I'm Jamie Scott, CEO of JSA. This is webinar two in a five-part webinar series with our partners TruePath Technologies. Their web series is called Cool Tools, TruePath Cool Tools, and really they're awarding recognition to their top tools, their top software or shortcuts, clever platforms that they utilize every day to help make business smarter, faster, better for them. We are joined by the most amazing presenter here. I'm always in awe at how you do this, Douglas, where you're actually talking, demoing, answering questions. Mr wonderful, wonderful director, Douglas Morrow. Thank you very much. Of TruePath Technologies. Welcome, Douglas. Thank you. Great introduction. Thanks for having me. I love doing this. It's a lot of fun and we've gotten such great feedback and we're just excited to do these. They're a lot of fun to do and share this with everyone, so thank you. What is the theme of this TruePath Cool Tools webinar? It's to showcase the greatest tools that can help your business go faster. Today, Douglas will be walking us through his three top choices for December. And we've got Keyboard Pro, Dropbox, and Reg XR. So let's just go ahead and get right to it. And Douglas is the founder and senior engineer at TruePath Technologies, Inc. He's got 20 years expertise. We're talking enterprise data centers. He's also literally written the book, the O'Reilly edition, Essential SNP. It's the number one right now on Amazon for selling network management books. So, great resource out there. Now in its second edition, go ahead and check it out. And it talks to Douglas's expertise, particularly in software publishing. And one last note, check out TruePath's Telco web portal, LMS. And that is, again, another good showcase there for how great Douglas is with all the software management. So let's go ahead and get right to Douglas on the Hot Keyboard Pro. So again, Jamie and everybody online, thanks very much for having us again and allowing us to showcase really the tools that we use day in and day out. Now, we're not taking any money or anything like that for these kinds of reviews. These were something that Jamie and I put together because quite frankly, during conversations, we end up talking with people every day to say, oh, what is that that you're using? Or how do you do this? And so this is our second one. The first one we did, Jing. We did the schedule me and we did join me. And today we're going to talk about three other tools that, again, I use them daily. And the first one that we're going to talk about is the Hot Keyboard Pro. So very high level Hot Keyboard Pro is basically just a keyboard macro. And that really, really sounds boring. And that doesn't show a lot of fun there. But where it stands apart is the fact that its interface, its ease of use, and its things it can do above and beyond just regular pasting text and things like that. So the best way to showcase this tool is to actually show you a demo of it. So again, hot-keyboard.com, you go in here, you can take a look at it. You can download it, purchase it. We'll get into that. It's the price is pretty cheap. So don't shy away from that. But let's get in and let's just create a new macro. So what we're going to do is I'm going to click on new macro down here.  I can open a file, I can capture the screen, I can do search and replace. And with this, I'm just going to paste text. And so what I'm going to do is, you know, in the example, I end up having to type our support email, Troopattechnologies.com. And let me tell you, look, even that, as many times I typed it, I will, technologies. Dude, I have to like clap it out. So, you know, right there, tickets at Troopattechnologies.com, I want to go ahead and paste this. And throughout the day, I end up pasting or typing that in a thousand times. And about 98% of the time, I end up typing it wrong. So I'm going to go back. Worst case is to think about from a sales perspective, I say, hey, send an email over to our salesperson, Alan or whatnot. And I type a email wrong. So what we can do here is I'm going to say, instead of rich text, I'm just going to say plain text. And now I have the option to say, well, how do I want to run this little macro? How do I want to put this email address in here? And mind you, this could be anything. This could be a sales thing that says, thanks again for, you know, reaching out. Please contact us at 555-1212, you know, in this kind of thing, you put my signature in and all that good stuff. But in this case, we're just going to do an email. So here's where it becomes very easy. I'm going to do a, in order to initiate this, I'm going to use a hot key. So you can't see me typing on there on my keyboard, but I'm going to do a control, a shift to watch this happen right here. Control shift, I'm going to call it L. I don't know. You can, I can show you how to remember that later too, which is pretty interesting. So I'm going to do a control shift L. And I'm going to click, yeah. Are you just assigning any letter and format? Does it have to be like three keys that you're holding down simultaneously or? That's a great question. So Windows as a whole already has a lot of shortcuts like control C for copy, control B for paste. You probably don't want to reassign those. So sort of my rule of thumb is use, use three. And so when you do a control shift, that, that gets away from almost all other type of predefined macros. The other thing you can do is, you can do four. So I could do control, shift, alt, alt if you wanted to. But that, you know, that seems to be a little, a little crazy. I can show you as in a little bit how we're going to bring up a little cheat sheet and how to bring up a little menu so that you can just say, hey, show me the menu of my macros because I forget them all. And then you can jump right to it. So great question. I try to stick with at least three. So I did a control shift L. It's going to paste this in here. I'm going to click OK. I'm going to bring up a notepad. That is it right there. So you can see I'm basically just doing, you know, control shift L over and over again. Again, that doesn't seem very powerful. But what we can do is we can make it even easier.  And I'm going to edit that macro. And instead of a, or in addition to a hot key, so you can keep a control shift L.  So I'm going to do that. And then every time I type TTT and it automatically sends that in there. So that could be another macro is we call ours Troopette Technologies. We do TPT a lot short. And that could be something that could very easily set that macro. And then I would never have to type that again. And you know, we got a great question actually from Steven Moser, one of our viewers here. He's asking, we'll tell you if you're overwriting a preexisting hot key, will it warn you? That is a great question. And I don't know the answer to that. But why don't we go ahead and try to do that. So we did control shift L. I'm just going to create another one real quick. And I'm going to call it testing 123. I'm going to do a hot key. And I'm going to do control shift L. I'm going to do okay. And there you go. Perfect. That is a great question. It goes ahead and warns you. So that's pretty cool. So one thing that great, great question, by the way, thanks for asking that. So this is just our little demo machine. One of the other things that I have on my desktop again, because this is a tool that I and the other engineers use all the time. My memory is shot. I have no idea what macro or, you know, I need to have something remind me of it. So we can do two things. One is, we can create a little cheat sheet on here that will allow us to print this out. And right here, here's your little cheat sheet card that you can very easily print. And now I have that up on my screen right now. And so when we take a look at that, you can actually see that we have, you can have it by menu, you can have it by view, and that allows you to do that so that you can see it, use it, and be reminded of it. The other thing we can do is we can pop a little menu up. So I have this little menu here called control shift Q. So when I do control shift Q, it's going to bring a menu up. So I'm going to do this, and it's going to bring a menu up. And now take a look. Now I can very easily jump to my little macros. Now we've talked about text, but guess what? You can do some other things. You can open a folder. I don't know about you, but every time I'm going, somebody steps in, I need to mute my music. Somebody comes in, they're talking, the phone rings, right? What do I have to do? I have to go down here. I have to find the little thing that says volume, and I got to click on mute, do that. Well this, guess what? You can set a macro up for it. You can do control alt space, and it'll automatically mute. You could bring a control panel. You could bring up, you could shut down windows.  So, great tool. Absolutely love it. Use it every day. This tool, without a doubt, receives 2016 Cool Tools Award. I just, so why we love the Hot Keyboard Pro. It's one of the greatest macro tools out there. Really does speed up your life, creates different macros. You don't have to worry about those for get repetitive tasks, like inserting the text that you write all the time. Again, great sales tool for sure, and coding tool. And it opens web links much more. Check out www.hot-keyboard.com some more. Oh, and is there a pricing there? Yes, there is. Thank you for asking.  It's actually, it's 30 bucks for private and 54 business license. So, pretty inexpensive. I tell you, after you do, you know, after you do a couple shortcuts and you figure out, one of the things that we talked about last episode was the schedule utility. And that's something that I used to have to go and find, copy it, paste it, and then put some pretense around it. Hey, take a look at my calendar link, pick a few times at work for you, and I'll send you calendar invite. Well, guess what? That is a control shift P on my keyboard. And I type that and paste that in every day. So, you do that a few times, you get some new prospects, you prohibit yourself from mistyping things. 50 bucks is the easiest money you ever spent. And one other question from our audience here, does it work with Mac too? I think so, right? Yeah, let me look because I'm almost positive that this was a downer. Yeah. Okay, here's the, here's the big no-no. It only works with windows, dunk, dunk. But I think, oh, it's an addictive tool for those of us who use it. So, hopefully they'll come up with a Mac version soon. Maybe this will be a little pressure note for them to or switch over to windows or buddy at Linux. And, you know, some people would say Mac is Linux, but we'll save that for another episode. That would be webinar 3, 4 bucks. Yeah, exactly. So, I know you want to get us over to your Dropbox demo. Okay. So, we're going to talk about a awesome utility. Been around for a while. It's called Dropbox. And at a very high level, Dropbox is a cloud storage service software. It can work on your phone, work on your computer. And the short short of it is that I have a file that's sitting in my, on my computer. And it is now in my Dropbox folder. And while it is physically on my computer, it is also up into the Dropbox cloud. Now, it automatically synchronizes, which is great. And the other thing is that I can get it onto my phone as well. There is a fingerprint password on there. So, it's nice with the security. But the big thing about Dropbox is the second real big feature here is that once it's out into the cloud, once you can do things like that, like synchronize across all of your different devices, you can turn on sharing. And we talked a little bit about last Cool Tools webinar was Jing, being able to do screenshots. And then being able to share that very easily because it automatically put things into your, into your clipboard. So, this one makes it just as easy. So, if I go into my Dropbox folder, I've got a document here, I can right click it and say copy Dropbox link. And if I do that, it's going to put a publicly accessible Dropbox link that I can share with friends, family, and colleagues. So, when I go to that, this is what it would look like. And then they could download it. They could save it to their own Dropbox. So, if it was a very large file, they wouldn't have to bring it down to their computer. They could put it to their Dropbox, then it would synchronize across all the things, all the different devices. You can write comments in here. So, there's a way to actually collaborate. Jamie, did you have a question? Well, yeah, you know, Douglas, I was so excited when you said you were going to demo Dropbox because I feel like it's one of those tools that we're all using, but all still sort of figuring out the tricks here. Because for me, you know, folks will share their marketing files with our team and we're all, it's just, is there a way where it's not so heavy on our desktops? I feel like I allow something to be added into my Dropbox, and all of a sudden, my laptop just gets so much slower because I ran out of room. How does that work? Is there a shortcut there? There is. So, Dropbox has the ability to, which is a good thing, be able to share files and actually synchronize files. So, as an example, you and I have this marketing folder shared. And in here, we've got a couple of PDFs you and I are actually working on. Now, in your Dropbox, this is going to count against your space. In my Dropbox, this counts against my space. And everybody gets, I think now it's two gigs. There's a couple of ways you can get some additional free space, you know, sharing and getting other people to sign up. But if I were to dump 40 gigs into the marketing folder, that would hit your spot. Well, one thing you can do is you can go into the folder. So, as I see marketing goods here, I could get a public link right here. So, I could say, you know what, anybody with this link could now view this folder. And I could set different link things to say, I don't want people to be able to get to it only with a password. And I want to expire the link. So, this might be great for a client of yours to say, hey, you know what, we're going to do this project. It's going to be two months. I'll put it six months out there. And I'll still put a password out there so that, even though, as you can tell with the incognito, and I'm thinking this is still going to be in my pay spin, you can see up here that it is a, I don't want to say encrypted, but cryptic, you know, URL. Could somebody find that? Yeah, somebody could find that. You know, somebody could actually type that in. There's nothing preventing them from stopping that in. So, the same thing with the links here, even though I'm going to share it out, I still may want to do that. The other thing I could do is I could just share it. Once I copy that link, I'm now going to go and copy that entire folder. So, now when I go into this, I've now shared with, let's say you, Jamie, this entire folder, none of this counts against you. But the downside is, is you really can't collaborate with that.  So, it's the difference between just viewing it versus being able to edit it. So, viewing it, it can stay on the cloud, edit it, it's down on your desktop. Yes, yes. Now, the other piece, too, is that because you may have a server that has your Dropbox, which has a terabyte worth of space, your laptop might not, or you might have the same account, but you don't want to synchronize everything. Dropbox gives you that ability by going in, and if I go into here and say preferences, I have now the ability to do, in my account, I can say selective sync. And I could say, you know what? Marketing goods on my laptop is three terabytes. You know, I don't want that to happen. So, I'm going to uncheck that. Now, it's still going to be in the Dropbox cloud. It's very important. It doesn't mean that it gets removed or anything. It's just not going to get synchronized locally on this particular machine. So, that's another trick you can do. The other piece is called file requests. So, I, you may have clients out there that have to sort of dump a very large files your way, and what you can do is you can create a file request to say, you know what? I'm going to, and you see we already, you know, created one, but I'll go through the whole thing. I'm going to create some new marketing files, and there is a new directory that gets created. And now what happens is that I have this special link, and when I send that link to my clients, they can now upload files to it without being a Dropbox user, without affecting their Dropbox, because they wouldn't have to sync it there and then say file share. It's a way to do sort of one way requests for files, and it is very useful. We use that for customers that have to upload core files, dump files, things like that that are very big. It now gets pushed up in here, and then it gets synchronized between the engineering computing team. So, now they can all get access to it. So, very good way to do that. One other huge feature for us that we use is version control. So, when you look at this, what you have to be worried about is rolling corruptions. It's great that I have a copy on the cloud. It's great that I have a copy on my laptop and on my phone, but if I mess this file up, it's going to be copied. It's going to roll that corruption all the way through. So, if I go into this file, anybody remember the, there we go, there we go. Start typing it, right? I'm going to save this thing, go back, and you'll see very quickly that this little green check mark means that the synchronization is complete. So, if I right click it, I have a couple of other context menus. I could share, copy, dropbox, link, view on dropbox, and version history. This is the power. I absolutely love this. So, I'm going to right click, save version history. Now, I'm already logged in. That's why we're able to jump right to it. And now you can see, look at this today, December 14th. You can see when we have some of these changes. And if I click on this dock, I can take a look at it, and guess what? I can immediately restore it back. That's great. When you're working and collaborating with people, look, accidents happen. There's a way for you to go back and restore these things very quickly and easily. Have some accountability with those files. The pricing for this, when you go into the upgrade account, you can see that the pro is one terabyte. Business is 1250 a month. Here are all the different features and functionalities that you get. We find that the pro for us works perfectly. You can have up to 30 days of version history. And for us, that's enough. Because after a couple of weeks, if you haven't noticed your files aren't off, then you might have to get up into the business and enterprise level. But we do the pro. We use a lot of these features and functionalities. And if you go up to the business, it's even better. Without a doubt, I use this daily backups, recovery, sharing, huge benefit to our business. Definitely 2016 Cool Tools Award. Boom. There it is. Absolutely. But Dropbox, why we love it. Obviously, you can sleep soundly at night knowing that your photos, your docs, your videos, your files, safety secured, again, up in that cloud, ability to go ahead and check different files, different levels of the files, return back to the old one that you might have liked better. You can access anything on all your devices. And it's easy to share with others. Oh, I got Michael Gwertzman. From the mobile app. Can they be hosted? Or is that just for accessing? Oh, that's a good question. Well, I think that when we talk about hosting, we need to think that really it's being hosted on the Dropbox cloud. The computer itself is, it's not really being used as hosting just as much as the phone. And with that said, you can do when or land sinking. So as I drop a 50 gig file onto my computer, it has to go up to Dropbox cloud. But I have another engineering computer next to me, and we're on a gig network. It's smart enough if you turn that feature on to synchronize across the local area network. So both of them don't have to go up to the cloud and then come back down to the cloud. So it saves some of the bandwidth. So there are ways to actually host webpages. There are tons of tricks and tips and ways to use Dropbox that you've never even thought of. And of course, like anything on the internet, people are doing it and setting it up. So when you talk about hosting, in the end, it really ends up living and being hosted from the cloud itself. You do bring up a good thing about photos. Dropbox has some automatic upload features on the phones these days that automatically go up to the photos directory. They have a nice way of displaying photos on Dropbox, along with a utility on the desktop that when you do a screenshot, sort of like Jing, it will automatically upload to the photos directory and you have to go in and get the link for that. So hopefully that answered your question. It doesn't really get hosted from your phone or from the computer, more from the cloud. So our next tool to demo us through here, our last one of the day, Reg Exer. Can you walk us through that, my friend Douglas? Let's start with what is Reg Ex? So Reg Ex is a sort of a scripting language to be able to pull information out of a data source. So with this, you'll see that there's an expression up here where we say, I want anything from A to Z that is a word that has one or more characters match it. That sounds pretty boring. Technical people, coders, web programmers, data crunchers, we use Reg Ex all the time. And what happens is that there's a little bit of hit and miss kind of programming going on to where we say, okay, well, I think it's this, but is it really? Should we start with word? Should we start with this? I want to be able to match this and I really don't know if that's going to hit or not. As you can see here that I want to actually match media temple, not just this one word media and then another word temple. So we may have to add in things like spaces, we may have to add other things in there. And so as I explore the expression, that's probably the best way. Hit or miss. That doesn't seem fair, but that really is what it is. But as we go through expressions, we have the ability to actually test it. And you can paste things in here. So usually what we'll do is we'll take a little bit of the data source and we'll paste it in here. And then we'll start exploring the expressions up here. So testing some of my skills. If we wanted to match this particular piece here, which is food.co.uk, what does that mean? Well, if I just type in the word foo here, is that going to give me everything? Well, you see, look, I matched foo at demo.net. I don't want that. I want to do foo and I want it to be period. Well, in reg x, period means any character. So I have to escape it. Then I want to do a co. Then I want to escape that again. And then I want to say UK. And you'll see here that there's an extra slash. So I may have to put that in there. We could even do something like this to be able to grab that entire link. So that's a way to do the expression. What I like about reg x, as you can see, it's live. It's free. It's easy to use. You can quickly paste things in there. There's a nice little reference card to be able to look at what things mean because we always forget being able to anchor word boundaries. Something that happens at the beginning of the line. So this would mean I want to do that same link. So if I copy this link, watch this example, if I copy this link and I put it in other places, it still matches. But I only want this first one. Well, what I can do is I can match it to the beginning of the line up here. So we have the match at the beginning, which would typically do that there. And so we're going to be able to match that. I don't know why that isn't matching at the beginning. But anyway, so then you have all of your anchors. The other nice thing about reg xr is that it has a community so that you can look at different examples. So as we go through here, like IP address, you would have never thought that this would have been a match. But take a look. So now we can match IP addresses and look at that huge regex. Now that is actually going to match valid IP addresses. And we've matched it. But guess what? If I put one, three, this, this, this, if I do 670, that's not a valid IP address. That's not going to match. This is something that's very useful. And again, with the community, I don't have to worry about this coming up with this expression on my own. It's into the community. You're able to go in there and see some other items out there. And the big thing too is you can put your data in there, play around the expression, look what works for you, and then bring it back to your coding and rest assured that it's actually going to work for you. There's other little pieces down at the bottom to where you can go in and take a look at the... This is a nice feature here is where it actually explains this. So you know what does this mean here? So B means it's a word boundary. Down here, character, we're going to match two characters. Down here, we're going to match a particular character set, 0 through 9. It gets complicated. But I tell you what, beautiful way to play around with the expressions. See that it matches. Again, tool we use all the time. Engineering uses it all the time. When we're getting into things, where we're trying to start getting into complicated expressions, we bring up Rejector. We use it. 2016, Definite Cool Tool Award. Dan, love it. So Rejector, why we love it. It helps Linux and other regular expressions and tax programmers basically help them create their shortcuts. Streamline their trivial testing, their copying, their pasting, matching, highlighting, all that stuff, free and online community driven. So we love that. Regexor.com is where to find out more. Mm-hmm. So with that, that concludes our little demo today. Coming up on February 17th at 11am east coast. We're going to preview what's next, Douglas? We are going to preview some cool products from HW Group. They are environmental, door contacts, humidity, amperage, light, wind. They do some really cool things. They've come out with some new units. They're just a lot of fun. And if you're techie and if you need to monitor those kinds of things, those kinds of environmental, those kinds of facilities, dry contacts, check it out. It's going to be a lot of fun. We're actually going to have the units in-house here. We're going to change the screens around so you're not looking at me but looking at this as we sort of do some fun techie unboxing. Check it out. Should be good. And we always love unboxing. All right. So in case you are not sure, TruthPath technologies, well if you haven't heard, they are US-based leading edge IT software and services company specializing in in-house services for new or existing IT monitoring software. You can see all these great logos here, including some of our friends in the telecom and tech industries that are utilizing TruthPath. And so thank you, Douglas, for all that you and your team do in terms of bandwidth and line quality monitoring and reporting. Thank you, viewers, for tuning in. And even after this, if you're watching it on demand, you have some questions or you have a cool tool that you want us to feature next time, go ahead and tweet at us and or use the hashtag the path to cool tools. Just a hand email jsa underscore TruthPath at jamesfatter.com. Thank you, Douglas, for your time and insight. You're welcome. Blown away by how agile and flexible you are. This is always fun. I love doing this. And thanks to everybody joining. We got our biggest crowd so far. Do we have any other questions or I don't know? Let's just check the question boards. Boards figured out now. Thank you, Jamie and Douglas. Thank you. We appreciate that. Thanks for joining. Have a wonderful, wonderful day, guys. Happy holidays and see you February for the next version of the next installation, if you will, of TruthPath cool tools webinar series. Thank you. All right. Bye, everyone.


The next item of business is First Minister's Questions. At question number one I call Douglas Ross. Thank you. Tomorrow and on Sunday we will pause to remember those who lost their lives fighting for our country. I know the whole chamber will want to show our respect to those who paid the ultimate sacrifice, defending our freedoms and those who continue to defend us and our allies around the world. Rwyf i'r wych, mae'n unig i'ch gwaith efo i ddechrau gwaith ynghylch yn Gwylfaith Ysgolwng NHS ar gyfer rhywfodol yn ei anodd. Felly mae'n fwyaf o ddoch, mae'n dweud ymlaen mwy o'r crisis yn y Gwylfaith Ysgolwng. Yn y rhaid, Hilary Nelson i'r rôl yng Nghylch yn ysgolwg, mae hi'n rhaid i gwaith ysgolwg, iawn i d時候au, rydym ni i ddarganiaeth gyda gael gwybod ddwyngol. Mae ddim yn yn、 gan gyflym yn iawn i ddim yn ddaeth ddwyngol, wrth nu, i gael eich cyfrodd. Felly rydw i bendurau ei wneud o'r ddwyngol, dywy yn gallu gweithredu y Prifysgwp hwn o'r ddeuniad bach o gwagoddiant ond mae'n ei ddaeth i wedi cael eich cychwynio. Unrhyw gwaith i fi nhw i ni i yw amddangos yn gyfagorau rhesymd i dydd o bryd o'r rydym yn gweithio'r mewn cyfleol i'ch gwaith. Rwy'n gweithio'n gweithio'n gyflwyno i chi'n feithio sydd y peirth i wneud i gael i fynd i'r gyfffyllwyr i'r ceirwyr i'r cyfleol i'r cyfleol i'r cyflym i'r cyffyll yn myfyrdd i gael i'r mark the sacrifice of individuals throughout all conflict. As we speak, my cabinet colleague Keith Brown, who is himself a distinguished veteran, is in the Falklands...on the fortieth anniversary of his active service in the Falkland Islands conflict. We remember the suffering of individuals, the sacrifices of their families and their loved ones and we contribute to those who continue to endure that suffering today for for the injuries that they have suffered and the experiences that they have had. There are many challenges in our health service and I recognise the concerns that are expressed by members of staff through the ballots that have taken place. There have been extensive negotiations that the health secretary and I have also been involved in to try to resolve the pay issues. We have put forward a record pay deal, which on average will offer members of staff a 7 per cent increase for those in the lowest of incomes and a 11 per cent increase, recognising the enormous contribution that is made to our society by health service staff and recognising the enormous cost of living pressures that are being wrestled with by members of staff. In addition to that contribution to resolve those issues, the health secretary has been actively involved in discussions to address some of the challenges within our health service, principally around the issue of delayed discharge, which we recognise to be one of the most significant factors in impeding the flow of patients through accident and emergency and to other aspects of the health service. It is then ideally to ensure that those individuals are supported appropriately within the community. There are of course challenges about the availability of members of staff to do that. We have record employment within the health service just now, but we also have vacancies and we have vacancies within social care, which of course has not been helped by the fact that we have lost free movement of citizens, which was helping us to deal with the issues that Mr Ross raises. I assure Mr Ross that, on all issues, the Government is entirely focused with very clear direction from the health secretary and with the active support of the First Minister and myself to make sure that we address the challenges that we face. That is the Scottish National Party's defence for what it is doing. Let's hear from nurses themselves. Don Marr from the Royal College of Nurses said this last night, that we have been in talks for months and months and months, and it has got to the point now where nursing staff are having to stand up not only for ourselves but for our patients as well because this Government is not listening. It is now beyond doubt that this health secretary has failed. Dr Peele, chair of BMA Scotland's junior doctors committee, said this week, right now it's been so awful for so long we are simply broken, overwhelmed, exhausted, with nothing left to give. As far as I can see, the NHS is collapsing around us. Staff are leaving in their droves to protect themselves. The facts confirm that our NHS is on its knees. This week's statistics revealed that the situation at accident and emergency departments is at its worst-ever levels. More patients are waiting longer than ever before. This is a new low, but it is the 14th time since Humza Yousaf became health secretary that waiting times have hit their worst-ever levels. Every time we think it can't get any worse under his leadership in the NHS it does. So, Deputy First Minister, surely you agree that this is a damning indictment of the health secretary's time in charge of Scotland's NHS. Always through the chair please, Deputy First Minister. Presiding Officer, what I accept is that there are very significant challenges in the national health service. There are very significant challenges in the national health service right across the United Kingdom. The point that Mr Ross makes about accident and emergency is an important point, but it has to be considered in its proper context. Although there are challenges in A&E in Scotland, we have the best performing A&E system in the United Kingdom. On the question of, do Governments listen, yes, this Government listens, that is why we have offered health service staff in Scotland the best pay deal of any system in the United Kingdom. On the question of the future of the national health service, resources are absolutely fundamental. That's why it is laughable for Douglas Ross to come here and raise these issues with me when only seven weeks ago he wanted me to cut tax in the folly taken forward by Liz Trust, who's been a damaged public investment in our health service. Douglas Ross John Swinney wants to consider the statistics and the facts in the round, so let's make sure he is speaking about the correct figures, because we know that there are reports from a whistleblower this week that many as 2,000 patients per month are being missed off of A&E waiting times in just one hospital in Scotland, so if you're going to come to this chamber and quote figures, make sure they are the correct figures, because, Deputy First Minister, this is the most serious of issues. Lives are on the line because this health secretary keeps failing to bring forward any solution. We've spoken to one lady this week who called an ambulance when she had a suspected heart attack. She waited for an hour for the ambulance to arrive. When it then got to hospital, they waited outside the hospital for three hours. When they got inside, they waited 36 hours to get a bed. Now, the lady involved in her family are full of praise for the staff, but this is clear. It was a suspected heart attack, and a tragedy has been avoided in this case. I know that every single MSP in this chamber, including those who clapped at the Deputy First Minister's response there, has cases like this coming from their area. Yet this morning, the health secretary, Hamza Yousaf, said, and this is a direct quote, our recovery plan is a five-year recovery plan. We are already seeing elements of recovery. Elements of recovery. What planet is he on? Deputy First Minister, can you tell this chamber? Can you tell patients? Can you tell staff in our NHS what are the elements of recovery within the NHS? I remind members to speak through the chair, please. In relation to the circumstances that Mr Ross recounts, of course it is of the deepest of concern that a member of the public has had to wait that long for the degree of access to an ambulance and accident emergency. I would say to Mr Ross that the median time for the arrival of ambulances is of the order of 45 minutes, so the circumstances that he is recounted are unacceptable. There is congestion in our A and E departments, which is caused by the volume of presentations at A and E, and also because of the obstacle created by the number of patients who are in hospital that should be discharged. That is a focal point of significant activity across Government to ensure that we reduce delayed discharges. Indeed, the health secretary and I spent a significant amount of our time yesterday in discussion with partners about practical steps to address that. In relation to the question of improvements in the national health service, the Government has invested £600 million in the winter resilience support package. We are helping to recruit 1,000 members of health and care staff to support staff in their activities, and we are investing £50 million in urgent and unscheduled care to help to improve A and E performance. In relation to the progress that has been made, Mr Ross should be familiar with the fact that the longer waits for treatment are reducing significantly in relation to the two-year position, which was one of the priorities that was set by the health secretary. I accept that there are challenges in the national health service, but I take this opportunity to pay tribute to the members of staff who are working phenomenally hard on the back of a pandemic that Mr Ross has never acknowledged in its significance. Can I ask members to remember that the code of conduct requires that we treat one another with courtesy and respect, and that means that we hear one another when we are speaking? I pay tribute to members of staff who are working phenomenally hard on the back of a pandemic that Mr Ross has never mentioned, which has put huge strain on our national health service, but they are doing their level best with the largest number of staff that is ever provided in the national health service by this Government to support the people of our country. I will always praise our NHS staff. I highlighted the case study that I used as an example where the family rightly praised our NHS staff, but John Swinney, like his boss, is using Covid as a deflection for his Government's failures. Karen Morrison from Forth Valley unison described the situation at Forth Valley Royal hospital as far worse than we had in the pandemic—a million times worse. Stop using that as an excuse for your failures and start dealing with things. From day one, we have said to John Swinney the SNP and this Government that Humza Yousaf's recovery plan was hopeless. It was flimsy, no detail and no substance. The SNP insisted that it would get Scotland's NHS back on track, but this is what their recovery plan has delivered. Record vacancies, the longest ever waiting times, patients struggling to see their GP, nurses voting to strike for the first time ever, and the worst A&E waiting time statistics on record. Scotland's NHS is in crisis. Whoever the SNP tried to blame, it is obvious that the man responsible is sitting right there next to the Deputy First Minister. Humza Yousaf has failed, and all he can do is spin that the SNP is in recovery when really it is at breaking point. Just how much worse does it have to get for patients and staff in Scotland before he takes responsibility? Deputy First Minister, Scotland's NHS deserves better than Humza Yousaf. When will this health secretary be sacked? Given the absolutely, totally chaotic turmoil of ministerial resignations and dismissals in the United Kingdom Government, what a lovable proposition to put to me this morning. I have been active in politics for many years. I remember a Parliament for a quarter of a century and you know when somebody has run out of road when they start playing the man and not the issue which is what Douglas Ross is doing just now. Yes, there are challenges in the national health service. Yes, there are challenges, but with a record payday on offer from the Scottish Government. I am being gesticulated at across the chamber. Members are shouting. I would be grateful if we could remember that as parliamentarians we have a duty and a duty to adhere to a code of conduct. That requires that we treat one another with courtesy and respect. I would ask all members to please remember that at all times. Let me just tell Douglas Ross the situation that we are facing and we are experiencing. We have the best payday on offer in the United Kingdom to health and care staff. We have the best record performance of any health system in the United Kingdom. We have record numbers of staff in the national health service. I will tell him what is not helping. What is not helping is the folly of Brexit, because Brexit has reduced the amount of staff available because of the loss of free movement. I will tell Douglas Ross what is also not helping.  As a consequence, public budgets are under enormous pressure. If Douglas Ross wants to make himself useful, he can ask the United Kingdom Government to increase the budget for the Scottish Government so that we can support the health service to a greater extent and start addressing the issues that face members of the public. Tomorrow is 11 November, and as we head towards Remembrance Sunday, we remember all those who have made the ultimate sacrifice in defence of our country. We also thank all those who have served and continue to serve our armed forces and pledge to support them, their families and their communities. We must never forget. For the first time in their history, the Royal College of Nursing has voted for strike action. This strike is not just about pay. Nurses have been underpaid, undervalued and under-resourced since long before the pandemic. This is the words of Julie Lamberth, the chair of RCN Scotland. The Scottish Government needs to face up to the reality that their failure to focus on workforce planning and to properly value those in health and social care over the last decade is the root cause of the staffing crisis that we face. The result of our strike ballot is a wake-up call that must not be ignored. Deputy First Minister, do you agree with Julie Lamberth and thousands of nurses across the country? First of all, let me associate myself again with the remarks of Mr Sarwar in relation to Remembrance Day. In relation to the situation in the national health service and the comments recounted from the Royal College of Nursing, let me first of all make it absolutely clear that the Government remains committed and willing to engage in dialogue and negotiation with the Royal College of Nursing and with the other affected and interested trade unions, as we have been doing for some considerable time and notwithstanding the decisions that have been made by the members of the RCN, we will continue that dialogue and I commit the Government to that today. In relation to workforce planning, we find ourselves in a position today where we have record staffing levels in the national health service. Those staffing levels have been the product of sustained investment by this Government despite the climate of austerity in which we have been operating for some considerable time. The Government will continue to sustain that investment and to ensure that we have adequate levels of staffing. The limitations on what the Government can do are firmly restricted by the financial context in which we are operating. The limitations of the pressures on the public finances by assuring Mr Sarwar and Parliament that the Government will do everything in our power to properly support the health service workforce and to ensure that we have adequate numbers of staff within our national health service. Let me start on a point of agreement. I agree that we are in the midst of an economic crisis, an inflation crisis that has been made by a rotant Tory Government at Westminster, and they should pay the price for that and they will pay the price for that come the next general election. The Deputy First Minister missed the point of what Julie Lamberth was saying, a decade of failure, a decade of not supporting, long before the last seven weeks of this economic crisis and even before the pandemic and even before Brexit. Still, this Government gives the same old platitude about more numbers when we have record vacancies in the NHS under this Government's watch. This action is as much for patients as it is for nurses. Nurses have been warning for years that staff shortages risk patient safety. Let's look at just one health word, Greater Glasgow and Clyde. In just one year, they reported 216 investigations into significant adverse events. Those are events that the quote could have caused or did result in harm to people or groups of people. Among the top reasons for why they happened are workload, staffing levels and delays in referral and treatment. The same report reveals that sick people died due to these unintended incidents. The Deputy First Minister and nurses are saying that a lack of resources is putting patients at risk. Lives are being lost and health boards are reporting the consequences, yet this Government's failure to workforce plan means 6,000 nursing and midwifery vacancies. Why have you let it come to this? Mr Sarwar's comments are not borne out by the evidence that I have marshaled in my answers today. I am addressing the questions from Mr Sarwar. Mr Sarwar has raised with me the issues about workforce planning. We find ourselves today with record levels of staffing in our national health service. If that is not a product of workforce planning that has been designed to boost recruitment levels—we have seen over the past 10 years—an increase in nursing and student midwifery admissions over the course of that 10-year period as a consequence of the investment that the Government has made. We also have an increase in the number of consultants that are operating within the national health service. In Scotland we have 8.3 qualified nurses and midwives per 1,000 population compared to six in England. All that comparative data shows Scotland to be in a better and a stronger position. What I do not think helps the situation is the comments that were made at the weekend by the leader of the United Kingdom Labour Party, who said, I think that we are recruiting too many people from overseas into, for example, the health service. I listened to those comments with incredulity because what is hampering us in the national health service is the Brexit that was inflicted on us by the Conservatives and ending free movement of individuals that has lost members of staff from our national health service. We need to reverse that. We need to have an approach that is open to migration so that we can boost the recruitment into our national health service, and the comments from Keir Starmer are a disastrous signal to give to hard-working members of staff. Let me address that final point. I have led a cross-party campaign in this Parliament against racial and religious prejudice, so no one should miscategorise my position or the position of my party. People might want to heckle, but they should listen. Thank you. We will hear Mr Sarwar. Let me be clear. Migrants play an invaluable part in our NHS and they always have done and they always would do. I would also say that people who come and work in our NHS are not migrants, they are equal Scots just like the rest of us, but that should not stop us having an incredible workforce plan that means that we train more doctors and nurses here. The First Minister has rightly been calling in the last few days for more action on loss and damage on climate change, so we should not pretend that taking nurses and doctors from developing countries does not cause loss and damage to healthcare systems in those countries. Let's not create a climate of fear, let's not change and play on that rhetoric that is beneath the Deputy First Minister and let's actually talk about what is happening here right now in the SNP's watch. I also listened to the answer that the Deputy First Minister gave. His head is frankly in the sand. If it's so good, if it's so rosy, why are they striking for the strike action for the first time in their history? Nurses have been crying out for years about the problems long before the pandemic and let's not forget, these were the staff who kept going even when their lives were at risk from a deadly virus, but they are now being forced into action to try and save their patient's lives. Week after week tragic stories come to this Parliament and week after week we get the same old excuses. This health secretary and this Government are clearly out of their depth. After 15 years in Government, 750,000 Scots on an NHS waiting list, the worst ever waits at A&E and now the Royal College of Nursing going on strike for the first time in their history. Does the Deputy First Minister accept that our NHS has not faced a crisis like this in its history, that it's the worst it's ever been and it's all happening on the SNP's watch? First of all, I think I touched a very raw nerve with my comments about Kia Stammer because anyone looking at my track record of all my public service will find that I have always always been on the side of openness and about welcoming people from other countries into our society. The point that I'm making to Anna Sauer is that our ability to recruit staff, our ability to provide the necessary means by which people can work in our national health service have been totally undermined by Brexit and the Conservative Government and Kia Stammer by his comments at the weekend and by his hostility to addressing any issues about migration is simply taking the same line as the Tories and that is an absolute disgrace. Let me say that any international recruitment undertaken by the Scottish Government is done through an ethical route and we do not actively recruit from any of the World Health Organization's red list countries in relation to recruitment of staff. Lastly, I have acknowledged this afternoon as my colleagues have done on other occasions that there are huge pressures in the national health service. They are because we have had a pandemic, it is because we are recovering from that pandemic and we are experiencing enormous strain in the process of so doing. In that sense, I accept the points that Mr Sauer is raising about the seriousness of the situation that we are facing. Let me tell Mr Sauer this, the Scottish Government is absolutely focused on giving the necessary leadership and resourcing to addressing those circumstances and we will continue to do so and by the reactions and the support of people in Scotland over successive elections, the people of Scotland are supportive of the work that we undertake. I am going to move to question 3 and take supplementaries at the end. In order to reach those supplementaries, I would ask that we have short and concise questions and responses to match. I call Maggie Chapman, question 3. To ask the Deputy First Minister what action the Scottish Government is taking to mitigate the impact and prevalence of fires in Scotland caused by accelerating climate change, such as those seen during the high temperatures last summer. The climate change is identified as a strategic priority in the Scottish Government's 2022 fire framework. It requires the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service to invest in the provision of specialist resources and technological advancements along with prevention activity and public awareness to enhance its response to increased flooding and wildfires associated with climate change. The Government is responding to the full range of climate risks identified for Scotland through its 2019 adaptation programme, which sets out more than 170 policies and proposals to build resilience to the impacts of global climate change as part of our just transition to net zero emissions by 2045. We are preparing our next programme in response to the most recent UK climate change risk assessment for publication in 2024. I thank the Deputy First Minister for that response. In spring and summer this year, we were repeatedly warned of extreme wildfires across Scotland. We saw blazers spread rapidly through urban areas in England. Research shows that firefighters come into regular contact with carcinogenic combustion products. They have high risks of cancer and get those cancers earlier in life than the general population. In fact, the World Health Organization recently classified firefighting as a carcinogenic profession. We clearly have a responsibility to ensure that our firefighters who tackle those blazers are safe. Can I ask the Deputy First Minister what the Scottish Government is doing to ensure that our firefighters do have the equipment that they need to keep themselves safe, what plans are in place to ensure that fire stations have the necessary decontamination equipment and whether the Scottish Government will consider routine health screening for firefighters to catch any illnesses as early as possible? There is a range of points in the questions posted to me by Maggie Chapman, which are properly operational matters for the chief fire officer and the SFRS board in allocating the £352.7 million of budget provision that we make available to them, which looks at the whole range of improvements and enhancements that have to be made in the fire and rescue service. I am aware that the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service contaminants group is taking action across all aspects of operations to reduce exposure to harmful contaminants. I understand also that that group met Professor Anna Steck of the University of Central Lancashire to hear directly of the important research work that she is undertaking in relation to those questions and to offer SFRS co-operation on that work. Thank you. Before we take a supplementary question, can I remind members that supplementary questions should be brief and should not consist of multiple questions? I call Siobhan Brown. Can I ask the Deputy First Minister what measures are in place to protect Scotland from any potential risks to cyber security? Cyber resilience underpins everything that we deliver as a Government and is crucial to fully realise Scotland's digital ambitions. Cyber security policy is reserved. However, in recent years, we have worked steadily with key partners to build Scotland's cyber resilience. In 2021, we have published the strategic framework for a cyber resilience Scotland, which sets out a vision for a digitally secure and resilient Scotland, and builds upon our initial strategy that was published in 2015. I thank the Deputy First Minister for that answer. Cyber security is flourishing in Scotland with the first Cyber Scotland summit taking place just a few weeks ago, and Edinburgh aiming towards becoming the data capital of Europe. Can I ask the Deputy First Minister what we are going to do to continue this positive path through building cyber resilience in the public sector? The Scottish Government has been working directly with public bodies to improve its cyber resilience, and through the roll-out of the public sector cyber resilience framework, more and more public sector bodies are regularly testing their incident management and business continuity plans. That can only help to improve their resistance to cyber attacks. We are also progressing with the establishment of the Scottish Cyber Coordination Centre, which draws together the work of Police Scotland, the National Cyber Security Centre and other organisations to enhance Scotland's ability to prepare for and to respond to cyber incidents. Can I ask the Deputy First Minister if the Scottish Government will now commission a full independent inquiry into the medical negligence of the former LGML Professor at NHS Tayside and the related governance issues, given that more and more patients are coming forward to tell their horrific stories? I am sorry, Deputy First Minister. This is not a supplementary to this particular question. We may have time to come back to general constituency supplementaries at the end of this session. To ask the Deputy First Minister what the Scottish Government's response is to the reported comments by Highlands and Islands Enterprise that cheaper air travel for business passengers could help to strengthen the viability of island routes. We recognise that reliable and affordable transport to and from our islands helps to maintain thriving communities and local economies. That is why we provide significant funding to make air travel to our remote communities, including islands that are more affordable. This year, we have allocated £77 million to support air services in the Highlands and Islands. That includes funding to Hyal to maintain their airports and the air discount scheme, which provides island residents with a 50 per cent discount on fares to and from the mainland. It also includes subsidy for the air services from Glasgow to Campbelltown, Tiree and Barra. I thank the Deputy First Minister for that answer. We know things are bad when a Scottish Government agency speaks of people moving away from the islands because the links are so poor, but at least Highlands and Islands Enterprise understand the desperation of islanders, so much so that they are giving £15,000 to some of them to look into how to run their own ferry services. HIE say that many island businesses rely on planes to get them on and off the islands, and that is largely because the ferries are so unreliable, so cheaper airfares for businesses will bolster vital air routes. HIE also say that better links for everyone will help to stop depopulation. They point to chronic issues around the West Coast ferry fleet and a need to help island councils who run their own services to replace their own fleets. Will the Government do anything more about airfares? Will it help the councils to fund new ferries? When will the Government pull its finger out, tell us how it wants to run ferries in the future and set out a proper ferry replacement plan? As I said to my original answer, the Government is significantly funding the air services in the Highlands and Islands to the tune of £77 million. If Mr Simpson is making an argument for more money to be spent on this, it is a bit rich since seven weeks ago the Conservatives were asking me to reduce taxes, which would have come at the expense of public expenditure. No amount of agitated explanations from Rachel Hamilton is going to defer from my course to point out that the Conservatives come to this chamber with absolutely hypocritical propositions about lowering taxing and increasing spending at the same time. On the question of public expenditure for ferries, about 10 years ago the Government was spending £139 million annually on ferry services. We are now spending £315 million on ferry services and expanding the routes and the services that people can rely upon. Liam McArthur In 2011, SNP ministers removed island businesses from the air discount scheme with no prior consultation. Ministers desperately tried to blame the EU, which was still being used as an SNP bogeyman back in 2011, but they eventually admitted that it was a cost-cutting measure. Given the assessment of HIE, which backs early analysis by Hytrans, showing that the ADS cut negatively impacted staff productivity, turnover and operating costs, will the Government now reverse the cut and allow businesses in the highlands and islands the chance to compete on a level plane? The Government makes substantial investments in the hands and hands of the air network, as I have set out. £77 million is what is being spent to support that network. Obviously, the Government will engage constructively with local communities, as I and other ministers do on a constant basis, but we have to make choices about the availability of resources and concentrate those resources in the most effective way to ensure that we support island communities. As I announced just in the emergency budget review last week, we are putting additional financial support into island communities to support the recovery from Covid. To ask the First Minister what urgent steps are being taken to ensure safe staffing across NHS, in light of recent reports of staff shortages, potentially contributing to patient death? The Scottish Government is taking a number of measures to ensure safe staffing across the national health service. That includes providing funding to health boards to support the recruitment of additional staff, measures to make it easier to retain and rehire experienced staff and measures to improve health system flow, timely discharge from hospital and to improve patient safety. I thank the Deputy First Minister for that answer, but today's smokescreen excuses of Brexit and Covid don't wash. The Deputy First Minister would do well to listen to the former CEO of NHS Scotland, Professor Paul Gray, who has stated that her NHS was going to be overwhelmed regardless of Covid. His excuses do not explain why the First Minister slashed training places for nurses in midwives back in 2012 when she was health secretary. They do not explain why the Scottish Government missed its own target of recruiting 700 new student nurses this year, and they do not explain why, for the first time in history, nurses have voted overwhelmingly in favour of strike action. A dispute not just about pay, but about better working conditions and higher standards on wards. The responsibility for the situation lies at the door of the Government and the failing health secretary. Two people have died at the Queen Elizabeth university hospital in only one month this summer, with their deaths linked to short staffing. Our health service is on its knees due to this Government's incompetence. When will the Deputy First Minister commit to an investigation urgently into those two deaths? When will he give a commitment to get a grip on safe staffing and ensure that all of our staff, hardworking, are supported with dignity and respect? I regret to any loss of life and questions about the investigation of individual deaths are not a matter for me, they are a matter for the Crown should it decide to do so. I think that Mr O'Kane does a disservice to this topic by brushing aside the implications of Brexit and Covid. We have got to live in the real world about the pressures that are rising out of the implications of the pandemic and the significant loss of access to staff that have come about as a consequence of Brexit. The Government is investing significantly to create a position where we have record numbers of staff in the national health service, where we are working to reduce the lead discharge because that is one of the identifiable ways of improving performance in the health service and in ensuring patient safety, and those efforts will continue to be the focus of intervention by Scottish ministers. I have been contacted by constituents in receipt of disability benefits. They are worried and alarmed over the comments of the UK Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, Mel Stride, who has refused to relate means testing of disability benefits for claimants elsewhere in the UK. I therefore ask the Deputy First Minister to offer his reassurances to those in receipt of such benefits here in Scotland that means testing will not be introduced here in Scotland and can he consider how either Social Security Scotland or the Scottish Government can reach out directly to Scottish claimants who are worried to get that message out loud and clear. As Mr Doris will know, when the legislation was put through Parliament to establish Social Security Scotland and to handle the benefits that are now the responsibility of the Scottish Government, we legislated for dignity and compassion and respect to underpin the approach that we would take to the exercise of our responsibilities in relation to social security. I assure Mr Doris and Parliament that those values will underpin all the actions of Social Security Scotland. We will communicate those widely because those are the foundations for any decent and respectful social security system. Will Smith? Thank you for the second opportunity. Can I ask the Deputy First Minister if I could ask him whether the Scottish Government will now commission a full independent inquiry into the medical negligence of Professor Eljamail, the former disgraced surgeon at NHS Tayside, and the governance issues, given that more and more patients are coming forward with their horrific stories about what happened to them. First of all, I recognise the seriousness of the issue that Liz Smith raises with me today, and I express my regret to anybody who has suffered as a consequence of the practice of Professor Eljamail. The health secretary, as Liz Smith will know, has already met her to discuss the issue, and he has also met some of those affected by the actions of Professor Eljamail. As Liz Smith will know, NHS Tayside commissioned a review from the Royal College of Surgeons into the practice of Professor Eljamail. Those are professional issues that affected his clinical practice and, obviously, restricted Professor Eljamail's clinical responsibilities as a consequence. The health secretary has made it clear to NHS Tayside that he expects them to meet those who are affected, and we are possible to answer any questions that remain unanswered, given the fact that those issues have been thoroughly examined by the Royal College of Surgeons at the request of NHS Tayside already. Deputy First Minister, the results of the Scottish Health Survey, which was published earlier this week, highlight, and I quote from the summary report, average levels of mental wellbeing were lower in 2021 than in 2019. The survey highlights that experience of depression, anxiety, attempted suicide and self-harm were more common in the most deprived areas. Those figures highlight that the Scottish Government's failure to address the root causes of mental health difficulties is having a direct and detrimental impact on the mental health and wellbeing of the Scottish population, and, importantly, failing to address the health inequalities that impact the most vulnerable in our society. Can the Deputy First Minister outline clearly how the Scottish Government across Government portfolios plans to improve mental wellbeing in Scotland, and will he set out a timescale for ministers to report back on how the Scottish Government will eradicate the health inequalities that are deepening divisions in communities across my south of Scotland region and beyond? The Government takes forward a range of different measures to tackle the issue of health inequalities in all of our communities, whether that is the work that we take forward in relation to the eradication of child poverty, which is captured in the child poverty delivery plan that Parliament considered earlier on this year, which has at its heart the addressing of some of the fundamental issues that Carl Mocken puts to me. That is supplemented by the work that is undertaken to tackle and address addiction within our communities, whether that is drug addiction or alcohol addiction, with the various measures that are put in place in that respect. The Government has achieved the objectives of the recruitment of staff in relation to the provision of counselling services both within our schools and within the wider community as a consequence of the projects and priorities that we set out. I acknowledge the importance of those issues, and I assure Carl Mocken of the commitment of the Government right across a range of portfolios to address those issues, because the questions of health inequalities are directly connected to questions of poverty and wider inequality in our society, and the Government's agenda is determined to address those questions. As the Tory-made cost of living crisis soars, it will sadly come as little surprise that the Trussell Trust have today said that it has recorded its busiest period ever between April and September 2022, distributing around 116,000 parcels in Scotland. Does the Deputy First Minister believe that an increasing reliance on not only food banks but now even warm banks is illustrative of a Westminster system that is not working for people across Scotland? I do agree with the point that Natalie Dawn puts to me. I do agree with Natalie Dawn, and my principal ally in providing me with material to support that position is none other than the chairman of the Scottish Conservative Party. Mr Craig Hoy said that Liz Truss made the wrong decision in going for growth in the way that she did, and I think that there is a price tag attached to that. I think that we have to be realistic about the consequences of that, which may be tax cuts or public spending cuts. The only bit that I disagree with Mr Hoy about is that I do not think that it will just be tax cuts or public spending cuts. I suspect that it will be both.  That would have inflicted misery on the public in Scotland, coupled to its inaction over the summer on energy costs. The Tories are responsible for the cost of living crisis, and they should pay a price for it. For over two years, women in Fife with endometriosis have had no access to a dedicated specialist gynaecology department since the closure of the ward at the Victoria hospital. Constituents have informed me that, as a result, patients are being admitted into a section of the maternity ward, leading to an appalling situation where women who have just suffered a miscarriage are separated from women nursing newborn children with nothing more than a curtain. The Deputy First Minister will be aware that it takes on average eight years for endometriosis to be diagnosed with women living in severe pain, suffering with excess bleeding and put on painkillers for excessive periods of time and needing surgery. I ask the chair if the Deputy First Minister when will the vital services at the Victoria hospital be reinstated so that those women can get access to the care that they so desperately need? I understand the point that has been made to me by Ros McAll, and I assure her that the challenges that will be faced on service provision around the country where there is a high degree of specialism involved in some of that care can be affected by movement of staff around the country in various other circumstances. Obviously, the health service works as hard as possible to minimise any disruption of that care. I recognise the seriousness of the point that she puts to me. I would say that one of the initial priorities of the women's health plan is to improve access for women to appropriate support, diagnosis and the best treatment for endometriosis, and to improve the care pathways that are involved. The Government will focus on those particular issues, and I will look specifically at the issues about NHS Fife that she raises with me today. A catastrophic blunder at Remfrewshire Council means that the newly built Dargaville primary school is half the size that needs to be built. For a capacity of around 450 pupils, the estimated role is set to be 1,100 children. I promised a new school now to face learning in Port of Cabins. Parents are appalled and have lost confidence in Remfrewshire Council. That mistake will cost millions of pounds from Remfrewshire's already squeezed education budget, a colossal waste. I ask the Deputy First Minister to meet with me and parents to discuss what solutions can be provided for local children now, to make sure that there is accountability for what has gone wrong here, and to ensure that no other child in Remfrewshire loses out from any resulting shortfall in school budgets. It is obviously a matter of concern when issues of this take their course. Of course, the points that Mr Bibby raises with me come against the backdrop of widespread improvements in the school estate across the whole of Scotland. When this Government came to office, 63 per cent of children were being educated in good or satisfactory buildings. That is now in excess of 90 per cent as a consequence of the investment that the Government has made. There is an individual problem that he is raising with me about this school, but the general position in Scotland is of an improving nature of the school estate. I will happily meet Mr Bibby and his constituents to consider the issues that he raises with me, but I encourage him to recognise that issues of this type can emerge in the planning of individual projects, but that against the backdrop of sustained investment by this Government, the quality of the school estate is improving around the country. I seek your guidance on the procedures surrounding the correcting of the official report. Yesterday, it was revealed by the think tank of these islands that a key Government statistic is false. It is a claim that will be familiar to every single MSP in this chamber, that Scotland has 25 per cent of Europe's potential offshore wind resource. Over the years, that has been referenced countless times both inside and outside this Parliament by SNP ministers and MSPs. In this chamber, it includes excessive environment secretaries such as First Minister Alex Salmond and Deputy First Minister John Swinney. The current First Minister, the constitution secretary and net zero secretary have all made the claim to other audiences. It was reheated just yesterday by Green Environment Minister Lorna Slater in the Edinburgh evening news, but it is a statistic that has now been proven to be false. A bogus analysis of a mixture of reports dating all the way back to 1993, when the technology was in its infancy and using a definition of Europe that excluded renewable powerhouses like Sweden, Norway and Finland. It was not the case that it was accurate in 2010, as the spokesperson claimed this week. It was never accurate. Several servants have been privately warning against its use for at least two years. Warning has, I quote, never been properly sourced and that these figures have, I quote, recycled robotically without really checking them. The true figure for Scotland's share of offshore wind potential is thought to be around just 5 per cent, yet still the 25 per cent claim appeared in the finance secretary's national strategy for economic transformation this March. Again, multiple times in the SNP-led debate on independence in the House of Commons last week from SNP leader Ian Blackford, Ronny Ciaran, Christian Allwood. I cannot recall a comparable situation where a completely fictitious statistic has been relied on so often and so widely. That matters because the Scottish Government has put that claim at the heart of the debates around Scotland's energy security on independence and our meeting our climate targets. I fully support the expansion of Scotland's renewable sector, and I desperately want to see Scotland fulfil our renewable potential. The strong case for that is not helped when the figures used by the Scottish Government leave it open to charge of misleading and misrepresenting. I seek your guidance on how the official report should be corrected in all of the circumstances, where there has been a pattern of misinformation dating back over a decade, leaving bogus claims littered across the transcripts of the numerous sittings of this Parliament. Can I ask whether any members of the Scottish Government have approached you, Presiding Officer, about making a statement to correct those records, given the provisions of 0.5 of the guidance on corrections of inaccuracies in information provided in parliamentary proceedings? I thank Mr Cole-Hamilton for his point of order. It is, of course, a matter of courtesy and respect that members ensure that contributions are accurate. It is the responsibility of the member to ensure that contributions and proceedings are accurate. However, in the event that a member becomes aware that they have provided inaccurate information, they can seek to make use of the corrections mechanism within 20 working days of the publication of the original official report. The mechanism sets out what the Parliament has agreed are the appropriate steps to make other members aware that a correction has been made. Corrections are also highlighted in the Business Bulletin and on the Parliament's website. They are published there, too, to ensure transparency. The corrections procedure allows members to seek to make a statement to the Parliament if they realise that a significant error has been made. The decision on whether or not to seek to make such a statement is a matter for the member, and no request has been made to me on that point.


You'll know your body Let's say you make up some Sausage right and you say I haven't had sausage and peppers in a while And you eat the onions and the peppers and all of a sudden you feel funny same thing goes with salad Hey, I haven't had a salad in a while. This is pretty harmless in low carb. You eat some some I don't even know the names of the salad anymore. What was that? Whatever green I can't remember what it was anymore Nice a bit like a spicy peppery lettuce. I haven't eaten it so long But you'd eat a salad and then you would feel doubled over a little bit So you know when you're doing it right that means that you haven't introduced Any bad foods for a long period of time and this way when they do find their way back into your System it tells you that it's right or wrong and like for instance. I had some snap peas. I guess they're called or Snow peas I sauteed them in some coconut oil and put a little garlic powder and salt on it I ate some of those and it did not affect my body I don't know what it what the carb level was but it certainly didn't screw me up And I think those passed the test So you know you're doing low carb right when you do eat the bad thing and it hurts or you feel bad You know, you're not doing it right if you if your blood sugar is like you're not in ketosis and those foods that Should hurt you don't hurt. That means you're probably already hurting in some degree and you've kind of numbed yourself From the pain or I can't identify it. So Get to that point where bad foods hurt and that's it hit the like and subscribe. I'll see you next video


Back in February the intercept published a really insightful piece by Ryan Grimm Which I'm sure you all have read by now where he talks about how the top a to Nancy Pelosi a gentleman named Wendell Premis Assured health industry executives from Blue Cross Blue Shield behind closed doors That they have nothing to worry about when it comes to Medicare for all because presumably They're gonna stop that momentum before it really starts to take hold and there's already a lot of momentum But just the fact that they would be presumably Conspiring to crush this movement behind closed doors the fact that the highest ranking Democrats top aid would be in cahoots With health industry executives It was completely outrageous and people were mad about this and rightfully so But thankfully someone who's a true advocate for Medicare for all is on our side and decided to confront Wendell About him assuring Blue Cross Blue Shield executives that they don't have to worry about Medicare for all because in reality They do the momentum that you see for this It's not gonna die down because we've never had this much momentum I don't think for Medicare for all so if we stop now We would be moron so we're not gonna do that and I think Primula Jayapal knows that now for those of you Who don't know Primula Jayapal is the new co-sponsor or the new sponsor rather of the house's Medicare for all Act and it is absolutely phenomenal I had my doubts at first because it seemed like she was being relatively Standoffish and she was drafting it behind closed doors and didn't want to Allow advocates a lot of input, but that all changed she listened to people and it's a really phenomenal bill It's incredibly strong and what I like is that Bernie Sanders has I believe pledged to Reintroduce his version in the Senate that matches her bill. So I love her bill. I love that. She's an advocate She really did prove herself and now she's proving herself yet again because she reportedly confronted Wendell Primus and Basically told him Why would you tell health industry executives that they don't have to worry about Medicare for all? What's your goal here? Are you trying to undermine this movement? So as Adam can grant of political reports congressional progressive caucus co-chair Pramila Jayapal on Tuesday Confronted a top aide to speaker Nancy Pelosi expressing frustration over his private dismissals of Medicare for all legislation Jayapal a lead author of the plan HR 1384 told Wendell Primus who serves as Pelosi senior health policy advisor that she did not Appreciate what she perceived as his efforts to undermine lawmakers bills Jayapal pressed him to explain reports that he made disdainful remarks about the proposal in separate meetings with health policy researchers and insurance executives I made it clear that I was not happy Jayapal said following a previously scheduled caucus meeting with Primus I think it's really inappropriate for staff representing the speaker's office to be undercutting members of our caucus During the meeting Primus told progressive members that his remarks were mischaracterized and that Medicare for all was just a small part of his November discussion with health policy groups according to Jayapal He did not apologize multiple congressional progressive caucus members told Politico though. No apology was explicitly sought I would say it was pretty unapologetic representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said of Primus's response during the closed-door session I think it's concerning Primus was pressed on other topics including drug pricing during the meeting But Jayapal specifically challenged Primus over Medicare for all pointing the copies of slides that he presented to Blue Cross Blue Shield Executives laying out concerns with single-payer health care. I wasn't particularly convinced by his answers Jayapal said we took some things out of the slides and said these are some of the things you said It's not a matter of perception So not only is this brave, but I think what she's doing is savvy because she's using his own words against him because of course If you were going to confront him He just squirmed and tried to deflect because this was a meeting that took place Behind closed doors. We only heard about second-hand accounts So nobody was there who took issue with this, right? But what she did was she took out the slides that he presented and used his own words against him and that is absolutely Brilliant so do I believe him absolutely not and it seems like members of the Congressional Progressive Caucus don't believe him as well He's unapologetic and clearly he's trying to undermine our efforts. I'm glad that they confronted him about this But the problem is Nancy Pelosi has got to get rid of this guy You can't have this guy as your top aide either demote him or fire him because someone who is in cahoots colluding with health industry executives to undermine our fight for Medicare for all that is Corruption that obviously poses a conflict of interest. It's overtly corrupt. There may be no quid pro quo But obviously what you're doing here poses a conflict of interest and I can't see how this is an unnational scandal Now the one thing that kind of bothered me about this is that Pramila Jayapal She made it clear that her argument isn't necessarily about Nancy Pelosi and her criticism of Nancy Pelosi's aid William Primus in no way should determine how she feels about Nancy Pelosi I'm paraphrasing but for the most part that was the sentiment and look you've got a hammer Nancy Pelosi She is a conservative. She's conservative on this issue If you are going to be to the right of The UK's Prime Minister who's in the conservative party on the issue of healthcare. You're no progressive You're just flat out conservative Now if you want to say she's a progressive in other areas that she was great when it comes to LGBTQ rights a hundred years ago Great, but on this issue. She's conservative and she's part of the problem too. Hey to break it to you, but she is So I'm glad that Pramila Jayapal and really other members of the Congressional Progressive Caucus They have the courage to confront Nancy Pelosi's top aid because you've got to understand that this could lead to Unintended consequences he could complain to Nancy Pelosi about the progressives getting too rowdy and then she could choose to penalize them in some way Now would she go as far as to strip them of their committee assignments? I don't think she'd go that far, but there are other ways that she could Marginalize them and really undermine their agenda and she could basically Stop this Medicare for all debate in its tracks I mean, we're finally getting hearings for Medicare for all and that was one of her concessions as if that's Well, it's such a big concession, but I mean nevertheless She can still do things to make their lives miserable So it is really brave that they're kind of putting their necks on the line here and saying look the fact that you did this The fact that you assured Blue Cross Blue Shield executives that you're gonna stop Medicare for all Maybe not in those exact words, but you're kind of giving them the wink and the nod that that's what you will do It's downright morally reprehensible because these are companies that profit off of ripping off people They don't care about delivery of health care. They care about delivery of profits to their pockets They care about their wallets. So that's why we need Medicare for all because if health care is free at the point of service then We're more concerned with health care itself as a goal Not profits and this is what these health insurance companies do So for any candidate who is hedging on whether or not we should get rid of these health insurance companies Understand something. They're not serious about Medicare for all It's why Bernie Sanders is the only candidate who is serious about Medicare for all No other candidate in the 2020 race is as serious about it as Bernie Sanders You can say that I'm being unfair, but facts are facts and Until other candidates start unequivocally calling for these health insurance companies to go away I'm not gonna take them seriously because if you want Medicare for all then obviously the goal is to get these health insurance companies To go out of business. That's the goal. You're not gonna explicitly ban them via legislation You're not gonna codify a law that says health companies are illegal But you are going to make our own Single-payer Medicare for all type systems so good that you don't need them that they go out of business And sure you can still have supplemental care if somebody wants a cosmetic procedure If you want to get like a nose job or something that doesn't actually Have anything to do with your personal health and well-being you can have health care companies for instances like that But by and large if your goal is not to do away with the health insurance companies You're just not serious about Medicare for all Bernie's the one candidate So if you support Medicare for all if this is your number one issue Bernie's got to be your guy now I don't want to flip this about Bernie when it's supposed to be about Pramila Jayapal because by and large What she did here was courageous what AOC did here was also courageous But she kind of led the charge here But this does get to the point of if we truly do want Medicare for all We've got to get people in the leadership who support it Barney Sanders obviously would be the person Who would fight for it Nancy Pelosi would not and has not been fighting for it. So, you know If you want to get the policies you've got to change People in the positions of power who just are trying to fight tooth and nail for these policies because quite frankly They're corrupt They're corporate pawns as Nancy Pelosi would say herself


Our next person giving testimony is a dear friend of mine, Rick Fellows. He has been a caravan driver and mechanic for many Latin American indigenous environmental, social, and economic justice solidarity caravans. He's a media activist, researcher of underreported news and analysis, critic of corporate power and global trade agreements, an alternative energy and appropriate technology researcher and advocate. He has worked in Cuba, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Honduras, and Mexico between 1988 and 2011 with IFCO, Pastors for Peace, and other organizations. Your testimony, Rick. Am I unmuted? Yep. Oh boy. Yeah, I guess I've been having a little trouble hearing some of the audio, so I don't know what's been said. But I'm talking about fascism and the reality of fascism. I think Mussolini said that corporations, that corporatism was pretty much the same thing as fascism. And I think that we need to go back to looking at corporations and how much power they've gained since World War Two where really German corporations operated in the United States under proxy boards and US corporations operated in Germany profiting off of that war under proxy German boards for the duration of the war. So IBM was critical to data processing for figuring out who was going to which death camp and how to take the property away systematically using punch card operations and a lot of things can kind of go back to that and then in 1947 the New York Times was lamenting that the most powerful corporations in the world coming out of World War Two were likely to be corporations that had run and profited off of death camps in Nazi Germany. So, you know, we've had hearings of Nazi leaders and, you know, chasing down Nazi war criminals, but the reality is that, you know, I used to read covert action quarterly regularly and there was pretty good documentation I remember that some of the first operations of the CIA were to ship Nazi war criminals to Latin America and to get the Vatican to give them church papers so that they could show up in a number of different countries in Latin America wearing church collars and that, you know, meantime, I think in the first years of the CIA, they were flipping governments this way and that and establishing national security states and I think we know that some of these national security states had Nazi war criminals as advisors. So, and in the context of World War Two, the whole world got gifted this idea of, you know, that we're going to live with a nuclear bomb forever, and that, you know, we all have to live with the idea that we could be vaporized in an instant. And corporations have been a part of that, that it's given a lot of impetus to have a national security apparatus that doesn't have to tell the truth to the American public, the press, or even to Congress. And that a lot of it is kind of about protecting corporate power and they make a lot of money off war production and, you know, the Cold War. It kind of needed to be created. I haven't found a lot on this, but there is a fantastic book by Gerard Colby and Charlotte then it called I will be done about evangelism and missionaries being used in indigenous areas of Latin America as a sort of a front line to penetrate, but he talked about how Nelson Rockefeller was involved in under Eisenhower sort of crafting the Cold War and his position. He had a powerful position under Eisenhower restructuring the federal government. But I do think that the Cold War was crafted that they would provoke incidents and create situations and try to get the Soviet Union to over respond in their defense. And that was the intense fear that the Soviet Union have had of hostile governments being put in on its periphery. And when they did overreact they got years of, you know, fear mongering propaganda in the US to try to make it out that the Soviet Union was a threat to the world and, you know, downplay the fact that the US had cut them off of warm water ports and trade routes and technology and ring to them with hostile military bases, putting missile launchers in Turkey and Korea, you know, that we didn't really have. I mean we had the Cuban missile crisis but we never had the feeling that the Soviets might have had like if we had nuclear missiles being installed in Mexico and Canada. You know, so I think we've been looking at the world through a one way mirror and that corporations have been riding their way to kind of a future where corporations are the main dominating factor in world affairs that, you know, everywhere you go it's the same corporations. And we know our political system in the United States is bought and sold like both parties are controlled by corporation corporate money that citizens United decision open the floodgate to where we already had a severe problem.  They live forever they've got all the rights of people except the right to eventually die of old age. So I don't know I guess that's what I wanted to kind of. I guess I have seven minutes and I know that can go fast. But I wanted to kind of focus. My time on like trying to send her back to corporations and that we need to struggle against corporate power and you know it was a real big shot heard around the world when when all the people blocked to the delegates from getting into the WTO meetings in Seattle here. And that we need to get back to figuring out how we're going to take on the corporate beast and figure out how we can have a more democratic future, have a public that isn't exclusively informed by corporate dominated media. Thank you, Rick, can you hear me. Yep. Okay, thank you very much. Our day. Yes, thank you. Yeah, no thank you so much I just want to say that a lot of people in the chat are remembering you from the caravan days and if it weren't for you, those buses wouldn't run so thank you very much and, and you did bring up he's in the Pacific Northwest known for environmentalism etc etc etc. You know and definitely we need to figure out how to run humanity and my feeling then is that it's going to be the planet that decides nature bats last and she is going to decide how we run ourselves. And it's not currently the plan at hand. Before we go on to our next person I just want to mention Rick mentioned timelines and the importance of knowing what came first in order to not blame one you know the side that maybe was on the defense. And there are a couple of great timelines many how about putting something in the chat if you know other books that read like timelines they're very helpful. And of course, of course, history US Cuba relations is a is a seminal book in those timelines. Another one and I and I hope people on this call know her. She couldn't be with us today but her name is Lisa Wolf. And if you are in New York please look her up knock on her door. She, wherever she lives but she has Cold War studies. She's a blog. It's wonderful. And we are going to be putting later on in the chat a lot of her timeline so go to her Cold War studies Lisa Wolf blog, a lot of timelines of various countries, very, very important information.