Oh go on, tell us the score! Imagine ‘Sturgeon’ was less popular than the PM and the Scottish Government was less popular than the UK Government. Go on try. Use your imagination. You’ve seen Matt Hancock on the TV. Here’s the score: BBC Editor to reporter: Wait, ‘not wholly uncritical?’ Thank goodness. Where is it? What is it? We can put it in the sub below a dull headline that might put folk off reading on. You can’t find it now? It’s just that they didn’t get 100% approval? Is it this? In so far as they exist, critics of … Continue reading ‘Sturgeon’ FOUR TIMES better than ‘Boris’. ScotGov THREE TIMES better!

The headline story is very much a descriptive ‘how’ we got here. It’s not a Scottish (West of?) ‘how.’ This account doesn’t tell us why it happened or why we are where we are now because, if it had, we might get at least some comfort from it. Regular readers of this and other sources will know that we are here now with 5 000 covid-related deaths for a number of reasons. The first and most important is the 4 Nations approach. With pandemic measures reserved to Westminster and pressurised then as now again, to have the same UK-wide approach, … Continue reading ‘How’ all they can do is look back

By stewartb At times it’s all too easy to be disappointed at the statements made by some leaders of membership/representative bodies in Scotland. Too often they are characterised by one, more or all of the following: assertion without evidence; given without context; constructed without wider perspective. So today we are exposed to a prime example from the chief executive of Glasgow Chamber of Commerce, Mr Stuart Patrick. He is quoted in Insider magazine saying: “… we feel that the Government hasn’t fully delivered on its side of the bargain, which was to deliver a very successful Test and Protect system. … Continue reading Lost without context or perspective – The life and times of a Glasgow business leader

Prompted by the EIS and local Labour folk, our media have delighted in stirring up anxiety and implying that the SNP schools strategy must be flawed. The facts are in. The above is rubbish: A summary of the latest evidence on coronavirus (COVID-19) in schools has been published. The paper, from the COVID-19 Advisory Sub-Group on Education and Children’s Issues, looks at the risks posed by the virus to pupils and staff, and the benefits to children and young people of schools remaining open. It shows: the rate of coronavirus-related sickness among pupils is low across the country – at … Continue reading There is no school covid crisis

A gleeful Lisa Summers has leapt on these figures and, with her usual number skills, turned 189 into 200. We don’t hear of the 8 817 community onset infections nor do we hear that the hospital cases amount to only 2% of the total. We certainly don’t hear this from the Centre for Evidence-based Medicine: Probable Hospital Acquired infections in England remain persistently high: currently, 17.6% of COVID-19 infections fit the NHS England definition of probable healthcare-associated infections (HCAIs). These rates have been as high as 25% in the North West and continue to climb in the North East and … Continue reading Hospital-acquired covid infections NINE to TwELVE times higher in NHS England and Lisa Summers fails Maths

Some readers might remember the Dead Kennedy’s Holiday in Cambodia, where middle class moaners whinge about some aspect of their comfortable lives in the West and are urged to try life in the Killing Fields of 1970s Cambodia. Why am I reminded of the song and its message when I read the above headline and this? Business went about investing millions in putting in the necessary personal protective equipment (PPE), setting up the Test and Protect systems and ensuring that their operations were as safe as they could be. But we feel that the Government hasn’t fully delivered on its … Continue reading Ill-informed business leader needs holiday in Camden

Without attempting any scientific study at the time, I felt sure BBC Reporting Scotland had the lightest of touches on the Internal Market Bill and its clear threats to the devolution settlement. Scottish Tories were never confronted with it. Other social media commentators were strongly critical of the coverage. It seems we were not imagining things. A poll by Panelbase for Scot Goes Pop, has reported dramatic findings. A ‘staggering’ 77% of the respondents did not think the BBC had done enough to make the public aware of the changes proposed in the bill. James Kelly wrote: I was actually … Continue reading 77% think BBC Scotland has failed to inform on the Infernal Market Bill

As PM stumbles into another bear-trap, we’re reminded of earlier reveals. In 2001: Then in 2004: There are more, many more. Over to you dear reader. Continue reading What’s that line about leopards and spots?

Why trust or confidence matters in ensuring compliance: We know that trust or confidence in a government’s decision making has been critical in ensuring compliance in measures aimed at suppressing the virus. By June, the Nuffield Foundation found a disturbing and significant increase in concern about misleading information from the UK Government. They did not look at any of the devolved governments. In October, a study of 51 000 UK adults found that confidence in government to tackle the pandemic was the only significant factor in compliance. There was little evidence that mental health, worries about the future, social isolation … Continue reading Is Sarah Smith paid by us but working against our safety?

We know from repeated polls that the people of Scotland are right behind the Scottish Government strategy to manage the pandemic. We know from experts that the ‘health or economy’ thesis is flawed and that if you don’t suppress the virus with force and determination, the economy will only face more severe lockdowns in the future and repeatedly. We know from research that restaurants and bars can be ‘superspreaders’ of infection: First, the highly respect Nature Medicine published research in September, tracing an outbreak to four bars in Hong Kong. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41591-020-1092-0 Second, also in September, a US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention study … Continue reading Against the tide