Alerted to this by reader Jim O’Rourke, I cannot believe my eyes: In the supposedly pro-independence National today the above astonishing claim. The facts: So, Mr Fry, by any of the three measures, tested, death certificate mention and excess deaths, Scotland’s death rate has been much lower than England or Wales. Continue reading The National’s Michael Fry dishonestly suggests Scotland has had more Covid deaths

This update prompted by a suggestion from reader, 2012nancy: From the National Records of Scotland, last updated 24th March 2021: The 2011 Census showed that the Scottish population was 4% minority ethnic. This data show that the number of minority ethnic deaths in Scotland relating to COVID-19 is between 1.4% and 2.7%. https://spice-spotlight.scot/2021/03/22/coronavirus-covid-19-in-scotland-latest-data/ Yet: In England and Wales, males of Black African, Black Caribbean and Bangladeshi ethnic background had the highest rates of death involving COVID-19, all exceeding 250 deaths per 100,000 and significantly higher than all other ethnic groups.  https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/birthsdeathsandmarriages/deaths/articles/updatingethniccontrastsindeathsinvolvingthecoronaviruscovid19englandandwales/deathsoccurring2marchto28july2020#:~:text=In%20England%20and%20Wales%2C%20males%20of%20Black%20African%2C%20Black%20Caribbean,than%20all%20other%20ethnic%20groups. What can possibly explain this? Earlier today, I wondered if ethnic minority groups … Continue reading UPDATE: Better educated, less impoverished, why the minority ethnic Covid-19 death rate in Scotland is only half that of ‘white’ population

They sound confident but, let’s check if they’ve done this kind of work before: Ah, maybe not, eh? Continue reading Oooh, 40 000 affordable rent houses from the Tories! Do you think we can trust them?

In the Herald today: Joanna Blythman doesn’t believe that it is necessary for care home workers to be vaccinated against Covid (“Don’t trust Hancock and power-hungry pals, vaccine passports are a step to dystopian future”, The Herald, March 27). I think she is wrong. It is all very well to argue about the rights of the individual to choose, but what about the rights of those being cared for? Surely they have a right to be protected from catching this potentially fatal disease? It is a well-known fact that care home residents are particularly vulnerable due to age and infirmity. … Continue reading They are, 100%, and thus far fewer deaths pro rata

In an interview with Anas Sarwar, BBC Scotland referred to lower vaccination rates among ethnic minority groups, using, I suspect data for England & Wales. Ignored for months now is the evidence of lower death rates for these groups in Scotland. From the National Records of Scotland, last updated 24th March 2021: When a death is registered in Scotland, information about the ethnicity of the deceased person is collected, on a voluntary basis. The National Record of Scotland have produced a new dataset on ethnicity by linking records from the 2011 Census and death registration records. The following chart shows death … Continue reading Why is minority ethnic Covid-19 death rate in Scotland only half that of ‘white’ population yet in England….

What evidence do we have that might make us take them seriously? Not this: From Housing Statistics for Scotland Quarterly Update published by the Scottsish Government yesterday: Between 2007/08 and 2017/18, the annual average supply of affordable housing per head of population in Scotland has been 13.4 homes per 10,000 population, higher than England (9.5 homes per 10,000 population), Wales (7.6 homes per 10,000 population), and Northern Ireland (10.2homes per 10,000 population). In 2018/19 the figures were 17.5 homes per 10,000 population in Scotland, 10.2 in England, and 8.2 in Wales. Nor this: From BBC UK today with, of course, no BBC … Continue reading Scottish Tories pretend to be unlike English Tories

Scottish Conservative leader and future list MSP, maybe, Douglas Ross has branded leader of the Alba Party, Alex Salmond ‘unfit to stand for office.’ Readers know all-too-well what Salmond was charged with, that he was found not-guilty but that, for some, he hasn’t apologised enough to the women involved. He also has not yet apologised to Tony Blair for trying to get him the jail for the deaths of half a million women in Iraq. Anyhow, remember Damien Green MP, colleague of Douglas Ross and near neighbour on the benches at Westminster? What did he do? 28 November 2008 Damian … Continue reading Fit to stand for office? Tory double standards

From https://twitter.com/joao_kay, this morning: Can you imagine the state @BBCNews would be in if N. Sturgeon had behaved as appallingly, even cruelly, towards a cancer patient husband AND on top of it all given her equally ghastly affair partner £126.000 of taxpayers money? Can you imagine the doorsteping? The enquiry? Try googling ‘Johnson Arcuri story‘ and almost every report headline will start with her name first, implying she initiated the affair, making her the ‘guilty woman’, the ‘home-wrecker’. The Telegraph, above, try to protect Boris as only they can. What about the broadcasters: BBC? Nope he’s our leader! ITV? Nope, … Continue reading BBC Scotland admits First Minister did not need to be cleared of cheating on cancer-ridden husband or giving our money to her lover!

Irregular contributor to TuS, the thinking man or woman’s Galloway, Alsadair (above), has a letter in today’s Herald which persuades me that the Alba Party will take seats from the Tories and Labour in the process. I’d already detected the fear coming from them. Here’s the bit that matters: TuS Pictures Editor, Jamie (16) has been authorised to pay full whack for a photograph, preferably unflattering, of the elusive Galloway. Continue reading Galloway ‘bets on Alba to take seats’

While we’re all so interested in poverty: Why is there no word of the numerous attempts, against the tide of Tory austerity ideology, by the Scottish Government to do something to make life a bit better for the most vulnerable? The UN and researchers across the UK have: In 2019, the United Nations report on ‘Workhouse Britain’ noted that Scotland was spending ‘£125 million per year to protect people from the worst impacts of austerity and unlike the UK Government provided funds for emergencies and hardships.‘ In 2017, researchers in Wales who studied how 7 ‘small countries’ – Wales, Scotland, New … Continue reading While we’re all so interested in poverty