Month: October 2025

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69 000 GB Energy jobs – Michael Shanks is literally lying when he says no such pledge was ever made. He should publicly apologise

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By Liz S Since we have an election coming up next year….how about some fairness that we now finally see some of the media here in Scotland casting their attention upon Anas Sarwar’s role in promoting his Labour HQ’s flagship policy last year in the Labour GE campaign………. MSM Monitor posted a reminder of what Sarwar said in the STV’s Leader’s debate in Scotland last year prior to the UK GE. “During the general election campaign Anas Sarwar repeatedly pledged that GB Energy would created 69,000 jobs in Scotland. So far it has created 13“. MSM Monitor also included a video that confirmed the figure Sarwar quoted on jobs … Continue reading 69 000 GB Energy jobs – Michael Shanks is literally lying when he says no such pledge was ever made. He should publicly apologise

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Scottish fishing fleet has double the catching capacity of English fleet, lands more fish and generates more income but only 7% of UK development funding comes to Scotland

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Professor John Robertson OBA Thanks to Dottie, once more, for alerting us to this. In the National, yesterday: Scottish Government hits out over ‘totally unacceptable’ fishing deal – MAIRI Gougeon has hit out at the UK Government for short-changing Scotland’s fishing industry over “totally unacceptable” funding allocation.  https://www.thenational.scot/news/25558212.scottish-government-hits-totally-unacceptable-fishing-deal/ According to the National report, Scotland, despite having 70% of the catch and generating 58% of the UK revenue, will only receive £28 million out of the total £360 million of investment through the new Fishing and Coastal Growth Fund, 7%. Wales and N Ireland get even less, £18m and £10m. So, £304 million, … Continue reading Scottish fishing fleet has double the catching capacity of English fleet, lands more fish and generates more income but only 7% of UK development funding comes to Scotland

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Child abuse – Labour and Conservative’s history of neglect, even sickening collusion, ‘Scottish’ Labour MPs call for a pointless grooming inquiry here and how the SNP’s Named Person Scheme could have saved thousands in England

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Professor John Robertson OBA From BBC Bradford today: Two abuse survivors have resigned from their role in the national [sic] inquiry into grooming gangs, the government has confirmed. Fiona Goddard, who was abused by gangs while living in a Bradford children’s home, quit the victims’ liaison panel over concerns about the inquiry’s shortlisted chairs, one of whom is reportedly a former police chief and the other a social worker. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cy5qkq7zex3o This may trigger another attempt by Scottish Labour in a massive Scottish cringe move, to have a comparable inquiry here. They will of course not remind us of their dark past in … Continue reading Child abuse – Labour and Conservative’s history of neglect, even sickening collusion, ‘Scottish’ Labour MPs call for a pointless grooming inquiry here and how the SNP’s Named Person Scheme could have saved thousands in England

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Are Scotsman’s journo staff too aged to find things out? CalMac has the youngest ferries and is the best in the world

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Professor John Robertson OBA The Scotsman has another go at the ferries, ill-informed as always. I’ll do the second one first. On average, CalMac ferries are the youngest of six comparable (several islands) fleets in the developed world. Ok, first, what’s wrong with them? Truth be told (difficult I know), probably best archipelago service in the world. See: Third, disruption? See: As Lib Dems and BBC Scotland reveal compensation to delayed passengers of only 0.1% of budget, they forget that their previous FoI revealed that CalMac is more than 97% reliable https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/checkout/help-talking-up-scotland-tell-truth-about-scotland/payment/nBQxjVzq/details Finally, the truth about customer (real ones) satisfaction: … Continue reading Are Scotsman’s journo staff too aged to find things out? CalMac has the youngest ferries and is the best in the world

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Jersey Island supermarkets pay nearly SIX times as much for their lorries to cross as those in Barra thanks to their generous SNP subsidy – all the other Scottish islands too get the same

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Professor John Robertson OBA In the Jersey Evening Post on 15 October 2025: Representatives said they had “zero involvement” in the tender and warned that rising freight costs under the new arrangements were forcing them to find hundreds of thousands of pounds to balance their budgets, with Morrison’s alone facing a shortfall of up to £400,000. Portsmouth to Jersey is 116 miles and CalMac’s longest, Oban to Barra is 88 miles. The Jersey crossing is 1.32 times the length. For a Large Articulated HGV (16.5m, ~30 pallets), a one way trip from Portsmouth to Jersey, costs £2 370.1, 2 For … Continue reading Jersey Island supermarkets pay nearly SIX times as much for their lorries to cross as those in Barra thanks to their generous SNP subsidy – all the other Scottish islands too get the same

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‘Frankly incredible!’ UK National Audit Office reveals NHS England and Ireland are paying out for clinical negligence at FOUR TIMES and TWICE the level of NHS Scotland

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Professor John Robertson OBA Many thanks to stewartb for alerting us to this and for the opening words in the headline above. NOTE – I’m unsure of how to compare the far more numerous but different claims in Sweden, Denmark or Finland, so have not. The above table is from the UK National Audit Office‘s report Costs of clinical negligence, published on 17 October 2025. The explanatory notes for how it was put together are at the bottom of this. It makes incredible reading, to put it mildly. Start with the fourth column – number of claims per year – … Continue reading ‘Frankly incredible!’ UK National Audit Office reveals NHS England and Ireland are paying out for clinical negligence at FOUR TIMES and TWICE the level of NHS Scotland

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US research finds cancer mortality rate over 40% higher than the national rate and life expectancy almost a decade less than national average near nuclear facility comparable to Sellafield only miles from Scotland

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Professor John Robertson OBA In TCD (Ohio USA) yesterday: Residents of US town near nuclear facility face alarming crisis: ‘So many people are suffering’ “Our community shouldn’t be put at an increased risk.” https://www.thecooldown.com/green-business/piketon-nuclear-plant-ohio-radiation-exposure/ Their report relies heavily on these comments in a UK Guardian piece on 23 September 2025: Reports have emerged that 10 tons of uranium were released from a now-closed uranium enrichment facility almost nightly into the air between 1955 to 1993, an activity known by people who worked there at the time as ‘midnight rockets’. “This plant has a vast signature of contamination, mostly from an airborne … Continue reading US research finds cancer mortality rate over 40% higher than the national rate and life expectancy almost a decade less than national average near nuclear facility comparable to Sellafield only miles from Scotland

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More than 500 avoidable baby deaths implicated in reports across 14 NHS England maternity services but not one in Scotland – here’s why

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Professor John Robertson OBA From BBC West Yorkshire today: An independent inquiry into “repeated failures” at an NHS trust’s maternity units has been announced by Health Secretary Wes Streeting, following potentially avoidable harm to babies and mothers. Earlier this year a BBC investigation revealed that the deaths of at least 56 babies and two mothers at Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust (LTH) over the past five years may have been prevented. Streeting said a thorough investigation was required to understand what had “gone so catastrophically wrong” at the trust’s maternity units at Leeds General Infirmary and St James’s University Hospital. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c4gpxnk9n4po … Continue reading More than 500 avoidable baby deaths implicated in reports across 14 NHS England maternity services but not one in Scotland – here’s why

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SNP-run Glasgow City built 110 times more social rent homes than Labour-run Liverpool last year

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Professor John Robertson OBA Thanks, once more, to Dottie for alerting us to this: In the Guardian yesterday: According to the housing charity Shelter, in the 12 months leading up to March 2025, Liverpool city council received 2,048 applications for homelessness support, a 25% increase on the previous year. The most recent data shows 12,764 households on the city’s social housing waiting list. But one figure is particularly shocking: reflecting the fact that most local authorities now lack either the means or will to build anything more than paltry amounts of new social housing, the city’s “additional social rent dwellings” in 2023-24 totalled – … Continue reading SNP-run Glasgow City built 110 times more social rent homes than Labour-run Liverpool last year

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There is no evidence of public services in Wales being consistently better than those in Scotland – on the contrary

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By stewartb What’s so hard for opponents of the present Scottish Government (SG) to grasp? If public services in Scotland fall short or fail but the same ones in Wales are exemplary, then yes severe criticism of the SG may be valid. This would suggest that resource allocation under UK devolution settlements should be enough for Scotland to do at least as well as Wales. There is no evidence of public services in Wales being consistently better than those in Scotland – on the contrary. This should not be too hard to grasp but is it ignored because it runs counter to … Continue reading There is no evidence of public services in Wales being consistently better than those in Scotland – on the contrary