Tag: climate-change

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22 times as many properties at risk of flooding in England after 18 years of SNP policies

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Professor John Robertson OBA In the Guardian yesterday, the above and: John Harris correctly identifies that the UK is hopelessly unprepared for flooding, but is wrong to suggest that the public is not told about the threat (Flooded and forgotten: the UK’s waters are rising and we’re being kept in the dark, 16 November). Is there a comparable problem in Scotland? Nope After 14 years of Tory rule in England and 17 of SNP rule in Scotland, 22 times as many properties at risk of flooding….in England, of course In the Independent and others, today, a warning that 6.3 million homes and … Continue reading 22 times as many properties at risk of flooding in England after 18 years of SNP policies

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Another fracking dangerous technology only suitable for Scotland and the North apparently emits more CO2 than it stores

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Professor John Robertson OBA Thanks to Bernadette Robertson for alerting me to this. In the UK Daily Mail, today, but not on the ‘Scottish’ edition’s front page: The long–awaited solution to Britain’s climate crisis could finally be here. Scientists have identified eight potential sites for the ‘direct air capture machines’ (DAC), which would extract CO2 from the air and turn it to stone. The eight promising locations include Antrim in Northern Ireland, Borrowdale in the Lake District and the Isle of Mull in Scotland. According to the experts, the sites have a wealth of volcanic rock underground that would react with CO2 and … Continue reading Another fracking dangerous technology only suitable for Scotland and the North apparently emits more CO2 than it stores

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Scotland has the lowest difference in excess mortality between summer and winter despite consistently seeing the coldest winters

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stewartb O/T Tho’ staying with the challenges of winter, a newly published research paper published by UK Parliament Post has noteworthy statistics on levels of winter mortality across the UK. It reports a statistic favourable to Scotland and therefore worthy of mention – after all, if not here, where? (We know that favourable statistics about life in Scotland are strong candidates for media bias by omission and if the same research had reported an unfavourable statistic, someone in BBC Scotland or their ilk would have noticed and amplified it.) Source: Hassan and Chapman (Sept 9, 2025) Winter mortality. UK Parliament Post. (https://researchbriefings.files.parliament.uk/documents/POST-PN-0752/POST-PN-0752.pdf ) Background: ’Winter mortality in … Continue reading Scotland has the lowest difference in excess mortality between summer and winter despite consistently seeing the coldest winters

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Global thyroid cancer ‘surge’ – Scottish Labour policy challenged as new research reviewing more than 2 000 studies finds increased risk of thyroid cancer for those living near nuclear power plants

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Professor John Robertson OBA BBC Health yesterday reported on a global surge in thyroid cancer with: It’s long been known that exposure to large amounts of ionising radiation in childhood can cause thyroid cancer. In the years following the Chernobyl nuclear accident in 1986, rates of the disease skyrocketed in children in Belarus, Ukraine and Russia. One study found that amongst Japanese atomic-bomb survivors, about 36% of thyroid cancer cases since 1958 could be attributed to childhood radiation exposure. From The National on 9 July 2024: SCOTTISH Secretary Ian Murray has repeatedly refused to say the new UK Labour government will not overrule its devolved counterpart to see nuclear projects built in … Continue reading Global thyroid cancer ‘surge’ – Scottish Labour policy challenged as new research reviewing more than 2 000 studies finds increased risk of thyroid cancer for those living near nuclear power plants

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Further delays in English nuclear power station project owned by France hammers home huge costs and inefficiency of Labour’s plans for Scotland to spend THREE times as much to generate electricity

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Professor John Robertson OBA Thanks to Frances McKie for alerting me to this. From Bloomberg UK, two days ago, the above. Readers may remember repeated comments from Labour’s Anas Sarwar, UK Energy Minister Ed Miliband and Junior Energy Minister, Michael Shanks that on day one of a Labour administration in Edinburgh (;-)), they will begin planning to return nuclear energy to Scotland. Polls suggest that the media coverage in Scotland has persuaded a small majority that we need this so getting the evidence out there is hugely important. The above news from Bloomberg comes on top of endless publications telling … Continue reading Further delays in English nuclear power station project owned by France hammers home huge costs and inefficiency of Labour’s plans for Scotland to spend THREE times as much to generate electricity

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SNP praised for being able to delay 100 trucks of Scottish waste going ‘South of the Border’ to a 100 leaking landfill sites in England having reduced landfill in Scotland to only ONE-THIRD of that under Labour

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Professor John Robertson OBA Having just replaced ‘Bonfire Night Disorder’, the Bee Gees soundtrack that was never used, as the headline story, ‘A 100 trucks over the border’, rejected by Johnny Cash, seems also to be of no interest to the newspapers. As often before, a headline in the morning broadcast in BBC Breakfast, by a BBC Scotland reporter catches my eye. This morning, when she got to say ‘A HUNDRED TRUCKS’, she positively exploded like a demented infant teacher. I thought – ‘I’ve seen that number before!’ and I had. April 26th 2025: As toxic waste leaks from more … Continue reading SNP praised for being able to delay 100 trucks of Scottish waste going ‘South of the Border’ to a 100 leaking landfill sites in England having reduced landfill in Scotland to only ONE-THIRD of that under Labour

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UK minister slapped down for his Trumpian fake news on Scotland’s water quality – BBC Scotland agenda meeting expected to deem it not in public interest

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Professor John Robertson OBA Thanks to Dottie for guiding this piece: In the Guardian today: Steve Reed, the housing secretary, has been slapped down by the UK Statistics Authority for falsely claiming that Scottish rivers and lakes are more polluted than those in England. Reed made these comments this summer when he was environment secretary in order to demonstrate that a nationalised water sector would not necessarily deliver cleaner waterways. Scotland’s water is nationalised; England’s isn’t. These claims were obviously false; Scotland has a much lower population density than England and many remote lakes and rivers which are not near … Continue reading UK minister slapped down for his Trumpian fake news on Scotland’s water quality – BBC Scotland agenda meeting expected to deem it not in public interest

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Chill – Scottish data centres powering AI only require 0.00004% of Scotland’s 745 trillion litres of water

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Professor John Robertson OBA BBC Scotland today has the above headline and: Data centres powering artificial intelligence (AI) in Scotland are using enough tap water to fill 27 million half-litre bottles a year, according to data obtained by BBC News. AI systems such as the large language models (LLMs) that power OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Google’s Gemini require warehouses full of specialist computers. The equipment is power-hungry, consuming large amounts of energy, but they also use tonnes of water in their cooling systems to stop the servers overheating. Freedom of Information data shows the volume of tap water used by Scotland’s data centres … Continue reading Chill – Scottish data centres powering AI only require 0.00004% of Scotland’s 745 trillion litres of water

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As 800 playgrounds close in England, SNP Government invests £50 million in only 3 years on new ones

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By Brenda Robb A UK wide report heavily focused on what happens in England, why are we not surprised? Just  a brief scan of the further reading reports listed in the appendix backs up the notion that this is fundamentally an English document, somehow they fail to list Play Scotland and the range of documents published to promote play in Scotland. (see www.playscotland.org/resources/) Contrast this:   A freedom of information request to all local authorities in 2023 found that almost 800 playgrounds had closed across the UK over the ten years before (amongst those authorities that responded), over 400 of which were in … Continue reading As 800 playgrounds close in England, SNP Government invests £50 million in only 3 years on new ones

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Not one Scottish town named as likely to be abandoned due to floods though one of my six home towns might be the only candidate

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Professor John Robertson OBA In the Guardian today, the above maps showing only two wee bits of Scotland with a 25% risk and the Highland and Borders moving up to 15%, of serious flooding by 2080. You’ll see that a huge part of England will be in deep water by then. Nevertheless, the Guardian manages to claim: Towns may have to be abandoned due to floods with millions more homes in Great Britain at risk Every constituency projected to be at greater risk, with many areas likely to be uninsurable, Guardian investigation finds Millions more homes in England, Scotland and … Continue reading Not one Scottish town named as likely to be abandoned due to floods though one of my six home towns might be the only candidate