Professor John Robertson OBA Thanks to Dottie for alerting me to this. In the Guardian yesterday, the above and: GPs can no longer guarantee safe care for millions of patients because of a dangerous shortage of medics, Britain’s top family doctor has said. Prof Kamila Hawthorne, the chair of the Royal College of GPs (RCGP), said surgeries were desperate to hire more doctors to meet soaring demand for care but could not afford to do so because of a lack of core funding. Exhausted family doctors have been working “completely unsafe hours” because their surgeries did not have the cash … Continue reading In Scotland each GP is responsible for 1 680 patients while in England and Wales it’s between 2 241 and 2440, around 500 more, nearly one third more. That can’t be healthy, can it?

Professor John Robertson OBA Readers will remember the scale of the police investigation into £600 000 given to the SNP by its own members for a campaign, and which they then, according to one complaint from a member of Sperm of the Gall, spent on something else. A blue tent had to be put on Nicola’s lawn, on advice from intelligence, just in case there was a body too. More recently a massive fraud case in Ayr required a big blue tent on the Low Green but, on advice from intelligence, local police decided not to proceed so the big … Continue reading Large blue police tent to be move from Ayr Conservatives corruption investigation to Orkney investigation of missing taxpayer money – £850 000 – misplaced by Lib Dem council

Professor John Robertson OBA According to Homicide in Scotland 2024-25 and its 4 predecessor reports, there were 67 female victims of murder in the last 5 yrs, 40% down on the previous five up to 2019/2020.1 41% (27) were killed by partners or ex-partners, with the remainder primarily by other male relatives or acquaintances. I see no sign of the 39, above. The trend in the last 5 years has been flat – 10, 16, 13, 13, 15 suggesting a disappointing bottoming that may not reduce further but not in any way a ‘National Emergency.’ In the last 5 years … Continue reading Falling trend in Scotland with 40% fewer women killed by men in last five ‘less violent years’, to level 13% below that in England, suggests a still shocking number but no national emergency

Professor John Robertson OBA I have the above, not from reading scriptures of any religion, though the notion is in more than one, I remember it, I think, from the film ‘Schindler’s List.’ It came into my head after asking the question, in the light of the current and historical attacks on Nicola Sturgeon over her school closedowns and strict face mask-wearing edicts: How many children of school age died of Covid in Scotland England Wales between 2020 and 2022 The answer was: I’m a little ashamed to say, I thought, at first, there’s no point reporting these very small … Continue reading ‘Whoever saves a single soul, saves an entire world’ Scotland’s stricter pandemic measures in schools

Professor John Robertson OBA From BBC Business today: Rail fares in England next year are to be frozen for the first time in 30 years, the government has announced. The freeze until March 2027 will apply to regulated fares, which includes season tickets and off-peak returns. Scotland only gets a mention to remind us that the freeze only applies in England but there’s no mention that the Scottish Government scrapped peak rail fares in September 2025. Travellers will save 30-40% on peak-time travel only in Scotland. For example, London to Manchester (163 miles) peak return will still cost £150 to … Continue reading Labour’s price freeze being trumpeted merely keeps rail travellers paying far more in England than in Scotland

stewartb No less an authority(!) than the UK government on November 13 published this: ‘Reporting year 2025: Education and training statistics for the UK.’ Among the statistics given for the four constituent nations are pupil:teacher ratios for publicly-funded primary and secondary schools.  See https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/education-and-training-statistics-for-the-uk/2025 The ‘Headline facts and figures – 2025’ section has this on overall ratios for publicly-funded/maintained schools: ‘Pupil to teacher ratios were lowest in Scotland (13.3), and similar in Northern Ireland (17.1), England (18.0), and Wales (18.9).‘ Specifically for primary schools, the latest statistics on pupil-teacher ratios in for example Labour-run Wales and in Scotland are: Wales = 18.9 and Scotland = 16.1. Time … Continue reading Scottish teachers have enjoyed by far the best pupil/teacher ratio and consequent workload in the UK for at least 15 years now