Tag: history

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As Labour MPs call on Rachel Reeves to scrap council tax in England how the lowest Band D council tax rate in British Labour Wales is higher than the highest in SNP Scotland

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Professor John Robertson OBA In the Guardian today: More than a dozen Labour MPs have written to Rachel Reeves calling on her to scrap council tax, as the chancellor faces mounting pressure to overhaul Great Britain’s property taxes in next month’s budget. Thirteen MPs, mainly from seats in northern England, wrote to Reeves last month asking her to abolish the tax and replace it with another system that better accounts for the steep rise in house prices in London and the south-east over the last 35 years. The chancellor is looking for ways to close what could be a £30bn shortfall in the … Continue reading As Labour MPs call on Rachel Reeves to scrap council tax in England how the lowest Band D council tax rate in British Labour Wales is higher than the highest in SNP Scotland

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There will be no tears if we lose this Loose Woman

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Professor John Robertson OBA Let’s hope this is not a cruel joke and that we do see the end of the likes of Gary Robertson, Laura Maxwell, Fiona Stalker and, of course, from her own show, the dread Kaye Adams. I see they seem to like her on that Loose Women show. They don’t know her like we do. Loose Women? More Loose-tongued: Loose accounting too: From ITV, on 11 October 2023, but only spotted now after a month of careful concealment by the BBC: Kaye Adams‘s dispute with HMRC over a potential £124k tax bill is being heard in … Continue reading There will be no tears if we lose this Loose Woman

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Neil Bibby allowed to question a second referendum with facts that on examination are lies but still show the SNP has done far better than his party ever could even if they were true

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Professor John Robertson OBA Wheeled in by BBC Scotland’s Glen Campbell, in the BBC HQ rather than his constituency, becasue he doesn’t have one, to try to take the wind out of the SNP sails during their conference, Neil Bibby Labour list MSP for the West of Scotland, based on his party only winning 22.2% of the vote, to say: We have got one out of six Scots on an NHS waiting list, we’ve got rising violence in our schools, we’ve got a housing emergency. These are the issues that the people of Scotland want to see action on. 1. … Continue reading Neil Bibby allowed to question a second referendum with facts that on examination are lies but still show the SNP has done far better than his party ever could even if they were true

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Not yet the news but needed now to undermine the SNP Conference

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are set to ballot members on strike action, both claiming that the Scottish Government has reneged on promises made earlier in its parliamentary term. Professor John Robertson OBA So, two groups, teachers and young doctors might strike in the future but haven’t even had a vote yet? Wouldn’t this be the news if they have already voted to strike or not to strike? What’s the rush? Well, obviously and firstly, the SNP Conference is already under way and some bad news is needed to report on instead of what the governing party might promise the electorate for the May 2026, … Continue reading Not yet the news but needed now to undermine the SNP Conference

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So we have BBC Scotland, the Chair of the Scottish BMA, Sarwar, Baillie, the English NHS Health Secretary Wes Streeting, the UK PM, all of Labour HQ & the branch office Labour party in Scotland all politicising the NHS in Scotland but England’s NHS is to be exempt from politicisation now that Labour are in charge. I see. Got it.

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By Liz S “Why is Reporting Scotland still headlining the three-day-old news of ‘hundreds’ of operations cancelled in one NHS board”…….why indeed. Well they, the BBC ‘news’ teams in Scotland, need to hang onto (prolong) what they promote as being #BAD ‘news’….. that they then see as being another political weapon that they can use against the SNP…………it also helps to reinforce the BBC in Scotland’s current favourite UK political party’s message, as in the Labour party, and their political campaign of misinformation upon the Scottish NHS and the SNP. Meanwhile yesterday MSM Monitor posted this on ‘X’ “Waiting times in the English NHS … Continue reading So we have BBC Scotland, the Chair of the Scottish BMA, Sarwar, Baillie, the English NHS Health Secretary Wes Streeting, the UK PM, all of Labour HQ & the branch office Labour party in Scotland all politicising the NHS in Scotland but England’s NHS is to be exempt from politicisation now that Labour are in charge. I see. Got it.

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Private schools intake drop welcomed by education experts but clearly worries BBC Scotland, Herald, Scotsman and Reform UK

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From Alasdair Macdonald [former Head Teacher] this morning: The Herod and the Scotsperson both headline the fall in the number of children attending private schools in Scotland since the introduction of VAT on school fees. Both papers call the decision to charge VAT ‘vindictive’ and present the fall as a bad thing. Over 95% of children in Scotland attend local authority schools and this has been the level since education became compulsory in 1873. The monies raised by VAT are hypothecated to public education. This, according to two of our ‘papers of record’, is a bad thing for Scottish education. … Continue reading Private schools intake drop welcomed by education experts but clearly worries BBC Scotland, Herald, Scotsman and Reform UK

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Very little evidence of young children taking knives into schools in Scotland

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Professor John Robertson OBA There’s not one reference to Scotland in this 1 500 word report yet the broadcast on BBC Breakfast this morning explicitly includes it in the problem and the call for ‘knife arches’ to be installed in every school: Incidents of very young children taking knives into primary schools have been revealed by a BBC investigation. Police in Kent recorded an assault involving a four-year-old pupil, while officers in the West Midlands reported that a six-year-old had taken a flick knife into class. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c77d06vde4po I am not aware of directly comparable figures for Scotland and neither are BBC UK‘s … Continue reading Very little evidence of young children taking knives into schools in Scotland

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News you won’t hear – Support for struggling households from SNP Government

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Professor John Robertson OBA From Scottish Government News today with only the Daily Record covering it: A record £99 million will be invested in Discretionary Housing Payments (DHPs) this financial year to help thousands of households struggling to afford housing costs in Scotland. During Challenge Poverty Week, Housing Secretary Màiri McAllan highlighted the payments as a ‘lifeline’ for thousands of families and individuals. Funded by the Scottish Government and paid out by local authorities, the DHP scheme is designed to provide financial support to low-income households, delivering vital action to reduce poverty, safeguard tenancies and prevent homelessness. The Scottish Government has budgeted … Continue reading News you won’t hear – Support for struggling households from SNP Government

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Homeless deaths in Scotland fall as they climb in other parts due to lack of national leadership

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Professor John Robertson OBA Once again, I’m grateful to Brenda Robb for finding this and researching it for us. From BBC UK today but ignored by BBC Scotland, the above and: The figures show that 1,142 deaths were in England, an increase of 16% on the year before. London had the highest total number of deaths, but the largest increases were in Nottingham, where the number of deaths doubled to 22, and in Exeter, where they more than doubled from eight to 21. In Northern Ireland, deaths increased by more than a third between 2023 and 2024, to 211. Wales saw a … Continue reading Homeless deaths in Scotland fall as they climb in other parts due to lack of national leadership

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NHS England has to pay out more than twice as much as NHS Scotland for ‘maternity failings’

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Professor John Robertson OBA Many thanks to Brian McGowan for alerting us to this. How are things in Scotland you ask? £1.3 billion was paid out in 2024/205: https://www.cwj.co.uk/site/newsandevents/legalnews/costs_of_NHS_maternity_care_claims_revealed.html Per head, that £1.3 billion becomes £13 billion, less than half the NHS England pay-outs of £27 billion. Why might this difference exist? See this from Stirling University researchers in the BMJ in 2019: We found few differences in maternity care experience for women based on their physical or socioeconomic characteristics. Our findings indicate that maternity care in Scotland is generally equitable. https://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/9/2/e023282 Further measures in Scotland: In January 2024, the Daily Mail reporting a drop … Continue reading NHS England has to pay out more than twice as much as NHS Scotland for ‘maternity failings’