Professor John Robertson OBA From Additional support needs (ASN) secondary school staffing and pupils: FOI release, published today, the following data showing significant increases and, we must assume disappointing the opposition party or media hacks requesting it: Media coverage, I suspect, will be telling a different story based on unverified figures from activist and charity groups. Continue reading 23% increase in Pupil Support staff and near tripling of Behaviour Support staff under SNP

Professor John Robertson OBA, Island Cycling Correspondent of the Year CalMac‘s Largs to Cumbrae (pop 1 500) and back service, 52 crossings, peak, and 33 off peak, each way with 15 min turnaround: https://www.calmac.co.uk/en-gb/route-information/largs-cumbrae-slip-millport/#/ The proposal based on safety grounds, is to make the turnaround 20 mins thus reducing the number of crossings by 25% to 39 and 25 crossings per day with the bigger MV loch Shira – 36 cars and 250 passengers. In 2024, the crossing served 700 00 passengers, 195 000 cars, 795 buses and 5 600 commercial vehicles: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caledonian_MacBrayne#:~:text=Caledonian%20MacBrayne%20%28Scottish%20Gaelic%3A%20Caledonian%20Mac%20a%27%20Bhriuthainn%29%2C,the%20mainland%20and%2022%20of%20the%20major%20islands. So averaging the peak and off-peak service … Continue reading Largs to Cumbrae ferry – Why should the Scottish taxpayer pay millions for tourist car drivers on a handful of sunny days to not have to queue for a ferry service using only between a fifth and a tenth of its capacity over the year?

Police Scotland and the media are reporting a major ‘Scots’ County Lines drug gang in these terms: SMASH & GRABBED – Eleven kids rescued from clutches of sinister Scots drug mob as 100 hoods arrested. Officers ensured the safety of the youngsters by passing them into the care of relatives or referring them to support agencies – https://www.thescottishsun.co.uk/news/14758409/kids-rescued-from-scots-drug-mob-hoods-arrested/ The reports make no mention of the County Lines gangs, from English cities, currently known to to be feeding the trade and using extreme violence in Scottish towns from Dumfries to Thurso. The small towns, Lesmahagow and Abingdon, catch the eye for the biggest seizures. … Continue reading If this is a truly Scottish County Lines drug gang, the first, why is their supply clearly coming up the M74 from England?

By cuckooshoe At PMQT yesterday, Sir Keir Starmer answered several questions about the Scottish government from Labour MPs from Scotland. In one response he made a reference to 10,000 children living in temporary accommodation in Scotland. It is telling that not one single Labour/Tory/Lib-Dem/Reform MP raised this homeless statistic for England. It was published at the end of April 2025. https://cih.org/news/cih-responds-to-englands-latest-homelessness-statistics-april-2025/ “As of New Year’s Eve, 2024, the statistics show that 127,890 households, including 165,510 children, were living in temporary accommodation (TA), unsure of when they would have a safe, secure, and permanent home. This represents a 13.6 per cent … Continue reading Scottish Labour MP inadvertently reveals that 65% more children are in temporary accommodation in England than in Scotland

Professor John Robertson OBA The Herald’s report, above, three days ago, on the Europe’s Best Cities survey, notably forgets to tell us that Edinburgh and Glasgow feature above all other comparably sized, ‘smaller’ cities in the UK, other than the monstrous, incomparable London. ‘Best Cities’ is an almost pointless notion given the complexity of the characteristics that might make a city ‘Best’. In this resonance/Ipsos survey, the first 17 are mostly very large capital cities with the horribly fragmented, ugly and polluted London, in first place. Interestingly, crime rates are not used. Edinburgh comes in at 18th, above any other … Continue reading Edinburgh and Glasgow rated as best small cities in UK