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Which Scottish public service has the highest customer service rating? I’ll give you a clue – it has red and black funnels

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Professor John Robertson OBA We’ve seen a steady stream of politicised propaganda based on CalMac for a few years now and as recently as the above Scotsman headline only 5 days ago, suggesting some kind of crisis in Scotland’s west coast ferry system. You’d think, given its frequency and intensity, it must be real and that, because of that, ferry-users would be making their views clear, on the day they were in some way disappointed, through the company’s own evaluation easily accessible to them. They have made their views clear, but not in the way media critics might have hoped … Continue reading Which Scottish public service has the highest customer service rating? I’ll give you a clue – it has red and black funnels

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NHS England and Wales start to adopt the attitudes of their ruling ‘New Nasty Party (Labour)’ but Lisa Summers will struggle to find them here

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Professor John Robertson OBA From BBC Wales yesterday, the above and this astonishing news: NHS patients from Wales who need knee and hip operations in England face lengthy delays after a health board asked English hospitals to copy Wales’ longer waiting times. Powys health board announced the change as it could not afford the cost of how quickly operations over the border were being carried out, but patients have said they were not informed. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cp89337gm7ro With NHS England and NHS Wales both now in the clutches of Starmerite thinking, you see how things will go for them both. Lisa Summers … Continue reading NHS England and Wales start to adopt the attitudes of their ruling ‘New Nasty Party (Labour)’ but Lisa Summers will struggle to find them here

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After independence could they base the Trident subs in London’s Tilbury docks?

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Professor John Robertson OBA Thanks to Graham (?) for this comment: In the case of Faslane as the crow flies from there to Glasgow city centre it would be the equivalent distance of a Nuclear base being situated at Tilbury docks London. It’s always the same. Keep anything remotely hazardous as far away as possible from London and the Home Counties. But they want to control it though and reap the benefits from it. Everyone else is expendable. Especially us uppity Jocks. I’ve checked, roughly, with just one Scottish crow available in Scotland and a taxi driver in London, but … Continue reading After independence could they base the Trident subs in London’s Tilbury docks?

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So, we’ve to pay more for electricity pylons and cables to ‘shift’ the ‘excess’ electricity we don’t need, over the border, because you will have produced 10 times what we need in our waters?

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Professor John Robertson OBA In BBC Scotland TV reports this morning and on their website, the above headline and a report based on an interview with Scottish Power Energy Networks‘ chief executive Nicola Connelly. Her thinking is entirely, but I think unconsciously, based on the unquestionable nature of the Union. It’s by no means propagandistic as she makes no case for the Union, just takes it for granted and so, for the discriminating reader, like you, it offers a shocking insight into just how exploitative and pointless that union is for Scotland. First: A £34bn investment in Scotland’s electricity network … Continue reading So, we’ve to pay more for electricity pylons and cables to ‘shift’ the ‘excess’ electricity we don’t need, over the border, because you will have produced 10 times what we need in our waters?

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Major safety improvements in Scottish section of the A1 with zero deaths compared to nearly 20 in just one English section to disappoint the Border Tories

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Professor John Robertson OBA The Scottish Tories are in the Scotsman front page again today to try to undermine the Scottish government with some very carefully selected statistics on the A1 road deaths. I saw the Reported collisions on the A1 between Edinburgh and Lamberton: FOI release when it was published without revealing who had requested it, on July 10th 2025 and wondered then if the response had been a disappointment to the Border Tories and their local media pals. It had and so, three months later, they’ve decided just to fiddle it and get the ever-willing Scotsman to publish it. … Continue reading Major safety improvements in Scottish section of the A1 with zero deaths compared to nearly 20 in just one English section to disappoint the Border Tories

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As demand for organ donation soars, donor consent is 11% higher in Scotland – imagine the media if that was the other way round?

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Professor John Robertson OBA From BBC Sussex and featured in BBC Breakfast broadcasts today, the above story, and: At the time, there were about 1,000 transplants a year and about 2,500 people on the waiting list. From 2024 to 2025, more than 4,500 transplants have been carried out a year and about 8,000 people are on the waiting list, according to NHS Blood and Transplant. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cvgv929rpl3o From Organ donation in England and the UK: Statistics and law changes (House of lords Library), published on 6 December 2023: Organ donation is a devolved matter in the UK. The main impact of … Continue reading As demand for organ donation soars, donor consent is 11% higher in Scotland – imagine the media if that was the other way round?

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10 countries already routinely issue iodine tablets to those near nuclear facilities but with the highest cancer rates in world, Scotland, dependent on Westminster, does not

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Professor John Robertson OBA Sky News in September 2019, reported: France is to give free iodine tablets to more people living near the country’s 19 nuclear plants. Around 2.2 million people living within 20km (12.4 miles) of a nuclear plant will be given the tablets to protect their bodies from the effects of radiation in the event of an accident. In 2016, five years after the nuclear accident in the Japanese city of Fukushima, France gave iodine to those living within 10km (6.2 miles) of a nuclear plant. Thyroid cancer incidence in France has increased dramatically over recent decades, particularly … Continue reading 10 countries already routinely issue iodine tablets to those near nuclear facilities but with the highest cancer rates in world, Scotland, dependent on Westminster, does not

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US state authority issues second supply of iodine tablets to those living further away from nuclear plants than the Scots around Hunterston B or Torness to protect against thyroid cancer more common in Scotland

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Professor John Robertson OBA From the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Department of Health, three days ago: HARRISBURG, PA – The Pennsylvania Department of Health (DOH) is coordinating the statewide distribution of free potassium iodide (KI) tablets on August 14 for all Pennsylvanians who live, work, or study within 10 miles of the four active nuclear power plants in the Commonwealth. The KI tablet distribution events are part of emergency preparedness planning and are only to be used in the unlikely event of a radiological release from a nuclear power plant. “The distribution of the KI tablets, which reduce the risk of thyroid cancer from … Continue reading US state authority issues second supply of iodine tablets to those living further away from nuclear plants than the Scots around Hunterston B or Torness to protect against thyroid cancer more common in Scotland

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Scotland’s elite built their wealth on slavery and THEY can easily do something about it now – HMRC have it all on record

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Professor John Robertson OBA The two pieces today on ‘Scotland’ and its role in slavery, the first accurately worded, the second not so, remind me of an earlier debate prompted Anas Sarwar, defended by Prof Tom Devine. Here’s how it went in August 2022: Sarwar’s support for Pakistan’s independence, considered hypocritical by many including me, was dismissed by Devine as ‘no comparison‘ because Scotland was not ‘subjected to imperial authority‘ and because ‘Scots‘ (sic) took part in the Empire with ‘relish and enthusiastic commitment.‘ He’s wrong. Like even the best of historians, he seems to have forgotten that ‘Scots‘ embraces … Continue reading Scotland’s elite built their wealth on slavery and THEY can easily do something about it now – HMRC have it all on record

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‘We share the same island. We’re similar sorts of people.’

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By stewartb Andy Maciver – ‘We share the same island. We’re similar sorts of people.’ Compare and contrast (examples): (i) voting by majority to reject the Tory Party at Westminster elections since c. 1956, i.e. c. 69 years – that sort of similarity? (ii) voting by majority to remain as member of the EU – that sort of similarity? (iii) c. 45% voting in 2014 to dissolve the Union and according to opinion polls, now even more – that sort of similarity? (iv) enough citizens in Scotland voting to elect a political party to govern in Edinburgh that: (a) supports the dissolution of … Continue reading ‘We share the same island. We’re similar sorts of people.’