The Talking-up Scotland fund raiser primarily to enable the recruitment of some research assistance, in order to take pressure off me [74 in June and tiring] and hopefully to further improve the blog, has made a good start. To contribute, only if you can (!) go to: Talking-up Scotland - a Politics crowdfunding project in Ayr by Professor John Robertson
By Professor John Robertson OBA, former Chair Faculty Research Ethics Committee, UWS
The Edinburgh Reporter, pretty much on their own, this morning have:
The Scottish Government Public Finance Minister, Ivan McKee, will issue a call-to-action to deliver system-wide change to 150 delegates attending a major Public Service Reform Summit in Glasgow on Monday.
The Minister said that today’s event will provide a unique opportunity to explore how to maximise collective investment in public services to deliver the services people need.
Mr McKee said: “For the first time The Scottish Government is hosting a summit bringing together over 150 leaders of public bodies, local government, the third sector, and the wider economy to discuss how they can work together to transform how public services are delivered, for the benefit of people and communities all over the country.
“There is already good practice out there in many organisations – we need to learn from that and turn that into systemic change so that everywhere, and in every sector, public services are designed and delivered efficiently and sustainably.
They simply provide the news with no propaganda platform for the opposition parties but BBC Scotland, in the space of a 1 minute report, find time for the Cons and Labour to suggest public services are failing due to ‘SNP incompetence.‘
Needless to say, Reporting Scotland make no effort to provide sources that show that is either correct or wrong. I won’t either, because you can find them easily, here [search top right) or in the published statistics.
Suffice to say, by contrast, sometimes stark, with England after decades of Tory/Labour rule and Wales after decades of Labour rule, Scotland has:
- Shorter hospital waiting times, for all treatments, especially for 18-weeks, cancer, alcohol and drug treatment, IVF and A&E.
- Far more doctors, nurses, midwives, home visitors and beds.
- Far better patient protection schemes.
- Free prescriptions to enable, for example, all asthmatics to access medication, unlike the many in England who died from Covid for this reason.
- Far more transparent data for the above.
- By both police reporting and popular impression (U of Edinburgh) crime down more than 50% in 17 years and far lower crime, including homicide.
- Far more police officers and better clear-up figures.
- Lower violent deaths and drug deaths among the young.
- No county lines drug gangs or child ‘grooming’ gangs resident in Scotland.
- More affordable housing and lower council tax.
- Free bus travel for the elderly and the young, students and apprentices.
- Free HE tuition and university campus areas with lower crime levels than in all other parts of UK.
- One of the best rail services in the UK.
- Narrowing school attainment figures, increasing pass levels among the deprived and wider, lower cost-of-living, access due to articulation between local colleges and universities.
- The world’s best ferry service.
- Easier, cheaper, access to the mountains, lochs and rivers!
With time, I could think of more.
Ah, drug deaths! Falling but stalling, despite target beating treatment programmes, because of a recent surge of cheap, powerful, new drugs into towns and villages from English County Lines gangs.
For those requiring a short cut to the evidence, try:
Support Scots Independent, Scotland’s oldest pro-independence newspaper and host of the OBA (Oliver Brown Award) at: https://scotsindependent.scot/FWShop/shop/
The Oliver Brown Award for advancing the cause of Scotland’s self respect, previously awarded to Dr Philippa Whitford, Alex Salmond and Sean Connery: https://scotsindependent.scot/?page_id=116
About Oliver Brown, the first Scottish National Party candidate to save his deposit in a Parliamentary election: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oliver_Brow
Talking-up Scotland 'Albatraz' 
A common statement made on either BBC QT , when in Scotland , or on BBC Debate night via both the pro UK panel members and also some of the pro UK audience members is simply different versions of SNP bad.
Such as ‘The SNP have destroyed the education system in Scotland or the SNP have destroyed the NHS in Scotland’ , however what is missing from these statements are the producing of facts and figures that back up these assertions being made and so then proves them to be truthful !
If one simply makes an unsubstantiated statement then it becomes obvious it is only being said by that person because they are , in some way, obviously against those that they are attacking.
Any idiot can make a slur against someone or something , but it has far more impact if you also have the actual proof, via either stats or facts, that then clearly demonstrates that what you are saying is indeed true.
That is where pro Indy people on so called political debate programmes should have the facts and figures handy, as we all know from past experience who and what will be targeted time and time again by the British Nationalists.
So in us doing a little prior research and having some notes handy to refer to, if you are an audience member on any of these programmes, that should help counter all of the lies being spoken against our public services and also against our government in Scotland.
In comparing the performance for all nations within the UK that would then leave all pro UK individuals in both the audience and the panel unable to still say ‘SNPBAD’.
As in having the worse public service performances being quoted as being in both Wales & England within the UK, then they, the pro UK panel members and audience members, could hardly still insist that our pubic services and our government in Scotland were as bad as they were all saying , could they ?
As that would then be them all admitting that pro UK parties governing elsewhere within the UK were then far worse than us. Ha Ha
Liz S
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The often used headline by BBC News UK ‘ The NEWS IS JUST WORDS WITHOUT CONTEXT’ always brings a smile to my face as clearly BBC Scotland did not get the memo.
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