Please Support Talking-up Scotland at: https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/support-talking-up-scotlandClick on the above. Many thanks again to rtpscott for this: At the end of this P&J report: Why is the Sherriff so concerned about people from England rather than from, say, Glasgow? Might he be seeing more of the former than he’d like? From the Inverness Courier in July 2025: A 26-year-old Liverpool man who supplied heroin and cocaine across England and Scotland, including Inverness, Aviemore and Nairn, will be sentenced next week. Jack Horgan, of Boundary Farm Road, who is currently serving a jail sentence, appeared by video link at Inverness Sheriff Court represented by his … Continue reading Inverness Sheriff saying courts need to stop drug pushers, ‘especially from England’ could face charges of being Anti-English

From Cancelled planned operations Month ending 30 November 2025, published today: There were 25,996 operations planned to take place across NHS Scotland. This is 5% higher (+1,232) than the number planned in November 2024 (24,764). Overall, the number of planned operations has been increasing since COVID-19 affected services. Of all planned operations during November 2025 in NHS Scotland, the cancellation reasons were; 798 (3.1%) by the hospital for clinical reasons, 814 (3.1%) by the patient, 504 (1.9%) by the hospital due to capacity or non-clinical reasons, and 69 (0.3%) for other reasons. https://www.publichealthscotland.scot/publications/cancelled-planned-operations/cancelled-planned-operations-month-ending-30-november-2025/ Only the 1.9% cancelled by the hospital … Continue reading Year after year NHS Scotland ready to fulfil 98% of all ops on time with less than half the cancellation rate of NHS England

Aberdeenshire has just had one of the worst winters in recent years but not by any means that rare an event for them. In February 2025, by a vote of 43 to 21 the council voted for a budget including it its appendices a plan to remove 1 200 out of 2 100 grit bins. From the minute on page 39: Winter Maintenance Fund – Allocated for unexpected winter and emergency operations. The existing revenue budget is based on a mild winter scenario, meaning additional funding may be required in harsher conditions, however the reserve was drawn down in 2023/24 … Continue reading Aberdeenshire SNP councillors tried to keep grit bins but were outvoted by Unionist councillors keen to cut costs based on assuming ‘mild winter scenario’ and who allowed bin removal even DURING winter to endanger pensioners

How does funding per patient for GPs compare in NHS England and NHS Scotland? In NHS England it’s between £155 and £165.1 In NHS Scotland it’s around £210, a third, 33% higher.2 Is that it? Is the SNP now resting on it’s laurels? Nope, see this: General Practice in Scotland is set to receive a record £531 million investment over the next three years, marking the largest funding boost to core GP services in the country’s history. The announcement follows an agreement with the British Medical Association and is subject to future budget approvals by the Scottish Government. The funding will … Continue reading GPs get 33% more per patient* in Scotland than in England and the funding trend is up in Scotland, down in England

In the Guardian today: The government will not meet its targets to save wildlife in England and is failing on almost all environmental measures, the Office for Environmental Protection watchdog has said. In a damning report, the OEP has found that seven of the 10 targets set in the Environment Act 2021 have little likelihood of being met by 2030, which is the deadline set in law. How is the Scottish Government getting on with this? If you depend on the ‘Scottish’ media you might not know any of this. Scottish Government initiatives push Scotland well ahead of the rest of the … Continue reading As UK Government fails 7 out of 10 targets for England, Scottish Government initiatives push Scotland well ahead of the rest of the UK in preserving nature