‘The talent and strength of the research base we have in Scotland … what an asset that is.’ By stewartb A better awareness of our country’s ‘assets’ in scientific research and innovation is important for its own sake. It also helps counter patterns of corporate media and BBC reporting in Scotland on the Coronavirus emergency: (a) recently an over-emphasis on the ‘expertise’ of one retired professor; and too commonly (b) bias by omission in favour of profiling research happening somewhere else. Scotland’s government and universities acting together, quickly On 28 April the Scottish Government announced an investment of c.£5 million … Continue reading The Not-Pennington Profiles – Issue Five of an occasional series

Adopting Reporting Scotland editorial standards, I’m going to rely on a single source who does not want to be named and who denies being related to Anas Sarwar. The source has told TuSC that locals are convinced the virus was brought onto the island by an agency worker FROM ENGLAND (!) hired to help with a staffing crisis in the care home. TuSC has already exposed the staffing and infection control problems in the home: https://talkingupscotlandtwo.com/2020/05/03/private-skye-care-home-with-mass-outbreak-had-weak-staff-team-and-inadequate-infection-control-when-inspected-in-november-and-january/ The source has also noted the irony that the army mobile testing team from the Black Watch has ‘super-spreader’, the Duke of Rothesay (Prince … Continue reading Source reveals Skye care home covid-19 infection caused by Sassenach!

In the Times yesterday, above, and in the National two years ago, below: In the Herald the following year: I’m not a doctor but I feel sure he can only be bad for their health. For some thoughtful opinions on this, some unprintable here, see this thread: https://twitter.com/TheBEFS/status/1256864889785769984 Continue reading Is National Trust decline covid-19-related or a slow cancer?

Some more selective reporting by the Herald’s David Bols attempts to attribute responsibility for the Skye care home covid-19 outbreak to the Scottish Government allowing NHS Scotland to discharge elderly patients back into care homes, before tests have confirmed that they are covid-19 free. Chief Nursing Officer, Professor Fiona McQueen did, but only in passing, remind Brewer that care homes should be isolating the returnees until the results are in. She forgot to mention that the care home owners are responsible for providing the staff with PPE to ensure they do not spread the virus. The Skye care home failed … Continue reading Another Bolsup as top nurse but not a professor helps media blame Scottish Government for private care home neglect

This has been another healthy reminder of the value of empirical research. I’m so naive, so optimistic. I thought far more of you would have just laughed off the notion as a media construct. I know quite a few local activists and though mixed in their feelings about the case, none, as far as I recall, think it has had much impact on the wider Yes movement. Comments: Would I be correct in reading this to mean that, yes, the trial may be toxifying parts of the SNP leadership but that it will not weaken the wider Yes movement? That’s … Continue reading No! More than a quarter of respondents believe the Salmond trial is toxifying the Yes movement

This has been a healthy reminder of the value of empirical research. I hardly know who Garavelli is, yet more than 100 followers of this blog do! To be fair to her, she must be less obviously negative about Scotland or the Scottish Government, or I’d be commenting on her writing more. To be fair to me, Tom Gordonstoun and Helen McArdle keep me busy. Here’s what some others had to say: Continue reading Really? Nearly 37% of respondents know who Dani Garavelli is?

If you saw Professor Bauld being interviewed by Gordon Brewer, yesterday, you’ll have been struck by her tribute to the Scottish Government and the First Minister. Inexplicably, the Herald’s David Bols missed this: In terms of communication going forward, I must say I think the Scottish Government has been far better and more transparent than some other parts of the world, including Westminster, from my personal view, but the communication needs to be nuanced. So, in Scotland, the first thing we must build, and I think we have a lot of it already, credit to the First Minister and her … Continue reading Bols-up as Herald writer sneakily misses out professor’s extravagant praise for Scottish Government

BBC Scotland’s intrepid investigative reporters haven’t thought to check up on inspections of the Home Farm care home in Portree after a covid-19 outbreak affected nearly all of the residents and half of the staff. They have, strangely, invented a new type of care home – ‘independent’ as an alternative to ‘private’. I suppose ‘private’ can suggesting money-grubbing can’t it? The owners, HC-One also own Tranent Care Home (9 deaths) and Castleview in Dumbarton (8 deaths). He is a summary of the two Home Farm inspections in 2019: https://www.careinspectorate.com/index.php/care-services?detail=CS2011300714 Though infection control is not in the above summary it is … Continue reading Private Skye care home with mass outbreak had ‘weak staff team’ and inadequate infection control when inspected in November and January

Scotland uniquely placed for epidemiological/population surveillance studies By stewartb A better awareness of our country’s ‘assets’ in scientific research and innovation is important for its own sake. It also helps counter patterns of corporate media and BBC reporting in Scotland on the Coronavirus emergency: (a) recently an over-emphasis on the ‘expertise’ of one retired professor; and too commonly (b) bias by omission in favour of profiling research happening somewhere else. Scotland’s electronic health records – a valued asset NHS Research Scotland (NRS) claims that Scotland has “Strong infrastructure and world-class clinical and academic expertise ..”. In particular, NRS points to … Continue reading The Not-Pennington Profiles – Issue Four of an occasional series

Thanks to Brenda Steele for alerting me to this: In the British Medical Journal on 27th April: A leading statistician has criticised the UK government’s daily reporting of covid-19 swab test results, saying that no inference can be drawn reliably and that the failure to report by sample date could lead to serious misrepresentation of the pattern of the epidemic. “The UK’s data collection and reporting of swab testing is a travesty of statistical science, as you can draw no inferences whatsoever about the evolution of the epidemic,” said Sheila Bird, former programme leader at the MRC Biostatistics Unit, Cambridge … Continue reading Scottish covid-19 tests useful while UK [English] tests are ‘travesty of statistical science’