In December 2020 and at the beginning of 2021, Scotland vaccinated a lower overall percentage of its population due to the logistical challenges in following JCVI advice to vaccinate care home residents and staff before all others. 99.99% have been jagged. The figures for England are yet to be confirmed. Because of that, the death rate in Scottish care homes in 2021 has been half of that in England where perhaps nearly 4 000 have died unnecessarily: https://talkingupscotlandtwo.com/2021/03/03/3-700-unnecessary-care-home-deaths-in-england-because/ At the end of February, again following JCVI advice, NHS Scotland began to allocate a higher proportion of vaccinations to second doses … Continue reading For second time, Scotland prioritises the most at risk

John McLellan is by no means a journalist these days if he ever was. He’s a political campaigner for the Scottish Conservatives allowed to hide in the pages of the Scotsman and snipe at the SNP. Briefly, on ‘shattered trust’ does he mean this from Opinium on 17th March 2021? Which, if any, of the following people do you think would be the best First Minister of Scotland? Nicola Sturgeon: 50% None of these: 15% Don’t know: 13% Douglas Ross: 12% Anas Sarwar: 10% or this: I know who is shattered. Here he is: He got more votes than any … Continue reading Would you trust a Tory Councillor and adviser to Ruth Davidson?

By: ‘Fiona McBean‘ Some of you will be aware of the different methods that Westminster has used over the last year to hide England’s Coronavirus figures inside either UK figures or by amalgamating them with Wales’ figures in the case of the ONS. If you take a look at the UK daily dashboard you will see that something new has come to light this week. The UK total death cert. total of 146 487 is no longer the same as the sum of the 4 nations. England    125 276 Wales           7624 NI                 2 838 Scotland       9 710  Total        145 448          … Continue reading Hiding the worst of it For England

More than a year since his last attempt to piggy-back this tragic case, in an attempt to win favour, the new Scottish Labour leader has returned to the scene of the crime, attaching himself to the family again. He’s desperate, after the latest Opinium poll placed him 5th and last, as the best candidate for First Minister, after ‘None of these’, ‘don’t know‘ and Douglas Ross. That last one’s a slap. I’m not suggesting that Scottish Labour have been grooming this family in the way that the Scottish Conservatives seem to have been grooming the Ayrshire family whose daughter was … Continue reading Labour Leader tries to recover from poll disaster by returning to child death story

Headlining the Tory call for a no confidence vote in the FM, but no sign yet of the latest reports from the committee members questioning what happened there and defending her. No sign yet of the committee chair’s concerns about leaking the report. Nothing yet, just Brian Taylor wondering, again. Down, down, down we go: Nope, we’re into magazine stuff now. Wait’s what’s this right at the bottom? There they are, the SNP members hitting and the chair ‘dismayed.’ Mark Smith of the Herald must be so proud: Continue reading SHOCK: Balanced news reporting on ‘Sturgeon’

10 minutes into Question Time last Thursday night, and host Fiona Bruce pounced, as she spotted the tiny EU flag, in SNP MP Kirsten Oswald’s shelves. It was tiny compared with the big Jacks now de rigueur for ministers. Do the French have a word for de rigueur? We’d just had a bit of ‘patriotic’ EU-bashing over vaccines and Oswald simply praised the vaccinators but Bruce took the opportunity for some playground-level nah nah stuff implying that, had Scotland been independent and still in the EU, we’d have no vaccines, like Israel presumably. Then, it was straight on, clearly unable … Continue reading EU flag is the ‘Red flag’ causing them to show how they cannot hide their contempt

A statement from the SNP members of the committee: BBC Scotland are ignoring this and the Herald is keeping it small. Continue reading Political desperation by opposition MSPs

I’ll keep this short: I don’t think I’ve ever seen such unambiguous evidence for anything, ever but Keir Starmer doesn’t appear to have seen it. The largest review ever undertaken, of 349 research studies, from across the globe though mostly in Europe, carried out by the Centre for Criminology at the University in South Wales in 2017, found that ‘safe’ or ‘supervised’ injection rooms significantly reduced drug-related harms, dramatically cut mortality and offered a range of benefits for the wider population, in terms of reduced crime, nuisance in public spaces, violence and trafficking. Will the leader of the Labour Party … Continue reading Labour UK denies the strongest of evidence on how to save lives

By stewartb What is different and more progressive about Scotland – albeit a place that, yes, is far from perfect! – may be denied by some (e.g. Scottish Labour?); has a tendency to be under-played, deliberately by some; or may be under-appreciated by too many.  I suspect this situation is able to persist because of the selective nature of media coverage. The media profile given to a UK Supreme Court judgment today triggered this contribution. Supreme Court blow for care workers There is news today of a UK Supreme Court judgement stating in terms, that residential care workers who ‘sleep … Continue reading A progressively different Scotland – example of pay for social care staff

On the 9th March, Murdo Fraser of the Scottish Conservatives (Membership not published) told Scotsman readers: It was even announced that as many as 10,000 new members had joined the SNP following her appearance – a claim which is as unsubstantiated as it is incredible. I’ve just seen evidence that there have been 224 new members in in Ayr, Prestwick and Troon, in the last month. The population in the area, 76 000, is almost the same as the average for Scotland’s 73 MSP constituencies (74 600 00). This is a marginal constituency with at best, average SNP membership so, … Continue reading Confirming the incredible?