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More than FORTY times as many children are forced into home education in England compared to Scotland – ‘amid rising classroom violence and falling standards’

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From the Children’s Commissioner for England, in the wake of the Sara Sharif murder case, today: A register of children not in school to be implemented urgently. This must include children who are home educated and be introduced via legislation as a matter of urgency, backed by the resource to effectively implement and monitor it. https://www.childrenscommissioner.gov.uk/resource/deaths-of-children-in-need/ Because of the above lack of record-keeping, there is only an estimate of how many children are in home education, in England – 92 000. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c704x7e5515o#:~:text=Home%20education%20register,by%20about%2011%2C000%20on%202022. In Scotland, the known, not estimated, figure is currently 2 222. Thus, roughly 41 times as many children, 4 … Continue reading More than FORTY times as many children are forced into home education in England compared to Scotland – ‘amid rising classroom violence and falling standards’

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Third sub-poll reinforces notion that SNP is well ahead

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In today’s Find Out Now, Westminster poll of 2 659, we see: Com – 23% Lab – 26% Lib Dem – 11% Reform – 25% Green – 9% The Scottish subset of 223, has: Con – 12% Lab – 23% LD – 5% Reform – 16% Green – 8% SNP – 34% Source: https://findoutnow.co.uk/blog/voting-intention-11th-dec-2024/ A sub poll of only 223, has clear limitations in terms of reliability but, this is the latest of 3 all telling the same story, of Cons, Lab and Reform all doing less well in Scotland than elsewhere in the UK. Only 4 days ago,  I … Continue reading Third sub-poll reinforces notion that SNP is well ahead

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NHS England’s ‘alarming decline’ in 12 key metrics being averted by SNP Government – Stillbirth, ‘The Canary in the Coalmine’

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By Professor John Robertson OBA Thanks once more to Dottie for alerting me to this. In the Guardian today: Darzi [Prof Lord Ara Darzi, the surgeon and former health minister ] said there had been “alarming declines” in 12 key metrics of patient safety in England since 2022. They include maternity care, in which there are growing rates of stillbirth, babies dying during or soon after they are born and also women dying while giving birth. https://www.theguardian.com/society/2024/dec/12/nhs-spends-147bn-a-year-treating-patients-in-england-hurt-by-care-mistakes-says-report The stillbirth rate in Scotland in 2023 was 3.7 per 1 000 births, the same as in 2022 and having fallen steadily from 4.2 in 2020 (during … Continue reading NHS England’s ‘alarming decline’ in 12 key metrics being averted by SNP Government – Stillbirth, ‘The Canary in the Coalmine’

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Childcare – BBC Scotland’s attempts to hide SNP achievements while praising Labour ambitions

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By Brenda Robb Some of you hardier souls might remember Radio Scotland’s focus on childcare a couple of weeks ago. They were asking why Scotland wasn’t offering the same as England, inviting parents to share how disappointed/let down/betrayed they felt and even organised a Better Call Kaye phone-in to amplify the above messaging. This was of course backed up by the following article on the BBC Scotland webpage  (www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cr7nyxvy50ro) and we also had an attempt at a UK wide comparison of provision here (www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-62036045). The comparison article jumps between what England currently provides and what it hopes to do, nods to … Continue reading Childcare – BBC Scotland’s attempts to hide SNP achievements while praising Labour ambitions

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The Times and Top Poser Doctor on NHS Scotland ‘crisis’- shorter waits on every life-saving measure except the non-life-saving one that cost NHS England £3.5bn to clear on behalf of Tory election campaign

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By Professor John Robertson OBA Thanks once more to AR for alerting me to this. The Times today has: Revealed: true extent of Scotland hospital waiting times scandal – Number of patients waiting more than 104 weeks for treatment in Scottish hospitals is almost 100 times higher than in England. As NHS bosses in England have focused on reducing long waits, numbers in Scotland have only grown. It’s true, for those waiting more than 2 years for, obviously, non-life-threatening procedures, the list in England has been slashed but has not in NHS Scotland. Dr Iain Kennedy, chairman of the British Medical … Continue reading The Times and Top Poser Doctor on NHS Scotland ‘crisis’- shorter waits on every life-saving measure except the non-life-saving one that cost NHS England £3.5bn to clear on behalf of Tory election campaign

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Herald stupidly fakes news about teacher numbers and attainment in Scotland as additional support teachers increase

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Professor John Robertson OBA, former Associate Dean (Quality Assurance) Faculty of Education, Research Ethics Chair and Research Methods Tutor to BA Journalism (!) UWS The Herald today has: Teacher numbers fall again as additional support needs reach record levels – Latest figures also reveal the persistent attainment gaps for literacy and numeracy amongst school pupils. In 2024, there were 621 fewer teachers in Scottish state schools BUT, more important than a one-year fluctuation, there were also still 1 453 more than there had been in 2018 AND there were 3 100 fewer pupils for them to teach in 2024. In 2024, there were also 260 … Continue reading Herald stupidly fakes news about teacher numbers and attainment in Scotland as additional support teachers increase

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British Transport Police report on 65 arrests on County Lines drug gang rail network using railways from London, to the end of the line in Thurso, for child drug couriers is not that interesting to BBC Scotland it seems

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Only the Daily Record picked up on this from British Transport Police on 6 December 2024: British Transport Police (BTP) disrupted six County lines, arrested 65 people, and seized in excess of £80,000 in cash during a national County Lines week of action tackling drug supply across England, Scotland and Wales.  The week was coordinated by BTP’s dedicated County Lines Taskforce (CLTF) and the operations featured uniformed and plain clothes officers, dogs trained in passive drug detection and metal detection arches.  As part of the enhanced activity from Monday 25th November – Sunday 1st December during the national County Lines … Continue reading British Transport Police report on 65 arrests on County Lines drug gang rail network using railways from London, to the end of the line in Thurso, for child drug couriers is not that interesting to BBC Scotland it seems

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Researchers prove that Scotland’s drug death surge was the simple and tragic consequence of the UK Conservative Government’s brutal austerity strategy from 2012 to 2019

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Professor John Robertson OBA Drug deaths have always been more prevalent in poorer communities. In Scotland, half of all drug deaths are from among the 20% most deprived neighbourhoods.1 According to research recently published by David Walsh and Gerry McCartney2, of Glasgow University, drug deaths amongst the most deprived communities in Scotland had begun to climb from around 2003 to 2009, under New Labour and then again, but far more dramatically, from around 2012 to 2019 under the Conservative Government. Amongst the least deprived, drug deaths were largely unaffected by austerity policies such as, of course, reduced or withdrawn benefits but among … Continue reading Researchers prove that Scotland’s drug death surge was the simple and tragic consequence of the UK Conservative Government’s brutal austerity strategy from 2012 to 2019

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Did the Sunday Times hide around 60% support for independence by dramatically reducing the number of 2014 Yes voters in their poll sample from 387 down to only 278

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The Norstat poll for the Sunday Times on 6 December 2024, on a future second referendum on Scottish independence had: Yes 54% No 46% A healthy 8% lead, well up on a tie five days earlier and a 3% lead for No on 22 August. However, as in most polls on this question, the pollsters had adjusted, ‘weighted’, their sample to reflect several factors such as gender, age, socio-economic class, country of birth and voting patterns in the 2024 general election, the 2021 Scottish election, the 2016 EU referendum and the 2014 independence referendum. This weighting is designed entirely legitimately, … Continue reading Did the Sunday Times hide around 60% support for independence by dramatically reducing the number of 2014 Yes voters in their poll sample from 387 down to only 278

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Scotland closes attainment gap, hits record literacy and numeracy standards, 32% above England, after maintaining 36% more teachers

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Professor John Robertson OBA, former Associate Dean (Quality Assurance) Faculty of Education, UWS From Literacy and numeracy standards reach record high, published today: The proportion of pupils achieving the expected level in literacy and numeracy across primary and secondary schools has reached a new high, officials figures show. For numeracy, a record 80.3% of pupils across P1, P4 and P7 reached expected levels, while S3 also reached a new high of 90.3%. For literacy, achievement is also now at a record high in both primary (74%) and secondary (88.3%). The attainment gap between young people from the most and least deprived areas meeting standards in literacy … Continue reading Scotland closes attainment gap, hits record literacy and numeracy standards, 32% above England, after maintaining 36% more teachers