Tag: news

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Scots 28% more likely to find it easy to contact their GP than in Wales

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By Professor John Robertson OBA From Measuring NHS experience and satisfaction across the UK – A summary of the cross-UK comparability of NHS experience and satisfaction data. 30 May 2024, the above graph and data revealing a marked contrast between the accessibility of GPs in Scotland as opposed to in England and, even more so, in Labour-run Wales. Scotland has 27.3% more GPs than England. The Welsh figure? Can see that. Homework dear reader? Sources: https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/healthandsocialcare/healthcaresystem/articles/measuringnhsexperienceandsatisfactionacrosstheuk/2024-05-30#measuring-nhs-experience-and-satisfaction-across-the-uk-data https://www.theguardian.com/society/article/2024/sep/04/nhs-faces-tipping-point-in-england-where-most-appointments-will-not-be-with-gps https://turasdata.nes.nhs.scot/media/v00by43i/2023_gp_workforce_survey_report.html#:~:text=Information%20from%202012%20to%202023,2023%2C%20equivalent%20to%203%2C478.4%20WTE Support Scots Independent, Scotland’s oldest pro-independence newspaper and host of the OBA (Oliver Brown Award) at: https://scotsindependent.scot/FWShop/shop/ The Oliver Brown Award for advancing the cause of Scotland’s self … Continue reading Scots 28% more likely to find it easy to contact their GP than in Wales

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UK Government statistics confirm NHS Scotland’s A&E departments have been performing significantly better for nearly a decade but ‘your’ media has been silent on that for the same period of time

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By Professor John Robertson OBA From Accident and Emergency wait times across the UK: 2024 A summary of the cross-UK comparability of Accident and Emergency wait time statistics from January 2013 to September 2023, the above graph. Imagine this was different and NHS Scotland had consistently performed less well than NHS England or Wales? You don’t need me to tell you. It would be just like the ‘Scotland’s drug deaths, the worst in..’ narrative. Also, there are reasons to doubt the NHS England data after decades of managerialism there, more concerned with image than actual performance, after decades of Con and … Continue reading UK Government statistics confirm NHS Scotland’s A&E departments have been performing significantly better for nearly a decade but ‘your’ media has been silent on that for the same period of time

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‘Better together to fight Covid?’ No, not only did UK Government try to divert supplies away from Scottish care homes they had previously caused the shortage, in the first place

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By Professor John Robertson OBA As the UK Covid Inquiry reconvenes, Lisa Summers is keen to remind us of how ‘Across the UK, teams worked together‘. In can see why BBC Scotland would love you to remember it that way. It’s not what I remember best. Many thanks to our feeder CMac (not the ferry operator) for this one. In the never-knowingly pro-SNP P&J and buried elsewhere: A UK Government decision to postpone a joint procurement process left emergency pandemic supplies “depleted” and dependent on extending expiry dates. Our investigation has found Scottish health chiefs privately questioned the move and asked whether it was driven by anything … Continue reading ‘Better together to fight Covid?’ No, not only did UK Government try to divert supplies away from Scottish care homes they had previously caused the shortage, in the first place

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English County Lines drug dealer jailed for supply in Inverness but it seems it’s not newsworthy here

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In the Strathspey & Badenoch Herald, yesterday, but despite the powerful news values – violence, drugs, death – BBC Scotland, even their Highlands and Islands or NE, Orkney & Shetland teams can find no space for it: A 29-year-old Huyton man has been jailed for three years and nine months for drugs supply offences in Inverness after he was snared by a joint Police Scotland and Merseyside Police operation. Ryan Finlay pleaded guilty to being concerned in the supply of cocaine and possession of cannabis through what is called a County Line – a way of transporting illegal narcotics from cities to other … Continue reading English County Lines drug dealer jailed for supply in Inverness but it seems it’s not newsworthy here

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5 times as many rape cases solved and 3 times as many violence cases solved in Scotland than in England & Wales

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In the Guardian today: Victims are being “let down time and time again” by police, a minister has said, as almost every violent or sexual offence went unsolved in hundreds of Britain’s crime hotspots last year. Nearly 1.9m violent or sexual crimes in England and Wales were closed without a suspect being caught or charged in the year to June 2024 – about 89% of all offences given an outcome, official figures show. https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025/jan/13/most-violent-or-sexual-offences-went-unsolved-in-uk-hotspots-last-year In the ‘Scottish’ Daily Express on 23 October 2024: Police only solve half of all crimes in SNP’s soft-touch justice Scotland – Police officers in Scotland are solving … Continue reading 5 times as many rape cases solved and 3 times as many violence cases solved in Scotland than in England & Wales

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As UK Labour extend life of cracked Torness reactor near Edinburgh, ‘Where is the ‘mature debate’ about the health impacts of nuclear power?’

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From Dr Margaret Beavis, Australian academic and former GP, today: When it comes to nuclear radiation, there is a clear disconnect between the medical evidence and the views of the Coalition. Since the 1950s we have known there is a link between X-rays in pregnant women and leukemia and other cancers in their children. It is not for nothing there are signs in every radiology department asking if you are pregnant. The current shrill denunciations of potential health risks associated with nuclear power plants as a “scare campaign” may yet prove to be an own goal, as it has drawn … Continue reading As UK Labour extend life of cracked Torness reactor near Edinburgh, ‘Where is the ‘mature debate’ about the health impacts of nuclear power?’

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As Meta drops factcheckers, thick Millennial accuses us Scots Boomers of Generation X-type gullibility, only in England

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Ben Quinn, Guardian writer, age 40ish (?), today: Fears for UK boomer radicalisation on Facebook after Meta drops factcheckers – For middle-aged users, it will be ‘even harder to discern the truth’ among extremist content, expert says. Experts fear the decision by Meta to drop professional factcheckers from Facebook will exacerbate so-called boomer radicalisation in the UK. Even before what Keir Starmer described as “far-right riots” in England last summer, alarm bells were ringing amid fears older people were even more susceptible to misinformation and radicalisation than younger “digital natives”. https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2025/jan/12/fears-for-uk-boomer-radicalisation-on-facebook-after-meta-drops-factcheckers Boomers, middle-aged, what? Boomers, post-war Baby Boomers, born 1946 to 1964, … Continue reading As Meta drops factcheckers, thick Millennial accuses us Scots Boomers of Generation X-type gullibility, only in England

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‘SNP’s roasters and bangers’ who ‘loathe the poor and vulnerable?’ With such blatant lies would Kevin McKenna even get a job at the Daily Express or Mail?

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I’d kind of given up on reacting to Kevin McKenna, in the Herald, for the good of my mental health, but he’s got me going again today with: Human zoo drug rooms are win-win for SNP’s roasters and bangers – IS there no end to the SNP’s loathing of Scotland’s poor and vulnerable people, especially in Glasgow? If Scotland’s party of government isn’t threatening to imprison working-class people for speaking out of turn in their own homes they can be found trying to curb their drinking and inspecting the contents of their bins for signs of delinquent household waste practices. WTF … Continue reading ‘SNP’s roasters and bangers’ who ‘loathe the poor and vulnerable?’ With such blatant lies would Kevin McKenna even get a job at the Daily Express or Mail?

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Valuing ‘culture’ and public funding – how Wales with a Labour government in Cardiff fares!

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By stewartb There will be a Scottish Government debate in Holyrood on January 14 on ‘Valuing Culture: Scotland’s Support to the Culture Sector’. Will it generate heat or light? It will be worth observing how British Labour Party politicians in Scotland approach this debate. Will they acknowledge longstanding stresses and strains on Scottish Government finances due to Westminster austerity and inflation? Or will we hear the usual carping? And how will BBC Scotland and the rest of the mainstream media ‘serving’ Scotland report: devoid of context and perspective as usual? As we assess the various contributions, it will be worth … Continue reading Valuing ‘culture’ and public funding – how Wales with a Labour government in Cardiff fares!

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As NHS England under Labour and with increasing referrals, freezes radiologist hiring, NHS Scotland cuts diagnostic waiting times for third quarter in a row

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By Professor John Robertson OBA From Public Health Scotland on 24 November 2024, the above graph showing a reducing number waiting for diagnostic tests for the last three quarters, a steady fall since the peak in early 2022, and this for the quarter ending 30 September 2024 [most recent data]: When compared to the previous quarter-end, six of the eight key diagnostic tests saw a decrease in the number of ongoing waits reported. Waits for a CT scan showed a reduction of 11% (-3,104), colonoscopy waits reduced by 11% (-1,433), non-obstetric ultrasound reduced by 9% (-5,122), and MRI waits reduced by … Continue reading As NHS England under Labour and with increasing referrals, freezes radiologist hiring, NHS Scotland cuts diagnostic waiting times for third quarter in a row