Help Talking-up Scotland keep going Crowdfunder at: https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/help-talking-up-scotland-keep-going Or by direct bank transfer to: JOHN WATSON ROBERTSON Sort Code – 08-91-04 Account – 12266421 Scottish BBC licence tax payers contributed £313m last year.1 Amongst other things, for that, they expect a flagship news report three times a day to alert them and to advise them on what is happening and what they should be aware of. It’s called public service broadcasting. How many, typically, do watch for that reason? Around 240 000. 2 So, how much are Scots paying, each, to be able to access that public service? Just over £1 300 for, of course, ‘mince’ as media … Continue reading BBC Reporting Scotland three times a day costs licence tax payers £1 300 each to be able to benefit from their…..what is it again?

Help Talking-up Scotland keep going Crowdfunder at: https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/help-talking-up-scotland-keep-going Or by direct bank transfer to: JOHN WATSON ROBERTSON Sort Code – 08-91-04 Account – 12266421 Said by Richard Tice, above, today on Sky News and from BBC UK today: Reform UK has said it will prioritise British-born workers under 35 when allocating social housing if it were to enter government. Deputy leader Richard Tice will set out plans to build 50,000 affordable social homes a year in a news conference on Monday, a policy which the party claims will require no new taxes or borrowing. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cvgjgyg1rngo As you know, promising to build 50 000 ‘affordable’ homes in England with … Continue reading Scotland has already built double Reform’s affordable homes promise

Help Talking-up Scotland keep going Crowdfunder at: https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/help-talking-up-scotland-keep-going Or by direct bank transfer to: JOHN WATSON ROBERTSON Sort Code – 08-91-04 Account – 12266421 In the Guardian today, the above and: Three-quarters of secondary schools in England are breaking the rules on food offered to pupils by serving chips, burgers and hash browns too often – and sweets and crisps at breakfast time, according to a report. “Shocking” breaches of school food standards have been exposed on Monday, in a new analysis of the food provided at almost 400 state secondaries undertaken by Bite Back, a food charity set up by the chef Jamie Oliver. D’Arcy Williams, Bite Back’s chief executive, said … Continue reading Shocking healthy school food breaches in 3 out of 4 schools in England but Scotland’s schools stick to rules after legal ruling and integrated inspections

Help Talking-up Scotland keep going Crowdfunder at: https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/help-talking-up-scotland-keep-going Or by direct bank transfer to: JOHN WATSON ROBERTSON Sort Code – 08-91-04 Account – 12266421 In the Guardian today the above interactive map and: Hundreds of dentist practices are abandoning NHS work as the service drifts towards a two-tier system, new analysis suggests. Data analysed by the Nuffield Trust found that nearly 600 practices in England have withdrawn from NHS dentistry over the last 10 years. The decline has been particularly sharp in parts of the South West and East of England, raising concerns about growing inequalities in access to care. The analysis suggests more than one in 10 … Continue reading NHS dentist access in Scotland – 95% and twice as many satisfied as in England and three times more than in Wales

Help Talking-up Scotland keep going Crowdfunder at: https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/help-talking-up-scotland-keep-going Or by direct bank transfer to: JOHN WATSON ROBERTSON Sort Code – 08-91-04 Account – 12266421 Sir Ewan Brown, above, retired merchant banker and Church of Scotland Assembly member, currently writing for Sir Jack McConnel’s Enlighten think tank is in the Herald today with: Scotland’s health service is a “colossal and complex behemoth” overseeing nearly £20 billion of public money without proper scrutiny, one of the country’s most senior business figures has warned. https://talkingupscotlandtwo.wordpress.com/wp-admin/post.php?post=115983&action=edit The report is barely 2 A4, utterly devoid of evidence (not one source), an uncalled for opinion piece from a past-it non-academic, justifying an attack on … Continue reading Merchant banker and Jack McConnell ‘thinktank’ writer in unsurprising attack on NHS Scotland under SNP

___________________________________________________________ Help Talking-up Scotland keep going. Crowdfunder at: https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/help-talking-up-scotland-keep-going Or by direct bank transfer to: JOHN WATSON ROBERTSON Sort Code – 08-91-04 Account – 12266421 ____________________________________________________ Scotland on Sunday today, desperately trying to upset your breakfast with the above claim, is all wrong. Why? It reports, gutter-low in informative value, telling viewers little they might use to understand and to act logically within the actual society they live in rather than an imagined drama where violence lurks at ever corner and on every day. What would any decent, intelligent service tell them? First, that ‘recidivism’, re-offending: The return-to-custody rate [not just re-offending but also breaching licence conditions] for the early 2025 … Continue reading Far more probation officers and far less re-offending – that’s where you live, really.

___________________________________________________________ Help Talking-up Scotland keep going. Crowdfunder at: https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/help-talking-up-scotland-keep-going Or by direct bank transfer to: JOHN WATSON ROBERTSON Sort Code – 08-91-04 Account – 12266421 ____________________________________________________ The above from the Express is easily rebutted: From Statistics on policing published in May 2026: There were 16,430 full-time equivalent (FTE) police officers in Scotland on 31 March 2026. This was 196 (+1.2%) more officers compared to the position on 31 March 2007. As staffing levels have been maintained how has the level of crime faced by these officers changed? Compared with England? Scotland has the highest ratio of police officers per 100 000 population – 295. England and Wales forces have a lower combined … Continue reading No ifs and buts we already have more police on the beat