From Scottish Household Survey 2024: Satisfaction with Local Health Services and Sport and Leisure Facilities, published today: Across Scotland, the percentage of adults who said they were satisfied with the quality of local health services has fallen by 6 percentage points from 67% in 2023 to 61% in 2024. 69% of respondents living in Remote Rural areas said they were satisfied with the quality of local health services compared with 63% living in Large Urban Areas and 57% in Other Urban Areas. https://www.gov.scot/publications/scottish-household-survey-2024-local-health-services-and-local-authority-sport-and-leisure-facilities/ From The King’s Fund, in April 2025: 31% of people in England were satisfied (“very” or “quite” … Continue reading Satisfaction with local health services TWICE as high in Scotland and more so in rural areas to cast doubt on BMA Dr Kennedy’s politically motivated comments

Remember that 11% gap (above) with Wales means around 4 000 were treated on time in Scotland who would not have been, had they lived in Wales. Similarly around 800 who would not have been treated on time in England. Professor John Robertson OBA Why is BBC Scotland NOT linking to this dramatic cancer waiting times story today, like BBC UK is? BBC UK this morning, above. BBC Scotland below, not linking? Wonder why? Could it be because those BBC UK staff keep forgetting there’s a war on up here and that BBC readers might see that bloody graph (above), … Continue reading 4 000 Scottish cancer patients treated on time, in just one year, who would not have been had they lived in Labour Wales where they even set their sights lower

Professor John Robertson OBA BBC Scotland, today, has the above choice as the headline, neatly emphasising the negative and implicating the Minister with that wee ‘admits minister‘ but forgetting it should be ‘admits the minister after we choose that question,’ Nowhere in the report is this: The return-to-custody rate [not just re-offending but also breaching licence conditions] for the early 2025 tranche was only 5%. This was based on a Scotsman newspaper report1 as official data are not yet published. The kinds of re-offending breakdown is not yet available from the 2025 tranche but for the late 2024 group of … Continue reading Early release of prisoners can cause anxiety but shouldn’t taxpayer-funded media tell people that only 5% will re-offend on release from prisons with twice as many staff per capita?

Professor John Robertson OBA These two headlines today and the full text, reveal the agenda in editorial decision-making, in BBC Scotland reporting, to conceal good news about Scotland, after 18 years of SNP rule. Imagine the figures were the other way round, they would have been compared, like the drug deaths, and the worse figure linked to government mismanagement with a quote from an opposition politician. Obliged to report the change of 0.1%, from 3.8% to 3.7%, they refer to that as ‘slight’ knowing most will accept that only 0.1% does seem small and concealing the fact that it refers … Continue reading UK Unemployment surges to massive 35% higher than in Scotland – will ‘SNP’ Government get the credit just as they would have been blamed if it was the other way round?

Professor John Robertson OBA Not being reported by BBC Scotland or BBC Scotland Business, despite being announced 8 hours ago on the Scottish Government‘s news website, on automatic Google alerts or followed, you’d think, by all serious serious journalists: A record 4,000 employers in Scotland are now paying their staff at least the real Living Wage, boosting the salaries of 72,000 employees and supporting them with rising costs. The milestone has been reached at the start of Living Wage Week, which celebrates the transformative impact the real living wage can have for workers and businesses alike, and encourages employers to … Continue reading Good news you won’t hear – 72 000 Scottish workers receive pay boost thanks to Scottish Government