Homeownership rates among younger people in Scotland far higher than for UK
Institute for Fiscal Studies (June 2024) By stewartb On 20 June 2024 the Scottish Government announced the following: ‘Help for first-time buyers across the country on low to medium incomes’. This is described on the Scottish Government website: ’A scheme to help first time buyers and certain priority groups step on to the property ladder has reopened for applications. The Open Market Shared Equity (OMSE) scheme is available across Scotland to first-time buyers on low or medium incomes who cannot afford the full price of a home. (my emphasis) ‘Successful applicants will be able to buy a home without having … Continue reading Homeownership rates among younger people in Scotland far higher than for UK
Answering Fiona Bruce’s dishonest selective long waiting list question AGAIN when NHS Scotland treats more than 14 times as many of those at risk of imminent death, per head of population, within 18 weeks!
By Professor John Robertson Fiona Bruce tonight, asked the same question she had asked Kate Forbes last week: Why is it in Scotland there are 7 000 people who’ve waited more than two years for treatment. In England it’s just over 200. To my amazement, Forbes was not ready for it and neither was Swinney tonight. Here it is again. The UK Government and NHS England have been sneaky again, as they did when they began restarting the clock for A&E patients, after they had been triaged. They knew how the media feasted on stories of patients waiting more than two years … Continue reading Answering Fiona Bruce’s dishonest selective long waiting list question AGAIN when NHS Scotland treats more than 14 times as many of those at risk of imminent death, per head of population, within 18 weeks!
Nearly a quarter of a million in NHS England’s A&E departments would have been seen within 4 hours had they lived in a country run by the SNP
By Professor John Robertson From NHS England, for May 2024, only 59.7% were seen within 4 hours in Type 1 A&E departments, down from 60.4% for April. From Public Health Scotland, for May 2024, 67.6% were seen within 4 hours in Type 1 A&E departments, up from 64% for April. 67.6% is 13.2% better than 59.7%. 13.2% of England’s 1 787 107 A&E attendances in May 2024 is 235 898 who might have been seen in 4 hours had they lived in a country run by the SNP Sources: https://www.england.nhs.uk/statistics/statistical-work-areas/ae-waiting-times-and-activity/ https://www.publichealthscotland.scot/our-areas-of-work/acute-and-emergency-services/urgent-and-unscheduled-care/accident-and-emergency/#section-3-2 Continue reading Nearly a quarter of a million in NHS England’s A&E departments would have been seen within 4 hours had they lived in a country run by the SNP
Scotland leads UK to decarbonise much faster than EU average
By Professor John Robertson Using comparable metrics, we can see Scotland has made the largest emissions reduction in the UK between the 1990 baseline and 2022, reducing by 50.1 per cent, while emissions in England fell by 49 per cent; followed by Wales at 36.5 and Northern Ireland at 25.9 per cent. Scotland has also decarbonised much faster than the EU27 average using comparable EU statistics. https://www.gov.scot/publications/greenhouse-gas-emissions-statistics-2022-ministerial-statement/ Continue reading Scotland leads UK to decarbonise much faster than EU average
Perhaps we’ll see NHS England under a Labour health secretary introduce the ‘breach exemption’?
By stewartb There is another clever wheeze available to Mr Streeting [to cut A&E waits] it seems, one tried and tested by Labour in Wales. Perhaps he intends NHS England’s A&E waiting times performance reporting to adopt the practice the Labour government in Cardiff has been using to massage the A&E waits performance in Wales. Perhaps we’ll see NHS England under a Labour health secretary introduce the ‘breach exemption’? From the BBC News website’s Wales section (16 October, 2023): ‘NHS Wales: Thousands of hours missing from A&E figures – doctors’. In this we learn of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine’s (RCEM) … Continue reading Perhaps we’ll see NHS England under a Labour health secretary introduce the ‘breach exemption’?
Independence – When will we reach our tipping point?
By Brenda Robb Following the launch of the SNPs manifesto many folk have taken to Twitter and newspaper comments to bemoan the SNPs ability to make progress on securing independence. Every armchair expert claims to know what they should have done with solutions ranging from challenging obscure constitutional treaties, declaring UDI or just somehow sorting it. In some ways the Westminster refrain of “Now is not the time” was highly successful as it has allowed time, frustration and division to take their toll on the independence movement. This is not new. A quick internet trawl gave the following timelines for … Continue reading Independence – When will we reach our tipping point?
Labour’s wild one-year promise of 95% seen in 4 hours in an A&E system currently at only 59.7% can only be achieved by cheating and they’ve proved they are good at that, more than once before
By Professor John Robertson Wes Streeting, Shadowy Health Secretary has just committed to the astonishing pledge that NHS England’s A&E departments, currently seeing less than 60% within 4 hours, will within one-year, be seeing 95%. It’s such a wild contrast with everything else Labour is saying, making no promises, that he’s either lost the plot or has a sneaky New Labour plan in mind. He’ll tell them to cheat. They’ve done it before. In October 2023: NHS bosses are using misleading figures to hide dangerously poor performance by A&E units in England against the four-hour treatment target, emergency department doctors claim. Some … Continue reading Labour’s wild one-year promise of 95% seen in 4 hours in an A&E system currently at only 59.7% can only be achieved by cheating and they’ve proved they are good at that, more than once before
As the Herald compares us stupidly with independent never-conquered Sweden, the facts on Scotland’s cancer treatment times far and away the best in the UK
For full text with sources – https://talkingupscotlandtwo.com/?s=cancer For full text with sources – https://talkingupscotlandtwo.com/?s=cancer By Professor John Robertson Continue reading As the Herald compares us stupidly with independent never-conquered Sweden, the facts on Scotland’s cancer treatment times far and away the best in the UK
As England-only research is presented as evidence of a child-obesity crisis ‘across the UK’, how the Scottish Government has been turning the tide
By Professor John Robertson As the Guardian headlines UK children shorter, fatter and sicker amid poor diet and poverty, report finds based on a Food Foundation report explicitly titled A NEGLECTED GENERATION: Reversing the decline in children’s health in England, I’ve struggled to access the full data or to directly comparable Scottish data from the same period. However in December 2022, only 18 months ago, I had: Dramatic fall in number of children at risk of obesity In just one year after the effects of the pandemic in increasing the risk, NHS Scotland and Government programmes, schools and children themselves … Continue reading As England-only research is presented as evidence of a child-obesity crisis ‘across the UK’, how the Scottish Government has been turning the tide
Now that was all ‘maximising’ influence and benefit for Scotland’s businesses!
By stewartb Prominent on Labour in Scotland’s website right now is this: ‘What will Labour do for Scotland? – Our 6 first steps to change Scotland‘. This is Labour’s step number six! Perhaps a moments thought as to relevant context and perspective by Labour’s leadership in Scotland might have been helpful before issuing this kind of substance-free stuff. It’s possible of course that this ‘maximising’ pledge has been dreamt up to give an incoming Labour Secretary of State for Scotland (Ian Murray?) cover for a ‘pretendy’ purpose! This pledge to Scotland on ‘maximising influence’ on trade ironically is from the same … Continue reading Now that was all ‘maximising’ influence and benefit for Scotland’s businesses!
