Professor John Robertson OBA, SCE Higher Economics, 1969, C grade Professor Anton Muscatelli, former Principal Glasgow University, was born in Bari, Italy. His family migrated to Scotland, perhaps to escape local taxation hikes resulting from the activities of the local Capriati mafia clan? They and other factors no doubt seem to have been pretty effective at ‘putting people off Italy‘, with 15 million leaving between 1945 and 1970. Muscatelli is in the low-impact rating, not really peer-reviewed, Scotsman today, claiming that Scotland’s taxation is putting people off coming to, or staying in, Scotland. Muscatelli appears not to have ever written … Continue reading Sarwar’s pet professor should have read HMRC report showing that Scotland’s progressive taxation seems not to have ‘put people off Scotland’ as quality of life, lower housing costs, lower crime, better HNS and ‘post-pandemic appeal’, take it from near-zero to 8 000 a year

Professor John Robertson OBA I know, it doesn’t quite fit the kind of mean image Scots sometimes have of some of the capital’s inhabitants but to outsiders, it seems, Edinburgh is a warm and friendly capital city. Dublin is at 23 and London is at 30, way behind. From Book Retreats last week: Where is your happy place? Teaming up with a Harvard psychologist and happiness expert, we combined the science and data to find the holiday destinations where you’ll feel your best. Today, people are no longer traveling just for landmarks or luxury. They’re traveling to feel something. To … Continue reading Edinburgh is top UK city in Holiday Happiness Index 25 places ahead of London

Professor John Robertson OBA, Academic Reporter of the Decade The Herald today has the above, and: The Scottish Government-owned ferry operator CalMac was fined more than £20 million for failing island communities then handed a new £4 billion contract by ministers, the Herald on Sunday can reveal. Performance deductions imposed by ministers when CalMac fails to meet reliability and service measures on the contract hit a record £4.335m in its final year alone. £21m as a percentage of the £4bn contract is only 0.5%, so I thought I’d have a look around some other ferry services for comparison. Not what I expected. Wightlink and Red … Continue reading In Scotland with a GDP half the size of Washington State USA, the ferry service is much more punctual – 99% to 72% – but only it is fined?In

Professor John Robertson OBA It’s been suggested that I can be a bit ‘neurodiverse’ myself, lacking filters, at times when I compare sensitive issues in Scotland and England but, if I am, at least I’m not as bad as the creeps who put together front pages like that above with a greeting wean and a sickeningly unconvincingly compassionate, Labour MSP. 28 000, eh? It’s 400 000 in England1, 30% longer. If you’re interested, for adults, 23 000 in Scotland and an estimated 600 000 in England2, 3, nearly three times as long. Sources: Continue reading I’ll get big stick for this ‘whitabootery’ I know but ADHD and Autism waiting list for ‘kids’ is 30% longer, and for adults THREE times as long, in England

Professor John Robertson OBA Labour’s Lisa Nandy, speaking for Home Secretary, David Lammy I guess, this morning to agree that it’s unacceptable that there are currently 22 prisoners in England, released in error and ‘out there.’ Are there any reports of prisoners released in error in Scotland who have yet returned to prison? No absconding cases identified: Despite the volume of errors, all available reports from November 2025 explicitly state or imply that affected prisoners were successfully returned to custody through police cooperation. No sources mention ongoing manhunts, fugitives, or prisoners who “have yet returned” (i.e., remain at large). The … Continue reading Will Lisa Nandy call Anas Sarwar and see if he can find out how Scotland’s prisons manage to keep prisoners in prison with not one on the run here but 22 in England? He already knows how