As UK Labour begin to claim falling knife crime in England & Wales, why their headlines and their figures are less reliable than those in Scotland which are – ‘being on firmer ground in terms of official trustworthiness’
Professor John Robertson OBA In the Mirror today, a deceitful headline suggesting a wider reduction in knife crime when the figures only relate to robberies where a knife was present. While applauding this, I suspect most readers were more interested to hear of a decline in violence where a knife was used. More generally, I’ve been wondering how reliable these new data are. You’ll remember, I hope, how various NHS England waiting time and drug death data have been exposed here. Lazily perhaps, I asked AI. Have a look a this and if you spot any weaknesses/flaws, let me know … Continue reading As UK Labour begin to claim falling knife crime in England & Wales, why their headlines and their figures are less reliable than those in Scotland which are – ‘being on firmer ground in terms of official trustworthiness’
Reposted as Anas Sarwar claims he will ‘address the housing emergency’
As Anas Sarwar promises to address the housing emergency UK Labour have just given up on that and he’ll do what he’s told:
22 years later the Herald has changed its tune on whether firefighters ‘deserve to have their cake and eat it too’ because it’s an SNP cake now
Professor John Robertson OBA The Herald, once again yesterday, embracing one of the very same trade unions which their corporate-owners insisted that they regularly demonise and mis-represent in earlier times. Now, of course, those same unions are useful in undermining the SNP in government. In the days before the growth of the SNP and the independence movement, corporate media hacks would have been very quick to inform their readers that fewer firefighters are now needed as fires reduce in number and that taxpayers cannot be expected to pay for them to sit around all day. Here’s the kind of evidence they once … Continue reading 22 years later the Herald has changed its tune on whether firefighters ‘deserve to have their cake and eat it too’ because it’s an SNP cake now
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
Talking-up Scotland 