Official figures reveal nearly 92% of children and adolescents treated within target and half of them within 5 weeks for mental health care but the Record trusts Alex Cole-Hamilton better

Support Talking-up Scotland’s work to counter the lies and get you the facts, daily, at: https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/checkout/help-talking-up-scotland-tell-truth-about-scotland/payment/nBQxjVzq/details Professor John Robertson OBA Above, the truth the Daily Record did not publish today. Below, what they did publish On June 4th 2025 (my 74th birthday), I wrote: NHS Scotland beat a waiting times target for the second time in a row despite increased demand – how will the media spin this to get SNPBad? I’m ahead of BBC Scotland, as I write at 11.02am, but I can smell them scurrying around, phoning someone who can be trusted to say the statistics, the same stats they … Continue reading Official figures reveal nearly 92% of children and adolescents treated within target and half of them within 5 weeks for mental health care but the Record trusts Alex Cole-Hamilton better

As UK Minister reports failure to urgently support domestic abuse victims in England and Wales, why BBC Scotland is avoiding this dark topic

Support Talking-up Scotland’s work to counter the lies and get you the facts, daily, at: https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/checkout/help-talking-up-scotland-tell-truth-about-scotland/payment/nBQxjVzq/details Professor John Robertson OBA BBC UK has the above headline story with: The main screening tool used to decide which domestic abuse victims get urgent support “doesn’t work”, Safeguarding Minister Jess Phillips has admitted to the BBC. Police, social services and healthcare workers across the UK have largely relied on the Dash questionnaire to assess risk since 2009. But there are now mounting concerns from academics and those working in the sector that the checklist does not correctly identify victims at the highest risk of further … Continue reading As UK Minister reports failure to urgently support domestic abuse victims in England and Wales, why BBC Scotland is avoiding this dark topic

Another careless cartoon from the Herald’s Camley as facts reveal that Scotland’s care system is FOUR times as effective as that in England

Support Talking-up Scotland’s work to counter the lies and get you the facts, daily, at: https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/checkout/help-talking-up-scotland-tell-truth-about-scotland/payment/nBQxjVzq/details Professor John Robertson OBA The Herald‘s Steven Camley cartoon today show a glum Health Secretary being greeted by support staff with: ‘I must say minister you’re looking well after your summer of inactivity.’ It’s about criticism of Scotland’s care system by a representative of the private sector just wanting more cash for a business already well-known as a ‘cash-cow‘ for corporations and which has no space for these important facts: If this was more than just another badly drawn image on behalf of corporations and other … Continue reading Another careless cartoon from the Herald’s Camley as facts reveal that Scotland’s care system is FOUR times as effective as that in England

Will Jackie Baillie suggest that West Streeting order NHS England and NHS Wales to copy NHS Scotland and get 12 hour emergency waits down to its level?

By stewartb Reporting an example of poor performance by a big, complex institution is linked to dodgy trend analysis by an agenda-driven newspaper – another mainstream news outlet in Scotland typically averse to the provision of context, perspective and comparative analysis. It achieves the objective for the British Labour Party and Unionist cause. in Scotland. It amplifies the false messaging that ‘NHS Scotland is crap’ and ‘it’s all that SNP’s fault’ towards voters in advance of the 2026 Holyrood election. After a gap of a couple of months, the Royal College of Emergency Medicine (RCEM) has issued (August 14) a … Continue reading Will Jackie Baillie suggest that West Streeting order NHS England and NHS Wales to copy NHS Scotland and get 12 hour emergency waits down to its level?

Scotland’s care system FOUR times as effective as in England yet Neil Mackay argues its ‘apocalyptic’ on behalf of business just hoping to charge us more

Professor John Robertson OBA Support Talking-up Scotland’s work to counter the lies and get you the facts, daily, at: https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/checkout/help-talking-up-scotland-tell-truth-about-scotland/payment/nBQxjVzq/details In the Herald today, the commonly hyperbolic Neil Mackay has the above, and: More than 60% of social care charities risk imminent closure leaving the nation’s most vulnerable citizens in peril. Our Writer at Large reports THE numbers are as astonishing as the severity of the warning. More than 200 charities, which provide health and social care across Scotland, are sending out an SOS saying the sector risks collapse. If this was more than just another example of a corporate hack writing … Continue reading Scotland’s care system FOUR times as effective as in England yet Neil Mackay argues its ‘apocalyptic’ on behalf of business just hoping to charge us more

Royal College of Emergency Medicine is much more negative and indeed, alarmist when reporting on Scotland

Support Talking-up Scotland’s work to counter the lies and get you the facts, daily, at: https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/checkout/help-talking-up-scotland-tell-truth-about-scotland/payment/nBQxjVzq/details or, if you prefer, a bank transfer, at sort code 089300 account 1421 7339 By stewartb There have now been two press statements issued during August by the Royal College of Emergency Medicine (RCEM) concerning A&E waits in Scotland. The headlines use extremely negative language, designed to alarm – ‘unacceptable and dangerous’, ‘ shocking and shameful’ and ‘dangerous’. These are in addition to a press statement in June – ‘deeply concerning and distressing’ in the headline, and one in July when new data on … Continue reading Royal College of Emergency Medicine is much more negative and indeed, alarmist when reporting on Scotland

NHS England and Wales start to adopt the attitudes of their ruling ‘New Nasty Party (Labour)’ but Lisa Summers will struggle to find them here

Professor John Robertson OBA From BBC Wales yesterday, the above and this astonishing news: NHS patients from Wales who need knee and hip operations in England face lengthy delays after a health board asked English hospitals to copy Wales’ longer waiting times. Powys health board announced the change as it could not afford the cost of how quickly operations over the border were being carried out, but patients have said they were not informed. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cp89337gm7ro With NHS England and NHS Wales both now in the clutches of Starmerite thinking, you see how things will go for them both. Lisa Summers … Continue reading NHS England and Wales start to adopt the attitudes of their ruling ‘New Nasty Party (Labour)’ but Lisa Summers will struggle to find them here

300 more police officers in Scotland since last Labour government despite massive fall in crime and far better staffing ratio than in other parts of the UK

Professor John Robertson OBA From Safer Communities and Justice Statistics Monthly Data Report: July 2025 published today, some key points getting no media attention: There were 16,553 full-time equivalent (FTE) police officers in Scotland on 31 March 2025. This was 319 (+2.0%) more officers compared to the position on 31 March 2007, and 197 (+1.2%) more than on 31 March 2024. https://www.gov.scot/publications/safer-communities-and-justice-statistics-monthly-data-report-july-2025/pages/statistics-on-policing/ How much has crime fallen in Scotland. From a Grok AI question: Since 2007, crime in Scotland has significantly decreased, with various sources indicating a substantial decline in overall recorded crime and specific crime categories. According to the Scottish Crime and Justice Survey … Continue reading 300 more police officers in Scotland since last Labour government despite massive fall in crime and far better staffing ratio than in other parts of the UK

Labour-run Wales has by far the highest rate of the economically inactive due to long-term illness or disability in the UK

By stewartb The number of people economically inactive due to long term sickness or disability is a UK-wide ‘problem’ . From the Bevan Foundation on the situation in Wales where the Daily Record’s favoured political party, the British Labour Party has been in power for c.26 years (see https://www.bevanfoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/SoW-Get-Wales-Working-Feb-25.pdf ): The Foundation’s report adds: ‘Across the UK, around a quarter of people aged 16 to 64 have a long-term health condition that limits their day-to-day activities (which means that they are classed as disabled). In Wales the proportion of people who have a long-term health condition is higher, at 28% in September … Continue reading Labour-run Wales has by far the highest rate of the economically inactive due to long-term illness or disability in the UK

Drug-related hospital admissions fall steadily by a third for two years to ease pressure on wards due to Scottish Government’s world-first opioid overdose reversal programme, last and only time mentioned on BBC Scotland, by Reevel Alderson in 2016 before he was removed!

Professor John Robertson OBA From Rapid Action Drug Alerts and Response (RADAR) quarterly ​report July 2025 published today, we can see a monthly fluctuating but steady, long term falling trend, in drug-related hospital admissions, from around 210 per month in July 2023 to around 140 in 2025, a 33% fall which must be easing pressure on wards. While there will be more than one factor explaining this trend, this seems key: What is the Naxolone Initiative? After a pilot phase ending in 2018, the Scottish Government began to embed Naloxone opioid overdose reversal kits across NHS Scotland. Shortly after, the … Continue reading Drug-related hospital admissions fall steadily by a third for two years to ease pressure on wards due to Scottish Government’s world-first opioid overdose reversal programme, last and only time mentioned on BBC Scotland, by Reevel Alderson in 2016 before he was removed!