Author: johnrobertson834

Retired Professor of Media Politics Not-for-profit independent political analysis
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Untrustworthy – Ayr Labour candidate for Holyrood election in 2026 ‘enabled’ the corrupt Tory council that reduced public services, increased costs for households and stalled community projects, on direct orders from Anas Sarwar

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The Labour candidate for the Ayr constituency in the 2026 Scottish election, is Brian McGinley, above. At the time of the 2022 local elections, McGinley was Labour group leader. The outcome was: The Conservatives formed a minority administration. This was enabled by independent councillors and abstentions from Labour councillors on key votes to set-up the Conservative administration. In 2025, the Conservative council collapsed in a ‘job for pals’ scandal over the award of contracts. The consequences have been ‘devastating’ for local people. See this: Who is to blame? Did Ayr Labour Facilitate a Conservative Council? Yes, specifically the South Ayrshire … Continue reading Untrustworthy – Ayr Labour candidate for Holyrood election in 2026 ‘enabled’ the corrupt Tory council that reduced public services, increased costs for households and stalled community projects, on direct orders from Anas Sarwar

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If Scotland’s prisons are at ‘breaking point’, why are assaults on prison officers in England & Wales nearly THREE times as frequent as in Scotland and yet they’re not at breaking point?

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warned the prison system is at breaking point……The jail’s population has reduced since earlier this year and staff absences have improved. Professor John Robertson OBA BBC Scotland today is headlining a story they have gathered themselves in anticipation of linking it to the Scottish Government in an upcoming Holyrood vote on early prisoner release to reduce prison overcrowding. I’m sure Scotland’s prisons are overcrowded and that that’s not a good thing for anyone but media reporting on them is constantly politicised with a view to undermining the reputation of the Scottish Government. Here’s another example of that tendency and the … Continue reading If Scotland’s prisons are at ‘breaking point’, why are assaults on prison officers in England & Wales nearly THREE times as frequent as in Scotland and yet they’re not at breaking point?

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Wealth Extraction – Another supposed supporter of independence works against it by denying colonialism and blaming the SNP

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Professor John Robertson OBA Like Wings and Craig Murray and Kevin McKenna, Robin McAlpine of Common Weal cannot get over the SNP leadership’s failure to recognise his supreme intelligence and usefulness to their policy development back in 2014. Still in the huff, he’s in the National today with the above and: If you support independence then I urge you to take a moment’s break from strategising about how to get a referendum (or whatever alternative plan you’re hatching) and take a look at a graph. It should be a rocket up our arse. It is time we took independence an … Continue reading Wealth Extraction – Another supposed supporter of independence works against it by denying colonialism and blaming the SNP

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‘Troubled Tory ferry fiasco’ vessel built in England out of action again

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Professor John Robertson OBA The National’s piece, above, on the latest problems for the MV Caledonian Isles has no historical perspective on this long-troubled vessel, leaving some to think it’s another ‘SNP ferry fiasco‘. Here it is: Readers will already know that the MV Caledonian Isles had been in dock for repairs following botched work by Cammell Laird in Liverpool. Readers will also be aware of the regular and longstanding Scottish media reports describing the vessel as ‘troubled’ and ‘fault prone.’ While such accounts have been often exaggerated and ill-informed, it may be that the vessel has been, since its … Continue reading ‘Troubled Tory ferry fiasco’ vessel built in England out of action again

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Why can only BBC Highland Cops tell us straight that these drug gangs originate in England and are from London, Birmingham and Newcastle? Don’t they care about the reputation of the Union that we’re ‘better suffering together’ in?

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Professor John Robertson OBA That’s an Inverness-based police inspector telling us on BBC Highland Cops in S3, E4, that the drugs will be ‘brought to Inverness by organised crime groups who originate predominantly in England, whether it be London, Newcastle, Birmingham, any big city. He missed out Liverpool which featured in Series 1 and 2. No one has ever, ever, in now at least six years since these gangs moved in, said anything like that on BBC Reporting Scotland or Good Mourning Scotland. These local, not BBC, producers of the series and the local cops are political naives. They don’t … Continue reading Why can only BBC Highland Cops tell us straight that these drug gangs originate in England and are from London, Birmingham and Newcastle? Don’t they care about the reputation of the Union that we’re ‘better suffering together’ in?

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‘The Canary in the Coalmine’ – Abortions shocking 36% more common in England & Wales after 18 years of SNP rule

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Professor John Robertson OBA I should say quickly that I’m right behind women’s right to choose on this. My posts are almost always about the representation rather than the substance of issues. ‘Scotland‘s media are keen to talk about abortion if the narrative can be made anti-Scottish Government/SNP but never if it’s this other side of the story: From the Guardian 24 May 2024: There were 251,377 abortions for women resident in the two nations in 2022, official figures from the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) show. With 9% of the population of England & Wales, all things being equal, … Continue reading ‘The Canary in the Coalmine’ – Abortions shocking 36% more common in England & Wales after 18 years of SNP rule

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Violent attacks on trains are significantly more common in England and Wales than in Scotland

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Professor John Robertson OBA The Scotsman today has a wee go at making Scots feel included in this latest British tragedy. There not much in the way of comparative data but a 2019 report by LBC had: The highest number of crimes were recorded in BTP’s B Division North – which covers an area including north London and East Anglia – while the fewest crimes were recorded in Scotland, the only area to show an overall decrease. https://www.lbc.co.uk/article/crime-surges-by-12-per-cent-on-britains-railways-DWygP7_2/ In an extended, good, stats-based survey in the Daily Mail (yes), of sex and violence offences, Scotland barely figures: Don’t worry, that’s … Continue reading Violent attacks on trains are significantly more common in England and Wales than in Scotland

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BBC Scotland ‘balance’ the FM’s claims on increased NHS appointments with Con and Labour ‘playground’ shouts and of course not the hard evidence that he is correct with 120 000 and 10% more than last year

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of breaking the NHS. Professor John Robertson OBA author of 20 peer-reviewed papers on media effects The above is not, as they would claim, ‘balance.‘ That would be hard, published, statistics to counter Swinney’s earlier claim that more appointments are being met than last year. Here it is: Official figures from Public Health Scotland show that new outpatient attendances (a key measure of completed appointments) in the first half of the 2025/26 financial year (April to September 2025) totaled 653,805, an increase of 25,027 compared to the equivalent period in 2024/25. https://publichealthscotland.scot/publications/nhs-waiting-times-stage-of-treatment/stage-of-treatment-waiting-times-inpatients-day-cases-and-new-outpatients-28-october-2025/ This aligns with broader Scottish Government reporting of … Continue reading BBC Scotland ‘balance’ the FM’s claims on increased NHS appointments with Con and Labour ‘playground’ shouts and of course not the hard evidence that he is correct with 120 000 and 10% more than last year

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Why Scots have a ‘critically low’ democratic well-being score – the 50 years theft of their energy supplies for one thing?

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Professor John Robertson OBA Carnegie UK today have reported (previous TuS post) that Scots have a ‘critically low‘ democratic well-being score of only 40%. Who is surprised? I’m surprised it’s not zero, same as mine. If you are at all aware of Scotland’s 300 year plus and current predicament in the Union, how could you get anywhere near 40%. Given their many problems with crap governance but at least their own crap government, 40% would be a fair guess for Ireland. I asked the document’s built in AI why this might be. It just listed all the wee parts leading … Continue reading Why Scots have a ‘critically low’ democratic well-being score – the 50 years theft of their energy supplies for one thing?

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Scots have ‘critically low’ democratic well-being staying in UK but are ‘twice as likely to have high trust’ in SNP Government even after 18 years – How did BBC Scotland cope with this?

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Professor John Robertson OBA From a large survey by Paris-based Ipsos for Carnegie UK, into wellbeing index for Scotland in 2025, highlighting collective wellbeing scores across various domains and demographic factors, BBC Scotland in their BBC Breakfast insert this morning, ignored the document’s built-in ‘Generative Summary‘, from the AI Assistant in order to extract their own agenda-driven headline points: Wellbeing has improved slightly in spite of the cost of living crisis. The Scottish Government continues to be trusted more than UK Government although trust in Westminster did improve while it stayed the same for Holyrood. Democratic well-being has not improved … Continue reading Scots have ‘critically low’ democratic well-being staying in UK but are ‘twice as likely to have high trust’ in SNP Government even after 18 years – How did BBC Scotland cope with this?