Author: johnrobertson834

Retired Professor of Media Politics Not-for-profit independent political analysis
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Why is BBC England or UK press not reporting ‘Longest-ever NHS strike will sink Sunak’s waiting list pledge, say health chiefs’

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In the Observer today: One of Rishi Sunak’s key targets for the NHS – to eliminate waits of longer than 65 weeks for operations and other procedures by March – is likely to be missed because of strike action, health bosses warned this weekend. The health service faces the longest national strike in its history when junior doctors walk out for six days from 7am on Wednesday. One NHS trust leader said he expected about a third of operations to be cancelled at his trust. Strike action by consultants, junior doctors and nurses over the last year has hampered the work to … Continue reading Why is BBC England or UK press not reporting ‘Longest-ever NHS strike will sink Sunak’s waiting list pledge, say health chiefs’

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Thanks to SNP, Scotland’s ferry fleet is youngest in world but Scottish Tories do ‘balloon’

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In the Express, today: Scottish Conservative transport spokesman Graham Simpson MSP said that under the SNP the average age of Scotland’s ferries had “ballooned” to 24 years, with a third of its fleet believed to be around 30 years old.  In September 2022, Ernst & Young published these comparative data on ferries: Scotland has the youngest ferries in comparable fleets and the Scottish Government pays the largest subsidy to keep ticket prices down for vulnerable communities, despite the presence among them of a few entitled and ungrateful settlers. Add to the above, Washington State Ferries in the affluent Seattle area … Continue reading Thanks to SNP, Scotland’s ferry fleet is youngest in world but Scottish Tories do ‘balloon’

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Cheese producers are dodging Scottish Government regulations to follow lower UK standards and risk E.coli deaths

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I’ve had a bit of a reaction to my previous post suggesting that cheese production in Scotland could not use raw milk (unpasteurised) like the Lancashire dairy whose cheese has recently killed one man in Scotland. The Food Standards Agency Scotland regulation is clear: It is an offence to place raw milk or cream on the market for direct consumption in Scotland – this includes distribution. The ban includes sheep, goats, buffalo and any other species farmed for its milk. Raw drinking milk and cream has historically been recognised as a high risk to public health as it was linked … Continue reading Cheese producers are dodging Scottish Government regulations to follow lower UK standards and risk E.coli deaths

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‘My New Year’s Wish is for Scotland to put the failing UK out of its misery’

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I couldn’t put it better than or as well as, Leah Gunn Barrett: This was published in the December 30th Edinburgh Evening News. I wrote it in response to Ian Murray’s regular Thursday column, which was full of the usual drivel about how an English Labour government will be good for Scotland. Ian Murray promises Labour will go into the 2024 election year with a positive policy platform that will put Scotland’s interests first. When have we heard that one before?  He says, presumably with a straight face, that Keir Starmer has changed Labour into a credible alternative to the … Continue reading ‘My New Year’s Wish is for Scotland to put the failing UK out of its misery’

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Typical Herald – off the rails in a taxi

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By Alasdair Galloway The Herald runs a shocking expose on the newly nationalised ScotRail, that it has spend £331,061 on “putting on taxis for passengers whose trains were cancelled since the Scottish Government took public ownership of ScotRail”. SNP criticised as £330k spent of taxis since ScotRail was nationalised | The Herald (heraldscotland.com) The question of course is ScotRail’s culpability in this situation since a passenger may be stranded for reasons that ScotRail can do nothing or little about (eg emergency repairs or train breakdown).  We could also consider if there is a trend here. Is it worse since ScotRail … Continue reading Typical Herald – off the rails in a taxi

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NHS Scotland – A wee heresy

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By Alasdair Galloway As regular readers of Talking Up Scotland will be well aware John and Stewartb have long and honourable records of showing how much better the NHS in Scotland perform (ambulance waiting times, A&E waiting) compared to the NHS in other parts of this sceptred isle. As well as this valuable service they regularly call out claims to the contrary – misreports – often from the BBC and the Herald. Let me be quite clear that I have absolutely no problem with this, and in fact agree fully with both. And yet …..and yet …. Can we honestly … Continue reading NHS Scotland – A wee heresy

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Deadly E.coli-contaminated cheese is from Lancashire where unpasteurised milk for cheese production is allowed unlike in Scotland

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BBC Scotland has an extended report on the death in Scotland and does, in the text, tell us the cheese is from Preston in Lancashire. Prof Pennington, above, is on BBC Breakfast to tell us twice that E.coli is more common in Scotland than in England but fails to mention that Scotland, with only 8% of the UK population, has a far higher presence of the bacteria-carrying animals with, for example, almost 30% of the UK herd of breeding cattle and 4% of the massive EU herd. https://www.nfus.org.uk/farming-facts/what-we-produce.aspx We also do not hear from Pennington or any other media, as … Continue reading Deadly E.coli-contaminated cheese is from Lancashire where unpasteurised milk for cheese production is allowed unlike in Scotland

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Pisa seems unlikely to be valid basis upon which to compare and rank countries, regions and economies.

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stewartb Yet another, recently encountered critique of Pisa rankings with those readers of TuS who have developed an interest in this famed OECD initiative in international comparative education (with my emphasis): From Sjøberg, S. & Jenkins, E. (2022) PISA: a political project and a research agenda, Studies in Science Education, 58:1 (https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/03057267.2020.1824473 ) ‘Conclusion: As a major international comparative study, PISA differs from much earlier work in the field of comparative education. It is quantitative rather than qualitative and is UNDERPINNED BY A PRIORI ASSUMPTIONS about the relationship between science and mathematics test scores and economic development. As noted above, those … Continue reading Pisa seems unlikely to be valid basis upon which to compare and rank countries, regions and economies.

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Young Scots only just over half as likely (5.9% to 10%) to be lazy sods according to top English journalists

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Above from the Times, 94.1% of young people are in education, work or training. How many of the others have decided to be house husbands, wives or carers? Nearly all of them? I wonder what is the situation in England is after their superior Pisa rating based on a handful of high-performing schools? In the Telegraph last year, 1 in 10? 10%. Maybe Pisa is a useless predictor? Continue reading Young Scots only just over half as likely (5.9% to 10%) to be lazy sods according to top English journalists

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We can’t end poverty when we’re trapped in the failing UK

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Leah Gunn Barrett This letter was published in The National on December 21st and explains why Scotland, a naturally wealthy nation, suffers from high levels of endemic poverty. The cure is simple – we must end our colonial status and restore our sovereignty. There’s been a chorus of criticism of the Scottish government over its recent budget from unionist politicians and media. But why should anyone be surprised over Scotland’s dismal state? The reason is our status as a de facto English colony.   As a colony, we don’t own our own resources so we can’t provide heat and power for the costs … Continue reading We can’t end poverty when we’re trapped in the failing UK