I wonder who is having the fears of a crimewave? The Scottish Conservatives’ shadow community safety minister Russell Findlay said: “These absence rates, although unconfirmed, are concerning. “The thin blue line is already severely stretched and the last thing anyone wants is a reduction in officers leading to a Christmas crimewave. “If there’s any risk to the delivery of operational policing, people deserve to know. The SNP government must give urgent consideration to exempting officers from the new self-isolation rules.” https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/scottish-news/police-scotland-hit-deluge-coronavirus-25689811 Scotland’s crime has been plummeting for years now, we have 17 283 police officers, with only 700 of sick … Continue reading Thin blue line still robust as only 4% of cops off

The 7 day average has increased from around 2 500 new cases per day to 3 500 but, crucially, seeming to plateau there. There were 3 756 new cases today in Scotland and 54 661 across the UK making the Scottish rate, pro rata, 70-80% lower. The most likely explanation is this: Numerous research studies which have confirmed the value of face coverings, in protecting us. A large-scale study by Oxford University in October 2021, confirmed that People who wore face coverings or masks outside of the home, and were more exposed to infection due to their circumstances, had ‘significantly’ … Continue reading Higher face-covering compliance paying off in Scotland

Making it just onto BBC Scotland’s website and maybe, maybe not, onto reporting Scotland, we see from SEPA: 1 out of 85 sites passed, 1.17%, so BBC Scotland have rounded that down as you would. They do mention that the 32 excellent sites is the highest in the past six years but not that it is nearly twice the 2015/16 number. They do mention than only 1 site failed but not the massive improvement from 17 down to 1. DEFRA claim for England, 93% excellent or good, up from only 28%, 30 years ago, compared to only 67% in Scotland. … Continue reading Massive improvement in Scotland’s bathing water quality

Hospitality firms have accused Nicola Sturgeon of “shutting down” the industry in Scotland, with the Scottish government criticised for failing to consult before announcing fresh restrictions on trade last week. Sturgeon warned of further restrictions in the coming days after she called on employers last Friday to cancel Christmas parties and urged people not to socialise over the holiday. She also announced that household contacts of confirmed coronavirus cases would have to self-isolate for ten days regardless of vaccine status or a negative test result. https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/omicron-variant-hospitality-slams-nicola-sturgeon-shutdown-scotland-p3gjxmwlv What would these club owners and bar stewards have her do? Sacrifice a few thousand to death or … Continue reading 98% of hospitality bosses cannot even say ‘epidemiologist.’

It’s about the loss of human rights due to UK Government actions; about global vaccination inequality and later about poverty in Scotland so that’s why they’ve gone for the two above rather than those responsible, Johnson, Patel or that horrific cigar-chomping woman at the DWP. My GP has warned me not to look at McKenna but sometimes the Herald pushes him and pretends he’s some kind of ‘premium.’ There’s not a word of the SNP Government’s achievements in keeping Covid deaths and infections in UK. There’s no mention of the SNP’s strong support for retaining the human rights act, unchanged, … Continue reading You have to stretch things to bursting to blame the SNP for this

Down the page a bit, wee see: The prime minister also said: 42 teams from the military would be deployed across every region to help the effort extra vaccine sites and mobile units would be set up across England opening hours of clinics would be extended with more appointments thousands more volunteer vaccinators would be trained the UK government would also give extra support to speed up vaccinations in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland This is, of course, just another of his big promises, off-the-scale like his ‘world-beating’ testing and tracing programme, and utterly dependent on things he cannot really … Continue reading The UK government would also give extra support to speed up vaccinations in Scotland?

Based on, for them, quite advanced arithmetic, the Scottish Daily Mail, have calculated that we won’t hit the end of January target at the current rate and that, they hear, we might not be recruiting enough jaggers. Leaving aside, the thought that surely any soldier who has passed bayonet practice could be drafted in to save us, have they see this? So, well ahead of the pack and climbing steadily. 38.7% in Scotland have had a booster while only 34.3% in England. There’s no sign they’ll catch us on the way to the line and, in Northern Ireland, heads must … Continue reading Scotland’s Booster JAG programme only one in UK with chance of hitting target

Which government leader can make a decision to borrow on the global markets to save the hospitality industry? Which one can put in another furlough scheme to save jobs? While the Scottish Government can tinker round the edges and has done what it can, only the UK Government has the power to gather the massive resources needed. The Scottish Government has requested the power to borrow but has been refused as the Cons fear it would further naturalise the idea of full independence. Labour and the Lib Dems will not go there either. That SoS image is only the latest … Continue reading It doesn’t Einstein to figure out what the Scottish media are up to

By stewartb (In-depth Correspondent) I’m obliged to the Royal College of Emergency Medicine (RCEM) for publishing extended period time series data on A&E waiting time performance for the four NHS organisations across the UK. It does so in a graphical form that enables a valuable, perhaps novel perspective to be gained. We know that much attention is given to A&E waiting times, especially in Scotland. Each weekly release of statistics (only monthly updates provided in England) gets Reporting Scotland’s ‘crisis’ treatment if the figures show any drop in performance. This has been going on for years! Typically, the BBC’s output … Continue reading A decade’s perspective in just four graphs – A&E waiting times performance

From Helen McArdle today: How do we know whether or not a hospital is safe? It is a question that has come to the fore amid fresh controversy over infections apparently contracted during treatment at the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital in Glasgow . https://www.heraldscotland.com/news/19776006.superhospital-row-statistics-say-qeuh-safe—really-gone-wrong/ Ten days ago, I feel I answered the first bit of that question. More on the second, ‘eh whit?’ or non sequitur part, later. In terms of actual mortality in Glasgow hospitals from April 2019 to March 2020, the period in which we saw the deaths supposedly linked to infections, all of the Glasgow hospitals had … Continue reading The statistics say the QEUH is safe – so it’s the media that have really gone wrong