Tag: news

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Can anyone recall any interrogation of witnesses or any media assessment around the ACTUAL content of key Cabinet papers?

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stewartb ‘Could the Covid inquiry reshape the UK?’ – this is the headline above a piece by James Cook on the BBC News website today. Mr Cook is of course BBC Scotland’s political editor whose team of journalists has been working hard to amplify the alleged ‘significance’ of WhatsApp messaging more than anything else in news reports on the Covid Inquiry’s Edinburgh sessions. Having feasted on the Inquiry’s references to WhatsApps, Mr Cook seems to have belatedly become aware of the journalistic relevance of ‘perspective’. He writes today: ‘ Not so many years ago many of the conversations now under … Continue reading Can anyone recall any interrogation of witnesses or any media assessment around the ACTUAL content of key Cabinet papers?

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GDP – Does any other country have to ignore its offshore activity to make it seem to be in trouble?

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From the Scottish Government (!) today: Scotland’s onshore GDP is estimated to have fallen by 0.1% in November. This follows a contraction of 0.6% in October (revised from -0.5%). In the three months to November, GDP is estimated to have contracted by 0.2% compared to the previous three month period. This indicates a slowing of growth, relative to the increase of 0.4% in 2023 Quarter 3 (July to September). Try searching for the word ‘offshore’ in the full report. Not a mention. But what, I hear you say about those booming energy revenues from oil, gas and renewables? You know, … Continue reading GDP – Does any other country have to ignore its offshore activity to make it seem to be in trouble?

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SNP drug death prevention programme leading to massive fall in ambulance call-outs and hospital admissions

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Opiates and opioids, including heroin, morphine and methadone, are implicated in more than 8 out of 10 drug related deaths in Scotland. The picture is the same globally. Naloxone is a medication designed to rapidly reverse opioid overdose. It is an opioid antagonist—meaning that it binds to opioid receptors and can reverse and block the effects of other opioids, such as heroin, morphine, and oxycodone. Scotland was the first country in the world, in 2021, to implement a national naloxone programme, which saw take-home naloxone (THN) given to those released from prison and distributed to community drug services. Naloxone provision has since been … Continue reading SNP drug death prevention programme leading to massive fall in ambulance call-outs and hospital admissions

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Edinburgh flats fire today – Gee, I wonder why the building did not have to be evacuated?

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From BBC Scotland today: A man has died in a fire at a block of flats in Edinburgh. Four fire engines and a height appliance were dispatched to the blaze in Calder Gardens at about 00:45. Crews were able to extinguish the blaze, but a 56-year-old man was pronounced dead at the scene. No one else was injured in the incident and the building did not have to be evacuated. None of the media have sought to link this to Grenfell for obvious reasons. Why was there not a Grenfell incident? For any new readers and folk you might share … Continue reading Edinburgh flats fire today – Gee, I wonder why the building did not have to be evacuated?

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Bowel cancer ebbs after Sturgeon scheme started screening earlier than in rest of UK

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So, facts, actual news, ‘bowel’, colorectal cancer cases fall by 20% in males and 10% in females over the last ten years, in Scotland. The Daily Record today? The Herald has the same story. Based on this: https://www.annalsofoncology.org/article/S0923-7534(23)05110-4/fulltext#%20 in March 2023, BBC Scotland did note: Public Health Scotland said the 2020 fall in numbers was “largely due to under-diagnosis caused by Covid restrictions”, including the temporary pause of screening programmes. Why have cases declined in Scotland longer term? Bowel cancer screening uptake in Scotland reaches a record high! Why might the UK researchers in the Record report be pessimistic? From … Continue reading Bowel cancer ebbs after Sturgeon scheme started screening earlier than in rest of UK

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The Covid Inquiry evidence unreported by BBC Scotland – can ‘bias by omission’ get any worse? 

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By stewartb ‘An important feature of the pandemic response of the Scottish Government was a pre-existing culture of professionalism, engagement, and collaboration, which, in the Covid-19 pandemic translated into a willingness to look outside of government for advice and expertise.’  On Scottish Government actions: ’Rather than divergence demonstrating political opportunism, it reflected better decision-making processes including more effective and meaningful consultation with others, and an appropriately precautionary approach to pandemic response.’ TUC/STUC submission to UK Covid 19 Inquiry (10 January 2024) By stewartb – a long read Already a lot of evidence concerning Scotland has been accumulated by the UK … Continue reading The Covid Inquiry evidence unreported by BBC Scotland – can ‘bias by omission’ get any worse? 

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“Protective effect of devolved policies” – Child poverty rates in Scotland (24%) remain much lower than those in England (31%) and Wales (28%)“The Protective effect of devolved policies” 

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Joseph Rowntree Foundation on the Scottish Government By stewartb The Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) published (on 25 January) a report entitled ‘Constraints and trade-offs for the next government’. It paints a bleak picture of the present state of the UK, its public finances and services. Over the short to medium term, it offers no cheer for the future. The IFS notes: ’further tax rises and further cuts for most public services are built into current plans. But on official forecasts, this is only just enough to stabilise government debt as a fraction of national income.’  (my emphasis) And it … Continue reading “Protective effect of devolved policies” – Child poverty rates in Scotland (24%) remain much lower than those in England (31%) and Wales (28%)“The Protective effect of devolved policies” 

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What will a Labour government do? More austerity, no public investment, increasing privatisation, no curbs on corporate profiteering and remaining outside the UK’s largest market.   

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Leah Gunn Barrett English Labour says the UK economy is growing at the slowest rate for two centuries.[1] Could it have to do with austerity, Brexit, chronic underinvestment, rampant corporate profiteering and high interest rates? And if so, what will a Labour government do?  Fresh from Davos, Rachel Reeves told a meeting in the City of London “every day, every month and every year of a Labour government, Labour will maintain its credibility with the markets and relationship with the City.”[2] Labour has made clear that it will coddle and appease financial markets which means austerity, no public investment, increasing privatisation, no … Continue reading What will a Labour government do? More austerity, no public investment, increasing privatisation, no curbs on corporate profiteering and remaining outside the UK’s largest market.   

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Covid Inquiry – Scottish ministers closed schools and saved thousands contrary to Prof Woolhouse’s wrong views

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In the Herald today: The Scottish Government ignored its own scientific advice not to close schools during the second Covid wave of 2021, the UK inquiry into the pandemic has heard.   Mark Woolhouse, Professor of Infectious Disease Epidemiology at the University of Edinburgh, said that the decision to shut classrooms across Scotland was “not necessary” and did not contribute to halting the spread of the virus.   Woolhouse, as far as I can see, was only one of the 20 advisors on the Scottish Government COVID-19 Advisory Group. I’m not aware of this group advising against school closures. Prof Sridhar was … Continue reading Covid Inquiry – Scottish ministers closed schools and saved thousands contrary to Prof Woolhouse’s wrong views

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Not one case of measles in Scotland for three years, 95% vaccination and the Herald’s health correspondent tries to suggest it’s like the West Midlands here too

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I’m indebted to for As a genuine and scary surge in measles cases after plummeting vaccination rates among young children explodes in parts of England, especially London and the West Midlands, the Herald’s Helen McUrdle, yesterday, asks: Measles, MMR, vaccine hesitancy: How at risk is Scotland? and suggests: The West Midlands region of England is in the grip of its worst measles outbreak since the 1990s, while uptake of the MMR vaccine in Scotland is at it lowest level since records began in 2014. Her report is packed full of England’s data and a Roald Dahl story. There’s no sign … Continue reading Not one case of measles in Scotland for three years, 95% vaccination and the Herald’s health correspondent tries to suggest it’s like the West Midlands here too