Author: johnrobertson834

Retired Professor of Media Politics Not-for-profit independent political analysis
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Fury as taxpayers fork out BILLIONS on warships that have never fought but ferries, ferries, ferries………

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As you can see , our wee sniffling rodents are all over the story of the crew that had to be recruited for the new ferries before delays set in. THREE POINT FNNNN MILLION! They were less interested in these far greater tales of wasted BILLIONS. First, in 2018, from the Mail: The £6 billion Royal Navy fleet that hardly ever went to sea: Warships that can’t sail in the heat spent 80 per cent of the year in dock The British Royal Navy’s six Type 45 £1 billion destroyers barely ever leave their docks HMS Dauntless and HMS Defender, … Continue reading Fury as taxpayers fork out BILLIONS on warships that have never fought but ferries, ferries, ferries………

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Aberdeen home-owners buy property which requires maintenance just like any other, in a Thatcherite scheme, at a knock-down price, from a Tory or Labour council, after a professional survey, and the SNP Government has to do something?

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By Professor John Robertson As with the excited media reports on inflammable cladding, quite safe from ‘towering infernos’ in Scotland because of the cavity fire barriers required in Scotland by longstanding building regulations, the reports on Raac are tending to be evidence-deficient. Today, BBC Scotland is headlining: ‘We live in fear our roof is going to collapse’ The report, typically, does not mention that the tenants bought these properties at ‘knock-down’ prices from public ownership, as part of Thatcher’s right-to-buy scheme which seriously damaged the ability of public authorities to house the less well-off. There’s no mention of the first … Continue reading Aberdeen home-owners buy property which requires maintenance just like any other, in a Thatcherite scheme, at a knock-down price, from a Tory or Labour council, after a professional survey, and the SNP Government has to do something?

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As CalMac averages over 99% reliability last week Peel Port’s blame for Arran problems is confirmed, problems pile up for ferry services elsewhere

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From the Scotsman, today: Claims by the owner of a harbour on CalMac’s busiest route that its poor condition is due to damage by the operator’s ferries have been rubbished by another ports firm which said the fleet had not harmed any of its own 26 harbours. Who owns Peel Ports? John Whittaker (born 14 March 1942) is a British billionaire. He is chairman of the Peel Group, a property business that mainly invests in North West England. According to The Sunday Times Rich List in 2019, Whittaker is worth £1.95 billion. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Whittaker_(businessman) Meanwhile, in Nova Scotia (Canada): The ferry between Prince Edward Island and … Continue reading As CalMac averages over 99% reliability last week Peel Port’s blame for Arran problems is confirmed, problems pile up for ferry services elsewhere

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If a Scottish County Lines drugs gangster cuckooed the vulnerable in England would the headline say where he is from?

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It had to happen. A Glasgow-based County Lines gangster makes the headlines in the Northants Telegraph, on the 9th of May 2024: A man found trying to hide from police in a Corby flat that had been ‘cuckooed’ has been jailed for drug-dealing. Glaswegian Rudy Kwatabyala has a long history of crime, with 81 offences on his record. He said he had been drawn to Corby after a relationship breakdown and to pay off a drug debt of £20,000. Police had been called to a flat in Chaucer Close after a report of cuckooing – where drug pushers take over … Continue reading If a Scottish County Lines drugs gangster cuckooed the vulnerable in England would the headline say where he is from?

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How grudging Guardian editorials on SNP leader have persuaded even my intelligent 70s Scottish-university educated friends that the SNP has failed

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By Professor John Robertson In the Guardian editorial on John Swinney, today: Scotland’s new first minister is an experienced and unflashy politician who can read the public mood. Almost everything that John Swinney has said and done since replacing Humza Yousaf this week shows he grasps the palpable wish – south of the border as well as north – for more effective government that is led by more sensible politicians who do not spend their time playing to the gallery. The question, after 17 years governing Scotland, is whether any SNP leader can now deliver this. Mr Swinney therefore owns Scotland’s current … Continue reading How grudging Guardian editorials on SNP leader have persuaded even my intelligent 70s Scottish-university educated friends that the SNP has failed

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Is Little Reindeer stalker just another typical Scottish Labour activist?

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In the Sun on 27 April 2024: A WOMAN claimed to be the real-life stalker from Netflix smash Baby Reindeer was previously accused of harassing two of Scotland’s leading politicians. Fiona Harvey, 58, came into contact with the late Glasgow MP Jimmy Wray, who died aged 78 in 2013, and his solicitor wife Laura, 62, when she was a former Labour Party member. https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/27577210/real-baby-reindeer-stalker-was-accused-of-harassing-ex-first-minister/ In the Herald on 6 September 2000: There may be more than one Fiona Harvey, Labour activist. The Labour MP for Cathcart 1999 to 2005 was Mike Watson. Remember him? You couldn’t make it/them up. Continue reading Is Little Reindeer stalker just another typical Scottish Labour activist?

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Wake up Scotland….you are being played!

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By NMRN This was not just a Tory defection to Labour….this was a Natalie Elphicke Tory defection to Labour……. The Labour party , but mostly Starmer, have shot themselves in the foot here…… Plus Sarwar & co are currently canvassing in Scotland for his party for the next GE…..so would be odd , considering this defection is all over most of the UK media, if the media here in Scotland did not raise this questionable defection at HQ with the branch office manager…….. When I say “raise it with him” then I mean that they , the media, should be … Continue reading Wake up Scotland….you are being played!

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‘It is very easy for Tories to cross over to Labour these days, THEY ARE THE SAME B****Y PARTY!’

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By stewartb ‘It is very easy for Tories to cross over to Labour these days, THEY ARE THE SAME BLOODY PARTY, ..’ How far will Labour-supporting newspapers in Scotland like the Daily Record be prepared to go on behalf of the ‘precious Union’ to protect/shield the party that many left leaning, progressive folk in England are now calling LINO – ‘Labour in Name Only’? This from today (8 May) : ‘Labour’s draft New Deal for Workers now “unrecognisable” See https://www.unitetheunion.org/news-events/news/2024/may/labour-s-draft-new-deal-for-workers-now-unrecognisable ‘Responding to the recent New Deal documents sent to the trade unions by the Labour Party, the leader of Unite Sharon … Continue reading ‘It is very easy for Tories to cross over to Labour these days, THEY ARE THE SAME B****Y PARTY!’

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Why there have been no whooping cough deaths in Scotland – 96% vaccine update

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By stewartb My suspicion – because I’ve never come across anything about whooping cough in the mainstream media that supposedly ‘serves’ Scotland – is that there may well be a favourable story on Scotland’s health services somewhere in the above from Sky News today and indeed there is! From Public Health Scotland on 26 March 2024 (‘Childhood immunisation statistics Scotland – Quarter and year ending 31 December 2023’) , we learn that the vaccination for pertussis, or whooping cough since October 2017, has been ‘part of the combined 6-in-1 vaccine, consisting of diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis, polio, Hib and Hepatitis B. A booster dose … Continue reading Why there have been no whooping cough deaths in Scotland – 96% vaccine update

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The relative effectiveness of Scotland’s health services – so different from what Unionist politicians and their MSM allies portray in their gaslighting of Scotland’s electorate!

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By stewartb You may be interested to learn the following about childhood vaccination take-up rates. Source: NHS England (28 Sep 2023) Childhood Vaccination Coverage Statistics, England, 2022-23.  See the section of the report entitled ‘Coverage in UK countries – 2022-23’: it has a table which displays the latest annual (2022-23) coverage values for all childhood vaccinations across the four UK countries. Overwhelmingly, the take-up rates in Scotland are the highest of any UK country across the full range of childhood vaccinations. (See https://digital.nhs.uk/data-and-information/publications/statistical/nhs-immunisation-statistics/england-2022-23/6in-1-vaccine  ) To prevent whooping cough, the childhood disease in the news today from England, the relevant vaccine is termed … Continue reading The relative effectiveness of Scotland’s health services – so different from what Unionist politicians and their MSM allies portray in their gaslighting of Scotland’s electorate!