Year: 2025

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Add 309 young male asylum seekers to 10 brutal drug gangs from Liverpool and London and watch Inverness struggle for its life

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Professor John Robertson OBA From BBC Highlands and Islands, 29 October 2025 A UK government minister says he recognises the “strength of feeling” about plans to use an Inverness barracks to house asylum seekers. Cameron Barracks is to provide accommodation for 309 men from next month, according to local Lib Dem MP Angus MacDonald. At Westminster, Mr MacDonald challenged Minister of State at the Home Office Alex Norris on the suitability of the site near Inverness city centre. Norris said any impact on communities would be “minimised” and the security of people living in surrounding areas was “paramount”. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cx27x1k2rkmo Two … Continue reading Add 309 young male asylum seekers to 10 brutal drug gangs from Liverpool and London and watch Inverness struggle for its life

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The case for or against approval of Western Link 2 from Ayrshire to Wales and the West Midlands

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Professor John Robertson OBA In the map above you can see the full range of networks transferring electricity from wind farms in Scottish waters, across the border into England & Wales. It’s a dramatic illustration of the UK’s increasing dependency on Scotland’s electricity generation. Just how much? From Energy Statistics for Scotland – Q2 2025 published today: In the second quarter of 2025, 8.1 TWh of renewable electricity was generated in Scotland. This is the most renewable electricity generated in the second quarter of any year in Scotland Scotland’s capacity for electricity generation from renewable sources has continued to increase and currently stands … Continue reading The case for or against approval of Western Link 2 from Ayrshire to Wales and the West Midlands

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UK minister slapped down for his Trumpian fake news on Scotland’s water quality – BBC Scotland agenda meeting expected to deem it not in public interest

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Professor John Robertson OBA Thanks to Dottie for guiding this piece: In the Guardian today: Steve Reed, the housing secretary, has been slapped down by the UK Statistics Authority for falsely claiming that Scottish rivers and lakes are more polluted than those in England. Reed made these comments this summer when he was environment secretary in order to demonstrate that a nationalised water sector would not necessarily deliver cleaner waterways. Scotland’s water is nationalised; England’s isn’t. These claims were obviously false; Scotland has a much lower population density than England and many remote lakes and rivers which are not near … Continue reading UK minister slapped down for his Trumpian fake news on Scotland’s water quality – BBC Scotland agenda meeting expected to deem it not in public interest

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There is no ‘care home crisis’ really as 14% of places are unfilled, just as in 2015, ten years ago

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Professor John Robertson OBA The Scottish media is awash with reports of a care home crisis as ‘elderly people struggle to access care‘ based on feeds from opposition parties. Typical is this from the Scottish Lib Dems in The Democrat yesterday: The crisis in social care is spiralling under the SNP after new figures revealed almost one in five care homes for adults has closed over the past decade. Scottish Liberal Democrat MP Angus MacDonald has today revealed the new census figures for this section of the care sector. West Dunbartonshire Council refuse to reveal the local figures to readers … Continue reading There is no ‘care home crisis’ really as 14% of places are unfilled, just as in 2015, ten years ago

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Junior Minister, Michael Shanks’s lies fully exposed but only in the Orkney Times and here as 2 000 jobs in the North of Scotland are put at risk

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Professor John Robertson OBA Thanks to ArtyHetty for alerting me to this. From the Orkney Times, yesterday. Petrofac, one of Aberdeen’s largest employers has entered administration. A statement released by the company on 27 October stated: Having carefully assessed its options, and the impact of TenneT’s decision to terminate Petrofac’s scope of work on the 2GW programme in the Netherlands, the Directors of Petrofac Limited (the Group’s ultimate holding company) have applied to the High Court of England and Wales to appoint administrators to Petrofac Limited. Not in the MSM coverage, only in the Orkney Times and here, despite being … Continue reading Junior Minister, Michael Shanks’s lies fully exposed but only in the Orkney Times and here as 2 000 jobs in the North of Scotland are put at risk

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Police have investigated over 1 000 avoidable baby deaths in NHS England, none in Edinburgh and none in Scotland where ‘maternity failings’ pay-outs are tellingly less than half, per head, those in England

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of the UK’s busiest maternity units, claiming staff shortages and a culture of mistrust led to patients being harmed. Professor John Robertson OBA BBC Scotland is headlining today: Damning report finds ‘culture of mistrust’ at maternity unit – Staffing shortages and a “culture of mistrust” led to delays and patients being harmed at one of the busiest maternity units in the UK, a review has found. Healthcare Improvement Scotland‘s report based on a one/two day visit to the maternity unit in the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh does say the same things but among more positive statements and nowhere does it … Continue reading Police have investigated over 1 000 avoidable baby deaths in NHS England, none in Edinburgh and none in Scotland where ‘maternity failings’ pay-outs are tellingly less than half, per head, those in England

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For BBC Scotland neither a falling murder rate nor falling NHS Scotland waiting times as the gap widens further with UK Labour’s climbing ones, are ‘news’ for you

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Professor John Robertson OBA BBC Scotland’s top stories today, on their website and on their broadcast news, but there’s something missing. This, from the Scottish Government only yesterday afternoon: New figures show NHS waiting lists have fallen and waits of more than a year have reduced for the fourth month in a row. When compared with August 2025, September saw a 7.3% decrease in new outpatient waits longer than a year – this number has now fallen for four consecutive months. The total waiting list for outpatients has decreased by 2.0% on the same month last year, and the inpatient … Continue reading For BBC Scotland neither a falling murder rate nor falling NHS Scotland waiting times as the gap widens further with UK Labour’s climbing ones, are ‘news’ for you

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In only 4 minutes, four out of four BBC Scotland broadcast reports aim to worry viewers and three are explicitly associated with Scottish Government responsibility

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Professor John Robertson OBA Following on from a tale of ‘serious’ concerns in a maternity unit, BBC Scotland’s four morning inserts were all equally concerning and three of them were explicitly linked to Scottish Government (SNP) responsibility as in the first, above, on prison overcrowding. I’ve discussed several times before how such a morning diet for viewers, especially the elderly and the vulnerable, predisposes them to conservative political preferences and against change such as Scottish independence. For research evidence of this see: Reporting Scotland Darkly – how research reveals only BBC Scotland’s editors select the nightmares to make you so … Continue reading In only 4 minutes, four out of four BBC Scotland broadcast reports aim to worry viewers and three are explicitly associated with Scottish Government responsibility

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Scotland’s homicide rate plummets by more than half in last 20 years, below Denmark and well below rUK, in wake of 18 years of reducing inequality, predicted by researchers but the story falls off BBC Scotland in only hours

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Professor John Robertson OBA From Homicide in Scotland, 2024-25 published yesterday: Scotland’s Chief Statistician today published Homicide in Scotland, 2024-25. The publication provides information on crimes of homicide recorded by the police in Scotland in 2024-25. The main findings are: In 2024-25, 45 victims of homicide were recorded, 21% (or 12 victims) less than the 57 victims recorded in 2023-24. This is the lowest number of recorded homicide victims since comparable records began in 1976. Over the latest 20-year period from 2005-06 to 2024-25, the number of homicide victims in Scotland fell by 53% (or 51 victims) from 96 to … Continue reading Scotland’s homicide rate plummets by more than half in last 20 years, below Denmark and well below rUK, in wake of 18 years of reducing inequality, predicted by researchers but the story falls off BBC Scotland in only hours