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US research finds cancer mortality rate over 40% higher than the national rate and life expectancy almost a decade less than national average near nuclear facility comparable to Sellafield only miles from Scotland

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Professor John Robertson OBA In TCD (Ohio USA) yesterday: Residents of US town near nuclear facility face alarming crisis: ‘So many people are suffering’ “Our community shouldn’t be put at an increased risk.” https://www.thecooldown.com/green-business/piketon-nuclear-plant-ohio-radiation-exposure/ Their report relies heavily on these comments in a UK Guardian piece on 23 September 2025: Reports have emerged that 10 tons of uranium were released from a now-closed uranium enrichment facility almost nightly into the air between 1955 to 1993, an activity known by people who worked there at the time as ‘midnight rockets’. “This plant has a vast signature of contamination, mostly from an airborne … Continue reading US research finds cancer mortality rate over 40% higher than the national rate and life expectancy almost a decade less than national average near nuclear facility comparable to Sellafield only miles from Scotland

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More than 500 avoidable baby deaths implicated in reports across 14 NHS England maternity services but not one in Scotland – here’s why

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Professor John Robertson OBA From BBC West Yorkshire today: An independent inquiry into “repeated failures” at an NHS trust’s maternity units has been announced by Health Secretary Wes Streeting, following potentially avoidable harm to babies and mothers. Earlier this year a BBC investigation revealed that the deaths of at least 56 babies and two mothers at Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust (LTH) over the past five years may have been prevented. Streeting said a thorough investigation was required to understand what had “gone so catastrophically wrong” at the trust’s maternity units at Leeds General Infirmary and St James’s University Hospital. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c4gpxnk9n4po … Continue reading More than 500 avoidable baby deaths implicated in reports across 14 NHS England maternity services but not one in Scotland – here’s why

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SNP-run Glasgow City built 110 times more social rent homes than Labour-run Liverpool last year

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Professor John Robertson OBA Thanks, once more, to Dottie for alerting us to this: In the Guardian yesterday: According to the housing charity Shelter, in the 12 months leading up to March 2025, Liverpool city council received 2,048 applications for homelessness support, a 25% increase on the previous year. The most recent data shows 12,764 households on the city’s social housing waiting list. But one figure is particularly shocking: reflecting the fact that most local authorities now lack either the means or will to build anything more than paltry amounts of new social housing, the city’s “additional social rent dwellings” in 2023-24 totalled – … Continue reading SNP-run Glasgow City built 110 times more social rent homes than Labour-run Liverpool last year

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There is no evidence of public services in Wales being consistently better than those in Scotland – on the contrary

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By stewartb What’s so hard for opponents of the present Scottish Government (SG) to grasp? If public services in Scotland fall short or fail but the same ones in Wales are exemplary, then yes severe criticism of the SG may be valid. This would suggest that resource allocation under UK devolution settlements should be enough for Scotland to do at least as well as Wales. There is no evidence of public services in Wales being consistently better than those in Scotland – on the contrary. This should not be too hard to grasp but is it ignored because it runs counter to … Continue reading There is no evidence of public services in Wales being consistently better than those in Scotland – on the contrary

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As Teachers’ Union estimates 30 000 violent incidents involving a pupil attacking a teacher with a weapon in England’s schools how knife possession in Scottish schools has plummeted

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Professor John Robertson OBA In the Mail today: Teachers are quitting the profession en-masse, as they battle impossible workloads, toxic work environments, a ‘broken’ Special Educational Needs system, and surges in student violence. Earlier this year, the Teachers’ Union estimated there were 30,000 violent incidents involving a pupil attacking a teacher with a weapon in a 12-month period. Children as young as four have been found in possession of knives, while some school have installed metal detectors, or ‘knife arches’, in a bid to curb attacks. https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-15193791/Punch-ups-lessons-county-lines-gangs-day-life-secondary-school-teacher-Britain.html According to Sky in February 2025: Almost one in five teachers have seen students with knives … Continue reading As Teachers’ Union estimates 30 000 violent incidents involving a pupil attacking a teacher with a weapon in England’s schools how knife possession in Scottish schools has plummeted

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As Teachers’ Union estimates 30 000 violent incidents involving a pupil attacking a teacher with a weapon in England’s schools how knife possession in Scottish schools has plummeted

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Professor John Robertson OBA In the Mail today: Teachers are quitting the profession en-masse, as they battle impossible workloads, toxic work environments, a ‘broken’ Special Educational Needs system, and surges in student violence. Earlier this year, the Teachers’ Union estimated there were 30,000 violent incidents involving a pupil attacking a teacher with a weapon in a 12-month period. Children as young as four have been found in possession of knives, while some school have installed metal detectors, or ‘knife arches’, in a bid to curb attacks. https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-15193791/Punch-ups-lessons-county-lines-gangs-day-life-secondary-school-teacher-Britain.html According to Sky in February 2025: Almost one in five teachers have seen students with knives … Continue reading As Teachers’ Union estimates 30 000 violent incidents involving a pupil attacking a teacher with a weapon in England’s schools how knife possession in Scottish schools has plummeted

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How Labour has failed Scotland’s young people

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Professor John Robertson OBA Labour Deputy Leader candidate, Phillipson, is in the Record today criticising the SNP for supposed failings with regard to the young. That takes nerve and the most shiny of brass necks. I’m going to have to be very selective and use a few examples of how Labour rather than the SNP, in the past and today regularly betrays the young. First, school exclusions plummet to just over a quarter of the level under Labour and full ‘expulsions’ to just one three-hundredth of the level then From School exclusion statistics published in April 2025, we can see that there … Continue reading How Labour has failed Scotland’s young people

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Express and Scottish Tories try to hide fact that Scottish Ambulance Service is more than 3 times faster than in England in 90% of cases

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Professor John Robertson OBA The Express today has a report based on the Scottish Conservatives’ reading of a Freedom of Information request on ambulance. Their report has no figures and only two or three individual cases picked out as extreme waits. That says it all. They really have nothing beyond a few cases. Here are some facts: There are some minor problems in comparing the data for England and Scotland but you can be sure that were they to favour the former, they’d be widely reported. Here’s why they’re not: Sources: https://www.scottishambulance.com/ Footnote: Comparing median and mean ambulance response times … Continue reading Express and Scottish Tories try to hide fact that Scottish Ambulance Service is more than 3 times faster than in England in 90% of cases

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Scotland’s current oil and gas reserves worth around £1 TRILLION

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Professor John Robertson OBA Thanks to K McEwan for alerting us to this: In the Telegraph, two days ago, the above and: Around 85% of these reserves, 21.25 billion barrels, lie in Scottish waters.1 Each barrel of oil is worth around $60 or £452, so we have around £1 trillion in Scottish waters Sources: You can support Talking-up Scotland at: https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/checkout/help-talking-up-scotland-tell-truth-about-scotland/payment/nBQxjVzq/details or by direct bank transfer method – Bernadette/John Robertson, Sort code 08-91-04, Account 12266421 Continue reading Scotland’s current oil and gas reserves worth around £1 TRILLION

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Rail staff in England & Wales more than THREE times as likely to be assaulted as those in Scotland

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Professor John Robertson OBA In the Herald yesterday, the above, and: ScotRail staff have been verbally or physically assaulted more than 1,500 times since 2020, new figures have revealed.  The data, which was obtained through a Freedom of Information request, shows that the total number of assaults on train drivers, conductors, and other staff has decreased each of the last three years.  It’s the usual infantile adding up to get a big number but they do, for once, at least partly reveal the trend – down: Another FoI request by BBC Kent gives useful comparative data: Rail workers say they have been spat at, punched and … Continue reading Rail staff in England & Wales more than THREE times as likely to be assaulted as those in Scotland