Author: johnrobertson834

Retired Professor of Media Politics Not-for-profit independent political analysis
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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!

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Medicine shortages – a Scottish solution

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By Professor John Robertson From the Guardian today, not Anglocentric, for once: Drug shortages in England are now at such critical levels that patients are at risk of immediate harm and even death, pharmacists have warned. The situation is so serious that pharmacists increasingly have to issue “owings” to patients – telling someone that only part of their prescription can be dispensed and asking them to come back for the rest of it later, once the pharmacist has sourced the remainder. https://www.theguardian.com/society/article/2024/may/09/medicine-shortages-in-england-beyond-critical-pharmacists-warn The above makes no mention of Scotland. Searching for reports of shortages in Scotland gets the same story of shortages … Continue reading Medicine shortages – a Scottish solution

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Scotland’s rivers far more likely to be clean

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From the Guardian, typically Anglocentric, today: England’s rivers are likely to remain in a poor state for years to come because the government is failing to put in place EU clean water laws post-Brexit, the watchdog has found. When Britain was a member of the EU, the government was required to follow the water framework directive (WFD), standards for waterways that have been credited with cleaning up Europe’s dirty water. Since Brexit, the UK (sic) is no longer required to match EU regulations, and has its own watchdog, the Office for Environmental Protection (OEP). Under the WFD, all rivers are supposed to … Continue reading Scotland’s rivers far more likely to be clean

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Does new Labour MP know about Scottish Labour’s support for human rights

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By NMRN Tory MP Natalie Elphicke has crossed over, as in defected, to the Labour party…… If you do not know who she is then she was the former wife of Tory MP Charlie Elphicke, who was jailed for sexual assault in 2020, so she then stood in the same seat as her husband once had when he stood down as the MP for that area after he was charged with three counts of sexual assault against two women …..and she was then elected in 2019 as the new Tory MP for Dover…..blue rosette obviously won that election…. She spoke out in support … Continue reading Does new Labour MP know about Scottish Labour’s support for human rights

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All 3 New Zealand Cook Strait ferries out of service after one drifts toward rocks with 800 passengers and Government refusal to replace

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From the Daily Cargo News yesterday: AN INTENSIFIED maintenance program for Interisland Line’s trouble-plagued Cook Strait ferries will see at all three out of service for protracted periods over coming months. The only rail-capable vessel, Aratere, will lay-by in Wellington for work from 11 to 23 May. Kaiarahi will undergo a ‘wet dock’ at the Waitohi West berth in Picton from 4 June until 6 July. And Kaitaki will have a much longer absence, due to the need for a comprehensive drydocking in Singapore, which involves a 14-dayvoyage up and 14 days back. This means Kaitaki will be out of service from 29 July to 6 October. … Continue reading All 3 New Zealand Cook Strait ferries out of service after one drifts toward rocks with 800 passengers and Government refusal to replace