A private healthcare consultancy from Boston is working with NHS Scotland to increase efficiency. Don’t Tories like increases in efficiency? Is the hypocrisy really on show here, once more, in the Boris Express? The Institute for Healthcare Improvement is, importantly, not delivering any part of the NHS in Scotland’s frontline services but, hey, the Express doesn’t tell you that. The Express only tells us that the contract is worth millions but, of course don’t tell you just how much nor what percentage of the total expenditure of £12.2 BILLION it might be. More important, however, the Express won’t be telling … Continue reading The ‘Scottish’ Express in a desperate attempt to mislead their readers as SNP surge in polls

New SNP candidate Allan Dorans, former Detective Inspector with ‘the Met’, and the author leading from the rear Most voters in Ayr, Carrick and Cumnock want a society that looks after everyone. Even if you’re young and fit today, you know that you will someday need help. If you have older or disabled relatives and friends you want them to get the public services which the SNP, Labour and to some extent, the Lib Dems are committed to. Here are the 2017 results: Conservative   18 550 SNP                  15 776 Labour             11 024 Lib Dem           872 In 2017, around 27 000 … Continue reading Why Labour and Lib Dem supporters in Ayr should vote SNP in their own interests and to keep Boris Johnson out!

As highly toxic nuclear waste trains continue to run through Ayr, Prestwick and Barrassie, every two or three days, against the law, I’m reminded of how in the early 1980s the Thatcher government tried to use the Ayrshire Hills as a dump for dangerous waste that would not become safe for thousands of years. Ayr CND reported on these trains in 2017 and pointed out that moving the waste in this way is both dangerous due to possible leaks, and is against Scottish Law. The SNP Government at Holyrood is opposed to such transport, but it continues, to meet the … Continue reading Nuclear Waste Threat! One reason why South Ayrshire voters should never trust the Tories

As highly toxic nuclear waste trains continue to run through Ayr, Prestwick and Barrassie, every two or three days, against the law, I’m reminded of how in the early 1980s the Thatcher government tried to use the Ayrshire Hills as a dump for dangerous waste that would not become safe for thousands of years. Ayr CND reported on these trains in 2017 and pointed out that moving the waste in this way is both dangerous due to possible leaks, and is against Scottish Law. The SNP Government at Holyrood is opposed to such transport, but it continues, to meet the … Continue reading Nuclear Waste Threat! One reason why South Ayrshire voters should never trust the Tories

These extended comments posted under Coming to terms with the end by Ludo deserve a wider audience so I’ve used my ruthless editorial powers to trim them into a free-standing post. From reader, Contrary: First, Professor Danny Dorling (Oxford) – on Brexit and the End of the British Empire: In his lecture he takes Interesting look at geographical features of the distribution in Leave/Remain votes in the EU referendum, raw numbers show it wasn’t the region in the north voting leave that swung the vote, it’s very much middle class southern Englanders. His look at the lack of historical education … Continue reading Brexit and the End of the British empire

YouGov today for 5th to 6th November: Con                  22% Lab                  10% DimLeb            8% SNP                 47% Brexit              5% Greens             8% Click to access TheTimes_Sky_VI_191106_w.pdf So, since the end of October, we have 50, 41, 47 and now another 47, giving an average over four polls of 46.25%. Why pay particular attention to the YouGov sub-polls? Here’s what the ultra-numerate James Kelly has to say: [T]he best we have to go on are YouGov’s Scottish subsamples, which do have a very large margin of error due to the small sample size, but nevertheless are superior to other firms’ subsamples as a result … Continue reading FOURTH YouGov poll in a row keeps SNP support average at over 46%

Our Guardian reader (muesli, sandals?) Legerwood, once again alerts us. In the Guardian today: The number of NHS [England] patients having surgery in private hospitals has nearly trebled since 2010, sparking accusations that for-profit companies are benefitting from an “enfeebled” health system under the Conservatives. NHS figures obtained by the Guardian show that it paid for 214,967 people in England to have an operation in a private hospital in 2009-10, Labour’s last year in power. The figure soared to 613,833 last year, a 185% rise in nine years. Seeing that, I thought, predictably I know: ‘A-ha, I bet NHS Scotland … Continue reading Scottish Tories help us report private surgery is TEN TIMES higher per head of population and ‘soaring’ in ‘enfeebled’ NHS England. You guessed. It’s FALLING here under SNP

Ludo Thierry Some encouraging Ipsos Mori numbers demonstrate the wider UK population is, increasingly, anticipating the ‘union’ not surviving in current form even into the medium term. Link and snippets below: https://www.ipsos.com/ipsos-mori/en-uk/public-confidence-future-union-much-lower-it-was-five-years-ago New Ipsos MORI research shows that people in Britain have become less confident that the UK will continue to exist in its present form in the medium term. Key findings: • 72% of British adults think the UK will exist in its current form in one year’s time, a similar figure to when Ipsos MORI last asked this question in 2014. • But people are split on whether … Continue reading Coming to terms with the end

Two linked reports from Ludo and Legerwood: Ludo Thierry The SNP Scottish Government find funding to recruit a further 70 Doctors in Training (for specialties experiencing particularly high demand). Link and snippets from news.gov.scot below (over 6% increase in Doctors in Training in Scotland since SNP Scottish Governmentt took office: https://news.gov.scot/news/strengthening-the-hospital-workforce 70 extra frontline medical trainees. Hospital patients and staff will benefit from the creation of 70 new posts for trainee doctors in several medical specialities. All of the additional posts will support hospital-based medical specialities which have been identified as under pressure from increased patient need, including radiology, oncology, … Continue reading Increased doctor and nurse training in NHS Scotland

Once again thanks to Legerwood for alerting me to this misuse of data. The graph below has been used before to illustrate the A&E performance of the 4 NHS regions in the UK and is re-used by the Reality Check Team. It seems to suggest little difference between that of NHS England and NHS Scotland but is incorrect. The team reports: The first minister also said: “We have the best performing accident and emergency services anywhere in the United Kingdom.” Health is a devolved power, and each nation expects 95% of patients to be treated or admitted in four hours. … Continue reading BBC ‘reality team’ fact-check Nicola Sturgeon’s launch speech and get it WRONG