From SEPA today: SEPA has just published bathing water classifications for 2023.  A full list of bathing waters and classifications is set out in an appendix at the foot of the email.  The highlights to note are: 38 (44%) of bathing waters will be rated ‘excellent’ for 2023 – the highest since tighter standards first came into force in 2015. 47 (54%) will achieve ‘good’ or ‘sufficient’ status for 2023 Two (2%) will have ‘poor’ status for 2023 Previous projects to improve water quality are now showing sustained improvements across Scotland. Ayr (South Beach) maintains ‘Good’ status following significant improvements … Continue reading 98% of Scotland’s bathing waters pass environmental standards:

I’m indebted to Leah Gunn Barrett for her help in tracking down the evidence. First, from a European Parliament report in 2020: Market forces, technological advances and price developments will continue to drive offshore renewable energy growth over the coming years. Nonetheless, such a change in pace requires overcoming a number of obstacles and ensuring that throughout the supply chain all players can both accelerate and sustain this increase in deployment rate. A greater involvement of the EU and of Member States’ governments is needed, as under current policies the present and projected installation capacity would lead to only approximately … Continue reading FACTCHECK: With only 2.7% of the population Scotland will have 47% of the wind power in all of North Sea basin Europe’s projected offshore wind power

Headlining from BBC England today: Redditch mental health ward faces claims of sleeping staff and bullies https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-hereford-worcester-63589011 There is not one suggestion that the Health Secretary for England, Steve Barclay, is to blame. Only the trust and the staff are blamed in a ‘BBC Investigation’ which does not question any government figure at all. No opposition politician bothers to criticise. Headlining from BBC Northern Ireland today: COPD lung disease sufferers waiting years for diagnosis https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-63625674 Once more, no politician is blamed. That’s the DoH Permanent Secretary, Peter May, above. No opposition politician bothers. Here’s how the health secretary running the … Continue reading Don’t they have someone like Humza Yousaf to blame?

All day today, Reporting Scotland Down will be featuring the Scottish GP’s shop steward, Andrew Burst, telling us in the most melodramatic of terms that NHS Scotland is in another crisis. This time it’s not enough GPs. A fact: As at 30 September 2021, the headcount of GPs in Scotland is 5,195. This is a rise of 74 GPs compared to last year. https://publichealthscotland.scot/publications/general-practice-gp-workforce-and-practice-list-sizes/general-practice-gp-workforce-and-practice-list-sizes-2011-2021/ Another fact: Scotland has the highest number of GPs per head of population in the UK, research commissioned by the BBC shows. Analysis by the Nuffield Trust think tank shows there are 76 GPs per 100,000 … Continue reading Why is the country with the most GPs the only one with ‘not enough?’

First thing today and several times throughout the day, you’ll see: GP service across the country are reaching tipping point and it’s putting patients at risk. That’s the warning from ‘doctors‘. It comes as a survey of general practice by the British Medical Association (trade union) show more than 80% ‘of those who responded‘ said demand was exceeding capacity, with over a third of practices reporting at least one vacancy. Almost half ‘of GP surgeries‘ took part in the research. https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/live/bbcone This is a regular repeat story from the GP’s trade union, the BMA, with another of their unreliable surveys … Continue reading BBC Scotland try to scare you with ‘the doctor’s’ schoolboy survey as only 1 in 5 are actually worried about anything

BBC Health and BBC Scotland continue to report Covid data but, otherwise our MSM have gone quiet. Neither report comparative data, as they loved to do when Scotland was ‘the worst.’ We’ve been the best for two weeks now: 2.43% in England (1 in 40 people) 2.38% in Wales (1 in 40 people) 2.17% in Northern Ireland (1 in 45 people) 2.04% in Scotland (1 in 50 people) Remember, those percentage points look small but stand for thousands people without Covid in Scotland and tens of thousands with it in England. If it was the other way round, Humza Yousaf … Continue reading Scotland has lowest Covid infection rate again

Office of the Secretary of State for Scotland (1 August, 2013): ‘Scotland’s offshore wind potential estimated at 25% of Europe’s’ By stewartb The Unionists in the These Islands ‘think tank’ are very excited: they’ve found that a statistic is dodgy – or at least that the research on which it is based is open to question, re-intepretation or revision? It concerns Scotland’s offshore wind energy potential relative to Europe’s. (https://www.these-islands.co.uk/publications/i384/wrong_with_the_wind.aspx) In a lengthy account, the These Islands’ article states, based on third party data from two reports published in 2009 and 2010, that: ‘So, in 2010, the Scottish Government definitely … Continue reading Scottish Secretary confirmed Scotland’s offshore wind potential at 25% of Europe’s in 2013

From the Herald today: That Joseph Rowntree Foundation claim will be all over UK media today, won’t it? No? Continue reading More than 5 MILLION children could be taken out of poverty if UK copies SNP Child Payment

Game changing, you say? Where’s the story? There, down at the bottom left. Here’s a bit of the content: See that 5.3 million at the bottom. Headline story eh? How are BBC Scotland covering it. They did this morning on TV but didn’t mention that it was unique to Scotland. They don’t do tasteless comparisons…unless….wait…drug deaths! Here it isn’t on their website so you can’t read the full story. Continue reading ‘Game changing’, ‘400 000 children’ but not headlining?

From BBC Scotland first thing and throughout the day, after NOT telling us that the Child Payment is NOT paid anywhere else in the UK: There are more drink-related adverts in top level Scottish football than most other European leagues according to a study. When TuS posts evidence showing a range of positive comparisons with rUK, from A&E waiting times to crime levels or to IVF treatment, we’re accused of ‘whitabootery.’ The politer social media comments say that comparisons are irrelevant and that Scots only care about the services they get and how they should be better. However, the rule … Continue reading Comparing Scotland but only when it suits them