Professor John Robertson OBA BBC Breakfast this morning: Accident and emergency departments in England have dealt with more than 4 000 cases of hiccups in the past five years and well over a million sore throats. How do they explain the above and a tenfold increase in folk with minor ailments gong to A&E? They don’t, just leaving viewers with a plea to go elsewhere for treatment and confuse us with an only loosely connected Labour Government announcement that 500 new ambulances will be delivered three months early. Are folk calling for an ambulance with hiccups or a sore throat? … Continue reading Why have NHS England A&E departments had to deal with 1 million sore throats but there are no comparable reports in Scotland? Scottish GPs have nearly 600 fewer patients to care for

Professor John Robertson OBA The Guardian today has the above chart and: ‘Absolutely frightening’: surge in ketamine cases hits UK urology wards – Young adults and teenagers prevalent in ‘skyrocketing’ admissions linked to class B drug, say doctors in northern England. 252%? OMG! Lisa Summers will tell you it’s even more frightening in Scotland. In 2007, there was 1 death due to the abuse of ketamine and by 2024, there were 21.1 1 000%! OMG times 10! What is the Scottish Government doing about this? Here comes Jackie Baillie. Wait, on face value, a massive percentage increase but given that … Continue reading Absolutely no frightening surge in ketamine cases in Scotland unless you don’t understand percentages

Professor John Robertson OBA The Herald, once again yesterday, embracing one of the very same trade unions which their corporate-owners insisted that they regularly demonise and mis-represent in earlier times. Now, of course, those same unions are useful in undermining the SNP in government. In the days before the growth of the SNP and the independence movement, corporate media hacks would have been very quick to inform their readers that fewer firefighters are now needed as fires reduce in number and that taxpayers cannot be expected to pay for them to sit around all day. Here’s the kind of evidence they once … Continue reading 22 years later the Herald has changed its tune on whether firefighters ‘deserve to have their cake and eat it too’ because it’s an SNP cake now

Professor John Robertson OBA Thanks to Dottie for alerting me to this. From BBC England today: HS2 has confirmed that its aim to get trains running between Birmingham and London between 2029 and 2033 “cannot be achieved”. Birmingham’s Curzon Street Station is currently taking shape in the heart of the city but the divisive high-speed railway project has been plagued by serious challenges. Earlier this year, HS2 CEO Mark Wild acknowledged that construction had been “harder than thought” and “needed a reset” involving a review of the project’s cost and schedule. The high speed track, including the branch to Birmingham, … Continue reading HS2 despite chopping link to Scotland to take 2 to 3 times as long as Japanese and French equivalents – Con and Labour governments not to be blamed as it’s not a Scottish ferry is it?