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Tory MSP criticises Scot Gov for winter weather problems but Tory/LD Aberdeenshire council had just removed 1 200 grit bins amid budget cuts only months earlier and then suffered the greatest disruption

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Government response to winter weather disruption in the north. Tim Eagle [Con] says support for Moray, Aberdeenshire and the Highlands was too slow given the severity of the conditions and argues that ministers should have brought in extra help. It’s a Daily Mail story picked up by the highly trained researchers at Pacific Quay or just phoned in by the Scottish Cons. Politically-motivated pass-the-buck – local councils hold primary responsibility for on-the-ground actions in their areas, such as declaring major incidents, clearing roads, managing school closures and supporting residents. Moray Council has been Conservative-led since May 2022 and Aberdeenshire has … Continue reading Tory MSP criticises Scot Gov for winter weather problems but Tory/LD Aberdeenshire council had just removed 1 200 grit bins amid budget cuts only months earlier and then suffered the greatest disruption

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As Trump takes Venezuela and talks of Cuba and Greenland; as Putin will not let Ukraine go and as China threatens Taiwan, is a different world emerging, with new lessons for Scotland?

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Amongst other things I’m not a renowned global politics theorist or historian so here’s a, for me, fascinating AI-produced and sourced essay. I look forward to your thoughts: The geopolitical landscape in early 2026 indeed appears to be shifting toward a more assertive era of great-power competition, where major actors like the United States, Russia, and China are pursuing territorial or influence-based ambitions with less regard for traditional norms of sovereignty and international law. This could signal the emergence of a “different world”—one reminiscent of 19th- or early 20th-century spheres of influence, where smaller entities face heightened risks of coercion, … Continue reading As Trump takes Venezuela and talks of Cuba and Greenland; as Putin will not let Ukraine go and as China threatens Taiwan, is a different world emerging, with new lessons for Scotland?

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Anas won’t say – There is a higher percentage of the people, in my home city of Glasgow alone, being treated for life-threatening conditions such as heart disease and cancer within 18 weeks than in any part of England

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Anas and Kenny, a duo going nowhere? Anas uses the one NHS card they have, waits over one year for by definition non-life-threatening conditions are shorter in England, which they owe to Boris Johnson after he spent millions clearing it, by paying the private sector to work weekends and evenings. John Swinney has, rather, gone for reducing the numbers on the 18-week [then 12]waiting list made up of those who are on it for the very obvious reason, their lives are at risk: From Public Health Scotland 18 March 2025, for 2024 [Latest release], we can see that in Glasgow in December … Continue reading Anas won’t say – There is a higher percentage of the people, in my home city of Glasgow alone, being treated for life-threatening conditions such as heart disease and cancer within 18 weeks than in any part of England

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After 14 years of the SNP lower drink-drive limit Scotland has by far the safest roads and drivers in the UK

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From the Guardian today: Tougher rules on drink-driving, eye tests for older motorists and automatic emergency braking in new cars will be mandated by the government in an attempt to significantly reduce casualties on Britain’s roads. The first road safety strategy in more than a decade aims to save thousands of lives with a range of measures, from training and technology to stiffer penalties for offenders. The proposals, to be announced on Wednesday, seek to reduce fatalities and serious injuries on Britain’s roads by 65% by 2035. The number of deaths has declined since the 1970s but that improvement slowed … Continue reading After 14 years of the SNP lower drink-drive limit Scotland has by far the safest roads and drivers in the UK

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Private rents 40% higher in England and significantly stronger safety nets through generous Discretionary Housing Payment funding in Scotland

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With another of their sickly, tasteless images today, the Herald has: Scotland’s housing costs safety net is failing with tens of thousands of families in need locked out of homes as support fails to cover soaring private rents, ministers have been warned. Explosive [sic] new analysis which lays bare the reality for those most in need, shows that just eight per cent of private rental homes are affordable for those relying on state support, deepening a national housing emergency declared by Holyrood nearly two years ago. What’s missing? Cost of rent? Source – https://www.ons.gov.uk/economy/inflationandpriceindices/bulletins/privaterentandhousepricesuk/december2025 Support for Housing? In summary, while the baseline … Continue reading Private rents 40% higher in England and significantly stronger safety nets through generous Discretionary Housing Payment funding in Scotland

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Angela Constance witch-hunt – Even the North Wales Chronicle and the Largs and Millport News have more accurate and ethical reporting than the ‘Scottish’ MSM

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Professor John Robertson OBA Still on the BBC Scotland website – Justice secretary found to have breached ministerial code Still on the Herald frontpage – Constance ‘breached Ministerial Code twice’ The Express, this: and on the Scotsman frontpage – Constance won’t resign despite code breaches Note that two of the above still suggest that resignation is appropriate. Nowhere in the BBC Scotland text, nor in these three front pages, this concluding, definitive, statement from the independent advisers: The principles described in the Code provide for a spectrum of seriousness from inadvertence to knowingly misleading Parliament. We have concluded that the … Continue reading Angela Constance witch-hunt – Even the North Wales Chronicle and the Largs and Millport News have more accurate and ethical reporting than the ‘Scottish’ MSM

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10 YouGov sub-polls in two months suggest SNP is really on 40%

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Professor John Robertson OBA YouGov is no friend of the SNP nor of Scottish Independence. They have an unerring ability to pluck out a NO lead in a stream of YES leads found by other pollsters and lower SNP figures than others. See below: They do this over and over by adjusting the sample so that, even after 11 or 12 years, it has a 55 to 45 ratio of No and Yes voters in 2014, in full Scotland only polls. However, when it does a full UK Westminster poll it cannot really do this and so the Scottish sub-poll … Continue reading 10 YouGov sub-polls in two months suggest SNP is really on 40%

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First a Scottish Labour MP, then Alex Neill and now Jackie Baillie platformed to lie about NHS Scotland as nearly THREE times as many emergency patients per capita wait 12 hours or more in NHS England than in NHS Scotland

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Professor John Robertson OBA From the Daily Record today: A&E departments in Scots hospitals in ‘meltdown’ with waiting times at ‘worst ever’ level – A&E departments in Scots hospitals are in “meltdown” after waiting times reached their worst ever level for the month of November. First, I’ll deal with the 4 hour waits: From A&E Attendances and Emergency Admissions 2025-26, 60.1% were treated in Type 1 A&E departments, within 4 hours.1 In NHS Scotland, the equivalent figure was 62.8%.2 Remember that 2.7% difference means 40 000 more patients out of 1.46m attending Type 1 A&E, in NHS England would have … Continue reading First a Scottish Labour MP, then Alex Neill and now Jackie Baillie platformed to lie about NHS Scotland as nearly THREE times as many emergency patients per capita wait 12 hours or more in NHS England than in NHS Scotland

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One year after First Minister’s promise NHS Scotland’s overall waiting list for new outpatient appointments has fallen for the 6th month in a row with NHS England’s list now a shocking 51% longer per head of population

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Professor John Robertson OBA In January 2025, SNP First Minister John Swinney promised to get NHS Scotland waiting lists down substantially and, based on the latest figures, he has. It’s not proving a popular narrative for the MSM in Scotland. At the end of 2025, NHS Scotland’s overall waiting list for new outpatient appointments has fallen for the 6th month in a row, to 559 077 pathways: https://www.publichealthscotland.scot/publications/nhs-waiting-times-stage-of-treatment/stage-of-treatment-waiting-times-inpatients-day-cases-and-new-outpatients-6-january-2026/ All things being equal, the equivalent NHS England figure should be around 5.6mn but it was 7.46 mn, 51% longer! https://www.england.nhs.uk/statistics/statistical-work-areas/rtt-waiting-times/ Continue reading One year after First Minister’s promise NHS Scotland’s overall waiting list for new outpatient appointments has fallen for the 6th month in a row with NHS England’s list now a shocking 51% longer per head of population

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If Scotland is a ‘violent society’ why do England & Wales have 13 times as many, per head, armed police call-outs and far more violent crimes?

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Professor John Robertson OBA The Daily Record today, deploying all its skills to inform us in the most misleading way they can manage, with a view to unnerving us and hopefully, with that ‘violent society’ claim, to turn us against the government of the day. So two things – are armed police call-outs in Scotland relatively high and is that violent society claim tenable? 119 armed police call-outs in Scotland in 2025 so all things being equal in England and Wales, they’d have 1 309? They had 17 249! 13 times, per head, pro rata, as high. https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/police-use-of-firearms-statistics-april-2024-to-march-2025 In some … Continue reading If Scotland is a ‘violent society’ why do England & Wales have 13 times as many, per head, armed police call-outs and far more violent crimes?