Tag: history

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Guess who signed off the 53 redactions to conceal what Angus Robertson really said to the Israeli Depute Ambassador?

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Remember all that above a few minutes ago, here? @TomlinJeanne just asked me: Redacted by whom? Good question, I thought. Here’s the first part of the answer: The External Affairs Directorate, eh? Sounds very professional. Who are they? I really want the SNP to win in 2026. There’s still time. He needs to go. It’s not the first time. In November 2023: An SNP MP has said he is “dismayed” at a Scottish government minister’s trip to China. External Affairs Secretary Angus Robertson is visiting several Chinese cities this week. A press release announcing the trip made no mention of … Continue reading Guess who signed off the 53 redactions to conceal what Angus Robertson really said to the Israeli Depute Ambassador?

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FACTCHECK: ‘Ultra long’ A&E waits far less common in Scotland

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By Professor John Robertson: Dr John Paul Loughrey of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine, Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and Hot Yoga enthusiast (@Jploughrey) has no time to grapple with the the facts as he helps BBC Scotland headline with another emergency services scare story about long waits in A&E and the risk they poses, especially for the more vulnerable. Missing from Dr Loughrey’s assessment of ultra long delays, in this BBC Scotland report, this: First, NHS England: THREE times as many wait more than 12 hours in England’s A&E departments NHS England, Type one A&E, for May 2024, 138 770 waiting more … Continue reading FACTCHECK: ‘Ultra long’ A&E waits far less common in Scotland

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Strictly Good Morning Scotland

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Anonymous MSM Monitor twitter #X’ account tweeted yesterday: “Domestic issues the Radio Scotland phone-in has covered this week. 1. Minimum unit pricing 2. Strictly Come Dancing 3. Early prisoner release It failed to cover the hike in electricity bills or the Labour donations scandal. Two of the biggest news stories this week. Minimum unit pricing has been the subject of the phone-in at least a dozen times going back years. Strictly Come Dancing was covered on the very day electricity bills went up by 10%. The early prisoner release scheme didn’t result in anything significant, but the subject was chosen the day … Continue reading Strictly Good Morning Scotland

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Scottish Emergency departments holding steady despite demand increasing by 21% and performing 5% better than NHS England yet seeing 25% more patients per head

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By Professor John Robertson OBA From Public Health Scotland, today, we see that 65.8% of all admissions to full emergency departments (ED) were treated within 4 hours in August 2024, down roughly 10% on January 2020 but now at the same level since January 2023. In the same period, demand increased from 110 742 to 133 454, up 20.9%. In NHS England: From NHS England, we see that 62.5% of all admissions to full emergency departments (Type 1) were treated within 4 hours in August 2024, similar to January 2020 and at roughly the same level since January then. In the … Continue reading Scottish Emergency departments holding steady despite demand increasing by 21% and performing 5% better than NHS England yet seeing 25% more patients per head

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Valentine’s Day Massacre of the Truth

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Anonymous The new Director of BBC Scotland has been announced. It is Hayley Valentine. Same Hayley Valentine who in 2019 was reported as saying this: “I was involved in our referendum programming. I will defend it to accusations of bias until my dying day. I firmly believe that the BBC is not biased, that there is no agenda.” So it seems, as per, that there will be ‘no change then at the BBC in Scotland with their particular brand of preferred propaganda’. Hayley Valentine is currently the head of BBC Midlands. However to add salt onto the (Scottish) wounds this appointment was hailed by the BBC director general Tim Davie ( a former Tory candidate) as being a positive for … Continue reading Valentine’s Day Massacre of the Truth

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‘Controversial’ teacher job cuts put into perspective

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By Professor John Robertson OBA BBC Scotland, cramming as much industrial dispute as they can into the 4 minutes BBC Breakfast give them, return excitedly to Glasgow. Here’s what they never tell you: First: Second: From 2017 to 2023, the number of pupils in Scotland’s state schools has increased from 688 959 to 705 528, by 2.4%. In the same period, the number of teachers has increased from 51 513 to 54 033, by 4.9%. In the same period, the ratio of pupils to teachers has fallen (improved) from 13.6 to 13.2.2 This is the lowest (best) in the UK, compared with PTRs of 18 in … Continue reading ‘Controversial’ teacher job cuts put into perspective

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NHS Factcheck – Why Scots should not be put off seeking help as it’s not ‘broken.’

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By Professor John Robertson OBA BBC UK have this today: There is growing unease within the NHS about the government’s “broken” messaging, the BBC has learned. Senior sources in the health service have told the BBC they believe some of the claims have gone too far – and may result in patients being put off seeking help and causing lasting damage to staff morale. I agree and it’s really important that Scottish viewers and readers are not deluded into things are as bad here. Why not? It’s endless. Report after report, evidence after evidence, that while there are pressures and delays, … Continue reading NHS Factcheck – Why Scots should not be put off seeking help as it’s not ‘broken.’

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An area in Scotland’s Fast Reactor Centre so dangerous only a snake-like robot can explore it

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By Professor John Robertson OBA A BBC Report yesterday, has nothing to say about just why a robot snake is needed for work on the clear-up of the Dounreay facility in Caithness. We have: From BBC Scotland today: While it is always disturbing to hear of industrial conflict in a nuclear plant, these two-day strikes will, relatively speaking, make little difference to the decommissioning process. Why? Decommissioning began in 2019 and the plan envisages 50-60 years to complete but ‘complete’ doesn’t mean to the company, Magnox Ltd., what it means to most of us and the site will be under surveillance, … Continue reading An area in Scotland’s Fast Reactor Centre so dangerous only a snake-like robot can explore it

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Clear evidence that Labour cannot run a health service as even failed NHS England puts NHS Wales on life support

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By Professor John Robertson OBA In the Guardian today but not a mention from the ever-loyal BBC Wales: NHS patients in Wales will be allowed to travel to England to receive care for the first time ever under plans to be announced by the Welsh secretary on Monday. Jo Stevens will tell the Labour conference in Liverpool that she is drawing up proposals to allow patients to travel between England and Wales to receive outpatient or elective treatment. Stevens will say that the move will help reduce waiting lists on both sides of the border. But with NHS struggling in Wales even more than in England, experts … Continue reading Clear evidence that Labour cannot run a health service as even failed NHS England puts NHS Wales on life support

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Prisoner release in Scotland – far fewer than England and no quick re-offending unlike in England

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By Professor John Robertson OBA The Herald above today, typically insensitive, exploitative and ill informed. In England, last week: Similar in Scotland? Nope, despite our media rats sniffing everywhere. The facts? Anyone for facts? There are currently 8 348 prisoners in Scotland’s prisons.2 From Audit Scotland in December 2023: SPS has advised that as at November 2023 the extended operating capacity that the prison estate can accommodate is 8,475.3 So, 127 places still available for a population only one eleventh of the population of England and Wales. They should have at least 1 400 but have ‘less than 100’, only a fourteenth! Sources: … Continue reading Prisoner release in Scotland – far fewer than England and no quick re-offending unlike in England