Author: johnrobertson834

Retired Professor of Media Politics Not-for-profit independent political analysis
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Year after year, Scotland builds far more, 370 000 per head, affordable (really) housing than England

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By Professor John Robertson Today, the Scottish Government published Affordable Housing Supply Programme: quarterly updates on approvals, site starts and completions for the year 2023/2024. I thought I’d compare this with the most recent data for England. There are doubts about just how affordable English builds are, but I’ll park that for now. The first two rows are self-explanatory. The third row suggests how many Scotland might have built if it had England’s population, 10 times greater. The fourth gives the surplus Scotland built, per head of population, as many 40 751 more in 2022/2023. Note that the smallest surplus … Continue reading Year after year, Scotland builds far more, 370 000 per head, affordable (really) housing than England

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New Zealand harbourmaster ‘bullied’ into accepting bigger ferries, unpiloted through narrows, despite four incidents of drifting out of control, running aground and hitting harbour walls in less than two years!

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In July 2024, The Post (New Zealand), reported: One mistakenly pressed button sent the 17,816-tonne Aratere ferry off-course – but crew on the bridge couldn’t wrestle back control from autopilot before running aground was inevitable, a leaked internal safety bulletin shows. It is understood that a key part of the investigation into the Interislander ferry’s grounding in the Marlborough Sounds on June 21 will be whether the bridge crew knew how to disengage the autopilot when using a recently-installed steering system. Sources have confirmed the investigation into the grounding will, in part, look into claims nobody in the bridge crew knew that … Continue reading New Zealand harbourmaster ‘bullied’ into accepting bigger ferries, unpiloted through narrows, despite four incidents of drifting out of control, running aground and hitting harbour walls in less than two years!

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Children’s Cancer Wards Inquiry – Relying on a doctor who resigned before the supposed ‘spike’, repeating the lie that there was a ‘spike’ in infections and ignoring fact that QEUH’s child cancer wards had the same infection rate as other hospitals

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By Professor John Robertson OBA Today, BBC Scotland tells us: A senior doctor has told an inquiry she was “appalled” at the state of child cancer wards when a new £870m hospital opened in Glasgow in 2015. In evidence presented to the Scottish Hospitals Inquiry, infection control doctor Teresa Inkster said she felt “something had gone horribly wrong”. Dr Inkster was the lead infection control doctor for NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde from April 2016 to September 2019. During that time the children’s cancer wards were forced to close because of a spike in unusual infections. Note the use of the word ‘felt’ … Continue reading Children’s Cancer Wards Inquiry – Relying on a doctor who resigned before the supposed ‘spike’, repeating the lie that there was a ‘spike’ in infections and ignoring fact that QEUH’s child cancer wards had the same infection rate as other hospitals

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Scottish Emergency departments holding steady despite demand increasing by 21% and performing 5% better than NHS England yet seeing 25% more patients per head

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By Professor John Robertson OBA From Public Health Scotland, today, we see that 65.8% of all admissions to full emergency departments (ED) were treated within 4 hours in August 2024, down roughly 10% on January 2020 but now at the same level since January 2023. In the same period, demand increased from 110 742 to 133 454, up 20.9%. In NHS England: From NHS England, we see that 62.5% of all admissions to full emergency departments (Type 1) were treated within 4 hours in August 2024, similar to January 2020 and at roughly the same level since January then. In the … Continue reading Scottish Emergency departments holding steady despite demand increasing by 21% and performing 5% better than NHS England yet seeing 25% more patients per head

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NHS Scotland’s stunning 98% completion rate as operations return steadily to pre-pandemic levels

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By Professor John Robertson OBA From Public Health Scotland, the above graph illustrating the long-term trends in increasing numbers of planned operations being carried (bold black dotted line) out on time (24 000 per month), and only around 2% having to be cancelled (thin grey solid line) due to ‘non clinical / capacity reasons’, meaning unexpected staff illnesses or overload on operating theatres caused by, for example, industrial or road traffic accidents or infection outbreaks in larger institutions with large numbers of unexpected patients at serious risk. That 98% of thousands of planned operations in an organisation as large and complex … Continue reading NHS Scotland’s stunning 98% completion rate as operations return steadily to pre-pandemic levels

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No BBC Scotland report allows comparative analysis of matters across the nations of the UK unless…

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stewartb ‘The BBC Scotland report does not mention ………………….Wales’ No BBC Scotland report allows comparative analysis of matters across the nations of the UK unless … you know what! And no British Labour Party politician in Scotland acknowledges the validity of comparing matters in Scotland with equivalents in British Labour Party run Wales. On education and the experiences of young people in Wales, the following report (March 2024) from the BBC’s much favoured, ‘authoritative’ think tank, the Institute for Fiscal Studies must never be referred to in the hearing of a potential Labour voter in Scotland! Source https://ifs.org.uk/publications/major-challenges-education-wales ‘.. there is a great … Continue reading No BBC Scotland report allows comparative analysis of matters across the nations of the UK unless…

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Valentine’s Day Massacre of the Truth

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Anonymous The new Director of BBC Scotland has been announced. It is Hayley Valentine. Same Hayley Valentine who in 2019 was reported as saying this: “I was involved in our referendum programming. I will defend it to accusations of bias until my dying day. I firmly believe that the BBC is not biased, that there is no agenda.” So it seems, as per, that there will be ‘no change then at the BBC in Scotland with their particular brand of preferred propaganda’. Hayley Valentine is currently the head of BBC Midlands. However to add salt onto the (Scottish) wounds this appointment was hailed by the BBC director general Tim Davie ( a former Tory candidate) as being a positive for … Continue reading Valentine’s Day Massacre of the Truth

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‘Controversial’ teacher job cuts put into perspective

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By Professor John Robertson OBA BBC Scotland, cramming as much industrial dispute as they can into the 4 minutes BBC Breakfast give them, return excitedly to Glasgow. Here’s what they never tell you: First: Second: From 2017 to 2023, the number of pupils in Scotland’s state schools has increased from 688 959 to 705 528, by 2.4%. In the same period, the number of teachers has increased from 51 513 to 54 033, by 4.9%. In the same period, the ratio of pupils to teachers has fallen (improved) from 13.6 to 13.2.2 This is the lowest (best) in the UK, compared with PTRs of 18 in … Continue reading ‘Controversial’ teacher job cuts put into perspective

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As BBC Scotland suggest Scottish Government is treating police with contempt as pay deal goes through usual channels, the bigger picture – lower crime levels, the complete absence of riots and the police staffing levels to be able to help other countries…..after 17 years of the SNP in charge

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By Professor John Robertson Today, BBC Reporting Scotland has an unnamed source claiming that the Scottish Government is treating police officers with ‘contempt’, because they’re taking a bit of time to settle their pay claim. In truth, the deal is just going through the usual channels and the Scottish Government is not involved at this stage. The report, of course has no context. Here’s some: First: Officers in Scotland are immediately better off than other forces, and exceed the UK average salary within just 2 years of service. https://www.ranksuccess.co.uk/officersalary.html Second: https://policepromotion.blog/2024/03/07/2024-police-officer-numbers-across-uk-and-beyond/ Significantly more officers per head of population in Scotland despite as … Continue reading As BBC Scotland suggest Scottish Government is treating police with contempt as pay deal goes through usual channels, the bigger picture – lower crime levels, the complete absence of riots and the police staffing levels to be able to help other countries…..after 17 years of the SNP in charge

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BBC Scotland go to Cornwall to suggest an energy powerhouse like Scotland is subject to global events like every other country

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As the energy companies announce a 10% hike, BBC Scotland went to visit locals who will struggle, then tried to explain it all way as due to ‘global events’ that cannot be avoided, using in a surreal manner, a woman from Cornwall Insight for evidence. You can be sure that Norwegian news broadcasters are not telling their viewers that Norway is helpless in the face of global events. Why? Because they have the oil, gas and wind power to be able to protect their population from exploitation. Is Norway unique? Well, I know a country with the same population (c5 … Continue reading BBC Scotland go to Cornwall to suggest an energy powerhouse like Scotland is subject to global events like every other country