Throughout 2020 and into 2021, Scottish Labour tastelessly weaponised the inevitable reductions in cancer treatment, especially surgery, to protect vulnerable patients from a deadly virus. The ‘tsunami of cancer deaths‘ featured in multiple headlines as Scottish Labour flaunted their faux compassion. Some time ago, I wondered when this wave might appear in the NRS mortality data. It seemed not to but my attempts to get an answer from medics and researchers were met with silence. I guess they feared being associated with the notion that some, at least, cancer surgery or other treatment is not saving lives. The most recent … Continue reading Contrary to Labour scare-mongering there was no tsunami, not even a ripple, of cancer deaths after treatment cuts

From the Statistical bulletin on crimes of homicide recorded by the police in Scotland in 2021-2022, today: In 2021-22, 53 victims of homicide were recorded, 10% (or six victims) fewer than the 59 victims recorded in 2020-21 (Table 1). This is the lowest number of recorded homicide victims since comparable records began in 1976. https://www.gov.scot/publications/homicide-scotland-2021-22/ The figure for England is 710, up from 570 in 2020/2021: https://www.statista.com/statistics/283093/homicides-in-england-and-wales/ All things being equal the homicide rate in England & Wales, for 2021/2022, with 11 times the population, might be expected to be around 583 but was 710, back up to its ‘normal … Continue reading Reporting Scotland Up: Homicide in Scotland is down again to lowest in UK and lowest since 1976

Two days ago, BBC Scotland and the Herald pounced on a one-week increase in Covid infections in Scotland, making little of the fact that it remained lower than in England or Wales and having, of course, omitted to report on the previous week’s fall in infection level at the time – good news is no news they will insist. They went with: Covid in Scotland: Sharp rise in cases as deaths also increase https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-63347214 The more meaningful trend over several weeks, something they should be telling us about, in the public interest they claim to serve, was ignored even though … Continue reading Scotland’s Covid trend is flat and not a ‘sharp rise’ as BBC Scotland would clearly wish

In a ridiculous, frankly embarrassing, interview with John Swinney, BBC Scotland’s Martin Geissler made a number of shouty remarks trying to cast doubt on Scotland’s economy post-independence. He even tried to revive the hoary old notion that we’d have a long difficult path to EU membership. Surely that’s dead now after a string of contrary comments from leading European politicians? However, his suggestion that we’d face ‘10/15 years the economic wilderness‘ when the current average for EU membership is 9 years and, given our current fit with EU requirements, means that 3 years is more likely, was merely a detestable … Continue reading Martin Geissler’s hatchet is blunt

In terms of the total number of cases of Covid 19 in hospital, pro rata, the situation in Scotland remains pretty similar to that in Wales and Northern Ireland and only around 20% lower than in England (below), but in ICU, the contrasts (above) are stark. All things being equal, England should have around 50 in ICU but actually has more than 4 times that and Wales, with only three-fifths the population, tends to have many more ICU cases than Scotland. All things are clearly not equal and the reasons are worthy, surely, of a BBC Scotland Disclosure investigation into … Continue reading Public Interest: Why does Scotland have so very few Covid cases in ICU?

By stewartb It’s a difficult judgement to make sometimes between (a) amplifying by repetition a political statement which causes distaste, and (b) just ignoring it. In this case comment seems appropriate because the matter illustrates a political tactic viz. the blatant use of ‘innuendo’, that has the potential – indeed the objective – to undermine trust in public institutions and processes. The issue arose in a Daily Record article on 21 October: ‘SNP Green Government in ‘political interference’ row over covid public inquiry. EXCLUSIVE: The presence of civil servants on the Inquiry team has led to claims of the Government … Continue reading Innuendo as a political tactic – what damage to public trust?

Today, the Herald’s Helen McCardle indulged in the kind of Scotland/England comparisons derided by most Unionist journalists, except for drug deaths, of course, because she thought she could reveal A&E in NHS Scotland to be no better than in NHS England. She was wrong. See: https://talkingupscotlandtwo.com/2022/10/22/well-more-the-lies-about-the-scotland-england-ae-comparisons/ I’m reminded of the, unique-to-Scotland, politicised reporting of health and other public services. See these: The Herald, historically, has identified as centre-left, supportive of Labour leaders like Dewar, McGoogle and now Sarwar. The Guardian seems a reasonable comparison. How do they platform stories like those above? Notice anything missing? Yes, politicians blamed. Unionist propaganda … Continue reading The truth about the Herald – Guardian public services comparisons

From Healthcare Improvement Scotland, not one NHS hospital inspection has resulted in an ‘unsatisfactory‘ rating. From the Care Quality Commission for England, 6 NHS hospitals have been rated ‘unsatisfactory.‘ You can read the details at the link above. Continue reading Not one NHS Scotland hospital rated unsatisfactory but in NHS England….SIX

From the Guardian today under the headline, Thousands at risk as A&E queues stop NHS paramedics attending 999 calls: Paramedics in England cannot respond to 117,000 urgent 999 calls every month because they are stuck outside hospitals looking after patients, figures show. The amount of time ambulance crews had to wait outside A&E units meant they were unavailable to attend almost one in six incidents. https://www.theguardian.com/society/2022/oct/21/thousands-at-risk-as-ae-queues-stop-nhs-paramedics-attending-999-calls From BBC Scotland: Latest figures from the service show that for the week to 25 April, one in 10 ambulances in Scotland waited over one hour and twenty minutes to drop patients at an emergency department. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-61395685 … Continue reading NHS England’s ambulance service 41% more likely to be too late arriving

In the Herald today, there is a desperate and flawed attempt to undermine the SNP Government and NHS Scotland under the heading: The truth about the Scotland-England A&E comparisons McArdle writes: Yet time and again, the Scottish Government has sought to deflect at least some of the heat by noting that – however bad things are – at least they are not as bad as England. But are such comparisons fair? Her first criticism is that the services are not comparable: Scotland has 91 A&E services in total, including minor injury units, but the weekly statistics published by Public Health Scotland cover … Continue reading Well, more “The lies about the Scotland-England A&E comparisons”