Professor John Robertson OBA From Teenage pregnancies Year of conception, ending 31 December 2023 published today: The teenage pregnancy rate in Scotland increased slightly from 25.5 per 1,000 women in 2022 to 25.8 in 2023. This is equal to 3,801 teenage pregnancies in 2023 (76 more than in 2022). https://www.publichealthscotland.scot/publications/teenage-pregnancies/teenage-pregnancies-year-of-conception-ending-31-december-2023/ From the above graph you can see that teenage pregnancies were running at 55-57 per year in the last years of the Labour/Lib Dem coalition and peaking in 2005-2008, more than twice as many as in recent years. Why is this such an important statistic and reflective of wider achievements … Continue reading Teenage pregnancies plummet after 18 years to reveal wider progress under SNP

Professor John Robertson OBA From the Scotsman in March 2024: Almost 22,000 rental properties MAY have been removed from the market in Scotland in the past year, research has revealed, with “anti-landlord rhetoric” from the Scottish Government cited as a reason for the drop. The Scottish Association of Landlords (SAL) said such rhetoric, combined with “short-term, ineffective policies” from ministers, was “harming investment in private rented housing in Scotland”. https://www.scotsman.com/news/politics/rent-scotland-almost-22000-rental-properties-removed-from-market-amid-anti-landlord-rhetoric-research-claims-4541621 From Housing statistics: Scottish Landlord Register data published today, we can see that the number of registered landlords in Scotland has fallen slightly, by 1.1% or around 2 000, but the number of registered properties available to rent … Continue reading Steady growth in rental properties revealed in official figures contradicts media scare based on insider ‘research’

Professor John Robertson OBA In February 2025, BBC UK had the above headline and: More young people were not in work, education or training at the end of 2024 than at any point in the past 11 years, new data suggests. but from Labour Market Statistics for 16 to 24 year olds: Scotland and the United Kingdom – January to December 2024 published today: Compared with the United Kingdom as a whole: the estimated employment rate for 16 to 24 year olds in Scotland was higher (54.8% compared to 51.3 per cent) the estimated unemployment rate for 16 to 24 year … Continue reading Scotland’s 16-24 year-olds – significantly more employment, less unemployment and more activity

Professor John Robertson OBA BBC Scotland reporting om a fatal crash on the A96 yesterday noted that this was the 3rd fatal crash in less than 2 weeks. Tragic, I agree but, dear public service broadcaster taxpayer-funded, what is the trend on this road and across Scotland?. Tabloid media coverage suggests a worsening situation and the above BBC comment seems to reinforce that impression. In the above report, they note: Last year, a 2011 commitment to upgrade 86 miles (138km) of the route by 2030 was abandoned by the Scottish government. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c776xmk47gzo The actual data for the rising death toll is … Continue reading Road deaths – A falling trend and the lowest level in the UK but ‘your’ media won’t tell you that

Professor John Robertson OBA For some reason, the above 2022 survey does not include the recent data from the UK. For Scotland in 2023/2024: The estimated unemployment rate for 16 to 24 year olds was 10.4 per cent in October 2023 to September 2024. This was 0.7 percentage points (pp) higher than a year ago (9.7 per cent) 1 For the UK, in 2023: The unemployment rate for young people was 14.2%, up from 13.8% from the year before.2 These data would put Scotland in the second lowest category (8-12%) with Finland and the Baltic States, while the UK (England) would be … Continue reading UK youth unemployment 40% higher than in Scotland which has one of the lowest rates in Western Europe

From groaver: They want us to be part of “Great England”. It’s a shame that their nurses are planning to strike, their doctors already are and they let in foreign canines without licensing for rescue organizations as we do in Scotland: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cpwq40vjw8lo Still, mustn’t grumble. We’ve won the European championship and we’ll let you know about it ad nauseum. In the above BBC England report today, This: Continue reading Never mind lionesses, only Scotland protects kindly dog-adopters from infectious diseases and aggressive behaviour