It had to happen. A Glasgow-based County Lines gangster makes the headlines in the Northants Telegraph, on the 9th of May 2024: A man found trying to hide from police in a Corby flat that had been ‘cuckooed’ has been jailed for drug-dealing. Glaswegian Rudy Kwatabyala has a long history of crime, with 81 offences on his record. He said he had been drawn to Corby after a relationship breakdown and to pay off a drug debt of £20,000. Police had been called to a flat in Chaucer Close after a report of cuckooing – where drug pushers take over ..read more

In the Sun on 27 April 2024: A WOMAN claimed to be the real-life stalker from Netflix smash Baby Reindeer was previously accused of harassing two of Scotland’s leading politicians. Fiona Harvey, 58, came into contact with the late Glasgow MP Jimmy Wray, who died aged 78 in 2013, and his solicitor wife Laura, 62, when she was a former Labour Party member. https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/27577210/real-baby-reindeer-stalker-was-accused-of-harassing-ex-first-minister/ In the Herald on 6 September 2000: There may be more than one Fiona Harvey, Labour activist. The Labour MP for Cathcart 1999 to 2005 ..read more

By stewartb ‘It is very easy for Tories to cross over to Labour these days, THEY ARE THE SAME BLOODY PARTY, ..’ How far will Labour-supporting newspapers in Scotland like the Daily Record be prepared to go on behalf of the ‘precious Union’ to protect/shield the party that many left leaning, progressive folk in England are now calling LINO – ‘Labour in Name Only’? This from today (8 May) : ‘Labour’s draft New Deal for Workers now “unrecognisable” See https://www.unitetheunion.org/news-events/news/2024/may/labour-s-draft-new-deal-for-workers-now-unrecognisable ‘Responding to the recent New ..read more

By stewartb My suspicion – because I’ve never come across anything about whooping cough in the mainstream media that supposedly ‘serves’ Scotland – is that there may well be a favourable story on Scotland’s health services somewhere in the above from Sky News today and indeed there is! From Public Health Scotland on 26 March 2024 (‘Childhood immunisation statistics Scotland – Quarter and year ending 31 December 2023’) , we learn that the vaccination for pertussis, or whooping cough since October 2017, has been ‘part of the combined 6-in-1 vaccine, consisting of diphtheria, tetan ..read more

By stewartb You may be interested to learn the following about childhood vaccination take-up rates. Source: NHS England (28 Sep 2023) Childhood Vaccination Coverage Statistics, England, 2022-23.  See the section of the report entitled ‘Coverage in UK countries – 2022-23’: it has a table which displays the latest annual (2022-23) coverage values for all childhood vaccinations across the four UK countries. Overwhelmingly, the take-up rates in Scotland are the highest of any UK country across the full range of childhood vaccinations. (See https://digital.nhs.uk/data-and-information ..read more

By Professor John Robertson From the Guardian today, not Anglocentric, for once: Drug shortages in England are now at such critical levels that patients are at risk of immediate harm and even death, pharmacists have warned. The situation is so serious that pharmacists increasingly have to issue “owings” to patients – telling someone that only part of their prescription can be dispensed and asking them to come back for the rest of it later, once the pharmacist has sourced the remainder. https://www.theguardian.com/society/article/2024/may/09/medicine-shortages-in-england-beyond-critic ..read more

From the Guardian, typically Anglocentric, today: England’s rivers are likely to remain in a poor state for years to come because the government is failing to put in place EU clean water laws post-Brexit, the watchdog has found. When Britain was a member of the EU, the government was required to follow the water framework directive (WFD), standards for waterways that have been credited with cleaning up Europe’s dirty water. Since Brexit, the UK (sic) is no longer required to match EU regulations, and has its own watchdog, the Office for Environmental Protection (OEP). Under the WFD ..read more

By Professor John Robertson Crime in Scotland per 10 000 people, at the end of 10 years of Labour rule in Scotland Crime in Scotland per 10 000 people, at the end of 17 years of SNP rule in Scotland, 40.5% down. 40.5% less crime? We must need fewer police officers then? That’s what the Tories or Starmerites would do. It’s not personal, just business. Did the SNP do that? Nope. From Police Scotland data, today: Scotland’s Chief Statistician has published statistics on Police Officer Quarterly Strength, which gives the number of full-time equivalent police officers employed by Police Scotland ..read more

By Professor John Robertson Based on data from the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service, the Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service and Police Scotland, we can see a clear improving trend in the length of time an average court case takes. 2021 – 21 weeks 2022 – 17 weeks 2023 – 16 weeks 2024 so far – 15 weeks. Source: https://www.gov.scot/publications/criminal-justice-monitoring-data-monthly-statistics ..read more

By Professor John Robertson From Public Health Scotland today: The number of planned operations has been steadily increasing since pandemic restrictions first affected provision of services in March 2020. In the 12 months to March 2024, there was a 7.6% increase in the number of planned operations compared to the previous 12 months.  Of all planned operations during March 2024 in NHS Scotland, 738 (3.1%) were cancelled by the hospital based on clinical reasons, 642 (2.7%) were cancelled by the patient, 480 (2%) were cancelled by the hospital due to capacity or non-clinical reasons, and 90 ..read more