Talking-up Scotland

In the space of only five years demand for NHS services has increased enormously. Look at these percentage increases in the table below to get an idea of the scale.

Despite this, NHS Scotland has consistently hit or come very close to hitting some of the most demanding targets in the Western world. See this:

There isn’t a comparable table for NHS England and Wales, but I feel sure the gaps are greater in almost every case. We do know that in the first quarter of 2017, 87.6% of English A&E patients were seen within 4 hours while in Scotland, 93.8% of patients were seen and either admitted, transferred or discharged within four hours during the month [March]. The number compares with 92.5% in February and 91.8% in January.

https://thoughtcontrolscotland.com/2017/05/31/nhs-scotlands-accident-and-emergency-departments-continue-to-outperform/

This month’s Audit Scotland report on NHS Scotland also has much to report that is good but, of course our Unionist MSM have scurried around rotten-cherry-picked anything negative they can find.

Here are the main findings (page 23):

Analysis of a range of measures indicates there were no significant weaknesses in the overall quality of care being provided by the NHS in 2016/17. Positive examples include the following:

• Inpatient satisfaction is at an all-time high. Ninety per cent of patients rated their care and treatment as good or excellent in 2016.
• Patient safety indicators continued to improve: between 2007 and 2016, there was a reduction in the hospital standardised mortality ratio of 16.5 per cent, and a 21 per cent reduction in 30-day mortality due to sepsis.
• The Nuffield Trust’s 2017 report, ‘Learning from Scotland’s NHS’ found there was a strong culture of continuous improvement in the NHS in Scotland

The report also states (p5):

‘Levels of overall patient satisfaction continue to be high and the Scottish public hold the NHS in high regard. There are also early signs that changes in the way services are planned and delivered are beginning to have a positive impact. For example, delayed discharges

have reduced in a number of areas and this provides opportunities for sharing learning across the country.’

Credit for this goes, first, to the staff working in the NHS, but the government of the day gets the blame when things go wrong so they also must share in some of the credit and Audit Scotland do give them some. See this:

‘The Scottish Government has a consistent and long-standing vision of how it wants healthcare to look in the future. For well over a decade, successive Scottish Governments have had a policy of integrating health and care services to improve the health of the population. A healthy population served by a high-quality healthcare system is central to  the Scottish Government’s ambition to create ‘a more successful country, with opportunities for all of Scotland to flourish, through increasing sustainable economic growth’.

http://www.audit-scotland.gov.uk/uploads/docs/report/2017/nr_171026_nhs_overview.pdf

I can only imagine how Rodent-like Scotland will have misrepresented these key conclusions in their desperate scurrying around for something rotten to scare the old and infirm.

(c) Elsoar

I’ve only just reported:

Scottish businesses continue to show signs of health with insolvencies down 23% as the Scottish economy holds strong

In April, I reported:

Scottish businesses showing signs of greater health than those in the rest of the UK

Now a Scottish Chambers of Commerce survey has reported:

‘Optimism among most Scottish businesses continued to improve during the third quarter, reaching levels higher than a year ago in construction, financial and business services, manufacturing and tourism.’

Notice that optimism is right across every sector of the economy other than shopping!

The survey was done ‘with’ the dread Fraser of Allander ‘Institute’ who just cannot report good news without endless ‘buts’ leading to blatant fibs about ‘policy uncertainty’ and a ‘fragile economy’ somehow being major concerns for business even if they are reporting overall optimism higher than a year ago for the second time and for the third straight quarter in a row. This is propaganda masquerading as balance. It would be interesting to see the questionnaire. I wonder how often questions prompt the respondents to find something negative to report.

If you have a strong stomach you might like to read the report at Insider or anywhere else where it’s been largely copied without any alternative analysis and count how often they follow a piece of good news with an unsubstantiated qualification just in case you might get cheered up.

Also, just how much is optimism up? They must have a percentage figure for the main question on this. I can’t find it anywhere. Why haven’t they reported it? Might it be too good news for us Scots to bear?

http://www.insider.co.uk/news/scottish-q3-business-optimism-higher-11401634

Footnote: Prof David Bell ‘friend’ of the FoAI has just been outed as a member of the pro-union ‘The Islands’ group. See: https://twitter.com/PhantomPower14/status/922809585026682880

Footnote 2: Here are some of the actual figures from the full report. Notably there is no evidence that respondents were asked about policy uncertainties or a fragile economy.

91.7% of construction businesses indicated that their levels of staffing either increased or remained the same over the quarter,

81.1% of businesses in the construction sector highlighted business optimism either increased or remained the same.

40.4% of businesses in the tourism sector experienced an increase in profitability over the quarter. This is the highest figure recorded since the same quarter in 2015

.34.1% businesses in the financial & business services sector reported an increase in profits over the quarter,

https://www.sbs.strath.ac.uk/economics/fraser/20171024/Quarterly-Economic-Indicator-Q3-2017.pdf

 

 

The European Marine Energy Centre, based in Orkney, is the first and only centre of its kind in the world. In 2013 it received £4 million in funding from the Scottish Government. As part of the Eu’s FORESEA programme, six projects were approved with the following three to be tested at EMEC:

• Blackfish
• Bombora
• Scotrenewables

The Scottish Minister for Business, Innovation and Energy, reported in Energy Voice today, at the Ocean Energy Europe 2017 Conference & Exhibition in Nantes, said:

‘I warmly welcome the news that Scotland’s flagship European Marine Energy Centre will be used to provide world class testing facilities for three of the six projects from the FORESEA programme. It is further evidence of the recognised excellence of EMEC as a global player in the research and development and testing of ocean energy devices, and of Scotland’s status as a major player in the European renewable energy sector.’

https://www.energyvoice.com/otherenergy/154204/foresea-throws-support-behind-number-renewable-energy-technologies/

This comes as the latest in long line of reports of Scottish renewables expertise bringing significant income into the Scottish economy. See for example:

Scotland’s expertise in renewable power generation now worth billions

Scottish subsea expertise to the fore again

Evidence of this growth goes back at least a year.

See this from the Aberdeen Evening Express on 12^th December 2016:

‘Scotland’s “expertise in renewable energy” is in demand around the world, with businesses working in more than 40 countries, according to new research. Projects include advising the government of Japan, providing cranes to build wind farms in Morocco and South Africa and working with the World Bank in Chile, industry body Scottish Renewables said.’

From news.gov.scot:

‘Communities from Arbroath to Ullapool will share £1.5 million to increase the numbers of people involved in making decisions about investment in their local areas. A total of 33 organisations from across Scotland were successful in securing Community Choices Funding in 2017/18 to host events and find new ways to encourage participation in financial decision making.’

Here are a few of the projects to give a flavour of the kind of thing funded:

• The Cranhill Development Trust in Glasgow will use £39,590 to work with One Parent Families Scotland in Riddrie and Cranhill to help reduce the impact of school holidays on family poverty and food insecurity
• Midlothian Council will also work with schools and parents to tackle poverty, using its award of £30,000 to support families in Mayfield, Woodburn and Gorebridge cover the costs of the school day
• The joint community councils of Moray will work with people of all ages to improve general health and wellbeing in the area using £66,500
• Dundee City Council has secured £80,000 to involve communities from across the city in infrastructure projects

More detail is available at the site. I thought it worth a quick mention as a further example of the kind of values apparent in the SNP administration. I feel sure St Theresa, patron saint of expensive leather breeks, is just about to launch similar initiatives in parts of England.

https://news.gov.scot/news/gbp-1-5m-for-community-choices-fund

Back in February 2016, the Independent had this headline:

‘Scottish police advise US officers on alternatives to shooting unarmed people.’

US cops killing civilians at a disgraceful level had been all over the UK media for more than a year. Sky News had a feature on it repeated throughout the day (1^st Feb). A team of New York police officers came to Glasgow to watch our police handle dangerous individuals without shooting them dead at the first move. The training had finished with a conference on Friday 29^th January. Virtually every major UK and Scottish newspaper reported. It was all over international media and alternative media. BBC Scotland did not cover it. A link to the Sky report is below. Now schemes developed in Glasgow which are credited with, in part, the halving of serious violence in just three years are to be used in Canada. 10% of policing budgets in Canadian cities is to be diverted to prevention and spent on schemes developed in Glasgow and then used throughout Scotland, by the Violence Reduction Unit.

The schemes include working with gangs, reducing knife carrying and trying to find ways of diverting youth from violent behaviour while they are young enough to be more open to influence.

Top of Form

Bottom of Form

Scottish News Media Conceal Global Status of Police Scotland’s Methods

(c) pressandjournal.co.uk

I think the above Energy Voice headline is too good to beat so I’ve left it for you.

You know, of course, that Scotland’s ski slopes often suffer shortages of snow in our increasingly mild winters and that means loss of revenue. However, someone at the Nevis Range Hydro Company has come up with a brilliant idea to build a new hydroelectric scheme at the Allt Choille Rais on Aonach Mor which will exploit the non-frozen form of snow on the many wet and windy days to generate enough electricity to power the snow-making machines, the gondola which takes skiers up the mountain and around 1 000 households.

The new scheme will have an output range of 40kW to 1.1MwH from two turbines. The scheme was launched by the Scottish government minister for Business Innovation and Energy. The cost was £4 million. I can’t see anywhere clear mention of who funded it though in a Press & Journal report, I found mention of the Scottish Government ski areas infrastructure funding package enabling the company to start work on the electrification of its summit tow. Why do I have to dig deep to find evidence of the good work of the SNP-led administration?

http://www.pressreader.com/uk/the-press-and-journal-north-east/20170802/282312500151787

https://www.energyvoice.com/other-news/145762/fair-isle-closing-24-hour-power-2-6m-funding-secured/

 

 

(c) shetland.org

I was amazed to read that, ‘in this day and age’, the 55 islanders on Fair Isle sometimes had to face periods of outage between 11pm and 7am if there had not been enough wind to generate power. I was doubly amazed in that I’d taken for granted that the wind there never ever stopped. I’d heard they had to tie small children to posts to stop them blowing away.

Anyhow, they’ve just been award £2.6 million to build three 60KW wind turbines and a 50 KW solar array and battery storage. According to Energy Voice, the money is coming from a number of sources including the Big Lottery, European Regional Fund, Shetland Islands Council, National Trust for Scotland, Scottish Water and the Fair Isle Bird Observatory.

Not mentioned in the Energy Voice piece was the fact that the Scottish government has pledged half the cost of the project (£1.325m). Wonder why? The National Trust who own the island are putting in a £100 000!

It’s hoped reliable electricity might persuade some to boost the island’s population. Mind you, I’d always thought that power cuts boosted the birth-rate.

https://www.energyvoice.com/other-news/145762/fair-isle-closing-24-hour-power-2-6m-funding-secured/

These are the words of Alex Salmond. An analogy of this sort has already been made in an Energy Voice headline and reported on here at:

‘Scotland ‘Saudi of wind’ or ‘Gagging on Wind Power’

A new report from Energy Voice today uses figures from Associate Professor Thomas Adcock of Oxford University to illustrate the enormous power available to Scotland in only one, admittedly the most powerful one, tidal channel. You can see a fuller and impressive account of the wave power potential around Scotland’s more than 16 000 miles of mostly turbulent coastline in this:

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0960148117302082

Here are Addison’s figures on the Pentland Firth:

• Tidal surge speeds of more than 16ft per second! Imagine that if you can.
• Potentially 1.9 gigawatts-hours (GWh) – Torness and Sizewell B do at best around 1.2 gigawatts. The other nuclear plants do far less. A gigawatt is a billion watts or a million electric fires.
• Around 16.5 terrawatt-hours (TWh). One terawatt hour is equal to a sustained power of approximately 114 megawatts for a period of one year or, from one source, enough to meet around half of Scotland’s power demand.

Add the last figure to the 14.9 TWh already being produced by renewables-based energy sources and Scotland could hit its 100% target by 2020 and not 2030 as planned.

https://www.energyvoice.com/otherenergy/142352/tide-turning-north-marine-energy-developers/

Hinckley Point C is expected to produce 3.2 gigawatt-hours for the south of England but at what cost financially and ecologically? The latter cost could be, of course, unmeasurable but the plant alone is now estimated to cost £19.6 billion to build and the electricity generated looks like costing at £92.50 per MWh, twice that of the latest wind power estimates of £57.50 per MWh and falling as bigger turbines come on stream. For more on the latter see:

Scottish renewable energy now much cheaper than nuclear from Hinkley Point C

See this on the environmental risks of Hinckley Point, from a Tory blog!

‘England couldn’t cope after an accident at Hinckley Point’ at: https://blogs.spectator.co.uk/2016/05/could-england-cope-after-a-nuclear-accident-at-hinkley-point/

KPMG reported the above for the three months to 30^th September with total insolvencies down from 255 to 193. Back in July their previous survey reported insolvencies down by 27% on the previous year. No comparison with other parts of the UK was offered but a report in April, from Red Flag Data, had shown, for rUK, signs of business distress up 17% since the last quarter of 2016 and up 7% year on year while in sharp contrast signs of business distress in Scotland were down 8% on the last quarter of 2016 and down 28% year on year.

Scottish businesses showing signs of greater health than those in the rest of the UK

The KPMG report for Quarter 3 comes on top of a number of positive indicators of robust health in the Scottish economy such as being ranked the best place in the UK to start a business. See:

Ruth and Kezia sob as they hear Scotland is ranked as the best place in the UK to start a business. Will this good news never end?

Now I know that the Scottish economy only grew by 0.1% in the second quarter much to the delight of the media and the unionist politicians but remember it had already grown by 0.8% in the first quarter, four times the rate of the rUK economy. See:

Scotland in recession? No, the economy is growing. Are the Fraser of Allander Institute and its media followers talking through holes in their bahookies?

Remember also, only the Scottish economy has a trade surplus and its growing. See:

Scotland’s 2017 trade surplus grows as England’s deficit soars saddling the UK with ever more debt

If you need or anyone you know needs more convincing, try searching this blog for words like ‘economy’ and ‘trade’ and you’ll see dozens of earlier reports on these and many other indicators of an economy thriving well in excess of the rest of the UK.

(c) http://aberdeeninvestlivevisit.co.uk

This CNBC report doesn’t say how many buses but says that the Oil City is ‘home to what is claimed to be Europe’s largest fleet of hydrogen fuel cell buses.’

The buses hold only 40Kg of hydrogen and have a range of 260 miles. The project cost £19 million and will make a major contribution to improving air quality in the city. I don’t think Aberdeen has ever had a red alert for pollution levels, like London but it’s good they’re working to pre-empt such a situation in the future.

According to the U.S. Department of Energy, fuel cell electric vehicles are more efficient than conventional internal combustion engine vehicles.

Local passengers have commented favourably on the quiet, comfortable ride and the lack of harmful emissions.

https://www.cnbc.com/2017/10/20/europes-oil-capital-turns-to-clean-green-hydrogen-buses.html

Scotland is, of course, the first country to generate electricity from tide power and store it in hydrogen fuel cells, in Orkney. See:

MAJOR NEWS: World’s first tidal-powered hydrogen generated in Scotland after £3 million funding from SNP Government

 

I’ve seen the waves on Aberdeenshire’s beaches so hopefully the council will go on to invest in producing its own low-cost supplies too.