Tag: news

Leave a comment

Five times more, adjusted per head of population, at risk of being exploited by violent extremist narratives and drawn into terrorism in England & Wales than in Scotland

johnrobertson834

By Professor John Robertson OBA In the Guardian today, the above and: The case is one of a growing number of school-shooting plots detected in the UK, where young men and boys are being inspired by online material glorifying US massacres, including the 1999 Columbine High School shooting. In the year to March 2024, 162 referrals were made to Prevent (the government-led counter-terrorism scheme) related to interest in school massacres, up 2% on the year before. Only 19 resulted in people being adopted for intervention and mentoring under the programme.1 https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025/mar/02/i-hate-my-school-why-are-more-british-teenagers-plotting-shooting-attacks The total number of referrals to Prevent in England … Continue reading Five times more, adjusted per head of population, at risk of being exploited by violent extremist narratives and drawn into terrorism in England & Wales than in Scotland

3 Comments

How Scotland’s disability benefits system has been kinder, remains affordable but is not apparently worthy of proper media coverage

johnrobertson834

By Professor John Robertson OBA Today, BBC Reporting Scotland Down has the above story on disability payments in Scotland. As always there’s no context so that the narrative can remain pure – critical of the Scottish Government. What is the most important recent historical fact in disability payments in the UK? This: A leading disability rights charity has described new suicide statistics as the “tragic face of systemic inequality”. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) suggested disabled people had the highest rate of dying by suicide compared to other groups. It found 48 disabled men per 100,000 people and 19 … Continue reading How Scotland’s disability benefits system has been kinder, remains affordable but is not apparently worthy of proper media coverage

2 Comments

As Labour government cuts millions from funding for victims’ services, SNP increase it by 12% in one year

johnrobertson834

By Professor John Robertson OBA In the Guardian today: The [UK] government has cut millions of pounds in funding for victims’ services, prompting warnings that “criminals will go unpunished” unless it urgently changes its position. The Victims’ Commissioner has written a letter to chancellor Rachel Reeves, shared exclusively with the Observer, saying a combination of funding reductions and the upcoming employers’ national insurance increase was creating an “existential crisis” for charities. The commissioner and charities in the sector are calling for an urgent funding increase in the next spending review, which concludes this spring. “These crucial services ensure victims have the … Continue reading As Labour government cuts millions from funding for victims’ services, SNP increase it by 12% in one year

11 Comments

LATEST – Two research groups praise unique SNP efforts to tackle child poverty in the interests of all of us

johnrobertson834

By Professor John Robertson OBA, former Faculty Research Ethics Chair, UWS From Turning the tide What it will take to reduce child poverty in the UK published by the Resolution Foundation, two days ago, at: https://www.resolutionfoundation.org/publications/, the above revealing graph and: In 2017, the Scottish Government enshrined ambitious child poverty reduction targets into law. These targets require Scottish ministers to reduce relative child poverty in Scotland to below 10 per cent and absolute child poverty to below 5 per cent by 2030 (both measured after housing costs).50 Such ambition has led to Scotland enacting measures that directly boost the incomes of parents claiming … Continue reading LATEST – Two research groups praise unique SNP efforts to tackle child poverty in the interests of all of us

1 Comment

Reform UK – Not the party to champion working-class communities like those in Shettleston?

johnrobertson834

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 Liz S Former Tory Councillor , Thomas Kerr, who defected to Reform UK party tweeted this yesterday: “Swinney calling a press conference to discuss Reform is peak desperation. The Holyrood establishment is petrified and rightly so. … Continue reading Reform UK – Not the party to champion working-class communities like those in Shettleston?

6 Comments

As they once more accuse the Scottish Government of ‘failure’ why do the English and Welsh auditors never do that?

johnrobertson834

increase in the number of children who require additional support for learning in schools. 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 Professor John Robertson OBA, former Faculty Research Ethics Chair, UWS  Who is actually responsible for the implementation of educational policy in school? Local councils and … Continue reading As they once more accuse the Scottish Government of ‘failure’ why do the English and Welsh auditors never do that?

4 Comments

The hypocrisy of Metro Mayor Andy Burnham

johnrobertson834

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 Liz S The Herald newspaper had a front page headline on the 26 February 2025. “Andy Burnham: Glasgow could be an economic powerhouse with five city collaboration” Andy Burnham is the Labour Manchester Metro Mayor. This … Continue reading The hypocrisy of Metro Mayor Andy Burnham

1 Comment

Corridor care now so common in NHS England it becomes normal – Someone tell Jackie Baillie the policy has changed before she tells another big fib

johnrobertson834

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 Professor John Robertson OBA, former Faculty Research Ethics Chair, UWS and Scotland’s only half-decent Health Correspondent Thanks to Dottie for alerting me to this. How quickly have we travelled from the days when corridor care was the most unacceptable face and … Continue reading Corridor care now so common in NHS England it becomes normal – Someone tell Jackie Baillie the policy has changed before she tells another big fib

11 Comments

It’s a first as the Secretary of State for Scotland does something useful – trying to punish exclusively English drug gangs ‘cuckooing’ hundreds of vulnerable adults in Scotland

johnrobertson834

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 Professor John Robertson OBA, former Faculty Research Ethics Chair, UWS  From STV yesterday: Cuckooing is to be made a specific criminal offence in Scotland in a package of new laws to make streets safer. The legislation, designed to better … Continue reading It’s a first as the Secretary of State for Scotland does something useful – trying to punish exclusively English drug gangs ‘cuckooing’ hundreds of vulnerable adults in Scotland

3 Comments

Why is BBC Scotland not reporting latest crime figures? Because they’re down and murder has plummeted 17% in last 5 years?

johnrobertson834

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 Professor John Robertson OBA, former Faculty Research Ethics Chair, UWS  From Recorded Crime in Scotland: year ending December 20241 published yesterday and from Homicide in Scotland 2020-2021: statistics2, published in October 2021, we can see: After peaking horribly in … Continue reading Why is BBC Scotland not reporting latest crime figures? Because they’re down and murder has plummeted 17% in last 5 years?