Year: 2025

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Is UK Labour’s new ‘unlimited’ bonuses for removing the sick from waiting lists just a repeat of a 2013 Tory scheme giving them for placing patients on ‘death lists?’

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Professor John Robertson OBA In the Guardian today, the above and: Hospitals in England are being offered unlimited bonus payments to remove people they decide do not need treatment from their waiting lists amid warnings that thousands of patients most in need are still facing unacceptable delays. https://www.theguardian.com/society/2025/apr/10/hospitals-in-england-to-get-unlimited-incentive-payments-for-patients-taken-off-waiting-lists This scheme triggered a memory which concerned me. The so-called ‘serious’ media said little in 2013, but the Mail and other tabloids had: GPs have been paid bonuses to put elderly patients on controversial ‘death lists’ in an attempt to save the NHS money by cutting the number of people who die … Continue reading Is UK Labour’s new ‘unlimited’ bonuses for removing the sick from waiting lists just a repeat of a 2013 Tory scheme giving them for placing patients on ‘death lists?’

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Revealing how BBC Scotland skewed the response of the Institute for Fiscal Studies to a Scottish Fiscal Commission report: – but why, is there a legitimate, public service reason?

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By stewartb The Scottish Fiscal Commission published April 8 a report entitled ‘Fiscal Sustainability Report – April 2025’. An article in the Scotland section of the BBC News website covered this under the headline: ‘Significant challenges’ for health funding, warns report.’ (See: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/ckgxyegeelyo ) As will become apparent, two things about the BBC article are significant: (See https://ifs.org.uk/articles/scottish-fiscal-sustainability-report-immediate-response) By avoiding any mention of the UK or of Westminster, the BBC misses important context- and perspective-giving references prominent in the IFS’ commentary. The IFS response states right up front: ‘Today’s Scottish Fiscal Commission (SFC) report highlights the fiscal challenges facing the … Continue reading Revealing how BBC Scotland skewed the response of the Institute for Fiscal Studies to a Scottish Fiscal Commission report: – but why, is there a legitimate, public service reason?

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How England’s ‘complex’ health and care system is harming patients by creating a waiting list for care at home packages more than 50% longer, per head, than in Scotland

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Professor John Robertson OBA From the Guardian today, the above and: Navigating England’s “complex” health and care system is “extremely difficult” and carers and patients are experiencing burnout, distress and harm as a result, a damning report says. There were frequent failures by NHS and care organisations in coordinating care for people with long-term health conditions, the Health Services Safety Investigations Body (HSSIB) found. Figures show 41% of adults and 17% of children have at least one long-term health issue. The report said patients unable to navigate the health and care system were getting sicker as a result, missing vital appointments, and … Continue reading How England’s ‘complex’ health and care system is harming patients by creating a waiting list for care at home packages more than 50% longer, per head, than in Scotland

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As families face up to one hundred year waits for social housing in England, Miles Briggs (Con) reveals it’s ‘longer than a year’ in Scotland

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Professor John Robertson OBA Thanks to Dottie for alerting me to this: In the Guardian today, the above and: The wait for family-size social housing has risen to more than 100 years in parts of England, which charities have condemned as “ludicrous” and a “national scandal”. Analysis from the National Housing Federation (NHF), Crisis and Shelter found that in 32 local authority areas across England, the wait for a home with at least three bedrooms was longer than 18 years – the duration of an entire childhood. The worst three councils, all of which are in London, have waiting lists exceeding 100 … Continue reading As families face up to one hundred year waits for social housing in England, Miles Briggs (Con) reveals it’s ‘longer than a year’ in Scotland

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Sickening hypocrisy – Will the Browns now condemn Starmer as their research project proves that poverty risks the development of babies as much as premature birth?

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Professor John Robertson OBA Only 18 paragraphs down in this headlining story, after much detail on the loss of a baby to former PM Gordon Brown and his wife, do we see this key finding mentioned: Prof James Boardman, from the University of Edinburgh, is the cohort’s chief investigator. His team uses a series of brain scans and psychological studies at various ages. He says one of the key findings so far is that poverty has an impact on brain development. “It would be fair to say that a baby born at full term to a more deprived couple has … Continue reading Sickening hypocrisy – Will the Browns now condemn Starmer as their research project proves that poverty risks the development of babies as much as premature birth?

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The English Connection keeping Scotland’s drug deaths high

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Professor John Robertson OBA Thanks to Graham for alerting me to the above: In just one day, Aberdeen’s P&J has two reports of English drug gangs occupying homes in the city to sell new more powerful low cost drugs and, in so doing keep drug deaths high, despite the efforts of the SNP Government which has oversight of a world-leading opium overdose reversal drug programme (Naloxone) and a drug treatment programme running a a target-busting 95%+ treated within three weeks. The P&J has been reporting this plague for years. In December 2021, more than three years ago, the had In … Continue reading The English Connection keeping Scotland’s drug deaths high

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Prison Inspectors reveal that 80% of Barlinnie is not in a ‘wretchedly poor state’ and should know that the first phase of the early release programme was never meant to be the long-term solution

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helped ease the pressure on Scotland’s biggest jail but has done nothing to solve the long-term issue of overcrowding. Professor John Robertson OBA I’ll come back the ‘long-term solution‘ but first the other most popular media extract from the Inspector’s report: BBC Scotland today – Barlinnie jail in ‘wretchedly poor state’ – inspectors The Herald today – Barlinnie in ‘wretchedly poor state’ as new prison waits mount All of the media have pounced on the Inspector’s report from 18-22 November 2024 and have been delighted to find on page 5, just as the wee souls were about to tire: Our … Continue reading Prison Inspectors reveal that 80% of Barlinnie is not in a ‘wretchedly poor state’ and should know that the first phase of the early release programme was never meant to be the long-term solution

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Five years of threats, violence and death in Perth as English County Lines drugs gangs seize homes in towns and villages across rural Scotland but BBC Scotland will not report it

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Professor John Robertson OBA Today, the Courier reports the above. Notice that word in the last line? Yes, it’s another County Lines drug from an English city (there is no other type) gang bringing ‘threats, violence and death‘ to parts of Scotland which were formerly less familiar with such trauma. The County Lines business model provides new more powerful and cheaper drugs in small towns and villages, based on children acting as mules to bring the supply in on buses and trains, backed up by heavies from the cities to suppress any local opposition. Neither BBC Scotland nor BBC Scotland … Continue reading Five years of threats, violence and death in Perth as English County Lines drugs gangs seize homes in towns and villages across rural Scotland but BBC Scotland will not report it

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STV misinterprets figures to help Labour create a “deepening crisis” around women’s safety in Glasgow

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Professor John Robertson OBA STV today has: Glasgow City is in the midst of a “deepening crisis” around women’s safety, statistics show. Instances of domestic abuse are up by 41% on the previous year, rapes increased by 41%, and sexual assault has risen by 28%, according to figures from the Safe Glasgow Partnership. Glasgow Labour deputy leader Bailie Soryia Siddique said that women and girls in Glasgow are “being let down” after the latest “shocking” statistics. The Safe Glasgow Partnership data shows 357 rape crimes were recorded during 2024-25 compared to 254 during the previous year. Domestic abuse crimes against women … Continue reading STV misinterprets figures to help Labour create a “deepening crisis” around women’s safety in Glasgow

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How death due to a cancer screening error in Scotland is different from one in England

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Professor John Robertson OBA BBC Leicestershire today has the above and: The family of a mother who died from cervical cancer after twice being wrongly told she had negative results have been awarded undisclosed damages. The misreporting of Louise Gleadell’s cervical screening results was admitted by University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust following her death aged 38 in March 2018. An internal review in 2017 found the samples, taken four years apart, were not good enough to produce reliable results but neither Ms Gleadell – a mum to three boys – nor her relatives were told about the “inadequate” samples … Continue reading How death due to a cancer screening error in Scotland is different from one in England