In 2024 there were 262 mistaken prisoner releases in England & Wales but NONE in Scotland

and Wales were released when they should not have been. Former prison governors say it’s the manifestation of a broken system Professor John Robertson OBA As UK media focus today on the one case of an asylum seeker accused of sex offences against a minor, BBC UK tell us the above. In Scotland, these last few months, the MSM have had tales of crisis-hit prisons, breaching prisoners’ human rights and a level of overcrowding that cannot be ignored. In these alleged circumstances, you have to think mistakes like those above will have been made in Scotland too. No specific, documented … Continue reading In 2024 there were 262 mistaken prisoner releases in England & Wales but NONE in Scotland

After today’s Turkish ferry crew fake news and all the other s**t we have to take write to this guy

Professor John Robertson OBA There’s no point filling in a BBC Complaints form which goes to Darlington and comes back essentially unanswered. Write to this man directly, copied to your MSP, on paper preferably. Howard Simpson is the current Head of News and Current Affairs at BBC Scotland, overseeing the editorial direction for Reporting Scotland. He took on this role in May 2025, succeeding Gary Smith. As head, he leads the news teams producing the programme, including reporters, producers, and output editors. While specific programme editors handle day-to-day production, Simpson’s position makes him the key editorial figure for Reporting Scotland … Continue reading After today’s Turkish ferry crew fake news and all the other s**t we have to take write to this guy

BBC Scotland repeat their new ferry crew costs fake news trick from 2023 to widespread disgust and righteous sneering

Professor John Robertson OBA BBC Scotland has the above this morning. Soon after, Murray Foote and others hade exposed their dirty tricks: BBC Scotland had essentially ‘double-counted’ the salary and other costs of the crew members already needed to run the ferries as if they were new additional costs because of building in Turkey. In May 2023, they tried a similar, smelly, trick with this: I wrote then: Ferry operator Calmac has run up a £1.6 million bill for crewing cost for the Glen Sannox, which is still under construction. Calmac has hired 14 staff to date and they’re all … Continue reading BBC Scotland repeat their new ferry crew costs fake news trick from 2023 to widespread disgust and righteous sneering

Research – the safest place by far to bury high-level nuclear waste is in the deep clay beds of the South-East around London

Professor John Robertson OBA Thanks to gavinochiltree for alerting us to this. Earlier posts here have drawn attention to Scottish Labour’s complicity with the idea of reintroducing nuclear power stations into Scotland and their implicit acceptance of consequent cancer risks from their emissions directly and indirectly from the poorly stored waste in places like Sellafield, close to the Scottish border. I had not known, until reader Gavin wrote that he had seen research suggesting that these northern igneous/granite locations are actually less safe than deep clay beds. I did a quick AI search and he’s correct: Are deep clay beds … Continue reading Research – the safest place by far to bury high-level nuclear waste is in the deep clay beds of the South-East around London

Bairns lead the way with most Scottish squad players, best stadium name change and are first to cap ticket prices

Professor John Robertson OBA (Open Bairns Admirer) OK, first my apologies to Gordon Gibson, for this. Motherwell deserved better. Second, I declare my uncontrolled bias and thus must rate my researcher reliability score to be SFA. I see today that Falkirk FC, ‘The Bairns‘ of the Bairnabeu Stadium in the Bog, Falkirk, have been first in the league, to cap their ticket prices at £25, in the wake of bumper crowds this year. Also, source-free, I feel sure I’ve seen a proposal to rename the Falkirk Stadium (yawn) the St Jimmy Bairnabeu Stadium, after Real Madrid’s Santiago Bernabéu Stadium in … Continue reading Bairns lead the way with most Scottish squad players, best stadium name change and are first to cap ticket prices

Scottish Labour’s nuclear energy policy shattered by latest estimate for one half-mile deep (!) waste storage facility costing nearly £70 BILLION 40 years after a Scottish Labour council rejected the idea

Professor John Robertson OBA Thanks to Frances McKie, once more, for this alert. When I arrived in Ayr in 1984 and began hillwalking in the nearby hills, I heard of the local community’s recent campaign of resistance to plans to bury nuclear waste under the granite 2 270ft mountain, Mullwharchar, 30 miles away but visible from the town,  in the Dungeon Hills, a sub-range of the Galloway Hills range. From No2NuclearPower: The first planning application was made in January 1978 to Kyle and Carrick District Council (South-west Scotland) by the UKAEA to test drill on Mullwharchar Hill near Loch Doon on the border … Continue reading Scottish Labour’s nuclear energy policy shattered by latest estimate for one half-mile deep (!) waste storage facility costing nearly £70 BILLION 40 years after a Scottish Labour council rejected the idea

The case for developing a shipbuilding industry on the Clyde learning valuable skills from the two hybrids – as four cheap-build island ‘lifeline’, Turkey-built ferries are delayed again and again despite cheap and dangerous practice

By Professor John Robertson OBA From the Scotsman in March 2025: A fleet of ferries being built in Turkey have been hit by a further setback, with their completion date pushed back by at least another three months due to labour shortages. The Isle of Islay – the first of four vessels being built at the Cemre Marin Endustri shipyard at Yalova – will now not be completed until at least June. The delay, which was blamed on the impact of “global geopolitical events”, was confirmed in a letter from Scottish Government ferry-buying firm Caledonian Maritime Assets Limited (Cmal), sent to a key Scottish Parliament committee … Continue reading The case for developing a shipbuilding industry on the Clyde learning valuable skills from the two hybrids – as four cheap-build island ‘lifeline’, Turkey-built ferries are delayed again and again despite cheap and dangerous practice

Second major research study finds ‘much higher’ rates of common cancers in nuclear plant workers to further undermine Labour’s energy strategy

Professor John Robertson OBA From earth.com, tow days ago: Nuclear power plants run tight radiation monitoring programs, yet the question keeps coming up. Do many years of small workplace radiation doses still raise cancer risk? In a new study, researchers followed 75,350 nuclear power plant workers and linked their individual dose histories to national cancer registries. They found more cases of melanoma and prostate cancer than expected when compared with incidences in the general population. Melanoma is a serious form of skin cancer that starts in pigment-producing cells. The researchers also found suggestive dose response patterns within the cohort. The analysis reported … Continue reading Second major research study finds ‘much higher’ rates of common cancers in nuclear plant workers to further undermine Labour’s energy strategy

Nats call for Ed ‘Not that Tussenuff’ Miliband’s promise of border guards to be implemented to protect Scots from multiple threats

Professor John Robertson OBA Energy Secretary Ed Miliband’s recent attempts at looking tough and threatening us with new nuclear power stations even if we don’t want them and to presumably just ‘suck up‘ the cancer spikes, reminds of his previous attempt to bully us, in 2014. The threat of guards on the border if we voted Yes in 2014 may well have worried some Scots and, I suspect, probably helped to turn out the half million born in England to reverse the Yes majority of those born in Scotland. Fifteen years later, it should look a very different prospect, to … Continue reading Nats call for Ed ‘Not that Tussenuff’ Miliband’s promise of border guards to be implemented to protect Scots from multiple threats

400-600 English patients have been sent to Scotland for treatment

Professor John Robertson OBA The Herald today has: The revelation that children in Glasgow have been taken to England for vital heart surgery due to staff shortages at the Royal Hospital for Children has been branded an ‘appalling indictment’ of the management of NHS Scotland. It’s understood that due to a number of anaesthetists leaving the health centre, as well as some shorter notice absences in the wider staff, heart surgery has been suspended. Who says it’s an appalling indictment? You know: How many children? A ‘small number’ with no media outlet offering a figure so 2? Is there much of a flow the other … Continue reading 400-600 English patients have been sent to Scotland for treatment