Professor John Robertson OBA In the Mail today: Teachers are quitting the profession en-masse, as they battle impossible workloads, toxic work environments, a ‘broken’ Special Educational Needs system, and surges in student violence. Earlier this year, the Teachers’ Union estimated there were 30,000 violent incidents involving a pupil attacking a teacher with a weapon in a 12-month period. Children as young as four have been found in possession of knives, while some school have installed metal detectors, or ‘knife arches’, in a bid to curb attacks. https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-15193791/Punch-ups-lessons-county-lines-gangs-day-life-secondary-school-teacher-Britain.html According to Sky in February 2025: Almost one in five teachers have seen students with knives … Continue reading As Teachers’ Union estimates 30 000 violent incidents involving a pupil attacking a teacher with a weapon in England’s schools how knife possession in Scottish schools has plummeted

Professor John Robertson OBA The Express today has a report based on the Scottish Conservatives’ reading of a Freedom of Information request on ambulance. Their report has no figures and only two or three individual cases picked out as extreme waits. That says it all. They really have nothing beyond a few cases. Here are some facts: There are some minor problems in comparing the data for England and Scotland but you can be sure that were they to favour the former, they’d be widely reported. Here’s why they’re not: Sources: https://www.scottishambulance.com/ Footnote: Comparing median and mean ambulance response times … Continue reading Express and Scottish Tories try to hide fact that Scottish Ambulance Service is more than 3 times faster than in England in 90% of cases

Professor John Robertson OBA Thanks to K McEwan for alerting us to this: In the Telegraph, two days ago, the above and: Around 85% of these reserves, 21.25 billion barrels, lie in Scottish waters.1 Each barrel of oil is worth around $60 or £452, so we have around £1 trillion in Scottish waters Sources: You can support Talking-up Scotland at: https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/checkout/help-talking-up-scotland-tell-truth-about-scotland/payment/nBQxjVzq/details or by direct bank transfer method – Bernadette/John Robertson, Sort code 08-91-04, Account 12266421 Continue reading Scotland’s current oil and gas reserves worth around £1 TRILLION

Professor John Robertson OBA In the Herald yesterday, the above, and: ScotRail staff have been verbally or physically assaulted more than 1,500 times since 2020, new figures have revealed.  The data, which was obtained through a Freedom of Information request, shows that the total number of assaults on train drivers, conductors, and other staff has decreased each of the last three years.  It’s the usual infantile adding up to get a big number but they do, for once, at least partly reveal the trend – down: Another FoI request by BBC Kent gives useful comparative data: Rail workers say they have been spat at, punched and … Continue reading Rail staff in England & Wales more than THREE times as likely to be assaulted as those in Scotland

Professor John Robertson OBA The Herald yesterday headlined their report on autism and ADHD waiting times with an apparently tragic image of tearful wee, Madeleine McCann-like, fair-haired girl of 3 to 4 years, to somehow represent it’s content. While I’m sure the parents will be at times tearful, are the children likely to be upset about a wait for treatment they might find unpleasant or not understand? Is the Herald’s wee girl not more likely to be about to shout ‘BOO!’? As well as tasteless, the image is misleading with fewer than 1 in 5 autism diagnoses and only 1 … Continue reading Inaccurate, misleading and counter-productive but worse than that, disgusting – The Herald’s endless imagery of ‘poverty porn’ and helpless individual despair