Year: 2025

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Financial Ferry Fiasco in Tasmania as local funds are spent in Finland and Government ‘spruiks’ to cover up its bungles

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It’s a bit like BBC Question Time, filmed mostly in England and with Nigel Farage on the panel, counted as part of the BBC Scotland budget [It is! See below1] but the above much-delayed and inflated-cost ferry, built in Finland and stored at the cost of millions in Leith, over the winter, was supposed to benefit the local Tasmanian economy by using ‘local content’ but, from ABC Business, two days ago: Finnish-built ship engines have been included in the so-called “local content” in the new Spirit of Tasmania ferries. The delivery of the new ferries has dominated public discourse in … Continue reading Financial Ferry Fiasco in Tasmania as local funds are spent in Finland and Government ‘spruiks’ to cover up its bungles

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As NHS England under Labour and with increasing referrals, freezes radiologist hiring, NHS Scotland cuts diagnostic waiting times for third quarter in a row

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By Professor John Robertson OBA From Public Health Scotland on 24 November 2024, the above graph showing a reducing number waiting for diagnostic tests for the last three quarters, a steady fall since the peak in early 2022, and this for the quarter ending 30 September 2024 [most recent data]: When compared to the previous quarter-end, six of the eight key diagnostic tests saw a decrease in the number of ongoing waits reported. Waits for a CT scan showed a reduction of 11% (-3,104), colonoscopy waits reduced by 11% (-1,433), non-obstetric ultrasound reduced by 9% (-5,122), and MRI waits reduced by … Continue reading As NHS England under Labour and with increasing referrals, freezes radiologist hiring, NHS Scotland cuts diagnostic waiting times for third quarter in a row

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Farage divides the Scottish opposition vote to help the SNP win

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Professor John Robertson, Oliver Brown Award 2022, (Just after Sean Connery in 2012!) From my January 2025 column in Scots Independent, 99 years old this year (The paper not me!), non-party-aligned, on old-fashioned paper, to your door. The Story So Far November 1926 saw the launch, under the auspices of the Scots National League, of a new monthly Nationalist newspaper entitled The Scots Independent. Father and son, William and Ian Gillies, along with Tom H Gibson as Business Manager, set in motion what has proved to be, the longest surviving political newspaper in Scotland in the Twentieth Century — into … Continue reading Farage divides the Scottish opposition vote to help the SNP win

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SNP pull further ahead in 6th sub-poll not changed to suit 2014 result, to leave troubled Cons and Labour seriously weakened by Reform and Lib Dems

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From Find Out Now on January 8th 2025, with 2 076: The Scottish subset of 176 has This is the 6th sub-poll, with a small but unweighted by the 2014 referendum result sample, with a cumulative total of around 1 000 saying something similar. In Scotland, the SNP looks secure at around 35%, around 20% clear of the opposition, and may take nearly all of the constituencies, other than a few Lib Dem refuges. The Cons look in dire trouble and with their vote and Labour’s, split with Reform and the Lib Dems, their Borders and North-East strongholds could fall … Continue reading SNP pull further ahead in 6th sub-poll not changed to suit 2014 result, to leave troubled Cons and Labour seriously weakened by Reform and Lib Dems

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NHS Scotland coping with THREE TIMES as many flu cases as Scotland shivers under Labour UK fuel allowance cuts and price increases

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From BBC Health, this morning: There is deep concern at a senior level in the NHS about rising rates of flu. The number of patients in hospital with flu continues to climb, according to latest NHS figures in England. Last week, the numbers averaged 5,407 a day – up from just under 4,500 the week before. As we mentioned a moment ago, the numbers in hospital have risen again over the past week, with nearly 5,000 beds occupied on average last week by patients struggling with the virus. NHS England’s emergency care director Prof Julian Redhead says there are no … Continue reading NHS Scotland coping with THREE TIMES as many flu cases as Scotland shivers under Labour UK fuel allowance cuts and price increases

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Lib Dumbs have another go at making up the numbers to reveal police Scotland staff have well below UK level of absences for ‘psychological disorders, including anxiety, depression, and stress’

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Today, on BBC Reporting Scotland, faithfully repeating what’s in 1919, an online mag with no peer-review and no standards of referencing, dedicated to representing uncritically the views of the police officers’ trade union and any opposition politician who will help them claim they’re hard done by, in Scotland: The number of working days lost to mental ill health in Police Scotland has surged by more than 50 per cent over the past five years. Since 2019, officers and staff have taken a total of 440,630 days off due to psychological disorders, including anxiety, depression, and stress. The findings come amid … Continue reading Lib Dumbs have another go at making up the numbers to reveal police Scotland staff have well below UK level of absences for ‘psychological disorders, including anxiety, depression, and stress’

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Researchers predict more than TWICE as many BBC Scotland staff than prisoners took drugs on Christmas Day

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From BBC Scotland today: Prisoners hospitalised after Christmas drug misuse – Five prisoners were taken to hospital on Christmas Day following widespread drug misuse at a Scottish prison. A total of 35 inmates at HMP Glenochil in Clackmannanshire were identified as being under the influence of drugs on 25 December, with five taken to hospital for treatment. Not in the BBC report: There are 670 prisoners in Glenochil, so less than 1% were hospitalised and 5% had taken ‘drugs’. In the quarter ending September 2024, 94.7% of the 357 prisoners referred for drug abuse problems were treated by NHS Scotland … Continue reading Researchers predict more than TWICE as many BBC Scotland staff than prisoners took drugs on Christmas Day

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Even before the Scottish Child Payment increase is felt, 90 places in England & Wales have worse child poverty than any part of Scotland

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Thanks to Gordon MacDonald MSP (or his researcher?) for alerting me to this. From End Child Poverty in June 2024, the above table based on 2022/2023 data, and: Every year the End Child Poverty Coalition, together with the Centre for Research in Social Policy at Loughborough University, publishes data on the number of children living in poverty, in each Westminster Constituency and Local Authority across the UK. This year (June 2024) we have calculated child poverty rates for the old Parliamentary Constiucny, and the Constituencies that will be used in the 2024 General Election. https://endchildpoverty.org.uk/child-poverty-2024/ Note that the Scottish Child … Continue reading Even before the Scottish Child Payment increase is felt, 90 places in England & Wales have worse child poverty than any part of Scotland

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Scotland’s A&E: is the BBC omitting positives and condoning Labour hypocrisy?

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By stewartb There is a pattern here: there are longstanding, persistent efforts designed to ensure voters in Scotland won’t know this basic fact: NHS Scotland has long delivered by far the best A&E waiting times performance in the four nations, notwithstanding its acknowledged shortcomings during a seriously challenging period for the NHS across the UK. Leaders of the British Labour Party are unrelenting in their negativity about NHS Scotland: presumably they consider this will deliver electoral advantages. Fair enough you may argue: the party is in opposition in Scotland after all.  However, it’s the vitriol exhibited in Labour’s politicisation of … Continue reading Scotland’s A&E: is the BBC omitting positives and condoning Labour hypocrisy?

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Opposition MSP defies facts to suggest child rape gangs might operate in Scotland

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Around 50 such gangs have been identified across England: One gang of 7 or 8 men based in Glasgow raped 4 children and were found guilty in 2023. This does not represent the same phenomenon found across England, with hundreds of mostly Pakistani men and the mass rape of more than 1 000 children, trafficked from badly-run care homes to multiple locations across the region. Nevertheless in the Herald, today, the above claim by Pam Gosal, and: A Scottish Conservative MSP has said she “echoes calls” made by the UK Conservative leader for a national inquiry into tackling child sexual … Continue reading Opposition MSP defies facts to suggest child rape gangs might operate in Scotland