In Politics UK today: During questions to the department for work and pensions, Labour MP Holly Lynch told a story of how she had received a letter from an elderly constituent who was just above the benefit threshold and who is complete desperation. “I cannot afford to live” he said, and signed the letter of as ‘Yours, truly, broken.’ https://www.politics.co.uk/parliament/pensioners-in-poverty-are-writing-letters-of-desperation-to-their-mps-as-they-cannot-afford-to-live/ Lynch is the MP for Halifax. Context is always important if rarely there in journalism. Here are two pieces: First, while pensioner poverty is always to be deplored, other groups are more likely to be in poverty. See: Second, while … Continue reading Putting pensioner poverty in context

For some time during the pandemic, the Herald had the above plea. Today, the Herald’s Tom Gordonstoun repeats, way down the page this, on Keith Brown’s claim: That’s all Tom has; a quote from the Scottish Cons? The often maligned Conor Matchett has this: But surely these opposition politicians cringe in embarrassment when confronted with the reality of what their respective parties are doing in government. Voters watch on as a Tory UK Government continue to ignore and throttle freedom of information, delete potentially important private messages and stamp down on transparency. https://www.scotsman.com/news/politics/analysis-on-transparency-it-is-pot-meet-kettle-for-snp-and-tories-3461814 And back in 2015, this: Continue reading Herald’s Tom Gordon living in parallel universe with trusted quality boast

From BBC wales today: Wales does not have a functioning NHS and people do not have faith in it, claims the head of a doctors’ union. Dr Iona Collins, of the British Medical Association in Wales, said people suffering with chest pain “don’t even know” if an ambulance will come. On the different figures for the longer waiting lists, he added: “It’s probably true that the health services in England and Scotland have put a particularly aggressive emphasis on cutting off the longer waiters first, and had some success in doing that. However, when you compare Wales to Scotland and … Continue reading Welsh Labour Government NOT accused of failing thousands of patients

Today, the Herald allows this claim, unchallenged: Even by their standards, the brass-necked cheek of that claim stated as if it was a fact, with no source, not even the a GP union shoddy survey. What research is there, either way? From the Health Foundation in February 2023 and oh so easy to access by even a Herald journalist: Some acute NHS trusts are now acquiring general practices and employing GPs – for example, to staff urgent treatment centres. What is proving more controversial is hospitals employing GPs to deliver a fuller range of GP services, such as the Royal … Continue reading Disastrous reporting: NHS take over of GP surgeries can be a very good thing

There’s been a lot of unresearched talk about this. The Labour/Lib Dem Scottish Scottish Government came to power in May 1999 and in May 2007, the SNP replaced them. Based on a wikipedia analysis, the LabLib pact ‘built’ 9 ferries and the SNP ‘built’ 9 also. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caledonian_MacBrayne_fleet Continue reading Ferry Fact Check – 9:9

Today, a friend sent me this from Scotland in Union: We all need to play our parts in making this [Scotland staying in the Union and the SNP out of power] happen.  Scotland in Union will help, through political activity and through making a positive case for the UK, sharing information with people so that they can share it further.  We had a good example of this sharing the other day, when one of our supporters asked for some facts and figures to help with asking questions of a nationalist, and we were able to send them something quickly to … Continue reading No meaningful visitor traffic recently!

1 086 00 in Scotland are under 18 years of age. Around 50%, at least 500 000, live in the West and South-West. There are four gender clinics in Scotland, in Glasgow, Edinburgh, Aberdeen and Inverness with Glasgow, I feel sure dealing with half of the cases. The Herald suggests ‘over 1 000’ then leads with: Thousands of Scots children and adults are on the waiting list for treatment at a gender identity clinic as health leaders warned the toxic row over self-ID has led to a recruitment crisis. https://www.heraldscotland.com/news/23469493.trans-children-facing-lengthy-waits-glasgow-treatment/?ref=ebbn The figure is 1 064, 0.21% of under 18s are on a … Continue reading Panic-mongering media on gender identity as only 0.21% are on waiting list

I know a self-selecting sample but quite a big response, offers a better indication than all the media headlines baying for blood. So, 57.5% of responses were from SNP members and only 3% of those think she should be suspended. 42.6% were not SNP members and only 8.1% of those thought she should be suspended. Pretty clear. Continue reading Hardly anybody really thinks Nicola Sturgeon should be suspended from the SNP

How much electricity does Scotland need? Again using Scotland it has a population a little over 5 million and requires 25 TWh/year of electrical energy each year. https://www.confusedaboutenergy.co.uk/technical-zone/energy-resources/what-is-a-kwh-what-is-a-twh.php How much electricity does England need? With 10 times the population, 250 TWh/year? How much electricity could Scotland produce? 237 TWh/year. Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Renewable_energy_in_Scotland Continue reading Big enough to be independent? Scotland could produce TEN times the electricity it needs