Don’t be daft, STV didn’t ask him about support for his party or, for that matter, his support for paedophilia-apologist David Steel. Here’s my favourite, Opinium on April 7th: Lib Dems 1%! ONE PERCENT! How about Opinium on 1st April: Lib Dems 4%! YouGov on the same date: Lib Dems 5%. 24th March, Panelbase: Lib Dems 6%. Are things getting worse? In the Opinium poll on 26th March, 56% of Lib Dem respondents approved of the SNP leader’s performance. Are they giving up on you? Continue reading What’s your take now on paedophilia apologists after the last four polls, Willie?

I suppose you have to mishear what some politicians say if you need to write something, anything, today. Here’s what occasional Independence supporter, the Herald’s Iain Macwhirter, has to say today: Ms Sturgeon’s speech received rave reviews from the former Chancellor George Osborne and the former Tory leader Iain Duncan Smith. Mind you, I’m not entirely sure that they quite heard what she said. Mr Osborne urged Boris Johnson, as he returns to his desk tomorrow, to listen to her views on the “hard trade-offs” that the public must accept as we “plan to end the lockdown”. They seemed to … Continue reading The Sturgeon Pivot and the Macwhirter Hearing-aid Syndrome

It’s so like the Herald’s Health Correspondent to be both pessimistic and Anglocentric. Today’s ‘wisdom’ is behind the paywall so I only have the headline to go on and, of course, her long trail of inaccurate reports on NHS Scotland. If her report is about the NHS across the UK including NHS England, with its issues of resilience, then what follows has been a waste of my time. Anyhow, what evidence [yes, facts, that stuff?] is there that NHS Scotland will recover? Three kinds of evidence: Staffing level, previous performance, government support. Staffing Level: NHS Scotland has 50% more nurses … Continue reading The evidence NHS ‘Scotland’ CAN clear the backlog

Leaving aside the obvious daftness of thinking you’ve won the argument on Scottish independence because oil prices have dropped during an almost unique crisis caused by a virus, [Norway to seek domination by Sweden again after 100 years?] Wilson really shouldn’t be raising the issue of lies in 2014. On September 6th 2014, Wings labelled him a liar after he, clearly worried about something coming, made up a big fib about the cost of posting letters to Ireland: https://wingsoverscotland.com/brian-wilson-is-a-liar/ Earlier, on 7th February 2013, he had repeated the big fib that EU entry would be problematic for an independent Scotland. … Continue reading Fanatical Brian Wilson’s big lies cannot be erased from history

By yesterday, 47 749 people had been tested in Scotland or 0.87% of the population. https://www.gov.scot/publications/trends-in-number-of-people-in-hospital-with-confirmed-or-suspected-covid-19/ Across the UK 517 836 had been tested, or 0.76% of the population https://www.gov.uk/guidance/coronavirus-covid-19-information-for-the-public So, the rate of testing in Scotland is 14% (87-76=11 then 11% of 76=14) higher than the UK average. Teenage SNP member, arch-Unionist, former New labour Minister for Energy, champion of nuclear power and Commander of the Order of the British Empire, Brian Wilson, is predictably upset with all this respect, even adulation, for the Scottish First Minister. The New Statesman, the Telegraph and BBC UK have all been utterly … Continue reading Scotland testing 14% more than UK average and Brian Wilson reveals SNP better prepared than UK Tories for even more

By anandprasad I am truly ignorant of politics so please excuse my ignorance but don’t the Scottish government have a publicity team that can show this astonishing disparity between the covid-19 death rate in Scotland and the UK average? Every day I wait for someone mainstream to point this out. I have only my partner to shout at. Do we have to wait years for some official report when peoples attention spans have moved back to some celebrity dancing/ baking/ sewing/ breathing contest? It really isn’t that difficult to compare average 5/10/15 year death rates with 2020 to see what … Continue reading No! 51% of people say they trust Mr Johnson to handle coronavirus?

Look at the wording: Scotland’s supply of PPE has been bolstered after 11 million face masks and 100,000 testing kits arrived from China. It comes after Chinese suppliers sent a shipment of 10 million masks earlier in the week. One million of the new masks will go to NHS Wales. Scottish businesses have also provided supplies and equipment to support the fight against Covid-19. The first minister has praised the more than 1,600 organisations and individuals that have helped. Isn’t it likely that the Scottish Government took the initiative here, using its links to Chinese officials and industrialists, ironically often criticised by … Continue reading Did the Scottish Government play any part in this?

The Herald writer’s piece today has a strange, vague headline. Having read it, I feel sure he’d agree that our one, above, more accurately captures the gist of what both he and the ‘SNP Finance Secretary’, as he terms her, think. Here’s the key bit: The report [Scottish Fiscal Commission] prompted SNP Finance Secretary Kate Forbes to say the crisis showed the need for Holyrood to have more borrowing powers. She would, of course, have said Holyrood needs more borrowing powers pre-crisis.  But in light of Scotland’s looming economic plight – the Commission calls this moment a “structural break”, a … Continue reading Tom Gordonstoun praises SNP Finance Secretary Kate Forbes

In a YouGov survey in March 2020, English, Welsh and Scots respondents were asked how much they felt they had in common with each other and with the Irish. The Irish, even those in Britain, weren’t asked. https://docs.cdn.yougov.com/qytr1172wh/Internal_Ireland_Mar20.pdf 46% of the English respondents felt they had something in common with the Scots while 52% of the Scots reciprocated the feeling. 60% of the Welsh respondents felt they had something in common with the Scots but only 50% of the Scots reciprocated the feeling. 74% of the Welsh respondents felt they had something in common with the English, nearly as many … Continue reading Wha’ likes us? 46% of the English and 60% of the Welsh

In a YouGov survey in March 2020 which I’ve only just spotted, I was struck by the fact that 27% of the Scottish sample (150) remembered studying the Tudors – Henry 8th and Elisabeth 1st! This is English history, all taking place before the Union. If you insisted on studying kings and queens, there were some colourful Stuart monarchs, only slightly less psychopathic than Enery, you might have enjoyed. I’m hoping that the 27% were older respondents, but I remember, as recently as the early 2000’s, being asked for help in teaching about the Tudors by a student about to … Continue reading Are Scottish schools still studying English history?