In the wake of the Herald headlining their campaign for ‘Eating out, dying out’, BBC Scotland have headlined the need for Scotland to copy England’s approach to pandemic control by opening pubs earlier. Here he is in few of his media appearances: Stephen Montgomery, who owns the Townhead Hotel in Lockerbie and is a spokesman for the Scottish Hospitality Group, said he would “love to be opening up at the same time as our colleagues down south”. “We’re going to be seeing people jump the border… for that long awaited pint of cold beer while we still remain closed,” he … Continue reading Just one publican persuades BBC Scotland to push for higher death and infection rates

In the Herald, today: Scotland’s leading retail association has demanded a firm Scottish Government commitment to an ‘eat out to help out’ style voucher scheme to help struggling shops survive Covid crisis. The report goes on at some length to back the idea with several business leaders lined up to offer a supportive quote. As soon as I saw it, I remembered somethings: Eat Out to Help Out’ scheme drove new COVID-19 infections up by between 8 and 17%, new research finds. Friday 30 Oct 2020 The government initiative, which cost around £500 million, caused a significant rise in new … Continue reading Eating out, dying out?

Before the pandemic, Scotland had far more doctors per head of population than any of the other part of the UK. I know this data is from 2019, but I’m not aware of a more recent report and, anyway, it’s more than likely that the gap has widened further in Scotland’s favour, after two more years of Tory-rule: In today’s Herald, another regular appearance from the GP’s trade union convenor Andrew Bust: THE impact of the Covid pandemic could leave Scotland with even fewer doctors than it had before, Scotland’s GP leader has warned. Dr Andrew Buist, chair of BMA Scotland’s GP … Continue reading We have far more GPs and there is no evidence of an ‘exodus’

Retired teacher-educator and former Associate Dean for Quality Assurance at the University of the West of Scotland, Dr John Robertson has reassured parents that Scotland’s schools are the best-equipped in the UK to help pupils recover from the effects of the pandemic. As the General Teaching Council has indicated without any expression of concern, around 2 600 new teachers were awarded full registration in each of the last five years while only around 500 dropped or lost their registration. This is a healthy turnover, bringing much needed ‘new blood’ into the system. Overall, Scotland’s schools are far better staffed than … Continue reading Thousands of new teachers being registered every year as only a few hundred leave

In 1962, Prince Phillip insisted on going ahead with a Tiger hunt, despite protests from British and Indian politicians. He defended his decision to shoot a tiger following the incident, saying they were not endangered. By 1972, the Tiger population of India had almost been wiped out. At the time of the shooting, the Prince was ‘helping to found’ the WWF. In his book “Queen of the World,” royal author Robert Hardman detailed the incident. The Maharajah was very clear about the main purpose of the visit: The Duke of Edinburgh was going to shoot a tiger. At the very moment … Continue reading ‘A decent man who did a lot of good’ Iain Macwhirter

Is that choice of words a tell-tale sign that the both the Duke and his boy knew that he was far from the lovable rogue being portrayed ad nauseam this weekend? I won’t get into the details here, but the Duke’s fondness for the very Germanic style at Gordonstoun suggests a hard form of parenthood most of us would be shocked by. Perhaps he didn’t know then about the full horror of the place but we do now: https://www.theguardian.com/society/2015/apr/12/child-abuse-at-prince-charles-former-school-scotland So, readers, I leave it you to tell us your not-so-fond memories of the ‘People’s Duke.’ Continue reading Because he he was the kind of man to send his kids to ‘Colditz in kilts?’

The rioting in Northern Ireland by groups fundamentally believing in the holy meaning of the Union and traumatised by the death of the Duke, has excited the Herald writer’s imagination. The pictures editor has let him down this time. That quiet, wet, mundane border looks too damp to light. Now, four men, a tabard and a big dug, that could kick off! MacGlashan, sorry, Macwhirter, opens with: There has never been a direct read across from the troubles in the province to Scotland. But Northern Ireland is only 12 miles away, and closer culturally and politically than we’d like to … Continue reading The ‘Troubles’ will not trouble Independent Scotland, Iain ‘Red Hand’ Macwhirter

Former adviser to Jack McConnell, Susan Dalgety, writing in the right-wing Tory rag, the Spectator, once edited by Johnson, casts doubt on the First Minister’s progressiveness and at the same time looks down her nose at a council house / comprehensive school background in North Ayrshire. There was a time when coming from a ‘modest background’ and getting on was perceived as something to be proud of in the Labour Party. I claim a modest background. Susan Dalgety has a trail of nasty personal attacks on Sturgeon. In November 2020, she dissected the body of cancer victim, Tracey Emin, to … Continue reading Sturgeon’s ‘modest background’ and the nasty snobbery of Blairites

Ignoring the news of death rates falling below, and vaccination rates rising above, other parts of the UK, the National joined the others in jumping the gun to trumpet the attainment of the record BBC Scotland has waited for. Just over a week ago, in an anti-Sturgeon tirade, their Michael Fry repeated the outright lie that Scotland had had more Covid deaths over the pandemic. In October 2020, they stated that the FM had admitted to a lack of clarity over cafe shutdown exemptions. She had not. It comes from the top: Their first editor Richard Walker said in 2015: … Continue reading The National: Still proudly critical of the SNP

Our Science Correspondent, Jurgen MacGlashan, has written to the authorities to suggest that ‘sex pheromone traps’ be placed in the toilets of food serving areas in airports, ferry terminals and roadside services, in an effort to keep out the new variants of Covid which the PM has warned will soon be washing up on our shores. This would be a replication of the currently successful traps keeping Halyomorpha halys, the Stink Bug, out of Scotland. From The Scottish Farmer yesterday: The stink bug can already be found on every continent in the Northern Hemisphere, including North America and mainland Europe, … Continue reading Calls for sex pheromone traps at Scottish border and in ports to keep new variants out