Author: johnrobertson834

Retired Professor of Media Politics Not-for-profit independent political analysis
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Almost 50% more full-time students in England have to work due to cost-of-living than in Scotland

johnrobertson834

BBC Scotland News, once more building a story around a survey from England with no Scottish breakdown. Help Talking-up Scotland keep goin Crowdfunder at: https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/help-talking-up-scotland-keep-going Or by direct bank transfer to: JOHN WATSON ROBERTSON Sort Code – 08-91-04 Account – 12266421 Official labour-market estimates for full-time tertiary students in Scotland suggests a figure of only 46% in 2024: https://www.skillsdevelopmentscotland.co.uk/media/re4bvg3o/economy-people-and-skills-march-2026.pdf Given the key difference offered by free tuition, this makes sense of a kind BBC Scotland hate. Help Talking-up Scotland keep goin Crowdfunder at: https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/help-talking-up-scotland-keep-going Or by direct bank transfer to: JOHN WATSON ROBERTSON Sort Code – 08-91-04 Account – 12266421 Continue reading Almost 50% more full-time students in England have to work due to cost-of-living than in Scotland

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How the SNP is dragging Scots bairns out of the ruination of a deeply unequal society perpetuated by the fee-paying schools of Cameron Wylie

johnrobertson834

Help Talking-up Scotland keep going Crowdfunder at: https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/help-talking-up-scotland-keep-going Or by direct bank transfer to: JOHN WATSON ROBERTSON Sort Code – 08-91-04 Account – 12266421 Cameron Wylie is a retired private-school head. He taught English at Daniel Stewart’s and Melville College, then spent decades at George Heriot’s School in Edinburgh, finishing as Principal (head) of that independent school. He retired in 2017 after nearly 40 years in fee-paying schools. He is a long-term critic, from that fee-paying world, of the SNP’s education policies after a period of SNP support and once declaring that he had voted Tory to help Ruth Davidson. He has written in the media, especially in … Continue reading How the SNP is dragging Scots bairns out of the ruination of a deeply unequal society perpetuated by the fee-paying schools of Cameron Wylie

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YouGov’s naked bias still using the thousands who have passed since the 2014 to make you think No could still win

johnrobertson834

Help Talking-up Scotland keep going Crowdfunder at: https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/help-talking-up-scotland-keep-going Or by direct bank transfer to: JOHN WATSON ROBERTSON Sort Code – 08-91-04 Account – 12266421 There’s a pattern there, above. YouGov don’t seem to find any Yes leads and a massive 10% No lead, in the most recent polling. I’ll come back to Ipsos. Take these out and we’ve have some of the kind of settled will evidence the new PM seems to need. It’s not just the last three YouGov polls, going back years they almost never get a Yes lead. YouGov is of course, Tory-owned. So how might they be doing this. Have a look at the … Continue reading YouGov’s naked bias still using the thousands who have passed since the 2014 to make you think No could still win

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One more nightmare which only BBC Scotland headline and not one word to inform you of how Scotland is reducing violence against women and increasing rape convictions

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Help Talking-up Scotland keep going Crowdfunder at: https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/help-talking-up-scotland-keep-going Or by direct bank transfer to: JOHN WATSON ROBERTSON Sort Code – 08-91-04 Account – 12266421 In an endless trail of tales of single shocking offences, BBC Scotland, fail in their duty to inform the public. There is nothing in the above headlining story of one monster and his victim, to do other than to give nightmares. Most revealing of where BBC Scotland now sits (in the gutter), not one other newspaper operating in Scotland has this story on its front page. ‘I was weeks from marrying a violent serial rapist – my loved ones saved my life?’ Did Police … Continue reading One more nightmare which only BBC Scotland headline and not one word to inform you of how Scotland is reducing violence against women and increasing rape convictions

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Help Talking-up Scotland keep going to rebut and to reveal Unionist lies at least 7 times a day, 7 days per week

johnrobertson834

Help Talking-up Scotland keep going at: https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/help-talking-up-scotland-keep-going or by direct bank transfer to: JOHN WATSON ROBERTSON Sort Code – 08-91-04 Account 12266421 Very many thanks to the 161 supporters so far, inc bank transfers not listed in crowdfunder. You are very much appreciated. Still struggling to even approach our target despite around 8 fully-researched posts per day, read by around 2 000 visitors per day and more than 15 000 social media followers seeing the main points. Sobering. Continue reading Help Talking-up Scotland keep going to rebut and to reveal Unionist lies at least 7 times a day, 7 days per week

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Not a ‘clear consensus’ but a ‘majority’ for a second referendum. Someone tell Scotland’s ‘Dumb and Dumber’

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Help Talking-up Scotland keep going Crowdfunder at: https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/help-talking-up-scotland-keep-going Or by direct bank transfer to: JOHN WATSON ROBERTSON Sort Code – 08-91-04 Account – 12266421 By Liz S Andy Burnham’s response to Chris Law was actually a tad too ambiguous, but then that is always what you get with any HQ party at WM. WGD did an excellent article yesterday on this topic too. He argued that “We must not and cannot allow Burnham or any other anti-independence politician to shift the goalposts by insisting on a “consensus” instead of a majority“. He also stated that “Note that again, as I pointed out in a previous post, the opponents of independence … Continue reading Not a ‘clear consensus’ but a ‘majority’ for a second referendum. Someone tell Scotland’s ‘Dumb and Dumber’

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Contrary to poorly/if-at-all researched Tory report – Glasgow SNP leader is correct – It is ‘a safe city’ far safer than any in England run for decades by them and their near-equivalents in New Labour

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According to the Daily Express today: The departing SNP leader of Glasgow City Council has insisted that the city is “safe.” This is despite rising reports of rape and violence within the city centre. Help Talking-up Scotland keep going Crowdfunder at: https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/help-talking-up-scotland-keep-going Or by direct bank transfer to: JOHN WATSON ROBERTSON Sort Code – 08-91-04 Account – 12266421 From the Sun in October 2025 –  DANGER ZONES Map shows the top 10 UK crime hotspots – do YOU live in the most dangerous area? Newcastle has the lowest crime rate of the ‘UK’ Top Ten at 116 per 1 000 people:  https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/36904645/map-top-10-uk-crime-hotspots/ Westminster in central London had the highest current annual crime rate … Continue reading Contrary to poorly/if-at-all researched Tory report – Glasgow SNP leader is correct – It is ‘a safe city’ far safer than any in England run for decades by them and their near-equivalents in New Labour

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Unionist Socialist Workers Party member tells Bella Caledonia readers that Scottish firefighters ‘cannot take any more cuts’ but forgets to mention fires down by 35% yet staffing down by only 18%

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Call that a wildfire crisis? See this: Help Talking-up Scotland keep going Crowdfunder at: https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/help-talking-up-scotland-keep-going Or by direct bank transfer to: JOHN WATSON ROBERTSON Sort Code – 08-91-04 Account – 12266421 Bella Caledonia is great, nearly all the time. They have a lot of high quality writing, often putting our more prosaic percentages and line-graphs stuff in the shade but, every so often, show considerable political naïveté or lack of concern, platforming attacks on the Scottish Government which can only damage the wider movement – if you can’t run a…how can you run a country? Two days ago they had the above from an SWP member on behalf … Continue reading Unionist Socialist Workers Party member tells Bella Caledonia readers that Scottish firefighters ‘cannot take any more cuts’ but forgets to mention fires down by 35% yet staffing down by only 18%

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Blaming Scotland and Glasgow for UK Government’s immigrant housing crisis

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The Ferret, happiest when in synch with the anti-SNP media, launches its latest campaign to investigate what the Scottish Government has achieved, or not, on social housing in the context of the far-right violence in Glasgow. BBC Scotland, of course, knows already that it’s our housing crisis and not the UK Government’s immigration crisis to blame. Help Talking-up Scotland keep going Crowdfunder at: https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/help-talking-up-scotland-keep-going Or by direct bank transfer to: JOHN WATSON ROBERTSON Sort Code – 08-91-04 Account – 12266421 Here at Talking-up Scotland, we’ve done this to death, but just for them: How can there be an affordable housing ‘crisis’ in Scotland when we beat the building … Continue reading Blaming Scotland and Glasgow for UK Government’s immigrant housing crisis

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Thousands of cancer patients not treated on time after nearly two decades of right-wing government cuts and neglect in England

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Help Talking-up Scotland keep going Crowdfunder at: https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/help-talking-up-scotland-keep-going Or by direct bank transfer to: JOHN WATSON ROBERTSON Sort Code – 08-91-04 Account – 12266421 From BBC Health today and on BBC Breakfast this morning, the above story and: Alan was diagnosed with lung cancer after a nodule was found in June last year. The 70-year-old was meant to be operated on within weeks but ended up waiting nearly five months, by which time the cancer had spread, making his surgery more complex. “I was so frustrated and angry and couldn’t understand why they would leave me like that,” says Alan. On two occasions, scans were cancelled because machines … Continue reading Thousands of cancer patients not treated on time after nearly two decades of right-wing government cuts and neglect in England