Author: johnrobertson834

Retired Professor of Media Politics Not-for-profit independent political analysis
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Scottish Government funding enables Scottish company to test ground-breaking new giant gravity battery

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From the Independent today: An abandoned mine in Finland is set to be transformed into a giant battery to store renewable energy during periods of excess production. The Pyhäsalmi Mine, roughly 450 kilometres north of Helsinki, is Europe’s deepest zinc and copper mine and holds the potential to store up to 2 MW of energy within its 1,400-metre-deep shafts. The disused mine will be fitted with a gravity battery, which uses excess energy from renewable sources like solar and wind in order to lift a heavy weight. During periods of low production, the weight is released and used to power a turbine as it … Continue reading Scottish Government funding enables Scottish company to test ground-breaking new giant gravity battery

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Minimal alcohol pricing – Charity leader really wants support FOR SNP project contrary to Herald’s attempt to mislead

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What on earth do you think the Herald is up to now with the image above and the headline – Minimum alcohol pricing: Charity leader calls for probe? Probe? A charity leader is opposed to MUP? Really? No. The charity is Favor UK. Here’s what they think. Probe? Nobe. The charity leader wants the Scot Gov to publish more research evidence in favour of MUP. She doesn’t, as the headline implies, want a ‘probe’ to find out why it’s a bad idea. Quite the reverse. Has the Scottish Government perhaps already published the research and the media have ignored it, … Continue reading Minimal alcohol pricing – Charity leader really wants support FOR SNP project contrary to Herald’s attempt to mislead

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You won’t hear this – ‘SNP help families with cost of living’

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Nowhere in Scottish media: Over 43,000 automatic payments to help families with cost of living. More than 43,000 payments have been paid automatically to help parents and carers with the cost of living and starting school, latest official figures show. The introduction of automatic payments means that tens of thousands of people getting Scottish Child Payment have been awarded Best Start Grant Early Learning and School Age Payments without the need to apply separately. For each of the two benefits, people are awarded one-off payments of £294.70 per child to help with costs like clothes, toys and school trips. Some … Continue reading You won’t hear this – ‘SNP help families with cost of living’

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NHS England told to treat the less sick BEFORE those ‘at death’s door’ to meet Tory ‘political’ targets

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This is all-too-familiar to us here. I’ve reported on NHS England re-starting the clock after A&E arrivals have been admitted to a department, to improve published statistics; on NHS Wales reducing targets from 95% for cancer waiting times, to 70%, to make things look less bad; on Public Health England not counting care home deaths to make their Covid death rate seem comparable to those in Scotland; on BBC UK using the ‘All’ A&E waiting time figures to compare with our ‘ED’ only performance to make theirs seem bearable and on English hospitals ‘coping’ with third world hospital-acquired Covid infection … Continue reading NHS England told to treat the less sick BEFORE those ‘at death’s door’ to meet Tory ‘political’ targets

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STV stick in thumb and come out with clear bias against SNP

johnrobertson834

In their own latest poll with Ipsos MORI, the strong SNP lead of 9 points is down from 14 in their November 2023 poll but it’s up significantly from the two 5 point leads in the other two polls in 2024. Similarly, the 6 point lead for Yes in the same poll is down from 8% in November 2023 but it’s up on 5 other polls in between. It’s all about choices and STV is choosing a world. Continue reading STV stick in thumb and come out with clear bias against SNP

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Do the folk at Ipsos MORI know something as they regularly predict a Yes vote and SNP success over 9 years?

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The Ipsos MORI pollster, in the National today, has Yes on 53% with a 6 point lead. In November they had Yes on 51% and an 8 point lead. These two, plus one for Find Out Now, were a minority in a sea of 11 No leads since October 2023. Overall the picture (above) has been dominated by No leads from several pollsters but there’s a pattern going back to August 2015, when, in a sea of No leads , Ipsos MORI had a 9 point lead for Yes. From there forward to the present, Ipsos MORI have had 14 … Continue reading Do the folk at Ipsos MORI know something as they regularly predict a Yes vote and SNP success over 9 years?

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Labour-run NHS Wales cuts cancer waiting times target, still fails to meet it but NHS Scotland bursts it!

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From the Welsh Parliament, Health and Social Care Committee, in June 2023: Cancer diagnosis and treatment to be undertaken within 62 days for 70% of people by March 2023 The target used to be 95%. It still is in Scotland. From Public Health Scotland on 19 December 2023 (latest figures): 72.0% of patients started treatment within the 62-day standard. NHS Wales? Only 52.9% according to the BBC in November 2023 but less than 50% according to Plaid Cymru yesterday. NHS England? 64.8% if you believe that given their long history of pockling. Sources: chrome-extension://efaidnbmnnnibpcajpcglclefindmkaj/https://business.senedd.wales/documents/s137567/ https://publichealthscotland.scot/publications/cancer-waiting-times/cancer-waiting-times-1-july-to-30-september-2023 https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-67488546 https://twitter.com/Plaid_Cymru/status/1755149126335869264?t=iV-d_ROzO6EDYQdeFiUH1g&s=03 https://www.england.nhs.uk/statistics/statistical-work-areas/cancer-waiting-times Continue reading Labour-run NHS Wales cuts cancer waiting times target, still fails to meet it but NHS Scotland bursts it!

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New Zealand’s lifeline Cook Strait ferries still ‘dead in the water’

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From the NZ Herald, yesterday: KiwiRail bosses will front a select committee meeting next week where they are expected to face pressing questions about the future of Interislander’s Cook Strait ferries. Plans to replace the existing fleet of three ferries with two new purpose-built mega ferries were thrown into disarray before Christmas. Finance Minister Nicola Willis called time on a string of cost blowouts fearing she would be left with a “completely open chequebook”had she agreed to pour money into the mega ferry project. Willis refused a request for $1.47 billion of additional funding leaving the scheme dead in the water. The 1.2 … Continue reading New Zealand’s lifeline Cook Strait ferries still ‘dead in the water’

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Oz Government-owned ferries fiasco – exploding Chinese engines and taking-off in heavy swells

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Four Emerald class ferries, owned by the Government of New South Wales, with Chinese engines, serve the Sydney Manly area in Australia. Two are currently laid up. In 2022, the Sydney Morning Herald reported: Captains of the new Manly ferries have been warned not to sail directly into waves near the entrance to Sydney Harbour in heavy swells in case their vessels become airborne, a leaked internal memo has revealed. The advice was to masters of the second generation Emerald-class ferries, which are at the centre of a fierce debate over whether they can handle large swells as well as … Continue reading Oz Government-owned ferries fiasco – exploding Chinese engines and taking-off in heavy swells

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Labour ditches reforms designed to placate Scotland and secure the Union

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– to win the next General Election in England, Labour is discarding radical House of Lords reform and federalism proposed by its own, Gordon Brown-led Commission. By stewartb – a long read The Labour Party seems to be working a new wheeze to bamboozle the electorate and yes, even political journalists. This is how it works: it announces a new radical, progressive policy to gain media and voter attention. Later – in various ways and at various times – Party spokespersons indicate a softening – a rowing back – on the prior radical policy position. Crucially, and in the weeks … Continue reading Labour ditches reforms designed to placate Scotland and secure the Union