By JB Today in The Herald I see that they are blaming the Scottish Government, or more succinctly and inaccurately,  blaming the SNP for fostering agencies robbing millions of pounds of public money for their own profit, or as the headline states….” Call to end ‘backdoor profiteering’ in Scotland’s fostering system”. The article opens with…….”Campaigners have called on the Scottish Government to take action against fostering agencies diverting millions of pounds of public money to their private equity-backed parent companies. Legally, foster care services for children and young people in Scotland must be provided on a not-for-profit basis”. Call to end ‘backdoor profiteering’ … Continue reading UK ministers urged to consider lessons from Scotland, where laws state fostering agencies which are profit making cannot approve, review or terminate the approval of foster carers

Professor John Robertson OBA Update suggested by Coinneach – Find out Now don’t weight according to the 2014 referendum result but did to GE 2024 to make the SNP share of the sample smaller than that of Labour (284/241). That may well understate SNP support after these first months of Labour Government. From Find out Now, based on responses gathered on 26 March 2025, we see familiar trends becoming solidified. On 4 December 2024, Find out Now had: Con 13 Lab 21 LD 8 Reform 8 Greens 8 SNP 39 On 8 January 2025, it was: Con 10 Lab 18 … Continue reading Updated – 13th sub-poll confirms SNP support nearly 3 times Labour or Tories and Reform UK creeping into 2nd place

Professor John Robertson OBA, Pacific Archipelago Ferry Consultant From Global News, last week: After nearly 200 days out of service, one of BC Ferries’ key vessels is back on the water. The return of the Queen of New Westminster comes just in time for spring break. BC Ferries pulled the vessel from service in September 2024, after its propeller detached due to structural fatigue. The company is looking to build five new major vessels and conduct refits to extend the lives of two others. The BC Ferries commissioner is expected to rule on the proposal at the end of the month.1 The … Continue reading Canadian ferry service has to bring fatal accident prone 61 year-old vessel back into service after 200 days out because a replacement order has not even been approved yet

Professor John Robertson OBA From the Guardian today: Record 4.5m children in poverty in UK [sic] as cuts condemned as ‘morally repugnant’ – Campaigners have said it is “morally repugnant” that vulnerable people are bearing the brunt of spending cuts after official figures showed a record 4.5 million children are living in poverty in the UK. The poverty figures showed that in Scotland 23% of children were in poverty, compared with 31% in England and Wales. Holyrood missed its 18% poverty figure target, though experts said its rates would be higher without its child poverty programme. Prof Ruth Patrick, a … Continue reading Child poverty shocking 35% higher in England and Wales than in Scotland