Talking-up Scotland

‘Glasgow youths go on pigeon killing spree ‘after’ Lisa Summers encourages them.’

They don’t give up do they? Despite sending me two apologetic responses to my complaints about the misleading use of ‘from’ and ‘as a result of’ which I’d argue ‘led to’ some viewers thinking that the fungal infection linked to pigeon droppings had actually ‘caused’ the deaths when it had been only a ‘contributory’ factor, they were at it again last night.

Reporting Scotland editor apologises for Jackie Bird being wrong and ‘has a word with her’

When Reporting Scotland are caught lying, they say it ‘did not quite come out as intended’

Some time ‘after’ 6.30pm, Lisa Summers said:

‘Two patients died after contracting an infection linked to pigeon droppings.’

The word ‘after’ can mean quite different things as the two sentences above illustrate. It can mean that something only happened chronologically later than something else or it could mean that the first thing has, at least in part, caused the second thing. Reporting Scotland staff are not (that) daft. They know what they’re doing here. They clearly meant viewers to think the infection had been causal in the deaths even thought that is not true. Why else link the two events? Had both patients died after visits from relatives or after eating grapes or after watching Reporting Scotland?

So, this is once more, regardless of criticism or professions of a desire to improve their own standards, a pattern of behaviour which after repeated incidents ‘linked to’ Labour Branch appearances suggests very strongly the intention to deceive for propagandistic purposes.

Footnote: Complaint submitted today 13^th February 2019.

Calm down. It’s not that good. They’re just admitting the script for her report on the hospital and the bird droppings story was wrong and they’re apologising for, one must presume, misleading their audience. They don’t say the last bit.

Here’s my complaint on 24^th January:

‘In a report on deaths at the QEU Hospital, Jackie Bird said: ‘[T]he deaths of two patients from a rare fungal infection.’ This is inaccurate. We knew from the BBC website the same day: ‘The health board said one of the patients was elderly and had died from ‘an unrelated cause’. The factors contributing to the death of the other patient are being investigated.’ https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-glasgow-west-46953707 So in neither case did the patient die ‘from’ a rare fungal infection. One clearly died from ‘an unrelated cause’ and the other’s death was still being investigated.’

In the response, the editor admits that the report was ‘wrong’, apologises and tells us that they have had a word with all involved. I know, it’s a small victory after they have managed to inflate the story and to then run it well beyond any reasonable assessment of its importance. As for speaking to all involved, I doubt Jackie has been humbled in any way.

Here’s the full response:

Dear Professor Robertson

Thank you for your correspondence regarding Reporting Scotland. Your comments were passed to the Editor, Reporting Scotland, who has asked that I forward their response as follows:

“Thank you for being in touch about the teatime edition on 21st January.

This is the intro by Jackie Bird to our health correspondent’s report: “The health secretary will meet NHS officials tomorrow, to discuss the deaths of two patients from a rare fungal infection, believed to be linked to pigeon droppings, found at Glasgow’s Queen Elizabeth university hospital. The health board says the hospital is safe for patients and visitors, and has apologised for the disruption caused by measures taken to control the infection. Our health correspondent Lisa Summers reports.”

I have reviewed what was said and the process that led to what was said. The NHS press release which contained information we used started by referring to the investigation into “the cause of two isolated cases of Cryptococcus”; and, several paragraphs later, quoted the medical director as saying: “Our thoughts are with the families of the two patients who have sadly died.”

It appears that the fact that the two people had the infection and that they had died had been conflated by the intro writer into the deaths having both been caused by the infection.

That was not a conclusion that could reasonably be drawn. We were therefore wrong and I apologise for that.

I should add that, at the very top of her report and coming therefore immediately after the introduction, our health correspondent said: “Investigations continue at the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital after it emerged late last week that two patients had died after testing positive for an airborne fungal infection linked to pigeon droppings.” That was entirely accurate.

I am grateful to you for raising this issue and can assure you that we constantly review our procedures in order to improve our service to licence fee payers. In this case I have spoken to all involved and have emphasised the points that you made in your complaint.”

 

On 24^th January, I wrote to BBC Complaints saying:

‘With regard to deaths at the QEU Hospital in Glasgow, Lisa Summers said: ‘It became clear that two patients had died as a result of this particular infection.’ This is patently untrue. In one case, the patient absolutely did not die as ‘a result of’ the infection’ but because of ‘an unrelated cause’. In the other case it was as, Lisa put it later ‘contributory’. The infection was found in the blood stream of the second patient but clearly this death was also not ‘as a result of’ the infection.’ On 11th February after apologies for delay, they replied at some length, essentially waffling and attempting to screen the lies with redundant comment. The full response is below but the key points remain: 1.      The use of the inaccurate and misleading phrase ‘as a result of’ in the case of the child death where the infection was a contributory factor is not excused by it having been said in a live interview. 2.      The use of the inaccurate and misleading phrase ‘as a result of’ requires correction and is not sorted with subsequent qualification. You cannot qualify a lie. 3.      The use of the inaccurate and misleading phrase ‘as a result of’ in the case of the adult who died from unrelated causes required correction and cannot be sorted by mere clarification. Full Response:

Dear Professor Robertson Reference CAS-5285534-0H3SQ7 Dear Professor Robertson Thank you for your correspondence regarding Reporting Scotland. Your comments were passed to the Editor, Reporting Scotland, who has asked that I forward their response as follows: “Thank you for being in touch about the teatime edition on 22nd January. This is what we said in the Jackie Bird introduction to a report from our health correspondent: “Good evening. The Health Secretary has confirmed that a rare infection linked to pigeon droppings was a contributory factor in the death of a child at Scotland’s flagship hospital. There is now to be an investigation into the construction and design of Glasgow’s Queen Elizabeth university hospital. But Labour has criticised the way the case has been handled and said there’d been a complete lack of clarity from the health board about the infection. Here’s our Health Correspondent, Lisa Summers.” That was accurate. The background to the report is that the Health Secretary, Jeane Freeman, had revealed in the Scottish Parliament that day that an infection carried in pigeon droppings had been contracted by a ten-year-old boy and had been a contributory factor in his death. She said that an elderly patient had also contracted the infection but had died from an unrelated condition. We only spoke about the death of the child in the headline, intro and piece. In the studio live, Lisa was actually giving details of the way the information had been released by the health board over the previous weekend and the lack of clarity that there had been. In a fuller version than the words you quote she said: “You can understand why patients would be very concerned about what’s happened because of the way that information has become public. At first the health board said that two patients were being treated for a fungal infection. It was Saturday night before it became clear that two patients had died as a result of this particular fungal infection related to pigeon’s droppings”. The point she was trying to make was about the lack of clarity, but in what was, I reiterate, a live interview, it did not quite come out as intended. But Lisa immediately went on to qualify that by saying: “They (the health board) said then [i.e., on the Saturday] that in one case investigations were ongoing as to whether the infection was connected to the death of the second patient”. She then gave the latest on that day’s developments: “It was only today that we had confirmation that in fact a post mortem in December of a child had confirmed it to be a contributory factor so you can understand the kind of widespread concern about it and that’s why in a way the investigation [into the construction and design of the hospital] is extremely important”. In the report, the emphases were on the death of a child and the review announced that day by the Health Secretary into the construction and design of the new flagship hospital itself, with examples of a number of issues which had been causing concern about the building. On reflection we could perhaps have made it clearer in our coverage that the second death had been unrelated to the infection carried by pigeon droppings and I am grateful to you for raising the point you have.

In an admittedly unscientific poll this morning, around ‘12 000 Independence supporters’ may have got right in there to generate a 68% Yes result. The Scotsman’s Natrolls are incandescent with righteous patriotic fury and frothing with ancient wisdom. Of course, some people might have been completing the poll more than once and the trolls are sure that the independence supporters are the only culprits. That’s the state of play at 08.30am this morning, above

As I wrote, there were 250 comments below the report but, unlike the poll, the balance of support there had around 80% of those I could reasonably code utterly opposed to independence.

Here are some typical comments:

Regularly, the poll itself was attacked as being open to abuse with suggestions that Nats had been voting 50 times or more or that cunning Cybernats, such as the Rev Campbell, had been sending his bots against it (no Ross Thompson humour intended):

For other trolls, the actual topic mattered not as they sensed the opportunity once more to just slag the FM or ‘Wee Nippy’ as they love to call her:

Well that certainly gave me cause for thought. Will independence be good for Scotland? I’m not so sure now.

Not quite up-to-date on the latest thinking that it is globalism, not nationalism, that is destroying everything, somewhat extending the time period and tied to a late 19^th Century Whig view on the steady march of progress, we see this kind of thing repeated:

And, of course, we get the latest from the Readers Digest on contemporary thinkers such as Einstein, Wilde and of course, that well-known Scottophobe, Orwell:

Footnote: Back in 2014, one Scotsman troll wrote:

‘Ah Professor Robertson, the kind of guy you’d [not] love to spend time with, trapped in a lift.’

Foolishly, I fed the troll and wrote:

‘That’s how I got my wife pregnant. Are you sure you want to go ahead?’

 

 What IS the ‘news’ today?

It’s the lead TV broadcast story chosen by an editor to be repeated all day and top of the website too. BBC Scotland News were fed this foul-smelling little story by Labour’s Lewis Macdonald revealing all the rank corruption and hypocrisy at the core of this wayward child of Keir Hardie.

Macdonald told the BBC:

‘The committee supports the principle that anybody in Scotland can access GP services or A&E departments free of charge when needed. However, we are concerned that NHS boards are missing out on vital sums of money to which they are due by not being able to identify those entitled to NHS care.’

Here’s what Macdonald dislikes in NHS Scotland:

‘The system in Scotland differs from that in England where providers of NHS treatment are required to make sure patients are eligible for free care – and to charge them up front if not.’

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-47189718

Now I knew Tories would love that but the image of the sick being left to suffer as they wait  and plead to see if they’re entitled to treatment, is one I don’t want to see in Scotland. I had thought Labour across the UK shared this view, but I guess anything can be sacrificed in their bitter tribal war with the SNP.

‘Hundreds of thousands’ are apparently owed. The total NHS Scotland budget is around £13 BILLION.

Anyhow, of these thousand’s how many could we realistically expect those who turned up to be able to pay? The rich non-European is hardly going to turn up at an NHS unit.

Readers may remember Macdonald as the man who as Deputy Health Minister, in 2006, revealed both the incompetence and the heartlessness, increasingly typical of his branch, in choosing to shut Monklands A&E.

https://www.scotsman.com/news/monklands-closure-is-no-accident-and-could-lead-to-an-emergency-1-1132200

Readers may also remember that the decision was reversed by the current SNP leader when she took over at Health.

Returning to the choice of story to lead with, by someone at BBC Scotland, I must admit I can understand why they decided not to report any equivalent addiction crisis here:

https://www.isdscotland.org/Health-Topics/Drugs-and-Alcohol-Misuse/Publications/2018-09-25/2018-09-25-DATWT-Summary.pdf?17199343443

 

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5.4 million already!

In my favourite not-Marxist, not-Nat, business magazine, Insider yesterday, evidence of booming demand for HR professionals:

‘Average entry-level HR administrators’ salaries rose to £19,000 – up on £17,000 two years ago. There was a growing demand for temporary junior and mid-level staff to put compliance measures for GDPR legislation and new systems. The recruitment agency also found an increase in vacancies paying around £40,000 a year, as businesses sought to replace higher-earning leavers with managerial staff.’

https://www.insider.co.uk/news/gdpr-leads-33-rise-demand-13957855

I’m not, thank the Dude, an HR professional nor an economist, but it’s fortunately simple. TuS has been reporting increased employment, increased productivity, increased GDP even if you like that kind of thing, increased demand for industrial and commercial space and now we see that these growing businesses need more HR expertise. Of course, they do. It’s just another measurable non-controversial confirmation that despite it all (Tory FUPS), more than  a decade of SNP administration correlates strongly with a robust economy and one with tremendous potential to grow once free of ‘them’, ‘all of them.’

This is, of course, objective evidence of the kind, unlike the GERS estimates, reported here before:

Scottish labour market outperforms UK revealing more evidence of health in economy

Umpteenth post on underlying strength in Scottish economy: Property investment up 19.8%!

Scottish business confidence well above UK average

SNP blamed as private businesses experience too much demand and overcrowding with new staff second only to Labour-mayored London.

Scottish business confidence stays high…Ah but!..Oh shut up Revoking Scotland!

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

See this Douglas? Business investment in Scotland up 250%!

Scottish Business Strength No.77: Small Scottish construction firms’ growth up 17%

Scottish small businesses still more confident than those in non-Scottish parts

Business activity soars to four-year high across manufacturing and service

Business confidence in Scotland soars by 24% while it sinks 29% in non-Scottish parts of UK

Scottish businesses more likely to be stable than those in rest of UK: News from a parallel universe unknown to our mainstream media

Scottish Government supports economy with new business rates unique in UK

 

A recent Freedom of Information request has revealed predictably that the Scottish Government doesn’t hold the information required to answer the question:

https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/547791/response/1307647/attach/3/FoI%2019%2000309.pdf?cookie_passthrough=1

Who is Jason Greco? TuS researchers have, typically, no idea. There are 84 of them in the USA and 6 on Facebook.

TuS sister site, TuS (Tell us your secrets), needs your help. The TuS researchers have only managed to dig out three Tories including the improbably named highland landlord millionaire, Sir Mountain, above, who allegedly misused his position as an MSP to further his business interests. Why isn’t his first name ‘Ben’ or ‘Craig’ or ‘Stob’ or ‘Bod’ or ‘Mam’?

Here’s another one:

Here’s the third man:

If you have more info than TuS, please comment below.

 

Emma supporting my favourite charity. Join us!

I don’t suppose SNP MSP Emma Harper has the contacts at Reptilian Scotland, the Hootsman or the Herrod to get this published so TuS will have to do what it can here. You’ll see below that SG funding for councils in 2019/20 has increased by £600 million. This is a real terms increase and is despite the fact that the block grant from Westminster to the SG will be lower in real terms.

https://www.parliament.scot/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx?SearchType=Advance&DateChoice=3&SortBy=DateAnswered&Answers=OnlyQuestionWithAnswers&SearchFor=AllQuestions&ResultsPerPage=1000

 

Say after us, SNP Baaahhd

Sadly, for Liam McArthur, Lib Dem MSP, his trawl for inadequacy in the staffing of multi-disciplinary mental health teams in at least one Scottish prison has been a failed attempt. They are all fully-staffed. Just in case he doesn’t pass the story on to his pals at Reptilian Scotland, the Hootsman or the Herrod, here it is:

It’s only two sub-polls so there are limitations but in the absence of anyone prepared to do a larger Scottish poll, we can reasonably show a little interest and take a little conditional pleasure in two early February polls showing the SNP above 40% in Westminster voting intentions.

An Ipsos MORI with a sample of 93 and field work on 1-5^th February, found:

Conservative   14%

Labour             29%

SNP                  44%

https://www.ipsos.com/sites/default/files/ct/news/documents/2019-02/pm_-_tables_-_feb19.pdf

Before that, YouGov with a larger sample of 159 and field work on 3-4^th February 2019, found

Conservative   22%

Labour             21%

SNP                  41%

https://d25d2506sfb94s.cloudfront.net/cumulus_uploads/document/bdt8liuhhj/TheTimes_190204_VI_Trackers_bpc_w.pdf

It’s hard to see, in these, any sign that the media feeding frenzy over the Salmond case and their hoped-for civil wars have had any impact on support for the SNP. Both suggest a fairly strong recovery from the 2017 Westminster election.