In this business-friendly piece, free advertising for Standard Life, there’s little mention of the main reasons why there is pensioner poverty in the UK and it’s not because they have neglected to buy a pension package privately. Here’s the first: By regular contributor stewartb only a few days ago: The House of Commons Library (HoCL) has just published (9 April 2021) a briefing paper entitled: ‘Pensions: international comparisons’. It is described as “A look at how UK pensions compare with those in other countries. The note compares the UK state pension with similar systems in Europe and goes on to … Continue reading Pensioner poverty: Just another price we pay for the Union

Today in the Herald: Willie Rennie has cast doubt on whether an SNP majority in the next Holyrood parliament would be a “legitimate” mandate for a second independence referendum. The Scottish Liberal Democrat leader said there were “many factors” to a mandate, including the conduct of the election campaign, not simply parliamentary arithmetic. Correct me if I’m wrong but isn’t democracy all about arithmetic? People turn out and your share of the votes is reflected in your share of the MSPs, 5 in the case of the Lib Dems, despite them attracting little support outside of the Northern Isles, Edinburgh … Continue reading Leader of Scotland’s least popular party is leader of Scotland’s least popular party

Professor Darko Stankovic of the Technical University in Milosevigrad, has told BBC Scotland, based on his research into Balkan leaders of the 20th Century, that he is sure that all politicians are the same – corrupt liars, and so, as with the hospital discharges into care homes, Nicola Sturgeon may have done all the things Boris Johnson has done. Coming off the phone to his third-best lover, Stankovic barked: Не бих то пропустио поред ње ! Reacting to this, Willie Rennie pulled a face like a toby jug, Douglas Ross punched an imaginary something and Anas Sarwar pleaded ‘How many … Continue reading Expert tells BBC Scotland he ‘cannot rule out’ that Sturgeon has plans to unlawfully shut down the UK Parliament, impose a hard border with machine gun nests at Berwick or discuss having me beaten up

For the quarter ending December 2020, nearly three quarters (73.1%) of children and young people were seen within 18 weeks, compared to 60.6% for the previous quarter and 66.4% for the quarter ending December 2019. https://beta.isdscotland.org/find-publications-and-data/conditions-and-diseases/mental-health/child-and-adolescent-mental-health-services-camhs-waiting-times/ Much to be done but an improving picture suggesting that Anas Sarwar’s unconvincingly passionate outburst on Question Time, two days ago, was ill-informed. Others, more-informed than me, have responded to his familiar use of faux empathy with the the unwell or their grieving parents, and his claims to have attacked medical practice in the past, to score political points. I came across this posted … Continue reading ‘Anas Sarwar’s dangerous messages about mental health on Question Time’

Only 5 (0.1%) of Covid cases were reported as definitely picked up in hospitals in the week-ending 28th March 2021. A further 7 (0.2%) were probable cases and 3 552 (98.1%) were picked up in the community. BBC Scotland Health Correspondent Lisa Summers was unavailable to be remotely interested as she has been since levels began to fall in late January. What are we paying her for? If she can’t report this kind of thing, what use is she, or for that matter BBC Scotland? Continue reading Hospital onset Covid infections fall to lowest level since September

Talking to Channel 4 yesterday, Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar claimed that he had spoken against hospital discharges into care homes, in March and April 2020. When asked if he was sure, he insisted he had but was unable to point to any statements confirming it. At the same time, in March and April 2020, NHS Wales sent more than a thousand patients from hospitals, untested, into care homes. The Labour Government in Wales confirmed this in a BBC report in June 2020. Isn’t anyone in Labour Wales monitoring what the leader of Scottish Labour is saying? Continue reading Sarwar not known in Wales

All day today, building on similar reports in previous days, you’ll hear: In the past few hours, India has reported the biggest daily rise in infections of any country since the pandemic began – nearly a third of a million cases for the second day in a row. True but not informative. India has a massive population, at 1.36 billion, 24 times than of England and 240 times that of Scotland so it always has more of almost anything bad that happens. So, crudely: Looks bad but is it that bad? What if we, as scientists would insist we do, … Continue reading Covid death RATE in England 15% higher than in India

From SNP Media: The SNP has today challenged Douglas Ross to “break his deafening silence” on the growing Tory sleaze scandal engulfing Westminster, condemn the texts for contracts arrangements of his boss Boris Johnson and back a full independent inquiry. SNP Depute Leader Keith Brown said it was “utterly shameful” that the Scottish Tories had gone into hiding over the scandal, which has seen Boris Johnson, Rishi Sunak, David Cameron, Matt Hancock, and other senior Tory figures under fire over Tory donors and friends being handed contracts, special access, treatment and peerages by the Tory government at a cost to … Continue reading ROSS MUST BREAK “DEAFENING SILENCE” ON TORY SLEAZE SCANDAL

From SNP Media: Nicola Sturgeon will today [Friday] urge women to give both votes to the SNP on May 6th as she highlights plans to support women as Scotland recovers from COVID. Campaigning in Glasgow today, the SNP Leader will outline the wide range of policies an SNP Government will introduce to improve health outcomes and economic opportunities for women – both at home and abroad. Key SNP commitments for women include: Create a £50m Women’s Business Centre to support women looking to start or grow their business  Continue funding the SNP Government’s Women Returners Programme and build flexible and … Continue reading ACTION TO SUPPORT WOMEN IN COVID RECOVERY

According to BBC UK last night, 98% of the over 50’s and vulnerable have been vaccinated in Scotland, well ahead of England (95% maybe), Wales (92%) and Northern Ireland (89%). Overall, NHS England, ignoring JCVI guidance, has vaccinated more by doing the easily done younger groups. Scotland has vaccinated 2,755,175 people, roughly 50% of the total population. The 100 000 above account for just 1.8%. Some people just should not receive the vaccine because the risk, for them, of an anaphylactic shock reaction is greater than the risk of infection by the virus. Statistics accounting for the actual percentage who … Continue reading 100 000 probably NOT waiting as Scotland protects more than the other nations