There is no threat from anyone in authority that Glasgow is in danger of being moved into tier 4. All the Herald’s Jack Haugh has is council leader, Susan Aitken, saying: We are nowhere near out of the woods yet. Level 3 is tough but if we move to level 4 that will be awful. If we keep following the rules we can live more normal lives and protect thousands of jobs. It’s just a local leader encouraging folk to keep going because the restrictions are beginning to work. See those ‘woods?’ She’s right. Glasgow is not out of them … Continue reading Complete fib about Glasgow and Tier 4

In another piece from Better Together activist Ken Symon: A care home group owner has offered to pay for Freedom of Information searches to find answers from the Scottish Government on the spread of Covid-19. Robert Kilgour, executive chairman of Scotland’s largest care home group Renaissance Care, was responding to the news that the Scottish Government has refused to hand over details of when the First Minister first learned about Covid positive patients being sent to care homes. It doesn’t seem to matter how often you say: It doesn’t matter when the First Minister knew because five research reports now show … Continue reading Wriggling care home group owner wants to pay for different answers that don’t blame care home groups

From the Herald on behalf of the UK-based Fire Brigades Union and with the intention of challenging another aspect of SNP Government performance: SCOTLAND’s fire brigades are tackling emergencies during the pandemic with nearly 800 fewer firefighters than eight years ago, leading to concerns the nation is not ready to deal with new threats. The Fire Brigades Union has sounded alarm bells as data reveals that the numbers of firefighters and control room staff have dropped by 11% from 7197 in 2011/12 to 6406 in 2019/20. It was actually, in Scotland, only 123 or 4%: Click to access fso_statistics_2018_19.pdf The report … Continue reading 4% Fewer Firefighters but 31% Fewer Fires!

IMPERIAL NOT EMPIRICAL? EXPERT NOTES THE DEVOLVED NATIONS HAVE BEEN SCIENCE DRIVEN BUT MUST STILL SHARE ENGLAND’S PAIN Yet another young epidemiologist and a woman, who clearly knows far more than that Prof Poisonpennington much preferred by BBC Scotland, got stuck right into the UK Government for its failure to act soon enough and making this full lockdown for England necessary, to ‘prevent thousands of deaths.’ At every opportunity, after each question, she reminded the viewers again that this need not have happened, so severely, if action had been taken in September. But, when the interviewer reminded Dr Gurdasani of … Continue reading Scotland has been Science driven but must still share England’s pain

Early this morning, BBC 1 were out in Winchester, 135 cases per 100 000, to ask: What’s the reaction [to the full lockdown] been in towns where infection rates have been relatively low? The reaction was mixed, from a sense of injustice to a weary acceptance. The readers of the Daily Mail there are unlikely to be encouraged to be compliant: North Lanarkshire had 144 cases in the last 24 hours and with a population of 340 000, that’s 34 per 100 000. Only a few days ago, we heard that Lanarkshire just missed going into Level 4. I’m not … Continue reading ‘Low’ in Winchester but ‘high’ in Wishaw?

It couldn’t be more clear. The Glasgow and surrounding counties restrictions on movement and hospitality, begun 6 weeks ago, even with the campus surges (what happened to those?), are working. In just over a week the infection rate per 1 million has fallen from 265 to 217 and it’s clearly still falling unlike that in England. The increase in the level of infection in the other three nations is between 60% and nearly 100% higher. Surely this is the moment to show what we can do, to reject association with a Tory crisis and thus further the cause of independence? … Continue reading Is the furlough money enough to justify another lockdown in Scotland

Nicola Sturgeon’s approval rating among young women is higher than among young men but is lowest among older women, lower than among older men. I can’t find the poll telling this, but I have seen it. The vitriolic hatred of some women for other women seems to surpass that of men for other men (source below). What is certain is than one woman, Susan Dalgety of the Scotsman, will attack the First Minister in a more visceral way than any male writer I can remember. Former Adviser to Jack McConnell and Labour Councillor, Susan Dalgety. is one the Scotsman’s attack … Continue reading Former Jack McConnell aide goes too far in attack on Nicola Sturgeon

In the Herald: SCOTTISH Conservative leader Douglas Ross will call on the UK Government to commit to restarting furlough if a Scottish national lockdown becomes necessary. In a speech tomorrow, Mr Ross will also say that the handling of the coronavirus pandemic has put devolution to the test and “exposed its weakest points.” He will insist the UK Government “must treat Scotland the same way as England”. In the Daily Record yesterday (31st): The Government will extend furlough payments at 80% for the duration of the new national lockdown measures in England, Boris Johnson has said. The Prime Minister said, during a Downing Street press conference, that he … Continue reading Ross to ask Sunak to confirm furlough for Scots which he already did yesterdAY!

From the Herald of Doom‘s own Health Crisis Correspondent: DENTAL leaders have questioned why routine NHS treatment is being restarted amid a spike in coronavirus, as they warned that patients should not expect a return to normality. Dentists told the Herald on Sunday that NHS waiting times are “going to shoot through the roof” amid a cap on patient numbers, and that six-monthly check ups are unlikely to ever return. Who are these dental leaders? Well it’s Phil Taylor, ‘Dean’ of the Royal College of Surgeons and David McColl, ‘chair’ of the British Dental Association’s (BDA) Scottish Dental Committee. Wow! I … Continue reading Sick to the back teeth of the ‘Herald of Doom’ and ‘Dental Leaders?’

This year’s virtual Lib Dem conference had a big increase in ‘attendance‘ up from virtually a handful last year. Using this year’s new counting algorithm from Cambuslang Analytics, a figure of 28 was achieved by counting any device just left on and estimating 3 family members for each, who may have caught a few seconds of Rennie, in passing. A survey by YouGub for The Tusker found that the most common question asked by those family members was ‘Who?‘ The researchers also found that when participants were asked which party leader said ‘Put education at heart of Covid recovery‘, 99% … Continue reading Larger than usual Lib Dem conference backs SNP policy on Schools