Author: johnrobertson834

Retired Professor of Media Politics Not-for-profit independent political analysis
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Latest of NINE bias-free sub-polls has SNP 21 points ahead of Labour, further evidence that Sarwar is the problem, the Cons are in deep trouble and Reform is in second place again in Scotland

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From Opinium today, based on polling on 5-7 February 2025, with a 1 475 total sample including 124 Scots, the above results. Saying essentially the same as the previous 8 sub-polls and now based on a total sample of more than 1 000, unaffected by the dubious sampling adjustment used in most Scotland-only polls, to reflect the 2014 referendum result, the SNP is well-ahead and Labour/Cons are collapsing under the Reform UK assault. We also see, clear as day, the Scottish Labour support under Sarwar at barely half that of UK Labour under Starmer, as both Conservative and Labour social … Continue reading Latest of NINE bias-free sub-polls has SNP 21 points ahead of Labour, further evidence that Sarwar is the problem, the Cons are in deep trouble and Reform is in second place again in Scotland

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How BBC Scotland tried to suggest CalMac ferries were unsafe 7 years ago but has failed to update on the safest ferry service in the world

johnrobertson834

The Talking-up Scotland fund raiser primarily to enable the recruitment of some research assistance, in order to take pressure off me [74 in June and tiring] and hopefully to further improve the blog, has made a good start. To contribute, only if you can (!) go to: Talking-up Scotland – a Politics crowdfunding project in Ayr by Professor John Robertson By Professor John Robertson OBA, former Faculty Research Ethics Chair, UWS This just popped up in a search for related ferry matters. In July 2017, before the ‘ferry fiasco’ narrative really got going, I thought, BBC Scotland had this: CalMac ferries lifejackets were … Continue reading How BBC Scotland tried to suggest CalMac ferries were unsafe 7 years ago but has failed to update on the safest ferry service in the world

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Mental health services – 18% improvement in one year as almost 90% of children and adolescents now treated within target

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Professor John Robertson OBA BBC Scotland today is headlining their own Disclosure team’s interviews with teenagers from one Glasgow unit. It sounds tragic. While taking nothing away from the unacceptability of the treatment reported, BBC Scotland also has a responsibility beyond that, to inform the public of the wider context so that one negative report does not, unfairly, come to represent reality for their audience. The latest figures, from Public Health Scotland, tell another important and different story: For the quarter ending September 2024: 89.1% of children and young people started treatment within 18 weeks of referral, which is an … Continue reading Mental health services – 18% improvement in one year as almost 90% of children and adolescents now treated within target

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Classic media bias to harm tourism and morale as CalMac non-weather-related ferry cancellations actually FALL by 20% in the last year and reliability hits nearly 97%

johnrobertson834

The Talking-up Scotland fund raiser primarily to enable the recruitment of some research assistance, in order to take pressure off me [74 in June and tiring] and hopefully to further improve the blog, has made a good start. To contribute, only if you can (!) go to: Talking-up Scotland – a Politics crowdfunding project in Ayr by Professor John Robertson By Professor John Robertson OBA, former Faculty Research Ethics Chair, UWS The Daily Mail today has Islanders ‘abandoned’ by the SNP as cancellations due to ferry repairs soar by a staggering 2,000pc in 13 years and other rags, including the Herald, are in … Continue reading Classic media bias to harm tourism and morale as CalMac non-weather-related ferry cancellations actually FALL by 20% in the last year and reliability hits nearly 97%

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Opposition MSPs and journalists waste £5 MILLION in taxpayer’s money to try to dig dirt on SNP Government in a 42% surge

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The Talking-up Scotland fund raiser primarily to enable the recruitment of some research assistance, in order to take pressure off me [74 in June and tiring] and hopefully to further improve the blog, has made a good start. To contribute, only if you can (!) go to: Talking-up Scotland – a Politics crowdfunding project in Ayr by Professor John Robertson https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/talking-up-scotland#start By Professor John Robertson OBA, Research Ethics Chair, Faculty of Media, UWS According to the Daily Record today: A Tory MSP cost the taxpayer over £100,000 after tabling almost one thousand “spurious” parliamentary questions. Douglas Lumsden was accused of a “flagrant abuse” of … Continue reading Opposition MSPs and journalists waste £5 MILLION in taxpayer’s money to try to dig dirt on SNP Government in a 42% surge

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Labour Government to force cuts that further widen the staffing spending and consequently the attainment gap between schools in Scotland and England

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The Talking-up Scotland fund raiser primarily to enable the recruitment of some research assistance, in order to take pressure off me [74 in June and tiring] and hopefully to further improve the blog, has made a good start. To contribute, only if you can (!) go to: Talking-up Scotland – a Politics crowdfunding project in Ayr by Professor John Robertson By Professor John Robertson OBA, former Associate Dean (Quality Assurance), Faculty of Education, UWS From the Guardian today: Cash-strapped schools plan to lay off teachers in blow to Labour’s promiseDespite government pledge to recruit 6,500 new teachers, headteachers are under renewed pressure … Continue reading Labour Government to force cuts that further widen the staffing spending and consequently the attainment gap between schools in Scotland and England

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Drax the Destroyer of Worlds, Jackie Baillie, £10 exrtra on your bill and the UK’s biggest CO2 emitter

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By Professor John Robertson OBA From BBC North Yorkshire, today: A UK power station that has received billions of pounds in government subsidies has failed more than once to report it burned wood from primary forests, BBC News has found. Drax Power Station, which burns wood pellets, is required to report where it sources its wood and whether it is from natural, previously untouched forests. BBC Panorama and BBC News has previously reported that Drax held logging licences in British Columbia, Canada, and used wood, including whole trees, from primary and old-growth forests for its pellets. These are natural forests that have … Continue reading Drax the Destroyer of Worlds, Jackie Baillie, £10 exrtra on your bill and the UK’s biggest CO2 emitter

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Another Scottish Labour leader believes in accuracy in the media unless you’re talking about Scotland

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The Talking-up Scotland fund raiser primarily to enable the recruitment of some research assistance, in order to take pressure off me [74 in June and tiring] and hopefully to further improve the blog, has made a good start. To contribute, only if you can (!) go to: Talking-up Scotland – a Politics crowdfunding project in Ayr by Professor John Robertson By Professor John Robertson OBA Elon Musk circulates information which is untrue and tries to distort what is going on. Ayesha Yousef Hazarika, Baroness Hazarika MBA ‘Scottish broadcaster, journalist and political commentator, and former political adviser to senior Labour Party politicians’, features in Can … Continue reading Another Scottish Labour leader believes in accuracy in the media unless you’re talking about Scotland

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Don’t these dentists know there’s a crisis in dentistry? Scottish Labour MPs are telling England there is one to make them feel better and able to keep looking down on us

johnrobertson834

The Talking-up Scotland fund raiser primarily to enable the recruitment of some research assistance, in order to take pressure off me [74 in June and tiring] and hopefully to further improve the blog, has made a good start. To contribute, only if you can (!) go to: Talking-up Scotland – a Politics crowdfunding project in Ayr by Professor John Robertson By Professor John Robertson OBA Look at that from Newmilns in East Ayrshire! No need to queue round the block for an appointment and then wait forever for it, as we hear is the case across NHS England. I wonder is the … Continue reading Don’t these dentists know there’s a crisis in dentistry? Scottish Labour MPs are telling England there is one to make them feel better and able to keep looking down on us

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Labour’s planned small modular reactors – inefficient, polluting and carcinogenic – will also be dependent on high-assay low-enriched uranium (HALEU) from Putin’s Russia which has ‘complete monopoly’ to undermine our energy security

johnrobertson834

The Talking-up Scotland fund raiser primarily to enable the recruitment of some research assistance, in order to take pressure off me [74 in June and tiring] and hopefully to further improve the blog, has made a good start. To contribute, only if you can (!) go to: Talking-up Scotland – a Politics crowdfunding project in Ayr by Professor John Robertson By Professor John Robertson OBA I’m grateful to @NickyZog for alerting me to these sources. From the high-status Foreign Policy on January 2oth 2025: For the United States—a country that, especially under incoming President-elect Donald Trump, aspires to be not only energy … Continue reading Labour’s planned small modular reactors – inefficient, polluting and carcinogenic – will also be dependent on high-assay low-enriched uranium (HALEU) from Putin’s Russia which has ‘complete monopoly’ to undermine our energy security