You’ll think I must be making this stuff up but English schools permanently excluded ONE THOUSAND times as many children, per head, as in Scotland but we’ll pay some of the price for that as they’re used as drug mules by the English County lines drug gangs plaguing Scotland

Professor John Robertson OBA Thanks to Dottie once again for alerting me to this: In the Guardian today, the above and: More than 10,000 children were permanently excluded from England’s state schools last year, alongside record numbers of suspensions involving pupils aged six or younger or with special needs, as teachers struggled to cope with worsening behaviour. The figures for the 2023-24 academic year revealed that the number of permanent exclusions leapt up by 16% compared with the year before, while the total number of suspension days rose by 21% to 955,000. https://www.theguardian.com/education/2025/jul/10/rise-in-school-exclusions-in-england-including-among-children-under-six There were 11 676 temporary and 1 permanent exclusion from Scotland’s … Continue reading You’ll think I must be making this stuff up but English schools permanently excluded ONE THOUSAND times as many children, per head, as in Scotland but we’ll pay some of the price for that as they’re used as drug mules by the English County lines drug gangs plaguing Scotland

Labour to slash nurse training in England as Scotland trains nearly TWICE as many

Professor John Robertson OBA In the Telegraph yesterday and across media in England, the above astonishing decision by this Labour government, to follow from a series of cuts to services and tax increases for the less well-off, which can only further degrade the performance of the NHS in England and strengthen to role of the private sector, which funds many leading Labour politicians. What would a Labour presence in government at Holyrood, say with Reform UK, put at risk here? The Scotsman in February 2025 was front-paging Alarm over fresh drop in applicants for nurses course based on a 2% reduction in applications, from … Continue reading Labour to slash nurse training in England as Scotland trains nearly TWICE as many

Drax the Destroyer of Worlds, Jackie Baillie, £10 exrtra on your bill and the UK’s biggest CO2 emitter

By Professor John Robertson OBA In the Times today: British households paid around £10 each, on average, on their energy bills last year to support a controversial wood-burning power station. Drax, whose biomass facility in North Yorkshire is the UK’s largest power station, received £869 million from public subsidies in 2024, according to an analysis by campaigners. DRAX!!! From BBC North Yorkshire, 9 February 2025: A UK power station that has received billions of pounds in government subsidies has failed more than once to report it burned wood from primary forests, BBC News has found. Drax Power Station, which burns wood pellets, … Continue reading Drax the Destroyer of Worlds, Jackie Baillie, £10 exrtra on your bill and the UK’s biggest CO2 emitter

674 sick children experience medication-related incidents in England & Wales but not one politician like this wanted to groom the parents for political purposes

By JB In January 2017 PLOS Medicine published research on….Patient Safety Incidents Involving Sick Children in Primary Care in England and Wales: A Mixed Methods Analysis PLOS Medicine as a journal was published online and in a printed format until 2005 and is now only published online by the Public Library of Science under the  Creative Commons “attribution” license  in other words “open access content”. “Articles published in PLoS Medicine are rigorously peer-reviewed. Academic and professional editors, supported by expert peer-reviewers, select those studies that drive research forward—in this case, toward medical applications and benefits for patients.” Getting back to the main … Continue reading 674 sick children experience medication-related incidents in England & Wales but not one politician like this wanted to groom the parents for political purposes

New Zealand government’s incompetence on new ferry builds, to avert further repeated collisions, near things with rocks and running aground, already costs $300 million in cancellation costs and the need is now urgent to get new ferries built before any more failures occur

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, Global Ferry Correspondent From RNZ 24 March 2025: New documents reveal the coalition has set aside $300 million to cover broken infrastructure contracts and a break-fee with Hyundai, after the government ended a contract with the Korean company to build two new Interislander ferries. The contract, known as iRex, was cancelled with Hyundai shortly after the Coalition came to power [2024], citing a $3 billion cost blowout associated with the ferries and the required port upgrades. https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/political/543699/government-s-irex-ferry-cancellation-costed-at-300-million-for-now Just how bad … Continue reading New Zealand government’s incompetence on new ferry builds, to avert further repeated collisions, near things with rocks and running aground, already costs $300 million in cancellation costs and the need is now urgent to get new ferries built before any more failures occur

A clear causal connection between Liverpool drug gangs, the flood of cheap, more powerful, drugs into Scotland and our still far too high drug deaths. Why are Scotland’s media ignoring that?

Professor John Robertson OBA From BBC England yesterday, the above and: Five members of a county lines drug gang known as the Scouse Dave Line have been jailed. A total of seven members of the organised crime group, which peddled crack cocaine and heroin between Liverpool, Gosport and Plymouth, were sentenced during the two-day hearing at Portsmouth Crown Court. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cd92w0klwy8o When I saw the word ‘scouse‘, I was reminded of this: My Google Alert on 14 February 2025, offered Operation Apollo continues crackdown on County Lines with over 300 years in jail time secured [by the above members] from Cheshire Constabulary. There’s no mention … Continue reading A clear causal connection between Liverpool drug gangs, the flood of cheap, more powerful, drugs into Scotland and our still far too high drug deaths. Why are Scotland’s media ignoring that?

How ferries under Labour from 1997 to 2007 were never bad news and never politicised

Professor John Robertson OBA Today, try searching for Scotland and ferries and you’ll be flooded, unlike the MV Glen Sannox‘s slightly damp steering gear, with a surge of reports, several directly ‘accusing’ or ‘shaming’, the SNP for the kind of minor repair that is often required in the teething stages of new ship. Try narrowing your search to the period from 1 January 1997 to 1 January 2007, Labour and the Lib Dem’s time in power and you’ll find very little indeed. You will find one (only) story of delays, due to repairs lasting 6 months, on 22 April 2003, … Continue reading How ferries under Labour from 1997 to 2007 were never bad news and never politicised

Research – The very small Glen Sannox welding crack, like the numerous new aircraft carrier flaws, is just normal teething troubles

Professor John Robertson OBA Today’s news that the new MV Glen Sannox CalMac ferry has been taken out of service due to a small welding crack near the steering gear letting ‘a very small amount of water‘ in, has had many of out media hacks generating much larger amounts of fluid, in their pants. When I heard the news, I immediately thought ‘settling in cracks‘ like the ones you get in new houses. Clearly it’s a bit different in a ship but is it unusual and don’t you just fix it? From Crack assessment criteria for ship hull structure based … Continue reading Research – The very small Glen Sannox welding crack, like the numerous new aircraft carrier flaws, is just normal teething troubles

Scilly Season – 48 year old ailing, elderly, ferry replacement no longer due in 2026 despite journey times dearly doubling

By Professor John Robertson OBE From BBC Cornwall, yesterday: Final preparations are under way for the Scillonian III ferry to start sailing to the Isles of Scilly next month on what could be her last season. The vessel came into service in 1977 and has made more than 10,000 trips to the islands. Senior managers at the Isles of Scilly Steamship Group (ISSG) have said the ferry was now 48 years old and it was now time to look forward. Her replacement, the Scillonian IV, and a new cargo vessel were both under construction in Vietnam and were scheduled to enter service … Continue reading Scilly Season – 48 year old ailing, elderly, ferry replacement no longer due in 2026 despite journey times dearly doubling

The case for developing a shipbuilding industry on the Clyde – as four cheap-build island ‘lifeline’, Turkey-built ferries are delayed again and again despite cheap and dangerous practice

The MV Isle of Islay, a Caledonian Maritime Assets Limited (CMAL) vessel and the first of two vessels to serve the islands of Jura and Islay, taking to the water for the first time on Saturday at Cemre Marin Endustri shipyard in Yalova, Turkey. Picture: CMAL/PA Wire© (Photo: CMAL) By Professor John Robertson OBA From the Scotsman today: A fleet of ferries being built in Turkey have been hit by a further setback, with their completion date pushed back by at least another three months due to labour shortages. The Isle of Islay – the first of four vessels being built at the … Continue reading The case for developing a shipbuilding industry on the Clyde – as four cheap-build island ‘lifeline’, Turkey-built ferries are delayed again and again despite cheap and dangerous practice