HS2 despite chopping link to Scotland to take 2 to 3 times as long as Japanese and French equivalents – Con and Labour governments not to be blamed as it’s not a Scottish ferry is it?
Professor John Robertson OBA Thanks to Dottie for alerting me to this. From BBC England today: HS2 has confirmed that its aim to get trains running between Birmingham and London between 2029 and 2033 “cannot be achieved”. Birmingham’s Curzon Street Station is currently taking shape in the heart of the city but the divisive high-speed railway project has been plagued by serious challenges. Earlier this year, HS2 CEO Mark Wild acknowledged that construction had been “harder than thought” and “needed a reset” involving a review of the project’s cost and schedule. The high speed track, including the branch to Birmingham, … Continue reading HS2 despite chopping link to Scotland to take 2 to 3 times as long as Japanese and French equivalents – Con and Labour governments not to be blamed as it’s not a Scottish ferry is it?
The Final Word on Labour’s Flawed and Dangerous Nuclear Energy Plans
Reposted as Scotsman campaigns for Scottish Labour’s callous nuclear policy:
Once more the three UK nations abusing, per head, twice to three times as many women and four times as many children are not informed of it but Scotland with the lowest levels is lied to with inflated and unattributed data
Professor John Robertson OBA Not for the first time, BBC Scotland find another way to suggest that violent crime is a particular problem and to distract from the published, peer-reviewed facts that it is lower, often much lower. I’ll be accused of ‘fake news’ by some numpty for my statirical modification above to BBC Scotland’s: Police respond to domestic abuse call ‘every eight minutes’ – Domestic abuse crimes rose by 10% in the past 12 months and 66,000 incidents were reported to officers between October 2024 and September. The force also confirmed more than 30 “high harm” offenders had been … Continue reading Once more the three UK nations abusing, per head, twice to three times as many women and four times as many children are not informed of it but Scotland with the lowest levels is lied to with inflated and unattributed data
‘Second class citizens, Jamie?’ Islanders have actually been treated far better than the rest of us by this government
Professor John Robertson OBA The Herald at the weekend had two stories on a supposedly high number of sailings cancelled by ‘technical faults.’1, 2 They claimed that ‘more than 16 000 (16 039) such cancellations from 1 January 2023 to October 2025, based on a Freedom of Information request by the Lib Dem’s Jamie Greene meant islanders were being treated as ‘second class citizens.’ CalMac makes around 160 000 to 170 00 sailings per year3 so for that strange period chosen, 2 years and 10 months, they made around 450 000. 16 000 is only 3.6% of the total sailings … Continue reading ‘Second class citizens, Jamie?’ Islanders have actually been treated far better than the rest of us by this government
Never mind the media trivia scramble for a few police officers leaving or failing a training course, here’s what matters to you – 25% more officers in Scotland yet violent crime almost three times as common in England & Wales
Professor John Robertson OBA The Daily Record, the Herald and the Scotsman are now fully dedicated to platforming Scottish Labour’s stash of manipulated Freedom of Information data on any aspect of public service that might look bad for the SNP Government. Recently, it’s been police officers giving up on the job or failing training courses. I could try to dig into these and find the usual lack of any methodology and sneaky fiddling with the figures, I’ve found several times in the past, but it’s wasted effort because none of that matters. This does: First, see graph above, Scotland has … Continue reading Never mind the media trivia scramble for a few police officers leaving or failing a training course, here’s what matters to you – 25% more officers in Scotland yet violent crime almost three times as common in England & Wales
Confused Sunday Mail misses how Scotland’s massive energy over-production could make billions after independence easily feeding and watering the ‘gobbling’ AI data centres
Professor John Robertson OBA From the Sunday Mail yesterday the above back-to-front headline and: Massive new data centres planned in Scotland to power the AI revolution would use up to three quarters of the country’s total electricity demand [sic], a new study has claimed. Research firm Foxglove, which campaigns for fair tech, found the “staggering” amount of power as well as water required by data centres “carries serious environmental risk” for Scotland. Its study this month found 11 “hyperscale” data centres currently in the planning system could use up an astonishing 3000 megawatts of electricity supply once all operational. “And they produce a huge amount … Continue reading Confused Sunday Mail misses how Scotland’s massive energy over-production could make billions after independence easily feeding and watering the ‘gobbling’ AI data centres
Serious mortuary incidents such as cremating wrong body almost non-existent in Scotland but more common in NHS England
Professor John Robertson OBA Still in the headlines for BBC Scotland: Scotland’s largest hospital has apologised after a bereaved family was given the wrong body for a cremation ceremony. Morgue staff at the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital (QEUH) in Glasgow passed an incorrectly labelled corpse to undertakers. The mistake was only realised after the funeral service and cremation. NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde blamed human error and said that the staff involved had been suspended. First reported by the Scottish Sun, external, the family who thought they were cremating their loved one are said to be inconsolable. The mistake also denied another … Continue reading Serious mortuary incidents such as cremating wrong body almost non-existent in Scotland but more common in NHS England
Cost of rail nationalisation in Scotland – Herald’s uncritical reliance on notorious Taxpayers Alliance’s known biases is very poor quality journalism
Professor John Robertson OBA The Herald’s Martin Williams today has – ScotRail costs double under nationalisation as services fall – based entirely on a report by the Taxpayer’s Alliance a group known for hiding its sources of funding (above) and for highly selective analyses always predisposed to finding evidence in favour of privatisation. I really doubt the value of spending time looking in detail at the report. The group’s long history of cheating and lying on behalf of the rich and powerful makes them instantly unworthy of our time and Martin Williams knows that. What he is, in fact, arguing … Continue reading Cost of rail nationalisation in Scotland – Herald’s uncritical reliance on notorious Taxpayers Alliance’s known biases is very poor quality journalism
More than 300 years of London’s economic management of Scotland yet still the most impoverished and most ‘milked’ part of the UK
Professor John Robertson OBA Scotland, above, the most impoverished part of the UK, and yet: Continue reading More than 300 years of London’s economic management of Scotland yet still the most impoverished and most ‘milked’ part of the UK
Talking-up Scotland 