Year: 2025

1 Comment

BBC Scotland misunderstands the attainment gap again, only ever really closed in Maoist China and Albania, to platform the Scottish Cons and Labour’s Pam Duncan-Glancy un-educated rants

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 Professor John Robertson OBA For no apparent reason in the text, BBC Scotland’s Lucy Adams has an extended report today – Has Scotland closed the attainment gap in schools?, with only one 5-year retired prof (Sue Ellis) as a source, only limited broad statistics to conceal areas of success and, of course a platform for the opposition parties to rant: First Minister John Swinney is expected to renew this commitment ahead of another Holyrood campaign in 2026, but any assessment of his party’s progress so far … Continue reading BBC Scotland misunderstands the attainment gap again, only ever really closed in Maoist China and Albania, to platform the Scottish Cons and Labour’s Pam Duncan-Glancy un-educated rants

2 Comments

Labour Wales cannot match Scottish FREE bus travel for the young but BBC Wales has only praise for the scheme unlike BBC Scotland in 2022

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 Professor John Robertson OBAThere’s not a single word of criticism in the BBC Wales report even when it mentions: From Monday, single fares will cost £1 and a full day pass will cost £3 for those aged 16-21, which will later be extended to five to 15-year-olds from 3 November. So £15 per week for a college student or apprentice travelling to work every day? Is that a big help? or To get the cheaper fares, those eligible will need to apply for a mytravelpass, external via the Transport For … Continue reading Labour Wales cannot match Scottish FREE bus travel for the young but BBC Wales has only praise for the scheme unlike BBC Scotland in 2022

6 Comments

First major success for international warship building on the Clyde and one that cannot be used to blackmail Scottish voters 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 Professor John Robertson OBA In NAVY LOOKOUT yesterday: Norway has formally announced it will purchase at least 5 Type 26 frigates to be built in the UK. Here we look at the implications of this news. From an economic perspective, this is a huge success for the UK and will be by far the biggest British warship export project since the Second World War. BAE Systems is not the only winner, but an industrial supply chain that includes around 400 companies and extends across the country. … Continue reading First major success for international warship building on the Clyde and one that cannot be used to blackmail Scottish voters this time

6 Comments

Sickening exploitation of own son’s drug death on behalf of Scottish Labour’s 2026 campaign when Up to 90% of Scotland’s drug deaths were among those who became addicted before the SNP came to power, more than 90% of nearly 30 000 referrals per year are treated within 3 weeks and more than half within only 1 week!

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 Professor John Robertson OBA In the Daily Record (Sunday Mail?) today, the above and: Sir Ian McCartney was serving as a Cabinet Office minister overseeing drugs policy in Tony Blair’s government when his son Hugh, 23, was found dead in a Glasgow flat in 1999 after taking heroin. “It has been a huge political failure because from day one of the SNP government, despite the work that had been done previously, by [former Labour first minister] Jack McConnell, Gordon Brown and myself, there was a decision taken that all … Continue reading Sickening exploitation of own son’s drug death on behalf of Scottish Labour’s 2026 campaign when Up to 90% of Scotland’s drug deaths were among those who became addicted before the SNP came to power, more than 90% of nearly 30 000 referrals per year are treated within 3 weeks and more than half within only 1 week!

2 Comments

Scottish drug deaths fall again and BBC Scotland deliberately lie in an effort to reverse the actual trend and mask the English figures revealed as an massive understatement

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 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 By Liz S MSM Monitor tweeted today: BBC presenter Lucy Whyte has claimed Scottish drug deaths hit a record high of 1339 in 2023. FALSE The figure of 1339 is from 2020. The (actual) figure for 2023 was 1172. BBC Scotland, not for the first time, is circulating fake data that reverses the actual drug death trend. I checked online and MSM Monitor is 100% correct. Lucy Whyte stated on Radio Scotland: “The number of drug related deaths in 2024 is going to … Continue reading Scottish drug deaths fall again and BBC Scotland deliberately lie in an effort to reverse the actual trend and mask the English figures revealed as an massive understatement

12 Comments

The new Wolf of Badenoch plans to plunder all our oil and gas

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 Professor John Robertson OBA Today in BBC Politics: Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch has said her party will remove all net zero requirements on oil and gas companies drilling in the North Sea if elected. Badenoch is to formally announce the plan to focus solely on “maximising extraction” and to get “all our [sic] oil and gas out of the North Sea” in a speech in Aberdeen on Tuesday. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cp890n51684o I’ve often wondered if Badenoch knows of her ancestor through marriage, the Wolf of Badenoch (above), a … Continue reading The new Wolf of Badenoch plans to plunder all our oil and gas

2 Comments

Access to an NHS dentist in Scotland is twice that in affluent Wiltshire

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 Professor John Robertson OBA From BBC Wiltshire yesterday: The British Dental Association (BDA) has warned of an “unprecedented collapse” in dentistry, with many dentists pulling out of NHS contracts because they are overworked and underfunded. Earlier this month, the Hathaway Dental Practice in Chippenham, said it would no longer provide NHS services to its patients from 1 November. It said the practice had lost four NHS dentists in the past few months, and received no applicants when it put out an advert for replacements. A report published in … Continue reading Access to an NHS dentist in Scotland is twice that in affluent Wiltshire

7 Comments

Are lives less at risk as operational fire staffing reduces at less than half the rate of fire deaths?

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/detailsProfessor John Robertson OBA Headlining in the Herald today: Inside the crisis facing Scotland’s fire service amid fears lives are at risk – A dire warning has been issued about the future of the fire service in Scotland, with looming cuts raising fears over public safety. Not mentioned: Fire deaths in Scotland have shown a significant downward trend since the early 2000s. Fatalities dropped from 53 in 2009-10 to 30 in 2021-22 for residential dwelling fires, a 29% reduction in dwelling fires overall.1 The number … Continue reading Are lives less at risk as operational fire staffing reduces at less than half the rate of fire deaths?

3 Comments

The Scottish Government and trade with China – Chinese oppression or child abuse and serfdom in Tibet before that?

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 Professor John Robertson OBA Counterpunch yesterday had the above, and: Last month, on the Daily Beast podcast, journalists Joanna Coles and Michael Wolff took turns reeling off a list of famous people who Wolff met while visiting Jeffrey Epstein’s Manhattan home. The recited names were a who’s who of rich, powerful, and perverted men, many of them recognized Friends of Jeffrey. But one name stood out as unusual: the Dalai Lama. https://www.counterpunch.org/2025/08/29/why-was-the-dalai-lama-at-jeffrey-epsteins-house/ Reading this, I was reminded of two things. First, the images of the Dalia Lama … Continue reading The Scottish Government and trade with China – Chinese oppression or child abuse and serfdom in Tibet before that?

9 Comments

The SNP should absolutely not charge in and ‘tool up for dirty fight to death with Reform UK’. It should focus on its demonstrable and many strengths

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 Professor John Robertson OBA Neil Mackay in the Herald two days ago, had the above and: John Swinney and the SNP are at a fork in the road when dealing with Nigel Farage and Reform’s rise, the ascendency of the far and hard right, and the extremists within, says Neil Mackay, The SNP has two choices: accept its part in the rise of the far-right, or grow a spine and take the fight to extremists.  Before I respond, lets remind ourselves if Mackay is the kind … Continue reading The SNP should absolutely not charge in and ‘tool up for dirty fight to death with Reform UK’. It should focus on its demonstrable and many strengths