Year: 2025

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As UK Labour plan big cuts and more face-to-face assessments of the kind which increased suicide rates, SNP introduces new humanely-assessed benefit for elderly and disabled to media silence

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Professor John Robertson OBA Getting little media coverage today – the National, the Record, the Mirror, some locals, but not BBC Scotland or STV: ‘Milestone’ as SNP launch new disability benefit across Scotland That’s the Ardrossan Herald, above, recognising the headline-worthy, you’d think, nature of this announcement. From Econostratum today: A new benefit has been introduced for older people in Scotland, offering monthly payments of up to £441 for individuals with disabilities or long-term health conditions. The Pension Age Disability Payment (PADP) is designed to replace Attendance Allowance for new claimants, starting on April 22, 2025. This measure aims to enhance financial … Continue reading As UK Labour plan big cuts and more face-to-face assessments of the kind which increased suicide rates, SNP introduces new humanely-assessed benefit for elderly and disabled to media silence

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49 year-old Canadian ferry causes Easter Monday ferry fiasco stranding 300 passengers

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Professor John Robertson OBA From the Economic Times of Canada, today: Holiday travel plans took a frustrating turn for many on Easter Monday as a key BC Ferries vessel, the Queen of Coquitlam, suffered a mechanical breakdown, leading to disruptions on the busy Langdale-Horseshoe Bay route. The incident, occurring around 1 pm Vancouver time, stranded passengers for approximately three hours and resulted in the cancellation of multiple sailings. Passenger Rohana Rezel, who was onboard with his family, described the unexpected halt after a timely departure. “They said once the tugboat gets here, it’s going to be about another 40 minutes … Continue reading 49 year-old Canadian ferry causes Easter Monday ferry fiasco stranding 300 passengers

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Will Scottish Labour MPs vote against Starmer’s surrender of fishing rights for new EU arms deal?

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Sir Keir Starmer is close to striking a major deal with the EU that would let British arms companies sell billions of pounds of weapons to European allies, it has emerged.Under the agreement, UK companies would be able to bid for business under the bloc’s new €150 billion (£130 billion) defence fund. But the deal comes after the UK reportedly made major concessions to Brussels on EU access to Britain’s fishing waters, in what critics will likely see as a betrayal of Brexit. https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/starmer-eu-brexit-reset-defence-fishing-b2737088.html Note the disinterested ‘critics will likely see’ from ‘liberal’, metropolitan media outlet. How much does this matter to Scotland? Above, the big picture of … Continue reading Will Scottish Labour MPs vote against Starmer’s surrender of fishing rights for new EU arms deal?

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Massive fall in number of children in care as progressive policies work to reduce poverty and as violent crime reduces

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Professor John Robertson OBA From Children’s Social Work Statistics: Looked After Children 2023/24 published today, we can see that the number of children requiring to be in the care of the local authority in Scotland has fallen from 15 600 in 2014 to 11 842 in 2024, a 24% fall. Looked after children are defined as those in the care of their local authority (Children Scotland Act 1995). There are many reasons children may become looked after including: facing abuse or neglect at home; having disabilities that require special care; unaccompanied minors seeking asylum, or illegally trafficked into the UK; … Continue reading Massive fall in number of children in care as progressive policies work to reduce poverty and as violent crime reduces

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GPs in poor parts of England are paid £5,500 less a year than in wealthy areas but in Scotland get a £10 000 incentive

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Professor John Robertson OBA In the Guardian today, the above, and: According to the report’s authors, the difference in earnings is down to a lack of funds in more deprived areas, as more is spent on resources. https://www.theguardian.com/society/2025/apr/22/gps-deprived-areas-england-paid-less-than-wealthy Meanwhile in Scotland, announced in February 2025, to no coverage We incentivise GPs into taking up harder to fill posts, mainly those in rural and deprived areas, through our £10,000 ‘Golden Hello’ scheme. This scheme offers a bursary of up to £10,000 to every GP taking up an eligible post.  https://www.gov.scot/publications/scottish-governments-written-evidence-review-body-doctors-dentists-remuneration-ddrb-2025-26-pay-round/pages/7/ Anything else about GP supply not getting much media attention? Just this: Continue reading GPs in poor parts of England are paid £5,500 less a year than in wealthy areas but in Scotland get a £10 000 incentive

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Who are Labour and what are they for ?

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Liz S Who are Labour and what are they for ? Well most of us in Scotland worked out the answers to those Q’s ages ago and now some in England are finally catching up to what we already knew. I mean think about who once were MP’s in the Labour party and who still are Labour MP’s in the Labour party and then think about who are some of the supposed new faces that were elected as Labour MP’s last year in the UK GE. (new faces ? Douglas Alexander ? Johanna Baxter ?, Blair McDougall ?, Scott Arthur ?, Martin McClusky ?, Torcuil Crichton ? , Pamela … Continue reading Who are Labour and what are they for ?

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Why is Labour hiding the Block Grant Transparency report – further cuts to impose austerity on Scotland?

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stewartb A Block Grant Transparency report was first devised and published by HMRC on behalf of the Westminster government in December 2017. This and subsequent documents in the series set out in detail how the block grants for the Scottish Government, Welsh Government and Northern Ireland Executive are calculated. These reports help ensure that the financial implications for the ‘block grants’ of key fiscal events in Westminster – Spending Reviews, annual Budget, other Financial Statements to the Westminster parliament and also end of financial year ‘Main Estimates’ – are documented in detail and made public. This provision of this breakdown … Continue reading Why is Labour hiding the Block Grant Transparency report – further cuts to impose austerity on Scotland?

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A life-extending prostate cancer drug being available for two years in Scotland but not yet in England is not the kind of thing Jackie Baillie wants you to know of

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The drug, abiraterone, has been available in Scotland and Wales for two years for high-risk patients whose cancer has not yet spread, but not in England and Northern Ireland. Liz S Jackie Baillie recent tweets: “A warm welcome from party members in Stornoway. If you want improved public services in our rural and island communities, we need a new direction with @scottishlabour“ “Thought-provoking conversation with the local community in Barra who are struggling to access healthcare. Next stop, Eriskay”. “The SNP’s stealth cuts have created a sinkhole under social care. It’s time for a new direction” “Our heroic ambulance workers are being failed. Scottish Labour will make fixing the NHS our number one priority” Then … Continue reading A life-extending prostate cancer drug being available for two years in Scotland but not yet in England is not the kind of thing Jackie Baillie wants you to know of

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Scotland second most likely to survive climate change?

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Professor John Robertson OBA In the Herald today, a report from the Royal Scottish Geographical Society making the above claim but apparently suggesting the Scottish Government’s ‘scrapping’ (changing) its 2030 climate change target is key. So, 0.06% of the world’s population and 0.01% of the land mass area and we are key to climate change? What’s the wider, bigger picture? Which countries are most likely to survive climate change? To assess which countries are best prepared for climate change, we used data from the Notre Dame Global Adaptation Initiative. Its ND-Gain Index measures the vulnerability and ability of a country to … Continue reading Scotland second most likely to survive climate change?

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Does so-called ferry consultant think CalMac should go private like Isle of Wight ferries and then let him be their consultant on how to exceed half a million debt and astronomic prices

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From Bob Lamont, in the wake (sic) of our report yesterday on the Isle of Wight ferries fiasco – Two English ferry companies borrowed HALF A BILLION and still charged customers four times as much as CalMac so that they could pay shareholders and bonuses – https://talkingupscotlandtwo.com/2025/04/18/two-english-ferry-companies-borrowed-half-a-billion-and-still-charged-customers-four-times-as-much-as-calmac-so-that-they-could-pay-shareholders-and-bonuses/ Had listened to an interesting ‘conversation’ (part of the Scotonomics event on 22nd March in Dundee) between Andy Verity and Danny Dorling (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pm6k6DptTWM) and Danny had made a wonderful contrast between how the rich live in Sweden and the UK, which this article reminded me of – The Swedes have long regulated rigorously to ensure … Continue reading Does so-called ferry consultant think CalMac should go private like Isle of Wight ferries and then let him be their consultant on how to exceed half a million debt and astronomic prices