Tag: news

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BBC Scotland’s ‘lead infection control doctor’ contradicts the research she led but which did not support her scaremongering and unscientific current position on the inquiry

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By Professor John Robertson: I’m grateful to cuckooshoe for alerting me to NHS Scotland Assure Research Q&A Cupriavidus” Dr Theresa Inkster. Research Q&A: Prevalence and concentration of Cupriavidus and other opportunistic premise plumbing pathogens (OPPPs) in healthcare water systems across Scotland and England published in In an astonishing reversal of the findings from the above which she led, Inkster, today tells us: A senior doctor has told an inquiry she was “appalled” at the state of child cancer wards when a new £870m hospital opened in Glasgow in 2015. In evidence presented to the Scottish Hospitals Inquiry, infection control doctor … Continue reading BBC Scotland’s ‘lead infection control doctor’ contradicts the research she led but which did not support her scaremongering and unscientific current position on the inquiry

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Year after year, Scotland builds far more, 370 000 per head, affordable (really) housing than England

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By Professor John Robertson Today, the Scottish Government published Affordable Housing Supply Programme: quarterly updates on approvals, site starts and completions for the year 2023/2024. I thought I’d compare this with the most recent data for England. There are doubts about just how affordable English builds are, but I’ll park that for now. The first two rows are self-explanatory. The third row suggests how many Scotland might have built if it had England’s population, 10 times greater. The fourth gives the surplus Scotland built, per head of population, as many 40 751 more in 2022/2023. Note that the smallest surplus … Continue reading Year after year, Scotland builds far more, 370 000 per head, affordable (really) housing than England

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Children’s Cancer Wards Inquiry – Relying on a doctor who resigned before the supposed ‘spike’, repeating the lie that there was a ‘spike’ in infections and ignoring fact that QEUH’s child cancer wards had the same infection rate as other hospitals

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By Professor John Robertson OBA Today, BBC Scotland tells us: A senior doctor has told an inquiry she was “appalled” at the state of child cancer wards when a new £870m hospital opened in Glasgow in 2015. In evidence presented to the Scottish Hospitals Inquiry, infection control doctor Teresa Inkster said she felt “something had gone horribly wrong”. Dr Inkster was the lead infection control doctor for NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde from April 2016 to September 2019. During that time the children’s cancer wards were forced to close because of a spike in unusual infections. Note the use of the word ‘felt’ … Continue reading Children’s Cancer Wards Inquiry – Relying on a doctor who resigned before the supposed ‘spike’, repeating the lie that there was a ‘spike’ in infections and ignoring fact that QEUH’s child cancer wards had the same infection rate as other hospitals

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No BBC Scotland report allows comparative analysis of matters across the nations of the UK unless…

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stewartb ‘The BBC Scotland report does not mention ………………….Wales’ No BBC Scotland report allows comparative analysis of matters across the nations of the UK unless … you know what! And no British Labour Party politician in Scotland acknowledges the validity of comparing matters in Scotland with equivalents in British Labour Party run Wales. On education and the experiences of young people in Wales, the following report (March 2024) from the BBC’s much favoured, ‘authoritative’ think tank, the Institute for Fiscal Studies must never be referred to in the hearing of a potential Labour voter in Scotland! Source https://ifs.org.uk/publications/major-challenges-education-wales The IFS report concludes: … Continue reading No BBC Scotland report allows comparative analysis of matters across the nations of the UK unless…

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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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As BBC Scotland suggest Scottish Government is treating police with contempt as pay deal goes through usual channels, the bigger picture – lower crime levels, the complete absence of riots and the police staffing levels to be able to help other countries…..after 17 years of the SNP in charge

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By Professor John Robertson Today, BBC Reporting Scotland has an unnamed source claiming that the Scottish Government is treating police officers with ‘contempt’, because they’re taking a bit of time to settle their pay claim. In truth, the deal is just going through the usual channels and the Scottish Government is not involved at this stage. The report, of course has no context. Here’s some: First: Officers in Scotland are immediately better off than other forces, and exceed the UK average salary within just 2 years of service. https://www.ranksuccess.co.uk/officersalary.html Second: https://policepromotion.blog/2024/03/07/2024-police-officer-numbers-across-uk-and-beyond/ Significantly more officers per head of population in Scotland despite as … Continue reading As BBC Scotland suggest Scottish Government is treating police with contempt as pay deal goes through usual channels, the bigger picture – lower crime levels, the complete absence of riots and the police staffing levels to be able to help other countries…..after 17 years of the SNP in charge

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Rail fares are lower in Scotland

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The Herald is headlining: ScotRail customers face huge price hike as peak fare scheme comes to an end after an experimental, pilot, scheme, cancelled on 20 August 2024, came to an end today. The experiment was unsuccessful: A government trial which scrapped peak-time rail prices ends on Friday after almost a year. The Scottish government previously concluded the costs did not justify continuing the trial as it had not achieved its aim of persuading people to swap car journeys for rail travel. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c9vpgzv4x34o Neither the Herald nor BBC Scotland want you to know this: Fares and fares increases remain, on … Continue reading Rail fares are lower in Scotland

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Anas clearly cannot count or read – did he mean the forgotten 4.1%?

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Pau Hutcheon in the Daily Record tells us: Anas Sarwar says the ‘forgotten 60%’ of young people who do not attend university will be his priority as First Minister. He says Scots should not be defined by their school grades. Forgotten 60%? What is his source? Clearly not this: The number of young people in work, training or further study three months after the end of the school year has reached a record high of 95.9%. The Attainment and Initial Leaver Destination statistics 2022-23 also show that the gap between those from the most and least deprived areas progressing after … Continue reading Anas clearly cannot count or read – did he mean the forgotten 4.1%?

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Never mind the police records, when you ask thousands of real folk if they have experienced crime you find it has halved under the SNP and since Labour were last in charge in Scotland – keep that in mind

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By Professor John Robertson OBA From the Safer Communities and Justice Statistics Monthly Data Report: September 2024 published today: Crime has fallen by 53% since 2008-09. Results from the Scottish Crime and Justice Survey (SCJS) show that around 1 in 10 adults were victims of crime in 2021-22 (10.0%) compared to 1 in 5 in 2008-09 (20.4%). The estimated number of crimes fell by 53% over the same period, and by 18% since 2017-18.  https://www.gov.scot/publications/safer-communities-justice-statistics-monthly-data-report-september-2024/pages/3/ Everybody agrees that many folk do not report crimes to the police but: The sample used for the SCJS is designed to be representative of all … Continue reading Never mind the police records, when you ask thousands of real folk if they have experienced crime you find it has halved under the SNP and since Labour were last in charge in Scotland – keep that in mind