Author: johnrobertson834

Retired Professor of Media Politics Not-for-profit independent political analysis
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‘Huge pools of mystery sludge, leaking silos’ and shocking complacency only a few miles from Stranraer and the highest cancer level in Europe – Does Scottish Labour need a ‘cancer panic’ to wake it up to the horrific risks of pursuing even more nuclear projects?

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Professor John Robertson OBA In the Daily Mail today: Atomic bomb waste discovered beneath six homes in St Louis has sparked panic and renewed concern in other US cities still haunted by Manhattan Project contamination. St Louis is far from the only city still dealing with Manhattan Project fallout. Across the country, sites such as Hanford in Washington, Oak Ridge in Tennessee, and Los Alamos in New Mexico remain dangerously contaminated. A 2003 study surveyed 801 individuals who lived downwind of the Hanford plutonium production facility, finding greater-than-expected numbers of central nervous system tumors and cancers of the female reproductive system. High incidences … Continue reading ‘Huge pools of mystery sludge, leaking silos’ and shocking complacency only a few miles from Stranraer and the highest cancer level in Europe – Does Scottish Labour need a ‘cancer panic’ to wake it up to the horrific risks of pursuing even more nuclear projects?

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NHS Scotland treats 40% more head and neck cancer patients within the target time – more than 100 per year who would not have been treated on time had they lived in England

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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 Professor John Robertson OBA The Herald today has the above. As always it’s context free so that you cannot know how good or bad it is, relatively. In NHS Scotland, based on Public Health Scotland figures for 1 January to 31 March 2025, 70.6% of head and neck cancer patients were treated within the 62 day standard from receipt of an urgent referral.1 In England, the most recent comparable data, from November 2024, suggest only 50% of head and neck cancer patients were treated within the … Continue reading NHS Scotland treats 40% more head and neck cancer patients within the target time – more than 100 per year who would not have been treated on time had they lived in England

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Another careless cartoon from the Herald’s Camley as facts reveal that Scotland’s care system is FOUR times as effective as that in England

johnrobertson834

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 Professor John Robertson OBA The Herald‘s Steven Camley cartoon today show a glum Health Secretary being greeted by support staff with: ‘I must say minister you’re looking well after your summer of inactivity.’ It’s about criticism of Scotland’s care system by a representative of the private sector just wanting more cash for a business already well-known as a ‘cash-cow‘ for corporations and which has no space for these important facts: If this was more than just another badly drawn image on behalf of corporations and other … Continue reading Another careless cartoon from the Herald’s Camley as facts reveal that Scotland’s care system is FOUR times as effective as that in England

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A9 dualling – Anas Sarwar’s unconvincing claims

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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 Thanks to rtpscott for alerting us to the above and noting: A long time back we had the Unionist parties block the money for the dualling of the A9 go to the trams in Edinburgh and Jack the lad sending money back to London now we have this from them. By stewartb Mr Sarwar wants us to believe that with him as FM in Holyrood matters will be so much better because we will have a British Labour Party government. But what does his party’s … Continue reading A9 dualling – Anas Sarwar’s unconvincing claims

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Shock as 35% more Scots 16 year-olds pass English exams and 14% more pass mathematics exams, than 16 year-olds in English schools do, to force Labour into panic and plans to just give up on exams

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Professor John Robertson OBA Thanks to Dottie once more for alerting me to this. In the Telegraph yesterday, the above and: For comparative purposes, I’ll use the percentages for the 16 year-olds and ignore the resit results for 17 year-olds who had failed in the previous year. The GCSE pass is equivalent to, in Scotland, the SQA National 5 Grade D or above. This year, 95% passed English in Scotland compared to 70.5% in England (35% more) and 81.5% passed mathematics compared to only 71.2% in England (14% more). The Scottish results were slightly up on those in 2024 and 2023. Source: … Continue reading Shock as 35% more Scots 16 year-olds pass English exams and 14% more pass mathematics exams, than 16 year-olds in English schools do, to force Labour into panic and plans to just give up on exams

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‘Top doctor’ is more a top propagandist shamefully using his part-time experience and ignoring these 12 facts to misrepresent NHS Scotland

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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 Professor John Robertson OBA Dr Iain Thomas Robert Kennedy is a Highland GP with a Diploma in Tropical Medicine and Hygiene. That’ll come in handy in his local area. Kennedy is just the doctor’s trade union, the BMA, rep in Scotland. You remember when your union advertised union rep vacancies? Who applied? The best? The top? Aye right. ‘Top’ doctors, to my mind carry out cutting edge research or are, at the very least, involved in that. Alternatively, they are in charge of several doctors in … Continue reading ‘Top doctor’ is more a top propagandist shamefully using his part-time experience and ignoring these 12 facts to misrepresent NHS Scotland

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The Scottish values that Reform UK cannot align with, but which produce an ‘impenetrable wall’ of support for the SNP?

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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 Professor John Robertson OBA This was first published in Scots Independent in July 2025. A recent survey by pollster More in Common for GB News, has cast doubt on Reform UK’s prospects in Scotland and suggests an ‘impenetrable wall’ of support for the SNP. On 19 July 2025, GB News reported: Reform UK’s hopes of generating a tartan tidal wave have been handed a damning verdict as a pollster has told GB News that the party’s values do not fully resonate with Scottish voters. According to a … Continue reading The Scottish values that Reform UK cannot align with, but which produce an ‘impenetrable wall’ of support for the SNP?

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Gone, in less than a day – The Labour MSP charged over indecent images and the secret of English drug gangs targeting vulnerable women

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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 Professor John Robertson OBA Above, the BBC Scotland website at 7.30 pm, last night, on 21st August 2025 with two stories completely gone after a very short time ‘in the news.’ Less than 24 hours before, we saw the Labour MSP charged over ‘indecent images’ in top place and down at the bottom, the County Lines gangs ‘targeting vulnerable women.’  By this morning, the MSP was in second place and the gangs were as they were: Tonight, they’ve gone. Now I don’t have a file of images … Continue reading Gone, in less than a day – The Labour MSP charged over indecent images and the secret of English drug gangs targeting vulnerable women

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16 000 more pass exams at 16 years of age than would have had they gone to school in England

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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 Professor John Robertson OBA From the Guardian today: While those who achieved a grade 4 and above (pass) was 70.4%, a slight increase from 70.4% [sic] last year.1 GCSE is, of course, only undertaken in England, Wales and Northern Ireland by pupils around 16 years of age. In Scotland: Scottish National 5 certificates grade A to C are equivalent to GCSEs grade grade 4 to 9 . 2 How did Scottish pupils do in this assessment also typically taken by pupils at the end of 4th Year, at around 16 … Continue reading 16 000 more pass exams at 16 years of age than would have had they gone to school in England

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As English councils sell 8 times as many houses as they build, Scotland’s councils sell none for 9 years and build nearly 8 times as many homes, per head of population

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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 Professor John Robertson OBA Thanks again to Dottie for alerting me to this: In the Guardian today: England will sell off more than eight times as many council homes in 2025-26 as were constructed the previous year, research has found. Right to buy is depleting council housing stock more quickly than public housing can be replaced, forcing people to spend more money on private market rents and obtain less secure tenancies, a report from the thinktank Common Wealth finds. Its analysis of government data in England … Continue reading As English councils sell 8 times as many houses as they build, Scotland’s councils sell none for 9 years and build nearly 8 times as many homes, per head of population