From reader velofello, responding to my flabbier critique of Glen Campbell lying about the Scottish Government:

So A&E England have a “cuts and bruises” only category of clinic, and these are included in the waiting time stats. for general A&E stats? Does help shield the reality.

Drugs-related deaths in Scotland include any deceased person who has been taking prescribed medicinal drugs, by their doctor? Pretty well most over 60’s take some form of medication I’d wager. Me too.

Business contract agreements: A fully defined scope and design? Negotiate a lump sum contract. In a hurry? Design not fully completed, but want to press on? Avoid a lump sum contract, the contractor, if astute, will take you to the cleaners for each change you forward to them. And yes, I’ve done it! So which contract form is it with…

Ludo Thierry

Further encouraging news of Scottish business confidence having been buoyed up by the stunning SNP wins (82% of Scottish Constituencies delivered) in the December election. Today it is the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors Scotland who are noticing the increased business confidence since the SNP’s big win across Scotland. Link and snippet below:

Sales in the Scottish housing market picked up with increased optimism in January, according to the latest official figures.

A net balance of 11% of surveyors in the RICS Residential Market Survey said there were more newly agreed sales in January compared to December.

This comes after a 22% increase in the number of people looking to buy.

Simon Rubinsohn, RICS chief economist, said: “The latest survey results point to a continued improvement in market sentiment over the month, building on a noticeable pick-up in the immediate aftermath…

Ludo Thierry

BBC Scotland are reporting latest HMRC figures which note quite remarkably strong export figures for both Scottish Salmon and Scotch Whisky (obviously the Brexit effect remains a major concern for the future – but prime Scottish produce is attracting significant global export markets right now). Too wee, too poor, too stupid etc. Link and snippets below:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-business-51460893?intlink_from_url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/scotland&link_location=live-reporting-story

Scottish exports of whisky and salmon both grew strongly last year, according to new figures.HMRC statistics showed sales of Scotch overseas grew by 4.4% to £4.91bn, with growth seen in more than 100 of its global markets.Salmon exports reached a record £618m, a 22% increase on the previous year, while the tonnage exported rose by 26% to more than 94,000 tonnes. For Scottish salmon, France emerged as the largest market in 2019, with sales worth £221m, for the third year running.It was followed by USA (£179m), and China (£59m). The EU…