Tag: news

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Brian Leishman kisses the PM’s ring for early release in error and enjoys the whip again

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By Liz S “Whip restored to suspended Labour MP Leishman” As if that is news that was not expected at some point. He , Leishman, was said to be one of four Labour MP’s who have had their suspension lifted after a discussions with the chief whip Jonathan Reynolds on the previous Friday . So Brian Leishman , formerly a supposed Labour rebel with a cause, has now promised to become a good boy , so I assume he has also promised the Labour Chief Whip that he, Brian Leishman, will be a rebel no more ? On social media Leishman wrote: “People can rest assured that I will … Continue reading Brian Leishman kisses the PM’s ring for early release in error and enjoys the whip again

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No major flu deaths surge expected in Scotland after 80% vaccine uptake and in cleaner hospitals

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Professor John Robertson OBA The above is from the Over 5 million under 65s with a long-term health condition could miss out flu vaccine reported in the Mirror yesterday. From: Less than a third (28.9%) of people with one or more long-term health conditions (LTHCs) have had a flu vaccine. 9 million aged under 65’s in clinical risk groups are eligible but just 40% vaccinated last year (2024 to 25) – leaving over 5 million missing out and unprotected. Uptake of the flu vaccine in older adults, aged 65 and over, is higher – 61.5% this year to date; and … Continue reading No major flu deaths surge expected in Scotland after 80% vaccine uptake and in cleaner hospitals

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Only tiny 2% of terror referrals are in Scotland because….

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Professor John Robertson OBA Children being referred to Prevent, the anti-terror scheme, naturally interests journalists. The National headlines responsibly and informatively but the SDM (Short for SaDoMasichism?) finds something titillating for its readers. Here’s something informative, to help the vulnerable and anxious elderly (older than me of course): So, quickly, 11 times the population, if Scotland was just as troubled by this as England & Wales, and they’d have 1 782 referrals but they had 8 778, MORE THAN FOUR times as many, 98% of the total. Sources: Why so few in Scotland? Some ideas I posted tentatively in 2019: … Continue reading Only tiny 2% of terror referrals are in Scotland because….

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Casual dishonesty about lower violent crime for all and lower taxation for most in Scotland goes uncorrected

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Professor John Robertson OBA I don’t think I’ve commented on BBC Scotland’s Debate Night before. I’m guessing it is not much watched. However, last night I was taken by the astonishing lies by the two Unionists, Pauline McNeill (Labour), Justice Committee Convenor (Remember that) and Brian Whittle (Con). First the Justice Committee Convenor’s simple comment in passing above – surely she has seen the figures? From Recorded Crime in Scotland, 2024-251 published in June 2025: There is, in these figures, a sharp decrease in non-sexual extreme violence and an apparent increase in sex offences but there is a great deal … Continue reading Casual dishonesty about lower violent crime for all and lower taxation for most in Scotland goes uncorrected

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‘The scale of challenge facing the NHS [England] today and foreseeable in the years ahead is unprecedented.’ 

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By stewartb The Scotland page of the BBC News website has this headline (November 4): ‘Health board facing ‘unprecedented’ financial challenges, auditors warn.’ The article – the same story as covered by the Daily Record – outlines Audit Scotland’s reporting of the financial problems being experienced by Grampian and by Ayrshire & Arran health boards. Never slow to provide quotable comments, we get the views of Scottish Tory health spokesman, Dr Sandesh Gulhane: ’.. the reports were symptomatic of problems facing the NHS across Scotland’. And a quote: “It’s appalling that health boards have been driven into crippling debt and are reliant on huge bailouts … Continue reading ‘The scale of challenge facing the NHS [England] today and foreseeable in the years ahead is unprecedented.’ 

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Police investigate over 1 000 avoidable baby deaths in NHS England, none in Edinburgh and none in Scotland where ‘maternity failings’ pay-outs are half, per head, of those in England but Jackie Baillie calls for a national review in Scotland

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Professor John Robertson OBA In the Herald today, the above and: Scottish Labour has called for a national investigation into maternity and neonatal services following a catalogue of safety concerns raised across Scotland. The party is set to use a debate in the Scottish Parliament today to push the Scottish Government to launch a nationwide review into what it describes as “dangerously overstretched” services that are failing mothers, babies, and staff. and: This is a purely political move underpinned by self-centred ambition and the evidence offered here but never by the ‘Scottish’ media, is clear and unambiguous. NHS England has to pay out more than twice … Continue reading Police investigate over 1 000 avoidable baby deaths in NHS England, none in Edinburgh and none in Scotland where ‘maternity failings’ pay-outs are half, per head, of those in England but Jackie Baillie calls for a national review in Scotland

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SNP praised for being able to delay 100 trucks of Scottish waste going ‘South of the Border’ to a 100 leaking landfill sites in England having reduced landfill in Scotland to only ONE-THIRD of that under Labour

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Professor John Robertson OBA Having just replaced ‘Bonfire Night Disorder’, the Bee Gees soundtrack that was never used, as the headline story, ‘A 100 trucks over the border’, rejected by Johnny Cash, seems also to be of no interest to the newspapers. As often before, a headline in the morning broadcast in BBC Breakfast, by a BBC Scotland reporter catches my eye. This morning, when she got to say ‘A HUNDRED TRUCKS’, she positively exploded like a demented infant teacher. I thought – ‘I’ve seen that number before!’ and I had. April 26th 2025: As toxic waste leaks from more … Continue reading SNP praised for being able to delay 100 trucks of Scottish waste going ‘South of the Border’ to a 100 leaking landfill sites in England having reduced landfill in Scotland to only ONE-THIRD of that under Labour

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17 newspapers sense a damp squib tonight but BBC Scotland positively lust for ‘Bonfire Night Disorder

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Professor John Robertson OBA BBC Scotland‘s newspaper review – Scotland’s papers: Plea to probe killer Beggs and tax hike ‘fears’ – has 17 of them and not so much as one wee banger on their front pages, yet they have the above. Once a week, for a month, from 9 September raising fears based on the actual disorder two years ago but using the figures from the year before because in real last year offences had plummeted unhelpfully. How it started: It’s kind of predictable that they would operate in this way, trying to scare the vulnerable and elderly into … Continue reading 17 newspapers sense a damp squib tonight but BBC Scotland positively lust for ‘Bonfire Night Disorder

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‘The Home Office and policing do not have a shared understanding of the resource implications of changing demands’

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By stewartb The National Audit Office (NAO, November 3, 2025) published this report: ‘Police productivity – Home Office. Report HC 1380’. (https://www.nao.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/police-productivity.pdf) It is concerned with policing in England and Wales. The NAO notes that the Home Office allocates the majority of police funding for England and Wales. Why relevant to TuS and to Scotland? In common with other devolved public services, what the UK government decides on resources for policing in England and Wales impacts financial resources made available to the Scottish Government via the so-called Block Grant. And it is not only the size of the Block Grant that is impacted but … Continue reading ‘The Home Office and policing do not have a shared understanding of the resource implications of changing demands’

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Wealth Extraction – Another supposed supporter of independence works against it by denying colonialism and blaming the SNP

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Professor John Robertson OBA Like Wings and Craig Murray and Kevin McKenna, Robin McAlpine of Common Weal cannot get over the SNP leadership’s failure to recognise his supreme intelligence and usefulness to their policy development back in 2014. Still in the huff, he’s in the National today with the above and: If you support independence then I urge you to take a moment’s break from strategising about how to get a referendum (or whatever alternative plan you’re hatching) and take a look at a graph. It should be a rocket up our arse. It is time we took independence an … Continue reading Wealth Extraction – Another supposed supporter of independence works against it by denying colonialism and blaming the SNP