Talking-up Scotland

In the Sunday Times today:

‘One in three bobbies on the beat in England and Wales have been axed in just three years as violent crime has surged. A Sunday Times investigation found more than 7,000 traditional neighbourhood police officers, who protect communities and gather intelligence, have been reassigned to other duties or left jobs altogether since March 2015.’

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/edition/news/bobbies-onbeat-slashed-by-a-third-2gtg28f3f

Wow, I thought. How bad is it in Scotland? Have our bobbies been slashed too? When I say slashed, I mean…..Anyhow, here’s the answer, well, their kind-of answer, from the Scotsman in May this year:

‘The number of police officers in Scotland is at its lowest level for nine years, new figures have revealed. In the first three months of year, Police Scotland had the equivalent of 17,170 full time officers, according to Scottish Government statistics. The last time the number of officers was lower was in the first three months of 2009, when the total was 17,048. Officer numbers increased after the SNP came into power in 2007, with the party committed to putting 1,000 extra police on the streets. That commitment was first met in March to June 2009, with the number of officers having remained at above or about 17,250 since then. But the total for January to March this year dropped by 86 from the 17,256 recorded in October to December 2017.’

https://www.scotsman.com/news/scottish-police-officer-numbers-at-lowest-level-in-nine-years-1-4733321

So that’s a cut of 86 or 0.49% of the 17 256 and not being ‘slashed by a third’, at all, like in England? So that’s about one sixty-sixth of the cuts in England?

That SNP! Don’t you just hate the way they’re so capable and trustworthy?

 

All things being equal, the Tories (I know that’s a funny phrase already) should be building around ten times the number of affordable or social rent houses as that built in SNP Scotland, given the population ratio. They’re not. They’re building only around 5 times as many, creating major and accumulating shortfalls. Why are you not gasping with surprise?

This chart from the Joseph Rowntree Foundation shows the Tories achieving, on average, 47 641 builds between 2011 and 2017:

The SNP government, in the same period, build, on average, 6 804 (see full table at url below).

https://www.gov.scot/Topics/Statistics/Browse/Housing-Regeneration/HSfS/NewBuild/AHSPtables

Readers may also notice the upturn in supply after the SNP replaced Labour (Scotland) in the driving seat.

Maybe kind-of related to the struggle for independence, I’m losing weight to reduce joint pain in later years. Having modest but steady results which you or a friend might be interested in. Here it is:

The ‘Robertson Diet’ Eat as much but eat different (low sugar, low calories)

Lost 1 stone in 2 months, never hungry, sometimes only 1 pound per week – slow loss better than fast – sustainable.

Drinks anytime:

Tea or coffee with ZERO calorie natural sweetener like Truvia or Stevia (in Morrison’s) as often as you like really.

 Breakfast

Either:

1 banana, 4 rice cakes with sunflower or soya spread

Or

2 boiled eggs and 1 slice wholemeal toast

Snacking – ONLY apples (as many as you like), cooked white chicken pieces (supermarket packs) or rice cakes (few) BUT with generous dollop of ‘no added sugar jam’ (for diabetics) like Stute (in morrisons)

Exercise: 30 mins walking dog or gently on exercise bike

Lunch

Either:

Sliced cooked chicken breast (quite a lot – 4/5 pieces) or other cooked meat, salad, salad dressing

Or

Eggs if you didn’t have them for breakfast

Snacking: ONLY apples (as many as you like), cooked white chicken pieces (supermarket packs) or rice cakes (few) BUT with generous dollop of ‘no added sugar jam’ (for diabetics) like Stute (in morrisons)

Exercise: 30 mins walking dog or gentle on exercise bike

 Dinner

Anything with family but only eat till full – no clearing plate to save washing

BUT no puddings other than fruit and either honey or zero calorie natural sweetener like Truvia or Stevia – I like strawberries or other berries with honey or natural sweetener sprinkled (zero calorie stuff so you can be generous to yourself)

Snacking – – ONLY apples (as many as you like), cooked white chicken pieces (supermarket packs) or rice cakes (few) BUT with generous dollop of ‘no added sugar jam’ (for diabetics) like Stute (in morrisons)

Well, maybe one or two biccies but no more

Be patient instead of a patient

 

This is clearly part of an SNP strategy to make sure Scots can stand up, relatively pain-free, to Westminster exploitation.

I know, one of the lines is going up the way! Be patient (sic….no, not sick!).

This graph shows how those having hip or knee replacements have become less and less likely to experience complications, in the 10 years of SNP-led NHS Scotland. I’ll explain the apparently worrying purple one below.

From the ISD report in August 2018:

• Over the last decade there has been a 50% increase in the number of hip or knee replacements performed in Scotland, from 12,493 in 2008 to 14,300 in 2017.
• The percentage of patients readmitted due to a deep vein thrombosis or pulmonary embolism (DVT/PE) within 90 days of surgery continues to fall from 2.08% in 2000 to 0.77% in 2017.
•  The percentage of patients experiencing temporary kidney failure has risen over recent years from 0.29% in 2000 to 2.21% in 2017.
•  32 patients (0.22%) who had a hip or knee replacement in 2017 died within 90 days of their operation, which is similar to the mortality rate within the general population.

https://www.isdscotland.org/Health-opics/Scottish-Healthcare-Audits/Publications/2018-08-14/2018-08-14-SAP-Publication-Summary.pdf?5604189635

The one area of concern, increasing incidence of temporary kidney failure is not addressed in the report but may be explained by increased numbers of older patients and those with pre-existing kidney problems being treated. See:

https://www.hindawi.com/journals/bmri/2018/8718545/

 

 

The above diagram, from the Scottish Intensive Care Society audit report of August 2018, shows performance in Scotland’s intensive care units maintaining the progress of the last ten years despite soaring demand for their services. There have been no significant changes in the mortality rates within ICUs over the last six years (blue bars) despite a significant increase in demand in the same period (pale blue line).

It is only in the very last paragraph of the report that we can read:

‘It is evident in this report that there is widespread support, clinical engagement and enthusiasm for ongoing continuous improvement amongst the critical care clinicians who care for those requiring critical care in Scotland.’ 

http://www.sicsag.scot.nhs.uk/publications/_docs/2018/2018-08-14-SICSAG-report.pdf?55

 

(c) glencoescotland.com

The popular travel website, Trip Adviser, has put Scotland in the top-five countries for travel experience.

Loch Lomond, Skye and the West Highlands played a big part in earning the rating.

Cost Rica, New Zealand, Vietnam and Ireland were the top four with Scotland ahead of Australia, Mexico, the USA and Iceland.

This is further evidence of the success of Scottish tourism reported many times here, including these:

Humungous 45% increase in Scotch Whisky tourism!

Glasgow and Edinburgh push London into third place in tourism hotspots survey

Scottish tourism growth outpaces that in UK

Whisky tourism boom expected to add to record year for Scottish tourism in 2018

‘BLOODY HELL Robert the Bruce movie Outlaw King will feature some of the bloodiest battle scenes in cinema history’, put Braveheart in the shade and boost tourism like Outlander.

Glasgow wins two first places in global tourism awards and comes 4th out of 50!

As Scottish Tourism soars, Outer Hebrides to become major centre of marine tourism with funds mostly from SNP-led Scottish government

Boom in Scottish Tourism and in Film and TV production to be enhanced by Edinburgh University and National Museums of Scotland’ MOOC

‘Scotland enjoys tourism boost thanks to interest in Gaelic’

Scotland’s surging tourism is sustaining many of Scotland’s rural communities

 

• I’ve used the more newsworthy percentage over four years to get a bigger headline in accordance with BBC Scotland’s editorial guidelines.

From the Information Services Division, NHS Scotland on 14^th August 2018:

‘The Scottish HSMR [Hospital Standardised Mortality Rate] has decreased by 9.2% between January to March 2014 and January to March 2018.’

It’s only possible to consider this drop as evidence of improving performance if you can be sure that it is not, perhaps, the consequence of the underlying crude mortality rates also falling or, perhaps, a reduction in the scale of the demand or the complexity and difficulty of the conditions patients bring to hospital. You won’t be surprised, I’m sure, that this is not the case.

Lower crude mortality rates?

 

https://www.isdscotland.org/Health-Topics/Quality-Indicators/Publications/2018-08-14/2018-08-14-HSMR-Report.pdf?80546206236

 The above table shows that the challenge faced by Scottish hospital in terms of the underlying tendency to die of those being admitted has been pretty constant over the last ten years and has even been climbing again recently.

Less demand?

 

The above table shows that the demand over the last five years has been increasing across a range of measures and, in terms of the number of people coming forward, has increased dramatically.

Less complex and difficult conditions?

This is more difficult to demonstrate definitively but the notion is widely accepted. See this:

‘In Scotland we are living longer, healthier lives. But we want to remain healthier for longer and ensure that the benefits of longer, healthier lives are felt fairly by all sections of our society. This means that our health and social care services need to adapt to the challenges of a 21st century Scotland, to the issues of health inequality, increasing demand for services, multiple long-term conditions, complexity of care and resource pressures.’

http://www.healthsocialcare.scot/about/

So, I think we can say with some confidence that the 9.2% reduction in the Hospital Standardised Mortality Rate suggests evidence of a strong improving trend in Scottish hospitals. Over to you BBC Scotland.

Footnote: Why are crude mortality rates rising? Why are more Scots dying? Over to you Ruth.

I’m indebted to the eminently followable Lindsay Bruce for drawing my attention to this data. Look at the ONS table which Lindsay found:

Lindsay Bruce‏ @RogueCoder250

It’s clear that the simple Scotland vs England comparison used by GERS and much-loved by our media distorts the picture with the inclusion of the overheated economies of London and the South-East, and that Scotland’s ‘deficit’, if you want to play the game for the moment of accepting GERS, as the Scottish Government seems to be, is in the middle range for the different parts of the UK. That London and the South-East have a huge surplus while the other parts have a deficit is testimony to the laissez-faire economics of successive UK governments and the consequently unhealthy concentration of economic resources in a small, overcrowded, polluted and unliveable for most, corner of the UK.

When I saw this, I was reminded of previous reports I’ve written which similarly expose the problems of comparing Scotland’s economy with that of the much larger and more complex economy of England:

Scotland second after only London in attracting foreign investment

Rents rising many times faster in the most ‘non-Scottish’ parts of UK

Good News: Unemployment lower and employment higher in Scotland than in many parts of UK

Scots employees have higher digital skills than in most parts of the UK only 5 years after Scottish Government launched its digital strategy

The Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health’s shoddy research exaggerates the level of child poverty in Scotland by contrast with other parts of the UK

Scottish unemployment was already lower than in most parts of the UK and Scottish youth unemployment continues to be the second lowest in the EU after only economic powerhouse Germany!

 

 

 

 

(c) nofanycatskillhudson

In the first quarter of 2018, Scottish labour productivity increased by 1.7%. See this:

‘Additionally, this release contains a trend-based estimate of productivity growth. This indicates the underlying rate of change during the latest quarter by removing both seasonal and irregular (volatile) movements from the data. It is estimated that the trend in real output per hour worked increased by 1.7% in the first quarter of 2018.’

https://news.gov.scot/news/labour-productivity-statistics-2018-quarter-1

In the same period, UK labour productivity fell by 0.4%. See:

‘UK labour productivity is estimated to have fallen by 0.4% in the first three months of the year, as a result of continued strength in employment growth combined with weaker output growth; this is the first fall in output per hour since the second quarter of 2017.’

https://www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/labourproductivity/bulletins/labourproductivity/januarytomarch2018

As always, here’s a list of other recent positive reports on the Scottish economy, to warm your cockles, or whatever, as the chill wind of fake Storm Gerald recedes:

63% fall in large business insolvencies as Scottish economy reveals strength

RBS and BoS report more good news on Scottish economy. When will it end?

Scottish onshore economy grows by at least double the rate of UK

Why this good news on the Scottish economy is reported but other examples are not

Reporting Scotland serial offender as it misses good news on Scotland’s economy three times in one day!

Getting on with the day-job? First Minister is in Brussels for 201st attempt to counter Tory Brexit damage to Scottish economy

More evidence of robust Scottish economy as hotel sector outperforms UK average

Robust Scottish Economy Indicator No. 47*: Demand for office space up 96%

Scottish hotels outperform those in rest of UK: STV report good news for Scotland’s economy but fail to understand it

 

(c) EMEC

You’ve probably seen this already, but I thought I’d connect it to the wider and longer story of Scottish renewables. See links below.

From Energy Voice yesterday and reported accurately by Reporting Scotland (!):

‘Scotrenewables Tidal Power said its SR2000 device, launched in 2016, had clocked up three gigawatt hours (GWhs) of electricity in its first year of testing at the European Marine Energy Centre (Emec). It has survived harsh winter storms to supply the equivalent annual electricity demand of around 830 UK households. At times, it has covered more than a quarter of Orkney’s electricity demand. In May 2018, a report from the Offshore Renewable Energy Catapult said that the tidal stream industry could generate a net cumulative benefit to the UK of £1.4 billion, including considerable exports, and support 4,000 jobs by 2030.’

https://www.energyvoice.com/otherenergy/179604/tidal-turbine-off-orkney-sets-new-benchmark-for-industry/

Just a few of the recent reports here on renewables in Scotland:

62% increase in Scottish community renewables projects since 2011 pushing well ahead of rUK

8% of the population and 25% of UK renewable generation.

World’s first renewables-powered hydrogen ferry to be built in Port Glasgow

Return of the meme? Only 8% of the population but Scotland has 21.7% of all independent renewable projects in the UK

Scotland surges toward 100% renewables electricity generation well ahead of target

Why Scotland’s huge renewable energy production may need no huge energy storage breakthrough to flourish

South East Asia can learn much from Scotland’s oil and renewables story

Scottish Renewables and Friends of the Earth welcome implementation plan for Scottish National Investment Bank

300 renewable energy jobs boom for North of Scotland expected at Nigg Energy Park

Scotland rushing toward 100% electricity supply from renewables by 2020