Author: johnrobertson834

Retired Professor of Media Politics Not-for-profit independent political analysis
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Post Office Scandal – Just one more result of the Labour PFI curse

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By Frances McKie The Post Office Scandal has surely cast terrible doubt on the UK Justice System. Without open, determined,  legal action against the lies, persecutions, blackmail and silencing of the victims, it will be very hard to restore public trust. Furthermore, before the public inquiry  into the lethal consequences of the Fujitsu Horizon  contract  comes to an end, it is vital that  Gordon Brown , Tony Blair,  Hilary Armstrong and  all those associated with the imposition of  PFI  contracts on vital public services throughout the UK are required to give an account of their responsibility, under oath . This … Continue reading Post Office Scandal – Just one more result of the Labour PFI curse

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‘Exposing Scotland to risk’ – Some reflections on the devolved fiscal settlement

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By Alasdair Galloway Once Scotland took powers over income tax a settlement with the UK became necessary for several practical reasons However leaving boring practicalities to one side, this arrangement offers political opportunities to Westminster. For one thing it puts the risk entirely on to Scotland because if the Scottish economy operates less well than the UK average, the income tax allowed for in calculating the block grant will be greater than what is actually raised by the Scottish Government. If, on the other hand, Scotland does outperform the UK average, then there will be a windfall for the Scottish … Continue reading ‘Exposing Scotland to risk’ – Some reflections on the devolved fiscal settlement

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Should Scotland follow Ireland, Denmark, Portugal or Slovakia

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By Alasdair Galloway Jill Stephenson, retired Prof of Modern German History at Edinburgh University, but for our purposes an indefatigable defender of the Union while equally contemptuous of Independence, has a letter in this morning’s Herald, which illustrates some important issues, not least the limitations of infantile Economics. I have to admit that I was concerned about Humza Yousaf’s use of Denmark, Finland and Ireland as comparators to illustrate Scotland’s potential if independent. The main point of contact between Scotland and these three countries seems to me to be population size, but beyond that comparisons become more difficult. For instance, … Continue reading Should Scotland follow Ireland, Denmark, Portugal or Slovakia

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Only 3.6% of Scots ‘face serious challenges’ in literacy but BBC Scotland and Prof Paterson lie to all UK viewers that it’s 26%!

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On BBC Breakfast at 06:25 this morning, the Reporting Scotland team were allowed to share with the rest of the UK, their disgracefully inaccurate report claiming that 26% of Scots were illiterate and that meant 1.9 million! The claim was supported by Professor Lindsay Paterson. It’s a lie. The facts: From the University of Glasgow’s full report, in 2009: around one-quarter of the Scottish population (26.7%) may face occasional challenges and constrained opportunities due to their literacies difficulties, but will generally cope with their day-to-day lives; and within this quarter of the population, 3.6% (one person in 28) face serious challenges in … Continue reading Only 3.6% of Scots ‘face serious challenges’ in literacy but BBC Scotland and Prof Paterson lie to all UK viewers that it’s 26%!

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Midwife shortages in Scotland between only two-thirds and a tenth of those in other parts of the UK

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From BBC Health today, but BBC Scotland focusing on Fatal Accident Inquiry (FAI) into the deaths of three babies in North Lanarkshire and avoiding its use as context: A former midwife has told the BBC she quit because she could not live with herself if she provided poor care. Hannah Williams says staff shortages meant she kept patients safe, but sometimes only “by the skin of her teeth”. We did a Freedom of Information (FOI) request to 106 trusts with maternity units. We asked how many full-time midwife posts they were budgeted to have in the summer of 2023 – … Continue reading Midwife shortages in Scotland between only two-thirds and a tenth of those in other parts of the UK

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Does Scottish Labour support French energy company extending lives of unreliable, inefficient and unsafe nuclear power stations including one in Scotland?

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In the Guardian today: EDF Energy is planning to extend the life of four nuclear power stations in the UK and step up investment in its British nuclear fleet. The French energy company said it would make a decision on whether to extend the life of the four UK plants with advanced gas-cooled reactors (AGR) – Torness [East Lothian], Heysham 1 and 2, and Hartlepool – by the end of the year. This would require regulatory approval. A spokesperson for the company said it would depend on inspections, adding there would not be long lifetime extensions but “incremental”. https://www.theguardian.com/business/2024/jan/09/edf-energy-uk-nuclear-power-plants The Scottish station, … Continue reading Does Scottish Labour support French energy company extending lives of unreliable, inefficient and unsafe nuclear power stations including one in Scotland?

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‘Have they forgotten Agincourt ?!’ English ferry building and maintenance depending on France

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The Commodore Clipper built in the Netherlands, returning to France for further repairs only hours after returning to service. Grant Shapps is reputedly too angry to give a statement. In the wake (like that?) of the news that the new Scilly Isles ferry is to be built in France, despite several shipbuilders operating on the South coast of England, has prompted fears that England’s ferry fleet is dependent on France. I read this today after watching last night a TV series on the Hundred Years War with France, in the Middle Ages, a piratical sequence of rape, pillage and plunder … Continue reading ‘Have they forgotten Agincourt ?!’ English ferry building and maintenance depending on France

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It’s OK for a UK minister to demand ferries be built in UK

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From BBC Cornwall, today: Defence Secretary Grant Shapps has intervened in a row over the decision by the Isles of Scilly Steamship Group (ISSG) to pick a French shipbuilder for its new fleet. In a letter, Mr Shapps said he was “dismayed” by the actions of the group. The ferry operator opted to use French shipbuilder Piriou for the multimillion-pound contract. The ISSG said using private finance meant it would introduce new vessels in 2026 using its preferred supplier. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cornwall-67917173 The current Scilly Isles ferry is 50 years old. How have Scotland’s media reacted to ferries being built more cheaply and faster … Continue reading It’s OK for a UK minister to demand ferries be built in UK

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Far fewer in Scotland have ‘serious’ or ‘very poor’ literacy problems than across the UK

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The appearance of Prof Lindsay Paterson on Reporting Scotland today is, once more, fraught with the kind of misunderstandings this statistician with zero experience of teaching regularly brings. Prompted by the numbers-obsessed prof’s strop on the fact that Scotland doesn’t take part in an international study of no use, like Pisa, to compare our adult illiteracy with theirs, they claim: The last Scottish government survey was in 2009 and put the number of people in Scotland who have problems with literacy at around 26%. As with drug deaths, they desperately hope they have found the only kind of whitabootery that … Continue reading Far fewer in Scotland have ‘serious’ or ‘very poor’ literacy problems than across the UK

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Crime and Policing – How Scotland’s media hide our successes

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On the Today programme, a BBC Radio 4 interviewer enthuses about the reduction in knife crime and homicide in Scotland over nearly two decades, as he interviews Will Linden Depute Head of the Scottish Violence Reduction Unit You can hear the whole interview, around 53 mins in, at: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m001v3bj BBC R4’s interests comes against the background of high levels of knife-related deaths in England and, today, the actor Idris Elba’s call for a ban on sales which he says the Conservative Government has neglected: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-67903124 BBC Scotland and the newspapers are not interested in this but, rather, focus on two … Continue reading Crime and Policing – How Scotland’s media hide our successes