Author: johnrobertson834

Retired Professor of Media Politics Not-for-profit independent political analysis
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Scotland invests 10 times as much per head in supporting families to prevent homelessness happening in the first place

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From Support for families at risk of homelessness Published 05 November 2026 09:52 £2 million funding boost for housing payment scheme. A scheme helping low-income households avoid homelessness will receive an additional £2 million this year. The Discretionary Housing Payment scheme provides direct financial support to low-income households struggling with housing costs and helps people to retain their tenancy in the rented sector. The additional funding takes this year’s investment in the scheme to a record £117 million. This will help an estimated 100,000 households in Scotland sustain their tenancies. The scheme is the main way the Scottish Government mitigates … Continue reading Scotland invests 10 times as much per head in supporting families to prevent homelessness happening in the first place

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Unique to Scotland – action to ensure domestic abuse survivors not unfairly burdened by council tax debt

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From Supporting victims of domestic abuse published today: Action is being taken to ensure domestic abuse survivors are not unfairly burdened by council tax debt. The Scottish Government will create a statutory exception to joint and several liability rules to protect those who have faced domestic abuse, with a consultation launching as the first step in the process of reform. This will mean that, where relevant criteria are met, survivors would only be liable for 50% of their liability for both council tax and water & sewerage charges. They would also be able to seek support from the local authority … Continue reading Unique to Scotland – action to ensure domestic abuse survivors not unfairly burdened by council tax debt

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Deaths by suicide in the most deprived areas of Scotland have fallen by over 40%

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From Probable Suicides 2025 Published 03 November 2026 09:30 New figures are lowest since 2017. Minister for Mental Wellbeing Maree Todd has reaffirmed the government’s commitment to tackling the underlying factors and inequalities which cause suicide, as the number of deaths by suicide reach their lowest level in the past eight years. National Records of Scotland figures show that, whilst rates of probable deaths by suicide in the most deprived areas of Scotland have fallen by over 40% since 2001, the rates of probable deaths by suicide were still 2.7 times higher in the most deprived areas in 2025 than … Continue reading Deaths by suicide in the most deprived areas of Scotland have fallen by over 40%

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AHOY SCOTLAND: FULL STEAM ASTERN!

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By Mark E. Saunders of “The Scottish Minuteman” https://www.facebook.com/profile.php/?id=61575625542197 — More money to keep us afloat. Less investment to help us move forward — Since the Labour government’s budget last month, there has been quite a bit of talk about Westminster giving Scotland an additional £600 million to ‘spend’. But there’s a little more to that story than meets the eye — or the ears for that matter. Firstly, the £600 million isn’t an annual payment. It’s the total additional funding spread across four years. And secondly, when you look at where the money is going, things become a wee bit less impressive. It … Continue reading AHOY SCOTLAND: FULL STEAM ASTERN!

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UK (sic) youth job crisis is 55% greater than anything in Scotland

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In the Guardian today: Fixing UK’s [sic]youth jobs crisis demands much more investment, TUC boss warns. Paul Nowak also calls on government to avoid arbitrary benefit cuts before much-anticipated Milburn report is published this week. Fixing Britain’s youth jobs crisis will require ministers to drastically increase investment in employment support while avoiding arbitrary cuts to benefits, the head of the trade union movement has said. https://www.theguardian.com/society/2026/nov/09/uk-young-people-job-work-employment-crisis-paul-nowak-milburn-review There is, of course, not mention of Scotland in the above. Here’s why:: BBC Breakfast 18 June 2026 had the above headline story of 1 012 000 16 to 24 year-olds not in employment, … Continue reading UK (sic) youth job crisis is 55% greater than anything in Scotland

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England & Wales have ‘softest touch’ as they release FOUR times as many per head ‘dangerous prisoners’ early than Scotland

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The Express today repeating their ‘SNP soft touch’ story (left) and their July report helpfully giving us the total (right). ‘Helpfully?’ Read on. For England and Wales, official figures show 79,274 prisoners released early under these emergency measures between September 2024 and June 2026.1, 2 The equivalent figure for Scotland is 1 641.3, 4 All things being equally bad, you might expect the the figure for England and Wales to be between 11 and 12 times higher. I’ll give them the benefit of just 12 so that’d be around 19 700, a quarter of the rate in England & Wales … Continue reading England & Wales have ‘softest touch’ as they release FOUR times as many per head ‘dangerous prisoners’ early than Scotland

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After 8 years of Liverpool county lines drug gangs in the Highlands violent crime is up 270% compared to 12% in Scotland

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That it’s like an escalation of behaviour. It’s getting to the point now in the Inverness area, where the violence is getting to a different level and it’s something that really we’re taking a really firm stance on. But we’re also very conscious it’s very challenging. Highland Cops commissioned by BBC 2 and BBC Scotland and produced by Firecrest Films is in its fourth series of frankly fascinating documentary style episodes on crime in the Scottish Highlands, with ravishing background, often foreground, scenery shots and increasingly impressive and likeable police officer characters. The production seems to have wriggled out from … Continue reading After 8 years of Liverpool county lines drug gangs in the Highlands violent crime is up 270% compared to 12% in Scotland

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How can there be ‘an A&E crisis’ of deaths ‘linked’ to long waits ONLY in Scotland when they are actually falling here and nearly FOUR times as common in NHS England?

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We’ve been here before with A&E delays and excess mortality. Only the media operating in Scotland is reporting it. How the numbers were calculated for this RCEM/Lib Dem study: The figures use a standard mortality ratio previously applied by the Royal College of Emergency Medicine (RCEM). It assumes roughly one additional death for every 72 patients who wait 8–12 hours before admission. The Lib Dems applied this to the number of patients waiting more than 12 hours (not official government statistics). The RCEM ratio 1:72 is supported by one 2022 peer-reviewed study based on A&E data from 2016 to 2018: … Continue reading How can there be ‘an A&E crisis’ of deaths ‘linked’ to long waits ONLY in Scotland when they are actually falling here and nearly FOUR times as common in NHS England?

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Burnham not doing politics differently as he bins opinion polls supporting independence

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By Liz S The National reports “The UK Government has been carrying out secret taxpayer-funded Scottish independence polls and are refusing to release the results”. Apparently “Since Andy Burnham became Prime Minister, the Cabinet Office has conducted a secret Scottish independence polling operation” Now this reminds me of the time when Michael Gove, when he was a part of a former Tory UK government, did something similar. The money Gove used for his polling was originally to be designated for pandemic messaging. In June 2019, “SNP MP Tommy Sheppard requested secret polling data from January 2018 to June 2019 regarding … Continue reading Burnham not doing politics differently as he bins opinion polls supporting independence