Author: johnrobertson834

Retired Professor of Media Politics Not-for-profit independent political analysis
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Is this a Scottish Labour thing? Building hospitals next to and downwind of raw sewage? Case 2 – Clydebank

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Thanks to derekscott1953 for alerting us to this: As Joe Murray pointed out on an earlier version of this topic, the NHS Golden Jubilee University National Hospital in Clydebank was built in 1994 as a private facility by US firm, Health Care International, for £180 million. Located on the north bank of the River Clyde in the Dalmuir area, it sits along the waterfront near local industrial and utility infrastructure, including the regional wastewater treatment works for West Dunbartonshire and North West Glasgow. At the time, the Labour leaders either as thick as the stuff in the ‘waste stabilisation ponds’ … Continue reading Is this a Scottish Labour thing? Building hospitals next to and downwind of raw sewage? Case 2 – Clydebank

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Most of the heavier crude oil from Rosebank will be sent to the Netherlands because only Grangemouth could refine it

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By Liz S “The new and upgraded high-voltage transmission infrastructure in Scotland (new pylons, higher-capacity overhead lines, substations, and related works) is primarily required to transmit surplus electricity across the border into England and the wider Great Britain system” Yes indeed, but it’s not just electricity as the BBC website has this article, dated 11 August 2026, on their website on the Scottish Politics page: “What is happening with the Rosebank and Jackdaw oil and gas fields”? Included within this BBC article are the below statements of how, once again , the UK/Britain are again reliant on assets/resources sourced from Scotland , that are … Continue reading Most of the heavier crude oil from Rosebank will be sent to the Netherlands because only Grangemouth could refine it

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Public Health Professor’s message for Scottish Labour’s nuclear plans – ‘I personally would not live near a nuclear power plant’

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Chatgpt image (copyright-free) based on photographs of the nuclear waste storage in Plymouth USA From the Plymouth Independent, two days ago: The 1972 opening of the Pilgrim nuclear power plant might have been the worst thing to happen in Plymouth’s long history. It ushered in an era of fool’s gold prosperity that, over time, exacted a steep price on what was a quintessential sleepy town. Today, Pilgrim’s lingering side effects – including more than five dozen casks filled with radioactive waste at the ocean’s edge – offer a cautionary lesson for those who believe building a new, albeit smaller, reactor is an idea worth … Continue reading Public Health Professor’s message for Scottish Labour’s nuclear plans – ‘I personally would not live near a nuclear power plant’

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Three more French nuclear power stations shut down as jellyfish swarm cooling pipes will any Scottish reporter ask Scottish Labour how they plan to deal with this?

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Thanks, once more, to Frances McKie for alerting us to this and who comments: It keeps coming back to basic things like plumbing, blockages and corrosion…..at Dounreay, they never found a way to stop seaweed blocking their intake pipes…Here it’s jellyfish. From Reuters yesterday: Three reactors at ‌France’s Gravelines nuclear power plant were shut down late on Monday due to a massive swarm of jellyfish, triggering preventative measures put in place last year after the entire plant went offline, operator EDF said. The plant in northern France is one of the ​largest in the country and is cooled from a canal … Continue reading Three more French nuclear power stations shut down as jellyfish swarm cooling pipes will any Scottish reporter ask Scottish Labour how they plan to deal with this?

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The real Glasgow hospital scandal is Labour in 2008 deciding to put it next to tonnes of raw sewage unlike any other hospital in the world

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Details: https://talkingupscotlandtwo.com/2026/08/12/the-real-glasgow-hospital-scandal-in-the-whole-world-only-one-government-has-ever-deliberately-built-a-new-hospital-next-to-a-raw-sewage-works/ Continue reading The real Glasgow hospital scandal is Labour in 2008 deciding to put it next to tonnes of raw sewage unlike any other hospital in the world

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Sludge leaks, spills, and fails to be contained so build your super-hospital further away

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Once more, deep thanks to our friend who shared this ‘sludge’ with us. From: Olden, R. (2016) Sludge. Cultural Geographies, 23(4), pp. 715719. (doi:10.1177/1474474016630966) We are standing over the inlet of Shieldhall Wastewater Treatment Works where the rush of stuff banished to an underworld of sewers and culverts spews from a protruding pipe to meet the light of day once again: the sewage and wastewater of half a million people….Here at Shieldhall, Scotland’s largest wastewater treatment works, the task is to separate water from waste. Wastewater runs a course which sees it filtered, settled, dredged and then metabolised by nitrifying … Continue reading Sludge leaks, spills, and fails to be contained so build your super-hospital further away

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The real Glasgow hospital scandal – In the WHOLE world only one government has ever deliberately built a new hospital next to a raw sewage works

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In previous reports on the inquiry hearing expert witnesses, we’ve revealed that of 7 recent new large city hospitals across the UK, including in Manchester, only Glasgow City Council, in 2008, opted to build right next to a large raw sewage plant. In the years that followed after the SNP took power in 2017, Anas Sarwar groomed the traumatised parents of cancer victims, where autopsies had revealed the presence of a fungus found in pigeon droppings, and blamed the SNP for a failure to build-in proper protections in the hospital systems. We, at Taking-up Scotland, did not know until recently, … Continue reading The real Glasgow hospital scandal – In the WHOLE world only one government has ever deliberately built a new hospital next to a raw sewage works

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‘Panic’ and fear of ‘serious sexual or violent re-offence or even murder’ in England because of the demands on probation staff with only half the level in Scotland

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BBC UK online and repeated across BBC Breakfast today, has dramatic and deeply disturbing news: The chief inspector of probation for England and Wales has told the BBC the early release of thousands of prisoners could lead to “a serious sexual or violent offence or even murder” because of the demands on probation staff to monitor offenders. and One probation officer told the BBC the upcoming releases had put him and his colleagues into “a state of panic”. We can’t cope with this – we’ve been saying that to anybody who will listen. At the minute I think it’s pure … Continue reading ‘Panic’ and fear of ‘serious sexual or violent re-offence or even murder’ in England because of the demands on probation staff with only half the level in Scotland

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GERS does not even claim an independent Scotland would have faced a deficit last year but BBC Scotland still pretend it does

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Scotland would have faced last year. You decide – BBC Scotland staff are thick as mince or institutionally corrupt? Is this claim today by BBC Scotland, true? No. It’s a dirty big lie. The GERS (Government Expenditure and Revenue Scotland) figures published on 12 August 2026 for 2025-26 report a notional net fiscal balance (deficit) of £25.3 billion, or −10.9% of GDP, for Scotland as part of the UK. This is an estimate of the gap between revenue raised in Scotland and public spending for/on behalf of Scotland under existing UK arrangements; it is not a figure for the deficit … Continue reading GERS does not even claim an independent Scotland would have faced a deficit last year but BBC Scotland still pretend it does

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New transmission infrastructure in Scotland is primarily required to transmit surplus electricity across the border into England and the wider Great Britain system

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to where it is consumed, mainly Central Scotland and England. BBC Scotland’s insert into BBC Breakfast makes the above explicit claim that new pylons and infrastructure are needed to ‘shift’ energy from the north to central Scotland. Notably the full BBC Scotland report online does not make the above claim. Another Reporting Scotland special? https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c8rn42jp7d6o Is the claim, additional to their full online report, true? No. Why? In Scotland: Electricity consumption has declined substantially over the past two decades. Total consumption in Scotland was 21.7 TWh in 2024 — down 26.6% from the 2005–2007 baseline average of 29.3 TWh. Domestic … Continue reading New transmission infrastructure in Scotland is primarily required to transmit surplus electricity across the border into England and the wider Great Britain system