Tag: history

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School suspensions – When bad things are happening in England they’re NOT always ‘happening across the UK’ too

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By Professor John Robertson OBA Today, I just happened to catch Chanel 5‘s Scottish presenter Storm Huntley talking about Primary School suspensions in England and adding, based on her lack of knowledge of what happens in Scotland, the above. From April 2024: From the Scotsman, no friend of the SNP Government, on 25 March 2024: Across Scotland, there were 11,675 cases of temporary exclusion of any length of time, with just one pupil being expelled, as previously revealed by The Scotsman. The figures compare to 39,553 temporary exclusions and 164 permanent in 2007, when the SNP came to power.1 So, with 10 times the population, … Continue reading School suspensions – When bad things are happening in England they’re NOT always ‘happening across the UK’ too

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Based on what they did in Wales, a Labour Government in Scotland would add half a million to Scotland’s NHS waiting lists! Pay attention. Do not vote for these numpties without checking this out

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By Professor John Robertson OBA, Primary 7 Maths teacher till 1981. Scottish Labour have always had trouble with numbers and Scottish Labour Leader, Anas Sarwar is no exception as he walks into an embarrassing gaff in the Daily Record today, with this: Almost 1 in 6 Scots are on an NHS waiting list. The combined waiting lists total 824,725 people.1 The Scottish Con’s, Sandy Gullane, similarly no that bright, says: Around one in seven Scots is on a waiting list for NHS treatment.2 Make up your mind lads. That’s a big difference, hundreds of thousands. Never mind the sums then, what’s the … Continue reading Based on what they did in Wales, a Labour Government in Scotland would add half a million to Scotland’s NHS waiting lists! Pay attention. Do not vote for these numpties without checking this out

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Bomb Squad called to three locations in Glasgow City Centre is most unusual

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The current UK Government National Threat Level is: ‘substantial – an attack is likely.’ Why do I say this is unusual? As with IRA terror in the 70s to the 90s, Scotland has seen little of the Islamic terror which struck England in the first decade of the 21st Century after the Iraq invasion. In 2017, I could write: Scotland and Terrorism: Are we safer? السَّلَامُ عَلَيْكُمْ‎‎ I’m still not sure if I should be writing this.  I’m not going to tempt fate and say we won’t see anything like the Manchester attack here. I’m just going to present some information … Continue reading Bomb Squad called to three locations in Glasgow City Centre is most unusual

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Failing to tell us that the early prison release scheme in Scotland has already been a success as re-offending rate plummets

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By Professor John Robertson OBA BBC Scotland this morning telling us that MSPs will debate legislation to cut the minimum term served by short term sentence prisoners from 50% to 40% to relieve overcrowding. Wouldn’t be interesting to know if previous early release schemes have been successful? Imagine they had caused a surge in crime? BBC Scotland don’t inform on this despite it being their day job to do so. I’ll do it. In October 2024, after previous batch of early releases the Scottish media were full of headlines like: On in ten prisoners released early back behind bars and Dozens of … Continue reading Failing to tell us that the early prison release scheme in Scotland has already been a success as re-offending rate plummets

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Will the Scottish Conservatives call for a full ban on double jobbing for their own distracted colleagues?

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In a sad, desperate and fearful attempt to keep Stephen Flynn out of Holyrood, the Scottish Conservatives are calling for a vote to ban “double jobbing” in the wake of Stephen Flynn’s bid to stand as both an MSP and MP. I agree that if elected to Holyrood in May 2026, he should stand down from his Westminster seat. However, I smell something corrupt when the Scottish Cons attempt to climb windily on to a high horse. Being an MP and MSP even in the same geographical area is a push but a wee look at some of jobs the … Continue reading Will the Scottish Conservatives call for a full ban on double jobbing for their own distracted colleagues?

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Productivity, measured as GVA per hour worked, is lower in Labour-run Wales than in other UK countries and regions in England

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By stewartb In the House of Commons this week (PMQs November 13) the leadership of the British Labour Party was at it again, denigrating Scotland and its government. Hansard records the response of the PM to a question from the SNP’s Brendan O’Hara on the ending of the winter fuel payment. The PM finished his answer with this: ‘I will take no lectures from his party about running the economy; the SNP’s record in Scotland is terrible.’ This rivals the false claim from Labour’s Chancellor recently that Scotland has the worst performing NHS in the UK. How to counter such … Continue reading Productivity, measured as GVA per hour worked, is lower in Labour-run Wales than in other UK countries and regions in England

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Bank of England Governor says Brexit has damaged the economy yet Scottish Labour is allowed to hide

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By Professor John Robertson OBA The above from Huffington Post but BBC avoids being so direct. Has Scottish Labour leader and ‘Party Spokesperson on Brexit’, Anas Sarwar responded? Nope. Has BBC Scotland asked him? Nope. Why should they? This: Continue reading Bank of England Governor says Brexit has damaged the economy yet Scottish Labour is allowed to hide

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The least lawless part of the UK has the most police yet BBC Scotland headline a handful of Edinburgh shopkeepers to tell you otherwise when crimes of dishonesty there have fallen 25%

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about a growing number of high value thefts….it’s become lawless…not enough police presence.. BBC Scotland today and all day, headlining a story based on a few Edinburgh shopkeepers who have approached, or have been approached by BBC Scotland, for comment. One of them: Galab Singh Gold, who owns dozens of shops on and around the Royal Mile, told BBC News he had lost £15,000 worth of stock to theft in the last three months. Is that a huge, increased, amount from ‘dozens’ of shops or just the usual costs of shoplifting? The Gold Brothers family are worth a wee Google … Continue reading The least lawless part of the UK has the most police yet BBC Scotland headline a handful of Edinburgh shopkeepers to tell you otherwise when crimes of dishonesty there have fallen 25%

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‘Gangland violence spilling over to Scotland from south of the Border’, ‘More than 100 children charged with supplying drugs’ and ‘Gangs flooding Scots city with ‘foot-soldiers’ – Why middle-class professionals are being shielded from the truth and are easily duped

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This month alone, the tabloids, with readers predominantly from less well-off communities, the Scottish Daily Express, the Scottish Daily Mail and the Scottish Sun, have headlined the plague of extreme violence, drug abuse, drug deaths, child abuse, the ‘cuckooing’ of the vulnerable, people trafficking and prostitution, surging across small-town and rural Scotland, as County Lines drug gangs from English Cities have spread into every corner. Despite their open, often rabid, hostility toward the SNP, these newspapers have been unable to resist the morbid and scary appeal of these stories for their readers, risking, to my mind, support for the Union. … Continue reading ‘Gangland violence spilling over to Scotland from south of the Border’, ‘More than 100 children charged with supplying drugs’ and ‘Gangs flooding Scots city with ‘foot-soldiers’ – Why middle-class professionals are being shielded from the truth and are easily duped

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Staggering contrast in average mental wellbeing scores after 17 years of SNP rule in Scotland and 14 of Tory rule in England

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By Professor John Robertson, OBA From The Scottish Health Survey 2023 – volume 1: main report, published today, the above graph reveals a steady maintenance of levels of self-reported well-being in Scotland, despite 14 years of Tory austerity policies only partly moderated by the limited powers of the SNP in government but including, crucially for this measure, free prescriptions, bus passes, more GPs, nurses, beds and no NHS strikes.1 In can find no earlier comparable data for Labour-run Scotland before 2008 but we were drinking far more then. I can also not find directly comparable data for England for 2022 or 2023. They … Continue reading Staggering contrast in average mental wellbeing scores after 17 years of SNP rule in Scotland and 14 of Tory rule in England