Author: johnrobertson834
Retired Professor of Media Politics
Not-for-profit independent political analysis
US ferry company to consider making up for shortages by bringing a near 70 year-old retired boat back into service – Imagine that idea in Scotland where our oldest boat is 43?
You may remember previous reports here of the troubles at Washington State Ferries, based in one of the most affluent states in the USA. A third of the fleet out of service, missed doctor appointments, hours-long delays, students unable to get to school and flooded car decks look like continuing as Washington State Ferries delays new electric ferries and now they may bring aging old diesels back into service. From the Kitsap Sun today: Washington State Ferries is taking a hard look at a pitch from a shipyard owner to refurbish two of the state’s deteriorated retired ferries and return … Continue reading US ferry company to consider making up for shortages by bringing a near 70 year-old retired boat back into service – Imagine that idea in Scotland where our oldest boat is 43?
Significant fall in domestic abuse-related homicides
From Freedom of Information Response regarding domestic abuse-related homicides, Our reference: FOI 25-3594 – Responded to: 22 December 2025 and published yesterday: Please supply the numbers of women who were killed by a partner//ex partner /relative, (including parent/child/sibling/other family by blood, marriage or adoption). Provide an annual breakdown from 2018- 2025 to date. The data: All female victims: Year Number of females 2018 9 2019 6 2020 3 2021 10 2022 5 2023 6 2024 9 2025 6 Familial related homicides Year Number of females 2018 1 2019 1 2020 3 2021 3 2022 2 2023 4 2024 1 … Continue reading Significant fall in domestic abuse-related homicides
In Scotland even anti-immigration groups will have nothing to do with racist Nazis
From STV on 20th January 2026: A Falkirk anti-immigration protest group has announced it will disband because of the attendance of neo-Nazis at demonstrations. Campaign group Save Our Future and Our Kids Future organised protests outside the Cladhan Hotel, which houses asylum seekers, consistently over the last year. The demonstrations have attracted far-right groups, including Patriotic Alternative (PA) and the Homeland Party. PA is a white nationalist group founded by former BNP youth leader Mark Collett. In a documentary, released by Channel 4 in 2002, Collett was caught on camera referring to Africans and homosexuals who died due to HIV-AIDS … Continue reading In Scotland even anti-immigration groups will have nothing to do with racist Nazis
As one student nurse in England faces £77 thousand in debt Scotland’s free training and bursary means TWICE as many train to then give us 50% more nurses in hospitals and lower mortality rates
In the Guardian today: 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 month, thanks to rates that have been as high as 8%. Her total outstanding debt had ballooned to more than £77,000 by the end of November, and it is set to get a lot bigger as there … Continue reading As one student nurse in England faces £77 thousand in debt Scotland’s free training and bursary means TWICE as many train to then give us 50% more nurses in hospitals and lower mortality rates
Scotland has world’s greatest wind capacity per head of population in the World but uses it to benefit England
The above table is not clearly linked to its source. I’ve asked and will update when I get it. As you are aware, the above is doing nothing for our energy bills, the highest in the UK and in Europe so what’s happening to the electricity it’s producing? Here’s the story: The UK Energy Minister, above, appeared to claim credit for the approval of the massive 300 plus turbine, 4.1GW, windfarm off the Scottish coast near Fife and East Lothian: Even the Scotsman knew who had actually approved it: One of world’s biggest wind farms with 307 turbines approved near Edinburgh by … Continue reading Scotland has world’s greatest wind capacity per head of population in the World but uses it to benefit England
Makes their flesh creep? Trump’s comments only a taste of what Scots have felt for a hundred years hearing of a place ‘that is forever England’ yet was full of their war dead
We’ve never needed them. We have never really asked anything of them. They’ll say they sent some troops to Afghanistan … and they did, they stayed a little back, a little off the front lines. The words of the US President yesterday shock with their under-educated insensitivity. The Black Watch, the Argylls, the Borderers, the Highland Fusiliers and others fought on the frontline in Afghanistan. 39 Scots died, a disproportionate share, even today, relative to population, because of their mainly infantry roles. This offense may be new to many today and in other parts of the UK but it’s familiar … Continue reading Makes their flesh creep? Trump’s comments only a taste of what Scots have felt for a hundred years hearing of a place ‘that is forever England’ yet was full of their war dead
Current water bills in Scotland not ‘AMONG the lowest’, BBC Scotland, but ‘THE lowest’ of any water company in the UK
BBC Scotland today, has: Water bills in Scotland will rise by 8.7% in April – an average of £42 a year. The increase will take the average bill in Scotland to £532, which remains among the lowest of any water company in the UK. The rise – which works out at an average of about £3.50 extra a month – is in line with limits set by the independent economic regulator, the Water Industry Commission for Scotland (WICS). Average water bills in England and Wales rose by 26%, or £123 a year last April. The average last year in Scotland was £4901 … Continue reading Current water bills in Scotland not ‘AMONG the lowest’, BBC Scotland, but ‘THE lowest’ of any water company in the UK
