BlackAgnes

Alex Salmond, let's remember, died penniless.

It is easy to make a promise. Much harder to keep it. Sturgeon governed by press release but had no idea how to deliver. My forthcoming book analyses the damage she’s done to Scotland, the SNP & the independence movement & what might be done to put things right. Link below 1/2

Why do we give older people drugs that make their mental functioning worse? Ms Davies, 80, came in with pneumonia. Within a day she was lethargic, not eating, barely responding. The team put it down to the infection. The term 'delirium' was never mentioned. But somebody had also started her on a benzodiazepine overnight for "mild anxiety." Nobody connected the two. On the ward round I noticed her responsiveness kept shifting - partly alert one moment, not responding the next. Both the drowsiness and the fluctuation suggested delirium. Screening test positive. We stopped the benzodiazepine, and continued the treatment for the pneumonia with antibiotics, fluids, and oxygen. The next day she later she was sitting up in her chair eating. She was able to participate in physiotherapy. The lesson here isn't complicated. If you start a sedative in an older person and they get more confused, stop the sedative. Don't add another drug on top. Check your prescribing before you check anything else. #delirium #medicationsafety

Police Scotland has published an update on its sex and gender review, confirming it will record biological sex and transgender status across key categories. It also confirms that its previous staff policy (based on self-id) has been withdrawn. spa.police.uk/spa-media/0p3a…

Excellent news. That is how it should be.

The Assisted Dying Bill has fallen - but this debate must leave a legacy from session 6. We urgently need fully funded, high-quality palliative care for everyone, when they need it. We must ensure that those with disabilities are supported with necessary accommodations to fully access public life and be secure at home. Invest in research. Listen to experts. Free votes strengthen Parliament. And once again, the limits of devolution for legislation that straddles devolved and reserved matters are laid bare. We must learn and do better for the people of Scotland.

Police Scotland ends Nicola Sturgeon's gender ideology as force will update system to record biological sex instead of self-ID - scottishdailyexpress.co.uk/news/politics/… scottishdailyexpress.co.uk/news/politics/…

Her name is Erin Brockovich, and she proved that sometimes the most dangerous question you can ask is simply: “Why?” It was 1993. Erin was a twice-divorced mother of three, struggling to make ends meet. After losing a personal injury lawsuit, she talked her way into a job as a file clerk at a small law firm in California. It was grunt work—organizing papers and filing documents. Nothing special. The kind of job where you're not supposed to ask questions. But Erin wasn’t one to stay quiet. One day, while sorting files for a real estate case in a small desert town called Hinkley, California, she noticed something strange—medical records mixed in with property documents. Blood test results, doctor's notes. Why would a real estate file have health information? And why would a utility company, Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E), need to know about residents' medical histories? Most people would have ignored it as a clerical error. Erin couldn’t let it go. She drove to Hinkley. The town was small, hot, dusty, and quiet, with a tight-knit community that trusted the local industry that provided jobs: PG&E’s compressor station. PG&E had been a neighbor for decades, and everyone thought they were good to the people. Erin started talking to residents. No fancy legal talk—just sitting at kitchen tables, drinking coffee, and listening. What she heard shocked her. Almost every house had a story of illness—chronic nosebleeds, unexplained rashes, respiratory issues, joint pain. And a lot of cancer. For such a small town, the number of people with cancer was staggering. PG&E had told them their water was safe, that it contained chromium, but it was the "good kind"—the kind in vitamins. Erin didn’t buy it. She dug into the records. She learned that there are two types of chromium—chromium-3, which is safe, and chromium-6, a toxic heavy metal that’s used to prevent rust in machinery. It’s a carcinogen. PG&E had been lying. For years, their cooling towers had been dumping wastewater containing chromium-6 into unlined ponds, allowing it to seep into the ground and the water supply. Erin brought her findings to her boss, Ed Masry, but he was hesitant. Taking on a billion-dollar company like PG&E could destroy their small law firm. But Erin had something PG&E didn’t—she had the trust of the people. She gathered 634 plaintiffs. This wasn’t just a lawsuit—it was a movement. Erin and Ed fought against PG&E, battling through mountains of paperwork, lowball settlement offers, and legal delays. In 1996, the arbitrators ordered PG&E to pay $333 million—the largest settlement ever for a direct-action lawsuit. The money would help the poisoned families pay for medical bills, move to safer areas, and rebuild their lives. But it was more than just the money—it was justice. The residents of Hinkley had been told for years that their illnesses were coincidental, that they were imagining things. The settlement proved they were right. Erin didn’t win because she had more legal expertise. She won because she cared more. She showed the world that you don’t need a fancy degree or credentials to know the difference between right and wrong. Erin Brockovich changed 634 lives, and her story changed how we view corporate responsibility. She was a single mom who asked one simple question: “Why?” And that question led to the biggest environmental victory of its time.

After careful and serious consideration of views from constituents, clinicians, frontline support specialists in palliative care and domestic abuse, I confirm that I cannot support the Assisted Dying Bill in its current form. Session 7 has the opportunity to legislate on real end of life choice, through commitment to full funding, investment and delivery of consistent, high quality palliative care all across Scotland. 1/5

I really wish people would stop sharing this video of Mridul Wadhwa gaslighting rape victims. My dog somehow got hold of my social media and did this!!! She doesn't like larping men in dresses no matter how much people tell her they are women. What to do?!

Quite cathartic writing this piece for @TheCriticMag about a man who played the piano with his penis on TV being nominated for a prestigious award. In the women’s category 🙄 And how women are sick of men who say they’re women taking their prizes - and other opportunities. It’s daylight robbery. Link to read in comments 👇

As a woman who came of age in the 80s, it's a huge bummer that anorexia is back in full force. Look at their arms. This is just terrible and disgraceful in the message it sends to young girls. Healthy at any size was damaging and so is this.

324 amendments to assisted suicide bill. It was already legislation that put at risk the most vulnerable people in our society. But to rush through without an understanding of the consequences would be a gross violation of the parliament’s duty. I am hopeful it will be rejected.

My letter to @ScotNational in response to Steph Paton’s outrageous smears of Alex Salmond and the papers’s decision to publish them. Dear Editor, “Steph Paton’s” article titled “Will anyone look back and remember the Alba Party fondly?” was a disgrace. He states about the late Alex Salmond that “Alba Party was never more than Salmond's petty snap back at the SNP for how he was treated in the wake of multiple credible accusations of sexual assault. While he was ultimately found "not guilty" and "not proven", Salmond's behaviour toward multiple women was undeniably creepy, inappropriate and violating - just not necessarily illegal.” This is a shocking statement, Paton wouldn’t have dared write it whilst Alex was still with us. And worse still, The National and its lawyers would’ve never allowed it to be published whilst Alex was still alive. It is an act of sheer cowardice and great hurt that such vile statements are published in a pro independence newspaper about the man that gave Scotland the very set of circumstances that The National owes to its existence and they/them (Paton) owe their livelihood for the past decade. A mainly female jury acquitted Alex Salmond of all charges because quite clearly they believed the accusations labelled against him were not credible accusations of sexual assault. The Crown invited the jury to find the accusations, and the evidence led against Alex, as credible. The jury agreed that the credible evidence came from the accused and the defence witnesses. As for “Salmond's behaviour toward multiple women was undeniably creepy, inappropriate and violating”. A disgusting smear, shamefully allowed to see print by this newspaper. Readers of the National will make their own mind up about the motivations of having someone consumed with hatred for Alba - for its siding with the overwhelming majority of the Scottish public in opposition to the discredited and aborted Self ID Gender Recognition Reforms - writing such an article. I have defended this paper for years. But this article was beyond the pale. A full prominent apology must be published by the editor or my subscription will be cancelled. Christopher McEleny Gourock

Hospitals currently serve: - White bread - Margarine - Sugary cereals for breakfast - Orange juice - Low-fat yoghurt - Sandwiches on processed white rolls - "Heart healthy" low-fat spreads To patients recovering from surgery, cancer treatment, organ failure, and metabolic disease. Patients who need protein synthesis, immune function, tissue repair, and mitochondrial energy production. The food that provides these things: meat, eggs, butter, is largely absent. The Eat Well Plate is not absent. It is on the wall. Sometimes there's a motivational poster about hand-washing next to it.

“Pedophilia is legal in the Islamic Republic of Iran. Little girls are married off to adult men. We tried to raise awareness on International Women's Day, but feminists completely ignored it.”

#ChairPoverty highlighted at this year's Paris Fashion Week @damekatydenise_

This isn’t true. Many women have been forced out of the party for defending women’s rights & when I was threatened with rape by a fellow party member for doing so not one of you spoke up to condemn him or support me. So save us your empty virtue signalling.

Two thirds of Alzheimer’s patients are women. Not because women live longer, but because estrogen protects the brain. When it’s suddenly stripped away, the brain literally shrinks. Brain fog in your 40s isn’t “just stress.” It’s a red flag. But instead of addressing hormones, women are gaslight with antidepressants or told to meditate. Fast forward 20 years and she’s in a nursing home and can’t remember her own kids. This isn’t “normal aging.” It’s medical negligence. And despite most Alzheimer’s patients being women, much of the research is still done on male mice instead of female mice. That’s not science, that’s neglect.”

In the spring of 1980, Farrokhroo Parsa — Iran’s Minister of Education before the Islamic Revolution — was executed. She had devoted her life to fighting for women’s rights and did not betray her principles even after the victory of the Islamic Revolution. In the verdict issued by the new authorities, she was found guilty of “spreading corruption on earth and denying Allah.” “I would rather face death with open arms than live in disgrace, forcibly covered with a veil. I will not kneel before those who expect me to repent for half a century of my struggle for equality between men and women. I am not prepared to wear the chador and take a step backward in history,” Parsa wrote in her farewell letter to her children.