Tag: books

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The BBC in Scotland platform ‘experts’ who all have a rabid #SNPBAD angle in their opinions

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By Liz S Help Talking-up Scotland keep going Crowdfunder at: https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/help-talking-up-scotland-keep-going Or by direct bank transfer to: JOHN WATSON ROBERTSON Sort Code – 08-91-04 Account – 12266421 The BBC in Scotland platform those (same) ‘experts’ who are to be assumed to be neutral , but as experts , they all somehow always seem to have a rabid #SNPBAD angle in their opinions . So then with many of these guests being presented as politically ‘neutral’ you then find that after you do just a wee bit of research, or you already know who they are, it is clearly obvious and so then firmly established that they have an affiliation with some opposition political party to … Continue reading The BBC in Scotland platform ‘experts’ who all have a rabid #SNPBAD angle in their opinions

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Lucy Whyte didn’t appear to know that freezing the cost of supermarket staples was a Scottish Labour manifesto pledge

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Help Talking-up Scotland keep going Crowdfunder at: https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/help-talking-up-scotland-keep-going Or by direct bank transfer to: JOHN WATSON ROBERTSON Sort Code – 08-91-04 Account – 12266421 By Liz S As Jackie Baillie was interviewed by the BBC radio in Scotland in a softly softly interview that was mostly, as per, an opportunity for her to have yet another public platform to scream #SNPBAD via the BBC in Scotland. Yet here is what I found online in the ‘Scottish’ Labour manifesto for the 2026 Scottish elections. 30 April 2026 “100 Days of Change” This was on the ‘Scottish’ Labour website: “If international instability continues, deliver £100 million of emergency support including … Continue reading Lucy Whyte didn’t appear to know that freezing the cost of supermarket staples was a Scottish Labour manifesto pledge

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More than ten times as many, per head, early release prisoners being recalled in England & Wales due to half the staffing in Scotland

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Help Talking-up Scotland keep going Crowdfunder at: https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/help-talking-up-scotland-keep-going Or by direct bank transfer to: JOHN WATSON ROBERTSON Sort Code – 08-91-04 Account – 12266421 As Andy Burnham pushes ahead with his ‘tough enough’ kneejerk reaction to early prisoner release, he’d do well to look North (real North) for tips. From the Guardian in February 2026: Record numbers of offenders are being recalled to prison in England and Wales with union officials claiming that some are deliberately breaking the terms of their probation in order to deal drugs in prison. Prison sources said that after the implementation of early release schemes, as many as 5,000 men were recalled in December alone – more than a … Continue reading More than ten times as many, per head, early release prisoners being recalled in England & Wales due to half the staffing in Scotland

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There are no plans in Scotland to end indefinite sentences where there is a high risk of violent re-offending

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Help Talking-up Scotland keep going Crowdfunder at: https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/help-talking-up-scotland-keep-going Or by direct bank transfer to: JOHN WATSON ROBERTSON Sort Code – 08-91-04 Account – 12266421 In his BBC interview yesterday, aimed at reassuring voters than violent offenders would not be released early, PM Burnham suggested that ending ‘controversial indefinite sentences’ might free up space in prisons. However, the BBC notes – Ending indefinite sentences will require new legislation, meaning it could be years before space is freed up. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cdx5zw4e2x9o Are there indefinite jail sentences in Scotland? Scotland uses Orders for Lifelong Restriction (OLRs), introduced in 2006 under the Criminal Justice (Scotland) Act 2003. These are indeterminate (no fixed release … Continue reading There are no plans in Scotland to end indefinite sentences where there is a high risk of violent re-offending

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How in 2001 Labour’s Malcolm Chisholm MSP condemned Glasgow and it’s child cancer patients to the only major hospital in the world within secret but easy breathing distance from millions of litres of stirred raw sewage sludge

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From clear liability for a looming health disaster in 2001 to a media transferring the blame to an innocent party in 2017 Help Talking-up Scotland keep going Crowdfunder at: https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/help-talking-up-scotland-keep-going Or by direct bank transfer to: JOHN WATSON ROBERTSON Sort Code – 08-91-04 Account – 12266421 By stewartb The full transcript of this debate in the Scottish Parliament on 17 January 2001 can be read here: https://www.parliament.scot/chamber-and-committees/official-report/search-what-was-said-in-parliament/meeting-of-parliament-17-01-2001?meeting=4278&iob=28854 What is abundantly clear from the record is substantial cross-party discontent with the nature of and response to the public consultation undertaken by the health board regarding options for the proposed new south Glasgow Hospital, including in particular its location. The issues concerning location … Continue reading How in 2001 Labour’s Malcolm Chisholm MSP condemned Glasgow and it’s child cancer patients to the only major hospital in the world within secret but easy breathing distance from millions of litres of stirred raw sewage sludge

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Approach with caution – Mark Smith’s ‘new’ made-up crime stats

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Help Talking-up Scotland keep going Crowdfunder at: https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/help-talking-up-scotland-keep-going Or by direct bank transfer to: JOHN WATSON ROBERTSON Sort Code – 08-91-04 Account – 12266421 I haven’t bothered with the The Herald’s Mark Smith for years now. In 2022, I wrote ‘Herald’s Mark Smith does a Ross Kemp and gets out of Holyrood before a few elderly feminists ‘kick off’ and thrust their merkins at him,’ but have not looked for fear of upsetting myself. It’s at: https://talkingupscotlandtwo.com/2022/12/26/heralds-mark-smith-does-a-ross-kemp-and-gets-out-of-holyrood-before-a-few-elderly-feminists-kick-off-and-thrust-their-merkins-at-him/ Approach with caution. Today, we have another of his biographical proud diversions in an attempt to seem clever: It is a constant disappointment to my parents that, despite the fact I … Continue reading Approach with caution – Mark Smith’s ‘new’ made-up crime stats

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Watch out for media ‘inappropriately’ trying to blow this case up into a ‘Wayne Couzens’ crisis for policing in Scotland and door-step an SNP minister with accusations from Jackie Baillie

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Help Talking-up Scotland keep going Crowdfunder at: https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/help-talking-up-scotland-keep-going Or by direct bank transfer to: JOHN WATSON ROBERTSON Sort Code – 08-91-04 Account – 12266421 For a short video account of this issue see: https://talkingupscotlandtwo.com/2026/07/23/why-multiple-rapist-alan-greer-is-not-police-scotlands-wayne-couzens-moment-short-video/ As many of us anticipated BBC Scotland have returned to this case feeling they have found something they can accuse Police Scotland of in the case of Alan Greer and imply failure at ministerial level. What have they found? What were these ‘warnings?‘ Greer made inappropriate phone calls to two women in 2002 and in 2005 with in the second case in London, a formal police caution by the Met. What does ‘inappropriate’ mean … Continue reading Watch out for media ‘inappropriately’ trying to blow this case up into a ‘Wayne Couzens’ crisis for policing in Scotland and door-step an SNP minister with accusations from Jackie Baillie

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Scotland does not leave care leavers alone at 18

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Help Talking-up Scotland keep going Crowdfunder at: https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/help-talking-up-scotland-keep-going Or by direct bank transfer to: JOHN WATSON ROBERTSON Sort Code – 08-91-04 Account – 12266421 In the Guardian yesterday, the above and: David’s death is one of a number examined in a landmark review into the deaths of more than 100 care leavers aged 18-24 in 2025. The review findings suggest the death rate of this cohort is about 3-4 times higher than the death rate of the general population. One-fifth of all these deaths occurred at age 18, with experts saying a “care cliff” means young people experience an “immense drop off in support” as they transition from being a … Continue reading Scotland does not leave care leavers alone at 18

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Independence cover-up: We would be rich

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Help Talking-up Scotland keep going Crowdfunder at: https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/help-talking-up-scotland-keep-going Or by direct bank transfer to: JOHN WATSON ROBERTSON Sort Code – 08-91-04 Account – 12266421 By Mark E. Saunders of “The Scottish Minuteman” https://www.facebook.com/profile.php/?id=61575625542197 You Can’t Handle the Truth! The above image is quite the newspaper clipping. Don’t you think?  It tells us something very important about how Scotland was being presented to itself before the Scottish National Party came to power. The date is 30 November 2006. The SNP had not yet formed a Scottish Government. Alex Salmond had not yet become First Minister. The independence referendum was still almost a decade away. This was The Glasgow Herald reporting on revelations that … Continue reading Independence cover-up: We would be rich

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The power of nightmares – the real reasons why the BBC made THAT Glasgow documentary?

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Help Talking-up Scotland keep going Crowdfunder at: https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/help-talking-up-scotland-keep-going Or by direct bank transfer to: JOHN WATSON ROBERTSON Sort Code – 08-91-04 Account – 12266421 You can listen to what they have to say at: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m0030l7g?at_ptr_name=twitter&at_campaign_type=owned&at_medium=social&at_campaign=Social_Flow I have a weak stomach and an aversion to rats, wee ones especially, so I won’t be. Anyhow, I, none of us, need to hear their unconvincing lies. We already know: Researchers have found that heavy consumption of negative news triggers the release of stress hormones and consequent increases in anxiety [i], [ii], [iii]. Studies of voting patterns have found that those with a ‘negativity bias’ derived from fear and anxiety about the world they live … Continue reading The power of nightmares – the real reasons why the BBC made THAT Glasgow documentary?