Tag: music

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Child abuse – Labour and Conservative’s history of neglect, even sickening collusion, ‘Scottish’ Labour MPs call for a pointless grooming inquiry here and how the SNP’s Named Person Scheme could have saved thousands in England

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Professor John Robertson OBA From BBC Bradford today: Two abuse survivors have resigned from their role in the national [sic] inquiry into grooming gangs, the government has confirmed. Fiona Goddard, who was abused by gangs while living in a Bradford children’s home, quit the victims’ liaison panel over concerns about the inquiry’s shortlisted chairs, one of whom is reportedly a former police chief and the other a social worker. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cy5qkq7zex3o This may trigger another attempt by Scottish Labour in a massive Scottish cringe move, to have a comparable inquiry here. They will of course not remind us of their dark past in … Continue reading Child abuse – Labour and Conservative’s history of neglect, even sickening collusion, ‘Scottish’ Labour MPs call for a pointless grooming inquiry here and how the SNP’s Named Person Scheme could have saved thousands in England

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Scots police officers not suffering crushed testicles and back pain from ill-fitting uniforms like they do in England & Wales but BBC Scotland can reveal their trousers are not stretchy enough

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are often forced to buy their own kit because of the poor quality of items offered…..several items are ill-fitting such as body armour that is too bulky 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 by direct bank transfer method – Sort code 08-91-04, Account 12266421 Professor John Robertson OBA BBC Reporting Scotland have the above in their short BBC Breakfast inserts 4 or 5 time this morning. In the fuller online report: A review by HM Inspectorate of Constabulary in Scotland (HMICS) found trousers worn by officers were insufficiently stretchy and faded … Continue reading Scots police officers not suffering crushed testicles and back pain from ill-fitting uniforms like they do in England & Wales but BBC Scotland can reveal their trousers are not stretchy enough

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It’s only North Britain after all – MoD Pollution & Legacy Sites in Scotland

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By stewartb It’s only North Britain after all, a part of the ‘precious’ Union without sufficient clout to make a difference in Westminster and Whitehall as to how the MoD operates! Here is a bullet-point list of MoD Pollution & Legacy Sites in Scotland that have received some public profile over the past c.20 years (courtesy of ChatGPT and not checked further by me): Radioactive and Nuclear Legacy: Dalgety Bay (Fife) – WWII-era contamination from disposal of radium-painted aircraft dials. Radioactive particles discovered in 1990; beach closure in 2010 due to rising contamination. £10M MoD-funded remediation began in 2021; completion expected … Continue reading It’s only North Britain after all – MoD Pollution & Legacy Sites in Scotland

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As 224 English local authorities submit unaudited accounts based on ‘dodgy data’, Scotland’s authorities have ‘state-run audit systems which have fared significantly better’

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Professor John Robertson OBA Thanks to Brian McGowan for alerting me to this: From the Canary factchecker today: The National Audit Office (NAO) has declined to sign off on the accuracy of the UK government’s national accounts for a second time, citing widespread unreliability in, and lack of, data supplied by local councils. The crux of the issue lies in the backlog of local authority audits, meaning only around a shocking 4% of English councils provided data deemed “reliable”. This is down from 10% in 2022/23 – which even then, was a dire reflection on the state of local and … Continue reading As 224 English local authorities submit unaudited accounts based on ‘dodgy data’, Scotland’s authorities have ‘state-run audit systems which have fared significantly better’

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How only one Scottish Labour MP opposed ‘the biggest attack on the welfare state since George Osborne ushered in the years of austerity’

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By stewartb Back on June 13, 2024, a BBC Scotland editor published an article on the BBC News website (so it must be true) with this opening: “Read my lips,” said Anas Sarwar, during the BBC Scotland leaders’ debate this week. “No austerity under Labour.” Source: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cp4409yejrwo Fast forward to today when the push back against the policies of Mr Sarwar’s Labour in Name Only (LINO) party in government in Westminster has been given further impetus. It is being reported that 42 Labour MPs have sent a letter of protest to the PM. Here is how two Labour-supporting online media organisations are covering the … Continue reading How only one Scottish Labour MP opposed ‘the biggest attack on the welfare state since George Osborne ushered in the years of austerity’

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CalMac ferry contract – Polish shipyard may have been unfairly subsidised to lower costs

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Professor John Robertson OBA Amidst fake indignation over the loss of the new ferries contract to a Polish shipyard and attempts to blame the SNP for what the media and the opposition parties have done to the reputation of a Scottish shipyard, the fairness of the competition has to be questioned. In November 2008, BBC UK reported: The European Commission has ordered Poland to reclaim more than 3bn euros of state subsidies paid to two shipyards which were facing bankruptcy. The move means Poland will have to sell the Gdynia and Szczecin yards, putting some 60,000 jobs at risk. The … Continue reading CalMac ferry contract – Polish shipyard may have been unfairly subsidised to lower costs

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How do we get and keep accurate independent reporting in Scotland?

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The Talking-up Scotland fund raiser closing on Friday, primarily to enable the recruitment of some research assistance, in order to take pressure off me [74 in June and tiring] and hopefully to further improve the blog, has made a good start. To contribute, only if you can (!) go to: Talking-up Scotland – a Politics crowdfunding project in Ayr by Professor John Robertson By Brenda Robb From Ian Dunt in February 2025: The public is in desperate need of accurate journalism which cuts through the screaming. We need reporters who can refute what’s being said, or interrogate it, or at … Continue reading How do we get and keep accurate independent reporting in Scotland?

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While BBC UK reported Starmer claiming the meeting of more appointments than in a period with 23 days of strikes, so probably fewer, BBC Scotland completely ignores Swinney actually exceeding his promise

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The Talking-up Scotland fund raiser primarily, finishing in 8 days, to enable the recruitment of some research assistance, in order to take pressure off me [74 in June and tiring] and hopefully to further improve the blog, has made a good start. To contribute, only if you can (!) go to: Talking-up Scotland – a Politics crowdfunding project in Ayr by Professor John Robertson Professor John Robertson OBA On February 17th 2025, BBC Health and BBC 1 reported: The government has met a key election pledge to deliver two million extra NHS appointments in England in its first year, the prime minister has said. The target … Continue reading While BBC UK reported Starmer claiming the meeting of more appointments than in a period with 23 days of strikes, so probably fewer, BBC Scotland completely ignores Swinney actually exceeding his promise

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Baron Grayling’s former constituency hospital parking patients head-to-toe in A&E after 23 years of Tory-representation

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Chris Grayling, famous for trying to ban books in prisons, comparing Manchester’s Moss Side to the Wire and giving ferry contracts to a company with no ferries, was MP for Epsom and Newell where the local hospital had a visit from Mirror reporters, above. Grayling was MP for 23 years, until 2024, giving him time, you’d think to work with (press) the local hospital to improve performance. Not so it seems. The SNP have had a bit less time than Grayling, but have done better. UK Government statistics confirm NHS Scotland’s A&E departments have been performing significantly better for nearly … Continue reading Baron Grayling’s former constituency hospital parking patients head-to-toe in A&E after 23 years of Tory-representation

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UK Government statistics confirm NHS Scotland’s A&E departments have been performing significantly better for nearly a decade but ‘your’ media has been silent on that for the same period of time

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By Professor John Robertson OBA From Accident and Emergency wait times across the UK: 2024 A summary of the cross-UK comparability of Accident and Emergency wait time statistics from January 2013 to September 2023, the above graph. Imagine this was different and NHS Scotland had consistently performed less well than NHS England or Wales? You don’t need me to tell you. It would be just like the ‘Scotland’s drug deaths, the worst in..’ narrative. Also, there are reasons to doubt the NHS England data after decades of managerialism there, more concerned with image than actual performance, after decades of Con and … Continue reading UK Government statistics confirm NHS Scotland’s A&E departments have been performing significantly better for nearly a decade but ‘your’ media has been silent on that for the same period of time