Author: johnrobertson834

Retired Professor of Media Politics Not-for-profit independent political analysis
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Why is SNP success in averting health strikes raising ‘fears for patient safety’ not worthy of comparison?

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The SNP in Government is often blamed for supposed failures to run the NHS: SNP accused of leaving A&E in a ‘shameful and unacceptable’ condition as 300,000 patients have waited more than four hours to be seen Daily Mail 3 days ago Nicola Sturgeon accused of diverting ‘jaw-dropping’ £17.6bn away from the NHS Daily Express in February 2023 Call for answers over SNP probe and NHS in crisis (not ‘crisis’) BBC Scotland in April 2023 The SNP Government has now averted action by all NHS unions, representing nurses, consultants, junior doctors, radiographers, physiotherapists, ambulance and support staff. The first three … Continue reading Why is SNP success in averting health strikes raising ‘fears for patient safety’ not worthy of comparison?

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Why is reporting of far fewer deaths by stabbing in Scotland not in the public interest when reporting higher drug deaths is?

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The tragic news of another death by stabbing of a 16 year-old in London on New Year’s Eve is not being reported comparatively in the way that drug deaths are. Regardless of falling drug deaths in Scotland, Scottish and UK media and opposition politicians continue to feast greedily on comparisons with the rest of the UK or Europe. In the last few months: Drug-related deaths in Scotland lie squarely at the feet of Nicola Sturgeon Labour List Scotland drug deaths decrease – but rate still higher than rest of Europe Sky News Scottish Labour demands SNP take action on drug … Continue reading Why is reporting of far fewer deaths by stabbing in Scotland not in the public interest when reporting higher drug deaths is?

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Scottish Lib Dumb luck my friend as their London pals reveal prison assaults were pro rata more than TWICE as common in England & Wales than in Scotland

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From the Scottish Lib Dumbs, our 5th biggest and thus tiniest political party at Holyrood: Scottish Liberal Democrat justice spokesperson Liam McArthur MSP has today called for support for prison staff as he revealed that more than 1,500 prisoner on prisoner assaults and 265 assaults on staff took place last year.   https://www.scotlibdems.org.uk/news/article/lib-dems-reveal-scale-of-assaults-on-prisoners-and-staff-in-scotlands-prisons From the Guardian yesterday: There were nearly 8,000 assaults on prison staff in the year to June 2023, almost one an hour on average, the Liberal Democrats have said, arguing that the statistic shows the consequences of prisoner overcrowding and low staffing levels. https://www.theguardian.com/society/2024/jan/01/assaults-on-prison-staff-nearly-hourly-in-england-and-wales-data-shows With 11 times … Continue reading Scottish Lib Dumb luck my friend as their London pals reveal prison assaults were pro rata more than TWICE as common in England & Wales than in Scotland

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‘Growing proportion of England’s flood defences in disrepair, analysis finds’

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From the Guardian today: Ministers have been told they will be “punished” by voters after analysis revealed the decline of vital flood defences across England. The proportion of critical assets in disrepair has almost trebled in the West Midlands and the east of England since 2018, leaving thousands of homes and businesses more vulnerable to storms. Critical assets are defined as those where there is a high risk to life and property if they fail. The east of England, which spans the Conservative heartlands from Suffolk to Bedfordshire and Essex, has one of the highest proportion of rundown flood defences in … Continue reading ‘Growing proportion of England’s flood defences in disrepair, analysis finds’

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Cancer checks, A&E waiting times, hospital Covid infections and drug deaths – Why England’s health statistics are even worse than we were told

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Thanks again to Dottie’s Phone for alerting me to this. All sources below. Yesterday in the Guardian: NHS figures that show more people than ever are being checked for cancer have been criticised as “misleading” by experts. Official data published on Monday reported that almost 3 million people in England were tested for cancer in 2022, a 133% increase in the decade since 2013. The latest monthly figures also show that October 2023 was the highest month on record for cancer checks, with 269,492 urgent referrals. But leading cancer experts dismissed the figures as “misleading” and “smoke and mirrors”, noting that the NHS was … Continue reading Cancer checks, A&E waiting times, hospital Covid infections and drug deaths – Why England’s health statistics are even worse than we were told

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When Wes Streeting puts a kilt on NHS reform

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Leah Gunn Barrett Alex Massie (Times December 31) says that Labour is a national party or it’s nothing. Labour will never be a national party. It’s an English party, headquartered in and concerned only about England. Scotland is an afterthought, and Scots know it. Massie shows his contempt for Scots when he claims a Labour win in England will make it respectable in Scotland, as though we can’t think for ourselves but must take our cues from our southern neighbour.  Massie is right about one thing. Boring and ruthless Keir Starmer has rooted out what remained of Labour’s working-class principles. … Continue reading When Wes Streeting puts a kilt on NHS reform

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Energy-rich Scotland doesn’t need costly and dangerous nuclear power

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Leah Gunn Barrett Two recent letters responding to Tory nuclear energy minister, Andrew Bowie, and Paul Wilson in The Scotsman, who call for more nuclear power plants in Scotland. The first appeared in the Edinburgh Evening News on December 7th, but The Scotsman chose not to publish the second. I wonder if Andrew Bowie, the clueless, youthful ministerial cheerleader for nuclear power, is concerned at all about leaks coming from a huge silo of radioactive waste at the crumbling Sellafield nuclear site.  Norway, Ireland and the US certainly are. Norway is worried that an accident could lead to a radioactive … Continue reading Energy-rich Scotland doesn’t need costly and dangerous nuclear power

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The Scottish Health Service won’t be safe under an English Labour government

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First of three pieces from Leah Gunn Barrett This was published in the December 19th edition of the Edinburgh Evening News. An English Labour government is the last thing Scotland needs. English Labour’s shadow health spokesperson, Wes Streeting, said spending more on health comes at the expense of “other worthy causes” and that “under Labour you can have a well-funded NHS or you can lift kids out of poverty, but you can’t have both.”[1] That’s a false choice. It implies that governments are limited in what they can spend to help their people. Taxpayers don’t fund the NHS, the government … Continue reading The Scottish Health Service won’t be safe under an English Labour government

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An Independent Scotland could use the power of its sovereign currency to improve people’s lives

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And is an excellent reason to leave the failing UK Leah Gunn Barrett The letter below was published in the December 30th edition of The Scotsman. In it, I respond to Jill Stephenson, a member of the Scotland in Union group of letter writers. She appears regularly in the unionist papers letters pages. A retired professor of modern German history, she should stick to history and steer clear of economics, a subject about which she knows very little. Jill Stephenson (Scotsman letters page, December 29th, 2023) again displays her economic ignorance.  First, why shouldn’t Scotland benefit from pandemic financial support as it’s … Continue reading An Independent Scotland could use the power of its sovereign currency to improve people’s lives

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Tenants left living in squalor in ‘England’ not across ‘Britain’

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In the Observer today: Leading private providers of social housing in Britain have been made to pay out only a few hundred pounds on average in financial penalties for severely mistreating tenants, the Observer can reveal. An analysis of every decision made by the housing ombudsman, the primary regulator of social housing in Britain, shows that across the 2,907 rulings it made in the past three years, the average financial penalty for housing associations was just £445. Housing associations are privately owned nonprofit companies that run 63% of social housing in the UK. They have recently come under increasing scrutiny and the … Continue reading Tenants left living in squalor in ‘England’ not across ‘Britain’