Tag: history

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Drug deaths in North-east England narrowing gap with Scotland despite being ‘significantly under-reported’ across England and Wales according to UK Civil Servants

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By Professor John Robertson Thanks to Dottie once more for alerting me to this and for noting that the Governments in England and Wales, unlike that in Scotland, do not seem to be, in any way, responsible. BBC News at 6 reports on record levels of drug deaths, surging by 30% in the case of cocaine but there’s not a word of criticism of governments. From their website at the same time these graphs but, in the text, not a word of criticism of government: The comparable figures for Scotland are 317 deaths per million males and 136 for women. The … Continue reading Drug deaths in North-east England narrowing gap with Scotland despite being ‘significantly under-reported’ across England and Wales according to UK Civil Servants

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Sellafield clean-up to soar to £136 billion but Starmer must pay for it to save lives in Scotland

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By Professor John Robertson In the Guardian today: The cost of cleaning up Sellafield is expected to spiral to £136bn and Europe’s biggest nuclear waste dump cannot show how it offers taxpayers value for money, the public spending watchdog has said. Projects to fix buildings containing hazardous and radioactive material at the state-owned site on the Cumbrian coast are running years late and over budget. Sellafield’s spending is so vast – with costs of more than £2.7bn a year – that it is causing tension with the Treasury, the report from the National Audit Office (NAO) suggests. https://www.theguardian.com/business/2024/oct/23/sellafield-cleanup-cost-136bn-national-audit-office Why must this … Continue reading Sellafield clean-up to soar to £136 billion but Starmer must pay for it to save lives in Scotland

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Aberfan – a warning from history of how the Labour betrayal of working communities in 1966 will be repeated by Starmer before 2026 when you can be sure to never vote for them

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By Professor John Robertson Today, on the 58th anniversary of the Aberfan Disaster when 144 died in a mining tip landslide, Richie Venton of the Scottish Socialist Party has written: Starmer last week declared to the assembled profiteers at his Investment Conference that the Labour government will “rip up red tape” to “unleash growth”. As I’ve written elsewhere, so-called ‘red tape’ is better than red bandages. But in the South Wales pit village of ABERFAN, the man-made disaster didn’t mean injuries, but mass death. In writing the above, Venton directs us to his 2016 extensive account of the disaster which includes … Continue reading Aberfan – a warning from history of how the Labour betrayal of working communities in 1966 will be repeated by Starmer before 2026 when you can be sure to never vote for them

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Research report – ‘One child having a gun held to their head – gangs, coming up from England and introducing new types of violence and intimidation tactics that have not been seen in Scotland previously’

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By Professor John Robertson Man thanks to cuckooshoe for alerting me to this important report which I and, of course, BBC Scotland missed: From Understanding Child Criminal Exploitation in Scotland: A Scoping Review, commissioned by CYCJ, Action for Scotland and the Scottish Government and published in May 2023, these dramatic facts were totally ignored by Scottish media: When focusing on Scotland, the NCLCC has noted county lines running from the primary originating areas (i.e. West Midlands, Merseyside and London) into Scotland for which joint operations have been conducted with Police Scotland. Criminal exploitation through drug activity has also been identified as … Continue reading Research report – ‘One child having a gun held to their head – gangs, coming up from England and introducing new types of violence and intimidation tactics that have not been seen in Scotland previously’

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Latest – paracetamol deaths twice as high in Scotland, suicide, alcohol deaths, cancer deaths, shorter lives – clues that colonial subservience is killing us?

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By Professor John Robertson This shocking fact popped up in my alerts this morning, from research published in the British Journal of Clinical Pharmacology: The Scottish paracetamol-related death rate was twice as high as in England and Wales.1 TWICE as high? That’s astonishing. This is despite more GPs, faster ambulance and A&E times in Scotland. Overdosing with other drugs, is even worse. In Scotland they are 2.7 times as high as the 2022 rates for England and Northern Ireland, and 2.1 times as high as the 2022 rate in Wales.2 This is, again, despite better emergency services, 95% drug treatment within … Continue reading Latest – paracetamol deaths twice as high in Scotland, suicide, alcohol deaths, cancer deaths, shorter lives – clues that colonial subservience is killing us?

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Scotland’s drug death toll explicitly linked to violent English gangs in documentary made for BBC Scotland but never covered by Reporting Scotland

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Scotland as the ‘drug death capital of Europe‘ is a narrative that much excites MSM here. Despite some reductions, the level remains stubbornly high but a significant factor in that – increasing supply of stronger drugs into smaller towns – is not considered, because that supply flows explicitly from England. In a documentary made for BBC Scotland and BBC 2 by independent film makers, Firecrest, broadcast in September 2024, there’s an explicit linking of drug deaths in Inverness to the extreme violence (see weapons found) and supply of Class A drugs by explicitly ‘English’ county lines gangs from London. Here … Continue reading Scotland’s drug death toll explicitly linked to violent English gangs in documentary made for BBC Scotland but never covered by Reporting Scotland

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West Midlands ‘complex county lines’ gang using children to sell drugs from ‘trap houses’ into and across Scotland

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From The Express & Star, yesterday: Members of ‘complex’ County Lines gang who sent children to ‘trap houses’ to deal drugs are jailed. A drugs gang who recruited children to sell crack and heroin have been jailed for 30 years. After cornering the Wolverhampton and Stafford drugs market the gang opened up new drug lines in Corby, Northamptonshire and as far as Scotland. Brian Asante, 23, from Canberra Drive, Stafford, would threaten and bribe vulnerable children to sell drugs for him in “trap houses” [cuckooing] in towns, leaving them vulnerable to attack from rival drug dealers.1 How do these children … Continue reading West Midlands ‘complex county lines’ gang using children to sell drugs from ‘trap houses’ into and across Scotland

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Breast cancer life extending drug – images BBC Scotland hope you’ve missed

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Professor John Robertson OBA On BBC Breakfast and on their website, an extended report on Enhertu, a drug which can give patients with a specific type of incurable breast cancer an extra six months to live on average. At the very bottom of the BBC UK report, this: Some told the BBC they were considering the idea of moving to Scotland, where they could get it on the NHS. Jeannie says that’s not an option for her family. “We shouldn’t be having to think of moving to Scotland or selling our houses,” she says. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c7v6g9q6rjqo The extended website report does … Continue reading Breast cancer life extending drug – images BBC Scotland hope you’ve missed

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A&E – Scottish Daily Express front page is a disgraceful example of misrepresentation

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stewartb The Scottish Daily Express front page article – by its Scottish Political Reporter – is a disgraceful example of misrepresentation. It seeks to link excess deaths following a visit to A&E with NHS Scotland missing its four hour standard of 95% of patients being discharged, transferred or admitted within four hours. The postulated causal link between an increase in excess deaths and A&E attendance advanced by the Royal College of Emergency Medicine (RCEM) is concerned primarily with time periods of over eight and more significantly, over 12 hours. The Express fails to make this clear despite there being multiple … Continue reading A&E – Scottish Daily Express front page is a disgraceful example of misrepresentation

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Humza Yousaf makes same error as Prof Devine in blaming ordinary Scots for imperial crimes

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Professor John Robertson OBA This is just wrong. Elites in Scotland and in India played a leading role in the British Empire. 99% of the population in both places were starved, worked into the ground and used as cannon-fodder. ‘Scotland’ did not play any role, people did. I’ve been here before with otherwise highly intelligent public figures apparently ignorant of the reality of life for the majority (99%) indigenous population in the European empires and the actions of elites (1%) in their colonies. Anyhow, Sarwar’s support for Pakistan’s independence, considered hypocritical by many including me, was dismissed by Prof Tom … Continue reading Humza Yousaf makes same error as Prof Devine in blaming ordinary Scots for imperial crimes