Professor John Robertson OBA In the Guardian today, the above, and: Millions of tonnes of treated sewage sludge is spread on farmland across the UK every year despite containing forever chemicals, microplastics and toxic waste, and experts say the outdated current regulations are not fit for purpose. An investigation by the Guardian and Watershed has identified England’s sludge-spreading hotspots and shown where the practice could be damaging rivers. https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/jul/07/millions-of-tonnes-of-toxic-sewage-sludge-spread-on-uk-farmland-every-year There is, of course, no research into the situation in Scotland, referred to in the above. Toxic sludge is being spread on Scottish farmland and there are campaigns against the practice … Continue reading Scottish Government regulations mean sewage sludge spread on Scottish farmland is less polluted than in the rest of the UK

Professor John Robertson OBA Readers will already know that the MV Caledonian Isles is back 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 launch, marked by the consequences of political errors and shoddy work by its builders. Launched on 25 May 1993 at Richards Shipbuilders of Lowestoft, Suffolk, England, shut down only months later in 1994, … Continue reading Not mentioned by Herald’s Martin Williams – Arran ferry’s ‘faults’ started when the contract to build it was awarded by Scottish Conservatives to an inexperienced English yard on its last legs in a Conservative constituency

Professor John Robertson OBA Here we have another of those Freedom of Information requests by the opposition parties stored up to try to maintain the SNPbad narrative through the holidays. You’ve already seen the Tory ones on ambulance and fire statistics. Here we have the Lib Dems reporting: More than 10,000 ferry sailings cancelled due to faults – Freedom of information data obtained by the Scottish Lib Dems showed 10,809 sailings were cancelled since January 2023. Lib Dem MSP Jamie Greene said: “These figures reveal just how much chaos the SNP are causing island communities. “Our island communities are being … Continue reading Alex Cole Hamilton reveals CalMac to be more than 97% reliable with his second-class research

Professor John Robertson OBA The two recent polls by Ipsos and Norstat showing Yes leads, have reversed what seemed to be a counter trend with four No leads, from Survation but especially, with bizarre whopping No leads, from YouGov. These four polls were ‘counter‘ in the most obvious of ways – counter to the plummeting reputations of Labour in late 2024 and early 2025, as they went full-on austerity two and especially for the poor, the elderly and the disabled. How did they manage it? Simple, they adjusted their sample to look just like the sample in the 2014 referendum … Continue reading Want a No lead? Ask Survation. Want a crazy big No lead? Ask YouGov. Want a Yes lead? Don’t fiddle with the sample