‘The Home Office and policing do not have a shared understanding of the resource implications of changing demands’
By stewartb The National Audit Office (NAO, November 3, 2025) published this report: ‘Police productivity – Home Office. Report HC 1380’. (https://www.nao.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/police-productivity.pdf) It is concerned with policing in England and Wales. The NAO notes that the Home Office allocates the majority of police funding for England and Wales. Why relevant to TuS and to Scotland? In common with other devolved public services, what the UK government decides on resources for policing in England and Wales impacts financial resources made available to the Scottish Government via the so-called Block Grant. And it is not only the size of the Block Grant that is impacted but … Continue reading ‘The Home Office and policing do not have a shared understanding of the resource implications of changing demands’
207 more police officers in Scotland than under Labour despite 40% reduction in crime since then – Imagine it was the other way round?
Professor John Robertson OBA From Police officer quarterly strength statistics: 30 September 2025 published today: Scotland’s Chief Statistician has published statistics on Police Officer Quarterly Strength, which gives the number of full-time equivalent police officers employed by Police Scotland. The key findings of the statistics are: From Recorded Crime in Scotland, 2024-25 published in June 2025, the above table showing a 39.8% fall in recorded crime since the last days of the Labour/Lib Dem coalition in 2007. Can the SNP get some credit? If it was the opposite way round and crime had climbed nearly 40% under them, they’d be … Continue reading 207 more police officers in Scotland than under Labour despite 40% reduction in crime since then – Imagine it was the other way round?
NHS Scotland staffed and equipped to complete 98% of more than 25 000 operations in September 2025 despite 12% increase in demand is deeply impressive
Professor John Robertson OBA From Cancelled planned operations Month ending 30 September 2025, published today: There were 25,322 operations planned to take place across NHSScotland. This is 12.1% higher (+2,738) than the number planned a year previously in September 2024 (22,584). Overall, the number of planned operations had been steadily increasing since the COVID-19 pandemic impacted service provision, until May 2024 when increases in the 12-month rolling average began to plateau. Since June 2025 this has started to increase again. Of all planned operations during September 2025 in NHSScotland, 819 (3.2%) were cancelled by the hospital for clinical reasons, 728 … Continue reading NHS Scotland staffed and equipped to complete 98% of more than 25 000 operations in September 2025 despite 12% increase in demand is deeply impressive
Keeping quiet about a fall in actual murder and actual murder by children but headlining trade union rumours of a possible increase in attempted murder by children – BBC Scotland and The Record darkening your lives with a purpose
Professor John Robertson OBA The Record and BBC Scotland today are headlining a report by the police officers trade union, the SPA, claiming: A report has highlighted a “concerning increase” in the number of attempted murders carried out by children in Scotland. The Scottish Police Authority (SPA) paper, external said there were 17 attempted murders involving 20 children in the three months between April and June this year. It means children were involved in almost a quarter of all attempted murders where a suspect was identified, with cases in nine separate divisions of Police Scotland. But the report found that the overall level … Continue reading Keeping quiet about a fall in actual murder and actual murder by children but headlining trade union rumours of a possible increase in attempted murder by children – BBC Scotland and The Record darkening your lives with a purpose
Untrustworthy – Ayr Labour candidate for Holyrood election in 2026 ‘enabled’ the corrupt Tory council that reduced public services, increased costs for households and stalled community projects, on direct orders from Anas Sarwar
The Labour candidate for the Ayr constituency in the 2026 Scottish election, is Brian McGinley, above. At the time of the 2022 local elections, McGinley was Labour group leader. The outcome was: The Conservatives formed a minority administration. This was enabled by independent councillors and abstentions from Labour councillors on key votes to set-up the Conservative administration. In 2025, the Conservative council collapsed in a ‘job for pals’ scandal over the award of contracts. The consequences have been ‘devastating’ for local people. See this: Who is to blame? Did Ayr Labour Facilitate a Conservative Council? Yes, specifically the South Ayrshire … Continue reading Untrustworthy – Ayr Labour candidate for Holyrood election in 2026 ‘enabled’ the corrupt Tory council that reduced public services, increased costs for households and stalled community projects, on direct orders from Anas Sarwar
If Scotland’s prisons are at ‘breaking point’, why are assaults on prison officers in England & Wales nearly THREE times as frequent as in Scotland and yet they’re not at breaking point?
warned the prison system is at breaking point……The jail’s population has reduced since earlier this year and staff absences have improved. Professor John Robertson OBA BBC Scotland today is headlining a story they have gathered themselves in anticipation of linking it to the Scottish Government in an upcoming Holyrood vote on early prisoner release to reduce prison overcrowding. I’m sure Scotland’s prisons are overcrowded and that that’s not a good thing for anyone but media reporting on them is constantly politicised with a view to undermining the reputation of the Scottish Government. Here’s another example of that tendency and the … Continue reading If Scotland’s prisons are at ‘breaking point’, why are assaults on prison officers in England & Wales nearly THREE times as frequent as in Scotland and yet they’re not at breaking point?
Wealth Extraction – Another supposed supporter of independence works against it by denying colonialism and blaming the SNP
Professor John Robertson OBA Like Wings and Craig Murray and Kevin McKenna, Robin McAlpine of Common Weal cannot get over the SNP leadership’s failure to recognise his supreme intelligence and usefulness to their policy development back in 2014. Still in the huff, he’s in the National today with the above and: If you support independence then I urge you to take a moment’s break from strategising about how to get a referendum (or whatever alternative plan you’re hatching) and take a look at a graph. It should be a rocket up our arse. It is time we took independence an … Continue reading Wealth Extraction – Another supposed supporter of independence works against it by denying colonialism and blaming the SNP
‘Troubled Tory ferry fiasco’ vessel built in England out of action again
Professor John Robertson OBA The National’s piece, above, on the latest problems for the MV Caledonian Isles has no historical perspective on this long-troubled vessel, leaving some to think it’s another ‘SNP ferry fiasco‘. Here it is: Readers will already know that the MV Caledonian Isles had been in dock for repairs following botched work by Cammell Laird in Liverpool. Readers will also be aware of the regular and longstanding Scottish media reports describing the vessel as ‘troubled’ and ‘fault prone.’ While such accounts have been often exaggerated and ill-informed, it may be that the vessel has been, since its … Continue reading ‘Troubled Tory ferry fiasco’ vessel built in England out of action again
Why can only BBC Highland Cops tell us straight that these drug gangs originate in England and are from London, Birmingham and Newcastle? Don’t they care about the reputation of the Union that we’re ‘better suffering together’ in?
Professor John Robertson OBA That’s an Inverness-based police inspector telling us on BBC Highland Cops in S3, E4, that the drugs will be ‘brought to Inverness by organised crime groups who originate predominantly in England, whether it be London, Newcastle, Birmingham, any big city. He missed out Liverpool which featured in Series 1 and 2. No one has ever, ever, in now at least six years since these gangs moved in, said anything like that on BBC Reporting Scotland or Good Mourning Scotland. These local, not BBC, producers of the series and the local cops are political naives. They don’t … Continue reading Why can only BBC Highland Cops tell us straight that these drug gangs originate in England and are from London, Birmingham and Newcastle? Don’t they care about the reputation of the Union that we’re ‘better suffering together’ in?
‘The Canary in the Coalmine’ – Abortions shocking 36% more common in England & Wales after 18 years of SNP rule
Professor John Robertson OBA I should say quickly that I’m right behind women’s right to choose on this. My posts are almost always about the representation rather than the substance of issues. ‘Scotland‘s media are keen to talk about abortion if the narrative can be made anti-Scottish Government/SNP but never if it’s this other side of the story: From the Guardian 24 May 2024: There were 251,377 abortions for women resident in the two nations in 2022, official figures from the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) show. With 9% of the population of England & Wales, all things being equal, … Continue reading ‘The Canary in the Coalmine’ – Abortions shocking 36% more common in England & Wales after 18 years of SNP rule
Talking-up Scotland 