There’s not a mention, in the above by David Cowan, of England nor of the County Lines gangs, all based in English cities, currently completely dominating the drug supply across Scotland and bringing with them surging violence in small-town Scotland (source below). In the above report, we do see: Every year the campus has 100 groups and 1,400 individuals under investigation. It says that annually, it dismantles and disrupts a third of those groups. Their activities include drugs, smuggling firearms, human trafficking, child abuse and sexual exploitation, serious fraud, cyber crime and illegal dumping. Read any report in the tabloids … Continue reading BBC Scotland visit the centre of the war against English ‘County Lines’ gangs but manage to avoid reference to them

By Professor John Robertson OBA The Guardian today suggesting a further worsening of the situation with regard to cancer waiting times in England. The gap in those waiting longer than the target time, was already wide when the BBC produced this in November 2022: In July 2024, using the other one-month target, NHS Scotland was still performing better: Why is this? “It’s not specifically down to the SNP, but it’s SNP policies,” Whitford told The National.  “We still have a public NHS here in Scotland. To some extent it’s still the same in Wales, but in England the Health and Social … Continue reading As Labour’s NHS England challenge gets tougher why NHS Scotland needs the SNP to stay in charge

The above data are from a Freedom of Information request to Police Scotland responded to on 30 July 2024 and, of course, missed by ‘our’ MSM. Against a background of staffing stability, we see a 155 485 or 16% reduction in callouts in only 5 years.1 There are currently 16 234 police officers in Scotland2, 27 or 0.16% fewer than in 2007 when crime was 50% higher3. Sources: Continue reading Steady fall in callout pressure on Police Scotland as staffing stabilises

Some initial thoughts on 2024 Gers figures. By Malachi Malagrowther From   https://www.gov.scot/publications/government-expenditure-revenue-scotland-gers-2023-24/                                                                                  you will note that we are debited £8.352 billion expenditure for Reserved (UK) public sector debt interest plus £4.642 billion as our geographic share of UK defence expenditure.     It is interesting to compare these figures with Ireland’s latest budget. The Irish Government have committed to increase the Defence budget from €1.1 billion to €1.5 billion, by 2028, in order to fully implement the Action Plan.  So, Scotland is charged three times as much under Gers https://www.military.ie/en/news-and-events/news/defence-forces-chief-of-staff-welcomes-historic-increase-in-defence-budget.html On Public Sector Debt, the “ballpark” figure was provided by Department of Finance … Continue reading 2024 GERS – How Scotland gets only one seventh of Norway’s oil and gas income and pays for England’s debt

By Professor John Robertson OBA No UK media outlet has gone beyond blaming the NHS and the police in Nottingham for the above tragedy, after 3 years of failure to treat the killer, despite repeated reports of the risk he posed. The new Health Secretary for England, Wes Streeting, has even joined in to agree that the police and NHS have ‘blood on their hands.’ Curiously, he does not blame the previous Conservative Government for cuts to these two services, over several years. The Health Secretary for England, at the time, Steve Barclay, is not mentioned once, far less photographed. Yet … Continue reading Imagine 3 Scots had been killed after warnings that a paranoid schizophrenic might kill – who’d be to blame?

Last week the Herald was making much of the 3 hour delays for those who turned up with cars in Largs for the Cumbrae crossing. Despite 46 sailings to the almost car-free island, popular with walkers and cyclists, so many car-drivers turned up that queues of folk too lazy to walk or cycle soon developed. Yesterday in the affluent British Columbia state in Canada, served by the privately-owned, shareholder dividend paying, and expensive (twice CalMac rates) , BC ferries, waits of between 9 and 12 hours became common. No criticism of the British Columbia or Canadian governments was made. Source: … Continue reading Canadian ferry delays THREE to FOUR times longer than on busy CalMac ferries

Thanks to Dottie B for alerting me to this. Team GB had 327 athletes1 and won 65 medals2, a hit ratio of 1 in 5. 34 Scots competed3 winning 13 medals4, a hit ratio of 1 in 2.6. Sources: Continue reading No longer ‘Sick man of Europe’ as Scots athletes TWICE as successful as Team GB!

By Professor John Robertson OBA The above funnel plot shows that all of Scotland’s hospitals had the level of mortality previously predicted on earlier data and on demographic factors such as age and levels of poverty in the catchment area. The bigger urban hospitals such as QMUC on the extreme left right, are to the right and the very small, in rural areas and on the islands, to the left. Those below the blue line had slightly lower than expected mortality rates and those above had slightly higher rates. Those above the line remained within the normal range, suggesting no problems … Continue reading All of Scotland’s hospitals are equally safe places for treatment with no pockets of serious risk comparable to some NHS England hospitals