Year: 2025

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With 50% more registered nurses, no Scottish health board has scarily high mortality rates due to use of unqualified staff increasingly common in NHS England

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Professor John Robertson OBA From the Times, three days ago, the above graph reveals that those health trusts in England which are increasingly using less qualified staff rather than fully registered nurses to care for patients, have been responsible for higher death rates than they should have, in clear contrast to those trusts which have not done so. Hospitals which have cut registered nurses or replaced them with lower-paid staff have seen a surge in death rates, a major study has revealed. The research, which analysed staffing at 122 NHS trusts over four years, revealed dangerous variations. Nicola Ranger, chief … Continue reading With 50% more registered nurses, no Scottish health board has scarily high mortality rates due to use of unqualified staff increasingly common in NHS England

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Factcheck – 70% pass rate in S4 mathematics – Someone who actually knows something about educational research scoffs at fake ‘commission’s education arm’

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Professor John Robertson OBA, , former schoolteacher, education lecturer, head of department, Associate Dean (Quality Assurance), Research Professor, research methods tutor, Masters and PhD supervisor, multiple peer-reviewed international research author, Faculty Research Ethics Chair I have more detail on the above ‘research’, front page this morning and 35th by this afternoon. The only story that has sunk faster is that on the Labour MSP and the paedophile. I’ve already clarified in my previous post why you should be wary of ‘The Commission on School Reform, the education arm of the independent think tank Enlighten.’ Who on earth do they think they are? … Continue reading Factcheck – 70% pass rate in S4 mathematics – Someone who actually knows something about educational research scoffs at fake ‘commission’s education arm’

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Scotsman ‘newspaper’ front pages incompetent, mendacious, self-important, sub-standard researchers to undermine Scottish schools

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Professor John Robertson OBA, , former schoolteacher, education lecturer, head of department, Associate Dean (Quality Assurance), Research Professor, research methods tutor, Masters and PhD supervisor, multiple peer-reviewed international research author, Faculty Research Ethics Chair The above is on the front page of the Scotsman, based on a report by the far from ‘independent‘, pompously self-styled Commission on School Reform (neither royal nor government just invented) and fronted by the notorious Carole Ford with, as always, party-affiliation hidden, and at the end evidence of Pisa-data which no respectable published educationist will ever use. Note – I’ve put all my ‘stuff’ there … Continue reading Scotsman ‘newspaper’ front pages incompetent, mendacious, self-important, sub-standard researchers to undermine Scottish schools

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John Swinney knows not one Scottish Jew has been physically assaulted in an anti-semitic attack since records began

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Professor John Robertson OBA According to the Scottish Daily Express yesterday: Jewish families are considering leaving Scotland in the face of a backlash against the community over the conflict in Gaza, with the First Minister accused of stoking tensions The Jewish population is in decline but that’s a result of intermarriage, aging, assimilation, secularisation and some movement historically but not recently, to Israel and other parts of the world. There’s no sign they’d be fleeing to places where anti-semitism is much more of an issue I’ve been following the annual survey by the Jewish charity, the Community Security Trust, of … Continue reading John Swinney knows not one Scottish Jew has been physically assaulted in an anti-semitic attack since records began

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One of Scotland’s useless, jaundiced, hacks is so little read he can’t drag himself out of the abyss

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Professor John Robertson OBA I’ve written more times about McKenna than I care to remember and had resolved to just ignore his ill-informed and petty tirades against the SNP, but for dog (sorry Kev) knows what reason, I feel the urge. At the heart of his stuff is what seems to be an evidence-free feeling of anti-Catholic discrimination still pervading live in Scotland. The Great Professor Tom Devine disagrees completely but Kev is not for thinking or reading any facts. Ironically given his faith, Kev the Doubter doesn’t seem to worry too much about the religious institution he belongs to. … Continue reading One of Scotland’s useless, jaundiced, hacks is so little read he can’t drag himself out of the abyss

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Will Anas Sarwar be asked to stand up for Scotland as Labour Government ‘quietly guts’ by 76%, funding to create jobs in poorest areas of Scotland?

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Professor John Robertson OBA From the Guardian today: If the government was serious about reducing the growing welfare bill, it would be starting here and in the other parts of the country blighted by deindustrialisation and poverty. It would identify the parts of the country most in need – Wales, Scotland and large swaths of northern England – and love-bomb them. Yet instead of devoting more money to regional economic development, ministers are doing the opposite. In one of its less-publicised policy moves, Labour has quietly gutted the fund designed to create jobs, a scheme inherited from the Conservatives. The shared … Continue reading Will Anas Sarwar be asked to stand up for Scotland as Labour Government ‘quietly guts’ by 76%, funding to create jobs in poorest areas of Scotland?

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UK Parliament to take at least three years longer than Scottish Parliament to see through ‘smokescreen for harm’ and begin to consult sometime on a ban for trail hunting

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Professor John Robertson OBA From BBC UK Breakfast above, the quick recognition that trail hunting is already banned in Scotland. It was January 2023. From the Independent today: The Government is set to ban trail hunting, for fear it is being used as a “smokescreen” for chasing and killing wild animals.Trail hunting mimics a traditional hunt, with dogs following a pre-laid, animal-based scent such as fox urine, while a group of hunters follows the pack on horseback. The activity has remained legal since the 2004 hunting ban came into force, as it did not explicitly involve killing animals such as foxes. But … Continue reading UK Parliament to take at least three years longer than Scottish Parliament to see through ‘smokescreen for harm’ and begin to consult sometime on a ban for trail hunting

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In the land with the best services for children the Herald’s sickening imagery and campaign to undermine the only party that does anything

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Professor John Robertson OBA The Herald today with another of their tasteless, exploitative images and demands from charities, the latter lead by folk often more interested in honours from Sir Keir, to demand more from the ‘SNP’ government and, of course, failing to inform their readers of just what that party has already done to radically reduce child poverty, only here, and with the clear commitment, only here, to push for its complete eradication! The Herald 18 October 2025 headlined their report on autism and ADHD waiting times with an apparently tragic image of tearful wee, Madeleine McCann-like, fair-haired girl of 3 to 4 … Continue reading In the land with the best services for children the Herald’s sickening imagery and campaign to undermine the only party that does anything

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In less than 4 years child poverty in England predicted to be 45% greater and in Wales’58% higher than in Scotland, affecting millions of them

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No disgusting images required here Professor John Robertson OBA What are the predictions for child poverty rates in the future in the 4 nations? Based on an AI search of 56 documents: Predictions for future child poverty rates in the four UK nations vary by source and depend on policy changes, economic growth, and devolved measures.The most recent official UK government projections (November 2025, from the Department for Work and Pensions) estimate 4.3 million children in relative low income after housing costs by FYE 2030 (the end of the current parliament), a reduction of about 400,000 from FYE 2025 under … Continue reading In less than 4 years child poverty in England predicted to be 45% greater and in Wales’58% higher than in Scotland, affecting millions of them