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Trying to light a two-year-old damp squib as police officer injuries fall from 62 to 1 to zero last year

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BBC Scotland today, trying to scare the old folk, like me, with a complete failure to inform us. Was there a lot of trouble last year? No. The year before? No. Less than a week ago, that other tabloid medium, the Daily Record tried to light the same damp squib. The answer is the same: On 6 November 2025: Police say there was a “notable” reduction in Bonfire Night disorder with the number of calls received down by 37% across Scotland. Between 31 October and 5 November, 833 calls needed a local or specialist response, almost 500 fewer than last … Continue reading Trying to light a two-year-old damp squib as police officer injuries fall from 62 to 1 to zero last year

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As police officers in England & Wales become ‘too exhausted’ Scotland has 23% more police officers to deal with 17% fewer crimes.

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Across BBC TV News and the tabloids including The Sun, today, the above and: FOUR out of every five cops are feeling stressed over workloads, a survey reveals today. And more than three-quarters of them say they are too exhausted to perform their duties properly. The rank-and-file Police Federation of England and Wales has declared a public health emergency in policing. Acting deputy national chairman Paul Williams will today tell its annual conference in London: “Policing is a service making its people sick. https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/40768891/public-health-emergency-policing-stress-exhaustion/ Nothing from BBC Scotland yet but how do the figures compare. Do Scottish cops face as … Continue reading As police officers in England & Wales become ‘too exhausted’ Scotland has 23% more police officers to deal with 17% fewer crimes.

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Scottish Government advised care homes to isolate discharged hospital patients three weeks before other three UK nations saving unknown number of lives as nearly 3 000 were lost in England

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By stewartb The Covid Inquiry report on care homes identifies multiple, alleged ‘failings’ by government bodies and ministers. But whilst it makes clear the invidious decisions and trade-offs that faced the authorities, it seems to avoid drawing what is – perhaps to the lay person – the obvious conclusion that there was no ideal, harm-free approach to mitigating risks to care home residents AND the wider public needing hospitalisation available to governments across the UK as the pandemic took hold. In terms of mitigating the risks from discharges from hospitals to care homes, this from the Covid Inquiry report is … Continue reading Scottish Government advised care homes to isolate discharged hospital patients three weeks before other three UK nations saving unknown number of lives as nearly 3 000 were lost in England

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Nearly six years ago 5 research studies found scale of Covid deaths was largely due to private care home owners over-reliant on travelling agency staff, denying sick pay to staff and failing to test them in-house

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Again, I’ve lost track of how many times I’ve countered that myth about hospital discharges causing care home outbreaks but, one more time quickly: There is no evidence at all that any of the discharges of hospital cases into care homes caused any of the outbreaks in those homes. There are repeated research reports showing that agency staff working in more than one of the, especially, larger corporate-owned homes did, unwittingly, cause the outbreaks. Here’s the evidence again: The charitable MHA with a presence in Scotland did research into its own homes and discovered this: Large numbers of staff could … Continue reading Nearly six years ago 5 research studies found scale of Covid deaths was largely due to private care home owners over-reliant on travelling agency staff, denying sick pay to staff and failing to test them in-house

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Not a word on hospital discharges in first of deadly care home inspections in 2020 as care home owners are revealed to be guilty for Covid deaths

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In December 2020, as deaths began to rise again in care homes and opposition parties returned to the smell of blood they detected from their ‘common sense’ unqualified notion that hospital discharges must be responsible, the Care Inspectorate applied to cancel the registration of Thornlea Nursing Home in Loanhead Midlothian. There was no mention of hospital discharges as a suspected cause of infections and deaths, by the Care Inspectorate in December 2020 and there is none in the final report released yesterday but there is, ten times, mention of failures of infection control by the staff, often untrained and under-staffed, … Continue reading Not a word on hospital discharges in first of deadly care home inspections in 2020 as care home owners are revealed to be guilty for Covid deaths

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Wrong, Kevin – As Protestants increasingly find a home in Reform UK, Scotland’s Catholics support for the SNP surges from 18% to 48%

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Kevin McKenna at the Herald is in SNP Overdrive these days. I keep ignoring it as best I can but something pees me off too much and here I am again. I come from a ‘Rangers’ family going back decades. My dad, working in an American factory with no closed shops found out Catholics were not aliens and left with me for Falkirk FC. I married Bernadette, in the Chapel and signed things. With a useless Higher History (B) I taught myself about the Empire and it’s atrocities in Ireland. Why is McKenna’s claim pure excrement of the male bovine? … Continue reading Wrong, Kevin – As Protestants increasingly find a home in Reform UK, Scotland’s Catholics support for the SNP surges from 18% to 48%

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Devolved First Ministers offer expert advice on tackling poverty to UK Ministers but BBC Scotland won’t be telling you about that when they have a 32 year-old murder and Andy’s buses for you

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Published earlier today but as yet nowhere to be seen on BBC Scotland – Joint letter from the Scottish and Welsh Governments calling on the UK Government to scrap “punitive” welfare policies, adopt plans to cut energy bills, and to further devolve powers to help drive continued progress in tackling poverty, posted in full here: To: The Rt Hon Pat McFadden MPSecretary of State for Work and Pensions To: The Rt Hon Lucy Powell MPSecretary of State for Education 20 October 2026 Dear Pat and Lucy, We are writing jointly to congratulate you on your appointment and to restate our … Continue reading Devolved First Ministers offer expert advice on tackling poverty to UK Ministers but BBC Scotland won’t be telling you about that when they have a 32 year-old murder and Andy’s buses for you

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English Media say maternity care there is in a doom loop (no ”) but no matter how ‘our’ media try Scotland is not having England’s maternity crisis – It’s just a review

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In the Guardian today, the above with notably no speech marks around ‘doom loop’, and: The NHS Alliance has announced that up to 20 of the country’s 155 smaller, consultant-led maternity units, mostly in rural or coastal areas, might have to close, since their safety is in question. The problem – which will seem very pressing and obvious to anyone about to give birth, yet quite abstract and manageable to anyone who isn’t – is that those areas aren’t teeming with alternatives. There are women in Devon whose maternity hospital has been temporarily closed, whose next nearest hospital is 53 … Continue reading English Media say maternity care there is in a doom loop (no ”) but no matter how ‘our’ media try Scotland is not having England’s maternity crisis – It’s just a review

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Preparing for today’s lies about Covid deaths in care homes in Scotland 2 – In the murderous first phase of the pandemic, they were 21% lower than in England & Wales

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In the Guardian 19th July 2020, six months after Boris Johnson’s incompetence and callousness allowed the virus free access t the UK and just over three months since the SNP Government got devolved authority for the pandemic tactics, here is what happened to care home residents. In a piece broadly sympathetic to the First Minister and Scotland’s Covid strategy, the Guardian writers seemed to feel the need for ‘balance’ and to use anything they can find even if it’s wrong. Truth, fairness and accuracy are what readers need. You wouldn’t expect to have balance on a piece about the health … Continue reading Preparing for today’s lies about Covid deaths in care homes in Scotland 2 – In the murderous first phase of the pandemic, they were 21% lower than in England & Wales

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Preparing for today’s lies about Covid deaths in care homes in Scotland 1 – How Jeanne Freeman saved thousands of lives

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In BBC Scotland’s retrospective comment on Jeanne Freeman’s time as Health Secretary, they write: Freeman stood beside Sturgeon in press conferences throughout the next year. There would be praise for their calm stewardship and she was there at the start of the vaccine roll-out. But the decision to discharge elderly hospital patients to care homes during the first few weeks of the pandemic without a requirement for a negative test was one which hung over Freeman for the rest of her time in politics and beyond. The worst mortality rates were later seen within care homes as the virus spread … Continue reading Preparing for today’s lies about Covid deaths in care homes in Scotland 1 – How Jeanne Freeman saved thousands of lives