Year: 2025

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Scotland’s roads have less than half the collision rate of the UK

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stewartb For broader context: UK Government. Department of Transport (Last updated December 19, 2024) Road safety statistics: data tables – ‘Detailed statistics about reported personal injury road collisions for Great Britain, vehicles and casualties involved.’ Source: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/reported-road-accidents-vehicles-and-casualties-tables-for-great-britain#geographical-breakdowns-ras04 See: Geographical breakdowns (RAS04)/ Country and region (RAS0402) and specifically ‘ the spreadsheet entitled: Reported road collisions by severity, region and country, United Kingdom, 10 years up to 2023′. SCOTLAND: FATAL Total in 2014 = 178 (6 per billion vehicle miles) FATAL Total in 2023 =149 (5 per billion vehicle miles) GREAT BRITAIN:FATAL ’Total’ in 2014 = 1.658 (5 per billion vehicle miles)FATAL ’Total’ in 2023 = 1,522 … Continue reading Scotland’s roads have less than half the collision rate of the UK

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As 224 English local authorities submit unaudited accounts based on ‘dodgy data’, Scotland’s authorities have ‘state-run audit systems which have fared significantly better’

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Professor John Robertson OBA Thanks to Brian McGowan for alerting me to this: From the Canary factchecker today: The National Audit Office (NAO) has declined to sign off on the accuracy of the UK government’s national accounts for a second time, citing widespread unreliability in, and lack of, data supplied by local councils. The crux of the issue lies in the backlog of local authority audits, meaning only around a shocking 4% of English councils provided data deemed “reliable”. This is down from 10% in 2022/23 – which even then, was a dire reflection on the state of local and … Continue reading As 224 English local authorities submit unaudited accounts based on ‘dodgy data’, Scotland’s authorities have ‘state-run audit systems which have fared significantly better’

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A77 injury collisions plummet to only a third of level 8 years ago

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Professor John Robertson OBA I’m a regular A77 user and I strongly empathise with the calls for more dualling and bypassing on what is the very busy main Belfast to Glasgow route but road safety statistics do not seem to be a strong argument for that. From A75 and A77 road traffic accident statistics: FOI release, published today, we see a clear and steady decline in injury collisions, interrupted by a pandemic dip, due it must be assumed, at least in part, to improvements, from 108 to only 38 incidents in only 8 years. Source: https://www.gov.scot/publications/foi-202500460504/ Continue reading A77 injury collisions plummet to only a third of level 8 years ago

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If the Press & Journal can say ‘English drug dealers’ in Scotland why can’t BBC Scotland?

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Professor John Robertson OBA Thanks to Graham for alerting me to this. In the P&J today, another report on drugs clearly linked to English county lines gangs cuckooing vulnerable locals. For some time now major tabloids such as the ‘Scottish’ Sun, Express and Daily Mail and several local papers have been content to reveal the uniquely English base for the county lines gang plague terrorising up to 50 towns and even smaller villages, bring a new level of violence and exploitation, along with people trafficking, prostitution and child abuse with them and exploiting the vacuum of Scotland’s much-reduced crime levels. … Continue reading If the Press & Journal can say ‘English drug dealers’ in Scotland why can’t BBC Scotland?

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Access to NHS dentistry in Scotland – How trust in hypocritical Scottish Labour has ‘rotted away’

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stewartb More on the state of dentistry in England. From The Mirror – traditionally a Labour-supporting newspaper (July 14, 2025): ‘Wes Streeting defends only paying for half the population to get an NHS dentist – Health Secretary Wes Streeting has been grilled by MPs about suggestions Labour will not substantially increase the NHS dentistry budget it inherited from the Tories’ ‘Health Secretary Wes Streeting has defended why the Government is only paying for half the population of England to get an NHS dentist. (my emphasis) ‘MPs on the Health Committee grilled Mr Streeting on whether he would “reconsider” a decision to stick with similar funding for … Continue reading Access to NHS dentistry in Scotland – How trust in hypocritical Scottish Labour has ‘rotted away’

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Leading health think tank praises new framework for population health co-created by Scottish Government and COSLA

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– ‘this is a major step forward’ –  ‘Despite the now released Fit for the future: 10 Year Health Plan, England has nothing equivalent’ – ‘England would do well to draw inspiration from its neighbour’. By stewartb A respected think tank focusing on health and care in England, the King’s Fund published (July 14) a blog post with the headline: ‘What can English health policy learn from Scotland? A coherent policy approach to population health.’ Source: https://www.kingsfund.org.uk/insight-and-analysis/blogs/scotland-coherent-policy-approach-population-health It describes the King’s Fund’s longstanding advocacy of a stronger focus in England on population health through promoting the ‘integration for health, as … Continue reading Leading health think tank praises new framework for population health co-created by Scottish Government and COSLA

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Scotland’s economy has recently been outperforming the rest of the UK

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By Liz S Labour are failing in what they promoted as being their main mission as the new UK government. Number one focus for them being “Growth” in the UK economy. On July 11th it was reported that: “Chancellor Rachel Reeves has called the economy’s recent performance “disappointing” after figures showed it shrank unexpectedly in May” Also………. “The economy contracted by 0.1%, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said, after also shrinking in April” Ian Murray, Labour’s so called ‘Scottish’ Secretary, declared in 2024 that Labour’s first budget as the new UK government would herald an era of “Growth” for Scotland. Yet his Labour party are … Continue reading Scotland’s economy has recently been outperforming the rest of the UK

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For the West Coast of Scotland’s island routes, mono hull ferries are generally better suited due to their stability in rough seas, higher capacity for passengers and freight

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Professor John Robertson OBA Throughout much of 2024, the Herald worked with opposition politicians in a campaign aimed at undermining CalMac and, by association, the SNP’s competence in government. We, at TuS found several reports of the unsuitability of catamarans across the globe, even in milder conditions than off the West coast of Scotland and today we have used the X AI platform Grok to finally answer the question – Are mono hull or catamaran ferries better for the West Coast of Scotland island routes? The findings were unequivocal in favour of the mono-hulls: Choosing between mono hull and catamaran … Continue reading For the West Coast of Scotland’s island routes, mono hull ferries are generally better suited due to their stability in rough seas, higher capacity for passengers and freight

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In just 72 words, your perfect response to questions on the SNP’s use of the Scottish budget allocation from Westminster and the need for ‘full fiscal autonomy’

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Professor John Robertson OBA From First Minister correspondence including phrase “full fiscal autonomy”: FOI release published today: For the period 8th May 2024 – date, please provide all correspondence sent by, or to, John Swinney (or his private office) which includes the phrase “full fiscal autonomy”. The National (Scotland) 12 Budget is a reminder of who really controls our funding We could use Scotland’s vast renewable energy resources to lower costs and become a green energy leader. The UK is one of the worst-performing economies in Europe, so why should Scotland remain tied to it? With full fiscal autonomy, Scotland could … Continue reading In just 72 words, your perfect response to questions on the SNP’s use of the Scottish budget allocation from Westminster and the need for ‘full fiscal autonomy’