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Professor John Robertson OBA

Today, under shamefully exploitative imagery of sad children, the Herald has:

A “new honesty” is needed to transform the lives and futures of Scotland’s poorest children, according to a leading charity. SallyAnn Kelly, chief executive of Aberlour Children’s Charity, has called for a greater culture of cooperation across public, private and third sectors in Scotland to improve the lives and life chances of children growing up in poverty.

and:

You see that ‘exactly the same damage‘ as 150 years ago and ‘doing the same things?‘

Astonishingly, the Herald seems to have forgotten its own 29 January 2025 piece, telling us:

Scotland is the only part of the UK likely to see child poverty rates fall by 2029, according to a new analysis from the Joseph Rowntree Foundation. The charity says this is largely down to the Scottish Child Payment and the SNP’s commitment to reverse the two-child limit from 2026.

Why is Kelly ignoring the above in her Herald comments today?

As she retires to wait for a predictable honours do, with King Charles III, I feel Pam Duncan-Glancy is already pushing her for a big one. Why?

On Friday 24th March 2024, Aberlour hosted an event for Debt Awareness Week – ‘Giving with One Hand, Taking Away with the Other’ – to highlight the impact of public debt on low income families and the role it plays in trapping families in poverty.

We finished the day with a discussion featuring our expert panel, which included Dr Jim McCormick (CEO, The Robertson Trust), Emma Jackson (National Director Scotland, Christians Against Poverty (CAP), Pam Duncan-Glancy MSP (Scottish Labour spokesperson for (Social Justice and Social Security), alongside SallyAnn Kelly and Professor Treanor.

https://www.aberlour.org.uk/news-item/giving-with-one-hand-taking-away-with-the-other

On 5 May 2025, the Aberlour Trust Head, Sally Ann Kelly was in the Herald with ‘Swinney warned child poverty inaction is ‘deliberate act of state harm.’ She has aimed the same accusation at the SNP before.

Had she forgotten the above event with Duncan-Glancy in attendance?

That was before Duncan-Glancy’s party in government was to launch its cruel austerity programme but surely, today, she might have wanted to aim her fire more strongly at the UK Labour Government and remind Duncan-Glancy of her sickening hypocrisy, like this in June 2025:

Pam Duncan-Glancy MSP ‘over the moon’ at King’s MBE honour https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cj095rvy12yo