Year: 2025

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Only 0.33% turn out to protest ferry move and ‘ghost town’ threat

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Professor John Robertson OBA On 12th April 2025, The Scottish Sun reported: We’ve been left to live in a ‘ghost town’ thanks to Scotland’s £400m ferry fiasco, it’s a disgrace. Today fed-up locals gathered at Troon Harbour to protest over the failings and to demand answers. Dozens of campaigners gathered with banners at the protest. There might be more than two dozen in some of the images. Let’s be generous and give them 50? How many folk live in Ardrossan? 10 670. Arran? 4 629. Total is 15 299. So, 0.326% could be bothered to turn out for a threat … Continue reading Only 0.33% turn out to protest ferry move and ‘ghost town’ threat

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Stanford research finds Labour’s preferred small modular reactors will produce even more highly radioactive nuclear waste

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By JB Stanford-led research finds small modular reactors will exacerbate challenges of highly radioactive nuclear waste Small modular reactors, long touted as the future of nuclear energy, will actually generate more radioactive waste than conventional nuclear power plants, according to research from Stanford and the University of British Columbia. A study published in May 31 2022 in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences has reached the conclusion. “Our results show that most small modular reactor designs will actually increase the volume of nuclear waste in need of management and disposal, by factors of 2 to 30 for the reactors in our … Continue reading Stanford research finds Labour’s preferred small modular reactors will produce even more highly radioactive nuclear waste

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In the wake of SNP progressive tax and benefit changes, shoplifting in Scotland is now significantly lower than in England

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Professor John Robertson OBA Thanks to Dottie for alerting me to this: From Crime in England and Wales: year ending December 2024, published yesterday: The number of shoplifting offences recorded by police in England and Wales has passed half a million for the first time, figures show. PA says: A total of 516,971 offences were logged by forces last year, up 20% from 429,873 in 2023. The figure is the highest since current police recording practices began in the year to March 2003, according to the ONS. Shoplifting offences have been running at record levels for the past two years and … Continue reading In the wake of SNP progressive tax and benefit changes, shoplifting in Scotland is now significantly lower than in England

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Scotland’s islanders to get 10 TIMES the subsidy for their ferries than those in more affluent British Columbia, to keep fares amongst the lowest in the developed world

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Professor John Robertson OBA From Richmond News today: Right now, B.C. Ferries, which according to the union carries more than 21 million passengers and $8 billion in cargo each year, receives about $35 million annually from Ottawa.1 BC Ferries has 41 vessels serving 47 locations to 21 million passengers per year.2 CalMac has 36 vessels serving 50 locations to only 5.3 million passengers per year.3 Yet the Scottish Government, from taxpayers living in places like Glasgow, Kilmarnock, Coatbridge and Dundee, will be a bit more generous than BC: Transport Scotland is proposing a total subsidy of £3.7 billion over a … Continue reading Scotland’s islanders to get 10 TIMES the subsidy for their ferries than those in more affluent British Columbia, to keep fares amongst the lowest in the developed world

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They get the feast we get the crumbs, again – Labour’s GB energy projects ‘across the country….of England

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By Liz S “Miliband said, “I’m not going to take a decision that is going to raise prices in some parts of the country. That is not what I’m going to do” Really ? Yet when he was interviewed by ITV in March of this year, where they reported that he said this (and he did , because he also tweeted this himself). ‘It’s going to make a difference to so many pupils and so many patients’ Ed Miliband says schools and hospitals will get ‘tens of thousands of pounds’ off their energy bills as they get new solar panels The plans … Continue reading They get the feast we get the crumbs, again – Labour’s GB energy projects ‘across the country….of England

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Scotland’s prison population falls to more than 300 below capacity

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Professor John Robertson OBA From the data tables for Safer Communities and Justice Statistics Monthly Data Report: April 2025 published today, we can see that Scotland’s prison population has fallen from a peak of 8 326 in February 2025 to 8 147 last week. Weekly figures fluctuate but suggest no significant growth trend.1 In June 2024, Scotland’s prison population was feared to climb to a maximum of 9 1502 but has not, thanks to the early release programmes. The maximum capacity of Scotland’s prisons is 8 475.3 Tight but not a crisis. Has the early release programme been risky? Sources: Continue reading Scotland’s prison population falls to more than 300 below capacity

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‘They didn’t know their backyard creek carried nuclear waste. Now, they’re dying of cancer’ – new evidence from the USA of how similar Sellafield waste and Scotland’s higher cancer deaths are likely to be connected

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Professor John Robertson OBA From CBS News and other US media yesterday: When Linda Morice and her family first moved to St. Louis in 1957, they had no idea they had anything to fear. Then, people started getting sick. “It was a slow, insidious process,” Morice said. After the death of Morice’s mother, her physician uncle took her aside and gave her a stark warning: “Linda, I don’t believe St. Louis is a very healthy place to live. Everyone on this street has a tumor.” Their neighborhood was bordered by Coldwater Creek, a 19-mile tributary of the Missouri River. It … Continue reading ‘They didn’t know their backyard creek carried nuclear waste. Now, they’re dying of cancer’ – new evidence from the USA of how similar Sellafield waste and Scotland’s higher cancer deaths are likely to be connected

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Starmer’s celebratory video for his (real) country’s patron saint, that is England

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By Liz S Well here we are again , another St George’s day and another yearly ‘special’ celebratory video from the now, checks notes, UK PM , Sir Keir Starmer. Prior to him becoming the new UK PM, as in when he was merely the official opposition UK leader , Keir used to also do a ‘special’ celebratory video for his (real) country’s Patron saint, that is England. Scotland & Wales are not given the same ‘special’ celebratory video from Sir Keir the UK PM as that job is delegated to the minions (understudies) in the respective two English colonies, i.e. Scotland & Wales via the respective Labour branch office managers. … Continue reading Starmer’s celebratory video for his (real) country’s patron saint, that is England

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How Starmer, backed by Sarwar, want new mini nuclear power stations in Scotland that cause more cancer, more waste, depend on Russian fuel, cost more and now cannot be protected against terrorism

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Professor John Robertson OBA In the i in April 2025, the above and: Sometimes he would patrol rural lanes on foot, carrying his assault rifle, looking out for any terrorists hiding in the countryside. On other assignments he would man machine guns mounted on armoured ships, watching for any sign of hostile vessels coming his way. Or he would drive in weapons-laden road convoys, monitoring potential threats from vehicles. While serving as an armed officer with the Civil Nuclear Constabulary (CNC), Matt Okuhara saw every aspect of how the UK’s nuclear power stations and their radioactive fuel are protected from … Continue reading How Starmer, backed by Sarwar, want new mini nuclear power stations in Scotland that cause more cancer, more waste, depend on Russian fuel, cost more and now cannot be protected against terrorism

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Has the Scottish Child Payment reduced shoplifting for ‘cost-of-living’ food and clothes?

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Professor John Robertson OBA From Shoplifting cases recorded in Scotland since 2019: FOI release, published yesterday, the number of cases reported to the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service has fallen from 19 225 to 16 426 and the number proceeded against in Courts has fallen from 12 104 to 8 601: https://www.gov.scot/publications/foi-202500454372/ In July 2023, BBC Business reported: In March, police forces in England, Wales and Northern Ireland recorded nearly 33,000 incidents of shoplifting – a significant 30.9% increase compared with March last year. What might be different? The Scottish Child Payment was launched in February 2021. It is … Continue reading Has the Scottish Child Payment reduced shoplifting for ‘cost-of-living’ food and clothes?