Author: johnrobertson834

Retired Professor of Media Politics Not-for-profit independent political analysis
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Channel Islanders sickened as new Danish ferry service cancels sailings on very first day due to ‘technical issues’ only days after hearing there will be no Sunday service at all for more than a hundred thousand of them

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Professor John Robertson OBA, International Ferry Correspondent From ITV today: DFDS has cancelled its sailings between Jersey and St Malo for the first day it serves the island. The Danish firm, taking over from Condor, says the cancellations on Friday 28 March are due to “technical issues” with preparing one of their ferries, the Tarifa Jet, to run to and from Jersey. https://www.itv.com/news/channel/2025-03-27/dfds-cancels-sailing-between-jersey-and-france-on-opening-day Surely they checked the boat out a few days beforehand, to enable a professional start to the contract? Kind of makes you think they must be a rubbish company putting profits ahead of passengers? There were warnings. Only two … Continue reading Channel Islanders sickened as new Danish ferry service cancels sailings on very first day due to ‘technical issues’ only days after hearing there will be no Sunday service at all for more than a hundred thousand of them

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SNP Government to give free ferry passes to all under 22 year-old islanders in Shetland, Orkney and Hebrides

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Professor John Robertson OBA In the Orcadian today but getting no mainstream media coverage: Orkney residents aged under 22 will soon be able to travel between islands free of charge, the Scottish Government has announced. The new scheme comes into force at the beginning of April, allowing young residents to travel for free as foot passengers on inter-island ferry services within Orkney by showing their Young Scot or National Entitlement Card. Residents in Shetland and the Outer Hebrides are being given the same government subsidy. https://orcadian.co.uk/under-22s-to-travel-free-on-inter-island-ferries/ Emma Roddick MSP (SNP) had already announced this to a similar media silence in … Continue reading SNP Government to give free ferry passes to all under 22 year-old islanders in Shetland, Orkney and Hebrides

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Labour to push 250,000 people into poverty but Gordon Brown campaigns against it apparently untroubled by the contradictions

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stewartb While we’re on the subject of egregious omissions in the wake of Labour’s ‘Spring Statement’ … From Birmingham Live on March 12, 2025 this headline: ‘Former PM Gordon Brown in Birmingham backs child poverty urgent action call’. We’re told the sage of British Labour in Scotland and saviour of solidarity in the precious Union attended an event at which: ‘He took the opportunity to press fellow guest, Government employment minister Alison McGovern, to do more to fix child poverty. She is one of three ministers leading the Child Poverty Taskforce set up by Sir Keir Starmer and due to report its … Continue reading Labour to push 250,000 people into poverty but Gordon Brown campaigns against it apparently untroubled by the contradictions

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YouGov find No voters more readily than other pollsters to cast doubt on their honesty

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Professor John Robertson OBA Since the end of 2024, all four of the full Scottish independence polls have a had clear lead for Yes, yet in a period of ongoing media negativity, at the end of March 2025, about Labour and the other pro-Union parties and no new negative reports on the pro-independence parties, YouGov manage to reverse that trend with an 11 point (56/44) lead for No: https://yougov.co.uk/politics/articles/51898-scotland-march-2025-snapshot Curiously, the last two YouGov polls (circled), also found an 11 point lead for No, in the midst of other pollsters find a much narrower lead. That’s quite a coincidence and … Continue reading YouGov find No voters more readily than other pollsters to cast doubt on their honesty

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Latest – Scotland produces enough renewable electricity to meet all its needs and then power 1.4 million homes in the rest of the UK

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Professor John Robertson OBA From Energy Statistics for Scotland – Q4 2024, published today A record 38.4 TWh of renewable electricity was generated in Scotland in 2024 – a 13.2% increase compared from 33.9 TWh in 2023. Scotland continues to generate more electricity than it needs. In 2024, there was 19.7 TWh of net electricity exports to other UK nations.1 Scotland’s electricity consumption has been falling since 2007, from 17 TWh to only 14TwH in 2022.2 What does that 19.7TWh do for the rest of the UK? 1 TWh can fully power 70 000 homes for a year3 so that … Continue reading Latest – Scotland produces enough renewable electricity to meet all its needs and then power 1.4 million homes in the rest of the UK

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‘Police in England, Wales and NI too overworked to investigate crimes properly’ – Any word on Scotland with 28% more officers?

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Professor John Robertson OBA In the Guardian today, the above, and: Overworked police lack the resources, time and experience to investigate crimes properly, leading to victims being failed and an erosion in faith in law enforcement, an official report has found. The report by His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary, Fire and Rescue Services (HMICFRS) says that the rate of positive outcomes – when police identify a suspect and they face justice – has crashed from 25% in England and Wales a decade ago to 11% in 2024. https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025/mar/27/police-too-overworked-to-investigate-crimes-properly-england-wales-northern-ireland Predictably, when I see that kind of thing, then like a tennis beginner frantically … Continue reading ‘Police in England, Wales and NI too overworked to investigate crimes properly’ – Any word on Scotland with 28% more officers?

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Labour councillor to stand trial on grooming charges is not big news if your task is to protect Labour

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BBC Fife, above have no time for this, below: The local press, The Courier, does but is keeping things low-key. You have to read on for this: A former Labour councillor in Fife has pled not guilty to allegations he groomed a teenage girl over a period of a year. David Graham, of Grieve Street in Methilhill, appeared at Kirkcaldy Sheriff Court and denied the trio of charges he faces. The 42-year-old is alleged to have communicated indecently with the teenager and coerced her to view sexual images, to have engaged in unlawful sexual activity with her and to have … Continue reading Labour councillor to stand trial on grooming charges is not big news if your task is to protect Labour

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674 sick children experience medication-related incidents in England & Wales but not one politician like this wanted to groom the parents for political purposes

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By JB In January 2017 PLOS Medicine published research on….Patient Safety Incidents Involving Sick Children in Primary Care in England and Wales: A Mixed Methods Analysis PLOS Medicine as a journal was published online and in a printed format until 2005 and is now only published online by the Public Library of Science under the  Creative Commons “attribution” license  in other words “open access content”. “Articles published in PLoS Medicine are rigorously peer-reviewed. Academic and professional editors, supported by expert peer-reviewers, select those studies that drive research forward—in this case, toward medical applications and benefits for patients.” Getting back to the main … Continue reading 674 sick children experience medication-related incidents in England & Wales but not one politician like this wanted to groom the parents for political purposes

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In Wales, 25 children were given 10 times the correct dose in just two years but they don’t seem to have an Anas Sarwar to creepily take advantage of the family

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By stewartb In an ideal world, actions could be taken which would lead to the elimination of all medical errors in hospital settings. This would of course deprive Mr Sarwar of one of his favoured political ploys  viz. the use of the ‘salient exemplar’. Unionist politicians commenting on Scotland favour a tactic that seeks to exploit the built-in tendency of the human brain to conflate the aberrant with the norm. Mr Sarwar – aided and abetted by a supportive mainstream media that favours the avoidance of context, perspective and positivity when reporting Scotland – is well practised at this.  From Psychology … Continue reading In Wales, 25 children were given 10 times the correct dose in just two years but they don’t seem to have an Anas Sarwar to creepily take advantage of the family

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This is a safer than average hospital being used by Anas Sarwar to gaslight you

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oversight of this hospital for a long period of time. Professor John Robertson OBA Above, Anas Sarwar trying to fabricate a wider hospital safety crisis out of a small number of incidents in the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital, with a view to attacking the SNP Government’s oversight. From Hospital Standardised Mortality Ratios October 2023 to September 2024, published on 11 February 2025, QEUH had a lower than average Standardised Mortality Ratio, at 0.93, than the Scottish average of 1.0. 15 hospitals had a worse ratio of more than 1.0.1 If an HSMR value for a hospital is less than one, … Continue reading This is a safer than average hospital being used by Anas Sarwar to gaslight you