By stewartb Reader ArtyHetty writes in response to ‘Stop sweating the small stuff and keep our eyes on the prize’.. ‘last time the ‘YES’ movement were often cornered by questions ..’ Thinking about this reminds me of the revealing book – ‘Don’t Think of an Elephant!: Know Your Values and Frame the Debate’ by George Lakoff. What follows are extracts from blog posts written by Lakoff in 2018, firstly from one entitled ‘A Modest Proposal: #ProtectTheTruth’ (See: georgelakoff.com/blog/ ) The blog is written in the context of US politics and Trumpian/Republican Party campaigning but seems to have wider relevance: Lakoff’s … Continue reading Next time, the Yes campaign needs to know its values and frame the debate

From SNP Media: The Scottish Patient Safety Programme (SPSP), introduced by the SNP Scottish Government in 2007, has been praised by a leading European expert on patient safety. In Westminster’s Health Committee, Dr Pelle Gustafson, CMO at Swedish Patient Insurer, responded with “Scotland”, when he was asked which country he would hold at the very top pillar with regards to patient safety.  Dr Gustfason said: “If you take all preventative work in regard to patient safety, I would say Scotland, I am personally very impressed with Scotland. I think in Scotland you have a long tradition of working, you have a development … Continue reading Scottish Patient Safety Programme introduced by SNP Government in 2007 praised by leading European expert

By Alasdair Galloway Today, one of the most frequent of the Unionist fan club on the Herald Letters page had another letter published, which I have copied in below. DURING the Covid crisis the SNP government has relied totally on the UK government for funding to tackle its effects. According to the National Audit Office, as of last September , Covid-19 has cost the UK government £370bn. Pro rata Scotland’s share is some £37bn extra funding. Yet Nicola Sturgeon seems to think that the Treasury has a bottomless pit full of cash. “Our public health response is curtailed by lack of finance” … Continue reading ‘Stop sweating the small stuff and keep our eyes on the prize’

Operations may be cancelled by the surgeon or by the patient themselves, for good reasons. There will always be some of these and they tell us nothing about the performance of the NHS. Cancellations due to staff or facility shortages do tell us something and when they are less than 25 and falling it means something good, very good. For this figure to ever be zero, you’d need more operating theatres and surgeons than could be afforded and accept long periods of emptiness and idleness. In November 2021, 624 (3.0%) were cancelled by the hospital based on clinical reasons, 397 … Continue reading Cancelled operations fall for second month to less than 2%

From NHS Scotland today: In November 2021, the average number of beds occupied per day due to delayed discharges was 1,563, which is more consistent with pre-pandemic figures. This is a decrease of 3% compared to October 2021 when the daily average was 1,619. https://www.publichealthscotland.scot/publications/delayed-discharges-in-nhsscotland-monthly/delayed-discharges-in-nhsscotland-monthly-figures-for-november-2021/ Continue reading Number of hospital beds occupied due to delayed discharges falls

from SNP Media today: The SNP has slammed the Tory government after new National Grid figures reveal Scottish generators will be unfairly penalised and forced to pay £465million a year in transmission charges by 2026/27 – while England and Wales will be handed a subsidy of £30million a year. It follows industry concerns that Scottish renewables firms pay huge fees to connect to the National Grid – while equivalent English projects are paid to connect to the very same grid. Branded the ‘Great Scottish Renewables Robbery’ by Stephen Flynn MP, the Westminster government currently forces Scottish generators to pay the highest rates in Europe – … Continue reading Electricity transmission charges: England subsidised, Scotland to pay £465m

We know that reported case numbers are likely to be lower than actual infection levels because of non-reporting by many and because of failures in the testing programmes, especially in England. The UK-based Office for National Statistics employs sophisticated methods to generate more plausible figures In the period immediately after the new measures kicked in, in Scotland and were not applied in England, there is a sharp difference in the two estimates. Based on the ONS estimates, the infection level in England for 25th to 31st December 2021 (6%) was 32.7% higher than in Scotland (4.52%). Wonder why the Torygraph … Continue reading ONS reveals England’s case rate is 33% higher than in Scotland

In 2006, Professor Gilbert Burnham and three others, published in the Lancet an updated estimate of the official death toll in the Iraq War, of around 100 000. They suggested 601 000. Labour Prime Minister at the time, Tony Blair, was an explicit ally of the US president, George Bush, who launched the campaign and was responsible for deceiving Parliament and the people of the UK as to the justification for the war. Today in the Daily Record, the Scottish Labour leader, Anas Sarwar, says of Tony Blair: “Knighthoods are not made by me. Clearly former prime ministers do get … Continue reading Scottish Labour leader forgives war criminal

For some time, I’ve been reading in Scotland’s MSM of probable increases in cancer deaths due to reduced referral, diagnosis and treatment during the pandemic. Commonly, these reports have been platforms for opposition parties to attack the Scottish Government’s handling of the pandemic. Nearly two years since the first measures were introduced, I see again anecdotal evidence used to suggest a crisis of some kind. I don’t mean to be insensitive, but the data are not there: Taking account of Scotland’s elderly age profile, meaning that more are living long enough to develop and suffer from a cancer, the rate … Continue reading Cancer death tsunami: I’m still puzzled

Despite restrictions, Scotland suffering higher rate of infection than England Yes, yes, dears, the infection rate in Scotland having been lower than that in England since October 1st, started to climb above that on England on January 1st. The current rates are 260.4 per 100K in Scotland and 251.2 in England. Over the pandemic, Scotland’s rate has at times, but rarely, gone above that of England but, if we’re assessing the impact of measures, then the roughly 1 400 000 additional cases and more than 27 000 avoidable deaths, pro rata, might be more useful. Also, Scotland’s 22% lower hospitalisation … Continue reading Tory press rotten cherry-picking the stats to attack SNP