iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Norman McWhirter @critsect.bsky.social · 08/10/2026

We rescued two plants from B&Q for half price. They were in a terrible state for lack of watering. After a good drink they've been flowering all summer.

Two Café au Lait dahlias with 5 large flower heads.

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Norman McWhirter @critsect.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

Looking up apple wine recipes, but now I'm afraid.

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Norman McWhirter @critsect.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

Definitely. We don't actually eat that much but my wife uses them as street-level diplomacy.

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Norman McWhirter @critsect.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

The chances of training a random dog to that standard must be really low. I've not managed it with my own dogs even with what I learned from GDs. Even when he's sleeping he's an idiot.

Black poodle lying on a rug asleep but with a plastic orange pepper against his nose.

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Norman McWhirter @critsect.bsky.social · 29/07/2026

There are two horses. They are Duke and Barron.

Two giant steel horse head sculptures, known as Kelpies.

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Norman McWhirter @critsect.bsky.social · 18/04/2026

Quote post with the best picture you've ever taken of your pet.

A golden lab/retriever lying on a deck over a pond. A plastic crocodile head lurks among the water lilies. He's looking backwards over his shoulder with a "really, Dad?" look on his face.

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Norman McWhirter @critsect.bsky.social · 22/11/2025

Do you remember the BBC reporting "no difference in outcomes" just before the Inquiry came up to Edinburgh? This table below was what was presented at the Welsh visit just a few weeks later. It wasn't reported in scotland.

Table showing mortality rates. Scotland has the lowest rate. The line for Wales is highlighted.

UK 143.2
England 145.0
Wales 144.6
Scotland 124.9
NI 130.7

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Norman McWhirter @critsect.bsky.social · 21/11/2025

Respectfully, this is the most ridiculous dog

Black poodle with his head stuck in a large food bag.

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Norman McWhirter @critsect.bsky.social · 21/11/2025

I'd like some of what Baroness Hallett's smoking if she thought that it was legally, financially, or politically possible for any of the devolved administrations to lockdown before the UK said so.

Option 3: Stringent restrictions, aka lockdown.
Option 1 was do nothing.
Option 2 was social distancing etc.

"On the Inquiry's analysis, the three options were available to the four governments".

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Norman McWhirter @critsect.bsky.social · 21/11/2025

Revisiting this and it seems like the inquiry thinks that the devolved administrations could have declared their own lockdowns in March 2020.

On the Inquiry's analysis, the three options above were available to the four governments.

It doesn't explain how the legal and financial implications would have been addressed.

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Norman McWhirter @critsect.bsky.social · 20/11/2025

The more I read the report the less I think this summary is justified.

Ms Sturgeon said that it would have been “virtually impossible in practical terms for Scotland to have entered full lockdown earlier than the UK government decided appropriate”, given the need for the UK government to provide the resources for schemes such as furlough.493 The Inquiry accepts that it would not have been practical for one or all of the devolved administrations to take such a step in the absence of the UK government doing so.

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Norman McWhirter @critsect.bsky.social · 20/11/2025

The more I read the report (scanning it really) the more I think that the headline "they're all bad" isn't supported in the text of the report.

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Norman McWhirter @critsect.bsky.social · 20/11/2025

Not had a chance to read the Covid inquiry report, but worth remembering that Scotland had a significantly better mortality rate than the other UK nations.