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Disgraced former BBC Scotland chief reveals anti-democratic sentiments in line with Labour family

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Professor John Robertson OBA John Boothman, was moved aside from BBC Scotland Head of News in 2015, after bullying Zoe MacDonald, a BBC Scotland camerawoman, the daughter of Margo MacDonald SNP MSP and icon. He was/is married to Susan Deacon, a former Labour MSP and Health Minister at Holyrood and is said to have offered media training to Labour Party wannabe politicians.  Now a regular gammon with the Times, kind of like Macwhirter at the Spectator, here he is today: It’s an astonishing piece which equates the ability to spend more than your competitors because they, unlike you, depend upon the relatively small … Continue reading Disgraced former BBC Scotland chief reveals anti-democratic sentiments in line with Labour family

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Can the PM assure the workers that he believes bus manufacturing should have a future in Falkirk?

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By Liz S So I am a tad confused or rather quite befuddled…….. Brian Leishman Labour MP for Alloa & Grangemouth is reported to now be suspended from the Labour party this afternoon “over breaching party discipline” Yet only earlier today Leishman posted a tweet, together with a linked video, that showed him feeding a line to his -then- leader Keir Starmer at today’s PMQ’s to then allow his -then – leader to spout #SNPBAD and also allow his – then – leader to give a Masterclass in hypocrisy……….(as did Leishman). I have again highlighted in bold both Leishman’s and Starmer’s brass … Continue reading Can the PM assure the workers that he believes bus manufacturing should have a future in Falkirk?

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Scotland’s roads have less than half the collision rate of the UK

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stewartb For broader context: UK Government. Department of Transport (Last updated December 19, 2024) Road safety statistics: data tables – ‘Detailed statistics about reported personal injury road collisions for Great Britain, vehicles and casualties involved.’ Source: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/reported-road-accidents-vehicles-and-casualties-tables-for-great-britain#geographical-breakdowns-ras04 See: Geographical breakdowns (RAS04)/ Country and region (RAS0402) and specifically ‘ the spreadsheet entitled: Reported road collisions by severity, region and country, United Kingdom, 10 years up to 2023′. SCOTLAND: FATAL Total in 2014 = 178 (6 per billion vehicle miles) FATAL Total in 2023 =149 (5 per billion vehicle miles) GREAT BRITAIN:FATAL ’Total’ in 2014 = 1.658 (5 per billion vehicle miles)FATAL ’Total’ in 2023 = 1,522 … Continue reading Scotland’s roads have less than half the collision rate of the UK

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As 224 English local authorities submit unaudited accounts based on ‘dodgy data’, Scotland’s authorities have ‘state-run audit systems which have fared significantly better’

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Professor John Robertson OBA Thanks to Brian McGowan for alerting me to this: From the Canary factchecker today: The National Audit Office (NAO) has declined to sign off on the accuracy of the UK government’s national accounts for a second time, citing widespread unreliability in, and lack of, data supplied by local councils. The crux of the issue lies in the backlog of local authority audits, meaning only around a shocking 4% of English councils provided data deemed “reliable”. This is down from 10% in 2022/23 – which even then, was a dire reflection on the state of local and … Continue reading As 224 English local authorities submit unaudited accounts based on ‘dodgy data’, Scotland’s authorities have ‘state-run audit systems which have fared significantly better’

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A77 injury collisions plummet to only a third of level 8 years ago

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Professor John Robertson OBA I’m a regular A77 user and I strongly empathise with the calls for more dualling and bypassing on what is the very busy main Belfast to Glasgow route but road safety statistics do not seem to be a strong argument for that. From A75 and A77 road traffic accident statistics: FOI release, published today, we see a clear and steady decline in injury collisions, interrupted by a pandemic dip, due it must be assumed, at least in part, to improvements, from 108 to only 38 incidents in only 8 years. Source: https://www.gov.scot/publications/foi-202500460504/ Continue reading A77 injury collisions plummet to only a third of level 8 years ago

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If the Press & Journal can say ‘English drug dealers’ in Scotland why can’t BBC Scotland?

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Professor John Robertson OBA Thanks to Graham for alerting me to this. In the P&J today, another report on drugs clearly linked to English county lines gangs cuckooing vulnerable locals. For some time now major tabloids such as the ‘Scottish’ Sun, Express and Daily Mail and several local papers have been content to reveal the uniquely English base for the county lines gang plague terrorising up to 50 towns and even smaller villages, bring a new level of violence and exploitation, along with people trafficking, prostitution and child abuse with them and exploiting the vacuum of Scotland’s much-reduced crime levels. … Continue reading If the Press & Journal can say ‘English drug dealers’ in Scotland why can’t BBC Scotland?

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Access to NHS dentistry in Scotland – How trust in hypocritical Scottish Labour has ‘rotted away’

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stewartb More on the state of dentistry in England. From The Mirror – traditionally a Labour-supporting newspaper (July 14, 2025): ‘Wes Streeting defends only paying for half the population to get an NHS dentist – Health Secretary Wes Streeting has been grilled by MPs about suggestions Labour will not substantially increase the NHS dentistry budget it inherited from the Tories’ ‘Health Secretary Wes Streeting has defended why the Government is only paying for half the population of England to get an NHS dentist. (my emphasis) ‘MPs on the Health Committee grilled Mr Streeting on whether he would “reconsider” a decision to stick with similar funding for … Continue reading Access to NHS dentistry in Scotland – How trust in hypocritical Scottish Labour has ‘rotted away’

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Leading health think tank praises new framework for population health co-created by Scottish Government and COSLA

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– ‘this is a major step forward’ –  ‘Despite the now released Fit for the future: 10 Year Health Plan, England has nothing equivalent’ – ‘England would do well to draw inspiration from its neighbour’. By stewartb A respected think tank focusing on health and care in England, the King’s Fund published (July 14) a blog post with the headline: ‘What can English health policy learn from Scotland? A coherent policy approach to population health.’ Source: https://www.kingsfund.org.uk/insight-and-analysis/blogs/scotland-coherent-policy-approach-population-health It describes the King’s Fund’s longstanding advocacy of a stronger focus in England on population health through promoting the ‘integration for health, as … Continue reading Leading health think tank praises new framework for population health co-created by Scottish Government and COSLA

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Scotland’s economy has recently been outperforming the rest of the UK

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By Liz S Labour are failing in what they promoted as being their main mission as the new UK government. Number one focus for them being “Growth” in the UK economy. On July 11th it was reported that: “Chancellor Rachel Reeves has called the economy’s recent performance “disappointing” after figures showed it shrank unexpectedly in May” Also………. “The economy contracted by 0.1%, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said, after also shrinking in April” Ian Murray, Labour’s so called ‘Scottish’ Secretary, declared in 2024 that Labour’s first budget as the new UK government would herald an era of “Growth” for Scotland. Yet his Labour party are … Continue reading Scotland’s economy has recently been outperforming the rest of the UK