Tag: news

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UK minister slapped down for his Trumpian fake news on Scotland’s water quality – BBC Scotland agenda meeting expected to deem it not in public interest

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Professor John Robertson OBA Thanks to Dottie for guiding this piece: In the Guardian today: Steve Reed, the housing secretary, has been slapped down by the UK Statistics Authority for falsely claiming that Scottish rivers and lakes are more polluted than those in England. Reed made these comments this summer when he was environment secretary in order to demonstrate that a nationalised water sector would not necessarily deliver cleaner waterways. Scotland’s water is nationalised; England’s isn’t. These claims were obviously false; Scotland has a much lower population density than England and many remote lakes and rivers which are not near … Continue reading UK minister slapped down for his Trumpian fake news on Scotland’s water quality – BBC Scotland agenda meeting expected to deem it not in public interest

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There is no ‘care home crisis’ really as 14% of places are unfilled, just as in 2015, ten years ago

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Professor John Robertson OBA The Scottish media is awash with reports of a care home crisis as ‘elderly people struggle to access care‘ based on feeds from opposition parties. Typical is this from the Scottish Lib Dems in The Democrat yesterday: The crisis in social care is spiralling under the SNP after new figures revealed almost one in five care homes for adults has closed over the past decade. Scottish Liberal Democrat MP Angus MacDonald has today revealed the new census figures for this section of the care sector. West Dunbartonshire Council refuse to reveal the local figures to readers … Continue reading There is no ‘care home crisis’ really as 14% of places are unfilled, just as in 2015, ten years ago

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In only 4 minutes, four out of four BBC Scotland broadcast reports aim to worry viewers and three are explicitly associated with Scottish Government responsibility

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Professor John Robertson OBA Following on from a tale of ‘serious’ concerns in a maternity unit, BBC Scotland’s four morning inserts were all equally concerning and three of them were explicitly linked to Scottish Government (SNP) responsibility as in the first, above, on prison overcrowding. I’ve discussed several times before how such a morning diet for viewers, especially the elderly and the vulnerable, predisposes them to conservative political preferences and against change such as Scottish independence. For research evidence of this see: Reporting Scotland Darkly – how research reveals only BBC Scotland’s editors select the nightmares to make you so … Continue reading In only 4 minutes, four out of four BBC Scotland broadcast reports aim to worry viewers and three are explicitly associated with Scottish Government responsibility

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Scotland’s homicide rate plummets by more than half in last 20 years, below Denmark and well below rUK, in wake of 18 years of reducing inequality, predicted by researchers but the story falls off BBC Scotland in only hours

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Professor John Robertson OBA From Homicide in Scotland, 2024-25 published yesterday: Scotland’s Chief Statistician today published Homicide in Scotland, 2024-25. The publication provides information on crimes of homicide recorded by the police in Scotland in 2024-25. The main findings are: In 2024-25, 45 victims of homicide were recorded, 21% (or 12 victims) less than the 57 victims recorded in 2023-24. This is the lowest number of recorded homicide victims since comparable records began in 1976. Over the latest 20-year period from 2005-06 to 2024-25, the number of homicide victims in Scotland fell by 53% (or 51 victims) from 96 to … Continue reading Scotland’s homicide rate plummets by more than half in last 20 years, below Denmark and well below rUK, in wake of 18 years of reducing inequality, predicted by researchers but the story falls off BBC Scotland in only hours

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BBC Scotland – forced to apologise 5 times in 2025, often ‘politically slanted against the SNP’ and shockingly outnumbering those from all other UK BBC regional/national offices combined!

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Professor John Robertson OBA This is, for reasons of load, reliant almost entirely on Grog AI but I have checked it over and see no misunderstandings on its part. Critics of that must be asked what is wrong with the content or the sources? Recent Apologies by BBC Scotland for Inaccurate or Misleading ReportingBBC Scotland, like other BBC regional outlets, maintains a public corrections and clarifications page where it acknowledges errors in reporting. These often involve factual inaccuracies, misleading phrasing, or unchecked claims that can influence public perception, particularly on sensitive topics like politics, economics, and social issues. Based on … Continue reading BBC Scotland – forced to apologise 5 times in 2025, often ‘politically slanted against the SNP’ and shockingly outnumbering those from all other UK BBC regional/national offices combined!

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Don’t be fooled – this is not a ‘grooming’ gang like those in England – no children, no children’s homes, no thousands of victims

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Professor John Robertson OBA They, Scottish Labour and the MSM, would just love it if Scotland had one of those grooming gangs like the ones they have in England. That’s why they’re using the term for a gang that has little in common with the English ones and which, crucially, required a very different response. Here are key differences: This case, dubbed “Scotland’s Rochdale,” stemmed from Police Scotland’s Operation Recloir, which addressed intelligence on human trafficking and exploitation in Tayside. While it highlights serious issues of grooming and trafficking vulnerable young adults, claims involving children from care homes appear unsubstantiated … Continue reading Don’t be fooled – this is not a ‘grooming’ gang like those in England – no children, no children’s homes, no thousands of victims

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BBC Scotland’s Lisa Summers faking a maternity crisis with Scottish Government blame, imaginary spikes, and not one recent failure as BBC England report 500 avoidable baby deaths yet no Government responsibility

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Professor John Robertson OBA BBC Scotland‘s insert in BBC Breakfast, no doubt in its Reporting Scotland episodes, to come three times today and its website have the above classic tabloid headline, and: Just a week before she was due to give birth, Jacqui Hunter was given the devastating news that her daughter had died in the womb. Less than 24 hours later, Jacqui was also dead. The 39-year-old had been told she would have to give birth to her stillborn daughter, who was called Olivia, and was given medication to bring on the labour. Within hours Jacqui was having intense … Continue reading BBC Scotland’s Lisa Summers faking a maternity crisis with Scottish Government blame, imaginary spikes, and not one recent failure as BBC England report 500 avoidable baby deaths yet no Government responsibility

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How NHS Scotland will not be ‘decimated’ by private equity because the SNP oversight ‘of devolved, generous funding enables a “collectivist” approach with less private penetration.’

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Professor John Robertson OBA Thanks once more to Dottie for alerting us to this. From The Lowdown, 2 September 2025, the above and: In late August the release of a report by US senator Chris Murphy (D-Conn) on the destruction of hospitals in his home state of Connecticut, and across the US by private equity companies highlights once again the negative effect of this form of investment.  The report documented what happened when three Connecticut hospitals—Waterbury Hospital, Rockville General, and Manchester Memorial—were bought by Prospect Medical Holdings, a company that since 2010 had been owned by private equity firm Leonard Green & … Continue reading How NHS Scotland will not be ‘decimated’ by private equity because the SNP oversight ‘of devolved, generous funding enables a “collectivist” approach with less private penetration.’

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Credible research, ie not from Jack McConnell’s ‘think-tank’, also suggests NHS Scotland has highest satisfaction levels in UK and they’re not falling significantly

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now than it was 10 years ago. Think-tank Enlighten has released findings ahead of a major doctors conference today. Professor John Robertson OBA We have good reason to doubt the above ‘research‘ given what we know about this think tank and their badly under-qualified research director. Enlighten are of course the formerly named Reform Scotland, changed now for obvious reasons and headed up by these two. They seem to be hiding details of their staff now but you may remember their research director, Alison Payne, was a Conservative Party activist and spad, Guide leader and just a mum for BBC … Continue reading Credible research, ie not from Jack McConnell’s ‘think-tank’, also suggests NHS Scotland has highest satisfaction levels in UK and they’re not falling significantly

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UK MoD plan to decommission at least 7 nuclear subs in Fife, with houses less than 1 mile away and downwind by methods 1 000 times more dangerous than US methods

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Professor John Robertson OBA From Brian Goodall, three days ago on Facebook: Babcock’s and MOD asked to think again on nuclear submarine dismantling process at Rosyth Dockyard. This morning at a meeting of the Rosyth Dockyard Local Liaison Committee in the Dockyard I repeated my long held view that the proposed second stage of the nuclear submarine dismantling demonstrator project, that is about to start, is a stage too far, and I ask for a rethink. The next step will see Babcock cutting out the reactor pressure vessel from the reactor compartment of the decommissioned nuclear submarine Swiftsure, in an … Continue reading UK MoD plan to decommission at least 7 nuclear subs in Fife, with houses less than 1 mile away and downwind by methods 1 000 times more dangerous than US methods