Tag: ai

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Mandelson case and Palantir’s NHS England contract ‘opens door to government abuse of power’ but in Scotland

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Please Support Talking-up Scotland at:https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/support-talking-up-scotlandClick on the above.Or direct bank transfer at Sort Code 08-91-04 Account – 12266421 Name – JOHN ROBERTSON In the Guardian today: Palantir’s NHS contract opens the door to the Big Brother-style data-sharing that Reform UK would use for a version of US immigration raids, health bosses have been told. Palantir Technologies – the data analytics company founded by Peter Thiel and Alex Karp – won a £330m NHS England contract to deliver the Federated Data Platform in 2023. The UK government is urging health bodies to adopt FDP, which the health secretary, Wes Streeting, says will ensure the NHS is “brought … Continue reading Mandelson case and Palantir’s NHS England contract ‘opens door to government abuse of power’ but in Scotland

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Could a huge data centre revitalise Ayrshire – or ruin it? How Scotland’s massive water and electricity resources make it the perfect location for an industry which we could, after independence, tax fully

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Please Support Talking-up Scotland at:https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/support-talking-up-scotlandClick on the above.Or direct bank transfer at Sort Code 08-91-04 Account – 12266421 Name – JOHN ROBERTSON BBC Scotland, Glasgow & West today has: Could a huge data centre revitalise Ayrshire – or ruin it? Supporters talk of it revitalising the region, bringing new jobs and investment that would be ploughed back into the community. But the plans have met strong opposition from locals concerned about the impact on the wider area. Some of those opposed have contacted BBC Your Voice, and say the firm has not provided concrete details about a building that would dominate … Continue reading Could a huge data centre revitalise Ayrshire – or ruin it? How Scotland’s massive water and electricity resources make it the perfect location for an industry which we could, after independence, tax fully

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As Mandelson case exposes the risks of using US company Palantir for health data, how Nicola Sturgeon’s government made sure it didn’t happen in Scotland two years ago

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Please Support Talking-up Scotland at: https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/support-talking-up-scotlandClick on the above. In the Guardian today: Labour should halt public contracts with the US tech company Palantir, opposition politicians have said, amid growing concern at the lack of government transparency over dealings with the company and Peter Mandelson. Since 2023, Palantir has secured more than £500m in contracts with the NHS and the Ministry of Defence (MoD), while it employed Global Counsel, the lobbying firm founded by Mandelson. Emails released by the US Department of Justice show Mandelson sought help from Jeffrey Epstein to find “rich individuals” as clients. https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/feb/05/calls-to-halt-uk-palantir-contracts-grow-amid-lack-of-transparency-over-deals In August 2024, the BMJ warned: … Continue reading As Mandelson case exposes the risks of using US company Palantir for health data, how Nicola Sturgeon’s government made sure it didn’t happen in Scotland two years ago

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Confused Sunday Mail misses how Scotland’s massive energy over-production could make billions after independence easily feeding and watering the ‘gobbling’ AI data centres

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Professor John Robertson OBA From the Sunday Mail yesterday the above back-to-front headline and: Massive new data centres planned in Scotland to power the AI revolution would use up to three quarters of the country’s total electricity demand [sic], a new study has claimed. Research firm Foxglove, which campaigns for fair tech, found the “staggering” amount of power as well as water required by data centres “carries serious environmental risk” for Scotland. Its study this month found 11 “hyperscale” data centres currently in the planning system could use up an astonishing 3000 megawatts of electricity supply once all operational. “And they produce a huge amount … Continue reading Confused Sunday Mail misses how Scotland’s massive energy over-production could make billions after independence easily feeding and watering the ‘gobbling’ AI data centres

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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

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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

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UK Labour Health Minister seems unaware that US tech firm which supplies Israeli forces and which risks patient safety will not allow his scheme to make money out of patient data but has no presence in Scotland

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Professor John Robertson OBA Thanks to Dorothy for this. From the FT yesterday: The UK should “leverage” its new health data storage service for the “benefit of the Treasury coffers”, a health minister has said, as well as accelerating the discovery of new treatments for NHS patients.  Zubir Ahmed said in an interview that the government’s new Health Data Research Service (HDRS) will give researchers a single access point to national datasets for the first time and unlock “the power” of NHS data. “There is no shame in saying, we have world leading examples of high quality care and high … Continue reading UK Labour Health Minister seems unaware that US tech firm which supplies Israeli forces and which risks patient safety will not allow his scheme to make money out of patient data but has no presence in Scotland

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Why John Swinney is even more right to oppose Digital ID than is being discussed so far

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With only 3 days left, 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 or by direct bank transfer method – John Robertson, Sort code 08-91-04, Account 12266421 Professor John Robertson OBA There’s something missing from all the media coverage of Labour’s Digital ID proposal and it’s darker than any worries we might have about Scots ‘declaring ourselves British.‘ From the Canary factchecker two days ago: As Keir Starmer moves to impose ‘digital ID’ on the UK, anti-surveillance and anti-freeport activist and Canary writer David Powell has submitted a major Freedom of Information Act (FOI) request to the government demanding … Continue reading Why John Swinney is even more right to oppose Digital ID than is being discussed so far

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As US tech firm which supplies Israeli forces and which risks patient safety is signed up by another Labour council in England how the SNP Government has protected you from them

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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 Today, in the Guardian: Public sector workers have voiced “deep concern” after Coventry city council signed a £500,000-a-year artificial intelligence contract with the US data technology company Palantir. The deal is the first of its kind between a UK local authority and the Denver-based company, which supplies technology to the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and to help Donald Trump’s mass deportation efforts. Palantir already has a number of public sector contracts in the UK, including providing AI to help tackle organised crime in Leicestershire and building the … Continue reading As US tech firm which supplies Israeli forces and which risks patient safety is signed up by another Labour council in England how the SNP Government has protected you from them

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Independent Water Commission for England and Wales – providing a partial and flawed assessment of significance of ownership for performance outcomes?

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By stewartb The ‘Independent Water Commission Final Report’ (aka the Cunliffe report) published on July 21 has a lengthy section examining any possible relationship between water company ownership and performance outcomes. British Labour Party politicians are at work with the mainstream media to allege poor performance of Scottish Water in order to convince the electorate that public ownership is ineffective and/or unnecessary. In this context, it’s worthwhile examining what the Commission’s report actually stated on this subject and worth assembling other relevant evidence to counter Labour’s talking down Scotland – again! From the Water Commission’s report From Para 693: ‘The … Continue reading Independent Water Commission for England and Wales – providing a partial and flawed assessment of significance of ownership for performance outcomes?

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Why is there a ‘cancer ticking time bomb’ only in Scotland where radiologist staffing is highest in UK?

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stewartb What of the ‘cancer time bomb’ that is headline news in several newspapers in Scotland and above the BBC News website’s ‘Scotland’s papers’ feature and also in a separate BBC Scotland article on the the same website? This has all been catalysed by the following Royal College of Radiology (RCR) reports: (i) ‘Clinical Radiology – Workforce Census 2024’ and (ii) Clinical Oncology – Workforce Census 2024. Both reports cover all four nations of the UK although one would be hard pressed to realise this from the newspapers front pages. One would not know of the UK-wide scope EVEN after careful reading the BBC Scotland … Continue reading Why is there a ‘cancer ticking time bomb’ only in Scotland where radiologist staffing is highest in UK?