Six Scottish Government initiatives they don’t want you liking before an election

Please Support Talking-up Scotland at:https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/support-talking-up-scotlandClick on the above.Or direct bank transfer at Sort Code 08-91-04 Account – 12266421 Name – JOHN ROBERTSON By stewartb I wonder how many of the following recent Scottish Government commitments/investments in General Practice have been conveyed to voters in Scotland by the mainstream media that supposedly serve our polity? Scottish Government press statement 29 November 2024: ‘Additional investment in general practice – Funding to help practices retain and recruit key staff’. ‘An additional £13.6 million will be invested in General Practice this financial year to support GPs to retain and recruit key staff, Health Secretary Neil … Continue reading Six Scottish Government initiatives they don’t want you liking before an election

NHS Grampian had its first case of measles for 12 years after 80% of Scotland’s cases in 2025 were imported

Please Support Talking-up Scotland at:https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/support-talking-up-scotlandClick on the above.Or direct bank transfer at Sort Code 08-91-04 Account – 12266421 Name – JOHN ROBERTSON From BBC Scotland today: NHS Grampian is urging people to get vaccinated against measles after its first confirmed case of the illness in more than a decade. Measles is a highly contagious disease which is spread by coughs and sneezes. The virus can lead to pneumonia, brain swelling and death. The last case in the Grampian area was in 2014, and the health board said all adults and children should ensure they are vaccinated. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cx24xk1d68lo No indication of … Continue reading NHS Grampian had its first case of measles for 12 years after 80% of Scotland’s cases in 2025 were imported

Thousands of babies and mothers avoidably dead in NHS England’s maternity trusts, twelve trusts under investigation and two trusts face police investigations into potential corporate manslaughter and gross negligence manslaughter but we get QEUH and two or three deaths ten years ago maybe linked to water supply, endlessly with Anas Sarwar

Please Support Talking-up Scotland at:https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/support-talking-up-scotlandClick on the above.Or direct bank transfer at Sort Code 08-91-04 Account – 12266421 Name – JOHN ROBERTSON From BBC West Yorkshire and across BBC TV News broadcasts, today: Health Secretary Wes Streeting said he takes the concerns of bereaved families “extremely seriously” after acknowledging trust had been “damaged” around a promised Leeds maternity care inquiry. He announced the investigation into Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust in October, after a BBC investigation revealed that the deaths of at least 56 babies over the past five years may have been prevented. But nobody has been appointed to … Continue reading Thousands of babies and mothers avoidably dead in NHS England’s maternity trusts, twelve trusts under investigation and two trusts face police investigations into potential corporate manslaughter and gross negligence manslaughter but we get QEUH and two or three deaths ten years ago maybe linked to water supply, endlessly with Anas Sarwar

As Scotsman’s unnamed ‘medical professionals’ dream up another NHS crisis how proper monthly statistics reveal NHS Scotland’s A&E is improving and how nearly THREE times as many emergency patients per capita wait 12 hours or more in NHS England than in NHS Scotland

Please Support Talking-up Scotland at:https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/support-talking-up-scotlandClick on the above.Or direct bank transfer at Sort Code 08-91-04 Account – 12266421 Name – JOHN ROBERTSON The Scotsman today, front page claim – A&E system ‘in perpetual crisis’ as target missed again, is based on a statistically meaningless, one week variation, of only 0.4%, in a winter week of ice and snow, and fails to look at more meaningful monthly trends over years. Also, is any A&E system, in the world, hitting targets, post pandemic? Next post! From A&E Attendances and Emergency Admissions 2025-26, 59.6% were treated in England’s Type 1 A&E departments, within 4 … Continue reading As Scotsman’s unnamed ‘medical professionals’ dream up another NHS crisis how proper monthly statistics reveal NHS Scotland’s A&E is improving and how nearly THREE times as many emergency patients per capita wait 12 hours or more in NHS England than in NHS Scotland

Using the ‘Scotland’s’ co-codamol shortage to conceal how for three years now, England’s pharmacists ‘look to Scotland’ for flexible and sustainable solutions

Please Support Talking-up Scotland at:https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/support-talking-up-scotlandClick on the above.Or direct bank transfer at Sort Code 08-91-04 Account – 12266421 Name – JOHN ROBERTSON BBC UK is headlining the above serious problem, crisis, in the funding of local pharmacies, often a lifeline service in some communities. BBC Scotland, as we’ll see below, cannot just mirror this story but had to find something, anything: BBC England, Wales and Northern Ireland do not have this story at all. It’s by BBC Scotland’s Glasgow and West reporter, Jonathan Geddes. Look how it opens: Supplies of prescription-strength co-codamol will be limited until the summer, the Scottish … Continue reading Using the ‘Scotland’s’ co-codamol shortage to conceal how for three years now, England’s pharmacists ‘look to Scotland’ for flexible and sustainable solutions

As Herald today misleads with unreliable methods on ‘corridor care’ figures, reliable transparent A&E figures suggest it is reducing

Please Support Talking-up Scotland at: https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/support-talking-up-scotlandClick on the above. This is the second attempt by the Herald, based on unreliable statistical methods by the Daily Record (No surprise there) to misrepresent the level of ‘corridor care‘ in Scotland’s hospitals. Explicit figures are not published anywhere but there’s a good proxy for corridor care and that’s 12 hour waits in A&E. By definition if you’re waiting 12 hours after triage assessment and maybe some treatment before getting a bed, that is ‘corridor care.’ A fuller AI rationale for the use of 12 hour waits, based heavily on the views of the Royal College … Continue reading As Herald today misleads with unreliable methods on ‘corridor care’ figures, reliable transparent A&E figures suggest it is reducing

Another attempt to hide the true NHS England performance as waiting lists in Scotland keep falling

Please Support Talking-up Scotland at: https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/support-talking-up-scotlandClick on the above. Today, BBC UK present, uncritically, the suggestion that waiting lists are falling at the same time as they’re getting longer, in NHS Alice in Wonderland: BBC analysis shows more procedures and treatments are being carried out across the NHS in England, but still not enough to match the number of new patients joining waiting lists. https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/l0057yrn This is just another attempt (more below) by NHS England to fiddle the figures on behalf of the Labour Government. The waiting list is the waiting list. Imagine BBC Scotland if NHS Scotland tried to … Continue reading Another attempt to hide the true NHS England performance as waiting lists in Scotland keep falling

BBC UK find ’55 babies who died may have survived with better care’ to add to police investigations into hundreds of avoidable baby deaths in NHS England but none in Scotland and NHS England pays out twice as much for maternity failings!

Please Support Talking-up Scotland at: https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/support-talking-up-scotlandClick on the above. First thing today, on BBC Breakfast, we hear of a joint BBC News/New Statesman, external investigation into maternity care at University Hospitals Sussex NHS Foundation Trust (UH Sussex) which has found: No government nor former government minister is associated, in the BBC Health report, with these horrific figures. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/ckg2n644l44o Starting with the last bullet point above but coming to all of them, we already know this about the relative performance of NHS Scotland, despite the continuous efforts by BBC Scotland, the Herald and Scottish Labour to pin a much smaller number deaths on … Continue reading BBC UK find ’55 babies who died may have survived with better care’ to add to police investigations into hundreds of avoidable baby deaths in NHS England but none in Scotland and NHS England pays out twice as much for maternity failings!

Experienced researcher finds AI far more trustworthy on Scottish politics than BBC Scotland, STV, the Herald, the Scotsman or The Ferret

Please Support Talking-up Scotland at: https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/support-talking-up-scotlandClick on the above. I really had to laugh. I’ve done a lot of searching for information and sometimes analysis and evaluation using Grok, chatgpt and other general AI platforms. I do find bias against the independence movement, the SNP and the Scottish Government but only when the AI gives to much credence to the so-called Scottish media, especially those in my headline above. Mostly, however, if I’m careful with my questions, initial and follow-up, I discover that these AI tools, all owned outside the UK do not seem to have an agenda on Scotland. … Continue reading Experienced researcher finds AI far more trustworthy on Scottish politics than BBC Scotland, STV, the Herald, the Scotsman or The Ferret

As Mandelson case exposes the risks of using US company Palantir for health data, how Nicola Sturgeon’s government made sure it didn’t happen in Scotland two years ago

Please Support Talking-up Scotland at: https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/support-talking-up-scotlandClick on the above. In the Guardian today: Labour should halt public contracts with the US tech company Palantir, opposition politicians have said, amid growing concern at the lack of government transparency over dealings with the company and Peter Mandelson. Since 2023, Palantir has secured more than £500m in contracts with the NHS and the Ministry of Defence (MoD), while it employed Global Counsel, the lobbying firm founded by Mandelson. Emails released by the US Department of Justice show Mandelson sought help from Jeffrey Epstein to find “rich individuals” as clients. https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/feb/05/calls-to-halt-uk-palantir-contracts-grow-amid-lack-of-transparency-over-deals In August 2024, the BMJ warned: … Continue reading As Mandelson case exposes the risks of using US company Palantir for health data, how Nicola Sturgeon’s government made sure it didn’t happen in Scotland two years ago