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’ll be quick, very quick, with this frankly awful piece on the Herald‘s front page today. First, that’s ‘investigated‘. Remember everything has to be investigated. The above infantile adding up to get a big number neither tells us the direction of any trend nor does it tell us how many were actually convicted. My table above does. Revealing or whit? The number of police officer convicted of a crime is … Continue reading Crimes committed by police officers in Scotland plummets to between 3 and 5 (0.03%) of all 16 700 officers – Herald has infantile report on front page

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 pollsters Find out Now for 10th September 2025, the above. The full UK sample of 1 522 has Labour a poor second but still, nevertheless, second because too many of them feel they have nowhere else to go, until Corbyn gets back into these polls. The Scottish sample is too small to be reliable but still potentially unnerving for the SNP and humiliating for Labour, down in last place. … Continue reading Only a small sub-poll sample but Reform UK just ahead of SNP and Labour in 6th and bottom place

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 Surely popping up in the in-trays of any self-respecting environment correspondent today, from Scottish Vacant and Derelict Land Statistics (2024): https://www.gov.scot/publications/scottish-vacant-derelict-land-statistics-2024/pages/11/, the above graph and: Scottish Government Vacant and Derelict Land FundAcross the seven councils in the VDLF from 2005 to 2023, an estimated 192,700 properties (both private households and communal establishments) were within 500 metres of land reclaimed with the involvement of the VDLF. Has Kevin reported on the above great news … Continue reading SNP Government brings 10 times more vacant and derelict land back into use than Labour ever did – will any Environment Correspondent tell you this? Fat chance

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 sad tradition of adding up wee numbers to get big ones and never putting them in context, the Herald has made up a wee ‘scandal’ for you. So, let’s have a look at the annual data and work out what percentage the amounts are? The maintenance bill for Trunk Roads (Directly Funded by Scottish Government via Transport Scotland), with the fines and the percentages the latter were, of … Continue reading Very good news for Scottish Government as road repair delay fines fall from only 0.09% of total budget to only 0.08%, way, way below cap of 5-10% typically built in to contracts