Tag: news

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Replacing migrant care workers with better paid locals – Scottish Labour can only offer a review that might pay more in 2028 (!) while SNP has already delivered a 7% increase now!

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In the Guardian today: Britain [sic] risks undermining the care workers it depends on. A new Fair Pay Agreement [FPA] is promised, with the government overseeing pioneering sector-wide negotiations aimed at improving the lot of these undervalued workers. The deal is intended to come into force from April 2028. Yet by singling out this group for the longest wait before they belong in the UK – with high-paid workers on a faster track – the Home Office seems to be validating the deprecation of this essential work that helps explain why it’s under-rewarded in the first place. The hope is that … Continue reading Replacing migrant care workers with better paid locals – Scottish Labour can only offer a review that might pay more in 2028 (!) while SNP has already delivered a 7% increase now!

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There is no reliable evidence that patients die in A&E units ‘due’ to care shortages in Scotland only this Prof’s anecdotes again

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On the front page of the Sunday Post, the above, aimed at its elderly audience to provoke another ‘That SNP!’ reaction, days before an election is from Geriatrician, Professor Andrew Elder (sic) of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. You see those ‘reports’? Indeed, no figures, no sources. These ‘reports‘ are associations, not direct proof of causation. The “excess deaths” method from the Royal College is a modelled estimate, not a count of individually verified deaths caused by delays. Patients waiting long times are often already very ill, which complicates attribution. Sicker patients both wait longer (due to needing … Continue reading There is no reliable evidence that patients die in A&E units ‘due’ to care shortages in Scotland only this Prof’s anecdotes again

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On the 40th Anniversary of Chernobyl, how a Labour First Minister’s ‘day one’ plans for nuclear power will ‘present an existential challenge for local policing’ and expose our children to thyroid cancer

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On the 40th anniversary of Chernobyl, today, BBC Breakfast visit the site and remind us that while the official death toll was just 31, according to ‘studies’, the wider health impact was likely to be much wider. Studies? Well, here’s just one. According to the UN Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation The most significant wider impact was a sharp rise in thyroid cancer among children and adolescents exposed in 1986 in Belarus, Ukraine, and Russia. By 2005, more than 6,000 cases had been diagnosed in this age group. Later data (up to ~2015) put the total closer … Continue reading On the 40th Anniversary of Chernobyl, how a Labour First Minister’s ‘day one’ plans for nuclear power will ‘present an existential challenge for local policing’ and expose our children to thyroid cancer

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First GP Walk-in clinic – Herald evaluation is too quick, asks wrong questions and their ‘top medic’ is far from that

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The Herald today has: Doctors have told the SNP to drop its plans to expand walk-in GP clinics after new figures showed patients waited up to six hours to be seen at the first facility in Scotland. The clinic at Wester Hailes Healthy Living Centre in Edinburgh, opened in February and was the first of around 30 walk-in clinics promised by the Scottish Government, currently led by the SNP. and So, another combined effort by Scottish BMA and the Herald to undermine the top party leader, John Swinney and the SNP. Are they stupid? Don’t they know this? Early reporting (including the article you … Continue reading First GP Walk-in clinic – Herald evaluation is too quick, asks wrong questions and their ‘top medic’ is far from that

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The new Welsh government, of whatever party or coalition, has a particularly difficult inheritance in health and social care

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By stewartb The Nuffield Trust has published a companion to the Scottish briefing , for the NHS in Wales. It concludes (with my emphasis): ‘The new Welsh government, of whatever party or coalition, has a particularly difficult inheritance in health and social care. Waiting times are poor and the public deeply unhappy. ‘Wales’s older, more deprived population means that needs for care are elevated, and sustained high levels of health funding reflect that. ‘The incoming ministers will know that there is not enough money in the coffers to simply spend their way to success. Improvements in delayed discharges and waiting lists provide a … Continue reading The new Welsh government, of whatever party or coalition, has a particularly difficult inheritance in health and social care

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How the ‘Scottish’ Daily Express made up a quote not actually in the Nuffield Trust report revealing NHS Scotland’s superiority

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Neither the word ‘deadly’ nor the word ‘domino’ appear in Health and care performance and promises: the track record for Scotland’s 2026 election published by the Nuffield Trust, yesterday: https://www.nuffieldtrust.org.uk/resource/health-and-care-performance-and-promises-the-track-record-for-scotland-s-2026-election While, I’d argue, with evidence, that there is much good about healthcare in Scotland which is missed by the Trust, far far more is missed by the Express, including the above hugely important evidence of superior GP numbers in Scotland, way above the level elsewhere in the UK. Also avoided by the Express: People in Scotland are much more likely than they were five years ago to spend more than … Continue reading How the ‘Scottish’ Daily Express made up a quote not actually in the Nuffield Trust report revealing NHS Scotland’s superiority

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Half a century after it started trying to find answers to to the problem of containment, the nuclear industry still has none

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By Frances McKie It is now, in April 2026, exactly 40 years since the Chernobyl Nuclear Reactor exploded. The explosion sent radioactive pollution vast distances across Europe; it devastated a large area near Kiev in the Ukraine-still too dangerous for human habitation; it has left a long-term legacy of thyroid and other cancers linked to radiation exposure and ingestion of isotopes like Iodine 131.  In 2026, the “sarcophagus” eventually built over the reactor in the hope of containing the radiation has deteriorated and the second covering has now been damaged by a drone attack. Next year, 2027, will be the … Continue reading Half a century after it started trying to find answers to to the problem of containment, the nuclear industry still has none

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‘British government has wasted more money on failed projects than some countries spend building entire infrastructure’ So next time any unionist has the temerity to mention the word ‘ferry’ you know what to do…

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I’ve lifted this excellent piece from Eve Robertson Armstrong on Facebook who lifted it from Josh Hunt on twitter (X). I’m guessing a Josh Hunt wrote it but can’t trace him. The British Government has wasted more money on failed projects than some countries spend building their entire infrastructure. After hearing about the cancellation of the Stonehenge Tunnel project, yet it still racking up £179 million in cost, I wanted to look at other projects and costs to see what the picture looks like this century. Every number here comes from official reports, the National Audit Office, parliamentary committees, and … Continue reading ‘British government has wasted more money on failed projects than some countries spend building entire infrastructure’ So next time any unionist has the temerity to mention the word ‘ferry’ you know what to do…

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Lib Dems confirm that they share Scottish Labour’s values – protecting the wealthy, punishing the disabled, bombing the innocent and increasing child cancers

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By Liz S “Lib Dem leader signals party could back Sarwar as first minister”. ( “could” in that sentence is quite interesting, as one wonders if currently that is only a possibility as a scenario, then what would it take to definitely make the Lib Dems to then confirm that they “would back Sarwar as First Minister”) ? The BBC wrote that “Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Alex Cole-Hamilton has signalled that his party could back Labour’s Anas Sarwar in a vote to nominate a new first minister” He also “confirmed he would not support Conservative leader Russell Findlay or Reform chief Malcolm Offord in a … Continue reading Lib Dems confirm that they share Scottish Labour’s values – protecting the wealthy, punishing the disabled, bombing the innocent and increasing child cancers

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In the UK today – “Things fall apart, the Centre cannot hold, mere anarchy rules”

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By Alasdair Macdonald Comments. I think all of this shows the unionists are really fears that their ‘precious union’ might indeed be falling apart due to Starmer’s and his government’s lack of a narrative and a direction, the rise of Reform and collapse of the Tories, the DUP’s recognition that a united Ireland is coming accompanied by the mollifying words of the president of the Gaelic Games Association, the rise of the Green Party to the left of Labour (Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck are more leftwing than Labour), the likely third party status of Labour in Wales and the … Continue reading In the UK today – “Things fall apart, the Centre cannot hold, mere anarchy rules”