Year: 2025

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Call for disastrous privatised Danish ferry contract to be made public to Jersey islanders as fiascos come in armadas

johnrobertson834

Support Talking-up Scotland’s work to counter the lies and get you the facts, daily, at: https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/checkout/help-talking-up-scotland-tell-truth-about-scotland/payment/nBQxjVzq/details or by direct bank transfer method – Sort code 08-91-04, Account 12266421 Professor John Robertson OBA Thanks to Brenda Robb for alerting me to this. From the Jersey Evening Post, two days ago: THE contract between the government and ferry provider DFDS ought to be released in the interest of transparency amid growing public concern about the service being provided, a senior scrutineer has said. DFDS has come under fire after a series of complaints about freight charges, passenger delays and its winter timetable which axed … Continue reading Call for disastrous privatised Danish ferry contract to be made public to Jersey islanders as fiascos come in armadas

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Will Anas Sarwar back his home city Glasgow against Sir Keir Starmer and the Home Office as their failures force a refugee homelessness crisis onto it a whole year after they were warned by the SNP Council?

johnrobertson834

Support Talking-up Scotland’s work to counter the lies and get you the facts, daily, at: https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/checkout/help-talking-up-scotland-tell-truth-about-scotland/payment/nBQxjVzq/details or by direct bank transfer method – Sort code 08-91-04, Account 12266421 Professor John Robertson OBA The Herald today has the above and: Sir Keir Starmer has refused to intervene in Glasgow’s escalating refugee homelessness crisis, despite warnings the city faces a £109 million bill. The Prime Minister’s unwillingness to get involved comes ahead of a planned cut in the move-on period for refugees, from 56 days to 28 — a change officials believe could be “disastrous” for Scotland’s largest city. This is a crisis made in London and dumped … Continue reading Will Anas Sarwar back his home city Glasgow against Sir Keir Starmer and the Home Office as their failures force a refugee homelessness crisis onto it a whole year after they were warned by the SNP Council?

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What excessive expenses claims did the new Governor General for Scotland, Douglas Alexander MP, make the last time? Can this wee, failed ‘head boy’ top Angela this time?

johnrobertson834

Support Talking-up Scotland’s work to counter the lies and get you the facts, daily, at: https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/checkout/help-talking-up-scotland-tell-truth-about-scotland/payment/nBQxjVzq/details or by direct bank transfer method – Sort code 08-91-04, Account 12266421 Professor John Robertson OBA Thanks to Kath Barr for suggesting this story. I’m tired and one-handed this morning so over to Grok again: Douglas Alexander, a British Labour Party MP, was implicated in the 2009 UK parliamentary expenses scandal for claims related to his second home. Key allegations include: These claims drew scrutiny during the 2009 scandal, with Alexander’s spokesperson stating the £12,000 repayment was made “for the avoidance of doubt” and denying wrongdoing. … Continue reading What excessive expenses claims did the new Governor General for Scotland, Douglas Alexander MP, make the last time? Can this wee, failed ‘head boy’ top Angela this time?

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Why this Herald building collapse story is another scare, like Grenfell, extremely unlikely to happen here because of more rigorous standards

johnrobertson834

Support Talking-up Scotland’s work to counter the lies and get you the facts, daily, at: https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/checkout/help-talking-up-scotland-tell-truth-about-scotland/payment/nBQxjVzq/details or by direct bank transfer method – Sort code 08-91-04, Account 12266421 Professor John Robertson OBA In the Herald, today above, from their master of disasters, Martin Williams, more nonsense. To be fair, he has to cover a lot of bases, including health scares, crime surges and ferry fiascos. What are these concrete panels he would have us panic over? From Grok AI (Powerfully helpful as long as you ask the right questions and can check the answers make sense): Large Panel System (LPS) failures in … Continue reading Why this Herald building collapse story is another scare, like Grenfell, extremely unlikely to happen here because of more rigorous standards

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Drug deaths in Scotland, England, Wales and in the EU – SEVEN simple facts showing our days as the drug death ‘capital’ are numbered

johnrobertson834

Support Talking-up Scotland’s work to counter the lies and get you the facts, daily, at: https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/checkout/help-talking-up-scotland-tell-truth-about-scotland/payment/nBQxjVzq/details or by direct bank transfer method – Sort code 08-91-04, Account 12266421 Professor John Robertson OBA I’ve been thinking over all the recent posts here on drug deaths and this short summary may be useful. If you have further insights into this, please comment below. Continue reading Drug deaths in Scotland, England, Wales and in the EU – SEVEN simple facts showing our days as the drug death ‘capital’ are numbered

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When all drug deaths are counted Scotland’s rate is falling fast toward the increasing rate in England and Wales and is already lower for males than in the north-east of England

johnrobertson834

Support Talking-up Scotland’s work to counter the lies and get you the facts, daily, at: https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/checkout/help-talking-up-scotland-tell-truth-about-scotland/payment/nBQxjVzq/details or by direct bank transfer method – Sort code 08-91-04, Account 12266421 Professor John Robertson OBA I know we’ve covered this before, including by reader JB, but I think we need something more short, direct and easy to grasp. If we accept the published data, there remains a significant gap with drug misuse deaths in Scotland still around twice the level in England and Wales, on average, but the rates are converging fast as they fall in Scotland but climb in England and Wales. We may … Continue reading When all drug deaths are counted Scotland’s rate is falling fast toward the increasing rate in England and Wales and is already lower for males than in the north-east of England

19 Comments

Thanks to Putin the SNP cannot oppose NATO membership but it can still reject US war policies such as those pursued by the monstrous Hilary Clinton

johnrobertson834

There are still some in the SNP, I feel sure, who opposed the changes in policy over NATO membership. Notably Ireland remains outside of NATO with only a limited relationship. Maybe it’s too late for us now but NATO membership does not mean we have to embrace all of US foreign policy and get close to its often belligerent presidents and ‘defence’ secretaries such as Hilary Clinton, Secretary of State (2009–2013, subject of, to me naive, treatment in Nicola Sturgeon’s recent book. I have no doubt that Clinton is a war criminal with a track record worse than Trump, so … Continue reading Thanks to Putin the SNP cannot oppose NATO membership but it can still reject US war policies such as those pursued by the monstrous Hilary Clinton

13 Comments

Scottish Labour and Jackie Baillie to purge party of Sarwar and selected ‘unpopular’ minorities in move to outflank Tories and merge with Reform UK

johnrobertson834

Support Talking-up Scotland’s work to counter the lies and get you the facts, daily, at: https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/checkout/help-talking-up-scotland-tell-truth-about-scotland/payment/nBQxjVzq/details or by direct bank transfer method – Sort code 08-91-04, Account 12266421 Professor John Robertson OBA, Scottish Extremism Correspondent Talking-up Scotland can today reveal shocking rumours, emerging for the Scottish Labour HQ hut, in Royston Vasey, that the latest poll putting Reform UK only one point behind Labour in Scotland and the very real prospect of a Reform UK government in 2029, that Jackie Baillie is mounting a campaign to unseat Anas Sarwar, a well-known Muslim, and lead the party into a merger with Reform UK. … Continue reading Scottish Labour and Jackie Baillie to purge party of Sarwar and selected ‘unpopular’ minorities in move to outflank Tories and merge with Reform UK

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The longest gap in reporting ever since the series began in 2017! – Lack of financial transparency from UK government continues under Labour

johnrobertson834

‘In the absence of timely Block Grant Transparency releases, Barnett consequentials are hard to reproduce’ – Scottish Fiscal Commission in evidence to the Scottish Affairs Committee (January 2025) By stewartb What’s happening to ‘transparency’ after c.14 months of this British Labour Party government in Westminster? Any ‘change’, any ‘new direction’? None to date it seems in terms of transparency over how the Barnett formula is applied. The Scottish Affairs Committee of the House of Commons has recently (July 16) published a report entitled ‘The financing of the Scottish Government’. (See https://committees.parliament.uk/publications/48818/documents/256455/default/ ) The issue of transparency over how Westminster’s so … Continue reading The longest gap in reporting ever since the series began in 2017! – Lack of financial transparency from UK government continues under Labour

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Nearly three times more behaviour support staff working in Scottish schools

johnrobertson834

Support Talking-up Scotland’s work to counter the lies and get you the facts, daily, at: https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/checkout/help-talking-up-scotland-tell-truth-about-scotland/payment/nBQxjVzq/details or by direct bank transfer method – Sort code 08-91-04, Account 12266421 Professor John Robertson OBA From Pupils with additional support needs and additional support for learning: FOI release published today, the above table.1, 2 The above data represent a 26 % increase in pupil support assistants and an194 % increase in behaviour support staff since 2018. Scotland’s media? The Times Education Supplement, in 2024, has: Just 137 behaviour support staff working in Scottish schools – Official figures also indicate the number of these specialists is … Continue reading Nearly three times more behaviour support staff working in Scottish schools