Talking-up Scotland

Thanks again to list MSP Annie wells for exposing the Scottish Government’s £100 million investment in cancer treatment despite falling incidence of the disease, their encouragement of preventative strategies such as in the reduction of alcohol consumption and smoking and the increase in early detection, now 85.2% of all cancers detected at stages 1 or 2.

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

Other good news on cancer treatment here:

NHS Scotland beats 95% target for cancer treatment despite 6.6% increase in demand

As NHS England cancer treatment wait statistics ‘set to be worst on record’, NHS Scotland’s success is ignored

Cancer mortality rates fall 10% but Reporting Scotland ignore it

Only SNP Government has actual plans in place to reverse ‘abandonment’ of secondary breast cancer patients in UK. Researchers and reporters downplay or ignore this

 

 

Shortages in England and Wales

Thanks to a parliamentary question by leading list Tory MSP, Annie Wells, TuS can reveal that the number of radiologists working in Scotland’s hospitals has increased from 223.5 to 325.0 in the period 2006 to 2018 and the number training has gone up 20%. In addition, many current radiologists are expected to continue to be available to NHS Scotland, on a part-time basis, after retirement. The situation in for the Conservative and Labour governments in England and Wales is less encouraging.

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

 

There are two reasons why NHS England & Wales cannot learn from the obvious source of good ideas, its nearest neighbour, with which it shares a border, exchanges staff and patients on a regular basis and which often shares research funding.

The first is a mix of ignorance and contempt. Many powerful and influential English politicians, academics and health managers, sharing similar backgrounds, have a long-learned habit of looking to the USA or Australia or sometimes even mainland Europe for comparison and, perhaps, lessons they can learn. A generalised perhaps semi-conscious sense of superiority over their Celtic neighbours has long led them to look elsewhere. That could be changed. The London-based Nuffield Trust seems not to suffer from these restrictive attitudes, as we’ll see below, but it is an exception.

The other reason is almost certainly insurmountable. NHS England and NHS Scotland are products of wider cultures with long roots. Though from a global perspective not wildly different, Scottish society, politics and thus institutional development is a bit more collaborate, consultative, non-interventionist and collectivist while that of England, especially in it’s culturally and politically dominant and affluent South-East, is more competitive, authoritarian, interventionist and individualistic. Indeed, leading figures from the dominant Tory elite are openly contemptuous of Scottish society, seeing those same traits as weak, passive and socialist. The latter term is of course an unquestioned negative for them. So, even if they were to look north, they would see nothing to be admired or, heaven forbid, copied. Regardless, even if they wanted to, copying the reasons for NHS Scotland, would be almost impossible. They’d have to launch a, minimum, 100-year plan with the aim of transforming all of English society into a less competitive, less authoritarian, less interventionist, less individualist, form.  They’d need population transfers with other countries on a massive scale, swapping the more self-centred for the more community-minded souls. I suspect even Stalin would have said ‘can’t be done, give up.’

More below on NHS Scotland, from the Nuffield Trust. First see this from the generally high-quality Open Democracy:

https://www.opendemocracy.net/ournhs/david-zigmond/nhs-ten-year-plan-neglects-human-side-of-healthcare

It’s a perceptive analysis correctly identifying the need for cultural change, but sadly just as Anglocentric as commentary from more right-wing sources. There is no mention of Scotland at all despite OD’s regular pieces on Scottish matters. Unlike the Nuffield Trust, 18 months earlier, they miss these essential thoughts, including, admittedly, some that could be copied:

https://screenshots.firefox.com/OHekb6obY91Qt4V2/www.nuffieldtrust.org.uk

So, 18 months after the Nuffield Trust suggest NHS Scotland’s ‘unique system of improving the quality of health care’ offers ‘much for England and Wales to learn from’, they have ignored or just missed the recommendations and instead turned back to the Neo-Stalinist, top-down, ten-year plans that always fail. Sadly, though they might do well to copy some things including certainly meddling less and trusting more, I doubt they could make much of a difference in a system so deeply embedded in its surrounding and mostly unchallenged matrix of essentially Tory values and attitudes.

So it goes?

From the Scottish Government news website:

‘New rules to reduce deaths in household fires have been announced today, with improved standards introduced for fire and smoke alarms in Scottish homes.  The improved standards will mean every home in the country must have a smoke alarm fitted in the living room or lounge, and in circulation spaces such as hallways and landings. The changes also mean every kitchen must have a heat alarm, and the alarms will have to be interlinked so they can be heard throughout the property. There must also be a carbon monoxide alarm where there are fixed combustion appliances. The new rules mean the standard which currently applies to private rented property and new-builds is being extended to all homes in Scotland. The regulations come after a consultation carried out following the tragic events at Grenfell Tower in London in June 2017.’

https://news.gov.scot/news/new-fire-safety-standards-for-scottish-homes

The tragedy of Grenfell Tower took place a long way from Holyrood but only a very short distance from Westminster, so you’d think they’d be on this. Oh, wait a minute, I forgot, Westminster is run by the wife of a hedge-fund manager, specialising in investing in weapons manufacturers, currently doing very well out of the war in Yemen.

I searched for: ‘new fire safety standards England Scotland’ and got:

So, England first in the search parameters but the first five results are for Scotland! Here’s what the last one has to say, confirming my expectations, sadly:

If I comment on missed targets headlining reports and broadcasts, I’m told they cannot suppress important information for the public. If I remind them of their selectivity in not reporting targets which are met, I get either no response or the strange notion that meeting targets is not news.

If I point to the humanitarian disaster that is NHS England under the Tories, I’m told it’s not relevant. I disagree, it’s useful context and so, undaunted, I persist. See the above on the 150 000 backlog in cervical screening faced by women in England. Hoo are things in Inverurie, I wonder?

Well, for the start there’s no backlog and the 95% target for returns on only 19 working days is sometimes met and the average looks to be around 23 days:

https://www.isdscotland.org/Health-Topics/Cancer/Publications/2018-09-04/2018-09-04-Cervical-Screening-Report.pdf

 

Does the attached Union Flag matter? Well of course it matters in the sense that in thoroughly offends many of us but will it have any effect on behaviour and, crucially, voting behaviour?

You won’t be surprised to hear that there is very little hard evidence of the effect of flags on political beliefs or behaviour. Indeed, there is almost nothing outside of the USA.

However, in ‘Subliminal exposure to national flags affects political thought and behavior’, a US, 2007, peer-reviewed study based on experiments with Jewish settlers on the West Bank the researchers found a strong connection:

‘that subliminal exposure to one’s national flag influences political attitudes, intentions, and decisions, both in laboratory settings and in “real-life” behavior. Furthermore, this manipulation consistently narrowed the gap between those who score high vs. low on a scale of identification with Israeli nationalism. The results portray a consistent picture: subtle reminders of one’s nationality significantly influence political thought and overt political behavior.’

Being exposed repeatedly though subliminally, to the Israeli flag seemed to have caused these settlers to identify more strongly with extreme Israeli nationalist parties and, crucially, become more likely to vote for them.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2148371/

To compare this group with English-born settlers in Scotland’s voting behaviour is probably stretching things a bit far, but their reported voting, along with others not born in Scotland, against Independence in 2014, did seem to have been influential:

‘Independence referendum figures revealed: Majority of Scots born here voted YES while voters from elsewhere in UK said NO’

https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/politics/independence-referendum-figures-revealed-majority-5408163

Was there increased use of the Union flag in media during this time? I suspect there was in the tabloid press but have no hard evidence for this idea.

A US study just before the McCain/Obama presidential election in 2008 also found quite a strong effect, this time, of the Stars and Stripes in increasing the Republican vote:

‘Shortly before the 2008 presidential election, the researchers recruited voters via social media to participate in an online political survey in exchange for a gift card. Half the screens shown to participants sported an unobtrusive image of the American flag. The researchers contacted participants immediately after the election and asked them how they voted. Those who had been briefly exposed to the flag, compared with those who had not been primed with the flag, were significantly more likely to have voted for McCain versus Obama’.

‘A single, incidental exposure to the flag a couple weeks before the election changed how people voted,’ Ferguson said. Yet 90 percent of those surveyed said they believed seeing the flag would not influence their voting.’

https://www.mediaite.com/online/report-suggests-that-viewing-american-flag-influences-voters-to-vote-republican/

Once more, comparisons with other cultures limit us but perhaps we can, on the basis of these findings, make some connection between exposure, even if quite limited, to the Union Flag on produce and an increased tendency to vote Conservative or to vote conservatively, against constitutional change, in a referendum.

Thinking longer-term, the effect of exposure to national flags on the political development of children, raises concerns. A US study found that, attending flag-waving July 4^th celebrations had these effects:

‘When done before the age of 18, it increases the likelihood of a youth identifying as a Republican by at least 2 percent. It raises the likelihood that parade watchers will vote for a Republican candidate by 4 percent. It boosts the likelihood a reveller will vote by about 1 percent and increases the chances they’ll make a political contribution by 3 percent. What’s more, the impact isn’t fleeting. “Surprisingly, the estimates show that the impact on political preferences is permanent, with no evidence of the effects depreciating as individuals become older,” said the Harvard report.’

https://www.usnews.com/news/blogs/washington-whispers/2011/06/30/harvard-july-4th-parades-are-right-wing

Again, if we can equate support for the Republican Party in the US with support for the Conservative Party in Scotland and for conservative views on political change, the presence of Union Flags on produce, seen by children on a fairly regular basis now, may be having longer-term effects in sustaining these views even when contemporary events should weaken them.

I could find only one piece of research on national flags with a Scottish sample included. ‘What Do National Flags Stand for? An Exploration of Associations Across 11 Countries’ by Queen’s University in Belfast researchers in 2017 did not attempt to correlate exposure to flags with attitudes or behaviour but rather looked at what concepts the flags are mentally associated with:

‘In societies known for being peaceful and open-minded (e.g., Canada, Scotland), egalitarianism was separable from honour-related concepts and associated with the flag; in countries that were currently involved in struggles for independence (e.g., Scotland) and countries with an imperialist past (United Kingdom), the flag was strongly associated with power-related concepts.’

https://pure.qub.ac.uk/portal/files/123502878/flag_paper.pdf

So, of some interest for us, the researchers found that the Union flag is associated with power in the sense of projecting it and of power over others whereas the Saltire is associated with power in the sense of self-determination and also with notions of peace, openness and egalitarianism. Does that tell us something about the nature of the effects the two flags might have on the voting behaviour of those already predisposed to think, broadly, imperially or democratically?

So, do the Union Flags on Scottish produce matter?

Accepting the limitations of the research evidence, I feel we can say that there is likely to be some effect on voting behaviour, perhaps not great but still important, resulting from repeated subliminal exposure to Union flags on a range of produce, and that effect will be conservative in both senses of the word. It does matter.

 

Our headline is based on the results of a parliamentary question by Jackie Baillie, Scottish Labour for Weapons of Mass Destruction, on fines paid by the nationalised, SNP-controlled, Scottish Water.

Baillie has, unfortunately for her, discovered that the level of fines has fallen dramatically since 2015 suggesting that Scottish Water has made major improvements resulting in far fewer leaks and thus far less damage to customers’ property.

In the three years from 2015/16 to 2017/18, fines fell by 57.3%*.

*Following Reporting Scotland editorial guidelines, the last three years were chosen to help audiences appreciate the point we’re trying to make at TuS.

As NHS England considers scrapping A&E targets altogether, neighbouring Scottish Borders reports the highest of performance standards.

Tory MSP Michelle Ballantyne continues her fabulous unpaid involuntary research assistant work for TuS by asking parliamentary questions.

Thanks to Ballantyne’s efforts, we can now report that NHS Borders actually beat the target in November 2018 with 96.5% seen in four hours or less. Even in this cold January snap, 94.5% were seen within the target time.

Cheers Michelle!

Footnote: Neighbouring Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust is one of the better NHS England trusts in terms of A&E, with 90.4% seen within 4 hours, in the last three months of 2018.

https://www.england.nhs.uk/statistics/statistical-work-areas/ae-waiting-times-and-activity/ae-attendances-and-emergency-admissions-2018-19/

 

 

 

(c) michelleballantyne.org.uk

In an ongoing trend of trying to find dirt via parliamentary questions, the Scottish Tories find nothing they can feed to Reporting Scotland but instead find good news for TuS reporters. Yesterday, Michelle Ballantyne helped us with the news that deaths from the deadly Sepsis have fallen a massive 21% in only 6 years, under SNP Government.

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