Like many of you, I’m sure, I’ve been trying to concentrate on the main aim -independence. In particular, I’ve been deliberately not investigating the internal struggle over gender recognition. Pragmatically, I’ve been thinking, hold your breath, don’t look, we’re getting close to the line, we can worry about all this stuff later. I tell myself, they’re politicians after all but they’re no worse, probably better, than those in the other parties. Again, keep your eye on the ball. I have been distracted in the past, writing to complain about apparently uncritical admiration for that repulsive war criminal, Hilary Clinton, suggesting … Continue reading I don’t feel well

Passing a milestone was, in the past, a useful reminder of how far you’d come and a kind of success. Now BBC Scotland is using the term more like a millstone, round our necks. Either way, it tells you nothing useful that an adult might use to help them understand the situation they are currently in. Here are some useful ‘road signs’: The 7 day average of new cases has fallen every day now for 22 days, from 2 323 new cases on January 7th, to 1 141, less than half, in the last 24 hours. Not fast enough, but … Continue reading Covid update for adults

England has ten times the population of Scotland but with more than 91 000 deaths clearly does not have ten times the death rate of 6 000 from Covid-19 or it would have had just over 60 000. The Conservative Government’s pandemic management has resulted in 50% more, avoidable deaths than Scotland. Had they managed the pandemic in Scotland, the evidence suggests we would have had more than 9 000 deaths. The SNP Government in Scotland, through quicker action to lockdown, being slower to finish lockdowns and by more clear and consistent communications has saved 3 000 lives. This is … Continue reading Devolved powers save 3 000 lives

Despite the fact the Scottish and UK Governments are following broadly similar strategies, making similar mistakes, achieving similar outcomes, there is a big paradox here. The public perception is Nicola Sturgeon is handling this pandemic far better than Boris Johnson. The words of Glen Campbell, above, are not entirely surprising though they continue to shock with their dishonesty. He and colleagues at BBC Scotland, along with fellow travellers across the Scottish and UK media, continue to peddle the same myth. We don’t need to spend time debating the first part. We know of the divergences in the strategies. Independent experts … Continue reading TWO THOUSAND EIGHT HUNDRED LIVES were saved but that matters little to Glen Campbell

I noted on the BBC News website today this headline: ‘Boris Johnson says independence debate ‘irrelevant’ to most Scots’. And beneath this the PM is quoted: “… referendum is completely irrelevant now to the concerns of most people”. The author of the BBC article seems to be trying to help the PM make this ‘irrelevance’ case because he/she decides to inserts this additional bit of text and to do so uncritically. The article adds: ” .. polls have also suggested that the independence question is currently a lower priority for many people than other issues such as the pandemic, health … Continue reading On BBC coverage of the Johnson visit to Scotland

I’m sure you know by now, from listening to the First Minister tell us every Wednesday, that there are two counts for Covid mortality. There are the cases where Covid is thought to have caused the death and there are those where Covid has not been shown to have caused the death but has been mentioned on the death certificate and may have been a contributory factor. When you add the second set to the first, you get a bigger total, you’d think. Scotland has had 5 888 confirmed deaths but 7 445 overall, when you add those where Covid … Continue reading England’s hidden deaths mean the UK passed 100 000 some time ago

There are difficulties in making comparisons between the health statistics for Scotland and England so I welcome correction of any errors and will, of course, change this post if necessary. However, today, the First Minister announced that, based on a report from the NRS, there had been 111 Covid-related deaths in Scottish care homes, in the seven days ending Sunday 24th January 2021. The broadcast episode and the text will be published soon. The ONS, using figures reported to it by the CQC and reported in the Mail, show there had been 1 705 such deaths in care homes in … Continue reading Sacrificing England’s care home residents again

You’ll look long and hard in Nick Triggle’s ‘analysis‘ for the answer to the question as to why the UK has had 100 000 Covid deaths. There’s a clue if you check out the figures for the four UK nations and Norway. The more individualistic, business-friendly, privatisation-supporting, low-taxation, low-welfare preferring, your ideology, the more deaths among, especially the weaker members of society – simple. The death rate over the pandemic, in Tory England, at 2 per 100K, is 28 times higher than 0.07 per 100K in Social Democratic, high taxation, and independent Norway. Even only would-be Social Democratic but non-independent … Continue reading That’s easy – Tory Ideology means a death rate 28 TIMES HIGHER than in high taxation high welfare Norway

The 7-day average infection level falls for the 19th day in a row but today’s figure is up from yesterday’s. I know they’re only ‘wee’ at the Herald and 7-day averages are bit beyond their ken, Ken, but a one-day change tells you nothing and a 7-day average is a reliable indicator of change and, of course, is ‘news.’ Other real news, the number in hospital has fallen from what looks to have been a peak of 2 053 four days ago on the 22nd, to 2 010 in the last 24 hours. The number in ICU too has fallen … Continue reading ooooh, it’s gone up again!

In 2010, Professor Danny Dorling then at Sheffield University, wrote: [W]hen writing a book, The Widening Gap, with colleagues in 1999, which considered how, under both the Tories and the start of New Labour, the gapbetween rich and poor continued to grow. We highlighted that New Labour explicitly continued Conservative spending policies for those two years and, once in office, did not enact the key policies to reduce inequalities that it had supported throughout opposition. That gap became a great deal wider in the years that followed. In that same period, Scottish Labour MPs toed the line and did nothing … Continue reading How many decades do they need?