We’ve been here before, no bleedin’ percentages, just some zeros to get you worried and then Jackie ‘Trident’ Baillie’s face to send you into deepest despair. To be fair, it’s not just the SM, hardly any journalist will ever use a percentage because they are death to the dramatic headline. You need zeros, lots of them! So, 150 care workers, every day? Yes, but that’s mostly the same 150, off for 7 days and it’s only 6.1% in week-ending 11 January, down from 9.1% the previous week. 7 000 NHS staff? Out of 160 000 so that’s 4.3% and, as … Continue reading 0% of Sunday Mail stories use percentages because they are too calming

Infection rates in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have fallen fast as the pandemic seems to be moving toward an endemic phase. A failure to, in particular, maintain face-covering and non-party compliance during the surge, seems likely to have caused the more stubborn infections rate in England. A price will have been paid for this in deaths and in long-Covid among younger people. Continue reading Stricter measures pay off

every day last week – the highest since the start of the pandemic. https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m0013g09/reporting-scotland-lunchtime-news-14012022 In the morning of the 15th January 2022, Reporting Scotland told us that ‘about’ 52 200 staff were off in the week-ending 11 January. They had stupidly added up the absences from each day to get that nice big figure, ignoring the fact that many of these were the same people each day. I pointed this out by around 9 am and wrote a complaint, as did a reader of TuS. By 1.30pm they had changed the story to the above but, amazingly, had replied within … Continue reading Reporting Scotland editor lies to complainant (not me)

Like some kind of death cult, BBC Scotland celebrate only death and infection milestones. BBC Wales is, of course, still celebrating their steep fall in infection rates; the same as in Scotland but not mentioned here. BBC England did report the UK’s 150 000 deaths last week but England’s grave milestones, such as 100 000 deaths, months ago, are not mentioned. Most important of all, context, which all journos know is an essential part of reporting, will not appear when death is being announced in Scotland. Scotland’s death rate over the whole pandemic (227.8 per 100K) is significantly lower, with … Continue reading Reporting Scotland Down again with another grave milestone

every day last week – the highest since the start of the pandemic. https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m0013g09/reporting-scotland-lunchtime-news-14012022 A few hours or so after I pointed out their kiddy arithmetic error in just adding up the daily figures and getting more than 50 000 off, one third of all staff and five sevenths of nursing staff, Reporting Scotland was presenting the correct daily figure but still with that wee ‘every day last week’ to imply a new 7 000 each day. You can just hear that whiny wee voice when they find their error has been revealed: ‘If we just say the real number … Continue reading Yes but it was the same people most days

every day last week – the highest since the start of the pandemic. https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/live/bbcone Well they sorted out their arithmetical errors from the this morning: but they still haven’t, in a long report, informed us how close to the highest we now are or what percentage of the highest, today’s figure is. I’d like to know that. Wouldn’t you? It’s down to 7 174 on 11 January 2022, from 9 340 on 7 April 2021. A 23% difference suggests they needed to wait a bit longer for this to be a story? And what percentage was off? 7 174 out … Continue reading Better but still a FAIL

BBC Wales today, above. BBC Scotland today, below: The evidence: Does Scotland deserve no praise because we did have such a high rate to fall from? The pattern: Continue reading BBC Wales backs Wales again

BBC Complaints – Case number CAS-7061170-W8T5K4 NHS Scotland staff absences  In the Reporting Scotland insert we were told that ‘about 50,200 NHS staff were off work in the week to 11 January.’ There are only just over 70 000 nursing staff altogether. The official figure for that week was actually 7 174: https://www.gov.scot/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-trends-in-daily-data/Your staff have added up the daily figures for 7 days to get a big headline number but in so doing counted the same people up to 7 times.Not only is this embarrassing for a well-staffed department but it is in danger of creating unnecessary anxiety about attending hospitals and … Continue reading BBC Complaint: Counting the absent up to seven times to get a headline

to the 11th January. https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/live/bbcone When I saw that ‘about 50 200’ this morning, I thought two things. First, there were 160 000 staff in Scotland in September 2021 and more than 50 000 of them were off in one week? The average 12 year-old pupil has been taught to recognise the implausible and go back to the numbers again. Second, why ‘about?’ Surely the official figures will be precise? The website has more but not better: Covid-related absences in the NHS are at their highest levels since April 2020, the month after the first virus case was confirmed in … Continue reading BBC Scotland’s numeracy: Am I missing something here?

Four years after the Times first released the story of Labour’s Barry Gardiner and just as Johnson and the Queen need a little distraction, MI5 re-release the story of the Chinese spy funding a Labour shadow minister. What next? In 2015, David Leask, thought by some to be MI5’s man at the Herald gave us the above. No doubt MI5 have something tenuous on an SNP figure stashed away for another rainy day. If they go for the obvious line that any relationship with China supports their denial of self-determination to Tibet and, thus, weakens our case for independence, it’s … Continue reading After Barry Gardiner, what next from MI5? Drop another dead donkey on the SNP?