Author: johnrobertson834

Retired Professor of Media Politics Not-for-profit independent political analysis
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Successive SNP health secretaries have avoided 66 days of resident doctor strikes in Scotland, saved up to 200 000 appointments and unknown numbers of avoidable deaths

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Sky News has just announced: Resident doctors in England to strike for six days after Easter bank holiday – The planned walk-out is due to start from 7 April at 7am, just after the Easter bank holiday in England, until 6.59am on 13 April. The British Medical Association said in a post on X on Wednesday: “Resident doctors have been left with no choice but to strike. “Weeks of negotiations with the Government have failed to deliver enough progress on pay, with the goalposts being moved at the last minute. “We have called six days of industrial action to make … Continue reading Successive SNP health secretaries have avoided 66 days of resident doctor strikes in Scotland, saved up to 200 000 appointments and unknown numbers of avoidable deaths

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Major survey today reveals Scots TWICE as satisfied with A&E and dentistry and 25% more satisfied with NHS overall than in other parts of UK- ‘Scottish’ media is all over this – kidding!

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Many thanks to NHS FOR YES! for alerting me to this. Today in the Guardian: Public satisfaction with the NHS has risen for the first time since 2019, but people remain deeply frustrated with stubbornly long waits to receive GP, A&E or hospital care. The proportion of voters in Britain satisfied with the way the NHS runs has increased from the record low of 21% seen last year to 26%. At the same time dissatisfaction with the health service fell 8% – the biggest drop since 1998 – although it remains high at 51%. Wes Streeting hailed the findings as proof that … Continue reading Major survey today reveals Scots TWICE as satisfied with A&E and dentistry and 25% more satisfied with NHS overall than in other parts of UK- ‘Scottish’ media is all over this – kidding!

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Citizens Theatre revamp only made possible by SNP Government’s £17.5 million and SNP Council’s £2 million

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BBC Scotland this morning reporting the Citizens Theatre revamp funds being made available last minute but with no time, it seems, to tell you who from. The Herald, also, making you work to find out, with: If YOU have the time, you can find, in the Herald report: The Scottish Government has signed off another multi-million pound bail-out for Glasgow’s 148-year-old Citizens Theatre to help meet the final costs of its long-delayed revamp. Ministers have approved another £3.5 million for the refurbishment, which reopened to the public last August after a seven-year closure, despite the project receiving an additional £8m from the government and … Continue reading Citizens Theatre revamp only made possible by SNP Government’s £17.5 million and SNP Council’s £2 million

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NHS Northern Ireland faces stark warning as it suffers cancer mortality rate falls THREE times those in Scotland

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Above, cancer survival rates improve in 22 out of 26 cancer types. In NHS Scotland, the declines from a pre-pandemic to a pandemic set of figures were in 4 cancers, including these three, selected for comparative purposes: Source: https://www.publichealthscotland.scot/publications/cancer-survival-statistics/cancer-survival-statistics-cancers-diagnosed-2018-to-2022-followed-up-to-2023/ The pattern shown in detailed Northern Ireland data, found these same cancers had one-year survival drops comparing the pre-pandemic and pandemic figures: The NI data come from Impact of COVID-19 on cancer incidence, presentation, diagnosis, treatment and survival in Northern Ireland, published in the International Journal of Cancer (Impact Factor 7.4), in 2024: Source: https://pureadmin.qub.ac.uk/ws/portalfiles/portal/565659800/Impact_of_COVID-19.pdf The contrast is stark. Northern Ireland … Continue reading NHS Northern Ireland faces stark warning as it suffers cancer mortality rate falls THREE times those in Scotland

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As even BBC Scotland report that cancer deaths ‘fall to lowest rate on record’, only 4 out of 26 types were worsened by pandemic factors but Daily Express and opposition try to politicise and to mislead you

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BBC Scotland on 27th January 2026, telling a different story from that in the Express, two months later The Daily Express today platforming the opposition parties to blame the Scottish Government for falling cancer survival rates, in some cancers, conceals the over-arching truth in the Public Health Scotland report1 that there were clear improvements in other (often more common) cancers. These results should be seen within the context of a longer falling trend to record-low overall cancer mortality risk in Scotland. The risk of dying from cancer fell by 12.1% over the past decade (compared with 2015), reaching 288.9 per … Continue reading As even BBC Scotland report that cancer deaths ‘fall to lowest rate on record’, only 4 out of 26 types were worsened by pandemic factors but Daily Express and opposition try to politicise and to mislead you

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Why does an English hospital ‘indefensibly’ delaying news of a deadly Meningitis outbreak causing loss of limbs, blindness and brain injury NOT lead to calls for a health secretary or anyone to resign when in Scotland keeping details of one patient’s possible non-deadly infection confidential, did?

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Today with a photo of a nurse, BBC Health reports, the above and: The NHS waited two days before raising the alarm about the meningitis outbreak, the BBC has learnt. The UK Health Security Agency was first alerted to a case by the Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother Hospital, in Margate, on the afternoon of Friday 13 March. That patient arrived in hospital two days earlier but there was a delay in reporting to health officials – despite there being a legal requirement for cases to be reported immediately. It meant there was a delay in tracing close contacts of … Continue reading Why does an English hospital ‘indefensibly’ delaying news of a deadly Meningitis outbreak causing loss of limbs, blindness and brain injury NOT lead to calls for a health secretary or anyone to resign when in Scotland keeping details of one patient’s possible non-deadly infection confidential, did?

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Fife Labour-led unionist coalition council agree storage of highly dangerous nuclear waste from rotting subs only one mile away and upwind of houses

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From Dunfermline Press yesterday: Fife Council have given the green light to Babcock for a new warehouse between docks two and three for “decommissioning operations”. The large industrial building – an ‘intermediate waste storage facility’ – will be 27 metres long and up to 20 metres in height with roller doors and security fencing. Work is currently taking place at the dockyard to cut up and dismantle HMS Swiftsure, one of seven old nuclear subs that have been laid up in Rosyth for decades. https://www.dunfermlinepress.com/news/25961651.fife-council-approve-babcock-plan-waste-storage-building/?utm_term=Autofeed&utm_medium=Social&utm_source=Facebook&fbclid=IwY2xjawQvmyZleHRuA2FlbQIxMQBzcnRjBmFwcF9pZBAyMjIwMzkxNzg4MjAwODkyAAEedr4Y86dZqbFLN8ZPRPAHMXVauAhy790Wo8bql86UYN4N6WhsXUMuDezHP-4_aem_cd9jEIv8K7pQaP0WcFlCCQ Who runs Fife Council? 18 Labour, 13 Lib Dems and 7 Cons have colluded to outnumber the SNP, … Continue reading Fife Labour-led unionist coalition council agree storage of highly dangerous nuclear waste from rotting subs only one mile away and upwind of houses