Author: johnrobertson834

Retired Professor of Media Politics Not-for-profit independent political analysis
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Inverness ‘wilful fire-raising incident’ – is this a second Scottish community fighting back against the plague of English County Lines gangs?

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The Talking-up Scotland fund raiser closing on Friday, 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  BBC Scotland Highlands & Islands had this very brief report last night. Police say they are treating a blaze at a house in Inverness as a wilful fire-raising incident. … Continue reading Inverness ‘wilful fire-raising incident’ – is this a second Scottish community fighting back against the plague of English County Lines gangs?

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BBC Scotland and Prof Paterson shamefully misinterpret statistics to cast another cohort of Scottish students and staff as failures when they are not

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The Talking-up Scotland fund raiser closing on Friday, 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  From BBC Scotland today: The attainment gap between Scotland’s richest and poorest school pupils increased last year, according to new figures. The Scottish government has said since 2015 that … Continue reading BBC Scotland and Prof Paterson shamefully misinterpret statistics to cast another cohort of Scottish students and staff as failures when they are not

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LATEST – As crime falls across the board in Scotland in 2024, ignored by media, it’s now more than THREE times as common in England & Wales and violent crime is now 60% more common in England & Wales

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The Talking-up Scotland fund raiser closing on Friday, 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  Note: We all know crime reporting figures fell during the pandemic measures, such as social distancing and lockdown in 2020 to 2022, so there’s little point in comparing the … Continue reading LATEST – As crime falls across the board in Scotland in 2024, ignored by media, it’s now more than THREE times as common in England & Wales and violent crime is now 60% more common in England & Wales

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Diagnostic waiting times fall steadily since end of pandemic measures

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The Talking-up Scotland fund raiser closing on Friday, 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  From NHS waiting times – diagnostics Waits for key diagnostic tests, published today, the above chart reveals a dramatic reduction, for 5 consecutive months, in the time waited for … Continue reading Diagnostic waiting times fall steadily since end of pandemic measures

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Access to NHS dentistry 23% higher in Scotland

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By Professor John Robertson OBA, former Faculty Research Ethics Chair, UWS  From Public Health Scotland today: 5,206,528 people were registered with an NHS dentist as of 31 December 2024 (95.6% of the Scottish population). 1 I can’t find directly comparable figures for NHS England. I suspect they want to keep that one quiet after the media reporting, but from a UK Parliament report in 2023: 1 in 5 Britons (22%) are currently not “registered” with a dentist. Of those who were not “registered” 37% said this was because they couldn’t find an NHS dentist.2 Note that access to NHS dentistry is worsening in … Continue reading Access to NHS dentistry 23% higher in Scotland

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Nearly 50% more waiting for care at home packages in England than in Scotland

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The Talking-up Scotland fund raiser closing on Friday, 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  From Public Health Scotland today: The estimated number of people assessed and waiting for a care at home package was 2,957 on 3 February 2025.1 All things being equal, … Continue reading Nearly 50% more waiting for care at home packages in England than in Scotland

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Every part of the UK fears crime more than Scots do and they have good reason to

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The Talking-up Scotland fund raiser closing on Friday, 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  From YouGov today, The most important issues facing the country, we can see, above, that 14% of Scots rate crime as one of the most important issues and over … Continue reading Every part of the UK fears crime more than Scots do and they have good reason to

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From the World’s End Murders to Scotland today

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By Professor John Robertson OBA, former Faculty Research Ethics Chair, UWS  As I watched the above, excellent but deeply disturbing BBC documentary series (two parts), I was cast back 55 years to a night in September 1969. I was to attend Glasgow School of art, the next morning and I could not sleep for anxiety about the next day. I wasn’t worried about the course, I was worried about Glasgow. I’d never been and my head was full of images of knife and meat cleaver attacks, from TV news reports and my dad’s Daily Record. It was newspaper then. In the end, I … Continue reading From the World’s End Murders to Scotland today

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Crimes of anti-social behaviour plummet by nearly 60% in Scotland as they surge elsewhere in UK

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which has increased over the last ten years, while neighbourhood policing was heavily cut. The Talking-up Scotland fund raiser closing on Friday, 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 Home Secretary yesterday announcing new laws to curb anti-social crime in England & Wales. … Continue reading Crimes of anti-social behaviour plummet by nearly 60% in Scotland as they surge elsewhere in UK

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As energy prices set to rise, the tragic irony of Scotland – 8% of the population but 48% of the UK’s wind energy and a massive transfer of 6.1 TWh electricity to the rest of the UK

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By Professor John Robertson OBA, former Faculty Research Ethics Chair, UWS  From the Guardian on January 3rd 2025: UK electricity cleanest ever in 2024, with record 58% from low-carbon sources – UK has more than halved amount of electricity generated from fossil fuels but gas still had largest share at 28% https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/jan/02/uk-electricity-cleanest-ever-in-2024-with-record-58-from-low-carbon-sources There’s no mention of Scotland’s contribution to this: Scotland powers nearly half of UK’s wind energy milestone. Scotland’s wind farms are generating 48% of the UK’s 30GW wind power capacity, with new projects pushing this total higher. https://www.energylivenews.com/2024/08/30/scotland-powers-nearly-half-of-uks-wind-energy-milestone/ Net electricity transfers from Scotland to England [in 2023] increased 15 per cent to 6.0 TWh year-on-year, … Continue reading As energy prices set to rise, the tragic irony of Scotland – 8% of the population but 48% of the UK’s wind energy and a massive transfer of 6.1 TWh electricity to the rest of the UK