Are Scotsman’s journo staff too aged to find things out? CalMac has the youngest ferries and is the best in the world
Professor John Robertson OBA The Scotsman has another go at the ferries, ill-informed as always. I’ll do the second one first. On average, CalMac ferries are the youngest of six comparable (several islands) fleets in the developed world. Ok, first, what’s wrong with them? Truth be told (difficult I know), probably best archipelago service in the world. See: Third, disruption? See: As Lib Dems and BBC Scotland reveal compensation to delayed passengers of only 0.1% of budget, they forget that their previous FoI revealed that CalMac is more than 97% reliable https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/checkout/help-talking-up-scotland-tell-truth-about-scotland/payment/nBQxjVzq/details Finally, the truth about customer (real ones) satisfaction: … Continue reading Are Scotsman’s journo staff too aged to find things out? CalMac has the youngest ferries and is the best in the world
Jersey Island supermarkets pay nearly SIX times as much for their lorries to cross as those in Barra thanks to their generous SNP subsidy – all the other Scottish islands too get the same
Professor John Robertson OBA In the Jersey Evening Post on 15 October 2025: Representatives said they had “zero involvement” in the tender and warned that rising freight costs under the new arrangements were forcing them to find hundreds of thousands of pounds to balance their budgets, with Morrison’s alone facing a shortfall of up to £400,000. Portsmouth to Jersey is 116 miles and CalMac’s longest, Oban to Barra is 88 miles. The Jersey crossing is 1.32 times the length. For a Large Articulated HGV (16.5m, ~30 pallets), a one way trip from Portsmouth to Jersey, costs £2 370.1, 2 For … Continue reading Jersey Island supermarkets pay nearly SIX times as much for their lorries to cross as those in Barra thanks to their generous SNP subsidy – all the other Scottish islands too get the same
‘Frankly incredible!’ UK National Audit Office reveals NHS England and Ireland are paying out for clinical negligence at FOUR TIMES and TWICE the level of NHS Scotland
Professor John Robertson OBA Many thanks to stewartb for alerting us to this and for the opening words in the headline above. NOTE – I’m unsure of how to compare the far more numerous but different claims in Sweden, Denmark or Finland, so have not. The above table is from the UK National Audit Office‘s report Costs of clinical negligence, published on 17 October 2025. The explanatory notes for how it was put together are at the bottom of this. It makes incredible reading, to put it mildly. Start with the fourth column – number of claims per year – … Continue reading ‘Frankly incredible!’ UK National Audit Office reveals NHS England and Ireland are paying out for clinical negligence at FOUR TIMES and TWICE the level of NHS Scotland
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
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
More than 500 avoidable baby deaths implicated in reports across 14 NHS England maternity services but not one in Scotland – here’s why
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
SNP-run Glasgow City built 110 times more social rent homes than Labour-run Liverpool last year
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
There is no evidence of public services in Wales being consistently better than those in Scotland – on the contrary
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
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
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
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
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
How Labour has failed Scotland’s young people
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
Talking-up Scotland 