Contrary to Jackie Baillie’s claims ‘SNP’ HAS been ‘ready for winter’ as flu-related hospital emissions begin to plateau and are contained within resources while NHS England’s still surge toward ‘worst case scenario’ in their less resilient system
From NHS England yesterday: Flu hospitalisations have surged by more than half in just one week, plunging the NHS into a “worst case scenario” situation for December, new figures reveal today. An average of 2,660 patients per day were in a hospital bed with flu last week – the highest ever for this time of year and up 55% up on last week.1 From Public Health Scotland, also yesterday: Influenza activity in Scotland increased at a more moderate pace in week 49, although the high activity threshold has now been reached, earlier than previous seasons. Case numbers increased by 24% … Continue reading Contrary to Jackie Baillie’s claims ‘SNP’ HAS been ‘ready for winter’ as flu-related hospital emissions begin to plateau and are contained within resources while NHS England’s still surge toward ‘worst case scenario’ in their less resilient system
Britain [sic] slipping down global league table for youth employment, says accountancy firm yet UK youth unemployment is 40% higher than in Scotland which has one of the lowest rates in Western Europe
Professor John Robertson OBA In the Guardian yesterday: Britain slipping down global league table for youth employment, says report – Britain is slipping down the global league table for youth employment amid a dramatic rise in worklessness that is putting a generation’s future at risk, research has warned. Sounding the alarm over a worsening youth jobs crisis, the report from the accountancy firm PwC said Britain’s economy was missing out on £26bn a year because of sharp regional divisions in youth joblessness. In its annual youth employment index, it said the UK was falling behind other advanced economies amid a deterioration … Continue reading Britain [sic] slipping down global league table for youth employment, says accountancy firm yet UK youth unemployment is 40% higher than in Scotland which has one of the lowest rates in Western Europe
If Scotland’s minimum unit pricing for alcohol went up from 50p to 65p per unit, the UK Treasury gets all of the increased revenue or nearly £20 million per year
Professor John Robertson OBA From Minimum alcohol pricing (MUP) revenue: FOI release published on 10 December 2025: With regards to your question about diverting additional revenues resulting from MUP in Scotland to invest in public services. The Scottish Government does not raise any revenue directly from minimum unit pricing of alcohol. Any increased revenue that retailers accrue as a result of the increase to the MUP would be subject to existing UK reserved taxes. Alcohol sales are subject to Value Added Tax (VAT), whilst any profits made by retailers selling alcohol are already subject to Corporation Tax. Alcohol Duty and VAT are reserved to the … Continue reading If Scotland’s minimum unit pricing for alcohol went up from 50p to 65p per unit, the UK Treasury gets all of the increased revenue or nearly £20 million per year
Scottish cereal harvest achieves a ten-year high! Enough to feed 7.5 million before we get to the salmon and whisky to wash it down
Professor John Robertson OBA From Cereal and oilseed rape harvest: final estimates – 2025 published yesterday: Cereal production is up nearly 10% on the last days of Labour (Table 2 in Supporting Documents). How many people could survive for a year on a harvest of 3.14 million tonnes of cereal including 1 million tonnes of wheat, 363 thousand tonnes of winter barley, 1 556 tonnes of spring barley and 185 thousand tonnes of oats? This harvest (≈1.55 million tonnes of cereal, of which 1 million tonnes is wheat) could keep roughly 7.4 to 7.5 million people alive for one full … Continue reading Scottish cereal harvest achieves a ten-year high! Enough to feed 7.5 million before we get to the salmon and whisky to wash it down
The Scotsman’s ‘top academic’ wheeled in to savage Scottish schools again is mere ‘bean counter’ with no experience of teaching in schools, teacher ‘training’, leadership or research into anything other than assessment data
Professor John Robertson OBA, retired Research Professor, Faculty Research Ethics Chair, Associate Dean for Quality Assurance in Education, Head of Department of Curriculum Studies (30 staff), Senior Lecturer in Educational Technology, Lecturer in Education, School Teacher (Primary), PhD, Master of Education Professor Lindsay Paterson is in the Scotsman again, as he often is, to cast doubt on the competence of Scottish teachers to assess their own pupils continuously as opposed to his preferred snapshot exam method. Once more he returns to the Pisa scores he loves to use to mark us down. He is, to my knowledge, the only serious … Continue reading The Scotsman’s ‘top academic’ wheeled in to savage Scottish schools again is mere ‘bean counter’ with no experience of teaching in schools, teacher ‘training’, leadership or research into anything other than assessment data
Massive reduction in the prosecution of those soliciting prostitution since 2008/2009
Professor John Robertson OBA From Statistical data on arrests and convictions: FOI release published yesterday: Under the Prostitution (Public Places) (Scotland) Act 2007 Section 1, in 2008/2009 there were 90 prosecutions of those soliciting prostitution in Scotland and in the last three years of reporting, there have only been 7, 8 and 8. https://www.gov.scot/publications/foi-202500485945/ This legislation reflects Scotland’s approach to managing prostitution, focusing on the actions of those seeking services rather than criminalizing the individuals providing them. It is clearly working. In England & Wales criminalising the prostitutes, often the victims of violence and addiction, rather than soliciting, remains the practice. Continue reading Massive reduction in the prosecution of those soliciting prostitution since 2008/2009
Scotland has more graduates, more patents and more business investment than other parts of the UK
Professor John Robertson OBA From Business investment rises to 20-year high in Scotland published yesterday: A new report has shown that business investment in Scotland has risen to a 20-year high – in contrast to a fall across the UK. Deputy First Minister Kate Forbes today helped to launch the annual CBI–Addleshaw Goddard Scottish Productivity Index, showing a rise in business investment to more than 10% of GDP for the first time in 20 years. The Index confirms Scotland leads the UK in higher-level qualifications with 53.7% of the working-age population educated to this level. It also highlights key progress … Continue reading Scotland has more graduates, more patents and more business investment than other parts of the UK
Badenoch forgets that hospital mask-wearing saves lives
Professor John Robertson OBA I’m sure BBC Scotland would have only one reaction to the above attack on face mask wearing in hospitals. They’d find a way with their newspaper pals to suggest Nicola Sturgeon had overdone similar requests back in 2022. She was, of course, correct. In October 2021, the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine had been monitoring behaviour changes in terms of facemask wearing and social mixing. Notably, for the week-ending 29 September 2021, with rates falling slightly or flat across the UK, they noted in their data: Self-reported facemask wearing for those who have at … Continue reading Badenoch forgets that hospital mask-wearing saves lives
Is Malcolm Offord now Reform UK’s spokesperson in Scotland?
By Liz S “Storm Brann” you say. Well tomorrow there may be another kind of storm……one created by one of our many many UK nemeses , BBC QT and UK politicians (as in all of those ones whom we see as being sympathetic to and supportive of English Nationalism while opposing Scottish Independence and the SNP). Tomorrow BBC QT is in Paisley……..the last show before Xmas………of course it is. To no doubt try to leave a bad taste in the mouths of the SNP as a party and also those of us who support them and vote for them. (and also all within Scotland who support and so want Scottish independence). How … Continue reading Is Malcolm Offord now Reform UK’s spokesperson in Scotland?
Daily Record manages to miss easily accessed figures proving that the SNP has closed the attainment gap in Scottish schools and widened it with England
Somebody post this here – https://www.reddit.com/r/Scotland/ – I’m banned Professor John Robertson OBA In the Record today, the above and: Even with Covid in mind, Record View says closing the poverty-related attainment gap in schools is yet another key SNP promise the party has failed to deliver. They have just not bothered or deliberately avoided the evidence easily accessed in the public domain From the Scottish Government’s Literacy and numeracy standards reach record high report in December 2024: The proportion of pupils achieving the expected level in literacy and numeracy across primary and secondary schools has reached a new high, officials figures … Continue reading Daily Record manages to miss easily accessed figures proving that the SNP has closed the attainment gap in Scottish schools and widened it with England
Talking-up Scotland 'Albatraz' 