Author: johnrobertson834

Retired Professor of Media Politics Not-for-profit independent political analysis
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Will this Labour MP praise her local hospitals as they treat 99% of drug and alcohol patients well within the target time?

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By Professor John Robertson OBA As we try to settle our stomachs after the recent Jackie Baillie/ Herald/ BBC Scotland attack on a Clydebank hospital, it occurred to me that my new local MP is very quiet. Her office is largely ignoring constituent enquiries so the above hope is no doubt in vain. In October 2024, Jackie Baillie, in the Scotsman, ‘accused [SNP] ministers of failing to get a grip on the crisis‘ on drug deaths. Would 99% of drug abuse patients being seen in the target time of 3 weeks do for a grip? Would the MP for Ayr, Carrick and … Continue reading Will this Labour MP praise her local hospitals as they treat 99% of drug and alcohol patients well within the target time?

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Leading European expert says Scotland is ‘at the very top pillar with regards to patient safety’ since 2007, but on Boxing Day, BBC Scotland tries to compare us unfavourably with England

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By By Professor John Robertson OBA From BBC Scotland, this morning, after their ignorant and tasteless Christmas Eve attack, with the Scottish Cons and Labour’s Jackie Baillie, on the reputation of the staff at the Golden Jubilee Hospital in Clydebank, they’re back at it again today with more inaccurate reporting, this time on patient safety, with: A recruitment drive for Scotland’s first ever Patient Safety Commissioner has failed for a second time. MSPs passed a law creating the new independent public advocate for NHS patients in September last year. The first round of interviews for the £89,685-a-year role in April failed to produce … Continue reading Leading European expert says Scotland is ‘at the very top pillar with regards to patient safety’ since 2007, but on Boxing Day, BBC Scotland tries to compare us unfavourably with England

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Christmas Factcheck – Jackie Baillie’s local hospital cancels fewer operations than most yet she betrays the staff for cheap ill-informed point-scoring

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By Professor John Robertson OBA I know, get a life, but I’ve had a drink and rest of the family are watching Gavin an Stacey. I can’t concentrate, still furious and nauseated by the Jackie Baillie / Herald, Christmas Eve attack on the Royal Jubilee Hospital in Clydebank. Using their own data, ‘modelled’ in some way, they suggest that this hospital is doing less operations and that SNP failures lie behind that. So, at 01.10am, I access the actual, raw not ‘modelled’, data and, lo and behold, the Golden Jubilee, month after month for the last six (ringed in purple below) has … Continue reading Christmas Factcheck – Jackie Baillie’s local hospital cancels fewer operations than most yet she betrays the staff for cheap ill-informed point-scoring

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Part-time ‘Doctors’, full-time chancers and posers, Sandesh Gulhane and Iain Kennedy – do they think we’re bleeding idiots?

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Con MSP Sandesh Gulhane in Parliament doing political work, on a regular basis, wearing an NHS Scotland lanyard. Update – Dr Philippa Whitford says it look like an NHS England lanyard! On his Conservative Party website, a GP in scrubs and with an out-of-date but sexy (?) stethoscope, trying to look like he works in A&E – I’m sick. Get me a doctor! No, not him. A real one. Twitter-pal of Gulhane, part-time GP, full-time activist for the Union, Dr Iain Findlay, posing so hard, I nearly fell of my seat and now have that winter-vomiting thing. Here he is … Continue reading Part-time ‘Doctors’, full-time chancers and posers, Sandesh Gulhane and Iain Kennedy – do they think we’re bleeding idiots?

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Wonderful [I should know] local hospital staff in Clydebank, quick to correct their ungrateful, petty, ill-informed, neighbouring Dumbarton MSP and local rag

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From the Herald’s notoriously thick/mendacious health correspondent, early on the 19th December 2024, the above and this: The number of operations being carried out at Scotland’s largest dedicated elective hub has fallen in recent months despite Scottish Government targets to drive down waiting list backlogs. Analysis by the Herald of publicly available data shows that 6,240 surgeries were completed at the Golden Jubilee Hospital in Clydebank in the three months from August to October this year, compared to 7,229 in the same period in 2023 – a decline of 14%. Within seconds, Labour MSP for neighbouring and dependent Dumbarton, Jackie … Continue reading Wonderful [I should know] local hospital staff in Clydebank, quick to correct their ungrateful, petty, ill-informed, neighbouring Dumbarton MSP and local rag

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Poll – Only modest support for Nicola Sturgeon to lead independence movement among Yes supporters

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Not a proper scientific sample I know, but a reasonably large response from an X account with nearly 11 000 followers 90 plus percent, for Yes, the above suggests quite limited support for the idea being widely touted, that former FM, Nicola Sturgeon, should now lead the wider independence campaign. I’m agnostic on this. Some were less so: Read the rest at: https://x.com/ProfJWR/status/1871186993788723242 Footnote – I have no absolute proof that I have not been lobotomised and do, at times, wonder. Continue reading Poll – Only modest support for Nicola Sturgeon to lead independence movement among Yes supporters

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A gift for Scotland only – Christmas Eve, A&E death lies, BBC Scotland and Sandesh Gulhane

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By Professor John Robertson OBA NOTE: I’m so sickeningly angry, I’ve put this rebuttal together very quickly so please forgive any errors. BBC Reporting Scotland and Good Mourning Scotland only, not on the BBC Scotland website or any oter BBC site, a disgusting piece of heartless propaganda repeating the trash media reports, today: The above claims are based on Conservative and Labour ‘modelling‘, saved up for the ‘Scottish’ media to release today, Christmas Eve, and underpinned by Royal College of Emergency Medicine (UK) analysis. BBC UK, England and Wales do not have this story. They tried this foul-smelling Xmas game, three years … Continue reading A gift for Scotland only – Christmas Eve, A&E death lies, BBC Scotland and Sandesh Gulhane

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Update to BBC Scotland and Alex Cole-Hamilton – Nearly two-thirds of delays are due to UK Network Rail which then compensates ScotRail to enable it to pay passengers less than 1p per on average from its own funds

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Cole-Hamilton off the rails From https://x.com/Caymanguy1234: Network Rail pays ScotRail if they are at fault. I wonder how much ScotRail received, compared to the payout to passengers? I haven’t been able to do that precisely but this is helpful. From Train Operating Company key statistics April 2022 to March 2023, Office of Rail and Road in August 2023: Network Rail was responsible for 410 942 minutes of delays due to infrastructure faults while ScotRail was only responsible for 241 688, in 2021-2022. In 2022-2023, it was 483 533 and 275 963. https://dataportal.orr.gov.uk/media/2244/scotrail-key-statistics-2022-23.pdf Network Rail was thus responsible for 63% of … Continue reading Update to BBC Scotland and Alex Cole-Hamilton – Nearly two-thirds of delays are due to UK Network Rail which then compensates ScotRail to enable it to pay passengers less than 1p per on average from its own funds

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Fourth sub-poll, not distorted by sample weighting to match 2014 vote, reinforces notion that SNP is well ahead

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Today from Opinium based on data collected from 1 537, on 18-12 December 2024, we see: Con – 23% Lab – 29% Lib Dem -11% Reform – 22% Green – 10% The Scottish subset of 110 has: Con 15% Lab – 19% Lib Dem – 11% Reform – 14% Green – 5% SNP – 35% A sub poll of only 110 has clear limitations in terms of reliability but this is the latest of 4 [c600 subjects in total] all telling the same story, of Cons, Lab and Reform all doing less well in Scotland than elsewhere in the UK … Continue reading Fourth sub-poll, not distorted by sample weighting to match 2014 vote, reinforces notion that SNP is well ahead

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Little shock as Alex Cole-Hamilton exposes 2p average rail delay payment and 0.06p average accommodation cost, per journey

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On BBC Reporting Scotland Badly and Down, last night, we hear: Publicly available figures show ScotRail has paid more than £2.1 million in delay payments since the train service was nationalised in April 2022. It comes as data obtained by the Scottish liberal Democrats, for the same period, the train operator paid almost £70 000 in accommodation costs for passengers whose trains had been disrupted. https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m0026hy4/reporting-scotland-evening-news-22122024 Thanks again to AR for alerting me to this. This is then followed by the leader of Scotland’s 5th biggest party platformed to have a wee rant based on the above misrepresented stats. Why … Continue reading Little shock as Alex Cole-Hamilton exposes 2p average rail delay payment and 0.06p average accommodation cost, per journey