Tag: news

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Why is the Herald hiding the trend in Glasgow maternity deaths? Are they falling, I wonder?

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The Herald today headlining another scare story about the QEUH based on the infantile and suspicious method of counting up annual numbers over several years (2019 to 2025) to get a big number and carefully concealing the trend they clearly could tell you about. I can’t get at their figures but nationally, perinatal mortality is falling from 5.4 per 1 000 deaths in 2019 to 4.6 in 2023 and with roughly 45-50 000 live births per year in Scotland, those numbers matter. https://www.nrscotland.gov.uk/publications/vital-events-reference-tables-2023/?utm_source=chatgpt.com The Herald FOI report follows on from a similar attempt by BBC Scotland on 4 June this … Continue reading Why is the Herald hiding the trend in Glasgow maternity deaths? Are they falling, I wonder?

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Research by Royal College finds TWICE as many over 60s, per head of population, waiting more than 12 hours in NHS England’s A&E departments as in NHS Scotland – a political responsibility that can no longer be ignored there

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In the Guardian today: More than 1,300 patients a month in England are dying needlessly due to long A&E waits, a tenfold rise in a decade, figures suggest. There were more than 300 deaths linked to long waits every week in 2025, up from 30 a week in 2015, according to analysis by the Royal College of Emergency Medicine. The RCEM’s president, Dr Ian Higginson, said he wondered how many more deaths it would take before there was a meaningful plan to tackle the crisis. https://www.theguardian.com/society/2026/jun/08/more-than-1300-deaths-a-month-in-england-due-to-long-ae-waits-figures-suggest As far as I can see the RCEM in Scotland have not persuaded the media here … Continue reading Research by Royal College finds TWICE as many over 60s, per head of population, waiting more than 12 hours in NHS England’s A&E departments as in NHS Scotland – a political responsibility that can no longer be ignored there

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The Curious Case of the Wee Blue Campbell

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By Mark E. Saunders of “The Scottish Minuteman” https://www.facebook.com/profile.php/?id=61575625542197 https://www.youtube.com/@TheScottishMinuteman https://www.tiktok.com/@thescottishminuteman/video/7544331813578231062 Author’s Note: The following article is offered as speculative political commentary. It reflects personal interpretation and historical parallels and should not be read as established fact. No allegation of wrongdoing is made against Stuart Campbell, nor is any claim made that the UK state has influenced his publications. The Curious Case of the Wee Blue Campbell Is it peculiar that a person can one day be portrayed as a menace when attacking the Union and the next as a valuable whistleblower when attacking the SNP? 2014: “Dangerous nationalist cybernat … Continue reading The Curious Case of the Wee Blue Campbell

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Alarm over freedom of information only among mass exploiters of the scheme

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In the Herald today, the above apparent concerns limiting the number of requests to five at any one time. We’re not talking about just five a year, five a month, five a week or five a day, just five at any one time. This is a perfectly reasonable response to the increasing use of AI by oppositions politicians and their staff and by journalists. If the Herald gave its readers the full facts, they’d get it, I feel sure. Here they are: Before AI: From Largest number of Freedom of Information requests made by a single person in one day: FOI … Continue reading Alarm over freedom of information only among mass exploiters of the scheme

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The real news – More important than reported knife possession by far – murder by stabbing halved in six years, hospital stabbing admissions down by one-third and teen victims of murder plummet to only one-fifth of that in 2008

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Top story from BBC Scotland relating to two murders involving knives, last year. The SNP minister described the murders of Kayden Moy, 16, and John McNab, 22, in Irvine and Edinburgh last year as “shocking” amid concerns over rising levels of knife possession among youths in Scotland. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c1ly5720vzdo There is evidence in police reporting of increased knife possession though we cannot be sure of the extent to which this is affected by increased police activity and/or new offences being added. Either way, there are other very important developments relating to knife crime, being ignored here, but which offer us a … Continue reading The real news – More important than reported knife possession by far – murder by stabbing halved in six years, hospital stabbing admissions down by one-third and teen victims of murder plummet to only one-fifth of that in 2008

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Horrific, unregulated, and very profitable. The companies prevented from making cash from Scotland’s children in care because of Nicola Sturgeon’s ‘promise’ in 2016

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Before anyone accuses me of being duped, read my trenchant criticism of Nicola Sturgeon’s apparent views on Hilary Clinton and US foreign policy at: https://talkingupscotlandtwo.com/2026/03/04/sturgeon-and-clinton-does-being-a-woman-any-woman-trump-sic-her-war-crimes-her-murder-and-betrayal-of-the-poor/ That matters to me, a lot, but nothing can deny her massive achievements on the home front. In the Guardian today, from George Monbiot, quite an heroic figure for me and often well-tuned into to Scottish affairs: Bring your suitcase, your bin liner, your dumpy bag. They’re handing out money faster than you can stuff it in a sack. All you need do is join the market in what may now be England’s most lucrative … Continue reading Horrific, unregulated, and very profitable. The companies prevented from making cash from Scotland’s children in care because of Nicola Sturgeon’s ‘promise’ in 2016

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Aberdeen By-election Special – Where tory Promises Go To Die

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By Jim Mennie The Tories like to present themselves as champions of North East Scotland. Yet issues like oil and gas show they definitively are not. But it’s not just oil and gas that exposes how they treat the voters of the North East as mugs. In 2014, the then Westminster Tory-LibDem coalition government promised to make North East Scotland a world leader in carbon capture technology. The then UK Energy Secretary, and now LibDem leader, Ed Davey confirmed Peterhead as the location for the world’s first gas-fired carbon capture and storage (CCS) facility – backed up by a £100 … Continue reading Aberdeen By-election Special – Where tory Promises Go To Die

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Reform UK cannot speak for workers in the North Sea

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By Jim Mennie Reform UK has positioned itself as a vocal advocate for the North Sea oil and gas industry, particularly in North East Scotland. The party presents its policies as a defence of high-skilled jobs, energy security and domestic energy production against what it describes as overly rapid net-zero targets and green levies. While the messaging resonates in oil-dependent communities, serious questions remain about the party’s experience, track record and ability to deliver on its promises. What Reform UK Proposes The party’s platform includes several core commitments: Fast-tracking new North Sea exploration licences as a priority. Maximising extraction of … Continue reading Reform UK cannot speak for workers in the North Sea

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After intensive police investigations found nothing the presumption of innocence applies to the SNP just as it does to you and I – The SNP is innocent of the misuse of donor funds and deniers should be careful what they say now

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BBC Scotland today: Police Scotland says it is not launching a fresh investigation into claims about a £667,000 fund raised by the SNP for an independence referendum campaign. Independence activist Sean Clerkin reported the party to police, accusing it of “misusing” the cash by spending it on “general” campaigning, the Scottish Sun, external reported. It came after First Minister John Swinney confirmed the fund had been used for the SNP’s “ongoing activity”, insisting it had been spent on “independence objectives”. Concerns about the money sparked the police investigation that led to former SNP chief executive Peter Murrell – Nicola Sturgeon’s estranged husband – … Continue reading After intensive police investigations found nothing the presumption of innocence applies to the SNP just as it does to you and I – The SNP is innocent of the misuse of donor funds and deniers should be careful what they say now

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The Daily Record’s front page today seeks to conceal how safety in NHS Scotland has impressed Nordic countries and pays out less than one sixth of the amount per head in malpractice claims paid in NHS England

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We’ve had to stop saying ‘a new low for the Record.’ There seems to be none. Today, we see them sickeningly exploiting an understandably upset father and using his words, only, to apparently confirm mistakes made in the death of his newborn child. I’m no more in a position to comment on that death than is the Record but I am able to tell you this: In 2023/2024 (latest) NHS Scotland payed out £47.3m for health-related complaints.1 All things being equal with ten times the population, you might expect the NHS England to be around £480m. It was £3.1bn! 2 … Continue reading The Daily Record’s front page today seeks to conceal how safety in NHS Scotland has impressed Nordic countries and pays out less than one sixth of the amount per head in malpractice claims paid in NHS England