Tag: history

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A curious tale of flag flying by an Edinburgh hotel!

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By stewartb For a little light relief on TuS from countering the gaslighting of Scotland, this is to pass on the tale of a curious vexillological journey being played out in public view in Edinburgh. It’s about the flying of flags – big, brand spanking new flags – in front of a well known hotel that is situated on a prominent site in the Bruntsfield area of the capital.  The curious thing is that the choice of flags by the hotel’s management – its choice of what to fly from two long flag poles – has changed no less than … Continue reading A curious tale of flag flying by an Edinburgh hotel!

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“Scotland is the place to be for para-gymnastics so here we are” 

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Professor John Robertson OBA Scotland is the place to be for para-gymnastics, so here we are,” says Kathryn Sinnott of Hertfordshire. Why? From STV last night: It is one of the most popular Olympic sports, but surprisingly, gymnastics is not part of the Paralympic programme. It wasn’t until last year that the gymnastics governing body, the FIG (Federation Internationale de Gymnastique (FIG) ), recognised para-gymnastics as an official discipline within the sport. They have now set out ambitious plans for it to be included in time for the Brisbane Paralympic Games in 2032. One disability gymnastics team in Glasgow is … Continue reading “Scotland is the place to be for para-gymnastics so here we are” 

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Only tiny 2% of terror referrals are in Scotland because….

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Professor John Robertson OBA Children being referred to Prevent, the anti-terror scheme, naturally interests journalists. The National headlines responsibly and informatively but the SDM (Short for SaDoMasichism?) finds something titillating for its readers. Here’s something informative, to help the vulnerable and anxious elderly (older than me of course): So, quickly, 11 times the population, if Scotland was just as troubled by this as England & Wales, and they’d have 1 782 referrals but they had 8 778, MORE THAN FOUR times as many, 98% of the total. Sources: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/individuals-referred-to-prevent-to-march-2025 https://www.scotland.police.uk/access-to-information/freedom-of-information/disclosure-log/disclosure-log-2025/august/25-2360-prevent-referrals-report-2024-25/ Why so few in Scotland? Some ideas I posted tentatively … Continue reading Only tiny 2% of terror referrals are in Scotland because….

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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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17 newspapers sense a damp squib tonight but BBC Scotland positively lust for ‘Bonfire Night Disorder

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Professor John Robertson OBA BBC Scotland‘s newspaper review – Scotland’s papers: Plea to probe killer Beggs and tax hike ‘fears’ – has 17 of them and not so much as one wee banger on their front pages, yet they have the above. Once a week, for a month, from 9 September raising fears based on the actual disorder two years ago but using the figures from the year before because in real last year offences had plummeted unhelpfully. How it started: It’s kind of predictable that they would operate in this way, trying to scare the vulnerable and elderly into … Continue reading 17 newspapers sense a damp squib tonight but BBC Scotland positively lust for ‘Bonfire Night Disorder

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‘The Home Office and policing do not have a shared understanding of the resource implications of changing demands’

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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’

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Wealth Extraction – Another supposed supporter of independence works against it by denying colonialism and blaming the SNP

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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

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If NHS Scotland was performing worse than NHS England, the British Labour Party in Scotland’s condemnation of the SNP in government might be justified but it’s not so it’s not

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stewartb On the face of it, these extreme waits referenced by the British Labour Party deputy leader in Scotland are wholly unacceptable. Why did they occur? Unless we know why, we can’t determine whether they are indicative of a whole system failure; local failure or indeed local incompetence; or due to particular clinical situations. We are very far from knowing where responsibility lies – local clinical management, health board management/oversight, Scottish Government officials, Minsters? The British Labour Party in Scotland gets away with its ‘NHS “won’t survive” another SNP term’ nonsense only because the mainstream media in Scotland is unwilling … Continue reading If NHS Scotland was performing worse than NHS England, the British Labour Party in Scotland’s condemnation of the SNP in government might be justified but it’s not so it’s not

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It doesn’t look as if the British Labour Party will bring about reform to England’s social care sector anytime soon

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stewartb Many expert commentators argue that long waits in A&E are caused – to a substantial degree – by delays in discharging hospital in-patients when medically ready for discharge and that this is caused by deficiencies on social care. It doesn’t look as if the British Labour Party government in Westminster – despite its campaigning rhetoric – will bring about reform to England’s social care sector and its financial resourcing anytime soon. The Health Foundation think tank published a blog post on October 22 entitled: ‘Social care: a year in, what prospects for reform?’ It included these statements. First for context: ‘Labour … Continue reading It doesn’t look as if the British Labour Party will bring about reform to England’s social care sector anytime soon

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There are NO places in Scotland where anything close to this horrific claim of ‘almost 100% of children live in poverty’ but there are 73, SEVENTY-THREE, in England

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Professor John Robertson OBA Thanks to Dottie for alerting us to this. In the Guardian yesterday, the above and: Almost 100% of children in 73 neighbourhoods in England are living in income-deprived families, according to new measures that factor in the impact of soaring rents. Changes to official measures reveal the neighbourhoods where in effect all children live in low-income households. Of these, 31 are in inner London boroughs with high housing costs such as Tower Hamlets, Hackney, Haringey and Westminster. The new indices of multiple deprivation confirm that attempts at levelling up have failed to shift stubbornly high levels of deprivation in so-called … Continue reading There are NO places in Scotland where anything close to this horrific claim of ‘almost 100% of children live in poverty’ but there are 73, SEVENTY-THREE, in England