Author: johnrobertson834
Retired Professor of Media Politics
Not-for-profit independent political analysis
YouGov polls cannot be trusted to claim ‘SNP vote falls’
The Herald today has: Reform UK has surged ahead of Scottish Labour while the SNP’s regional vote share falls to its lowest level in 23 years, according to a bombshell poll. The latest polling from YouGov suggests the SNP will remain the largest party in Holyrood by a substantial margin despite a fall in support. YouGov polls have proven themselves regularly unreliable and with a bias against both the SNP and Yes vote. The last two YouGov polls above, uniquely, did not satisfy Wikipedia‘s verification test: In the English Wikipedia, verifiability means that people can check that facts or claims correspond to reliable sources. The last FIVE YouGov polls on … Continue reading YouGov polls cannot be trusted to claim ‘SNP vote falls’
Labour letting the Waspi women die in poverty is just business for my local Labour MP, the BBC and BBC Scotland, as they shield Sarwar
Reposted as ‘man’ is arrested in connection with county lines drug offences in Livingston how these English gangs have caused a 54% surge in violent crime in the area:
More than ten times as many, per head, early release prisoners being recalled in England & Wales due to half the staffing in Scotland
From the Guardian today: Record numbers of offenders are being recalled to prison in England and Wales with union officials claiming that some are deliberately breaking the terms of their probation in order to deal drugs in prison. Prison sources said that after the implementation of early release schemes, as many as 5,000 men were recalled in December alone – more than a third of the total number released in the year to June 2025. The Guardian does not offer an annual total and one does not seem to have been published, but for just one quarter, April – June 2025, there were … Continue reading More than ten times as many, per head, early release prisoners being recalled in England & Wales due to half the staffing in Scotland
In every English university town your child is far more likely to be a victim of violent crime than in any Scottish one but the Daily Record has a different story
Support Talking-up Scotland -In this election year in Scotland, the 90% pro-Union media and their sponsors in the opposition parties will do everything they can to undermine the pro-independence parties. Thought vastly outnumbered, we will do our very best to counter their lies and get you, every day, the true stories and the sources of evidence to prove them. Help us if you can at https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/help-talking-up-scotland-get-the-facts-for-you In the Record today, SURGE IN CAMPUS SEX ATTACKS. Here are the facts, they won’t tell you. From How safe is your city? in the Complete University Guide for 2025: Above, the safest University cities in England and … Continue reading In every English university town your child is far more likely to be a victim of violent crime than in any Scottish one but the Daily Record has a different story
School suspensions fall again to only one-tenth of the level in England and a quarter of that under Scottish Labour as SNP policies embed
On BBC UK’s Breakfast show this morning, a piece on the shocking increase and overall level of temporary suspension’s and permanent exclusions in England’s schools. There were 10 900 permanent exclusions! They didn’t mention other parts of the UK and BBC Scotland did not cover the issue despite having had frequent reports on various supposed crises in Scottish schools based on supposed evidence from the opposition parties. This may be why they’re not going there: Last year in Scotland’s schools there were 10 647 temporary exclusions, down from 11 672 the previous year and nearly 40 000 (39 553) when … Continue reading School suspensions fall again to only one-tenth of the level in England and a quarter of that under Scottish Labour as SNP policies embed
Short video – Dear voter, sick of the other parties and tempted by Reform UK? Don’t be daft. Don’t do it. They’re not your friends. Unless you are already rich, this report proves that they will only make your life and your family’s lives worse
Please share with anyone you know who prefers a wee video instead of reading. Continue reading Short video – Dear voter, sick of the other parties and tempted by Reform UK? Don’t be daft. Don’t do it. They’re not your friends. Unless you are already rich, this report proves that they will only make your life and your family’s lives worse
Scotland’s Union nuclear legacy – among the very highest cancer incidence and death rates in Europe
Above, BBC Scotland’s headline yesterday and then another that they were never going to write but should if they really believed in informing us like their mission statement claims. The above from ECIS – European Cancer Information System for 2024, shows the cancer incidence (longer bars) and mortality rates (shorter darker bars) per 100 000.1 It’d be embarrassing, were we still in the EU, and presented on that chart. BBC Scotland yesterday had: Risk of dying from cancer in Scotland at lowest rate on record but, of course, wasn’t going to be comparing. Why? Scotland incidence is 656 per 100 … Continue reading Scotland’s Union nuclear legacy – among the very highest cancer incidence and death rates in Europe
Dear voter, sick of the other parties and tempted by Reform UK? Don’t be daft. Don’t do it. They’re not your friends. Unless you are already rich, this report proves that they will only make your life and your family’s lives worse
From the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) yesterday: Reform UK have announced plans for cuts to income tax in Scotland if they were to win the Scottish Parliament elections in May. They say they would start by realigning Scotland’s tax rates and bands with those in the rest of the UK and then cut all rates by 1 percentage point. They would aim to further cut rates so that by the end of the upcoming parliamentary term in 2031, rates would be 3 percentage points below those in the rest of the UK. Reform UK have costed the first two … Continue reading Dear voter, sick of the other parties and tempted by Reform UK? Don’t be daft. Don’t do it. They’re not your friends. Unless you are already rich, this report proves that they will only make your life and your family’s lives worse
Talking-up Scotland 