Thanks to Dorothy for alerting me to this. Today, the BMA estimate that 2 million operations have been lost to strikes. Using a method happily employed by BBC Scotland in the past, to attribute health concerns based just on dividing BMA or RCN survey results by 10, I think we can safely say that by averting this 3 day strike by all doctors in England and all the previous health strikes, that Humza Yousaf has saved 200 000 operations in Scotland but is, of course, getting no credit for it. On 16 August 2023: Junior doctors, only in Scotland, have … Continue reading Update – As he saves 200 000 operations from delay – Why are Humza Yousaf’s successful efforts to avert ALL NHS strikes not being reported?

Not-so-secret former Edinburgh Tory councillor, John McLellan (above), is in the Scotsman again today, with naked anti-SNP commentary posing as the news. He claims: The fifth “Building a new Scotland” paper is unveiled today by First Minister Humza Yousaf and his £98,000-a-year minister for independence, Jamie Hepburn, and compared to the previous damp squibs it promises to be thoroughly saturated. https://www.edinburghnews.scotsman.com/news/opinion/columnists/series-of-snp-scottish-government-pamphlets-is-just-carrying-on-their-independence-charade-john-mclellan-4232580 Scottish Government ministers have capped their salary for the last 14 years at the 2009 level of £81,449 and the difference returned to the public purse which amounts to well over £1,250,000 added to public expenditure. Some more details suggesting McLellan might not … Continue reading Updated: Former Tory councillor poses as just a journalist to attack the SNP in the Scotsman

By Steffan Messenger, BBC Wales Environment Correspondent, today: Wales is falling behind on actions needed to fight climate change, according to a major report. It accused the Welsh government of making “insufficient” effort from installing electric vehicle charge points to planting trees. Tree planting and peatland restoration rates were also found to be “far too low”. The rate of new woodland creation was currently less than a third of the Welsh government’s target of 2,000 hectares a year, in itself a “significantly less ambitious” goal than the CCC wanted to see. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-65818671 ‘Meanwhile in Scotland’ (one of my phrases which … Continue reading Welsh Labour condemned as Scotland plants nearly TWENTY times as many trees

Pretty much alone, the Times is reporting this ‘defiance’ from the regularly supine Anas Sarwar. I can’t see this perspective anywhere else. Of course, ‘our’ media only do SNP civil wars and Scottish Labour are, they so hope, preparing for government. If it’s true, then great, but it is interesting that Sarwar’s lack of defiance on the two-child cap and its role in massive child poverty has attracted so little and so soft reporting. BBC Scotland ‘covered’ the controversy but did not ask Sarwar directly for comment. Continue reading SPLIT!! Scottish Labour can accept English child poverty but not English transphobia

NOTE: No ghoulish, exploitative images here. In the Scotsman today: New figures show Scotland’s “appalling” drugs crisis is “continuing to spiral out of control”, with more than 100 people dying from drug overdoses in just one month. Scotland’s “appalling” drugs crisis is “continuing to spiral out of control”, according to opposition parties, as figures show more than 100 people died in just one month due to overdoses. https://www.scotsman.com/health/scotland-drug-deaths-appalling-scale-of-crisis-revealed-as-more-than-100-people-die-in-a-month-4231918 This is a foul-smelling classic of media disinformation with an underlying political agenda that you could well use as an easy exercise for 11-year-olds. The Herald had something very similar yeaterday. The data came … Continue reading Scotsman/Tories on ‘spiralling’ drug deaths – wrong, as figures stall in anticipation of further falls

Several recently arrived islanders have been working with Scotland’s MSM to suggest a crisis in Scotland’s subsidised ferry service. Coincidentally, as CalMac made 518 sailings on time yesterday, to hit 100% reliability and 95.4% over the summer season, BC Ferries on Canada’s west coast are accused of creating chaos with multiple cancellations: B.C. Ferries is a crucial part of the province’s infrastructure, connecting the Lower Mainland with Vancouver Island, the Sunshine Coast and the Gulf Islands. Independently managed but provincially owned, the ferries transport tourists to popular vacation destinations and provide essential services to people who live and work on the islands … Continue reading Despite a gentler climate, British Columbia Ferries still need to learn from CalMac

I know they’re still at times infuriating but, once more STV reported last night, good news that could reflect well on the SNP Scottish Government: A record number of places for trainee doctors have been filled, the Scottish Government said. Data from NHS Education for Scotland showed as of July 25, 1,061 of the 1,137 traineeship posts advertised have been recruited for – with the total higher than last year’s record by 100 posts. All advertised positions in general practice, psychiatry, anaesthetics, radiology and emergency medicine have now been filled, with the trainee doctors due to take up their places … Continue reading Record trainee doctor recruitment but only if you live in STV’s Scotland – watch them if only to hurt BBC Scotland!

The Herald’s David Bols is positively dribbling with excitement as he exposes the SNP’s nationalised water supply system’s leaks. I don’t know if he goes on to further damage Scotland’s leaky reputation with these facts: Leakage measured in litres per person per day is significantly lower in England and Wales than in Scotland and Northern Ireland. In 2020-21 England and Wales leaked 51 litres of water per person per day while in Scotland and Northern Ireland this figure was above 80 litres of water. https://www.ofwat.gov.uk/leakage-in-the-water-industry/#leakage4 Should we just give up on this one? Nope. The UK water supply network could … Continue reading With 90% of the water and parts of the UK with less per person than in a desert, need Scots pay more to plug every leak?

It’s not about the truth, it’s all about choices. It’s not about ‘the’ facts it’s about ‘which’ facts. Bottom left, someone at the Herald has ‘stuck their thumb‘ into yesterday’s Public Health Scotland data and come out, delighted, with that for their front-page headline. The actual report: The average weekly number of drug-related attendances at emergency departments increased between March and May 2023. A total of 1,081 attendances were recorded in this period – similar to 2021 (1,058), and 13% higher than in the same time period in 2022 (954). The headline is factually incorrect. The 13% rise is not in three … Continue reading Keeping Scotland’s drug ‘crisis’ alive by choosing always the ‘bad’ news

Reporting Scotland, as often before, heads off on a different path from BBC Scotland’s website, promotes the animal welfare crisis to headline story and replaces that ‘ugly’ dug with kittens. Readers will know that the cost-of-living crisis has not yet been successfully dumped at the door of the Scottish Government despite repeated attempts do so such as the recent, astonishing example where Scottish Labour tell that SNP Government to ‘use its existing powers’ and compensate for the two-child benefit cap! You know that benefit-cap which their leader, Sir Keir Starver, has told them Labour cannot afford to promise to end? … Continue reading Things are really bad in Scotland for kittens but who is to blame?