Author: johnrobertson834

Retired Professor of Media Politics Not-for-profit independent political analysis
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Nuclear waste – cleaning up Sellafield will take 100 years, or more

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By stewartb With the Labour government in Westminster embracing nuclear energy just as much as the Tories before it – committed to more big nuclear power stations and to ‘small modular reactors’ – it’s instructive, sensible and sobering to read about the legacy of the UK’s past investments in civil nuclear power. There is much in the recent National Audit Office (NAO) report that should – but won’t – change Westminster/Whitehall establishment minds about the merits of another generation of nuclear power installations. Source National Audit Office (16 October 2024) Decommissioning Sellafield: managing risks from the nuclear legacy – Department for Energy … Continue reading Nuclear waste – cleaning up Sellafield will take 100 years, or more

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Drug deaths in North-east England narrowing gap with Scotland despite being ‘significantly under-reported’ across England and Wales according to UK Civil Servants

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By Professor John Robertson Thanks to Dottie once more for alerting me to this and for noting that the Governments in England and Wales, unlike that in Scotland, do not seem to be, in any way, responsible. BBC News at 6 reports on record levels of drug deaths, surging by 30% in the case of cocaine but there’s not a word of criticism of governments. From their website at the same time these graphs but, in the text, not a word of criticism of government: The comparable figures for Scotland are 317 deaths per million males and 136 for women. The … Continue reading Drug deaths in North-east England narrowing gap with Scotland despite being ‘significantly under-reported’ across England and Wales according to UK Civil Servants

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Third Scottish sub-poll confirms the tide has turned on Labour, the SNP are back on their feet and Reform are at the door

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From Opinium for the Observer, on 16-18 October 2024 a sub-poll of 123 Scots has: Con 16% Lab 23% LibDem 10% SNP 26% Reform 16% Green 7% This follows JLP on 11-13 October 11-13, with a sub-poll of145: Cons – 25% Labour – 16% Lib Dems – 14% Reform – 15% SNP – 24% and on 7 October, for More in Common, a sub-poll of 171: Cons – 16% Labour – 23% Lib Dems – 10% Reform – 16% SNP – 26% Continue reading Third Scottish sub-poll confirms the tide has turned on Labour, the SNP are back on their feet and Reform are at the door

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Cost of two larger New Zealand ferries must rise to $3 BILLION, significantly more pro rata than the £360 million cost of Calmac’s MV Sannox and Glen Rosa

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From Newsroom yesterday: $3b a small price to pay for future of Interislander ferries – The Cook Strait ferries debacle has focused on the cost blow-outs for the respective port upgrades but there has been little attention given to what is needed to ensure adequate connectivity between our two main islands. It is obvious that a country split into two main islands needs reliable, efficient, modern rail-enabled ferry services. It’s hard to think of another transport requirement as important as this. Yet Government ministers have nickel-and-dimed the debate to the extent that the real question in play here is obscured … Continue reading Cost of two larger New Zealand ferries must rise to $3 BILLION, significantly more pro rata than the £360 million cost of Calmac’s MV Sannox and Glen Rosa

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Sellafield clean-up to soar to £136 billion but Starmer must pay for it to save lives in Scotland

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By Professor John Robertson In the Guardian today: The cost of cleaning up Sellafield is expected to spiral to £136bn and Europe’s biggest nuclear waste dump cannot show how it offers taxpayers value for money, the public spending watchdog has said. Projects to fix buildings containing hazardous and radioactive material at the state-owned site on the Cumbrian coast are running years late and over budget. Sellafield’s spending is so vast – with costs of more than £2.7bn a year – that it is causing tension with the Treasury, the report from the National Audit Office (NAO) suggests. https://www.theguardian.com/business/2024/oct/23/sellafield-cleanup-cost-136bn-national-audit-office Why must this … Continue reading Sellafield clean-up to soar to £136 billion but Starmer must pay for it to save lives in Scotland

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Ferry death scandal as 7 dead in US state with more than twice per head Scotland’s GDP

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By Professor John Robertson OBA From Forum Daily yesterday: At least 7 dead after Georgia ferry dock collapses – Eight people were taken to hospitals, at least six of them with serious injuries, and crews from the U.S. Coast Guard, McIntosh County Fire Department and the Georgia Department of Natural Resources were pulling victims and survivors from the water, said Tyler Jones, a spokesman for Natural Resources. The agency operates a marina and ferries between the island and the mainland. The jetty’s gangway collapsed, sending people into the water, Jones said. A team of engineers and construction experts arrived on the … Continue reading Ferry death scandal as 7 dead in US state with more than twice per head Scotland’s GDP

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SNP’s impressive record on crime as general clear-up rate improves – homicide clear-up rate is 107%

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By Professor John Robertson The ‘Scottish’ Daily Mail today, front page, has SNP’s pitiful record on crime exposed, based on clear-up rates supposedly ‘plummeting‘. Mystifying. From the Scottish Government in January 2024 (24/25 rates not out yet, obviously), the above trend graph and: In 2023-24 the clear up rate was 54.1%, up from 53.3% in 2022-23 and back to a similar level seen in 2021-22. The large decrease seen between 2020-21 and 2021-22 likely reflected the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the types of crime recorded, with the volume of those crimes that have relatively lower clear up rates falling more sharply … Continue reading SNP’s impressive record on crime as general clear-up rate improves – homicide clear-up rate is 107%

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A tragic rail death in Wales is not linked to the Welsh or UK Government but 4 years ago in Stonehaven, BBC Scotland’s James Cook had other plans

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By Professor John Robertson There’s not a mention of the Welsh Transport Secretary nor of the UK Transport minister in this BBC Wales account of a tragic death on the railways, they share responsibility for. But on BBC Scotland, in August 2020: On BBC Scotland’s The Nine last night, James Cook, repeatedly interrupted the Scottish Transport Secretary, Michael Matheson to say: Well, exactly! Well, that’s rather the point! Isn’t it. We hear that are these problems. In 2014, a report specifically mentioned this exact area being greatly affected by earthslips. A report last month warned that there had been over six times more … Continue reading A tragic rail death in Wales is not linked to the Welsh or UK Government but 4 years ago in Stonehaven, BBC Scotland’s James Cook had other plans

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Not climate change this time – Brechin’s flood misery in 2023 and the next time can be blamed on private landowners burning grouse moors upstream

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By Professor John Robertson BBC Reporting Scotland this morning and all day today are back on the October 2023 Storm Babet and the flood damage to Brechin, with locals complaining of a ‘ghost town‘ and an implied accusation of the Scottish Government not having done enough to prevent the floods in the first place or to help locals in the subsequent year. There is only a simple acceptance here of climate change and the need for more flood defences, to stay in the same place. There is no mention of research suggesting another, more scientific and forensic explanation and an identifying … Continue reading Not climate change this time – Brechin’s flood misery in 2023 and the next time can be blamed on private landowners burning grouse moors upstream

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Attacks on emergency workers must be zero-level but we need to know the facts

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By Professor John Robertson BBC Reporting Scotland is today, all day, reporting of attacks against emergency services staff. The only acceptable level is, of course, zero and campaigns to get there are important but so are trend data to enable us to see if we’re getting there or getting worse. They’re easily got but they don’t fit the agenda. First, for firefighters, from 2015/16 to 2023/24, incidents of physical abuse have fallen from 13 to 1 (!), verbal abuse from 37 to 16. Incidents resulting in injuries have fallen to 1 in 2023/24 and were as high as 5 and 7 … Continue reading Attacks on emergency workers must be zero-level but we need to know the facts