Tag: scotland

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Six sub-polls suggest modest SNP recovery, growing Reform threat and ongoing crisis for the others leading to good result in the constituencies for the SNP

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From Opinium with sub-polls of around 160 Scots 18+years of age, on 29 and 13 (in brackets) November, 31 and 18 October (in brackets) support is (was): This suggests ongoing crises for Scottish Labour and Cons, LD and Greens with steady modest recovery of the SNP and growing support for Reform eating away at Cons and Labour. Polls a few days earlier by More in Common and Find our Now tell a similar, if worse story for Labour and slightly better one for the Cons. All six polls put the Greens in danger of serious loss post their split with … Continue reading Six sub-polls suggest modest SNP recovery, growing Reform threat and ongoing crisis for the others leading to good result in the constituencies for the SNP

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Latest – Scottish Labour policy challenged as new research reviewing more than 2 000 studies finds increased risk of thyroid cancer for those living near nuclear power plants

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By Professor John Robertson OBA From The National on 9 July 2024: SCOTTISH Secretary Ian Murray has repeatedly refused to say the new UK Labour government will not overrule its devolved counterpart to see nuclear projects built in Scotland. The Labour MP was speaking on BBC Good Morning Scotland on Tuesday when he was pushed on whether the UK Government under Keir Starmer might step in to force through planning decisions, despite the area being devolved to Holyrood. Murray repeatedly refused to rule out any planning decisions being taken by the UK Government over the heads of local people or devolved representatives. Instead, he said it was “really … Continue reading Latest – Scottish Labour policy challenged as new research reviewing more than 2 000 studies finds increased risk of thyroid cancer for those living near nuclear power plants

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NHS Scotland is not lagging behind – Complaint to Editor of Times and their response, so much better than BBC Complaints

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By Professor John Robertson OBA To the Editor of the Times, regarding the above article, being widely copied in MSM and exciting Unionists, I submitted a formal complaint with this content; On cancer waiting times, you had: ‘The waiting times for cancer treatment are continuing to surge in England and Scotland, with only 73 per cent and 68 per cent of cases respectively meeting the 62-day target from the time of referral to the start of treatment.’ On A&E Waiting Times, you had 65.9% were seen within 4 hours in Scotland and 72.4% were seen in that time in NHS … Continue reading NHS Scotland is not lagging behind – Complaint to Editor of Times and their response, so much better than BBC Complaints

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Factcheck – cancer waiting times NOT surging in Scotland and significantly better than in other parts of UK

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By Professor John Robertson OBA Many thanks to AR for alerting me to this. Two days ago, the Times had an extended report, widely copied across the media and exciting Unionist voices, to suggest that NHS Scotland is actually lagging behind NHS England, on the overall backlog, cancer waiting times and A&E waiting times. I’ll tackle them one at a time. Cancer waiting times The Times has: The waiting times for cancer treatment are continuing to surge in England and Scotland, with only 73 per cent and 68 per cent of cases respectively meeting the 62-day target from the time of referral to the start of … Continue reading Factcheck – cancer waiting times NOT surging in Scotland and significantly better than in other parts of UK

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Factcheck – The overall backlogs in NHS England and NHS Scotland are, per head, the same. Neither is ‘lagging’* but the English figures are probably pochled

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By Professor John Robertson OBA Many thanks to AR for alerting me to this. Two days ago, the Times had an extended report, widely copied across the media and exciting Unionist voices, to suggest that NHS Scotland is actually lagging behind NHS England, on the overall backlog, cancer waiting times and A&E waiting times. I’ll tackle them one at a time. The backlog The Times claims that the backlog in England was only 290 326 and 72 793 in Scotland, at the end of June. Also, they claim that the backlog has been falling in England, while in Scotland it continues to climb and that this … Continue reading Factcheck – The overall backlogs in NHS England and NHS Scotland are, per head, the same. Neither is ‘lagging’* but the English figures are probably pochled

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Factcheck – Full emergency waiting times are significantly shorter in Scotland unless you fake the figures like the Times

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By Professor John Robertson OBA Many thanks to AR for alerting me to this. Two days ago, the Times had an extended report, widely copied across the media and exciting Unionist voices, to suggest that NHS Scotland is actually lagging behind NHS England, on the overall backlog, cancer waiting times and A&E waiting times. I’ll tackle them one at a time. A&E waiting times The Times claims that in September 2024 65.9% were seen within 4 hours in Scotland and 72.4% were seen in that time in NHS England. They’re confused or dishonest. Looking at the published data, from Public Health Scotland, … Continue reading Factcheck – Full emergency waiting times are significantly shorter in Scotland unless you fake the figures like the Times

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Even with the predicted council tax increase Scots will still pay far less than in other parts of UK as they have done for the last 17 years

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In July 2024, from the Scottish Government: Council Tax rates are regularly quoted as being lower in Scotland than in England. However, does a simple numerical comparison tell you everything you need to know? At face value, the official statistics show that the average Council Tax bill per dwelling in Scotland is over £350 per year lower. 1 The full report does go on to explain why direct comparisons are problematic but you can be sure that were this the other way round, MSM would not hesitate to shout: SNP Council Tax bills £350 higher! In November 2023, from Policy Mogul, … Continue reading Even with the predicted council tax increase Scots will still pay far less than in other parts of UK as they have done for the last 17 years

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Scotsman’s David Bols is either thick or trying to deceive you with suggestion that NHS Scotland is lagging behind NHS England when it’s clearly far ahead

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By Professor John Robertson OBA David Bol of the Scotsman today has this astonishing headline: SNP dealt blow as NHS recovery in Scotland lagging behind England This claim is based on the supposed evidence that performance in NHS Scotland is worsening while in NHS England it’s improving. Yes, but, but, David, what if performance in Scotland is worsening and is improving in England but the English performance is still worse than the Scottish performance, isn’t it England that’s lagging, until, at least it overtakes Scotland? Get me? Objectively, which NHS is lagging? The facts once more: First, THREE times as many wait … Continue reading Scotsman’s David Bols is either thick or trying to deceive you with suggestion that NHS Scotland is lagging behind NHS England when it’s clearly far ahead

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They are not only doing political journalism in BBC Wales differently from BBC Scotland but opponents of the government in Cardiff may behave differently too

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By stewartb Seems they are not only doing political journalism in BBC Wales differently from BBC Scotland but opponents of the government in Cardiff may behave differently too. The BBC News website in its Wales section today (November 26) had this headline about NHS Wales: ‘Ambulance response target may change after failures’. It reports: ‘Ambulance response targets in Wales may change in 2025, after four years of the service failing to meet its key measure.’ ‘A total of 65% of the most life-threatening calls are expected to arrive to a patient within eight minutes, but this has been missed for the past … Continue reading They are not only doing political journalism in BBC Wales differently from BBC Scotland but opponents of the government in Cardiff may behave differently too

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Labour should rethink this one, and give money directly to the devolved Scottish Government for them to allocate to Scottish councils

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Anonymous The National (England) Audit Office stated yesterday that “Just one in 10 local authorities submitted reliable formal accounts of their spending in 2022-23. Of the remaining 90%, half failed to submit any financial data at all and half submitted accounts that had not been audited“ Remember Labour’s big plan for Scotland is to bypass the Scottish government and allow Ian Murray, as Labour’s new SOS for Scotland ,to allocate funds directly to Scottish councils so hopefully they, the Scottish councils, are more diligent and careful with their accounting. This BTW is a carbon copy of what the Tories were going to do … Continue reading Labour should rethink this one, and give money directly to the devolved Scottish Government for them to allocate to Scottish councils