care homes, so the following set of media reports, from an exhaustive search, is the only source we have at the moment. At best this gives us an impression of the situation and should not be considered a definitive answer to the question in the headline. I should declare an obvious bias here in my ‘research agenda’. I suspect that when all the data are in, the answer will be ‘yes’ … Continue reading Are most deaths in private care homes?

From sam: The impact of Thatcherism on health and wellbeing in Britain This 2013 report argues that “Thatcher’s governments wilfully engineered an economic catastrophe across large parts of Britain”” Here’s the link to the academic bit. The link to the Liverpool University review is first. 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 as a result of unnecessary unemployment, welfare cuts and damaging housing policies, the former prime minister’s legacy “includes the unnecessary and unjust premature death of many British … Continue reading How Thatcherism planted the seeds of death today