Better Together BMA Scotland shop steward doesn’t call for GP staffing in Scotland to be lowered to UK average

In the Guardian today: The leader of Scotland’s doctors has called for rural GPs to get higher pay and special status to cope with a critical shortfall of medics in the Highlands, islands and rural counties. I have no doubt there are shortages in Scotland’s rural areas. I’m guessing there always were, even before the flood of middle-class settlers used to urban-levels of staffing and ambulance waiting times, from Central Scotland too before you accuse me of Anglophobia, arrived to age self-importantly in our glens and on our islands. The Guardian writer does not, of course, wish to put this … Continue reading Better Together BMA Scotland shop steward doesn’t call for GP staffing in Scotland to be lowered to UK average

Special constables make up only 2.4% of the force and are barely usable yet the Herald and the Lib Dumbs imagine ‘alarm’

In the Herald today: Alarms have been raised that Police Scotland’s special constabulary is heading for “extinction” as new figures revealed there are almost 1,000 fewer officers on the beat than a decade ago. Data provided to the Scottish LibDems shows 409 special constables were in the force in 2022-23, compared to 1,394 in 2013-14 – a fall of 985. As always with the Lib Dumbs, you never get the revealing percentage – there are 16 613, up from 16 570 last year, police officers so their 409 special constables, unpaid volunteers, represent only 2.4% of the force. As for … Continue reading Special constables make up only 2.4% of the force and are barely usable yet the Herald and the Lib Dumbs imagine ‘alarm’