The latest vaccine to be approved for use was developed by a team led by Israeli, Tal Zak, for Moderna, based in Cambridge Massachusetts, USA. Prime Minister Johnson is thought to have told his staff and the BBC to always refer to it as the Cambridge Vaccine thus making it essentially the second ‘world-beating’ English vaccine, which Scotland could never have developed itself. Protestors against foreign vaccines, in Teeside, have agreed to use the ‘uvver Inglish wan.’ The Astra Zeneca vaccine from British-Swedish multinational AstraZeneca, led in Oxford, by French chief executive Pascal Soriot and reliant on European plants for manufacture, … Continue reading New ‘Cambridge’ Vaccine!

By Brenda Steele: In the Scotsman on 3rd January 2021: We’re only three days into the new year, but already 2021 is looking a bit more hopeful – especially if you happen to ice skate. The freezing temperatures proved to be far from an inconvenience to ice skaters around Glasgow, who flocked to a frozen pond in Queens Park this weekend to get their skating fix after months of restrictions saw the closures of ice rinks across Scotland. Further down: Rinks have been closed since March, so everyone was clearly very excited to have the opportunity to put their skates … Continue reading Skating on thin ice

Here are the recent data for Scotland. New cases: Jan 7th 2 649 Jan 8th 2 290 Jan 9th 1865 Jan 10th 1 877 They did increase by 12 in the last 24 hours but who sees that as a rising trend? I wonder, what’s happening in England where the PM tells us services have fewer issues of resilience? Today’s data for England are not on display but, in the Hancock piece, I read it’s almost 60 000 across the UK. You’d think they had something to hide. From the other pages, I can find 1 660 for Wales and … Continue reading ‘Coronavirus case numbers continue to rise’ downward for the third day to ONE THIRd of rate in England

The Herald on Sunday this morning goes with the same propaganda as the Scottish Daily Mail, ignoring the clear evidence from the BBC /ONS that Scotland is actually ahead of the curve on vaccine rollout: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-55573436 The map above is only two days old and published by the BBC based on the ONS original. They knew that but still chose a Tory minister’s lie instead. Do not buy that rag. Continue reading Herald confirms gutter press status with vaccine lies

On BBC Politics Scotland this morning, Professor Stephen Reicher was asked: Is (sic) there any data that is (sic) specific to Scotland on the self isolation figures? And do you think governments as a whole need to be doing a lot more to help people to comply with self-isolation? He didn’t know of any data that are specific to Scotland and that are evidence of greater compliance but I do: Profs Reicher, Bauld and Sridhar have been telling us for months that the Scottish Government has been better at communicating its decisions and that better communication leads to greater confidence … Continue reading Top psychologist can’t draw the obvious conclusion about better compliance in Scotland

The reality of the situation for Scottish exporters post-Brexit is clear in this tweet: BBC Reporting Scotland, formerly obsessed with trips to Peterhead to interview angry fishermen, gave us a few seconds late in the show, including a defence by Michael Gove. The BBC Scotland website offers us a classic piece of evasion and deflection to protect the UK Government from criticism. I’ve highlighted key words, phrases and omissions: The Scottish Seafood Association says exports to the EU are being hit by “red tape” delays in Scotland and France. It claims up to 25 trucks were backlogged for clearance due … Continue reading State broadcaster throws word-safety net around state

And, of course, the truth: Is there a Welsh Daily Mail? Continue reading Read oll abaht it! Get yo pwopagehndah eyah yoo ficko!

According to the Guardian, based on figures for England from the BMA, there are 46 000 NHS staff absent with Covid-19 ‘putting the health service in crisis.’ There were repeated headline warnings that the same ‘could’ happen in Scotland, only two weeks ago: Staff absence rates are an objective measure of stress within a system like the NHS: In the week to 5th January 2021, a total of 2 901 staff were absent due to Covid-19, down for a recent peak of 3 237 in the week to 17th November 2020. In the same period, the number of Covid-19 patients … Continue reading Better-staffed NHS Scotland revealing few resilience issues

According BBC Scotland, there are now 1 596 patients in Scottish hospitals with a Covid infection. BBC England and BBC UK have no updates but according to NHS England, there are 29 462 cases in English hospitals not counting those transferred from Cumbria to Dumfries in the last few days, due to resilience issues. https://www.england.nhs.uk/statistics/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/01/COVID-19-daily-admissions-and-beds-20210109.xlsx England has 10 times the population of Scotland but, as of today, approaching 20 times the number of Covid cases in hospitals, threatening some with becoming overwhelmed. The Prime Minister has not been accused of betraying the people of England, by Keir Starmer or by … Continue reading COVID UPDATE: Hospital numbers at new record high of half the rate in England

In the Herald today: CARE home residents are facing monthly fee rises of up to £240 this year with private providers citing Covid-related costs and “Brexit uncertainty” for inflation-busting increases. Some facts to consider when reacting to this: Outbreaks: 45.2% of the 275 privately-owned homes had an outbreak compared to 27.9% of the 41 local authority and 12.5% of the 32 voluntary homes. 90% of the largest 46 homes, with more than 90 residents, had outbreaks. That all of these are owned by large corporations is not reported in the data but given what we know about the demand for … Continue reading Pay more for less care?