Scotland’s drug survivals: The Herald finds a grey lining in a silver cloud
The Herald today tells us: Thousands of people have experienced near-fatal overdoses since Scotland’s drug deaths crisis was declared a public health emergency – with new figures labelled “deeply concerning”. https://www.heraldscotland.com/politics/23300910.warning-thousands-saved-near-fatal-overdose/ We then hear: Naloxone? Yes that: Scotland was the first country in the world to introduce a national naloxone programme, empowering individuals, families, friends and communities to reverse an opiate overdose. We funded this £1 million programme, over 5 years from 2011 to 2016. Over forty six thousand potentially lifesaving take-home naloxone kits have been supplied between 2011-2012 and 2017-2018. https://www.gov.scot/policies/alcohol-and-drugs/naloxone-provision/ So it’s working? Not according to Scottish Labour’s daft thinking. … Continue reading Scotland’s drug survivals: The Herald finds a grey lining in a silver cloud
Homeless death rates not shown to be higher in Scotland
No titillating images here Several media reports, such a this from the Herald have suggested higher homeless deaths in Scotland than elsewhere in the UK: Official figures for 2019 showed that Scotland had the highest homeless death rate when compared to England and Wales https://www.heraldscotland.com/news/homenews/23141361.homeless-death-toll-scotland-nearly-doubles-four-years/ Reader George S Gordon offers this careful analysis to cast doubt on the media reports: Apologies for the size of this post, from gov.uk in Nov 2022, but it contains a number of things of interest – “Many new homeless accommodations were arranged to protect people during the COVID-19 pandemic. This has increased the methodological gap that existed between … Continue reading Homeless death rates not shown to be higher in Scotland
37% increase in Beautiful Wings only over Scotland?
Did you think this might be about the Rev Stu Campbell? Surely the ‘beautiful’ suggested otherwise? From Butterfly Conservation, today: Scotland is the only UK country for which the all species butterfly indicators show long-term increasesin abundance and distribution, a 37% increase in abundance (1979-2019). Read the full report at: Click to access State%20of%20UK%20Butterflies%202022%20Report.pdf Our Resident Lepidopterologist, Professor Gordon Motherwell Gibson-Gibson confirms that this recovery in Scotland’s butterfly population is likely to be due, in part, probably, to SNP policies on the environment and tree-planting. Footnote: The current Wings over Scotland debate is on whether common moths should be allowed … Continue reading 37% increase in Beautiful Wings only over Scotland?
Thanks to better SNP Government strategy, health care and compliance, Scotland has lowest Covid death rate for ALL social groups
Covid mortality rates in UK nations: remarkable differences revealed in new analysis By stewartb The Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF) has recently published its latest annual report on the extent of poverty across the UK. This is based on data rich research that has over the years gained the status of an authoritative source. See JRF 26 January (2023) UK Poverty 2023: The essential guide to understanding poverty in the UK. (https://www.jrf.org.uk/report/uk-poverty-2023 ) In this report, the authors look back at the UK’s experience of Covid-19 and specifically at the differences in death rates by geography and degree of deprivation: ‘In … Continue reading Thanks to better SNP Government strategy, health care and compliance, Scotland has lowest Covid death rate for ALL social groups
Cavity fire barriers ensure no Grenfell here but media disinformation continues to panic residents
From BBC Scotland today: A father has told the BBC he moved his family out of a flat complex in Glasgow after fire safety issues were found. Abhijeet Kadwe said he feared for his children’s safety after learning that the Lancefield Quay flats had the same cladding as Grenfell Tower. A 24/7 fire patrol has been put in place in the building by the Scottish government after developers failed to make improvements. It emerged that the building had ACM (aluminium composite material) cladding – the same material that caused the 2017 fire at Grenfell Tower to spread so quickly. The tragedy … Continue reading Cavity fire barriers ensure no Grenfell here but media disinformation continues to panic residents
Should Flower of Scotland be kept not so much for our sake but for all the others Great Britain has invaded?
In the Murder two days ago: Former Scotland coach Jim Tefler is still adamant his nation should “show maturity” by ditching their national anthem. The Scots will blast out Flower of Scotland loud and proud at Twickenham before their blockbuster Six Nations Calcutta Cup clash against England on Saturday. But Tefler, 82, believes it is time for the anthem to be shelved because of its anti-English connotations. He has long vocalised his desire for change for the song that was first adopted by the Scottish rugby team when he was forwards coach back in 1990. The anthem fired the Scots up before … Continue reading Should Flower of Scotland be kept not so much for our sake but for all the others Great Britain has invaded?
Have BBC Radio Scotland audiences fallen by 20% in one year mainly because of Kaye Adams, Fiona Stalker and John Beattie?
The RAJAR report this week suggests: BBC Radio Scotland has lost a fifth of all listeners in a year, according to the latest audience numbers. The figures published by the research body Rajar, show that nearly 196,000 people have turned off the national broadcaster over the last 12 months. In the final quarter of 2021, 976,000 people were tuning in, but by the same time last year that had fallen to 780,000, a 20.1% drop. https://www.thenational.scot/news/23294333.bbc-radio-scotland-listeners-20-per-cent-since-2021/ What can have caused this catastrophic failure? Who can they blame for it? Judging by the torrent of angry comments I see in social media, Kaye … Continue reading Have BBC Radio Scotland audiences fallen by 20% in one year mainly because of Kaye Adams, Fiona Stalker and John Beattie?
This is the Party of failure to build affordable homes in England, attacking the Government in Scotland, which has succeeded
Why is Miles Briggs looking so glum? The Herald has used the same image from their 2018: Rape Crisis Scotland slam Tory MSP over ‘intimidating’ sexual harassment probe So, a high profile case leads to an understandable surge in complaints, to local housing departments or other owners, about mould by social housing tenants and the Scottish Conservatives are platformed by Bol in the Herald to blame the Scottish Government. First, a media-fuelled surge in complaints does not mean a comparable surge in cases where there is mould at the level where it is a threat to life. Some mould is … Continue reading This is the Party of failure to build affordable homes in England, attacking the Government in Scotland, which has succeeded
School violence: A classic example of seeking to stoke moral panic
stewartb I’ve only read the front page of The Herald – magnifying the picture above to read the article. I have no wish to give The Herald the benefit of my custom even tho’ a decade ago it was my newspaper of choice. It’s an appalling piece of journalism: it is rightly being called out in the blog post as a classic example of seeking to stoke moral panic. Yet another example: a pattern emerging in Scotland? (Arguably, what is being reflected in The Herald is a socially conservative push-back against fairly long standing practices and widespread support for the … Continue reading School violence: A classic example of seeking to stoke moral panic
Violence in schools: Irresponsible scare-mongering and no hard evidence whatsoever
The Herald likes to think of itself as ‘serious’ and informative. Here it is in the gutter, with its eyes still fixed in that gutter, not reporting reality for the benefit of its readers but constructing a dark alternative reality within which the vulnerable may be damaged. What evidence do they have? ONE whistleblower, unnamed, but in Glasgow’s east end. With the smallest respect, is that a representative sample? I think not. There are around 50 000 teachers in 5 000 schools in Scotland and they have one whistleblower? This is a classic moral panic where reports of actual deviance … Continue reading Violence in schools: Irresponsible scare-mongering and no hard evidence whatsoever
