Author: johnrobertson834

Retired Professor of Media Politics Not-for-profit independent political analysis
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In January 2026, NHS Scotland’s Type 1 emergency departments treated an extra 21 000 patients within 4 hours, 30% more than NHS England would have managed, to reveal the gap is far greater than reported

johnrobertson834

Please Support Talking-up Scotland at:https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/support-talking-up-scotlandClick on the above.Or direct bank transfer at Sort Code 08-91-04 Account – 12266421 Name – JOHN ROBERTSON From Public Health Scotland – Accident and Emergency, published today, we can see that 61.2% of 114 897 Type 1 Emergency Department patients were treated within 4 hours in January 2026.1 For NHS England in the same month only 57.3% of 823 308 Type 1 patients were treated within 4 hours.2 So, first, just comparing the percentages, NHS Scotland does 3.9% more which is 6.8% of, better than, 57.3% but there’s more. Look at the numbers attending – … Continue reading In January 2026, NHS Scotland’s Type 1 emergency departments treated an extra 21 000 patients within 4 hours, 30% more than NHS England would have managed, to reveal the gap is far greater than reported

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Disappointment in BBC News as Scotland not even half way to being ‘rape capital’ of the UK

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Please Support Talking-up Scotland at:https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/support-talking-up-scotlandClick on the above.Or direct bank transfer at Sort Code 08-91-04 Account – 12266421 Name – JOHN ROBERTSON BBC Reporting Scotland flying solo again to hit you with a dose of early morning anxiety, headlining with a story mysteriously and entirely absent, from their website: Why would they pull this one out for the early morning short reports where they feel they have an excuse having no context, as below? See this: Would a bit of context have been useful for readers? This kind of thing? On 25 June 2025, I wrote: The media in Scotland are … Continue reading Disappointment in BBC News as Scotland not even half way to being ‘rape capital’ of the UK

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BBC Scotland take 42 days to find a sentence to use in responding to complaint about coverage of alleged hospital deaths but carefully do not mention the very next one – ‘it is our view that, even without the infection, their survival would still have been uncertain’

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Please Support Talking-up Scotland at:https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/support-talking-up-scotlandClick on the above.Or direct bank transfer at Sort Code 08-91-04 Account – 12266421 Name – JOHN ROBERTSON No tasteless, exploitative and titillating images of dead children required here. On January 19th 2026, I sent this complaint to the BBC regarding their coverage of the QEUH water supply infections: 10 days later, they apologised for the delay in responding. In my experience, they never meet their 10 day target, suggesting they’re under pressure from unhappy viewers in greater numbers than before. 28 days later, this: We are writing to apologise that we’ve not been able to … Continue reading BBC Scotland take 42 days to find a sentence to use in responding to complaint about coverage of alleged hospital deaths but carefully do not mention the very next one – ‘it is our view that, even without the infection, their survival would still have been uncertain’

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Paul Hutcheon’s claim that SNP’s walk-in GP clinics ‘widen inequalities’ by attracting wealthier patients does not survive a collision with the evidence from large UK Government review

johnrobertson834

Please Support Talking-up Scotland at:https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/support-talking-up-scotlandClick on the above.Or direct bank transfer at Sort Code 08-91-04 Account – 12266421 Name – JOHN ROBERTSON In the Daily Record today from Paul Hutcheon: A top medic has claimed the SNP Government’s new GP walk-in centres will widen inequalities by attracting wealthier patients. Dr Chris Provan also said the new policy is “unworkable”, “more costly” and will not solve the 8am lottery for appointments.…He said the experience of walk-in centres in England shows they are “more expensive to run” than normal general practice, due to a reliance on locums. https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/politics/gp-walk-clinincs-widen-inequalities-36789077 Leaving aside that a doctor’s union … Continue reading Paul Hutcheon’s claim that SNP’s walk-in GP clinics ‘widen inequalities’ by attracting wealthier patients does not survive a collision with the evidence from large UK Government review

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Everything is then to be considered as British and so ready to be privatised……..

johnrobertson834

Please Support Talking-up Scotland at:https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/support-talking-up-scotlandClick on the above.Or direct bank transfer at Sort Code 08-91-04 Account – 12266421 Name – JOHN ROBERTSON By Liz S The media report that “US tech giant Palantir has wrapped its tentacles around the British state, securing major contracts with the Ministry of Defence and the NHS”. But  the US data analytics firm Palantir is not operating within NHS Scotland……….as in reference to the NHS and the “British State”. So even information online states that “NHS England is a separate entity from NHS Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland” and also “The Palantir deal, which has faced significant backlash from privacy campaigners and doctors’ groups, is specific to NHS … Continue reading Everything is then to be considered as British and so ready to be privatised……..

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Daily Record’s ‘Horror street drug ‘pyro’ sweeping Scotland as addicts found dead in the street’ is being produced by a county lines gang from a city in England setting up labs here but you don’t need to hear that UK-bad story it seems

johnrobertson834

Please Support Talking-up Scotland at:https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/support-talking-up-scotlandClick on the above.Or direct bank transfer at Sort Code 08-91-04 Account – 12266421 Name – JOHN ROBERTSON That’s the Record‘s headline yesterday and: Scotland’s homeless community has told of the horror of contaminated street drugs – after 81 people died in three months after taking synthetic opioid “pyro”. Nitazenes, produced in illegal labs and used as cutting agents in heroin and benzos, are now implicated in an eighth of all suspected drug deaths, data shows. https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/scottish-news/horror-deadly-synthetic-drugs-scots-36797256 Where are these illegal labs? In the Independent last September: Police have uncovered the first drug lab for nitazenes in the UK, … Continue reading Daily Record’s ‘Horror street drug ‘pyro’ sweeping Scotland as addicts found dead in the street’ is being produced by a county lines gang from a city in England setting up labs here but you don’t need to hear that UK-bad story it seems

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How can there be an affordable housing ‘crisis’ in Scotland when we beat the building target that Labour just gave up on in England?

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Please Support Talking-up Scotland at:https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/support-talking-up-scotlandClick on the above.Or direct bank transfer at Sort Code 08-91-04 Account – 12266421 Name – JOHN ROBERTSON As the Herald, today, frontpages the Scottish Conservatives, soon to face a near-extinction event and become only the 5th party in Scotland, to ‘blast’ the SNP Government and suggest once more an affordable homes crisis, there’s no space, it seems for these: For 2025, the SNP Government has funded 5 313 new affordable home starts to a level down from a peak of 11 158 in 2021 but above the level before 2014 and still almost twice that … Continue reading How can there be an affordable housing ‘crisis’ in Scotland when we beat the building target that Labour just gave up on in England?

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Many thanks to 300 contributors so far but had 114 649 readers in just February 2026 and the target is still well off

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Talking-up Scotland’s founder in 2014, John Robertson Many thanks to 300 contributors so far but there were 114 649 readers in just February 2026 and the target is still well off. Please Support Talking-up Scotland at: https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/support-talking-up-scotland Click above Or direct bank transfer – Sort Code 08-91-04 Account – 12266421 Name – JOHN ROBERTSON Continue reading Many thanks to 300 contributors so far but had 114 649 readers in just February 2026 and the target is still well off

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As it falls in NHS Scotland, BBC England evidence for corridor care surges in North of England is based correctly on our method and not that used by the Herald and repeated lazily by BBC Scotland

johnrobertson834

Please Support Talking-up Scotland at:https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/support-talking-up-scotlandClick on the above.Or direct bank transfer at Sort Code 08-91-04 Account – 12266421 Name – JOHN ROBERTSON From BBC England today, the above and: More than 52,000 patients waited longer than 24 hours to be admitted to hospitals across north-west England last year, a BBC investigation has revealed. Known as “corridor care”, patients are lining up on trolleys or sitting on chairs, stuck in A&E because there are no beds for them in the wards. The Royal College of Nursing has described the situation as a “national emergency” and called on the government to end … Continue reading As it falls in NHS Scotland, BBC England evidence for corridor care surges in North of England is based correctly on our method and not that used by the Herald and repeated lazily by BBC Scotland

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Why are more GPs opting to work outside the NHS? They’re not in Scotland where almost 100% work in the NHS

johnrobertson834

Please Support Talking-up Scotland at:https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/support-talking-up-scotlandClick on the above.Or direct bank transfer at Sort Code 08-91-04 Account – 12266421 Name – JOHN ROBERTSON From BBC England this morning, the above and: In her consulting room, Dr Yvonne Girgis-Hanna is at work as a GP, but not for the NHS. She is one of an increasing number of family doctors opting to practise privately. “I could not work as a full‑time NHS GP,” she says. “The days I do in the NHS, the next day I’m totally wiped out… You might have 30 face‑to‑face contacts, then extra telephone calls and paperwork. You … Continue reading Why are more GPs opting to work outside the NHS? They’re not in Scotland where almost 100% work in the NHS