Trust me! I'm a doctor!

Trust me! I'm a doctor!

"By contrast the SNP government has come up with a single proposal and has drafted its minimum unit pricing bill so narrowly it has shut down other ideas." - Dr Richard Simpson

Richard Simpson gained notoriety for playing fast and loose with the facts as part of the British Labour & Unionist Party's opportunistic attacks on the Scottish government at the time of the release on licence of convicted Lockerbie bomber, Abdelbaset Mohmed Ali al-Megrahi.

Coincidentally, one the most blatant lies being peddled at that time also related to numbers as Simpson sought to deceive the public by insisting that the medical report submitted in support of Mr al-Megrahi's application for compassionate release was the work of a single doctor.


Now he's at it again! This time telling "porkies" about the SNP administration's strategy for tackling alcohol abuse. While Simpson mendaciously declares that this strategy involves but "a single proposal", the truth is that the SNP government' has proposed a full range of over forty measures covering the four key areas of reduction of consumption; family and community support; changing attitudes; and treatment and rehabilitation. Details can be found in the 2009 publication, "Changing Scotland's Relationship with Alcohol: A Framework for Action".

It is simply not credible that Richard Simpson could be unaware of this document. He is, after all, his party’s public health spokesman. We are left with no alternative, therefore, but to conclude that his statement is a deliberate attempt to mislead the public.

This is disgraceful behaviour on its own account, as I'm sure every decent person will agree. But coming immediately after Jackie Baillie's scurrilous "blanket sharing" calumny it affirms an unmistakeable trend in the tactics adopted by the anti-independence parties. A trend to increasingly blatant dishonesty.


Cut caffeine and tag bottles to curb Scotland’s booze culture, say Labour - Politics - Scotsman.com