Professor John Robertson OBA Scotland, above, the most impoverished part of the UK, and yet: Continue reading More than 300 years of London’s economic management of Scotland yet still the most impoverished and most ‘milked’ part of the UK
stewartb You may have noticed this rare occurrence: a positively-framed headline about NHS Scotland was published (December 23) on the Scotland page of the BBC News website: ‘A&E waiting times improve ahead of busy festive period’. On long waits, the BBC reported that during a week in mid-December: ’14% of patients waited over eight hours, compared to 16.9% the week before, and 6.9% had waits of more than 12 hours, down from 8.6% previously.’ The headline’s positivity was soon countered in the article by the BBC sharing with us the views of opposition politicians. Displaying the usual BBC blind spot over notions … Continue reading BBC Scotland considers that voters in Scotland don’t need to know of Labour’s actual track record in government in Cardiff and Westminster
Professor John Robertson OBA Based entirely on a tragic feed from Scottish Labour as they fall to fourth in the latest opinion poll for the May election, the Record and the Scotsman have a headline that will have some of their readers scratching – ’67 year o’ delays? A thote they SNP had been in less than that, ken!’ So, just to be able to respond, we’ll use the same method for UK Government capital project delays. Here they are. Note that almost all had a plus sign after the number, so this is conservative and by no means comprehensive: Continue reading Westminster blasted over 139 years of delays to projects, TWICE that of SNP Government
Professor John Robertson OBA The Guardian above has another of its ‘UK’ pieces with not a word on Scotland in it. There is, of course, no peer-reviewed research on this topic but, the MSM often tell us that they just report what is happening out there. So, comparing media reporting on this issue in Scotland and England’s media will give us a reasonable comparison. Given the background independence factor we can be very sure that if the Scottish media had any accounts of health workers leaving Scotland because of an anti-migrant rhetoric here, we’d know all about it. So: In … Continue reading Foreign medics NOT shunning NHS Scotland because of anti-migrant rhetoric from London parties
Professor John Robertson OBA From BBC Scotland on 24 December 2025: The number of laboratory-confirmed flu cases in Scotland has dropped by more than a third, new figures show. Public Health Scotland (PHS) data, external shows there were 1,297 confirmed cases in the week to 21 December – down from 1,994 in the previous week. Provisional figures also suggest there were 679 flu-related hospital admissions across the country, down from 950 in the previous week. PHS said the latest figures were encouraging but warned there could be more than one wave of flu in a season and urged people to take steps … Continue reading Flu cases decline steeply in Scotland more than two weeks ahead of England after Swinney had launched vaccine programme more than two weeks earlier
Professor John Robertson OBA In the Times Colonist, on December 15th 2025: To increase funding and ward off fare hikes “well in excess of 30%” in two years, B.C. Ferries proposes forming a “sustainable partnership” with all levels of government — federal, provincial, and local. Yet this partnership maintains the same governance model that enabled the Fast Ferries scandal in the 1990s and cost taxpayers $1 billion in avoidable expenses. The B.C. Auditor General called for strong governance reform to prevent future vessel failures and wasted tax dollars. Three provincial governments, however, have ignored his unambiguous warning by keeping the same … Continue reading 30% fare hikes in only two years, declining service performance, a ballooning budget, and a history of deploying unreliable vessels as Canadian government underfunds its ferry service by 10 times that in Scotland
Professor John Robertson OBA From Maine Public, two days ago: A new study from Harvard’s T.H. Chan School of Public Health shows that living near a nuclear power plant significantly increases a person’s risk of cancer. The study was published this month in Environmental Health. CAI’s Jennette Barnes has this interview with senior author Petros Koutrakis, professor of environmental sciences at Harvard. JENNETTE BARNES: In your study, you used data from the Massachusetts Cancer Registry to investigate whether living near a nuclear power plant affected a person’s risk of cancer. I do want to talk about how you did it, … Continue reading Leading US academic confirms 100% higher risk for those living 2km from nuclear plants, greater risk for the elderly and debunks Scottish Labour claims for ‘latest technology’
Professor John Robertson OBA In the P&J but not in the MSM and certainly not on BBC Scotland North-East, today: Detective Sergeant Peter Sloan of Merseyside Police’s Project Medusa added: “No area or community is immune to county lines drug supply, which is why intelligence‑led operations like this are essential to disrupt involved in the distribution of harmful drugs. “Today’s action, delivered alongside Police Scotland, resulted in three arrests and the seizure of significant quantities of illegal drugs. “This sends a clear message to those intent on exploiting vulnerable people and transporting drugs.” https://www.pressandjournal.co.uk/fp/news/6923496/three-arrested-joint-county-lines-operation-peterhead-merseyside/ What does the Liverpool detective mean when … Continue reading ‘No area or community is immune to countty lines drug supply’ from England to ‘Small town Scotland’
Talking-up Scotland 