Author: johnrobertson834

Retired Professor of Media Politics Not-for-profit independent political analysis
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As BBC Scotland report today on a Motherwell to Murcia drug ‘baron’ last active 4 years ago, here is the real and present threat in your town they dare not mention

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For the full story, click on: https://talkingupscotlandtwo.com/?s=county For the full story, click on: https://talkingupscotlandtwo.com/?s=county Above, 9 reports in November 2024. Below the story going back for 5 years: BBC Scotland and ‘County Lines’ drug gangs – now 5 years of silence to protect the Union I have an alert for ‘County Lines’ and every day I see reports from BBC UK, BBC England and from BBC regions across the country – BBC Devon (today), BBC Cumbria (last week). I never, ever, see anything from BBC Scotland despite regular reports in the ‘Scottish’ tabloids and on regional news media websites. In … Continue reading As BBC Scotland report today on a Motherwell to Murcia drug ‘baron’ last active 4 years ago, here is the real and present threat in your town they dare not mention

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UK’s best prison service but the only one on the UK subject to daily undermining by the BBC

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For full text, click on: https://talkingupscotlandtwo.com/?s=prison BBC Reporting Scotland is today is picking at a report of transport of prisoners. Once more this is an issue that never seems to be of interest to BBC England or BBC Wales despite both having far worse space and staffing problems. So, above and below, previous TuS reports factchecking the comparative situation across the UK’s prisons. For full text, click on: https://talkingupscotlandtwo.com/?s=prison For full text, click on: https://talkingupscotlandtwo.com/?s=prison Continue reading UK’s best prison service but the only one on the UK subject to daily undermining by the BBC

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Scottish Labour accuse SNP of deliberately cleaning up Glasgow to reduce rat population as 4 Labour areas in England and Wales report more rats despite being smaller

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From MSM Monitor, above, today, Scottish Labour and the GMB (Gary’s Misogyny Business?) try to damage Glasgow’s reputation. From the Metro this morning, evidence that Glasgow cannot keep up with rat production quotas: The above London boroughs, Southwark and Lambeth, conceal the London total – 19.9 MILLION, not counting Conservative and Labour MPS. https://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/1889541/rat-infestations-uk-cities Continue reading Scottish Labour accuse SNP of deliberately cleaning up Glasgow to reduce rat population as 4 Labour areas in England and Wales report more rats despite being smaller

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Scottish Labour’s police officers leaving ‘surge’ is both suspicious and actually a ‘dribble’ of less than 1%

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By Professor John Robertson OBA As of March 31, 2024, there were 16,356 full-time equivalent (FTE) police officers in Scotland.1 According to the Herald, In 2023, 257 left to take up a new job, education or for personal reasons. That is according to data published in freedom of information requests obtained by Scottish Labour. However, that figure is compared to 173 in 2019 – an increase of 49% in five years.2 Notice, they’re not telling us if there a constant trend upward from 2019? Is that because, annoyingly for Scottish Labour, it was lower in 2023 than it 2022? If there was a … Continue reading Scottish Labour’s police officers leaving ‘surge’ is both suspicious and actually a ‘dribble’ of less than 1%

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Murder rate in Glasgow only a quarter of that under Labour, is the news but BBC Scotland prefer you live in the past

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By Professor John Robertson OBA One of the top stories on the BBC Scotland website today is: Murder and mayhem: The story of Glasgow’s deadly gang feud Has there been a surge in gangland killings? No, they’re just advertising a podcast about murders in 2006, nearly 20 years ago. What is the news that their royal charter obliges them to inform the folk of Glasgow about? That graph above but, specifically for Glasgow: Glasgow City has witnessed a relatively larger fall in homicides than Scotland as a whole in the last 20 years. Over the latest five year period from 2019-20 to … Continue reading Murder rate in Glasgow only a quarter of that under Labour, is the news but BBC Scotland prefer you live in the past

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Children vanish out of schools in England 41 times more often than in Scotland – Herald must tackle vanishing of decent journalism

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In the Herald today, from Dani Garavelli: SNP must tackle the disturbing ‘vanishing’ of pupils from Scotland’s classrooms Not in the Herald today: From the Children’s Commissioner for England, in the wake of the Sara Sharif murder case: A register of children not in school to be implemented urgently. This must include children who are home educated and be introduced via legislation as a matter of urgency, backed by the resource to effectively implement and monitor it. https://www.childrenscommissioner.gov.uk/resource/deaths-of-children-in-need/ Because of the above lack of record-keeping, there is only an estimate of how many children are in home education, in England – 92 000.  https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c704x7e5515o#:~:text=Home%20education%20register,by%20about%2011%2C000%20on%202022. In Scotland, the known, … Continue reading Children vanish out of schools in England 41 times more often than in Scotland – Herald must tackle vanishing of decent journalism

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Scotland was the first nation to have its own regulations and take decisive action on banning single-use plastics

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Thanks to groaver for alerting me to this and noting, correctly, that you never hear any of this in the media. From Commercial Waste Quotes: Scotland has had relatively forward-thinking regulations since 1 January 2014, when the Waste (Scotland) Regulations 2012 have been in force. It mandates all non-households to recycle specific materials and most food businesses to recycle their food waste. Current state (Since 2014): Businesses and organisations in Scotland, regardless of size, must recycle materials like plastic, metal, glass, paper, and cardboard. Since 2022, single-use plastics such as polystyrenes, cutlery, plates, stirrers, cups and lids, straws are banned. … Continue reading Scotland was the first nation to have its own regulations and take decisive action on banning single-use plastics

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Many in Scotland will soon wish that they had voted YES in 2014

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By Anonymous I think this “notion” on the SNP increasing their lead over Labour in a succession of polls may just continue. Labour , since taking power in July, then announced measures that they declared would be “painful” for many of us , but the purpose behind these “painful” actions were apparently, to implement a plan for them , as a government, to then deliver long term growth. So as many now suffer for what Labour have stated is for the ‘greater’ good i.e. Growth , then we hear today that the: “UK economy unexpectedly shrinks for second month in a row“ “Official figures showed a 0.1% drop, despite expectations that … Continue reading Many in Scotland will soon wish that they had voted YES in 2014

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A retired Scottish head teacher explains why England has no idea where many of its children are or what they are doing

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By Alasdair Macdonald The reason why there are so many children in England out of school is because local authorities now have very little to do with the management of schools. Academy trusts now run a high proportion of schools and many of such trusts have a rather cavalier attitude towards exclusion from school, particularly of children from materially poor backgrounds and those with social and behavioural difficulties. In Scotland, where schools are still run by Councils (c96%), the names of pupils excluded from school or missing from school are reported to Social Work via Councils and alternative provision can … Continue reading A retired Scottish head teacher explains why England has no idea where many of its children are or what they are doing

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Why are winter health problems surging across UK but not in Scotland

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By Professor John Robertson OBA Worse weather, old folk and young slipping on ice, an older population, a sicker population and more drug deaths, yet visits to GPs and admissions to Scottish hospitals are not surging. According to Public Health Scotland yesterday: Attendances to GP practices for influenza-like illness rose sharply this week, although they remain at a level not unusual for this time in the season. Calls to NHS24 for respiratory symptoms increased to similar levels as last year, but still lower than previous years. Levels of influenza continue to rise sharply this week, although they remain at moderate levels by … Continue reading Why are winter health problems surging across UK but not in Scotland