Professor John Robertson OBA
Yesterday, I wrote:
NHS Scotland beat a waiting times target for the second time in a row despite increased demand – how will the media spin this to get SNPBad?
I’m ahead of BBC Scotland, as I write at 11.02am, but I can smell them scurrying around, phoning someone who can be trusted to say the statistics, the same stats they trust when targets are missed, are not reliable in some way based on their wee personal experience.
This is a major achievement which deserves so much more. The staff deserve praise but may not get it other than here and in other sympathetic social media.
From Public Health Scotland today:
91.6% of people started treatment within 18 weeks of referral, which is an increase from 90.6% for the previous quarter and from 86.0% for the same quarter ending March 2024. The Scottish Government standard states that 90% of children and young people should start treatment within 18 weeks of referral to CAMHS. The chart below illustrates performance in relation to this target over the past 4 years and shows that the target was first achieved in quarter ending December 2024.
4,674 children and young people were on a waiting list to start treatment in CAMHS at quarter ending March 2025 which is an increase of 7.0% (305) compared to 4,369 in the previous quarter.
BBC Scotland seem to have given up trying to find a way to turn the story into a negative and are just ignoring it. STV, however, have:
‘Extremely alarming’: 164 children waiting over a year for mental health care
and 10 paragraphs of negative comment fed by “The Scottish Children’s Services Coalition (SCSC), an alliance of leading providers,” before giving us the published figures. there are only 4 members of the SCSC.
Talking-up Scotland 'Albatraz' 
The press and BBC are absolute bastards. We need independence NOW!
LikeLiked by 1 person
This is way too long as a comment, or more of a vent, no need to read it , I just had to let it all out. (Ha Ha).
O/T , yet currently so on topic, based on what is happening tomorrow in Scotland i.e. the by-election for the Scottish parliament.
Yesterday The Telegraph reported that Farage had stated:
“Slash handouts to Scotland”. (“handouts” but he will still have candidates stand for his party next year for the, checks notes, Scottish parliament) ??????
(Well that sounds like a winning argument for Ross Lambie , their candidate in the by-election, to promote to the people in that constituency as an action Reform UK will take in the future , as in ‘Vote Reform UK and we will slash what we see as being handouts being ‘given’ to Scotland’…..oh where do I, and others , sign up for that ).
Farage stated that the Barnett Formula , used to (mis) ‘calculate’ Scotland’s block ‘grant’ from WM, is “somewhat out of date”. (also known, by some Scots, as being our own money originally being paid back to us but with far less than what was originally given to them at WM)
(This is Farage adopting the same rhetoric as Labour, Tories and Lid Dems (peas in a pod) in that Scotland, within the UK, are subsidised by the UK, which BTW , as Scotland is still a part of the UK, then that surely means that we are also subsiding ourselves , via our tax contributions to the UK and also our Scottish based resources being used to benefit both the UK as a resource and also as financial benefit to the UK Treasury)
The Daily Record also noted …….in this very rare and fleeting visit by Farage, and also in what will hopefully end up being a wasted journey in respect to the actual outcome of the by-election tomorrow (as in they, Reform UK, lose). that he, Farage:
“Signalled that he would launch a full-scale review of how public services are paid for in Scotland if he becomes the next prime minister”.
So basically a sign of things to come with a potential Reform UK UK government, as in things that will be to Scotland’s detriment , which is really what most of us anticipated anyway with Farage as a potential UK PM.
The Daily Record also wrote that:
“Farage has previously been scathing of how the Scottish Government is funded”.
“Scathing” , what the Hell has it got to do with him ?
However with that anti Scottish attitude , as in Farage seeing Scotland as the poor relative and so supposdley over subsidised by the UK State that we, Scotland, are a part of , as in the so called ( but clearly not ) Union, then that is surely something that the SNP should continually communicate , as being the hostile opinion of Reform UK about Scotland, prior to the elections in 2026.
The Daily Record then reported that…….
“During a leaders’ TV debate ahead of the 2015 general election, the then UKIP leader (Farage) , said tax payers in England were “cheesed off” at the amount of public money given to Holyrood”.
Really ?
So is that what Ross Lambie, the Reform UK candidate, is saying while campaigning as the candidate for this by-election tomorrow ?
As in ‘Vote Reform UK as tax payers in England are ‘cheesed off’ with subsidising Scotland and we, Reform UK, will ensure less money goes (back) to Scotland in the future if we become the next UK government’……Yippee , where do they , those constituents , sign up for that in this by-election ???????
Farage was asked by the Daily Record “if he still viewed public spending in Scotland as too high, and whether he would scrap the Barnett Formula ?
Farage said “of course” there was an argument for it to be looked at”.
Well the “argument to really be looked at” is why would anyone within Scotland, of sound mind , ever decide to vote for Reform UK ever , as to do so would then ensure, that they as people were voting for a pretend party who seek to make their country, Scotland, the poor relatives of this so called (but clearly not) Union (of unequals…..actually even more unequal if Farage gains any power within the UK).
The Daily Record wrote that Farage also said:
“If you look at welfare dependency, if you look at educational standards, the idea, the 50 billion this year, roughly what the figure is going to be, going to Scotland. It isn’t going to reduce in the short term until Scotland actually starts to have an economy that is thriving and right now it’s going in completely the wrong direction.”
“The figure going to Scotland” ?
What about the “figure going” from Scotland that goes to the UK government for the benefit of the whole UK , that is the “figure” that is “going” into the coffers of the UK Treasury (from Scotland) ?
Also “Until Scotland starts to have an economy that is thriving as right now it’s going in the wrong direction” ?
That is false.
Scotland’s economy is often seen to be outperforming the UK’s.
In May 2025 it was reported that “Scotland outperformed the UK last year and also in March 2025 it was reported that “the Scottish economy recorded significant growth in January 2025”, so more lies and clueless misinformation from Farage on matters he know diddly squat about.
Also in respect to “educational standards here” Farage knows nothing of our Education in Scotland (and also he does not care about it either) other than him soaking up , like the sponge that he is, all of the malicious tittle tattle spewed out by political opponents of the SNP that also includes a hostile media as well as sometimes some hostile Education Trade Unions too (mostly against Scotland and all seemingly against the SNP).
Also Farage in not in the least bit interested in why people have to rely upon welfare benefits, in fact he, like Keir Starmer , wants most (all) people to have their welfare benefits stopped.
Farage , like Labour and the Tories , only cares about himself , and too his (pretend) party’s political donors and also those other wealthy people whose interests, Farage would prioritise at the expense of poorer people, if he became the next UK PM.
Pressed by the (Daily) Record on whether his party was supportive of devolution in general Farage then added:
“Devolution should be extended to England, right down to the counties”.
OMG , there already is ‘devolution’ in regions within England you absolute clueless clown, in that” “English devolution, as it currently stands, is a mixed system of deals-based arrangements, primarily focused on metropolitan areas and combined authorities with elected mayors. While some regions have achieved significant devolved powers over areas like transport, planning, and skills”.
Labour as the current UK government are actively working to expand devolution to encompass all of England through a so called “completing the devolution map” initiative.
How bloody much more does greedy Nigel Farage want for his REAL country, England, with him being an English Nationalist ?
England also has all of the significant powers and the bulk of the money via the UK government aka them really being the English government , where they sit in their English parliament at WM , which they laughingly disguise as being a UK parliament , but where the majority of MP’s represent English constituencies via seat allocation at WM.
There are a total of 650 MP’s at WM and England are allocated a total of 543 MP’s (Scotland are only allocated 57 MP’s at WM, Wales only 32 MP’s and NI only allocated 18 MP’s) , yet Farage thinks England needs even more powers, well he would , as someone who is an English Nationalist and also a pretend MP who allegedly (fails to ) represent (properly) his own (new) English constituency.
Then for some light comic relief the Daily Record quoted a Labour MSP
“Michael Marra, Scottish Labour finance spokesman, who said”:
“Nigel Farage has said the quiet part out loud and admitted he plans to cut funding for Scotland’s public services”.
“He has already said he wants to privatise the NHS and now he is planning to take an axe to funding for the rest of our frontline services”
“This is yet another sign of how out of touch this charlatan is. The SNP don’t deserve to win but it is crystal clear that Reform do not have the answers that Scotland needs.
“Only Scottish Labour will stand up for our public services and deliver a new direction for Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse.”
Wait a minute, Labour ? Is this the same Labour that are the current new UK government ?
“privatise the NHS ” as are Labour as well , who are introducing more privatisation into the NHS in England, so what is his, Marra’s, point ?
“to take an axe to funding” well is that not what Labour, as the new UK government have been doing too, as they have been ‘wielding the axe’ and so cutting essential payments such as the WFP for Pensioners and also making cuts to some Welfare Benefits and then also making drastic changes for some welfare Benefit recipients as well.
“The SNP don’t deserve to win” I think I will correct that for Mr Marra, it is Labour who don’t deserve to win , as they have “failed to stand up for vulnerable people, Waspi women and also for Scottish jobs at Grangemouth refinery, and the only “direction” that Labour will take the constituents of Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse is on a downward slope to even more misery and suffering thanks to them, Labour, being the latest crap UK government.
Vote SNP tomorrow and also next year via a majority, as other parties are more focused on their UK, with some especially more focused upon England, than they ever are for Scotland and we who live here.
Liz S
LikeLiked by 3 people
In that case, maybe England should ask us to leave the yoonyun and have nothing more to do with the ‘running’ of Scotland.
Let’s see how we get on when we’ve got to:
That’ll learn us…
LikeLike