Professor John Robertson OBA You may remember in 2020, Boris Johnson saying that NHS Scotland had resilience problems which would harm its Covid response. In the end, the excess death rate in England was twice that in Scotland. Recently, we had Jackie Baillie making a similar morbid wish fulfilment prediction suggesting that the ‘SNP’ was not ready for winter. It’s not working out well for Baillie. Public Health Scotland (PHS) figures, external show that in the week of 24-30 November, lab-confirmed cases rose sharply to 1,759 compared with 845 the previous week. Hospital admissions as a result of the illness also rose … Continue reading NHS Scotland’s greater resilience and Scottish Government actions paying off as flu hospital admissions surge to FOUR times England with no reports of being overwhelmed

Professor John Robertson OBA In the Herald today: Scottish ferry built in Turkey delayed [again] with Christmas delivery ‘a challenge’ The contract for the MV Isle of Islay was awarded to Cemre Shipyard in Turkey in March 2022. She was expected to be delivered by the end of 2024 but has been delayed several times and seems most unlikely to make it in 2025, more than 1 year late. She is a smaller (107 cars), simpler vessel, just diesel-powered than the larger (117 car) new dual fuel-powered MV Glen Sannox. Has Ferguson Marine had to delay any simple diesel ferry … Continue reading As Turkish yard delays small, simple-design, ferry again and again, here’s Clyde-based Ferguson Marine’s long track record of delivering them on-time and often commended in Parliament

Professor John Robertson OBA From ITV yesterday: A Condor Ferry worker who endangered lives after his vessel collided with a fishing trawler has been handed a 20-month prison sentence. Lewis Peter Carr, from Sunderland, appeared at Jersey‘s Royal Court on Thursday 4 December to receive his sentence. He was found guilty in a trial this September of endangering ships, structures, or individuals – contrary to Jersey’s Shipping Law. The charge related to the collision of the Condor Commodore Goodwill Ferry and L’Ecume II on 9 December 2022, which resulted in the deaths of three fishermen aboard L’Ecume. https://www.itv.com/news/channel/2025-12-04/20-month-prison-sentence-for-ferry-worker-regarding-fatal-boat-collision Condor Ferries makes around 10 000 … Continue reading No CalMac ferry has ever killed a fishing boat crew member, while privatised Condor ferries has killed three in one year despite making barely 5% of the crossings and in calmer seas

Professor John Robertson OBA Seeing the Guardian report today on the massive shocking scandal at Blackpool Victoria Hospital, I was reminded of the media-saturated story in 2018 – 2022, when Doctor Iain Kennedy made his name exposing bullying at Raigmore Hospital in Inverness. The contrast in the media/opposition party treatment could not be sharper. First, Blackpool: In the Guardian yesterday following on from the above LancsLive piece in September 2025: The report, leaked to the Guardian, follows a series of devastating incidents at the Blackpool Victoria hospital that have resulted in multiple arrests and six members of staff being imprisoned … Continue reading Patient sexually assaulted and killed in her bed, six staff jailed including surgeon jailed for sexually assaulting five colleagues and a culture of systemic bullying and harassment in Blackpool hospital but neither health secretary nor government blamed and BBC ignore it – imagine that had been in Inverness?

Professor John Robertson OBA From BBC East Midlands yesterday, the above and: A drug addict who allowed a Nottingham-based county lines gang to use her home to store and deal class-A drugs has been sentenced. Police said Jeanette Talbot, from Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, was given free heroin and cocaine as payment from the ringleaders, who ran an “industrial” supply network. The 12 drug dealers were jailed in June, while Talbot had her sentencing deferred to allow her to demonstrate further progress in tackling her drug habit. Nottinghamshire Police said an investigation into the drug network – which was spread across the East Midlands … Continue reading 12 Nottingham drug gang members who targeted Aberdeenshire jailed