Scottish Conservatives and Herald combine to fake the A9 deaths trend by withholding figures you paid for

Professor John Robertson OBA As the season of stored up Freedom of Information requests [at great expense to you] by the opposition parties and BBC Scotland gets into gear, the above only partial data front paging the Herald is a cracker of misrepresentation and deliberate deceit. In their own words 28 deaths on the A9 over the 4 years but 13 of those in just 2022/2023, the post-pandemic spike? So how many in each of the other 3 years so that we may see the trend? They’re not telling us this despite the fact that we, the taxpayer, paid for … Continue reading Scottish Conservatives and Herald combine to fake the A9 deaths trend by withholding figures you paid for

News you won’t see – Scottish Government funding for playparks to promote children’s health and development surges by FIVE times in only five years

Professor John Robertson OBA From: Funding to upgrade children’s playparks: FOI release Information request and response under the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 published yesterday: Question 1 – How much of this money has been allocated (not to be confused with the £25,000,000 announced recently)? The Scottish Government has allocated and committed the following sums since May 2021: The Scottish Government announced recently that in 2025/26 the final funding instalment of £25 million will be provided to the local authorities, which is delivering on the 2021 Programme for Government commitment of funding £60 million for play parks renewal. https://www.gov.scot/publications/foi-202500467583/Continue reading News you won’t see – Scottish Government funding for playparks to promote children’s health and development surges by FIVE times in only five years

Scottish Government regulations mean sewage sludge spread on Scottish farmland is less polluted than in the rest of the UK

Professor John Robertson OBA In the Guardian today, the above, and: Millions of tonnes of treated sewage sludge is spread on farmland across the UK every year despite containing forever chemicals, microplastics and toxic waste, and experts say the outdated current regulations are not fit for purpose. An investigation by the Guardian and Watershed has identified England’s sludge-spreading hotspots and shown where the practice could be damaging rivers. https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/jul/07/millions-of-tonnes-of-toxic-sewage-sludge-spread-on-uk-farmland-every-year There is, of course, no research into the situation in Scotland, referred to in the above. Toxic sludge is being spread on Scottish farmland and there are campaigns against the practice … Continue reading Scottish Government regulations mean sewage sludge spread on Scottish farmland is less polluted than in the rest of the UK

Not mentioned by Herald’s Martin Williams – Arran ferry’s ‘faults’ started when the contract to build it was awarded by Scottish Conservatives to an inexperienced English yard on its last legs in a Conservative constituency

Professor John Robertson OBA Readers will already know that the MV Caledonian Isles is back in dock for repairs following botched work by Cammell Laird in Liverpool. Readers will also be aware of the regular and longstanding Scottish media reports describing the vessel as ‘troubled’ and ‘fault prone.’ While such accounts have been often exaggerated and ill-informed, it may be that the vessel has been, since its launch, marked by the consequences of political errors and shoddy work by its builders. Launched on 25 May 1993 at Richards Shipbuilders of Lowestoft, Suffolk, England, shut down only months later in 1994, … Continue reading Not mentioned by Herald’s Martin Williams – Arran ferry’s ‘faults’ started when the contract to build it was awarded by Scottish Conservatives to an inexperienced English yard on its last legs in a Conservative constituency

English shipyard botches repairs of young Scottish ferry built by another struggling English yard

Professor John Robertson OBA BBC Scotland has, today, been working oh so hard to turn this story around so that it reflects badly on CalMac and, by association, the Scottish Government, with this sort of comment: Ferry operator CalMac is trying to recover millions of pounds of repair costs for a ship that has been out of action for 18 months – and is still not fixed. CalMac is now seeking compensation from Cammell Laird over problems discovered when the ship returned to Scotland last September, after the Merseyside firm carried out the first phase of work. The 32-year-old ship … Continue reading English shipyard botches repairs of young Scottish ferry built by another struggling English yard

‘No current investigations in Scotland involving offences against children which would mirror the investigations [in England] described in Baroness Casey’s audit as being perpetrated by “grooming gangs”

Professor John Robertson OBA Readers will be aware no doubt of new Labour MP Joani Reid’s shameless u-turn on national inquiries into grooming gangs – no in England where they are many, to save her boss a red face, but yes in Scotland, where there are none, proving that as Jimmy Reid’s granddaughter, the apple can fall pretty far from the tree at times. Reid also wrote to FM Swinney, demanding an inquiry here but his response published on 4th July 2025 has had no MSM coverage. You can see why: However, in order for any action to be effective, … Continue reading ‘No current investigations in Scotland involving offences against children which would mirror the investigations [in England] described in Baroness Casey’s audit as being perpetrated by “grooming gangs”

Alex Cole Hamilton reveals CalMac to be more than 97% reliable with his second-class research

Professor John Robertson OBA Here we have another of those Freedom of Information requests by the opposition parties stored up to try to maintain the SNPbad narrative through the holidays. You’ve already seen the Tory ones on ambulance and fire statistics. Here we have the Lib Dems reporting: More than 10,000 ferry sailings cancelled due to faults – Freedom of information data obtained by the Scottish Lib Dems showed 10,809 sailings were cancelled since January 2023. Lib Dem MSP Jamie Greene said: “These figures reveal just how much chaos the SNP are causing island communities. “Our island communities are being … Continue reading Alex Cole Hamilton reveals CalMac to be more than 97% reliable with his second-class research

One Canadian city with 50% more GDP than the whole of Scotland gets round to planning to replace 90 year-old ferry, more than twice the age of CalMac’s oldest large ferry

Professor John Robertson OBA From NSAUGA ONTARIO LOCAL NEWS, two days ago, The above image and: Anyone who regularly travels to the Toronto Islands to enjoy a day at Centreville, the beach or the adorable (and hidden-ish) Franklin the Turtle Children’s Garden knows that the ferry (even if delayed) is part of the fun. Now, the city is working to replace its aging ferry fleet with sleek, new electric vessels.  Recently, the City of Toronto announced that construction has started at the Jack Layton Ferry Terminal in the city’s downtown core. While the construction and ferry upgrades won’t happen overnight, … Continue reading One Canadian city with 50% more GDP than the whole of Scotland gets round to planning to replace 90 year-old ferry, more than twice the age of CalMac’s oldest large ferry

To save an English oil refinery so that it can replace a Scottish oil refinery to refine oil almost entirely from Scottish waters, the Scottish taxpayer must also contribute around £100m

Professor John Robertson OBA Thanks to rtpscott for alerting me to this: From Daily Business two days ago: British taxpayers could be on the hook for more than £1 billion following the collapse of the Lindsey oil refinery in North Lincolnshire. HMRC is said to be owed £250m in unpaid taxes, while the facility’s decomissioning costs could be up to £3bn. The refinery is at risk after its owner, State Oil, filed for insolvency on Monday. The Official Receiver has reached a deal with the commodities trading giant, Glencore, that will ensure supplies of crude oil to the refinery. Ministers … Continue reading To save an English oil refinery so that it can replace a Scottish oil refinery to refine oil almost entirely from Scottish waters, the Scottish taxpayer must also contribute around £100m

‘How much difference does it make to the results of political opinion polling in Scotland if the polling company does or does not apply a 2014 weighting to its survey findings?’

stewartb The ease of asking questions of these AI tools is ‘interesting’! My question: ‘How much difference does it make to the results of political opinion polling in Scotland if the polling company does or does not apply a 2014 weighting to its survey findings?’ ChatGPT said:‘Applying or not applying a 2014 independence referendum weighting to political opinion polls in Scotland can significantly affect the reported results, especially when measuring support for Scottish independence.’ Here’s a breakdown of what this weighting does and why it matWhat is the 2014 weighting?This weighting adjusts the results of a poll to reflect how respondents say they … Continue reading ‘How much difference does it make to the results of political opinion polling in Scotland if the polling company does or does not apply a 2014 weighting to its survey findings?’