Author: johnrobertson834

Retired Professor of Media Politics Not-for-profit independent political analysis
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Scottish Government launches major initiative to improve winter care and only STV with a few online-only agencies report

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Professor John Robertson OBA Today the Scottish Government announces: Almost £1 million is being allocated to help reduce pressures on A&E departments and improve patient flow over the winter months. The Scottish Ambulance Service will receive £995,000 to increase staffing for a clinical hub model, which uses GPs to triage patients as calls come in to prevent unnecessary ambulance dispatches and ensure everyone gets the treatment they need. The system was trialled successfully over a weekend in September this year and it is estimated that it could save 12,000 ambulance journeys over winter as well as safely preventing an additional … Continue reading Scottish Government launches major initiative to improve winter care and only STV with a few online-only agencies report

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The evidence that UK Government ‘suspicion of the Scots’ led to inferior Covid-19 pandemic measures and the unnecessary deaths of thousands in England and Wales

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Professor John Robertson OBA In the National 24 January 2025: Mark Drakeford: Tories’ ‘suspicion of the Scots’ hindered UK in Covid THERE was an “inherent suspicion” in the way the UK government dealt with its devolved counterparts during the Covid pandemic because they were “worried about the Scots,” the former first minister of Wales has said. The above table is summarised by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation on page 101 of UK Poverty 2023 published on 26 January 2023, as: Scotland has the lowest mortality rate per 100,000 people for every degree of deprivation across the UK [p100] https://www.jrf.org.uk/uk-poverty-2023-the-essential-guide-to-understanding-poverty-in-the-uk That the above variation was due … Continue reading The evidence that UK Government ‘suspicion of the Scots’ led to inferior Covid-19 pandemic measures and the unnecessary deaths of thousands in England and Wales

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Why has STV forgotten their own report – ‘World Health Organisation tells Scotland ‘you are doing well’’ as the Covid inquiry and try to blame Scotland’s FM?

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Professor John Robertson OBA Thanks to https://x.com/G4ilM for reminding me of this: From STV, the above and: A special envoy to the World Health Organisation has said he is impressed with how Scotland is handling the Covid-19 pandemic. Dr David Nabarro said Nicola Sturgeon’s prudent approach to easing lockdown restrictions was a good policy. He said he admired the approach by the Scottish Government and the public health authorities. Nabarro, the World Health Organisation’s special envoy for Covid-19, told the BBC: “Comparing Scotland with other parts of Europe, other parts of the world, I’d say you’re doing good because you are tackling … Continue reading Why has STV forgotten their own report – ‘World Health Organisation tells Scotland ‘you are doing well’’ as the Covid inquiry and try to blame Scotland’s FM?

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How good is STV’s new former Spectator writer, Westminster Correspondent? Well she’ll need to learn to read Scottish opinion polls

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Professor John Robertson OBA Lucy Dunn, above – I’m getting that artist to do me a lovely caricature of me for the blog. A Reform surge in Scotland? In January 2025, between 9% and 13% in the last 10 Holyrood polls but between 22% and 25% in the last 10 Westminster polls. At best, only half as popular in Scotland. Today, between 14% and 22% in the last 10 Holyrood polls, currently 17 points behind SNP but between 26% and 33% in the last 10 Westminster polls, currently 14 points ahead of Labour. At best, only two thirds as popular … Continue reading How good is STV’s new former Spectator writer, Westminster Correspondent? Well she’ll need to learn to read Scottish opinion polls

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Safe Drug Consumption Facilities – A year after UK researchers confirm they work, five years after the SNP call for them and eight years after 349 research groups prove they work, UK Labour have no plans to amend 54 year-old drug laws to allow them because of Reform UK threat?

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Professor John Robertson OBA In 2017: The largest review ever undertaken, of 349 research studies, from across the globe though mostly in Europe, carried out by the Centre for Criminology at the University in South Wales in 2017, found that ‘safe’ or ‘supervised’ injection rooms significantly reduced drug-related harms, dramatically cut mortality and offered a range of benefits for the wider population, in terms of reduced crime, nuisance in public spaces, violence and trafficking. Apologies, link seems to have moved. In the Guardian, January 2024: Thousands of lives could be saved if safe rooms were set up in UK cities where … Continue reading Safe Drug Consumption Facilities – A year after UK researchers confirm they work, five years after the SNP call for them and eight years after 349 research groups prove they work, UK Labour have no plans to amend 54 year-old drug laws to allow them because of Reform UK threat?

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As Labour ‘generously’ keep prescriptions at just under £10 a go how SNP free prescriptions have saved uncounted thousands of asthmatics

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Professor John Robertson OBA Before we get into the often unreported benefits, let’s get rid of the myth that we cannot afford them. From Dispenser payments and prescription cost analysis Financial year 2024 to 2025 published yesterday: The total (net) cost, which is the final cost to the Scottish Government once item costs, service remuneration, advance payments and patient charges are taken into account, for dispensing items and providing services in 2024/25 was £1.66 billion. This increased by 2.5% from £1.62 billion in 2023/24 and continues a period of largely rising cost, increasing by 29.8% over the last 10 years. The total number of … Continue reading As Labour ‘generously’ keep prescriptions at just under £10 a go how SNP free prescriptions have saved uncounted thousands of asthmatics

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As Winter brings icy paths BBC Scotland joyously celebrate with a one-week A&E spike report to make up for forgetting to bring the good tidings last week of 12 hour waits running at a third of those in England

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hours in A&E in the first week of November. Professor John Robertson OBA They know, their many researchers, that a one-week change wouldn’t be reported by a good reporter, but still they do it. Are BBC reporters just thick or, worse, are they dishonest? Here’s one of our star players, stewart ‘The Lawman’ b, I’m hoping to keep in the January window, with those tricky facts: Nearly THREE times as many emergency patients per capita wait 12 hours or more in NHS England than in NHS Scotland By stewartb Campaign against austerity needed to push Westminster to support the NHS … Continue reading As Winter brings icy paths BBC Scotland joyously celebrate with a one-week A&E spike report to make up for forgetting to bring the good tidings last week of 12 hour waits running at a third of those in England

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Why will BBC Scotland’s James Cook not inform you of the facts – how Scottish ministers closed schools and saved thousands?

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and the current First Minister, John Swinney, to close school without the Cabinet being present. Professor John Robertson OBA Is it because Cook just trusts the Herald and is too lazy to do his job? It seems so. In the Herald, January 2024: The Scottish Government ignored its own scientific advice not to close schools during the second Covid wave of 2021, the UK inquiry into the pandemic has heard.   Mark Woolhouse, Professor of Infectious Disease Epidemiology at the University of Edinburgh, said that the decision to shut classrooms across Scotland was “not necessary” and did not contribute to halting the … Continue reading Why will BBC Scotland’s James Cook not inform you of the facts – how Scottish ministers closed schools and saved thousands?

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The answer to all the media attempts to smear Nicola Sturgeon and the SNP Government and will not tell you about – excess deaths nearly twice as high in England and 20% higher in Wales

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https://t.co/vHHPbEUoY3 Hidden on page 45! For those of you not on FB, x or Bluesky Continue reading The answer to all the media attempts to smear Nicola Sturgeon and the SNP Government and will not tell you about – excess deaths nearly twice as high in England and 20% higher in Wales

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East Sussex-born, Tory-appointed Baroness and BBC Scotland conspire to hide the facts and blame Nicola Sturgeon for pandemic ‘failures’ despite her doing better on every measure to save thousands

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Nicola Sturgeon SNP Leader 2014-2023 Professor John Robertson OBA In tonight’s BBC Scotland report, Baroness Hallett, appointed by PM Theresa May in 2019, made comments designed to ensure no one thinks the Scottish First Minister or her colleagues did any better than Boris Johnson PM and his ‘team’. It’s a remarkable and jaundiced account, factually and selectively biased. First, nowhere mentioned, bias by omission, the inquiry did not hear of that most poignant and significant of facts. The mortality rate resulting from the decision made in each nation, was 3.9% in Scotland, 4.9% (25% worse) in Wales and 6.5% (almost … Continue reading East Sussex-born, Tory-appointed Baroness and BBC Scotland conspire to hide the facts and blame Nicola Sturgeon for pandemic ‘failures’ despite her doing better on every measure to save thousands