By Brenda Steele: Although the announcement of the new vaccine is great news, the excessive enthusiasm of the UK media and the UK Government’s headlong rush to distribute and inoculate with such a new product scares me.  The WHO urges caution.  WHO envoy welcomes vaccine breakthrough, but urges caution. Dr Nabarro said yesterday’s announcement “is advance warning of something brilliant”, but we must be prepared to wait several more weeks, or even months, before a vaccine is ready for use.  Based on supply projections, Pfizer and BioNTech said they expect to supply up to 50 million vaccine doses globally in … Continue reading Vaccine Vacuity

From stewartb More from the House of Lords’ debate on the UK Internal Market Bill. Apologies for going on about this but I am struck by its seriousness, by the candidness of the language used by the opponents, across party, in the Lords but by the deafening silence on the subject in the Scottish media. For example, this from Baroness Finlay of Llandaff (Cross Bench): “The devolved Governments in Cardiff and Edinburgh are both in favour of retaining this (State Aid) framework in retained EU law. It is a clear system that provides a bulwark against the arbitrary use of … Continue reading the UK Government in their “Government of England” mode

Writing exclusively for the Daily Mail yesterday, Prof Pennington: When I saw the newsflash about the vaccine yesterday, I was immediately reminded of another – and admittedly very different – scientific achievement. The Manhattan Project in World War II led to the development of the atomic bomb. Now whatever your view of the destructive use of nuclear weapons – and tragically more than 200,000 people died at Nagasaki and Hiroshima – it is widely accepted that without their deployment that conflict would have continued. I know he is a product of an earlier time when many believed that nuclear weapons … Continue reading Does the prof subconsciously think the ‘Japs’ were like bugs?

Tom Gordon’s piece today is double thick. First, repeated polls suggest that more than 70% of Scots now respect and admire the First Minister. A patronising ‘warning’ from the ‘business community’ (pub owners) calling her ‘Sturgeon’ and not ‘First Minister’, will impress very few and alienate many of those few still following Gordon or his rag. Second, this is just….well stupid. There’s no better word: Business leaders have urged Nicola Sturgeon not to “panic” over coronavirus and impose lockdown steps tomorrow which could cause untold damage to people’s lives. The Scottish Chambers of Commerce claimed Scotland was already “at breaking point” and recent … Continue reading It’s the public health stupid!

This is about media representation. I have no idea whether the Scottish Welfare Fund is working as it should. I do know it is part of £125 million in attempts by the Scottish Government to mitigate UK Government austerity cuts. You’d never know that from the National article based on a Ferret investigation, in turn based on what the charities say. We’ve been here before. The National’s editor, perhaps influenced by the words of its founding editor, recently rejected by the good folk of the Ayr SNP as MSP candidate, has chosen to report a story already well covered by … Continue reading National Disgrace

Pressure is growing on Scotland’s school system, due to the rising number of pupils and teachers away from class, because of Covid-19. In the past week more than 23 000 pupils and 2 000 school staff were isolating either because they’d tested positive for the virus or had been identified as a contact. Some teachers have told the BBC they don’t feel safe at work. ‘Some‘ is not defined. If it was a big number, would they say ‘some?’ An English teacher union survey on the 5th November insisted that nearly half were worried: https://www.theguardian.com/education/2020/nov/05/nearly-half-teachers-england-worried-about-covid-safety-schools Also, in England on 6th … Continue reading ‘Some teachers’

In Labourlist on 7th November, an excitable writer translates 1.2 billion as ‘billions.’ This is not new: On Thursday 23rd January 2020, in Holyrood, James Kelly (Glasgow) (Scottish Labour) asked the Scottish Government what its response is to recently reported alcohol-related brain damage statistics, which suggest that the number of people with this condition is at a 10-year high. The answer: Last year, ‎2018-19 shows a drop in the number of patients with ARBD, a decline of 3% from the previous year The actual data: 2017/18                810 2018/19                785 Continue reading Scottish Labour struggles with sums again

What IS the point in headlining that. What’s your point? Is it bad? Not bad? Increasing? Surging? Not surging? Should we be discouraged? Encouraged? Remember: Quality? What qualities would those be? Informative? Analytical? There’s no one of that. Just: We can get all that stuff anywhere. It’s hardly headline news is it? Here are some headlines: Infection rate increase down for 18th day. Infection rate increases in Scotland far lower than in other parts of UK. Scotland’s R number falling to 2nd lowest in UK above only that in Northern Ireland. New increases to admissions to hospitals and to intensive … Continue reading Herald brings you the latest, meaning ……oh …. something…work it out yourself

The Herald croaks for doom … again!  Will Scotland be unable to defend itself? Its “expert’ says: ‘I have no answers to any of these problems, all I can point out is that it’s difficult and it’s expensive’ By stewartb May be we should just give up on independence now – this all sounds too, very scarily scary!  See: https://talkingupscotlandtwo.com/2020/11/08/why-is-herald-tying-its-colours-to-the-mast-of-a-trident-sub-in-a-free-read-as-support-for-independence-surges/ Good try by The Herald but there is an alternative. Let’s try to make good the glaring deficit in this ‘scary’ coverage of what’s in store for an independent Scotland needing to defend its territory and people.  The nature of … Continue reading The Herald croaks for doom … again! Will Scotland be unable to defend itself?

The Herald’s Hannah Rodger writes: THE LEADER of the Scottish Conservatives is calling for a reform of the House of Lords to be fairer to Scots and those from other devolved nations. Douglas Ross said the parliament’s second chamber needed a radical rethink, and a move away from its current London-centric membership. As his party falls to third in polls, behind Richard Leonard’s Labour (!), Douglas Ross comes up with an idea or did Ruth suggest it to him to democratise the House of Lords. I thought of the above headline all by myself. I leave it to readers to … Continue reading Polishing a turd?