SNP Leader Nicola Sturgeon's Ever Growing Scottish 'Tsunami of Death', catastrophic bad judgment by Sturgeon sees Humza Yousaf appointed as Health Secretary, serial incompetent Yousaf steers the once proud Scottish Health Service to unparalleled decline, as A&E waiting times performance in Scotland hits a 'terrifying' new low, the worst results since records began, how can anyone trust a broken service dogged by repeated failures?

Dear All 

The arrogance is there, the smirk is there, the sneering is there, the sense of entitlement is there, and periodically the rather bizarre notion that one day, he is the man, who could be leader of the SNP is hyped. The hype of Humza Yousaf as leader material is usually generated by the press as I expect it is to pad out an article as a filler. His chances of leadership are in my mind, absolute zero, due to a series of critical flaws, which should be listed.  

1/ Not a leader of men.

2/ A race card player.

3/ And crap at everything he touches, and that includes so it seems, steering mobility scooters.

4/ Lazy (see final paragraph).

5/ Not very bright. (record in government)

6/ Someone who lacks substance and character.  

He is the one, the only, the legend in his own lunch time, Humza Yousaf.  

In his rise to fame, it has been littered with both personal and professional disasters, failed marriage, driving without insurance, falling driving a mobility scooter, and of course ministerial jobs where he failed to excel in. One thing we do know, that since devolution has been created someone has been the worst Health Secretary in the history of Holyrood. Three people in my mind make the top slots of the most overrated and underperforming Health Secs of the last 22 years. Nicola Sturgeon who dragged down the Scottish NHS from 2007 to 2012, Jeane Freeman, who was at the helm when Covid infected patients were shipped into sterile care homes, and Humza Yousaf,  an ex call centre worker apparently who is so far out of his depth, that it isn't even funny anymore. His passion isn't his job, he gets his zeal in my opinion from screaming white people are racist. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qUCFDzzZLKI  

When you watch this video, note one thing, during his entire rant in the Scottish Parliament, not once does he ever name a white racist current working in the Scottish Government. He doesn't name a single white racist in any arm of any department, such as the Crown Office, NHS, and Police Scotland. Towards the end, he reels off the number of jobs held by 'white' people. Yousaf's anti white people rant isn't about getting Chinese people in Holyrood, or Spanish, or people from Thailand, nor is it about getting people from Poland, or Norway, or from Crete or Peru. So, what demographic group do you think that Humza Yousaf says there isn't enough of? One thing for sure, he isn't talking about white and black working class people, the two most discriminated groups in UK society. Having watched him over the years, it is hard to conclude that he is anything but a danger to Scottish society and cohesion. The Scottish National Party is a party of grievance, everyone knows this, but his tool for advancement up the ranks is being a race card player. He isn't the first, he isn't even a pioneer with a new take on an old broken record, the road of the race card player was paved long ago by the likes of university educated middle class people like Diane Abbott. 

During Covid 19 in Scotland, many people died who didn't have too, the true picture of death will in the fullness of time will be painted. You see, for the elderly and others, it wasn't just Covid infection that they had to worry about, it was the curtailment of normal operating practice of the Scottish NHS. There is a tsunami of untreated and undiagnosed people out there who should be getting processed through the health system, but aren't. So, every horrible disease and illness is stockpiling up. In recent times, I have seen how parts of the City of Glasgow such as Castlemilk, Ibrox and Carmunnock have all experienced noticeable increased deaths in sheltered and livingwell housing. In fact, there was a time up at Carmunnock, it seemed every week people were dying up there at such a volume, I would have thought that rated a probe. The link is to show there are vacancies in these places at surprising regularity. 

https://www.myhousing.org.uk/my-cbl/property-search  

Having failed at every Ministerial job, and that includes transport (how can you fuck up transport?), it is basically a non job much the nonsense jobs cobbled together for the two Scottish Greens. Humza Yousaf due to lack of a viable alternative finds himself as the Health Sec after Jeane Freeman jumped ship, and let's face it, after so many died in care homes, retirement must have seen a good alternative. Much better to face the music and  to face the upcoming inquiries as an ex minister. As she left parliament, she thanked MSPs for how well she was treated, thousands dead and not one MSP called her out for it. If you want to know what the strength of your parliament is then look no further than how sycophantic they were at her stepping down. Thousands died under her watch, thousands are going to die because the Health Service doesn't operate as normal at every level. The general jist when Freeman left was to wish her well, and a happy retirement. Freeman should be treated as pariah in Scottish society.  

Having climbed the greasy pole due to be a limpet on Sturgeon's back, Yousaf becomes Health Sec, of course, his brief stint as Justice Minister will be glossed over, but for the fact he gave criminals mobile phones to commit crime. As Health Sec, he is effectively a mouthpiece, reading out a pre-scripted response. Not to make things better, but to get him over the daily obstacles of being called out for his incompetence. He uses buzzwords like 'very challenging winter', this is a kite flying exercise which works in two ways.  

1/ If he is right, he can point to himself as an all seeing, all knowing guru.

2/ If he is wrong, he can point to himself as an all seeing, all knowing guru whose intervention saved lives. 

Heads he wins, tails he wins, it is basically taking the piss out of gullible people, but the real problem, remains, he is just a "mouthpiece". Parrots spout words, but parrots don't understand the meaning or comprehend if there is any significance to them. Humza learns a few soundbytes to sound plausible, but once questioned by someone who will take that further, he has no factual answers to give beyond his script. If you think that he is any different from Sturgeon who effective get the answers to 'the exam' before the test, think again. Failure in Health costs lives, people die who need not have lost their lives. We have an immature fool as Health Secretary because Nicola Sturgeon is so short of talent and importantly allies. Angus Robertson, the supposed heavy hitter from Westminster is crap, despite being in politics for years at Westminster, Robertson wasn't a star performer, he was mouthpiece delivering grievance speeches, and as we all know, any fool can do that. What Robertson never achieved was a deep understanding of what makes Government tick. Any proof? Well, I refer you to the recent debate that Robertson didn't turn up for, and was then rebuked by the chair in the Scottish Parliament. 

It can sometimes be hard writing about the SNP because as you write, you can pulled into relating how someone else who isn't the main subject, must be including to show how rank they are as a party, and a movement. But let's fight our way back to Humza Yousaf, so far, as Health Sec, he has gone the route of 'firefighting' due to his incompetence at managing the health system. I suppose you would be asking yourself, where are the long term plans, where are the emergency plans, where is the roadmap to get the Scottish NHS back to normal operations? These are three simple but important questions, because they will determine who lives and who dies within our Scottish population. The first point of contact in health usually is the GP, with GPs not doing face to face appointments, many people who need to be brought into the health system are effectively shut out. What does this mean, for some that means a death sentence. People especially if they have aggressive cancers are now in danger, some cancers are treatable, but the same cancer if not caught can become non treatable by spreading through-out the body and the patient will die. A return to face to face appointment is not only desirable, but it is also essential, and urgent.  

The second most notable access point, into the health system, we have A&E, this is go to place for people who are urgent health issues which by definition cannot wait. People who have and need help breathing, bleeding, breaks and burns among other things. It is important that A&E is properly managed and effective. It has to sometimes turn over a high volume of people quickly and get them patched up, let out or kept in, and it all has to be done right. So, it is no surprise that with Humza Yousaf in charge that he is presiding over a “terrifying” and “unmitigated disaster” after Scotland’s A&E waiting times hit yet another record low. The inaction of Humza Yousaf isn't new, I can't stress enough the main problem, he is a 'mouthpiece', he isn't the person leading the NHS, it is effectively leaderless. Why hasn't the A&E problem been fixed? Month after month goes by and the service still declines, at what point does the penny drop that the people who run the service lack direction? 

Public Health Scotland published that just 71.3 per cent of patients were seen within the four-hour target in the seven days to October 3. This is down from 76% the previous week and it is damning. It is the lowest percentage since current records began, when you think things cannot get worse, you can count on people like Humza Yousaf to drive it down further. The SNP like to set high targets, not because they are leaders who are competent, but for PR purposes. They spend so much time managing spin, they are incapable of directing policy and resources, they are effectively absentee landlords in government. People like Humza Yousaf turn up, do a photo op, a plaster operation over a current problem, then leave. What he should be doing is dragging every health board up in performance, if Covid teaches us anything, it is the management of the Health board needs structurally altered. The problems of the Health Service are in part intertwined with the education service, the education service, educates our doctors, nurses and other professionals who end up in the Scottish NHS in various capacities.  

We have.  

1/ A GP crisis

2/ A Nursing crisis

3/ An A&E crisis

4/ A Cancer crisis

5/ An educational crisis not producing enough home grown professionals for the service  

We should always have an operating surplus in medics and nurses in Scotland!  

Public Health Scotland said there were 25,123 attendances at casualty units last week.

1,782 patients waited more than eight hours to be seen and 591 waiting more than 12 hours. 12 hours at A&E is a nonsense, there must be a better way but that involves ensuring structurally alteration of the service, increased recruitment drives, and numbers of places in the education system to get the right fit for the service. As winter sets in, what is the plan to prevent disaster by Humza Yousaf? Is it to sit on the fence, is it to 'live in hope' for a mild winter, is it to rely on others because we cannot rely on him?  

Conservative MSP Dr Sandesh Gulhane said:  

“These figures are nothing short of an unmitigated disaster for Humza Yousaf. He has completely failed to resource our A&E departments that are beyond breaking point. Humza Yousaf is overseeing a scandalous situation in our NHS. Thousands of patients are not being seen within the SNP’s own target waiting times. His inaction is putting heroic staff under immense pressure before we even hit the peak winter period. The support being offered by our UK Armed Forces is incredibly welcome, but the Health Secretary has still not outlined a plan to maximise their use. His winter plan which finally arrived last week was far too little too late. Humza Yousaf must finally show some leadership and get on top of this A&E crisis which is now completely out of control.”  

There is some interesting points, why didn't Humza Yousaf have a plan to maximise the use of the army? Was it that by being pushed towards having to call them in, his plan was little better than a sound byte? Was this to show he was 'listening' and doing something? Or was it his PR spin team saw an opportunity to use this as a stunt for multiple photo ops? Placing Humza Yousaf at the centre of the pictures to show he is in charge? Since the crisis has began, has Humza Yousaf spent time attending a hospital doing a night shift to see for himself just what is going on? I am not talking about a staged managed event, I am talking dropping in unannounced, no warning and see for himself. Surely he must have done this on several occasions as fact finding missions? If you want to know the problems in an organisation, you talk to those on the shop floor, then you go talk to management. The Health Service in Scotland, needs more boots on the ground, army boots will do in the short term, but the long term requires increased number of places for Doctors and Nurses, and specific other professionals who by the nature of their degrees would funnel into the NHS. This is an education, health and finance matter, so it begs the question is there a subcommittee of the Scottish government tasked to look at these matters or is it all, just un-joined up thinking?  

Finally, back in 2008, I did the Glasgow North East by-election, I spent 16 days campaigning on it, the winner was John Mason, who won by 365 votes over Margaret Curran. One day, I was put into a group of three to leaflet a train station. I had no activism experience, the two other members of the group where Humza Yousaf and his then girlfriend who later became his wife, and divorced him. As I had no experience, I thought that one of them would teach me the ropes, neither did. When we got to the train station, Humza and his ex wife, went to the opposite platform, rather than being proactive, they sat down and occasionally gave commuters a leaflet as they came onto the platform. I was struck by how lazy Humza Yousaf was, given that he was supposed to be this rising star in the SNP fighting every minute of every day, I relate this because few people know much about how politicians act in real life. In Pollok SNP, some people used to mock him as 'the chosen one'. It wasn't a complement, it was quite the opposite. If anyone thinks Humza Yousaf, 'the chosen one' is going to turn round the Scottish Health Service, ask yourself this, if he cannot get off his arse to hand out a leaflet properly, what chance is there he can save the Health Service? Humza Yousaf is a straw man, he is a mouthpiece, he is a race card player, and not someone who isn't ever going to be ministerial material. There is a song, 'Ye cannae shove yer Granny aff a Bus', well Humza Yousaf and the SNP Government are rewriting history as we speak, they throwing many people under the bus except they aren't getting back up again!

Yours sincerely 

George Laird                                                                                                                                The Campaign for Human Rights at Glasgow University