Author: johnrobertson834

Retired Professor of Media Politics Not-for-profit independent political analysis
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Little evidence for a looming A&E ‘winter crisis’ in Scotland

johnrobertson834

The above graphs show a steep rise in the number waiting longer than the 4, 8 and 12 hour targets, in full emergency departments in Scotland, after the pandemic and then stabilising around the same seasonal peaks and dips since then. 1 While there are, always multiple explanations of the same phenomenon, globally, independent academic researchers (links below) have identified the ‘differences that make a difference:’ Pandemic after-effects locked the system into a worse equilibrium. Staff sickness, burnout and vacancies remained high even where headcount later rose. Infection-control steps, testing and cohorting slowed flow and some of that friction persisted. … Continue reading Little evidence for a looming A&E ‘winter crisis’ in Scotland

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“WE need oil and gas, WE need nuclear, WE need renewables, we need to get serious.”

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By Liz S STV News reports: “Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch is adamant that, despite Andy Burnham’s defence of the United Kingdom earlier this week, Labour is not serious about keeping the Union intact“ “keeping the Union intact” ? What Union would that be ? STV also mentioned that “Burnham has long been criticised for snubbing Scotland – after excluding it on his August summer ‘listening’ tour” . Mind you when do we ever see Kemi Badenoch, current Tory HQ leader, make a conscious effort to come up regularly to Scotland to reaffirm her supposed support for Scotland within the UK … Continue reading “WE need oil and gas, WE need nuclear, WE need renewables, we need to get serious.”

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What can Burnham learn from Scotland’s social care system?Scotland is the obvious comparison says FT

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Here’s the gist of the above: The article’s argument is that Scotland’s free personal care model is the closest working version of what Andy Burnham is proposing. Burnham has said that if Labour wins the next election he will create a National Care Service: person-centred, starting in the home, where “everyone contributes and everyone is covered,” meant to give peace of mind, protect savings, and value care workers. Scotland already does part of this. Free personal care has existed since 2002 for over-65s and, since 2019, for all adults assessed as needing it. As under Burnham’s outline, people still pay … Continue reading What can Burnham learn from Scotland’s social care system?Scotland is the obvious comparison says FT

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Aging NHS workforce? Retirement ‘crisis?’ Just as well we train so many more nurses and doctors than England can?

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Crowdfunder – https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/help-talking-up-scotland-keep-goingBank transfer – JOHN WATSON ROBERTSON Sort Code – 08-91-04 Account 12266421 The Herald, you have to feel for the wee souls, dragging up another scare story from the sump of their files. The Guardian in January 2026 had: Helen Lambert borrowed £57,000 to go to university and began repaying her student loan in 2021 after starting work as an NHS nurse. Since then she has repaid more than £5,000, typically having about £145 a month taken from her pay packet. But everything she hands over is dwarfed by the £400-plus of interest that is added to her debt every … Continue reading Aging NHS workforce? Retirement ‘crisis?’ Just as well we train so many more nurses and doctors than England can?

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Burnham’s promises, just like Keir Starmer’s, soon begin to either fall away or just never materialise

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By Liz S Andy Burnham was interviewed by Laura Kuenssberg on Sunday 27 September. Kuenssberg reminded him that “in July 2026 you said he would go as fast as you can in sorting out care for the elderly and vulnerable for England, Social Care. Where have you got to 3 months later” ? Burnham’s response “We are making really good progress”. Then Burnham started to speak about his Dad and also about when he was formerly an MP, where he mentioned that his Gran was going through the Care system and so as Health Secretary he remembered saying “We shouldn’t … Continue reading Burnham’s promises, just like Keir Starmer’s, soon begin to either fall away or just never materialise

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How Palantir and an Arab Prince got Burnham elected despite the Manchester Effect being a mirage

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I know that image is fake but is it also truthy? Crowdfunder – https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/help-talking-up-scotland-keep-going Bank transfer – JOHN WATSON ROBERTSON Sort Code – 08-91-04 Account 12266421 That nice wee Andy Burnham, PM, credits his pals, one at Palantir (sic) and the other in one of the royal palaces in the United Arab Emirates, with helping him make Manchester a bit great again, except, it’s a load of BS. In the Guardian yesterday: In 2014, Manchester city council announced a “£1bn deal” with Mansour, one of the world’s richest men, to transform a large stretch of land between the stadium and … Continue reading How Palantir and an Arab Prince got Burnham elected despite the Manchester Effect being a mirage

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Praise the Lord – Andy Burnham to cut 86p a week off your electricity bill!

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Labour do this all the time, fail to do their sums. Are they all Eton classicists like Boris? In Labourlist on 7th November 2020, an excitable writer translates 1.2 billion as ‘billions.’ On Thursday 23rd January 2020, in Holyrood, James Kelly (Glasgow) (Scottish Labour) asked the Scottish Government what its response is to recently reported alcohol-related brain damage statistics, which suggest that the number of people with this condition is at a 10-year high. The answer: Last year, ‎2018-19 shows a drop in the number of patients with ARBD, a decline of 3% from the previous year The actual data: 2017/18                … Continue reading Praise the Lord – Andy Burnham to cut 86p a week off your electricity bill!

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If there is a crisis in Scotland’s maternity wards why are negligence pay-outs only a third of those in England and why is the Scotsman report double-counting incidents to get a big headline number?

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The Scotsman is desperately trying to build a reputation on death and despair in maternity wards. So far, it’s shoddy, fail, do not resubmit, leave the course. In classic churnalist mode, they’ve just added up incidents treating unlike things as if they were the same type of incident because the boards themselves do not use one shared set of terms, to get a big number for the headline. A serious (or significant) adverse event is the incident itself: something that could have caused, or did cause, harm. A serious/significant adverse event review (SAER) is the investigation commissioned afterwards. The article’s … Continue reading If there is a crisis in Scotland’s maternity wards why are negligence pay-outs only a third of those in England and why is the Scotsman report double-counting incidents to get a big headline number?

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New Scottish food promotion rules announcement was ignored by media for two weeks as they wait instead drooling for more drug deaths

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Help Talking-up Scotland keep goingCrowdfunder at: https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/help-talking-up-scotland-keep-goingOr by direct bank transfer to: JOHN WATSON ROBERTSON Sort Code – 08-91-04 Account – 12266421 Today BBC Scotland deign to report the Scottish Government’s Food promotion rules in Scotland, announced and reported here nearly two weeks ago. It’s a simple description with no investigation of the research evidence under-pinning the policy. Where’s Lisa Summers and her ‘analysis’ with quotes from Jackie Baillie, attacking it? At the time of the announcement when, of course, they’d have to connect the whole thing with the SNP and John Swinney, this was the coverage: From Food promotion rules in Scotland from 1 October 2026 – Changes to support … Continue reading New Scottish food promotion rules announcement was ignored by media for two weeks as they wait instead drooling for more drug deaths

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If they try to tell you ‘UK care reforms could net Scotland £1bn’, here’s your withering answer

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Here’s the Herald just passively accepting another wee London-based thinktank commentator’s claim that the Barnett formula will compensate us for loss of the triple lock pension to sort England’s care service and to generate another Andy-friendly headline. First, says who? David Phillips, a ‘leading’ economist with the IFS. To get a job as a university lecturer in Economics, you’d need a PhD and one or two research-based papers in reasonable impact peer-reviewed journals. To get to Senior Lecturer, you’d need at least 10 and have supervised PhD students to completion. To get to Professor and be described as a ‘top … Continue reading If they try to tell you ‘UK care reforms could net Scotland £1bn’, here’s your withering answer