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‘Troubled Tory ferry fiasco’ vessel built in England out of action again

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Professor John Robertson OBA The National’s piece, above, on the latest problems for the MV Caledonian Isles has no historical perspective on this long-troubled vessel, leaving some to think it’s another ‘SNP ferry fiasco‘. Here it is: Readers will already know that the MV Caledonian Isles had been 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 … Continue reading ‘Troubled Tory ferry fiasco’ vessel built in England out of action again

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Why can only BBC Highland Cops tell us straight that these drug gangs originate in England and are from London, Birmingham and Newcastle? Don’t they care about the reputation of the Union that we’re ‘better suffering together’ in?

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Professor John Robertson OBA That’s an Inverness-based police inspector telling us on BBC Highland Cops in S3, E4, that the drugs will be ‘brought to Inverness by organised crime groups who originate predominantly in England, whether it be London, Newcastle, Birmingham, any big city. He missed out Liverpool which featured in Series 1 and 2. No one has ever, ever, in now at least six years since these gangs moved in, said anything like that on BBC Reporting Scotland or Good Mourning Scotland. These local, not BBC, producers of the series and the local cops are political naives. They don’t … Continue reading Why can only BBC Highland Cops tell us straight that these drug gangs originate in England and are from London, Birmingham and Newcastle? Don’t they care about the reputation of the Union that we’re ‘better suffering together’ in?

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‘The Canary in the Coalmine’ – Abortions shocking 36% more common in England & Wales after 18 years of SNP rule

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Professor John Robertson OBA I should say quickly that I’m right behind women’s right to choose on this. My posts are almost always about the representation rather than the substance of issues. ‘Scotland‘s media are keen to talk about abortion if the narrative can be made anti-Scottish Government/SNP but never if it’s this other side of the story: From the Guardian 24 May 2024: There were 251,377 abortions for women resident in the two nations in 2022, official figures from the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) show. With 9% of the population of England & Wales, all things being equal, … Continue reading ‘The Canary in the Coalmine’ – Abortions shocking 36% more common in England & Wales after 18 years of SNP rule

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Violent attacks on trains are significantly more common in England and Wales than in Scotland

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Professor John Robertson OBA The Scotsman today has a wee go at making Scots feel included in this latest British tragedy. There not much in the way of comparative data but a 2019 report by LBC had: The highest number of crimes were recorded in BTP’s B Division North – which covers an area including north London and East Anglia – while the fewest crimes were recorded in Scotland, the only area to show an overall decrease. https://www.lbc.co.uk/article/crime-surges-by-12-per-cent-on-britains-railways-DWygP7_2/ In an extended, good, stats-based survey in the Daily Mail (yes), of sex and violence offences, Scotland barely figures: Don’t worry, that’s … Continue reading Violent attacks on trains are significantly more common in England and Wales than in Scotland

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BBC Scotland ‘balance’ the FM’s claims on increased NHS appointments with Con and Labour ‘playground’ shouts and of course not the hard evidence that he is correct with 120 000 and 10% more than last year

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of breaking the NHS. Professor John Robertson OBA author of 20 peer-reviewed papers on media effects The above is not, as they would claim, ‘balance.‘ That would be hard, published, statistics to counter Swinney’s earlier claim that more appointments are being met than last year. Here it is: Official figures from Public Health Scotland show that new outpatient attendances (a key measure of completed appointments) in the first half of the 2025/26 financial year (April to September 2025) totaled 653,805, an increase of 25,027 compared to the equivalent period in 2024/25. https://publichealthscotland.scot/publications/nhs-waiting-times-stage-of-treatment/stage-of-treatment-waiting-times-inpatients-day-cases-and-new-outpatients-28-october-2025/ This aligns with broader Scottish Government reporting of … Continue reading BBC Scotland ‘balance’ the FM’s claims on increased NHS appointments with Con and Labour ‘playground’ shouts and of course not the hard evidence that he is correct with 120 000 and 10% more than last year

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Why Scots have a ‘critically low’ democratic well-being score – the 50 years theft of their energy supplies for one thing?

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Professor John Robertson OBA Carnegie UK today have reported (previous TuS post) that Scots have a ‘critically low‘ democratic well-being score of only 40%. Who is surprised? I’m surprised it’s not zero, same as mine. If you are at all aware of Scotland’s 300 year plus and current predicament in the Union, how could you get anywhere near 40%. Given their many problems with crap governance but at least their own crap government, 40% would be a fair guess for Ireland. I asked the document’s built in AI why this might be. It just listed all the wee parts leading … Continue reading Why Scots have a ‘critically low’ democratic well-being score – the 50 years theft of their energy supplies for one thing?

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Scots have ‘critically low’ democratic well-being staying in UK but are ‘twice as likely to have high trust’ in SNP Government even after 18 years – How did BBC Scotland cope with this?

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Professor John Robertson OBA From a large survey by Paris-based Ipsos for Carnegie UK, into wellbeing index for Scotland in 2025, highlighting collective wellbeing scores across various domains and demographic factors, BBC Scotland in their BBC Breakfast insert this morning, ignored the document’s built-in ‘Generative Summary‘, from the AI Assistant in order to extract their own agenda-driven headline points: Wellbeing has improved slightly in spite of the cost of living crisis. The Scottish Government continues to be trusted more than UK Government although trust in Westminster did improve while it stayed the same for Holyrood. Democratic well-being has not improved … Continue reading Scots have ‘critically low’ democratic well-being staying in UK but are ‘twice as likely to have high trust’ in SNP Government even after 18 years – How did BBC Scotland cope with this?

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If NHS Scotland was performing worse than NHS England, the British Labour Party in Scotland’s condemnation of the SNP in government might be justified but it’s not so it’s not

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stewartb On the face of it, these extreme waits referenced by the British Labour Party deputy leader in Scotland are wholly unacceptable. Why did they occur? Unless we know why, we can’t determine whether they are indicative of a whole system failure; local failure or indeed local incompetence; or due to particular clinical situations. We are very far from knowing where responsibility lies – local clinical management, health board management/oversight, Scottish Government officials, Minsters? The British Labour Party in Scotland gets away with its ‘NHS “won’t survive” another SNP term’ nonsense only because the mainstream media in Scotland is unwilling … Continue reading If NHS Scotland was performing worse than NHS England, the British Labour Party in Scotland’s condemnation of the SNP in government might be justified but it’s not so it’s not

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UKIP, The Brexit Party and now Reform UK are all cheeks that have stemmed from the same Arse….and that Arse’s name is Nigel Farage

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By Liz S Talking of migrants…….sorry long comment , but most of it consists of a transcript of a TV report by SKY News. Connor Gillies, SKY News Scottish correspondent , did a TV report on SKY News on the 30 October where he had been allowed into a Reform UK meeting in Glasgow, he advised us the viewers that he had apparently been trying to access one within Scotland for 10 months. Why ? He met and interviewed various people at the meeting including an existing Reform UK Councillor, Audrey Dempsey, who had previously been a Labour Councillor but she was suspended by the … Continue reading UKIP, The Brexit Party and now Reform UK are all cheeks that have stemmed from the same Arse….and that Arse’s name is Nigel Farage

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Middle class refers now to the 0.6% of the population living in £500 000 mansions and SNP is apparently out ‘to hammer’ them

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Professor John Robertson OBA In the Telegraph, last Monday: SNP council tax raid to hammer middle class – Families living in larger homes could see their annual bills rise from £3,780 to £6,515 under plans and: Further down the page they had: Note that these ‘middle class’ families live in only 0.6% or fewer of the homes in Scotland. The middle class shrinks to only a tiny group at the top end? In England, bands G and H currently pay on average £3 800 and £4 560, well above that in Scotland. They didn’t of course have this: Continue reading Middle class refers now to the 0.6% of the population living in £500 000 mansions and SNP is apparently out ‘to hammer’ them