As UK Minister reports failure to urgently support domestic abuse victims in England and Wales, why BBC Scotland is avoiding this dark topic
Support Talking-up Scotland’s work to counter the lies and get you the facts, daily, at: https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/checkout/help-talking-up-scotland-tell-truth-about-scotland/payment/nBQxjVzq/details Professor John Robertson OBA BBC UK has the above headline story with: The main screening tool used to decide which domestic abuse victims get urgent support “doesn’t work”, Safeguarding Minister Jess Phillips has admitted to the BBC. Police, social services and healthcare workers across the UK have largely relied on the Dash questionnaire to assess risk since 2009. But there are now mounting concerns from academics and those working in the sector that the checklist does not correctly identify victims at the highest risk of further … Continue reading As UK Minister reports failure to urgently support domestic abuse victims in England and Wales, why BBC Scotland is avoiding this dark topic
‘Patients are suffering?’ Yet Scotland has almost twice as many GPs per head as England and Wales and around half a million more Scots report easy access to a GP than would have if they lived there instead
Support Talking-up Scotland’s work to counter the lies and get you the facts, daily, at: https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/checkout/help-talking-up-scotland-tell-truth-about-scotland/payment/nBQxjVzq/details Professor John Robertson OBA BBC Reporting Scotland this morning has a short report starting with: GPs say patients are suffering because of ongoing funding problems This is not even based on one of the BMA’s typically flawed and unreliable surveys of their members. I’t’s ‘The BMA Doctors union’ saying it, so that’ll be just Iain Kennedy again. Is there anything Dr Kennedy never tells you? Just this: FTE GPs per 100,000 population: Sources: https://www.bma.org.uk/advice-and-support/nhs-delivery-and-workforce/pressures/pressures-in-general-practice-data-analysis https://www.gov.wales/general-practice-workforce-30-september-2024-html https://publichealthscotland.scot/publications/general-practice-demographics-data-visualisation/general-practice-demographics-data-visualisation-up-to-1-october-2023/ Are patients in Scotland suffering more than in England & … Continue reading ‘Patients are suffering?’ Yet Scotland has almost twice as many GPs per head as England and Wales and around half a million more Scots report easy access to a GP than would have if they lived there instead
James Cook’s reporting does not hold water in a country with 5.5 million litres per person, 40 times that in England
Professor John Robertson OBA From BBC Scotland‘s James Cook, today: Rivers at critical level as Scotland’s water supplies feel the strain – Water levels are way below average after the driest spring since 1964 and a hot summer. The problem is especially acute in the east of the country, where the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (Sepa) is now introducing curbs on some water use. It said two catchment areas – Ythan in Aberdeenshire and North Fife – had reached significant scarcity, the highest level of alert. but then 8 paras down when it’s safe for him to mention it, we see how … Continue reading James Cook’s reporting does not hold water in a country with 5.5 million litres per person, 40 times that in England
Many thanks again to those who have donated and for the too kind comments but there’s no hiding from the brutal facts of Talking-up Scotland’s apparent value – limited
Friends, I continue to struggle these days and ageing is not helping, but have since the last crowd funder (£15k) been able to ‘outsource’ some of the work – reading, posting and reposting work by readers, some research, some calculations, monitoring several email and social media accounts and so on. Already, the latest crowd funder (£2.6) looks like, at the very least, seriously reducing my scope to pay for that. So, apologies if you make a great comment and it stays at just that. I hope to continue my own media monitoring core stuff, solo. John Bella Caledonia, which I … Continue reading Many thanks again to those who have donated and for the too kind comments but there’s no hiding from the brutal facts of Talking-up Scotland’s apparent value – limited
‘Endless supply of young men from larger cities in England’ fuelling Scotland’s drug deaths and a surge in violent crime
Support Talking-up Scotland’s work to counter the lies and get you the facts, daily, at: https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/checkout/help-talking-up-scotland-tell-truth-about-scotland/payment/nBQxjVzq/details Professor John Robertson OBA Thanks once more to rtpscott for alerting me to the above. Surge in violent crime and drug deaths? Inverness – from 88 cases in 2018 to 326 in 2022, a 270% increase. Consider the contrast with large urban areas such as Glasgow which only saw a 6% increase in crimes of violence [1 563 to 1 651] to illustrate the appalling consequences of the County Lines gang penetration of small town Scotland. Drug deaths in Highland have continued to climb, despite a national decline, … Continue reading ‘Endless supply of young men from larger cities in England’ fuelling Scotland’s drug deaths and a surge in violent crime
Why Scotland’s older ‘folded’ geology makes Farage’s ‘back of a cigarette packet’ fracking policy, stupid and dangerous
Support Talking-up Scotland’s work to counter the lies and get you the facts, daily, at: https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/checkout/help-talking-up-scotland-tell-truth-about-scotland/payment/nBQxjVzq/details Professor John Robertson OBAThe above BBC article, based on Reform UK comments, makes no mention of the older folded geology which Scotland is made up of almost entirely. I seemed to remember reading something suggesting that it would make fracking more difficult and, inevitably, more dangerous. Unable to find it by Googling, I asked my old pal Grok AI: Does Scotland’s older more folded geology make fracking more difficult? The answer: See the above reference to problems in fracking in the Scottish Midlands Valley? Here’s the … Continue reading Why Scotland’s older ‘folded’ geology makes Farage’s ‘back of a cigarette packet’ fracking policy, stupid and dangerous
Shoplifting – nearly three times the clear-up rate in Scotland with 31% more police officers
Support Talking-up Scotland’s work to counter the lies and get you the facts, daily, at: https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/checkout/help-talking-up-scotland-tell-truth-about-scotland/payment/nBQxjVzq/details Professor John Robertson OBA In a BBC UK extended report on shoplifting in England and Wales, we see only 18.3% of shoplifting offences were cleared up? That’s a shockingly low figure. From Recorded Crime in Scotland, 2024-25 published in June 2025: Shoplifting had the largest decrease, from 50.3% to 49.0%. https://www.gov.scot/publications/recorded-crime-scotland-2024-25/ So the shoplifting clear-up rate in Scotland is nearly three times greater than in England & Wales. Why might that be? 241 police officers per 100 000 people in England and Wales but 317 per … Continue reading Shoplifting – nearly three times the clear-up rate in Scotland with 31% more police officers
8 000 hospitality workers in Scotland lose jobs since Labour National Insurance hikes but to a background of media silence here
Support Talking-up Scotland’s work to counter the lies and get you the facts, daily, at: https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/checkout/help-talking-up-scotland-tell-truth-about-scotland/payment/nBQxjVzq/details Professor John Robertson OBA BBC UK has the above shocking news of the effect that the Labour government’s policies on National Insurance have had. The Scottish job loss figure would be around 8 000. How has this happened? In the Telegraph today: Hospitality is particularly vulnerable to Ms Reeves’s changes to National Insurance contributions (NICs) because the increase in the tax rate from 13.8pc to 15pc was accompanied by a cut to the annual earnings threshold at which it applies. By cutting the point at which the levy … Continue reading 8 000 hospitality workers in Scotland lose jobs since Labour National Insurance hikes but to a background of media silence here
US deaths on the A9 had nothing to do with lack of dualing but BBC Scotland never miss the opportunity to mislead on the safest roads in the UK
says there should be driving restrictions on foreign visitors. Chris Strong from Chicago lost his wife, mother-in-law and brother-in-law after their car made a wrong turn was hit by a lorry near Newtonmore in 2022. Initial work to make the A9 safer by dualing it was due to be finished this year but has been hit by delays and rising costs. Ministers say…. Support Talking-up Scotland’s work to counter the lies and get you the facts, daily, at: https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/checkout/help-talking-up-scotland-tell-truth-about-scotland/payment/nBQxjVzq/details Professor John Robertson OBA There is no meaningful connection with the type of road and deaths resulting from as mistaken right turn into … Continue reading US deaths on the A9 had nothing to do with lack of dualing but BBC Scotland never miss the opportunity to mislead on the safest roads in the UK
UK Government researchers say 25% of England’s drug deaths not counted to cast serious doubt on Scotland having the highest level
Support Talking-up Scotland’s work to counter the lies and get you the facts, daily, at: https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/checkout/help-talking-up-scotland-tell-truth-about-scotland/payment/nBQxjVzq/details Professor John Robertson OBA In the last few days, several media, including the Daily Record have used reports from the Festival of Politics at Holyrood chaired by SNP MSP Audrey Nicoll, which was primarily concerned with the debate over safe injections rooms and legalisation, to trot out the ‘Scotland has worst drug deaths in UK and/or Europe.‘ Readers will know that international comparisons of health, education, crime and other statistics can be highly problematic but, for some reason, Scotland’s drug death comparisons are taken at face … Continue reading UK Government researchers say 25% of England’s drug deaths not counted to cast serious doubt on Scotland having the highest level
Talking-up Scotland 