There were 2 464 new cases in the last 24 hours. There were 2 137 in the previous 24 hours and 2 539 before that. For three days the rate has been lower than the peak of 2 622 on the 31st. The rate is higher than before but it’s not ‘soaring.’ Melodrama helps no one. This looks like the stabilisation in the rate you get after tougher measures kick in and before it begins to fall. Tell folk the truth and they’ll work to get even better results. You can trust them, us, me. It’s when politicians and senior … Continue reading Can you soaR DOWN?

Another archaic arithmetic problem for you courtesy of the Lib Dumbs. 548 439 days of absence where mental health was cited as the reason over three years. How should we react to his whopping great number from Beatrice Wishart? It is big. Oooh, must be a crisis then? SNP must be to blame too? Tale a big breath and get your calculator out. 548 439 days over three years is 182 813 per year. There are 52 247 teachers in Scotland so that’s an average of 3.5 days each. ‘Mental health’ includes ‘stress.’ Are there any jobs with no stress? … Continue reading Average Scottish teacher suffers stress for three and a half days every year!

From Clyde 1 today: Scotland has the highest percentage of council areas which are recognised as Fairtrade areas compared with the rest of the UK, according to new statistics. Fairtrade UK data shows that 21 of Scotland’s 32 council areas (65%) are Fairtrade areas, compared with just 33% of councils in England and 41% in Wales. Endorsing Fairtrade products and practices means farmers in developing countries get a fair price for their products and are not exploited. Farmers in industries such as coffee and cocoa can earn a fair living, enabling them to put food on their tables. https://planetradio.co.uk/clyde/local/news/scotland-tops-uk-for-most-fairtrade-councils/ Some … Continue reading Scotland has twice as many Fairtrade councils

As I await delayed responses to previous complaints, today’s Andrew Marr Show suggested the need for another. Do follow me if you can. I wrote minutes ago to complain: On the 29th November, Andrew Marr confronted the First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, using data from weeks 43 to 46 only to suggest: ‘The data does (sic) not really back you up. In terms of death rates over the over the last four weeks, Covid-19 on the death certificate, figures from the ONS and the National Records of Scotland, on every week, Scottish death rates are considerable worse than the English death … Continue reading Marr spares Boris the facts

At 8:36pm on January 2nd, Professor Linda Bauld tweeted: Abdication of responsibility at UK level during the most recent weeks of this crisis. Devolved nations cannot adequately protect their populations. Borders & limited powers are the main constraints. Decisions (or lack of) in England affect all of the UK – really worried. Within seconds, angry rebuttals appeared accusing her of being ridiculous, unscientific, non-academic, playing politics, and a member of the ‘Sturgeon fan club’. After two hours, there were 64 accusations including, most offensive for her, that she was making these comments in the hope of getting funding for her … Continue reading When women dare to speak out in Scotland

Inverclyde is the 232nd most infected part of the UK, Dundee is the 297th and all other parts are below the 300 most infected. The fatal incompetence of political leadership in England, Wales and sadly, soon in Northern Ireland is clear. Continue reading The fatal incompetence of political leadership

Two professors of public health at Edinburgh University, Linda Bauld and Devi Sridhar may not be calling explicitly for Scottish independence but the logic of the evidence they present is clear. The pandemic is helping to articulate the all-too-sensible basis for countries like Scotland having control of their borders and, we must hope, tipping the formerly unsure into the campaign for normalisation. Like Ireland, Denmark, Norway and Iceland we can still be best friends with the New England and support it in its transition to normality after the defeat of Conservatives by the New English Social Democratic Alliance in 2024. Continue reading Leading academics make compelling case for autonomy

New cases, in Scotland, have fallen in the last 24 hours by more than 400 to 2 137. This is the second fall in the last 48 hours. Like the Herald, BBC Scotland was quick to headline the facts: BBC England haven’t even bothered to tell you the UK figures: I can’t find the UK or English figures. There were 53 285 cases across the UK in the previous 24 hours. That’s 25 times the rate in Scotland. The UK has just over 12 times the population of Scotland so the infection rate is more than twice per head of … Continue reading Covid infection rate falls again to less than half UK rate

Professor Bauld is only stating the facts in the way that Andrew Marr likes to kid himself he does too but, in the wider political world in which we all live but which, I know, she is less comfortable in, it’s rare. UK media rarely compare the performance of the 4 Nations in any way which might draw attention to the awful performance of the Conservative Government in England. Try, for example, finding the data for England in media broadcasts. BBC websites give the figures for the UK, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales, leaving you to do the arithmetic to … Continue reading Top public health expert reveals Scotland’s superior Covid performance

I’ve previously questioned Professor Linda Bauld’s willingness to fully credit the Scottish Government and the Scottish people for their achievement in keeping infection and death levels significantly lower than in England and Wales. Today in the Herald, you’d be forgiven for thinking her assessment of the situation to be, once more, sufficiently pessimistic and context-free to suit the dominant media agenda, but her comments have been buried ‘down the page’ where many readers do not go. She did say: Bauld could, of course, have indicated ‘why our rates are significantly lower than they are elsewhere in the UK’ but at … Continue reading Public Health Expert’s comments on Scotland’s superior Covid performance buried by Herald reporter