The Herald today strikes fear into our hearts with this on the new Covid variant: They don’t however mention the evidence that the Valneva vaccine developed in Scotland may have the edge to combat new variants, as reported by Al Jazeera, more than two weeks ago: https://www.aljazeera.com/features/2021/11/9/valneva-covid-19-vaccine-why-it-might-be-a-game-changer Continue reading Scottish newspaper unaware of major vaccine developments less than an hour away

I’m not a virologist, an expert in how viruses work, or an epidemiologist, an expert in how human societies respond to them, but I can read a bit. Why is the new S African variant likely to be more dangerous? The rod-like spike proteins on the surface of SARS CoV-2 are the tip of the spear of the COVID-19 pandemic. The spikes bind to human cells via the ACE2 receptor and then dramatically change shape. They jack-knife, folding in on themselves to fuse their own membrane with the membrane of our cells. And that opens the door to coronavirus infection. … Continue reading Why is the new S African variant more dangerous and how the vaccine developed in Scotland ‘has the edge’ to stop it

According to English Health Secretary, Savid Javid, this morning, the new B11529 variant, identified only 3 days ago in South Africa, has twice the number of mutations as the Delta variant and may be more resistant to the existing vaccines. Notably, we hear that the new variant has around 30 changes to the spike protein which the virus uses to break into human cells making it dramatically different from the Wuhan strain on which all current vaccines are based. Well, not entirely and significantly. The French Valneva vaccine, developed in Livingston in Scotland, and then a contract for it cancelled … Continue reading New South African variant may be more vulnerable to the cancelled Livingston Valneva vaccine

BBC Scotland today have Professor, Coventry University. John Cuddihy FRSA, a Visiting Professor at CTPSR as well as an international consultant operating on behalf of a variety of international agencies in the fields of P/CVE, Counter Terrorism, Organised Crime and Protective Security to talk about the long-running inquiry into deaths around the same time as a water and ventilation problem in a hospital.  For years now Anas Sarwar has been a regular presence in Scotland’s MSM shouting about the deaths of children in Scottish hospitals. In the days before the 2021 Holyrood election, Anas Sarwar shouted ‘what about Millie Main’ … Continue reading As BBC Reporting Scotland use a ‘Prof’ of Counter Terrorism to inform hospital water and ventilation inquiry will the creepy uncle Anas rise again to shout ‘What about Millie?’

In the above BBC Scotland report, based on research by the medical journal Eurosurveillance, with ‘analysis’ by Lisa Summers we read: Researchers estimate that 86% of deaths in Scotland among the over-60s were averted by vaccines. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-59416242 However, there’s not a word on how well the vaccine rollout worked in other parts of the UK. Here’s why: England actually does relatively well coming 8th out the 31 surveyed but at only 68% of deaths averted by the vaccine programme, Scotland did 26.4% better. Why? Easy. Had the vaccine rollout in England followed JCVI guidelines properly in, for example, vaccinating care … Continue reading Latest research: If they had followed Scotland’s vaccine programme, England could have saved 30 000 lives

Following a series of bare 1 or 2% leads for Labour in recent polls and a tie on the 21st November, the PM’s rambling, ‘unforgiveable’ speech on the 22nd seems to have have even improved his appeal, in the Kantar poll based on responses from the 18th to the 22nd, with a 3% lead for the Cons. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opinion_polling_for_the_next_United_Kingdom_general_election The message for Scots is clear – don’t be pig-ignorant. Give up on Labour and save your bacon! Continue reading Stay and fight for a better Britain? Peppa Pigs might fly

Typically, unresearched, but with another of their favourite FM pics, from the Herald’s David Bol, £25 million over 5 years, is a drop in the ocean. From the FT in October 2021: The value of contracts awarded by the UK government and public bodies to consultants more than doubled to £2.5bn in 2020-21, as extensive use of the private sector was made in response to the coronavirus crisis, according to new research. The Big Four professional services firms — Deloitte, EY, KPMG and PwC — were awarded contracts worth £1.2bn on a combined basis in the year to March 2021, … Continue reading Scottish Government’s consultancy costs tiny fraction of UK Government spend

I know that there are several ‘ah buts‘ in this report from the Marine Conservation Society’s Great British Beach Clean 2021 results but the fact remains that, based on the data in the bar graph above, the investigators found less litter per 100m on Scottish beaches than on those elsewhere in mainland UK. Continue reading Scotland’s beaches cleanest in UK

The 2021 Scottish Election campaign began on 25th March 2021. According to the Herald, Public Health Scotland was due to publish a report, undertaken by Stirling University, on care home deaths, the day before, but did not. It was supposedly published on 17th May 2020. It did not expose any scandal and concluded only: This could indicate that by emptying hospitals to prepare for a potential influx of COVID-19patients (which was partially averted by effective lockdown measures), the “normal place ofdeath” shifted for a large proportion of individuals. Any assessment of “excess deaths” in carehomes should, therefore, be viewed in … Continue reading Civil service reports are always held back till after elections

The Times has not released the full data as far as I can see but, even from the above front page, we can see some more revealing headlines: Johnson plummets to minus 62 in ratings! Every leader suffers fall in ratings! Sarwar suffers biggest fall in ratings! Ross massive 50 points behind Sturgeon! On a more serious note, is the fall in support for the FM simply those Labour, Lib Dem and even Con supporters returning home as BBC coverage also returns to demonising her? Continue reading Ross minus 38, Sturgeon plus 12