Tag: news

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Is there no BBC Scotland reporting immune from omissions to favour the Union?

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By stewartb The initial purpose here was to comment solely on a divergence of view between the National Farmers Union in Scotland (NFU Scotland ) and the Tory Party. The difference became evident in responses to the First Minister’s speech to NFU Scotland’s annual conference in Glasgow on 9 February. But reading the coverage of the same speech on the BBC News website’s Scotland page, additional noteworthy aspects emerged! The FM was setting out the Scottish Government’s future funding plans for the agriculture sector as necessitated by the transition away from the EU Common Agriculture Policy, post-Brexit. Responding at the … Continue reading Is there no BBC Scotland reporting immune from omissions to favour the Union?

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More than 50 English hospitals still have worse mortality outcomes than QEUH in Glasgow

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In November 2023, we could write for the period July 2022 to June 2023 : More than 50 English hospitals have worse mortality outcomes than QEUH in Glasgow Today, we can repeat a similar tale for the period October 2022 to September 2023. The funnel plot below, and previous examples reported here, comparing predicted deaths with actual deaths, shows two things in particular: The funnel plot below for NHS England shows two things in particular. Continue reading More than 50 English hospitals still have worse mortality outcomes than QEUH in Glasgow

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Drooling over a miserly 5 days off unpaid and ignoring Scottish Government’s real help for carers

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From BBC Scotland today Lindsay McCurley from Glasgow is a single parent carer. She looks after her teenage son Nathan, who has autism. She is among thousands of people across the UK who struggle with trying to care for a relative long-term while also trying to stay in paid employment. But now a change in the law, due to come into force on 6 April, means people who care for relatives outside of work can take an extra week of unpaid leave every year. The Carer’s Leave Act, which will apply across the UK, allows employees with long-term care commitments … Continue reading Drooling over a miserly 5 days off unpaid and ignoring Scottish Government’s real help for carers

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Already worse, how much more so can England’s pupil-teacher ratio get?

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Today in the Observer: Schools across England are warning they will soon be unsafe because they are having to cut teachers and support staff to save money, with record numbers now in deficit. With escalating behavioural problems, soaring numbers of children with special educational needs, and increased pupil numbers, schools say staff are already stretched to the limit. Yet heads across the country say they now have no choice but to plan redundancies or not replace leaving staff in order to balance their books. One in eight local authority maintained schools were in deficit in 2022-23, the highest number on … Continue reading Already worse, how much more so can England’s pupil-teacher ratio get?

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Scotland’s cancer incidence level is much higher than the average in every part of world – SNP MP exposes likely cause in pollution from the most dangerous nuclear site in Europe

johnrobertson834

Apologies for posting and then quickly deleting this yesterday. I made a mistake with the stats and know from previous errors that one wee slip and all your other work is cast into doubt. I’m 72, on my own, still impulsive after all these years and breengin’ to the end. It’s sorted now. Two recent reports in the National (links below), by Ayr MP Allan Dorans, have exposed levels of radioactivity in seafood, other wildlife and in river estuary sediment, from the Sellafield nuclear reprocessing plant in Cumbria, described recently in the Guardian as ‘Europe’s most toxic nuclear site‘. These … Continue reading Scotland’s cancer incidence level is much higher than the average in every part of world – SNP MP exposes likely cause in pollution from the most dangerous nuclear site in Europe

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Prevent another deadly health strike or check a colleague’s phone bill – What should Humza have done with his time?

johnrobertson834

BBC Scotland are going with the Tories on the news of the day – Humza Yousaf must apologise for refusing to sack former health secretary Michael Matheson, the Scottish Conservatives have said. The, THE news, today, of the Junior Doctor’s next, looming, strike, is nowhere other than in the Health Service Journal: Junior doctors have announced a further five full days of strike action this month, while their union has accused the health and social care secretary of refusing to extend their strike mandate to allow pay talks to continue. The strike will run from 7am on Saturday 24 February … Continue reading Prevent another deadly health strike or check a colleague’s phone bill – What should Humza have done with his time?

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NHS Scotland is far better staffed and is returning to pre-pandemic treatment levels but this IFS twit can’t even do basic arithmetic!

johnrobertson834

Straight after we hear that Neil Grey is ‘facing‘ his first day as Health Secretary, Reporting Scotland at 06:27am: It comes as the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) says the NHS is handling fewer patients – including 21% fewer elective in-patients – but costing more. A Scottish Government spokesperson said they remain committed to reducing waits for planned and emergency care. Then from Max, above: I think this should be one of the highest priorities for the new health secretary. NHS and health spending is one of the largest fings (sic) the Scottish Government or most governments do and when you … Continue reading NHS Scotland is far better staffed and is returning to pre-pandemic treatment levels but this IFS twit can’t even do basic arithmetic!

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Minimal alcohol pricing – Charity leader really wants support FOR SNP project contrary to Herald’s attempt to mislead

johnrobertson834

What on earth do you think the Herald is up to now with the image above and the headline – Minimum alcohol pricing: Charity leader calls for probe? Probe? A charity leader is opposed to MUP? Really? No. The charity is Favor UK. Here’s what they think. Probe? Nobe. The charity leader wants the Scot Gov to publish more research evidence in favour of MUP. She doesn’t, as the headline implies, want a ‘probe’ to find out why it’s a bad idea. Quite the reverse. Has the Scottish Government perhaps already published the research and the media have ignored it, … Continue reading Minimal alcohol pricing – Charity leader really wants support FOR SNP project contrary to Herald’s attempt to mislead

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NHS England told to treat the less sick BEFORE those ‘at death’s door’ to meet Tory ‘political’ targets

johnrobertson834

This is all-too-familiar to us here. I’ve reported on NHS England re-starting the clock after A&E arrivals have been admitted to a department, to improve published statistics; on NHS Wales reducing targets from 95% for cancer waiting times, to 70%, to make things look less bad; on Public Health England not counting care home deaths to make their Covid death rate seem comparable to those in Scotland; on BBC UK using the ‘All’ A&E waiting time figures to compare with our ‘ED’ only performance to make theirs seem bearable and on English hospitals ‘coping’ with third world hospital-acquired Covid infection … Continue reading NHS England told to treat the less sick BEFORE those ‘at death’s door’ to meet Tory ‘political’ targets

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Do the folk at Ipsos MORI know something as they regularly predict a Yes vote and SNP success over 9 years?

johnrobertson834

The Ipsos MORI pollster, in the National today, has Yes on 53% with a 6 point lead. In November they had Yes on 51% and an 8 point lead. These two, plus one for Find Out Now, were a minority in a sea of 11 No leads since October 2023. Overall the picture (above) has been dominated by No leads from several pollsters but there’s a pattern going back to August 2015, when, in a sea of No leads , Ipsos MORI had a 9 point lead for Yes. From there forward to the present, Ipsos MORI have had 14 … Continue reading Do the folk at Ipsos MORI know something as they regularly predict a Yes vote and SNP success over 9 years?