Tom Gordon’s reasoning is just pure ‘Cod psychology.’ Where is the evidence that folk who feel hard done by only say so when they feel the organisation they live within is strong, and that they feel able to do so because they’re are too confident that they won’t damage it? Isn’t it the opposite? When an organisation is in deep doodoo, like the Labour Party, unable to catch the most dysfunctional party of government in decades, everybody is up in arms, not just two or three of them. As for factionalism, there is no more an anti-Woke faction or an … Continue reading No, a few wee arguments are a sign that some folk are just upset, feeling rejected and entitled to say so

Two opposition politicians and the Herald ignored the report from the company responsible, Bear Scotland, that the ice sensor had worked but that there had been a delay in shutting the bridge because of human error. Who’s to blame? Bear Scotland. Not good enough for these two: Scottish Labour’s Colin Smyth was the source for the embarrassing quote. Wait, isn’t Smyth with a y, the Tory version of Smith? Smyth is a man of the highest expectations. In 2017, he famously described 93.97% of A&E patients being see in 4 hours as ‘deeply troubling.’ Wings then noted: ‘Percentage of the … Continue reading Fact Check: The Queensferry Crossing and Human error not good enough for attack on SNP

From the Scottish Government yesterday: A new report has revealed that unpaid carers in Scotland have valued increased support. Carer’s Allowance Supplement (CAS) was the first payment introduced under the Scottish Government’s new social security powers. It is given twice a year to those in receipt of Carer’s Allowance as a temporary top-up until full delivery of the benefit is taken over from the Department for Work and Pensions. The payment rate in 2020/21 is £230.10. The Scottish Government has now published its first evaluation of CAS – and has announced that the next payment will be made on 18 … Continue reading Only in Scotland: New social security powers

Before Gavin Williamson became Education Minister and before he started crowing about the UK getting lots of Covid vaccines it had neither developed nor manufactured, he used to be Defence Secretary. During that time he told the Russians to go away and shut up and threatened to send our new aircraft carrier to patrol the South China Sea. It had no aircraft at the time He’s been quiet on the latest research revealing that: British soldiers were 12% more likely to have been killed than their American counterparts during the “war on terror” in Iraq and Afghanistan, according to a study … Continue reading Best Country’s soldiers not so lucky serving under Great Britain’s broad epaulettes?

By Brenda Steele: Yesterday  I received an e-mail from a friend with this link: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-55152472    SNP internal election results may cause problems for Nicola Sturgeon My friend thought that  “Overall this report sounds quite fair” but not being an SNP member wanted to hear from someone closer to the action. My reply started off with this. Overall, it has some validity, but it betrays bias in the idea that these are highly organised factions with traditional allegiances. In particular, this: The left-leaning Common Weal group has secured 11 seats on the party’s ruling body – the national executive committee (NEC) … Continue reading There is no Common weal Group in the SNP

Douglas Ross, that trippy athlete, recycles his former colleague on taking a risk with gym opening in high infection areas. Their case is science-free. Here’s some: I’m no scientist but I would not go anywhere near a gym. In a pub, sitting comfortably, you might after a few drinks project your voice a bit more than is desirable in the circumstances but the plume will be much smaller. Is this just my opinion? Is there science which the Scottish Government is following? Yes: During 24 days in Cheonan, South Korea, 112 persons were infected with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus … Continue reading Scottish Tories not fit for anything

DOCTORS have branded the £500 “thank you” payment for their services during the pandemic as “embarrassing and not needed”. Highland GPs questioned whether the sum, announced by Nicola Sturgeon on Monday at the SNP conference, “is just” when many of their patients have faced reduced earning, jobs losses or business closures as a result of the pandemic. We don’t know just how many GPs were involved in this protest or how representative even of GPs they are. We don’t even get one named person in the Herald report. I can’t imagine the less well-paid NHS and care staff think it ‘embarrassing.‘ Rather … Continue reading Stop moaning and give it to your cleaners?

As hospital-onset cases of Covid climbed, Lisa Summers was quick to tweet the bad news about our hospitals, rounding 189 up to 200, gleefully, and forgetting to mention that it was only 2% of all cases and well under the rate in England of between 18% and 25%! Regardless, it then became a big story across BBC Scotland: Today, we see the numbers fall again: Where’s the report? The public have a right to know that it’s even safer to have to go into hospital, in Scotland that is. Continue reading Hospital onset Covid: Good news is no news for Reporting Scotland’s Lisa Summers

Are Covid deaths at a higher rate in Trump’s USA than in Tory England? Ask anyone. I’ve asked some neighbours. Much higher in the USA, they say. I ask how they know and they tell me they saw it on the news. The BBC News? Yes. I’ve seen it too. They have a full-time correspondent there and he reports regularly on the scale of the deaths and the collapsing health infrastructure. They particularly love to show President Trump making things worse. But, see this: https://www.statista.com/statistics/1104709/coronavirus-deaths-worldwide-per-million-inhabitants/ Yes, the death rate per million in the US is actually lower than it is … Continue reading Why is the BBC not telling the relative truth about US deaths from Covid?

Scotland has had 3 848 confirmed Covid deaths or 704 per million putting her in 22nd place. England with 52 601 deaths or 935 per million would be in 5th place and Wales with 2 638 or 837 per milliom would be in 11th place, just slightly worse than the USA. Northern Ireland with 542 would be way down the list. ONS and NRS data tabulated by: https://www.travellingtabby.com/uk-coronavirus-tracker/ Continue reading The Facts: Scotland has 24th highest covid mortality rate