Readers will remember Professor Dev Sridhar on BBC Scotland in the early days of the pandemic until she complimented the FM and the Scottish strategy before Murdo Fraser and others blew up in indignation at her interfering. Professor Linda Bauld then became ubiquitous until she too made the mistake of pointing to official statistics revealing lower infection rates in Scotland and since has become rare at Pacific Quay. For months now, we’ve had Jill Evans, not a prof or an epidemiologist, but head of health intelligence at NHS Grampian, on a regular basis to advise us on Covid developments without … Continue reading Has Reporting Scotland dumped its third woman Covid expert in a row?

There were 885 patients recorded in hospitals with Covid-19 in the last 24 hours, the lowest since 31st December 2021 when there were 859. There were 20 ICU cases, the lowest since June 27 2021, more than 7 months ago, when there were 17. I appreciate that these data do not capture the ‘collateral damage’ such as long-Covid and do not suggest that such progress merits the frankly school-boy announcements of the PM in the last three days calling for an end to all restrictions. While hospitalisation has fallen in England, the fall has been less steep and the level … Continue reading Hospitalisation lowest since 2021, ICU lowest for 7 months

David Bol of the Herald leaps gleefully on this news that a contract for recycling Scots bottle waste has gone south. I remember the time we were more concerned about waste from the south getting dumped in Scotland – Munitions in Beaufort’s Dyke, nuclear sub waste in the Clyde, old nuclear subs rotting in Rosyth, southern excrement in camping sites? Isn’t this just a positive indicator that we will have a nice productive relationship with rUK after independence? They will, despite some mad yoon outbursts, still buy our salmon, beef and whisky. They will prefer to buy our oil, gas … Continue reading Seems fair after all the food, oil, gas, electricity, graduates….

At the Winter Olympics: Great Britain’s women won an important curling match against the United States 10-5 to keep their Winter Olympics play-off hopes on track. Having lost two of their three matches so far, Eve Muirhead, Vicky Wright, Jen Dodds and Hailey Duff could ill afford another defeat. The Scottish quartet held off an American fightback to move up to fifth in the standings. https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/winter-olympics/60360881 There isn’t actually a BBC Scotland report on the rugby, just this from Gareth Griffiths of BBC Sport Wales, on the BBC Scotland website: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/rugby-union/60360404 Continue reading Scots rugby loses but GB (sic) curlers win ‘down the page’

For some time now Jillian Evans, head of health intelligence at NHS Grampian, has been Reporting Scotland’s go-to for epidemiology, ahead of profs Sridhar and Bauld, both clearly dangerously prone to say something positive about the FM or the Scottish Government’s pandemic measures. Today, at least on the website, Evans has told some truths uncomfortable for those covering the PM and for BBC Scotland’s radio call-in shows such as GMS, Mornings with Kay Adams or Drivetime with John Beattie. Only days ago, Kaye Adams was asking callers if we should follow the PMs impulsive decision to end all pandemic measures … Continue reading BBC Scotland expert criticises PM and Kaye Adams

In the Guardian today: Around the Tory heartland of Chichester, the government’s promise to build 300,000 homes a year has prompted loyal followers to take to the streets in protest. People in the towns, villages and hamlets stretching west and south from Chichester live in an area served by Southern Water, which was fined a record £90m last year for illegally discharging billions of litres of raw sewage into the protected coastal waters off the south coast of Hampshire and Kent. https://www.theguardian.com/society/2022/feb/12/sewage-discharges-will-be-routine-chichester-protests-at-tory-housing-targets I feel sure one of the opposition leaders will have called for more housebuilding. Perhaps Kay Adams or Fiona Stalker could tweet … Continue reading Tory housing targets mean ‘routine sewage discharges’ Call Kay Adams: ‘Should Scotland consider following England’s plans?’

From BBC Wales this morning: A senior Welsh Labour minister has said there was no meeting of the UK’s chief medical officers before Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced he could end England’s Covid rules early. The legal rule to self-isolate could end later this month in England. Welsh Economy Minister Vaughan Gething said there was also no agreement between the UK’s health ministers. But a Downing Street source said the devolved governments were told before the PM made his announcement. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-politics-60350891 Another example of Westminster’s contempt and of BBC Scotland bias and complicity as they ignore the story for MSPs’ … Continue reading Only BBC Wales reveals Westminster’s ‘telling’ contempt

The Herald’s Graham Avery thinks 3 to 4 years and carefully inserts the qualification ‘fully’. In January 2014, he said 18 months: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-politics-25965703 Fabian Zuleeg, chief executive of the European Policy Centre think tank in Brussels, in May 2021 said: We are talking here about a part of the United Kingdom that, also because of Brexit, seeks independence and wants to belong to the EU value community,” Zuleeg said. “And in this respect, I think the mood on the EU side is rather positive. He suggested an independent Scotland might be able to conclude membership negotiations in two to three … Continue reading Herald predicts full EU membership two to three years early

Kay Adams, Anglophile in every way, asks her listeners to applaud England’s early end to face coverings in the classroom. She should do a retrospective or two? How about, like the Grenfell one above, this: Homeless rate in Scotland about half that of England Or Due to late rollout of vaccine, deaths far higher in England’s care homes Or Fewer homes flooded in Scotland due to more stringent building standards Or Stillbirth rate in England and Wales 55% higher than in Scotland Evidence for all claims at talkingupscotlandtwo.com Continue reading Lack of Scotland’s required cavity fire barriers caused Grenfell inferno so ask Kay Adams:

Regulars will have seen my regular alerts contrasting NHS Scotland A&E performance on the 4 hours target with that of NHS England but the above report drew my attention to something even worse: The sickest patients are facing long waits for a bed when they are admitted to hospital in England, NHS data shows. A third of the A&E patients – 122,000 in total – who were ill enough to need treatment on a ward waited over four hours in January – a record high. Some 16,500 of them waited over 12 hours – many either stuck on trolleys in … Continue reading Opposition and BBC silent as NHS England tumbles into shocking delays crisis