‘Is it any wonder that…are fed up when your average ill-informed journalist [Kevin ‘The Blind Mole’ McKenna] can produce this kind of bile about people on the front line?

johnrobertson834

proxy.duckduckgo.com  mole

(c) common space and pinsdaddy

07.22am today and those are the opening lines of the only reader comment under an article by Kevin McKenna. The headline is:

‘Scottish NHS is facing a crisis that affects us all’

The long rambling piece is full both of ‘respect’ for the First Minister and recognition of the SNP’s good health. Kevin is, of course, after a dramatic conversion on some quiet, no witnesses, ‘road to Damascus’, a confirmed supporter of independence. Kevin is also a confirmed and active critic of the SNP and a champion of Roman Catholicism. I know, he’s entitled to criticise the SNP. I criticised Nicola’s very odd (naïve?) support for the war criminal Hilary Clinton and her recommendation that we read the work of the war criminal, Henry Kissinger, but I know that only the SNP have the muscle and the drive to push this thing through with the rest of the movement providing the ideas, the songs, the noise and the drama.

Kevin spends much of his time criticising SNP polices such as the named person thing and, mostly commonly, whinging, evidence-free, about the NHS in Scotland. Coincidentally, it’s the same target that BBC Scotland have clearly identified as the one they can most effectively scare the elderly and the infirm with, thus bolstering the anxious No vote. He protests his love for the idea of independence but spends little time working directly to undermine its enemies.

He reminds me of a Rangers supporter who insists he’s now for independence but, when pressed, says that that hope has to come second to Rangers winning the league again! What would Kevin take before Scottish independence? I’m guessing but, would a counter-reformation be nice?

Might the list of preferences be, actually, infinitely long because Kevin is a fake supporter? I’m not saying he is an actual ‘mole’, ‘run’ and funded by MI5 (or is it 6 because we’re still ‘foreign’?), but I am saying that his writing, like some others on the ‘critical’ wing of the Yes movement, has the undermining effect of a mole. Maybe he’s a ‘blind mole’? The floating Yes/No voter is unlikely to be affected by too obvious, exaggerated and direct attacks on the SNP but more subtle pieces, equally wrong and usually free of evidence, and, crucially, laced with wee bits of praise for Nicola’s maturity, for the SNP’s strength or for the vague nobility of the cause, will be insidious and more effective, like all good propaganda.

What is Kevin’s agenda? I think he wants a good income from his writing, special treatment for Catholicism and a more caring sort of social democratic society. On a purely pragmatic basis he now thinks independence might be his best bet for that but, if Labour look like returning to power in Westminster, watch him.

Oh, yes NHS Scotland. Here’s some of the evidence, just that going back to March 2018, which, Kevin didn’t use:

NHS Scotland survives summer heatwave despite SNP failure to control London Met Office

NHS Scotland chronic pain waiting times hold steady despite 3.26% increase in demand and while NHS England figures mysteriously disappear

SNP blamed for standing by as NHS England vacancies run at more than three times those in NHS Scotland

SNP Government acts early to prevent NHS winter crisis in 2018/19

NHS Scotland Psychological Therapies waiting times almost maintained despite major increase in demand

Six consecutive years of NHS Scotland staffing growth

Looking south only, NHS England is ‘left behind Germany, France, Spain, Italy and Japan’ but Scotland is both ‘just behind’ and well ahead of them!

91% satisfaction with NHS Scotland staff! Patients even more satisfied than before

NHS Scotland maintains waiting times for Outpatients despite soaring pressures and unlike the crisis in non-Scottish parts

NHS Scotland sees more patients within 18 weeks as demand soars

Major achievement by NHS Scotland as operations cancelled due to capacity or non-clinical reasons fall dramatically by 31%

Is BBC Scotland exploiting patients with mental health problems to construct an ill-founded attack on NHS Tayside?

At 78% level of satisfaction with NHS Scotland is impressive 36% higher than for the NHS across UK

NHS Scotland misrepresented!

Anger over Scotsman’s call for Miles Briggs to be listened to…at all as NHS taxi costs fall 14% in one year

NHS Scotland first to be 100% Baby Friendly

Updated: The Scotsman colludes with Labour and Tories to fake another crisis in NHS Scotland

NHS England sees 35% increase in patients waiting more than 18 weeks while NHS Scotland reports a fall of 0.2% despite a 14.6% increase in demand

Scotsman, Herald and Tories collude in another laughable attempt to unseat Scottish Health Secretary using NHS Scotland’s success stories

NHS Lothian ‘bed-blocking’ remains much lower than average in NHS England

Scotsman under fire over dishonest reporting of four-doctor protest, against NHS England, but at Holyrood (?), in latest round weaponizing NHS in proxy war against SNP

NHS Scotland A&E performance is more than 10% better than NHS England though BBC Salford mislead viewers by using wrong figure

NHS Scotland: 27% increase in kidney transplants including 10% increase from living donors as ‘UK’ level falls to eight-year low

Bed-blocking in NHS Scotland falls by nearly 10% in one year as the rate in NHS England surges to nearly 500% higher, per capita, than that in NHS Scotland!

National auditors find two very different NHS systems in the UK. Someone tell Theresa today.

 

 

12 thoughts on “‘Is it any wonder that…are fed up when your average ill-informed journalist [Kevin ‘The Blind Mole’ McKenna] can produce this kind of bile about people on the front line?”

  1. John September 22, 2018 / 10:31 am

    Agree John , he is a Labourite , any excuse to knock the SNP government . He should take a cold hard look at his Unionist pals in England and Wales before demonising the SNHS !.

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply
  2. gavin September 22, 2018 / 10:33 am

    McKenna is, in my opinion, a false flag journalist, pretending to be pro independence.
    Why would this be? In the absence of genuine independence journalists in our media, then people like McKenna can make a descent living being used to “balance” a tv show/newspaper.
    Read his articles, listen to his comments—is he genuine? I don’t think so!

    Liked by 3 people

    Reply
  3. Charlie Morris September 22, 2018 / 10:39 am

    Yes, I agree, but let me assure you, Kevin McKenna is no champion of Catholicism and is certainly not regarded as such within the Catholic Church in Scotland. And as for his wish for special treatment for Catholicism, if he does harbour such a thought then he is the only one. Fair and equal treatment however is another matter.

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply
  4. socratesmacsporran September 22, 2018 / 10:45 am

    Please John, take the word of another journalist. Kevin McKenna is now, and always has been, a self-serving erse. He is the journalistic equivalent of his mate Jim Murphy. And likening this scion of the posh seats at Celtic Park to a Rangers fan will win you no prizes with him.

    Liked by 3 people

    Reply
  5. Bill McLean September 22, 2018 / 4:43 pm

    Never trusted McKenna. Like him I was raised Catholic but I don’t see religion having anything to do with Scotland’s, or my, future and I suspect when push comes to shove McKenna will use some faux anti-Catholicism to stop him voting YES. Religion – Scotland’s curse!!!

    Liked by 3 people

    Reply
  6. mogabee September 22, 2018 / 4:49 pm

    What Mr McKenna is forgetting is the falling levels of church attendance, and the shrinking levels of children at RC schools. It’s happening all over and not because anyone has a mysterious plan to do down the Catholics.

    I am a non-practicing RC now and have countless friends who have regretfully turned their backs due to child abuse cases in particular. Hard to reconcile ‘insider’ knowledge by those who should have known better and stand before you pontificating…

    Kevin is going to continue playing this ‘I will’, ‘I am’, ‘I maybe’ game until his outlet is no longer there, or retirement, whichever comes first. Cynical? Moi? 😀

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply
  7. Donald McGregor September 22, 2018 / 5:14 pm

    Kevin McKenna’s column in The National is consistently un-read by me. I think he is entirely entangled with the Ian McWhirter/ Henry McLeish style of uncertain supporters.

    Liked by 6 people

    Reply

Leave a comment