Author: johnrobertson834

Retired Professor of Media Politics Not-for-profit independent political analysis
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Feeling safe in Scottish schools – How BBC and Reform Scotland’s research director cannot read OECD research on that showing 90% do

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Professor John Robertson OBA, former Associate Dean (Quality Assurance) Faculty of Education, UWS See all that stuff up there? That’s real that is, not like that fake Reverend Stu Campbell or, or Doctor Feelgood…..or, Professor Longhair…. So, trust me, I can read research. I know you can too but the Research Director at Jack McConnell’s education ‘thinktank’ and the folk at BBC Scotland, clearly can’t or won’t. Who is she? This woman: Why? They had a woman on this morning to say her wean did not go to school because she ‘doesn’t feel safe’ there. I’m sure that’s true but is that enough data to … Continue reading Feeling safe in Scottish schools – How BBC and Reform Scotland’s research director cannot read OECD research on that showing 90% do

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SHOCK as former head of research for Scottish Conservatives uses Latin wrongly

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Professor John Robertson OBA, former Associate Dean (Quality Assurance) Faculty of Education, UWS In researching the previous post on school absences and the probable lack of reliable data there are for any comment on them, I noticed ‘Why Educational Data Matters’ from Reform Scotland – Lord McConnell of Glenscorrodale (Chair), Chris Deerin (Director) and Alison Payne (Research Director!). Now, I know there’s debate and, in some specialised scientific areas, it might be acceptable, but: The grammatically correct approach is ‘data are’, because the word ‘data’ is the plural of the latin word ‘datum’. https://digitalblog.ons.gov.uk/2016/12/08/data-is-versus-data-are/ Reform Scotland like to style themselves as a thinktank with expertise in education, … Continue reading SHOCK as former head of research for Scottish Conservatives uses Latin wrongly

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School Absences – Jack McConnell’s think tank does not think that well

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Professor John Robertson OBA, former Associate Dean (Quality Assurance) Faculty of Education, UWS BBC Scotland this morning is repeating a report of increased school absences in Scotland, from Reform Scotland – Lord McConnell of Glenscorrodale (Chair), Chris Deerin (Director) and Alison Payne (Research Director!). I can’t see this year’s version in full yet but last year: That’s according to research for a think tank. The Commission on School Reform says ministers must work with councils to reverse the trend. The Scottish government says it’s looking at challenges that influence attendance…..the figures are based on Freedom of Information requests from the Scottish local … Continue reading School Absences – Jack McConnell’s think tank does not think that well

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Imagine a Scottish ambulance service told A&E patients to ‘get themselves there’

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Professor John Robertson OBA Thanks to Dottie for alerting me to this. From the Times today: People having a heart attack or a stroke are being asked to get themselves to hospital after dialling 999 in some parts of England, as surging sickness levels plunge the NHS into another winter crisis. The West Midlands Ambulance Service, which declared itself under “severe pressure” last week, confirmed a change to the script used by its 999 call handlers to suggest patients make their own way to hospital during periods of high demand. Six out of ten ambulance services in England were at their highest … Continue reading Imagine a Scottish ambulance service told A&E patients to ‘get themselves there’

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Supposedly top policing journal allows attempt to mislead on Scottish road deaths for political agenda

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Professor John Robertson OBA In Policing Insight on 6 December 2024: Inspectorate urges Police Scotland to commit more resources to roads policing amid rising fatalities by Sarah Gibbons, former Communication Manager for the Police Superintendents’ Association of England and Wales.  Under the post, my comment: This is an irresponsibly inaccurate headline. Road fatalities in Scotland are not rising at all but falling. According to the latest statistics from Transport Scotland (29 May 2024), they fell by 10% and specifically cyclist deaths fell by 16%, from 2022 to 2023. All read deaths have plummeted year on year from a peak of 892 in … Continue reading Supposedly top policing journal allows attempt to mislead on Scottish road deaths for political agenda

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Researchers find UK Government’s austerity policies ‘murders’ 335 000 across the UK and inadvertently reveal SNP mitigation saved more than 8 000 lives

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Professor John Robertson OBA I’ve already recommended the excellent, highly researched, ‘Social Murder? Austerity and Life Expectancy in the UK’ by David Walsh and Gerry McCartney (U of Glasgow), Policy Press. In the opening pages, they justify the term ‘social murder‘ for the fatal consequences of economic violence against the disabled and the poor. They estimate the level of social murder by comparing the observed mortality rates in the UK from 2012-2019 with the rate that should have emerged in those years if the prior improving trend in life expectancy had continued, uninterrupted as it did in other parts of Europe not … Continue reading Researchers find UK Government’s austerity policies ‘murders’ 335 000 across the UK and inadvertently reveal SNP mitigation saved more than 8 000 lives

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Scottish Conservatives Leader argues on behalf of hostile journalists who actively misled us on how Nicola Sturgeon, according to their own top civil servant, showed the UK Government ‘how to do it’

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Professor John Robertson OBA Thanks to AR for alerting me to this. Russell Findlay, a former journo himself, is in the Scotsman today arguing, with great irony, that the SNP had created a hostile atmosphere and were preventing scrutiny during the pandemic. That is, of course, the opposite of what happened, according to Dr Simon Case, Cabinet Secretary and Head of the Civil Service under Boris Johnson PM, and his top adviser, at the Covid Inquiry.  From the National in May 2024: NICOLA Sturgeon was showing the Tory government “how to do it” during the Covid pandemic, according to WhatsApp messages sent … Continue reading Scottish Conservatives Leader argues on behalf of hostile journalists who actively misled us on how Nicola Sturgeon, according to their own top civil servant, showed the UK Government ‘how to do it’

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Might the Sunday Times Holyrood/Independence poll result today have been even better had they not weighted the sample to match the 55/45 No/Yes ratio in the 2014 referendum vote?

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In 2014, voters aged 16-41 were more likely than not to vote Yes whereas voters above 41 were more likely to vote No. More than ten years later, half a million predominantly No voters have passed away leaving the electoral roll and a similar amount of predominantly Yes have joined it. Despite this many pollsters for Scottish elections tend to adjust, ‘weight’, their sample to match the 55/45 No/Yes ratio in 2014. Critics suggest this skews the results and point to the Yes leads and better SNP figures in those polls which do not do so. Norstat for the Sunday … Continue reading Might the Sunday Times Holyrood/Independence poll result today have been even better had they not weighted the sample to match the 55/45 No/Yes ratio in the 2014 referendum vote?

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Leaving aside Operation Branchform where they’re being told what to do, even our police are different ie better, just as, more widely, Scotland is

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Today in the Observer: Images of arrested people who were innocent of any crimes are still being stored in a police database that may be used for facial recognition purposes, an official report has warned. In 2012, the high court ruled that keeping the images of people who faced no action or who were charged and then acquitted was unlawful. Despite the ruling, custody images of innocent people are still on the Police national database, which is available to all UK police forces and selected law enforcement agencies. The images can be used for facial recognition checks of potential suspects. Then way … Continue reading Leaving aside Operation Branchform where they’re being told what to do, even our police are different ie better, just as, more widely, Scotland is

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Why are so few, if any, homes flooding in Scotland after Storm Darragh’s massive rainfall?

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Professor John Robertson OBA I know, Storm Darragh’s winds hit Wales and South-West England hardest but Scotland had a similar massive downpour of between 30 and 45mm in different parts. Reports of flooded homes and infrastructure are everywhere in the media except in Scotland. Why might that be? Maybe I’m tempting fate, but we’ve been here before, in 2016, as major flooding of homes in England was desperately linked by ‘our’ media to a few cases in Scotland and supposed SNP failures. Why are homes in Scotland not flooding despite massive rainfall? As far back as 2006, researchers at the English College … Continue reading Why are so few, if any, homes flooding in Scotland after Storm Darragh’s massive rainfall?